LJ Grimm wins Southern Sprint Car Series race at Citrus County Speedway

Racing Recap of March 5, 2022

Citrus County Speedway

by: Shari Phillips

The best way to cap a gorgeous March day is with a fantastic night at the races. The weather cooperated with mid 80’s, sunshine, and a cool breeze.

It was great to see some new faces at the sign in table for the BG Products Southern Sprint Car Series along with those that have already put their footprints on the Season Points Board. Veteran Winged Sprint drivers Stan Butler and Sonny Hartley donned their fire suits to join the elite group of drivers already familiar with the series fan favorites.

Garrett Green was back in action and the much anticipated return of Dude Teate was quickly bringing energy to the pits as the regulars lined up to take in some practice laps. Teate was the first casualty of the day when his motor laid oil around the popular asphalt oval making for a lengthy clean up. Sport Allen also discovered during practice that the 88A wasn’t running up to par and would sit out the night.

Rapidly gaining popularity inside the series fan base, Davey Hamilton Jr and Bruce Brantley (last year’s rookie) would start on the front row of the Signfast Superstore heat 1. Nestled behind them were Aaron Pierce, Garrett Green, Gary Wiggins, and Bo Hartley. The second Butler Speed & Supply heat 2 saw series regulars Tommy Nichols and Stephen Hollinger capitalizing on front row honors followed by LJ Grimm, the first week’s winner Daniel Miller, Sonny Hartley, and Stan Butler. Butler was piloting the hauntingly familiar black 33 as Mac Steele had painstakingly made the museum show piece ready to race again.

Both Hamilton Jr and Nichols made good on their front row spots by claiming their respective Heat Wins.

The Feature Line Up brought controversy as there were many newly registered drivers for the 2022 season along with those that had already pocketed points at 4-17 Speedway 2 weeks earlier. After grinding out the specifics, Hamilton Jr and Stephen Hollinger sat in the catbird seats for the A Main.

A caution was thrown on lap 4, regrouping the cars. LJ Grimm took advantage of the restart and joined Hamilton Jr for a front row run. It wasn’t long and Grimm had claimed the coveted front spot and didn’t relinquish it. Hamilton Jr left the track in second place followed by Daniel Miller, Aaron Pierce, and Bruce Bentley. The finish was quickly readjusted when Hamilton Jr, Pierce, and Bentley forgot to make their stops in tech, refreshing the finish by placing them to the end of the lead lap. This reconfigured the final payoff sheet to reflect the new finishing order.

Congratulations to LJ Grimm for parking the beautiful 88, owned by Taylor Andrews and sponsored by Dayton Andrews Dodge & BG Products, in Victory Lane. The remainder of the final finish was Daniel Miller, Tommy Nichols, Davey Hamilton Jr, Aaron Pierce, Bruce Bentley, Sonny Hartley, Gary Wiggins, Bo Hartley, Stephen Hollinger, Garrett Green, Stan Butler. Dude Teat and Sport Allen did not start the A-Main.

The Butler Speed & Supply award rolls over to the next event at 4-17 on March 19th. Anyone who can win both their Heat and the A Main in one night claims the pot. The pot now sits at $200.

A huge shout out to Camron Ray and the Support Staff at Citrus County Speedway for making the BG Sprint Series feel at home.

Donnie Dobbins Tribute weekend for Season opener this weekend at All-Tech Raceway this Weekend

It’s Race Week

Practice Friday Night from 6-9

Saturday’s corn hole tournament will start at 1 – 4. $10 bucks to enter. Then Racing at 7pm.

All in honor of our friend Donnie Dobbins!

***Camping

Trackside camping is available, first come first serve. Pit pricing applies.

Friday $20 per person.

Saturday $30 per person.

These are all access passes!

Any questions call 386 754 7223

Thanks everyone!

Don’t miss out on our Season Opener!

Friday Night Test n Tune 6pm- 9pm then we gather with food and drinks to remember our friend Donnie Dobbins.

$20/per person pits. Grandstand free.

Saturday, Corn Hole Tournament

From 1pm – 4pm. $10 to enter. We will draw for teams. (This tournament is being run by professionals with scoring equipment, monitors and boards!)

Then We Race, warm ups at 6pm Racing at 7pm.

The BG Products Southern Sprint Car Series headlines Citrus County Speedway this weekend

THIS SATURDAY: The Southern Outlaw Winged Sprint Car Series returns Saturday March 5th! These guys are FAST, WILD, and CRAZY! They are the fastest cars to hit the track all year long and they are only here 2 times this year! The Pro Truck division will be joining the fun as well! In my opinion the Pro Trucks put on some of the best racing all throughout the 2021 Season! We hope to see everyone here for this action-packed show!

Southern Outlaw Winged Sprint Cars 40 Laps

Pro Trucks 50 Laps

Crockett’s Towing Ford Outlaws 25 Laps

Powder Puff 25 Laps

Little Gator Motorsports Legend Cars 25 Laps

Mod Minis 25 Laps

Grandstands Open at 5:30

Qualifying at 6:30

General Admission $15.00

Kids 17 and under are $5.00

Kids 6 and under are FREE!

