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| Orlando SpeedWorld Begins 30th Season of Racing Saturday Night | by Dave Westerman
Orlando Speedworld, which came to life in East Orange County on a Summer Sunday afternoon in 1974, will open its 30th season of competition Saturday night.
Traditionally a Friday night track, Speedworld was built in an area that allowed it to draw from racers that had competed at both the Orlando Raceway in the South Orlando area known as Taft and at the Eau Gallie/Melbourne Speedway in Brevard county that were both shuttered in the early seventies.
Originally built and owned by Billy Herndon, the track ran from 1974-87 under a variety of promoters, some successful and some not.
Don Nerone ran the track for part of 1985, all of 1986, and half of 1987 and built a very successful show, drawing more fans and cars than the track had ever seen before. In 1987, Clyde Hart saw the promise of adding Speedworld to his new FASCAR organization, and purchased the speedway making Speedworld the Friday night stop of the two-track FASCAR circuit that included the high-banked half-mile New Smyrna Speedway on Saturdays.
Today, Nerone oversees the FASCAR operation for owner Robert Hart and runs the show at New Smyrna. Dick Westfall, who had been running things for FASCAR's touring groups, was installed as Speedworld's General Manager last year as well as still running the Sunbelt Super Late Model Series and the Goodyear Challenge Series.
"I sort of felt like a gladiator being thrown in the arena with the lions and at times I felt like more people were pulling for the lions than were pulling for me," says Westfall. "But I learned a lot during the 2003 season. We made some mistakes and we made some improvements. we learned from our mistakes and we are going to continue to improve and improve greatly during 2004," he says.
One thing that Westfall did learn early on in 2003 was how good a show certain traveling groups such as Legends, Mini-Cups, Mod Lites, and the Classic Auto Racing Series put on. "I was really impressed by the way these groups raced and how well organized they were. I decided to take a chance and run a few shows on Saturday based on the traveling racing groups.
The first one was a huge success with 118 cars in the pits and some of the best racing I've seen here in a long time. Then came the rain and more rain and we couldn't get another scheduled Saturday show in. However I know this will work because I've seen the enthusiasm that has built from what we were able to do last year and from our Winternationals last month," says Westfall.
Westfall has also received the support of INEX, the parent company based in Charlotte, NC, who build and sanction the Legends, Bandeleros and Thunder Roadsters. Speedworld will be the only Florida race track sanctioned by INEX this year and will host a regional qualifier for the Legends in July.
Along with the support of INEX, Westfall recently signed RE/MAX Realty as the title sponsor for the Legends cars during 2004 and is close to signing other sponsors as well for the various groups that will race on Saturday.
Russ Thomson, who owns and operates Auto Parts of Taft and runs the parts trailer at Speedworld, will also supply parts and tires for the INEX based racers too.
"That is quite an investment for Russ," says Westfall. "I don't think he would make that kind of a commitment if he didn't feel the two night racing program wouldn't be successful," he says. Three classes will run every Saturday this year: the INEX sanctioned Legends and Bandeleros with the new stock four cylinder Hurricanes also in action each week.
Other groups already set to run during 2004 are the Classic Auto Racing Series, Modified Lites, Pro Challenge, Mini-Cup, and Thunder Roadsters. All but the Classic Cars will be in action this Saturday while the Classics make their first run the following week.
Other touring series may be added during the year. If any group is interested in racing at Speedworld, they should contact the track at (407)568-1367.
Pit gates open at 3PM Saturday while grandstand gates open at 6PM. Adult admission is just $5.00 on the grandstand side every Saturday night and all kids eleven years of age and under get in free. Group rates are also available. Saturday racing gets under way at 7PM sharp.
An open practice is set for next Wednesday, March 10th (and every Wednesday evening thereafter) from 5-10PM. Admission is $20 per car and includes three people.
Friday night FASCAR stock car racing action begins March 12th with race time on Friday nights at 8PM.
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