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| RE/MAX Legends do Double Duty at Orlando SpeedWorld this Weekend | by Dave Westerman
Race fans will get a pair of chances to see the INEX 600 Racing RE/MAX Legends Cars in action this weekend at Orlando Speedworld.
The Legends are a regular class on the Saturday night program, but will make their first "guest" appearance on the Friday night FASCAR program this week.
So far, Patrick Conrad of Clermont (who is also a rookie Super Late Model driver this year) has taken the win in all three weeks of RE/MAX Legends competition. However, things might not be so easy for Conrad from now on.
Fans have been critical of line-up procedures for the Legends with the heat race winners starting from the front row. The cries of "why do you always start the fast cars up front?" have been heard and track officials will institute a position draw format for the feature race each night.
Depending on the size of the field, the top four, six, or eight finishers in the heats will draw for their starting positions in the feature. This should give the fans a better show and give some of the less experienced drivers a chance to try and hold off their more "seasoned" counterparts.
Super Late Models are back after a week off for the Goodyear Challenger Series Race last week. Chet Morrison of New Orleans, LA took the win on opening night and hopes to run at Speedworld as often as possible along with following the FASCAR Sunbelt Series races.
B.J. McLeod, Ronnie Roach, Rusty Ebersole, Ricky Wood, Patrick Conrad, and a host of others will be looking to put their machine into victory lane.
Also in action will be the Modifieds, Mini Stocks, Sportsman, Super Stocks and Strictly Stocks.
Only Sportsman driver Earl "Junior" Beckner has managed to pull off back to back wins to open the season on Friday nights. "We crashed the car at New Smyrna during the World Series and we've been really surprised how well it's run out here. I still think we can make it go faster," says Beckner who owns and operates Quality Automotive Repair in South Orlando.
Pit gates open at 4PM Friday, grandstands at 6PM and the first green flag falls at 8PM.
The Saturday race card for this week is a full one. The RE/MAX Legends cars will finish up their weekend twin bill while the Bandeleros and Hurricanes will be in action as they are every Saturday.
This week the Mini Cup cars will be back for the second time this year. These Nextel Cup look-a-likes always put on an incredible show and are led as always by Mini Cup veteran Terry Tullis who won earlier this month. However, there are two young ladies to watch who are making waves among this group. Wendy Kash ran up front the entire race earlier this month and Heather Suggs has been turning some impressive laps in recent Wednesday practices. Also in action will be the Modified Lites and the Pro Challenge Cars. Both groups always put on some fast, close racing.
Pit gates open Saturday at 3PM, grandstand gates at 5:30PM, and racing starts promptly at 7PM. Fans are reminded that grandstand admission on Saturdays is only five dollars with kids 11 and under free. Come out and bring some friends!!!
SPEEDWORLD NOTES:
Legends Car driver Jeremy Colangelo of Longwood gave Patrick Conrad a solid run for his money last week. Looking for an even bigger edge, Colangelo had Central Florida race veteran and Governor's Cup winner Mike Fritts working with him during practice on Wednesday evening. "When you want to try to be the best, you need to learn from the best," said Colangelo. The Colangelo team is toying with the idea of bringing a back-up Legends car out on a Saturday in the near future for Fritts to drive.
The new stock four cylinder Hurricane class continues to grow with several more cars in action last week led by "Raybo," who has been a fixture at the track for some time but won his very first race last week. The quarter-mile dirt Orange County Raceway, which also runs Saturday nights, is right next door and has a very similar class. A couple of those drivers ran their race there and then drove over to the asphalt track and ran the Hurricane feature as well!!!
Speaking of the little dirt track next door, fans watching the races at Speedworld on Saturday nights have a great view of the dirt track racing if they sit in the top rows of the turn four grandstands, while fans sitting at the top of the turn one grandstands have a good view of the action at the Speedworld Drag Strip that also runs on Saturday... Sort of a two (or three)
for the price of one!!!
A professional sound engineer will be at Speedworld Saturday night to help determine what is needed to make the sound system a first-rate one. "We have the equipment to do the job, but the speakers are the big problem right now," says track GM Dick Westfall. "We need the right speakers to do the job, but you just can't just go down to Wal-Mart or even Radio Shack and find what you need. Hopefully, we'll find out what we need to get and where to get it," he says.
On a sad note, long-time Speedworld and FASCAR employee Charles Hudnall passed away in his sleep last week. Hudnall was involved in the operation of Speedworld from its first year in 1974. Even though his health was not good, Hudnall still came to Speedworld through the 2000 season and manned the phones every Friday. Hudnall always took a ribbing because he would tell anyone who called that the weather was bright and sunny even though it might be pouring rain at the time. He will be sorely missed.
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