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| Strehle Makes It Two Classic Wins In a Row at Orlando SpeedWorld | by Dave Westerman
Joey Strehle has been racing with the Classic Auto Racing
Series for less than half a season, but the veteran
Deland driver is making his presence felt as he won his
second consecutive CARS race Friday night at Orlando
SpeedWorld.
Point leader Jim Rahman drove to victory in heat race
number one, while Ben Booth ran off with heat two
and earned the pole for the feature.
Booth, who was one of the dominant Modified drivers at
SpeedWorld in the early 1990's, assumed the lead at
the drop of the green closely pursued by fourth-
starting Al "Hot Rod" Hagan.
On lap three Booth and Hagan got together coming off
turn two with Booth spinning into the infield. The
Classic Auto Racing Series goes by the rules set down
by each individual track and the rule at SpeedWorld
is that all cars involved in a caution go to the rear
so that's where Booth and Hagan restarted the race.
Rookie Greg Helton, having his best night of the year,
found himself in the lead for the restart with Strehle
(up from tenth at the start) in second and Dennis
Gilliam in third. Gilliam, driving the South 40 Motor-
sports entry which was brought out of mothballs for
this race, had started 12th and had been passing cars
right and left.
Helton did a fastastic job holding off the two more
experienced drivers until lap six when Strehle worked
his way into the lead. Gilliam also attempted to make
the pass for second but he and Helton touched with
Helton's car spinning into the wall.
Gilliam was sent to the rear of the field on the
restart as Strehle led Harvey Ewing, Patrick "Bam Bam"
Sanders, Rahman, Ed Yates, Frank Conrad and Danny
Shearer to the green. Shearer, who has been racing
each Friday night at SpeedWorld in the Sportsman
division, was making his first CARS start of the year.
Second-running Ewing drifed high in turn one and before
he could get his machine gathered in, he'd dropped
back to sixth while Rahman got around Sanders for
second and set his sights on Strehle.
The final caution was displayed when the engine blew
in Keith Roberts' car and erupted in flames. Track
crews quickly extinguished the fire and Roberts
climbed out unharmed but done for the night as much
as his engine had to be swept up off the racetrack.
Try as he might, Rahman could not get the measure of
Strehle and Strehle backed up his win two weeks ago
on the dirt in Jacksonville with a win on the asphalt
at Orlando. Strehle, a veteran of Central Florida
short track racing including Late Models, also earned
the Door Operating Systems Rookie of the Race Award
as he technically is a "rookie" in the Classics.
Rahman's second place finish allowed him to build a
bit more on his point lead although rookie Patrick
Sanders, who is second in points, finished right behind
him in third, his fourth top-three finish of the year.
Ed Yates drove his typical steady race and finished
fourth, while Frank Conrad finally got a chance to race
and hemade the most of it with a fifth place run in his
Shriner's Children's Hospitals "Teal Tornado" sedan.
Wayne Ashton was the man on the move in the feature as
the Ft. Pierce driver jumped into a car just purchased
from Mike Albert and drove from 19th on the starting
grid to sixth earning hard-charger honors for the night.
Harvey Ewing held on for seventh spot just in front of
Bud Spencer, while Dennis Gilliam drove back to ninth
and E.T. McGhee came back from a heat race crash to
round out the top ten.
2001 CARS Champion Eddie Thornton was expected to be
a major player, but an early race bump with Rahman
sent his car to the pits with a broken spindle.
The Classic Auto Racing Series drivers have a week off
before heading back to Mike Cope's Bronson Motor
Speedway on October 19th.
OFFICIAL FINISH - ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - 10/4/02
1) Joey Strehle, Deland #42
2) Jim Rahman, Clermont #5
3) Patrick Sanders (R) #8
4) Ed Yates, Orlando #74
5) Frank Conrad, Ft. Pierce #11
6) Wayne Ashton, Ft. Pierce #24
7) Harvey Ewing (R), Brooksville #17
8) Bud Spencer, Palm Harbor #7
9) Dennis Gilliam (R), Mims #42X
10) E.T. McGhee, Deland #1
11) Al Hagan, Merritt Island #6
12) David Marsh, Orlando #88
13) Danny Shearer, Melbourne #77
14) Ben Booth, Deland #12
15) E.B. Carr, Okeechobee #90
16) George Hall, Jr. St. Petersburg #32
17) George Hall III, St. Petersburg #9
18) Keith Roberts (R) Groveland #31
19) David Nunes, Orlando #21
20) Greg Helton, Orange City #3
21) Eddie Thornton, Orlando #4
(R) Indicates driver running for Door Operating Systems
Rookie of the Year
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