| East Bay Gets Visit from Craftsman Truck Rookie of the Year David Reutimann | By Bill Green “From Behind The MIC!”
 Tampa, FL (Dec. 4th,2004)- The December racing at East Bay was greeted by cool temperatures and a newly designed Go-Kart track in the East Bay infield. It also saw Craftsman Truck Series “Rookie of The Year” David Reutimann sign in as crew chief for father Buzzie Reutimann’s Open Wheel Modified effort.
David was nice enough to visit with this announcer at intermission and related that working for Darrell Waltrip Motorsports has been a dream come true. “It was a great year, yet I would have liked to finish more races.”
Reutimann told the East Bay crowd. “The experience I’ve got at each of the tracks will hopefully make for a better 2005 season.” David signed autographs for the home track fans and thanked everyone for his family receiving such great support and kindness over the years.
Buzzie Reutimann joined the rest of the Gagle’s Auto Parts Open Wheeled Modified 18-car field for heat race action. After pulling pills, the veteran would start front row pole for Heat-2.
Heat-1 went to Bill Howard in a strong #48 machine, while Buzzie showed that he hadn’t lost a step, holding off a hard charging Jeff Mathews for the Heat-2 win. When the feature started, Buzzie took the #00 to the rear of the field for the green flag, with a possible rear-end problems.
David Schmauss would dominate the A-Main event, but Bill Howard would pull off a last lap pass on Schmauss to take the win and bring Jeff Mathews into second. David Schmauss settled for third, with Roger Crouse fourth and David Boerner came from 13th to fifth. I should also note that East Bay’s deaf driver Scotty Williams debut in the #4X OWM and finished a respectable tenth for his first outing.
The newly named Outlaw Fours saw a small field come to green. The only heat required for the first time all year saw Cecil Martin take the win. Feature time would be a classic Cecil Martin and Chad Rose battle, until they made contact entering turn-1 and went to the rear. Josh Peathingy would take the lead from that point and never look back until tech. That’s when the illegal tire was found and he was DQ’d. That gave the win to Martin who had charged back through the field with Rose in tow. Chad Rose settled for second behind the winning Martin. “Mr. Consistency” Rich Livernois finish third, Casey Murphy went fourth and Joie Preece was a lap down, but still fifth.
Street Stocks enjoyed their night to shine with Steve Burch taking Heat-1 and Michael Cherry winning Heat-2. Feature event action would start quickly as Cherry held the point through lap-3 when red flew for a wicked hit between Roger Favier and Bobby Miller. Miller walked away, while Favier was help out of the car and onto a stretcher under his own power by the AMR Safety crew. When racing resumed Cherry held off the returning Cam Canova until lap-9. That’s when the #71 of Jamie Craft would loose control of her car in turn-2 and collected the leader Cherry in the process. Ending his run for a feature win. Canova inherited the lead and held off Steve Burch for the win on the track, but lost the race in tech. An illegal intake the call from tech, giving Burch the win. Danny Paris gets credit for second , with Steven Johnson third and Mike Wilson fourth. Fifth wound up with Joe Mathews coming from 13th starting spot.
Next week it’s FEATURES ONLY at East Bay Raceway Park, with 5-laps added to each classes regular A-Main length. In action will be: Limited Sprints, Street Stocks, Late Models, Open Wheel Modifieds, Outlaw Fours and Limited Late Models. Plus, a Special POWER PUFF ladies only race will be added, for aspiring female racers. They’ll have to use a Street Stock or Limited Late Model car, but can not have ever raced competitively.
And don’t forget the“Run What Ya Brung” event on December 18th that will include Santa’s arrival by helicopter, with present for all the junior race fans. Fans will also see the 4-Cyl Demo Derby and 4-Cyl Roll Over Derby in the same Dec. 18th program.
We’ll see You At The RACES!
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