IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

April 18, 2004 FSCR Lee Collins Outguns Charlotte Open Wheels Old face Collins returns with a victory By CLAUDE LEWIS Larry Lee Collins was around in the early days of Charlotte County Speedway, driving in the old Pure Stock division in the early '90s. From there, he took his act to DeSoto Speedway, winning an Open Wheel Modified championship in 1998. Collins, who hails from Immokalee, is no longer a regular at any track these days. He takes his Modified act to tracks across Florida. Two weeks ago, he won at New Smyrna Speedway. On Friday, he was at Orlando Speedworld, setting fast time in qualifying before getting caught up in a wreck. On Saturday, Collins came back home to Charlotte County Speedway for the $1,000-to-win 50-lapper. It was a happy occasion for Collins, his pit crew, family and old fans. He won the race, outlasting Doug Moff to the checkered. "I won a lot of Modified races here in the mid '90s, but I can't remember the last time I won here," said Collins. "It's been a while." Collins, who drives the No. 89 Modified sponsored by Immokalee Disposal and with help from Big Daddy's Performance in Fort Myers, doesn't go for the week-in, week-out grind of points racing any more, He hits the big races wherever they may be. "I did too many years of week after week," Collins said. "I love traveling. I'll be racing special events and the Gulf Coast Series." The Gulf Coast Series will be at Charlotte County Speedway May 8. On Saturday, Collins recorded fast time and zoomed to the lead on the green. There were two restarts due to spins, but each time Collins grabbed the point. There were eight cautions total. By mid-race, Collins walked out to a big lead over the second -place car driven by Scott Jackson of Fort Lauderdale. It wasn't until late in the race when Moff passed Jackson and closed the gap. Moff put heat on Collins and still looked like he had a shot with three laps to go. But a spin brought out the final caution and Collins was able to get out quick and safely ahead of Moff. Moff, who survived two flagrant hits from Johnny Allen's No. 98 car, was second. Jackson took third, L.B. Skaggs was fourth and Ryan Coyle fifth in the 16-car field. Bart Corlieto of Cape Coral lost his rear end in practice and couldn't make the feature. Allen was black flagged and faces possible suspension. There were seven other divisions racing Saturday night at the Punta Gorda 3/8-mile paved oval. Elbert Butts of Arcadia held off a charge from Clete Trimmer to capture the 25-lap Super Stock feature. Trimmer had a little daylight going into turn three on the final lap, but he backed off. Mike LeBeau took third. In Road Warriors, Bob Waltz Sr. took the checkered, but it was no waltz in tech. His No. 5 car was disqualified in post-race inspection because of wheel size. That left Shane Leonard the winner in the No. 18 car. Leonard had led earlier in the race. Chris Huntoon was second and Larry Rudd third. There was excitement on lap 16 when the cars of Huntoon and Jesse Gargus hooked together through turns one and two. Gargus was sent to the back. A three-truck accident took out the No. 8 of Mike Bialecki in the Thunder Truck feature. Hence, a new face in the top three. Reliables John Garrett and Cheryl Weaver were there for first and second. The different face belonged to Bob Charette, who finished third. In 4 Cylinders, Walter Forbes of Punta Gorda drove hard in the No. 12 car and earned the feature win. He got a little help when a lapped car got in the way of leader Shawn Bates and took the No. 6 out late in the race. Chris Loney ended up second and Robert Benning was third. Mark Landis captured the Dwarf Car feature. This coming Saturday's racing program at Charlotte County Speedway will be highlighted by a 100-lap feature for Limited Late Models. The racing results from Charlotte County Speedway from April 17, 2004 are as follows: Finish number Car Number Driver Name Starting Position Open Wheel Modified 1. 89 Lee Collins (2) 2. 46 Doug Moff (7) 3. 10 Scott Jackson (1) 4. 71 L.B. Skaggs (10) 5. 4 Ryan Coyle (14) 6. 55 Dan Atwell (8) 7. 17 James Wagner (12) 8. 11 Doug Spitzer (3) 9. 15 Bill Atkins (15) 10. 2 Kevin Brickley (13) 11. 80 Chris Dean (6) 12. 25 Bill Brewer (9) 13. 31 Kurt Riley (5) 98 Johnny Allen (4)- Disqualified-unsportsmanlike conduct Road Warrior 1. 18 Shane Leonard (5) 2. 30 Chris Huntoon (11) 3. 88 Larry Rudd (12) 4. 1 Jesse Gargus (10) 5. 11 Robert Hendry (2) 6. 22 Ann Marie Ricardi (6) 7. 40 Don Justice (40) 8. 38 Dar Houghtaling (15) 9. 21 Lee Rhodes (4) 10. 98 Robert St. John (18) 11. 23 Jeff Rumbold (16) 12. 00 Larry Grabowski (3) 13. 8 Bob Waltz Jr. (8) 14. 09 Doug Raastad (1) 15. 7 Jonathan Abraham (9) 16. 31 Willard Hedden (19) 17. 14 Roger Hunt (13) DNS 6 Chris Ferguson (17) 5 Bob Waltz Disqualified for 8" wheels (7) Thunder Trucks 1. 22 John Garrett (6) 2. 37 Cheryl Weaver (5) 3. 56 Bob Charette (3) 4. 6 Wally Smith (7) 5. 9 Ray Scott (2) 6. 04 Todd Feeley (1) 7. 8 Mike Bialecki (4) Super Stock 1. 31x Elbert Butts (5) 2. 0 Clete Trimmer (7) 3. 42 Mike Lebeau (9) 4. 83 John Hanuschik (8) 5. 10 Eric Smith (4) 6. 23 Brent Garland (11) 7. 85 Roger Wolfe (2) 8. 8 George Tanner (6) 9. 1 Tommy Hill (1) DNS 4w Wayne Wilson (3) DNS 39 Fred Kight Sportsman 1. 20 George Ellsworth ((2) 2. 74 John Garrett (1) 3. 19d Dale Dean III (3) 4. 67 James Dubose (4) 5. 78 Jeff Warren (5) Pro Challenge 1. 2 Tod Currier 2. 18 Ken Watts 3. 1 Rod Sanders 4. 12 Brad Sanders 5. 56 Howard Brennan 6. 11 unknown 7. 22 unknown 4 Cylinder 1. 12 Walter Forbes (3) 2. 33 Chris Loney (10) 3. 99 Robert Benning (9) 4. 22 Justin Girling (4) 5. 53 Lee Bates (8) 6. 97 Cody Allen (11) 7. 42 Daniel Shanaway (5) 8. 24 Travis Gossard (13) 9. 20 Dan Benoit (7) 10. 6 Shawn Bates (2) 11. 13 Jay McGonnell (12) 12. 8 Ray Lang (6) 13. 72 Tyler Smith (1) Mod Lite 1. 22 Mark Landis 2. 5 George Landis 3. 8 Stan Hope 4. 33 Bob Crandel 5. 49 Rick McFarlin Have an opinion on this story? 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