IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

July 20, 2006 A Champion Will be Crowned Saturday Night by Jack Smith The showcase race in Florida this weekend is the 200 lap 8th Annual State Late Model Championship, being billed by USA International Speedway as the Guaranteed Concrete 200 presented by Midas Jewelers. Midas Jewelers have been sponsoring the race since 2002, the same year the race went to the 200 lap format. If you missed the 200 lap show these racers put on recently at New Smyrna , we suggest, if you a lover of top shelf Super Late Model racing, not to make that mistake again. At 125 laps the show is just beginning. The last 75 separates the wheat from the chaff and a State Champion will emerge, overcoming not only his competition, but also the elements, as well as the limitations of his own equipment. This race has been won with brakes ready to melt, or with no brakes, broken shifters and broken tempers, you name it. It's a toughman contest of the highest order. More than half of the drivers in the field are valid candidates for major league racing, and are capable of racing nose to nose with anyone in the country on short tracks. The rivalries have changed. It is not Dick Anderson, Jimmy Cope, Daryl Shelnut or Dave Pletcher who are the dominant forces anymore. Not to take anything away from those Hall of Famers (if we had one), but there is a new group of drivers who own the Super Late Model game, a passing of the torch so to speak, and these guys will be loaded for bear on Saturday night. Before we review the serious challengers this year a quick review of the 7 previous years of the Florida State Late Model Championship is in order. Last year the race was held on July 23rd and the winner and runners-up were barely able to get out of their cars. Twenty-eight teams took the green and when Fain Skinner emerged from his car , he was in no shape to celebrate. Instead the heat and humidity overcame Skinner, who was so overcome by dehydration that he had to pass up victory lane ceremonies to instead go directly to the ambulance for medical attention. He was not alone. It is uncertain as to whether Skinner will be able to defend his title. His car was nearly destroyed at the Clyde Hart Memorial 200 at the beginning of July. In 2004 "Iron Man" Dwyane Dempsey drove car owner Mike Leonard's ride to Victory Lane in what was another brutal affair with lots crashed and broken race cars. Eight cars finished the race out the 27 starters. A memorable night with Robert Yoho being the eight place car running one lap down. Certainly one of Yoho's finest races. Jacob Warren took home the $5000 prize and the Midas Jewelry State Championship ring in 2003. Twenty-four Super Late Models left the starting gate, but once again trouble followed many of the top guns and the race became a 'survival test'. Jimmy Cope won the title in 2002, a great year for the Pinellas Park veteran, but the last year in which he was a dominant force in the Super Late Models. The year 2001 saw the"King of the Short Tracks" Dick Anderson win both the 125 lap Super Late Model race but fans got a treat when he jumped into a SARA Late Model and drove away from the field for 100 laps to claim the State Championship title. A title that that no one could contest. Anderson also took the title in 2000, outdriving a huge field of 38 cars at Lakeland, and also won the race in 1999. involving multiple late models, resulting in several injuries, the most severe being to Richie Anderson of Pinellas County. This was also the night Dwayne Dempsey earned his "Iron Man" moniker . He ran in the Super Late Model 125, the Late Model 100 and the 35 lap modified race and was in contention in all three. He took 8th in the super lates, 3rd in the late models and the Modifieds. This was on a brutal mid-August night with monstrous wrecks, fires and intense competition. What to expect this weekend? As recent races have shown, 200 laps changes the equation, introduces a wild card, and could make what already is historically a supreme test of endurance, a nightmare for drivers and crews. Your car may be fast and you may dominate the early stages, much as Mike Fritts did at New Smyrna in the Clyde Hart Memorial 200. But in that race the complexion of the race changed at the half-way mark. Two-hundred laps is a long race and we know it going to be very hot, miserable for the drivers at Lakeland in July. This race Saturday night at Lakeland is more then the Florida Late Model State Championship, which by the way is a creation of Billy Martino, Jr., but it is also the seventh race of fourteen FASCAR Sunbelt Series events in 2006. Jeff Scofield, warranted or not has developed a bit of a "black hat" reputation of late, though he is the only driver with two wins in the