Remember that old mystery movie line "The Butler did it"...well, add an "s" to that old saying and you have the T.B.A.R.A. Sprint results Friday night at Orlando Speedworld as the Butlers did it to the rest of a very competitive sprint car field.

The Butlers in question are Keith and Shane, son's of veteran driver Stan Butler. After Todd Schmidt took heat race #1, Keith Butler dominated heat #2 while younger brother Shane Butler ran off with heat #3. The only majoy incident of the entire evening took place in the first heat when something broke on Jerry Jones car just after taking the initial green. His spriner skid through the infield, then back up the track and hard into the wall. The car was out for the night but Jones was A-OK.

Shane Butler had the pole for the 25-lap feature and jumped out to a healthy lead as Bobby Rose was fending off an angry pack of cars for second. Keith Butler started ninth and was picking his way through the field taking fifth spot just as Kevin Cahill stalled in turn two to bring out the races only caution flag.

Once green flew again, Keith Butler wasted little time picking off his competitors, finally catching his younger brother. Shane was able to fend off Keith for three laps but Keith's Riverview Paving Equipment special was on rails and he blasted by and ran off to victory. Shane Butler held on for second making it the first time the two siblings finished one-two in a T.B.A.R.A. race.

Father Stan Butler was both proud and impressed by his sons' performances only wishing he could have been in the field too, but a crash the previous week at Ocala sidelined his car. What made Keith Butler's run even more impressive was that he was driving a former dirt sprinter that was given to him after it had been wrecked during 1999 Speedweeks. Butler clipped the front of the car himself making it into an asphalt sprinter. Although the car's dirt heritage was still there as Keith said it hooked up better when he drove through the sand on the edge of the race track exiting the corners.

Bo Hartley, another second generation racer, made a late pass on Todd Schmidt to put his Stephens International Shipping 3X into the show position. Schmidt held on for fourth with veteran Jim Childers taking fifth spot in the Jim Riddle Herbalife machine after starting 12th. Point leader Wayne Reutimann took the Heckman Motorsports/Eagle Jet International/Race against Drugs sprinter to a sixth place finish a head of 17-year old Shaun Farr who drove a steady race to seventh. Bobby Rose, Dave Pletcher and former Supermod and NASCAR Star Doug Heveron rounded out the top ten.

The Late Models were gearing up for next week's SARA/Late Model 100 but it was rookie "Tall" Tim Laurent who took the measure of the field in his Seanco Trucking sponsored machine. Only Kenny Crites' spin with two laps to go slowed Laurent as he took an easy victory over Eddie King, Dallas Ward, Chris Fontaine and Mike Murphy. Laurent and King were heat race winners.

It looked like Jason Boyd was going to make it three wins in a row in the modifieds despite heavy pressure from second heat winner John Grimm. However a lapped car spun in front of the leaders with three las to go. Boyd backed off thinking the caution was coming out--it didn't--and Grimm drove around Boyd and raced to the win in his RoDan Fire Sprinklers Camaro bodied modified. Boyd was second trailed by Chuck Burkhalter, first heat winner Frank Polly and "Hot Rod" Sanders.

In the "What else is new" category, Kelly Jarrett remained undefeated in 2000 with his fifth straight mini-stock win. Carl "Peanut" Green ran second in the Ugly Duckling/Thrifty Nickel Ford but couldn't catch Jarrett's fleet Toyota. Jamie "Mr. Restart" Dixson took third over Lakeland's Bo Davis and Gary Green.

Sportsman action saw a first time winner in Sam Bowman who led most of the way in the car which Andy Nichols won the 1999 Points Title in. Bowman outran Russ Shaw who finished second for the third week in a row which Richard Hight, Kevin McMullan and Mark Scherer rounded out the top five.

Unlike last week, Rich Clouser and Duane Freed finished 1 & 2 but got to keep their spots in the final Super Stock rundown. Both had come up light on the scales the week before. Mike Peppler came home third over Homer Gordon and Darren Gould.

The new Strickly Stock class continues to grow and it was Chris Kirkgard taking his first step towards a career in Winston Cup with his first win at Speedworld. Kirkgard held off Roger Favreau for the win while Stan Price, Robbie Gay and Carmen Sottanti rounded out the top five.

1967 Governor's Cup Champion Dumont Smith was on hand at the track to watch the action and reportedly turned down several offers to drive some top-line sprint cars.

Next Week it is the SARA/Late Model 100 for the Late Models while the Classic Racing Series makes its first Speedworld 2000 appearance on April 28th.

LATE MODELS

FINISHING POSITION CAR NUMBER DRIVER
1 32 TIM LAURENT
2 16 EDDIE KING
3 15 DALLAS WARD
4 47 CHRIS FONTAINE
5 26 MIKE MURPHY
6 67 CHAD ALLMAN
7 8 MIKE McCARY
8 31 WINDER GUY
9 57 CHAD PIERCE
10 1 KENNY CRITES
11 84 MIKE TODD
12 6 DAVID HART

MODIFIEDS

FINISHING POSITION CAR NUMBER DRIVER
1 72 JOHN GRIMM
2 2X JASON BOYD
3 30 CHUCK BURKHALTER
4 34 FRANK POLLY
5 90 HANK SANDERS
6 14 ARIC ALMIROLE
7 66 GARY ENGLISH
8 51 RANDY LEWIS
9 4J ALAN BRONS
10 55X DWAYNE WEOMANS
11 54 RUSS THOMSON

SPORTSMAN

FINISHING POSITION CAR NUMBER DRIVER
1 49 SAMUEL BOWMAN
2 11 RUSS SHAW
3 23 RICHARD HIGHT
4 43X KEVIN MCMULLAN
5 00 MARK SCHERER
6 27 SCOTT TYLER
7 15 BILLY BELFLOWER
8 ONO JEFF MILLER
9 98 RAY RIVERS
10 04 DOUG SAMION

MINI-STOCKS

FINISHING POSITION CAR NUMBER DRIVER
1 97 KELLY JARRETT
2 30 CARL GREEN
3 6 JAMIE DIXSON
4 67 BO DAVIS
5 46 GARY GREEN
6 25 TIM CLARK
7 1 BLAKE SMITH
8 71 RONNIE WOODCOCK
9 44 TOM ROSE
10 17 JOHN GAY
11 37 JIM ENGSTROM
12 5 EUGENE DAVIDSON

SUPER STOCK

FINISHING POSITION CAR NUMBER DRIVER
1 17 RICH CLOUSER
2 11 DUANE FREED
3 81 MIKE PEPPLER
4 22 HOMER GORDON
5 67 DAREN GOULD
6 1 FRED PETERS
7 7X BOB WINE
8 L3 LEONARD STORY
9 07 LEE MORGAN
10 38 STEVE HAGY

STRICKLY STOCK

FINISHING POSITION CAR NUMBER DRIVER
1 25 CHRIS KIRKGARD
2 24 ROGER FAVREAU
3 7 STAN PRICE
4 29 ROBBIE GAY
5 52 CARMEN SOTTSANTI

by Dave Westerman
See the Dave Westerman Collection of vintage photos


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