King of the Bullrings for the Pure Stocks kicks off next weekend at Auburndale Speedway with the Tractor Dave Memorial

Apologies for the delays in information for everyone. We’ve been trying to work out a few kinks. With that being said we apologize for the late notice, but we are extremely excited to announce that the first King of the Bullrings race will be next Saturday night March 12th, 2022, at Auburndale Speedway! Not only will this be our first race, but we honored that this race will also be the ‘Tractor Dave memorial’. Anybody who knew Tractor Dave knew what an avid race fan/ car owner he was and how much he loved pure stock racing!

Rex Guy and staff are working on finalizing the full purse, but this 50-lap race will pay $1500 to win thanks to some great sponsorship! On top of that, drivers will be racing for two awesome trophies, one King of the Bullring special trophy and the other a ‘Tractor Dave memorial’ trophy!

As always, King of the Bullrings is NOT a sanctioning race series. We are a group of individuals devoting time for the betterment of racing. ANY and ALL rules, regulations, purses, formats and scheduling amongst many other things will be handled directly by the tracks and their officials. We will not overrule any decisions made by the tracks or their officials. We WILL play by their rules. Any questions in relation to the actual races themselves should be directed to the track itself. We are essentially just here to help promote some big races for the Pure Stock division and to say thank you to the tracks for working together!

Rules will be Auburndale Speedway 2022 Pure Stock rules and subject to Auburndale Speedway official’s interpretation.

Lovelady and Gorham Jr. set to battle for Super Late Model twin 50 wins at Auburndale Speedway Saturday night 3/5/2022

The Super Late Models are back for twin 50’s this weekend at the bullring of Auburndale Speedway, and the action is sure to be hot as Chase Lovelady continues to his recent reign on the wins as George Gorham Jr tries to take back his top spot in the class.  A good field of cars is expects with other names like Guy, Dorer, Holmes, and Elkins and many others.

Also Racing Will Be:

Video from last twin 50 from Auburdale Speedway:

Michael Hinde Named Sunshine State Racing Driver of the month for February

In a really Close call Michael Hinde wins Driver of the month for February.  TJ DeCaire came home a close Second.

Michael won 3 out of 5 Pro Late model races at the World Series of Asphalt and took home the championship.

Winners from Around the State Weekend 2/26/2022 brought to you by Southern Racing Fuels (Sunoco)

4-17 Southern Speedway:

2/26/2022 at 4-17 Southern Speedway

Auburndale Speedway:

Sportsman:

Adam Briggs

Kevin Macey

Charlie Brown

Cody Brinson

Gary Mcfall

Pro Trucks:

Chase King

Becca Monopoli

Kristen Clements

Cody Mcduffie

Daniel McClain

Mini Cup Young Guns:

Carsen Roberts

Carsen Holt

Kyle Hall

Mini Cup Masters

Kyle Harmon

Kendall Wheeler

Bray Gainey

Scramblers:

Bray Gainey

Matt Miller

Kelly Hahn

Legends:

Lacy Kuehl

Mason Lastra

Jason Baker

Citrus County Speedway:

Open Wheel Modifieds:

Ritchie Smith

Donny Duschesne

Bobby Diestler

Ford Outlaws:

Brayden Boardman

Thomas Peet

Daniel Webster

Ford outlaw fig 8

Thomas Peet

Jesse Veltman

Eric Sharrone

Pure Stock:

David Kingsbury

Sport Wilson

Eric Stokes

Street Stocks:

Jonathan Appleby

Peanut Waller

Jase Henley

Tony Carreno, The Man, The Myth, The Legend behind Circle C’s Ranch

What is circle C’s Ranch you may ask?  It is a 40 acre grassy horse stable and training facility in Lutz, FL.   And to be honest the legend behind the ranch is not Tony but his wife Cheryl.   Your next question is probably ehat does it have to do with Florida short trackracing?  Well that is where Tony comes into play.  Tony a former great at open wheel modified racing in Florida took part of the ranch and built a dirt track for hid grandson to practice go carts on.  Eventually they turned that into an asphalt track and are currently building another dirt track.  Who is his Grandson you may ask?  Well it is the one and only 12 year old Colton “The Bolt” Bettis.

I know a lot of you have heard me joke about Circle C’s ranch being the boot camp of go karting, but in a way that’s not true and in a way it is.   But Circle’s ranch is really where boy’s become men and legends in racing are born.  Again I have joked that Tony is the Mr. Miyagi of go karting and in a small way he is.

A lot of you may think that is strange and that is just someone wasting money on their grandchildren, but that is far from the truth.  While this track has propelled Colton into a karting champion and now a sprint car driver at 12, it is not all fun and games.  Before the karting there are many life lesson’s being taught here.  To get to earn karting time there is respect being taught and a lot of hard work.  Like on the tractor and move the dirt here and there to earn time to train.  He is teaching the kids ” His Grandson and friends to become nice young men and future races with manners and endurance training.