series. Scofield, one of the State's dominant drivers in recent years, was the winner at the New Smyrna opener for the 2006 Sunbelt season in March, and won again at Orlando Speedworld in May. Other winners have been Mike Bresnahan at his home track of Citrus, Mike Fritts at Lakeland in early May, Jeff Choquette at Columbia and Tim Russell recently at New Smyrna. But Scofield won't be driving the Mike Leonard 07 machine at Lakeland. Scofield, very successful under Leonard last year, lost the ride recently and now drives his own car. Leonard has a "mystery driver" he is putting into the car instead, and our information says it is not the much rumored return of Dempsey to the rise he had prior to Scofield having it. Mario Gosselin is said to be be driving one of Leonard's cars, but the other one will be named publicly on Friday. Whoever it is will bee a front runner, as Mike Leonard is known for his top notch race cars. Amazingly Wayne Anderson, former Sunbelt and everything else Champion, has quietly taken over the Sunbelt points lead as the series nears the half-way point of the season. In his mirror is Jason Boyd ,Jeff Choquette, Mike Bresnahan and Jeff Scofield. Enough to give nightmares to many, but probably not to Wayne Anderson these days. Wayne has an air of quiet confidence, and much of the strain that used to show in the Wildwood, Florida racer is absent these days. A much calmer, cooler and collected man drives the #84 now, and that could spell real trouble for the competition as the season unfolds into the fall and Winter. It would not be a surprise, if his equipment holds up, to see Wayne Anderson add another Championship to his resume. But he will have to out last and outrun those mentioned above as well as Jay Middleton, Rich Pratt, whoever is in the Mike Leonard main ride, whether Dempsey or our Mystery driver. And never ever count out last year's Sunbelt Champ, Jason Boyd. We will know Friday night who will be in the race for sure and will carry a full report right here after the Friday practice sessions. The support race for the State Championship belongs to the FASCAR Pro Truck Series. This series continues to improve its visibility and promotional aspects. Rumored to be on the verge of signing a major sponsorship deal for the series, the FASCAR Pro Trucks have been featured on the FASCAR This Week television show. As the name suggests, it is a weekly offering produced by Bright House Networks, originally for its Central Florida markets, but recently was expanded to include the Tampa market as well, due to its increasing popularity. The Pro Trucks, in their second full year, the series generally has been averaging 15-20 trucks. Except at USA International Speedway. The last time these Pro Trucks appeared on the big track they started 29 machines, which was back in January. Teenager Scott Bishop has the Championship points lead over "oldtimer" George Morales, the 2004 Fastruck Rookie of the Year & Sportsman Champion from Miramar, Florida. Bishop has a 38 point lead and no one else is even on the same points page with he and Morales. Scott Bishop, a fifteen year phenom from South Carolina, has been winning and running up front consistently in the series. On July 1st and 2nd the Series had back to back races at DeSoto and then at New Smyrna. Bishop took fourth at Bradenton and 3rd on the half-mile New Smyrna Speedway in a 75 lap affair. That race was wild, with another young teenager winning his first feature, number 20 Kyle Eastham. Another very tough race car driver, George Gorham, Jr. and George Morales spent the better part of the race fighting for position. Morales was behind Gorham and for several dozen laps Morales did everything short of spinning Gorham to get by. Lots of contact was made by the two cars, several times Gorham was sideways but he held on to get fourth and to his credit, as hard as he raced him, Morales did not wreck Gorham and finished where he had been the whole race: right behind George Gorham, Jr. We would expect to see a teenager win this weekend at Lakeland. Many of these youngsters have good equipment, know how to use the equipment under them and oh yes, they have no fear. It should be fun! Raceday Schedule Friday, July 21, 2006 2:00 PM Pit Gates Open 3:30 PM Front Gates Open 4:00 - 9:30 PM Practice by divisions Saturday, July 22, 2006 8:00 AM Registration and Pit Sign-in 8:30 AM Pit Gates Open 1:00 PM Grandstands Open 1:00 - 2:30 PM Practice by divisions 3:00 PM Qualifying - FASCAR Sunbelt Super Series Late Models FASCAR Pro Trucks 6:15 PM On-Track Autograph Session 7:00 PM Pre-Race Ceremonies 7:30 PM 8th Annual Florida State Late Model Championships The Guaranteed Concrete 200 presented by Midas Jewelers to follow FASCAR Pro Trucks 50 Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!