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April 27, 1999 Volusia Speedway Park The last time I attended a race at Volusia Speedway Park was during the
hustle and bustle of Speedweeks. While Daytona International Speedway
captured the national racing spotlight with its NASCAR races, VSP garnered
national racing attention of it's own. You see, VSP was one of the few
short tracks operating nationwide. But, they weren't just running Saturday
night shows. Eleven straight nights on the half mile dirt track and five
nights on the 3/8th's mile asphalt track made VSP the king of Speedweeks,
drawing local fans and those who also came for Daytona. Hav-a-Tampa,
D.I.R.T, All Star Sprints, and the Florida Pro Series were among the touring
sanctions that visited VSP.
Things are slower at VSP this time around. Only the dirt track is in
operation on a weekly basis, running a Saturday night schedule. The asphalt
track is closed except for special events. Track General Manager Al Klement
survived on four or five hours sleep during Speedweeks, if he was lucky.
Now, he is back into a normal routine. Other track personnel had similar
stories. They wanted to "Sleepweeks" after Speedweeks.
The configuration of VSP's dirt track is unique. The half mile track has
about nine degrees of banking in the turns. The turns are also long and
sweeping, in sharp contrast to the sharp turns of New Smyrna or USA
International. The back straightaway has a slight D to it, much like
Jacksonville or St Augustine. A driver at VSP spends very little time
driving straight ahead. During the course of a night, the track takes down
quite a bit of rubber, as evidenced by the black groove running through the
turns. This night, the track was also "dry slick", making racing quite
tricky. VSP is a drivers track. On asphalt tracks, drivers push their cars
as close as they can to the edge of control. On dirt tracks, drivers are
constantly pulling their cars back into control like a wild bronco rider.
The ground under VSP has almost as much history as some tracks have tales
about drivers. The current half mile dirt track was constructed in the
early 60's. Current track owner Dick Murphy operated the track in the mid
80's through the early 90's. The dirt track was paved in 1989 and another
dirt track was built next door. Murphy became track owner again in late
1997. By early 1998, the half mile track was back in its original brown
clay form and the 3/8th's mile track got a new coat of pavement. Under
Murphy's direction, VSP has been improving its racing program including
expanding Speedweeks in 1998.
A typical race program consists of heats and features in five classes: late
models, street stocks, hobby stocks, mini stocks, and the new pure stock
trophy class. Except for the pure stocks, classes have fields around twenty
cars with the hobby stocks having thirty. The race program starts at 8PM
sharp which might make for a late night if you are travelling, especially
for kids. However, VSP has demonstrated they know how to run a program on
time. They use the pit lane to lineup the next two races and have time
limits on feature races. The entire staff is warm and friendly, from GM Al
Klement all the way to new announcer Big Red.
Marquee races on the schedule for VSP later this year include the Budweiser
Late Model Shootout 100 June 18-19, the newly announced World Championship
Hobby Stock 100 July 30-August 1 and the return of the Budweiser Late Models
on October 15-16. The last two races pay the winner a cool $10,000.
The dirt track is back in action this Saturday starting at 8PM with a full
race program sponsored by All Quality. VSP definitely proves the old racing
adage: dirt is for racing, asphalt is to get you there! If you're bored
with the asphalt scene, come to Volusia Speedway Park. The price of
admission to VSP is only $8 making it the best racing entertainment value in
the state.
Volusia Speedway Park is located on State Road 40, 15 miles west of I-95.
Call (904) 985-4402 or visit their web site at www.volusiaspeedwaypark.com
for details.
-John Matthews
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