Life lessons that will take them far in like and the racing world.  Tony was one of the greats in open wheel racing Florid with lot’s of wins and he put that all a side when his Grandson was born, and had nos now carried this on to his grandson’s friend as well.  Many of Florida’s future racers have had a lesson or two at this remote ranch or training ground.

We all know racing takes money but in reality there is a lot more to it than that.  Tony is a man with a heart of gold and is teaching these kids the right way and making men out of boy’s and leaving a future in a better place. He does this not for fame or attention but to leave our world a better place and to help develop our future.   He is a man with few words and someone I respect and appreciate.  Someone I thought you should know a little more about with this story.

A story of what racing is really about.

Thank You Tony for the many contributions to our sport and we wont name them all here.

Video of the kids racing:

Interview after a training session:

Miller Wins Southern Sprint Car Shootout series Opener 4-17 Southern Speedway

Story by Pavement Pounders David Sink:

MILLER BEATS SAND AND COMPETITION TO WIN SOUTHERN SPRINTS OPENER

February 19, 2022 – Punta Gorda, Florida – Daniel Miller beat out a stout field and track conditions to win the BG Products Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series season opener Saturday night at 417 Speedway. It was Miller’s first victory in SSSS competition since June 20, 2020.

Miller, who started from the pole position after a blind draw, lead wire-to wire to capture the 40-lap feature in convincing fashion. The only serious threat to Miller’s lead occurred late in the race when Scott Adema challenged him on a double-file restart. Miller fended off Adema and never looked back.

Throughout most of the race, sand was being kicked up on the track due to the whirlwind the wings were producing, most notably in turns two and four. The track conditions made most of the cars race sideways throughout the biggest part of the race, including Miller himself.

The race saw several early favorites exit early due to mechanical woes including Troy DeCaire and Davey Hamilton Jr.

“There was sand everywhere tonight” stated Miller in victory lane. “For some reason this track gets very dirty with sand. Starting up front tonight definitely helped me, but as good as the car felt, I feel like we could have put it up front no matter where we would have started.”

“We never really had any close calls other than getting into the sand in turn one. When that would happen, the car would step out. Other than that, it was a clean race for us. I didn’t know if anyone was close, but I was going as hard as I could in case someone was on my bumper.”

With Millers feature win, and heat race win, he should be the current point leader. “We’re gonna try and run for the championship this year with Doug Kinney and PCS Racing. We got another car being built so if we have problems, we’ll have a back-up. This is definitely a good start to the season for us”. concluded Miller.

40-LAP FEATURE FINISH

1. Daniel Miller (5)

2. Scott Adema (67)

3. Aaron Pierce (26)

4. Sport Allen (88a)

5. LJ Grimm (88)

6. Tommy Nichols (55)

7. Bruce Brantley (25)

8. Steven Hollinger (22x)

9. Bo Hartley (32)

10. Davey Hamilton Jr. (14)

11. Troy DeCaire (36)

12. Ryan Adema (92)

13. Skip Ferniac (83)

Daniel Miller wins the Butler Speed & Supply Perfect Performance Award.

Congratulations to Daniel Miller with Daniel Miller Racing for the feature win at the 2022 season opener for the Southern Sprint Car Series at 4-17 Southern Speedway!

He was also the winner of the Butler Speed and Supply Perfect Performance Award for winning the Signs Fast Super Store Heat AND AMain!

The award is reset for $100 for the next race at Citrus County Speedway and Track LLC on March 5th.

Super Late Model 100 & Street Stock 50 Highlight the action This weekend at 4-17 Southern Speedway

Super Late Model 100 & Street Stock 50 Highlight the action

Join us this Saturday, February 26th for a full night of stock car action. On the card Saturday night will be the Super Late Model (100), Street Stock(50), Pure Stock(25), Dwarf Cars(25) and TQ Midgets(25).

Admission Prices for February 26th are:

Pits – $35

Grandstands:

Adult $20

Seniors 65+, Military, 1st responder all w/ valid ID only $18

Students 6-17 w/ valid ID only $13

Children 5 & under are free

Pit gates open 12pm

Grandstand Gates open 4pm

Qualifying begins 6pm

Features are directly after qualifying

4-17 Southern Speedway is a family friendly venue where everybody is always welcome. Located 8655 Piper Rd, Punta Gorda, Fl 33982 ~ just across from the PG airport~ off I-75 between exits 161 & 164. We are a cash only venue – an ATM will be on the premises the day of the event

No outside food or beverages are allowed inside the gates

No Pets are allowed on the property

No firearms, fireworks, or any type of weapons are allowed on the property – violators will be reported to local authorities and FAA

Cash only- ATM will be on premises day of event

This is a family friendly venue

Pricing and features classes subject to change without prior notice