June 13, 1999

                 Old School Buses Never Die
 
You just gut it, put a racing harness in it, and run it in the School Bus Figure 8's at Sunshine "ACTION" Speedway!
  
As I strapped myself in and put my helmet on and looked at the other
competitors getting prepared the adrenaline was rushing. In just a few
minutes I would be out on the track riding with Frank "I Like It on Two
Wheels" Hill in something I had seen from the stands, but was now getting to
see first hand.

While riding in the pace laps and getting the lineup straight
I looked into the crowd and could see the utter excitement in all the fans
eyes as we were getting ready to put on show not seen at too many other race
tracks. And when the green flag dropped the action started. 

We moved inside and picked up a couple of places, there is something about being up on two wheels in a 40' school bus that just grabs you and puts you close to the edge of tipping over.   Frank handled the monster skillfully and as several buses broke or crashed behind us I noticed we were at one of the places that you don't want to be in a figure eight race.......we were at the tail end of the field and the leaders were entering the turns opposite of us.

We had some close misses in the middle and there was a few times that I could have "reached out and touched someone" when we were crossing in the "X". At one point we were making an outside move on a bus going into turn 3 and Frank apparently hadn't noticed that there were 3 buses crashed up high right where we were headed!! Just as I thought I was getting ready to test the
strength of the safety harness I was wearing Frank dove low and just missed
the carnage in the corner.  Soon there were buses broken everywhere and we
had to navigate our way around them making it almost a road course instead of a figure 8.

The buses broke down in the middle made it hard to see who was
coming at you when you were crossing the center and with every near miss we
had I could hear the crowd's oooooo's and ahhhhhh's and cheers from inside
the bus, and we had our share of close call's. At one point Frank yelled back
at me and asked "who's in the lead"? I let him know that the #25 of Art
Caulkins was leading....whether he heard me or not I have no idea but the
next time we went through the X i looked out the window to see Caulkins and
another bus tangling up right before the intersection just as we were passing
through the other way. As I looked up at the scoreboard and saw we were on
lap 18 I knew my ride was nearing an end, but Frank wasn't done yet cause as
we went into the turns for the last laps Frank the showman had that bus up
off the wheels every time and the crowd was loving it, but not as much as me.

I was like a little kid riding the best ride at the greatest amusement park
in the world.....I was in a school bus figure 8 in front of a packed house on
a Florida short track!!!! Congratulations to the #00 of Bryan Hayn for taking
the win and bringing home the over 6' trophy.

After the race and returning to the stands after my interview with Bill Green the crowd was still pumped and I was eager to share my experience with them. It was a great night of racing for all the classes and the bigger crowd made the drivers even that much more ready to dig deeper and race harder evidenced by the blown motors and the close calls all night long.

Frank and Bonnie Hill gave the fans a great show and if the school bus races get any bigger they might have to consider putting in more seats!!!! Hmmmmm maybe some nice suites going into turn 3?????

As for me? They have me hooked look for me in the next School Bus race
November 6th in the "KARNAC.com SPECIAL"!!! ..............From
Sunshine..........RickAnges
 
 Special thanks to Frank and Bonnie Hill for a great time they really know
how to make someone feel welcomed!!!!