By Rick Anges
Hialeah Speedway is famous for being one of the oldest active Speedways in the state of Florida. Careers of great drivers were started on this flat track just outside of Miami. Serious battles have been fought by some of the top names in the sport. This is a place that is filled with so much history it could be a museum in itself. But on a chilly night in January the name of the game was "Fun and Excitement"!!!!


When the KARNAC Krew last made it's journey to Hialeah in November we found out from an excited Dennis Coyle that he had something up his sleeve for the first night of racing in 2001. January 20th he had planned a "Wild and Crazy" night. Taking a note from the success of the "School Bus" Figure 8's at venues like Sunshine and Orlando, veteran figure 8 driver Coyle wanted to bring that action to the fans of Hialeah. I took this opportunity to volunteer my services to drive one of the buses. I have driven in many special event type races including demo-derbies and chain-races and also had the chance to ride in a school bus race at Sunshine. Dennis told me he would work on it.


Just the thought of having the chance of running a bus through the figure 8 was a rush. But when we actually got the call from Dennis that he had a bus for us it was like getting that Christmas present you had asked for all year!


We arrived at the Speedway on a cold and wet Saturday afternoon. The Busses were lined up on the pit fence facing the track we had no idea which one was ours. When we finally found Dennis Coyle he told us which bus was ours....."The Prison Bus" we all looked at each other and smiled. The bus was all white with bars on the on the windows which were all painted white. Behind the drivers seat was a wall with a cell door going to the rear. They already had my name and unbelievably my number "4" on it. It took a little priming before it would start and she ran a little rough before the water that had been standing in the carb burned through, but the old International came to life. I immediately put "Engineer" Hans to work checking it over.

The old Holley 4bbl on it was only a 350 cfm and had a governor on it! We tried removing the governor and richining it up a little before I took it out for a few hotlaps. Well, not only did the little holley have a governor on it the secondaries didn't kick in so at full throttle three quarters of the way down down the straight on the 8 she would go flat. I tried a few different things but found that down shifting and running about 3/4 throttle I could at least get some power. I brought it in.


The skies finally dried up but the temps were dropping fast. As the sun went down the stands were still fairly empty and there was worry that the weather would keep the crowds away. But by the time the drivers meeting was held the traffic was backed up on the expressway to get into the speedway and Mike Powers had to open up more parking just to fit the cars that were coming in. At the drivers meeting an enthusiastic Dennis Coyle told us all that tonites racing was a show, no points or championships tonight it was all for the fans. He emphasized for everyone to be careful and not to tear up any cars. Yea sure......


Between the "Cyclones" trying to knock down the light poles to the "Pro" figure 8 drivers flying through the X to the oo's and ahhh's of the over 4,000 chilled fan's in the stands you would have thought it was last points night of the season!! The fans were getting their moneys worth and the Buses hadn't even hit the track yet.


We finally got the call to line up and get ready to race. After doing a few laps to warm the engines up the green flag dropped and we were off. Although I didn't have the power of most of the other buses I kept my foot in it nonetheless. It's quite and experience to drive something that big on a track that was designed for something four times smaller. With the added weight of the bars and other things to make this bus a "Jail" bus it really liked to lean in the turns and the turns are where I was doing the shifting so I was mostly one handing it in them. After five or six laps two buses got tangled up and the red flag flew. While we were stopped under red one of the buses blew a power steering line and dumped fluid right where we coming out of the 8 and into turn one. When carnage was cleared up and we went back to green my bus seemed to pick up a little. And when I finally got it up to a decent speed I hit that oil patch, I'm telling you there is no feeling like driving a 2 ton school bus into a turn and the back wheels break loose......It Was AWESOME!!!!!




20 laps flew by and before I knew it and the checkers flew for Victor Leo who came from mid-pack to take the checkers. Even though the KARNAC.com "Special" finished three laps down we brought it home in one piece. Hopefully when the next bus race comes along at Hialeah we will be invited back but this time the Krew will come down early and tune that baby up and then we will have some serious fun!!!! From Hialeah Speedway.....Rick Anges