IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 2, 2004 FSCR Steele Storms to TBARA Win at New Smyrna as Atkins Tops Late Models by Dave Westerman There was plenty of thunder and lightning Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway, both from a big storm that formed west of the speedway and from the winged outlaw sprint cars of the Tampa Bay Area Racing Association. Tampa's Dave Steele, who now races full-time out of Indianapolis with USAC, had the weekend off and made the trip back home worthwhile by taking the 25 lap TBARA feature event which saw plenty of great competition and a very scary crash. Bo Hartley, Wayne Reutimann, Sr. and Dude Teate claimed the TBARA heat races and the field was set for the feature race with John Sambor and Mark Gimmler on the front row. Reutimann, Sr. could not get his car fired for the start and he was pushed to the pits. Sambor grabbed the early lead while Gimmler began to fade rather quickly. Hartley zipped by Sambor on lap to and began to build up a bit of an advantage as Steele was working his way into second after starting seventh. On lap five, the throttle apparently stuck on Wayne Reutimann, Jr.'s car and his machine slammed into the turn one wall. The red was immediately displayed as rescue crews attended to "Pookie," who arrived just in time for the heats after racing the night before in Hickory, NC. Reutimann, Jr. was assisted from his car and later taken to a hospital by family members for a precautionary check-up. Following the restart, Hartley and Steele began a crowd pleasing battle for the lead with Hartley thwarting every move by Steele. Meanwhile, Dude Teate was on the move taking over third place on lap nine. As the race continued under green it became obvious that Hartley's car was beginning to slow a bit as Teate reeled in the lead pair. Steele made his move into the lead on lap 12 and set sail while Teate passed Hartley two laps later but already found himself well behind Steele. David Slawiak passed Hartley for third on lap 18. Hartley's car continued to fall off the pace and he dropped out on lap 21. Steele led the remainder of the distance as Teate was unable to reel him in over the closing laps. Slawiak held on for third while Doug Heveron came from 12th on the starting grid to checker fourth just ahead of Stan Butler in fifth. John Gilbert Jr., Mark Gimmler, Gary Gimmler, Keith Butler and John Sambor rounded out the top ten. Young rookie sensation Troy Atkins picked up his second win of the year after some wild racing action in the Late Models. A big mix-up on the start of the heat race saw several cars, including the one of Atkins damaged. Josh Schmidt took a hard hit on the driver's side in turn one but unbelievably his crew was able to repair the car just enough for him to start the feature. A.J. Currelli took the LM heat race win. Mark Smith jumped to the early lead in the feature and led the opening two laps before Randy Dye put his Dodge at the point. Just after Dye took over the lead, another multi-car wreck took place on the front stretch as Curelli spun with Bob Andercheck also spinning to avoid him. Phillip Bessette had nowhere to go and hit Andercheck's car. All three were done for the night. Dye had the lead for the restart, but Atkins was on him high and low, finally slipping past on lap eight. Atkins didn't have it easy from that point as Rich Clouser moved into second and put on the pressure but Atkins was up to the challenge and took the checker followed by Clouser, Dye, Charles Kopach, and Smith. Schmidt managed to bring his damaged car home sixth but was feeling dizzy after the races and went to the hospital to get a check-up just as Reutimann, Jr. had done earlier. Dale Clouser dominated the Sportsman feature, leading all 15 laps of a green to checker run. Donnie Williams finished second ahead of Ocala Speedway regulars Frank Buchanan and Patrick "Sweet Pea" Mennenga. Ken Lewton finished in fifth spot. Charlie "Flash" Collins took the lead from Kevin Auger on lap four and never looked back in winning the Super Stock feature. Jeff Colburn claimed second spot ahead of Auger, Stephan Dembinsky and Josh Wronkowski. Terry Tullis out-dueled Doug Smith to take the 20-lap feature win for the visiting cars of the Florida Mini Cup Racing Association. The field swapped positions all race long with Rick Auriemma getting third spot late in the run trailed by lady drivers Wendy Kash and Heather Suggs. The Mini Stock and Strictly Stock features were rained out and will be made up at a later date. RESULTS - NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY - 5/1/04: TBARA SPRINTS (25 Laps): 1) Dave Steele #91 2) Dude Teate #68 3) David Slawiak #79 4) Doug Heveron #22 5) Stan Butler #118 6) John Gilbert, Jr. #7 7) Mark Gimmler #51 8) Gary Gimmler #29 9) Keith Butler #19 10) John Sambor #33C 11) Bo Hartley #3X 12) Richard Waddell 47 13) Troy Decaire #6 14) Jimmy Alvis #21 15) Wayne Reutimann, Jr. #00 16) Bobby Rose #56 17) Nick Manikis #8 DNS Wayne Reutimann, Sr. #99 LATE MODELS (15 Laps) 1) Troy Atkins #14 2) Rich Clouser #9 3) Randy Dye #43 4) Charles Kopach #53 5) Mark Smith #48 6) Josh Schmidt #119 7) A.J. Currelli #2 8) Bob Andercheck #90 9) Phillip Bessette #17 SPORTSMAN (15 Laps): 1) Dale Clouser #30 2) Donnie Williams #111 3) Frank Buchanan #07 4) Patrick Mennenga #16 5) Ken Lewton #18 6) Paul Hudson #08 7) Bruce McConnigal #6 8) Joe Gerard #330 SUPER STOCK (15 Laps): 1) Charlie Collins #23 2) Jeff Colburn #3 3) Kevin Auger #07 4) Stephan Dembinsky #50 5) Josh Wronkowski #21 6) James Adams #29 7) Ron Whaley #2 8) Barry Parks #27 9) Tim Edmudson #66 10) Robert Ward #X 11) Roger Ladeau #10 FLORIDA MINI CUP ASSOCIATION (20 Laps): 1) Terry Tullis #8 2) Doug Smith #17 3) Rick Auriemma #12 4) Wendy Kash #05 5) Heather Suggs #48 6) Eric Cunningham #83 7) Mike Holt #24 8) Dennis Tullis #28 9) Nando Pinto #88 10) Larry Folino #43 11) Sonny Saxon #33 12) Mark Ross #47 13) Rick Blair #31 14) Mike Ross #20 Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!