The final race of the season for the TBARA winged sprint cars was held at New Smyrna Speedway on Saturday night, November 8.
With only one point separating the 19 of Keith Butler and Dude Teate in the 68 for the drivers championship and eleven points separating Keith Butler’s 19 car and the 22 of Heckman Racing in the owners point race, this was a race for the championship.
Twenty cars made the trip to New Smyrna, making for 3 heat races of 8 laps each. The first heat was won by Shane Butler in the 18 car, who leapt from third position and led the heat from start to finish.
The 80 car driven by Wendy Mathis had the pole for the start of the second heat. An uneven start led to a full restart for this heat, during which the 59 car of Dan Statter retired with broken driveline. The second start saw the number 2 car of Scott Adema who started in second place take the lead.
On lap 4, Wendy Mathis retired the 80 car from the heat while Scott Adema went on to win the heat. Ray Bragg in the 66 car had the pole for the third and final heat and took an early lead.
The 33 car driven by Lee Cipray spun at turn 1 on lap 2 causing the caution flag to be raised while he was restarted. The remainder of the heat passed without incident with Ray Bragg in the 66 taking the heat win.
The 51 of Mark Gimmler and the 2 of Scott Adema made the front row for the final feature line up of the season. The 33C of John Sambor opted to go to the back of the field for the start of the race.
The cars performed their signature 4 abreast parade lap and then reformed 2 abreast for the start. As the lights went green, Scott Adema in the 2 car took the lead for the early stage of the race.
On lap 5, the 80 car of Wendy Mathis hit the wall at turn 2 after the steering on the car broke. There was a caution whilst the car was removed from the track. The race got back underway with Scott Adema still in lead, with championship contenders the 19, the 68 and the 22 all close behind. Bill Pettijohn retired the 6F to the pits on lap 7.
A lap later the 66 car of Ray Bragg came to a stop at turn 1 with some kind of mechanical failure and he was pushed to the pits.
On lap 11 the 3 car of Ricky Burnett was black flagged for going 3 laps down, whilst David Steele in the 96 car stole first position from Scott Adema in the 2. Ben Fritz in the 0 car retired from the race on lap 13, followed by the 33C on lap 20 who was also black flagged for going 3 laps down.
On lap 23, the 00 driven by Wayne Reutimann Jr stopped on turn 2 with a broken driveline and he was pushed back to the pits. The final three laps went smoothly, giving David Steele the final win of the 2003 season. Scott Adema in the 2 car took second place, the 68 driven by Dude Teate took third, Keith Butler in the 19 car took fourth and the 99 car driven by Wayne Reutimann Sr rounded out the top 5.
The drivers’ championship was won by Dude Teate by one point over second place driver Keith Butler. The owners championship went to Keith Butler for his 19 car with a sixteen point lead over the 22 car owned by Heckman Motorsports.
Feature Finish:
1) 96 David Steele; 2) 2 Scott Adema; 3) 68 Dude Teate; 4) 19 Keith Butler; 5) 99 Wayne Reutimann Sr; 6) 22 Doug Heveron; 7) 79 David Slawiak; 8) 29 Gary Gimmler; 9) 18 Shane Butler; 10) 7 John Gilbert Jr; 11) 51 Mark Gimmler; 12) 33 Lee Cipray; 13) 00 Wayne Reutimann Jr; 14) 33C John Sambor; 15) 0 Ben Fritz; 16) 66 Ray Bragg; 17) 3 Richard Burnett; 18) 6F Bill Pettijohn; 19) 80 Wendy Mathis
