The 2005 Racing Season is Underway....What a Start! (Part 1)
By Jerry Binner
It is now the first day of February, and while 95% of the racing fans in America can’t wait to get the season started, we are already on a roll. By the end of January, I had already been to 5 racing programs, at 4 different facilities.
Many fans won’t get to see their first race for another 3 months or so.
Starting out in early January, New Smyrna Speedway has their annual Red Eye 100. Although the format has changed into a 300 lap affair (the RiverFest 300), comprising all of the regular classes, the Late Model class is still the main attraction.
Since I hadn’t planned at the time, to be writing a column, I didn’t take notes for this race. But the one thing I won’t forget is the great job that young Jeff Choquette had been doing, and showed it again this night.
After passing a few cars, and chasing down Wayne Anderson, Choquette took a dive underneath Anderson heading into turn 3 somewhere near the 25 lap mark. If he had chosen to stick with his original attempt, he probably could have used Anderson as a sideboard, made a little contact, and taken the lead.
Instead, when he realized he wasn’t deep enough and there wasn’t enough racetrack to make the pass cleanly, it appeared that he bailed out, pinched his car low to avoid contact, and spun all by himself. As a big fan of his talent, I was disappointed that he was headed to the back of the field.
But, the race was still young. Coming from the back of the field, Choquette was passing cars both high and low, until he again got to Andersons rear bumper. This time he tried the outside lane, the car stuck, and he went ahead and was unchallenged the rest of the way. Following him to the line were Wayne Anderson, James Powel III, Chet Morrison (who comes all the way from Houma, Louisiana. for many of the Sunbelt shows), and Sean Murphy, who has been active in the Nascar Craftsmen truck series.
For Choquette, this race made it 3 wins in 3 starts at New Smyrna since switching to Asphalt racing. He also has wins at Orlando Speedworld, and DeSoto Speedway. I don’t recall anyone in my racing memory bank that has made this kind of progress, in such a short amount of time. This kid (still only 17) is the real deal.
After a couple of weeks of withdrawals, I managed to sneak out of the house long enough for a Sunday 4:00 race at Volusia Speedway Park.
With its annual Speedweeks events coming up, the track looked like they were in the middle of a bunch of repairs and improvements.
They have added new aluminum bleachers in the middle section of the front stretch, and the sections taken down were moved to the outside of turns 1 and 2. The added seating will be needed when the World of Outlaws (both the Sprints and the Late Models this year), the All Star Sprints, UMP Modifieds, and the D.I.R.T. Big-block Modifieds, all come to town in the first 3 weeks of February.
I’m sure there were other improvements going on, but I would never know since the P.A. system around turns 1 and 2, was not working. It made it difficult to keep up with racing details, but still, it was good quality action from where I was standing. Not coincidentally, where I was standing happened to be in close range of another fans barrel fire. When I say it was cold, I don’t mean nippy, or chilly. I mean COLD. I don’t doubt it was in the 20’s, with a fairly strong breeze just to make things just a bit more miserable.
But, this night was dedicated to the low-buck guys, who have plenty of talent, but not a big enough checkbook to rise into the higher ranks. This was the yearly Street Stock 100, and the Hobby Stock 100, each paying $5000.00 to win, along with a regular show for the local Late Model series.
The Late Model feature was pretty uneventful for the most part, as veteran Paul George n his familiar #88 started on the pole and led every lap. Hot on his heels though, was relative newcomer, Scott Thompson in the #38 car. The last few times I’ve seen Scott run, he impresses a little more each time. Brett Carlson, Bob McQuaig, and former track champion, Mike Eubanks, followed them over the line.
Next up, the Street Stocks ran their 100 lapper, with the early stages being dominated by David Showers Jr. The only car that looked strong enough to run with him may have been ASA driver, Scott Lagasse Jr, who had some early trouble and found himself a lap down to the field. Very early, the #42 car of Doug Sipps began smoking heavily, and we could smell burning gear oil. As we were counting the laps until his car gave up, Showers rear-end assembly locked up, as he came to a grinding halt in turn one. Suddenly, the odor of gear lube was gone, although Sipps was still on the track. Apparently, the gear lube was from Showers car, and not Sipps car, like we all thought.
At this point, Toby Simms took over as the dominator, leading until lap 97, when Stanton Mills got around him to take his biggest win. Ronnie Ponce took a good run also at Simms, but ran out of laps, finishing third. Tim Powers and Gordon Peck rounded out the top 5. By the way, the smoking Sipps car did finish the race, and got a 9th place finish out of the deal.
To round out the program, the Hobby Stock racers came out for their 100 lap main event. The strong cars in this race appeared to be the #4 of Wally Fowler (SC), The “Night Stalker” Billy Bishop (SC), locals Shane Williams, teammate James Powell III, and Travis Gamble, along with Tony Knowles and Karl Willard, each from Georgia.
Fowler looked real strong early, but had mechanical problems, as did Billy Bishop. Powell pitted early, and charged back through the pack, until he was challenging the top 5 again. A late race problem parked Powell, but his teammate Williams was on cruise control, and won handily over Gamble, Knowles (who I don’t think was ever out of the top 3 at any point), Karl Willard (who runs real strong at Swainsboro and Cochran Speedways), and Bronson Speedway regular, Robbie Cooper, in the #98 car.
With the racing action done, and the temperature still dropping, it was time to head home, warm up, and have a cold beer while getting the updates on the NFL games on TV.
The racing off-season can be a drag. I’d have to wait another 10 days until my next shot of adrenaline, coming at the opening night of the King of the 360 Nationals at East Bay. And by the 5th of February, hopefully I will have seen shows 6 and 7 (at track #5) at the Renegade 100 at Putnam Raceway Park, in Satsuma, Florida.
Part 2 of this story will follow shortly, when I can hide from the boss long enough to hammer out another story. See you at a short track soon!
