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| Feel "FREE" to come to Orlando SpeedWorld Friday Night | by Dave Westerman
The past few months have been unnerving for Central Florida residents and getting back to a sense of normality will take some time. Therefore, FASCAR has decided to give race fans some relief by inviting everyone to attend Friday nights race program at Orlando Speedworld for free.
The evening is being made possible thanks to several great sponsors including Orlando Dodge, Clear Channel Communications radio stations Real Rock 101.1 and 740 The Team, Budweiser, Coca Cola, American Classifieds, and Auto Parts of Taft.
Speedworld will also officially debut it's new Dodge Ram Hemi-powered pace truck which is courtesy of the fine folks at Orlando Dodge.
Even though admission is free, fans are asked to bring a small cash donation for the American Red Cross. All donations will be given to the Red Cross in Brevard County since many Speedworld fans and drivers live in the Brevard area which was hit hard by Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne.
Although rumors are floating around that the season may be extended somewhat to make up for the two months of racing that has been lost this year, teams understand that time is now short in the race for individual class championships with the closest race in the Super Late Model division.
Orlando's Ricky Wood is back on top of the Super Late Model standings, but by just 16 over Cocoa's Jared Allison. Although these two will surely fight it out for the title, the race for third place is even closer. Patrick Conrad (who won his first career SLM race here last week) and Bobby Fleckinger are tied for third with Ronnie Roach only four points back going into this weeks action.
Wood continues to lead the Modified standings as well, but much-improved Mark Emberson has trimmed the lead to just 68 markers in recent weeks.
The Sportsman drivers finally get to run their oft-postponed 50 lap special this week but it looks like Intercession City's Richard Hight will be the man to beat as he currently holds a 98 point advantage over rookie driver Bobby Joe Woodley.
The Mini Stock point race could get interesting before all is said and done.
This week the Mini Stocks will run their first point race since August 5th. Since that time point leader Chad Ashley, who holds a huge 166 point edge, has sold his car. Word has it that Ashley will borrow another car to finish the season, but if he doesn't the race for the title could be a dandy between second place Sean Bass and third place R.J. Arnone who are just 12 points apart.
Ted Head continues to hold a decent 72 point advantage over Bob Beiler in the Super Stock points. Beiler finally turned around some recent hard luck by getting his first win of the year last week going flag to flag for the victory.
Orlando Speedworld will also be in action Saturday night as well with the RE/MAX Legends Cars, Bandeleros and Hurricanes making up the program.
Two new faces have graced RE/MAX Legends victory lane the past two shows in the person of Jeremy Colangelo and Kory Abbott. However Patrick Conrad is expected to be back in the field this week to lay claim to his place at the top of the Legends mountain after already wrapping up the points title.
Pit gates open Friday at 4PM, grandstands open at 6PM - again with FREE GENERAL ADMISSION! Racing starts promptly at 8PM.
Saturday, pit gates open at 3PM, grandstands at 5:30PM and racing begins at 7PM with adult admission only $5.00 and kids 11 and under free.
SPEEDWORLD NOTES:
FASCAR Super Late Model star David Rogers continues to recuperate from injuries suffered in a bad crash last week that saw his TM Ranch Dodge hit the wall hard on the drivers side in turn one at the completion of lap one in the SLM feature. Rogers, who normally only runs New Smyrna Speedway and the Sunbelt Series races, was so "antsy" to go racing that he made his first regular season appearance here in over three years although it's one he'd now like to forget. Rogers suffered a severe concussion, two broken ribs, bruises and lost a tooth in the crash. He was released from the hospital the Sunday after the crash and hopes to be back in the seat as soon as possible.
As if Ricky Wood doesn't have enough race cars to run along with leading both the Super Late Model and Modified points, he made his debut in a new Legends car last Saturday night and scored an impressive sixth place finish in the "little cars." His new Legend came as part of a deal where his son Derrick's Bandelero was part of the transaction meaning the younger Wood is no longer a Bandelero driver but will concentrate on running the Legends alongside his dad.
Danny Shearer made his first start last week in his Sportsman car since having open heart surgery earlier this year. Shearer intially had been told by his doctors to take 12 weeks off following the operation before racing again. That time off was extended significantly by the hurricane hat-trick but Danny looks great. Shearer has been racing since the early sixties when he used to share a Hudson Hornet with now Florida State Senator Bill Posey at Eau Gallie Speedway.
2003 Modified champion John Foerg was finally back in action last week. Foerg "lost" his ride in Don Emberson's open wheeler to Don's son Mark Emberson who has been one of the drivers to beat lately in the class. Foerg, by the way, didn't have to go far for his "new" ride... it's Don Emberson's other car that used to be driven at Speedworld by Frank Polly. Former FASCAR Sunbelt Series champion Michael Williams has left South 40 Motorsports to start his own business, Volusia County Racecars. Williams was sporting a new Super Late Model last week with his old number "32" on the door.
If you have a child age 8 or up that is interested in racing, a big effort is now under way to boost the popularity of the Bandelero classes for 2005. If you are interested in trying a car free of charge, contact Russ Thomson at (407) 857-0042. "After the initial cost of getting the car and required safety gear, which is not really all that expensive compared to some other forms of the sport for young drivers, these cars are really cost effective,"
says Thomson. He goes on to say that the Bandeleros are also easy to operate and maintain on a small budget and require just a basic knowledge of mechanics.
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