Winged sprint fever descended on Putnam County Speedway, Saturday, September 15th as the Florida Sprint Car Association brought a stellar turnout of 25 of the FSCA’s finest, including a return to action by the FSCA’s Ironman, Larry Pickett.
With a celebrity flagwoman in the form of the TBARA’s Wendy Mathis, the USCS’s T. J. Winegartner on hand, and in front of some of the fastest FSCA sprinters, in only his 8th start in a sprint car, rookie Ryan Partin of Bunnell, Florida, raced a flawless race and earned his first FSCA win.
It was quickly evident that track conditions would challenge even the most experienced of racers. Willie Jude, Wes Scrape, and Matt Kurtz captured their respective heat races. With their feature race scheduled late on the card and faithful fans in the stands that stayed to watch the sprints even after a light rain began falling, FSCA officials made a tough decision that the race will go on. Racers hunkered down, strapped in, and prayed for the best. Suffering from a pulled muscle in his back and choosing not to run the risk of further injury, Tommy Denton opted out.
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Dan Pickett and Mark Ruel, Jr. lined up in the front row with Pickett taking the lead at the green flag drop. Partin, who started 5th, quickly flew up to challenge Pickett, pulling alongside of Pickett in turn 3. Pickett fought valiantly to maintain his lead before Partin shot ahead of him into turn 2 of the next lap.
Willie Jude and Lee Scrape dueled for the right to challenge Partin with Scrape taking the lead until a caution placed Scrape back behind Jude. By lap 6, Scrape and Red Stauffer had passed Jude with Stauffer snagging the lead from Partin two laps later. Flying high into turns 1 and 2 and flinging red mud into the stands, Scrape put on a show as he challenged Stauffer for the lead. Stauffer maintained position despite multiple challenges from Scrape. Bidding his time, Partin paced himself and waited for his opportunity.
Otto Scrape, Danny Jones, and Bruce Durden rocketed into contention and the action got interesting.
The field was briefly red-flagged after Wes Scrape and Gavin Thomas tangled between turns 1-2. Both racers were ok and the restart saw Stauffer take a brief lead before his ride failed him, handing the lead to Partin. With the father-son duo of Otto and Lee Scrape battling for position behind him, Partin kept his ride in the clear. Lee Scrape placed multiple challenges on Otto with Otto proving to be a worthy opponent as he fended off his son’s challenges.
By lap 24, a decimated field of 7 racers remained. As Gene Machuga’s ride failed him on the backstretch, Partin took the checkered flag ahead of Otto Scrape, Lee Scrape, Matt Kurtz, John Byers, and Scott Anderson.
The FSCA returns to action on Saturday, September 22nd, and invites all sprint car fans to join them at North Florida Speedway in Lake City, Florida. For updates on the FSCA, visit www.racefsca.com. See you there!
