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| ASA Opens It's Season with a Bang at St. Augustine | By Jane Smith
The American Speed Association opened it's 2001 season
in what they had hoped was sunny, warm Florida but it
just happened that a cold front came thru the day of the
race dropping rain and the temperature 20 degrees. Instead
of shorts and sleeveless tops, fans had on gloves, jackets and
covered their legs with blankets.
Fans crowded into St. Augustine Speedway to see this
exciting series take to the D-shaped asphalt track to see
just who is the "best short track racer" around. Gary St.
Amant was the 2000 ASA Champion and he was ready
to take on the challenges of Mike Garvey, Scott Hansen,
Chris Wimmer (younger brother of Scott Wimmer), Toby Porter,
Kevin Cywinski just to name a few.
Also in the line-up was four Florida boys, one of which
was a classmate of my daughter. Ricky Carlton, the 2000
Florida Pro Series Champion, had a very good
qualifying run and was 6th on the grid. Mike Cope also made
it into the race on his qualifying time along with St. Augustine's
own Scott Lagasse, Jr. Travis Kittleson, my daughter's classmate,
had to race his way into the race the night before finishing fourth
to make the big race.
For the rookies in the ASA, this was a very exciting time of
their life. Not only were they racing with some of the best
short track racers in the country but they were on tv - TNN.
Jumping from a local track to national attention is not as easy
as one might think and it can make it very stressful for the
racer.
ASA has it's own tires like most series but if you are not
use to these tires, mistakes can be made. And that is exactly
what Travis Kittleson did before the packed grandstands and
TNN. Somehow he managed to wreck his car before the race
even began. Funny, but I had told him just a few hours earlier
about a very similiar incident at New Smyrna Speedway and
a Super Late Model race. Hope I did not jinx him that way.
After being around the NASCAR Tour Type Mods and their
big block engines for 8 straight days, I was surprised at how
soft the Vortex engines sounded when the command was given
"to start your engines". I expected it to sound like our Super Lates
but at last it did not.
Although the ASA is run very professional, I was surprised to
see Winston Cup rigs for these racers since this is suppose to
be a cheaper series to run. At $219.00 a tire and $80.00 to get
into the pits, it did not seem so cheap. These series travels
from Florida to California and then all over the United States.
The race itself had 14 cautions which meant alot of caution
laps were run and not green flag racing. With the engines
all being the same and the difference in the handling and
driving skill of the driver, it seemed like once you got the
lead, you kept the lead. Only if you lost it during a restart
or had mechancial problems or spun out, do you see a lead
change. This made it not quite so exciting to watch but
interesting.
The ASA goes to California next and then it is back to good
old sunny Florida and Lakeland's USA International Speedway.
Jane Smith
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