Long time Central Florida racer Bruce Everett, 65, a former Orlando Speedworld Super Late Model Champion, passed away this week after a long five year battle with cancer.
A very private person, Everett retired after 20 years as a fire fighter but never said much about his former job. He spent his time living on a lake in Odessa, FL near Tampa and spent many years towing his race car to Orlando Speedworld on Friday nights and New Smyrna Speedway on Saturday nights. He was such a fixture at these tracks, if he hadn't showed by race time, everyone would start asking "Where's Bruce?" Inevitably, he'd pull in late towing his Camaro Late Model behind his Chevy Monte Carlo on an open trailer just in time to start at the back of a heat race.
Everett's first love, believe it or not, was not auto racing but water skiing. He was not involved in your run-of-the-mill water ski competitions, but offshore long distance races of 100 miles or more that sometimes went from city to city at speeds up to 100 MPH if conditions were right.
From there, Bruce's interests turned to drag racing where his cars were similar to his stock cars - not very good looking, but very fast. He didn't talk much about his drag racing days but it seemed they were pretty successful.
For awhile, Everett's interest was in karting on road courses. He built a special trailer to haul two karts and towed them to the track with a VW Beetle.
Everett also liked sprint cars. He dabbled with one at Golden Gate Speedway in the late '70's and was entered in one of the infamous Rocky Fisher promoted "Florida 500's" that were run at The Gate in February.
In the late 80's Bruce Everett got interested in stock car racing and began towing to wherever a race was going on. From Lake City to Hialeah, Bruce Everett became a fixture - never winning races but always a fierce competitor getting the most out of the equipment he had.
The early 1990's found Bruce racing the two night FASCAR series between Orlando Speedworld and New Smyrna Speedway, an odd schedule for a low buck racer who lived near Tampa having to fight big traffic jams on Interstate 4, especially on Friday evenings. When asked one night why he liked running the two tracks he said "I just love these two places... the people are nice... the racing is fun... and these are the only two tacks that'll let my dog in the pits." Yes, Bruce Everett's trusty companion could always be found with him when he raced.
Again, week in and week out at the FASCAR tracks, Bruce didn't have the best looking or fastest car, but he was having fun. His Camaro was dubbed "the world's oldest late model," and, when he painted it a Hershey bar brown at one point, the car became known as "Chocolate Thunder."
Most of the time Bruce Everett didn't have the fastest car but he was always around at the finish, sometimes ending up second or third after the other drivers had mechanical problems or crashed out. His motto was "Speed doesn't matter, just consistency."
Everett was considered very sharp especially when it came to getting the most out of what he had on limited funds. He read many books on engine theory and performance tuning and would wow people with his discussions about header and cam design along with engine optimization.
His "consistency" brought him an Orlando Speedworld Late Model track championship one year. But his proudest moment came in 1995 when he won his first feature race. This was not a race where everybody else dropped out or crashed. Bruce had one of his "better" engines in his car that night, got the lead and nobody could do anything with him. No one knows how many races Bruce could have won if he'd had better equipment or raced for another car owner (something he really had no interest in doing).
After the FASCAR banquet in 1999, Bruce Everett literally dropped out of sight. No one knew he was just beginning to fight his battle with cancer. He would be sighted at tracks from time to time but it appeared things were looking grim until he surfaced during Speedweek activity at New Smyrna in 2003 where he began to talk openly about his cancer and the aggressive chemotherapy he was undergoing. He was looking good and enjoyed being around his friends again.
Everett would make a few races in the 2004 season as a spectator then decided in 2005, if he wasn't going to be around much longer, he would have some fun again. Early in the year, Bruce jumped in good friend Mac Steele's sprint car for a test and tune at Citrus County Speedway and had the time of his life. Steele, father of two-time USAC Silver Crown titlist and 2005 TBARA Champion Dave Steele was amazed at how good Bruce did in the car. Bruce loved following Dave Steele's exploits since he'd known him since he was little. Near the end of the season, Bruce got the opportunity to hop in a Super Late Model one last time and Dave Steele even came with him to the track one night to help out.
Everyone was so excited to see Bruce Everett not only back at the race track, but racing as well. He even ran the Sunbelt race at Ocala in October. Plans were in order to run a 50 lap "Tribute to Bruce Everett" Super Late Model race at Orlando Speedworld in March of 2006. Everett was touched by this but bluntly told Speedworld GM Rusty Marcus "I don't think I'll be here for it, but I can guarantee I'll be watching."
Unfortunately Bruce's words have come true. We will miss this wonderful man who had fun doing whatever it was he did and the first annual "Bruce Everett Memorial" will now be held at Orlando Speedworld in March of next year. Hopefully all of his old friends and competitors will come out to honor this one of a kind racer.
Everett is survived by a daughter, Debbie Smith, and a sister, Joan Priest. A memorial service will be held in Tampa on Friday at the funeral home located at 3207 W. Bearss Ave.
-Dave Westerman (Rex Hollinger contributed to this story.)
