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Inspections took place from l2:00 noon until 2 P.M. when the track
was opened for hot lapping. As the cars waited their turns to take
to the racing surface, you could feel the excitement in the air. And
for a change, we watched this event from the grandstands where you
could see the whole track. The only mishap during hot laps was for
B.J. McLeod who hit the wall in turn 4 but with a great crew and alot
of determination, the car was fixed and ready for qualfying at 6:00 P.M.
As all thirty two cars lined up for qualfying, you could see the hope in
each driver's face and the faces of his crew. Eric Black, a 17 year old
high school Senior from Vero Beach, was the first car to take to the
track. Following Eric was Chad Dokken, brother of Michael Dokken who
drives NASCAR Craftsman Trucks. And a surprise driver was in the bunch, Chris Grimes who is one of our SpeedWeeks drivers from Wisconsin but has moved to Georgia now. No mishaps during qualfying, everyone made it thru the turns just fine with B.J. McLeod being the last car out.
Wayne Anderson was fast qualifier with a 18.185 followed by James
Powell III, Jacob Warren, Jack Cook, Dick Anderson, Mike Fritts,
Bobby McClelland, David Rogers, Pete Orr and Jimmy Cope. Regular
races were run and it was time for the BIG BOYS to take to the track
for their 200 lap race.
After a few caution laps and the crowd waving to the drivers and the
drivers waving back, the green flag was dropped and the race begun.
James Powell III took the lead from the green flag but caution was
flown and Wayne Anderson got the jump. The first caution came out
for Tony Amigo in the #77x when his car turned around on the front
stretch but was able to continue racing.
For many fans in the stands, the best part of this race was seeing
Wayne Anderson in first place with his father, Dick Anderson in
second. Father-son raced each other by the book and put on a very
good show. Close behind the Andersons was James Powell III, Jack
Cook and Pete Orr.
Pit stops began around lap 85. When all were done, it had David Rogers up front and B.J. McLeod working his butt off to get back a lap which he did and worked his way up to fourth place which was around lap l44. At this point, l5 cars out of the 32 were left on the track. On Lap l55, B.J. took over the third place but lost it to David Rogers which put B.J. back into fourth when a front tire flew and put B.J. into the wall. The race was red flagged (the first red flag and only red flag of the race) and the track was cleaned. And B.J. was fine, thank goodness.
Wayne Anderson won the race with Jack Cook, David Rogers, David
Reutimann and Rob Underwood behind him. Wayne was obviously
very pleased about his win as he told the crowd, "my dad has his name
on two of these plagues, now I have my name on one. This win means
more to me than you know." With that, Wayne Anderson was surrounded by family, friends, and fans and the l999 Governor's Cup ended once again. -Jane Smith |
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