It was in mid-April 1974 that Orlando SpeedWorld’s oval race track started operation and Friday night’s season opener will mark the beginning of the 40th anniversary celebration for the three-eighths-mile facility that has hosted weekly racing events, major sanctioned races from the likes of USAC, All-Pro, Florida Pro Series and many more plus the ever-popular Crash-A-Rama shows.
The adjacent drag strip began operating ten years earlier, in 1964, and both were initially built and owned by Billy Herndon before being purchased by Clyde Hart in late-1987. Clyde’s son Robert continued to operate the facility until last year when Ozzy Moya took over the reigns. The first race held on the oval track was a Limited Sportsman event won by the late Ed Meredith in a 1965 Chevy Chevelle. The big race on opening day was for Late Model stock cars and was won by the late Gene Johnson of Fort Pierce.
Johnson’s stepson, Doc McKinney, still competes at SpeedWorld to this day. After a somewhat dismal 2013 plagued by some unforeseen management issues and terrible weather, SpeedWorld is bouncing back with a vengeance this year. Moya has named Donnie Vivier as General Manager and he will oversee day-to-day operations of the track as well as helping promote the drag strip. Vivier recently operated the highly successful Central Florida Racing Complex in South Orlando. CFRC opened its doors in 2009 as the Central Florida Road Course, and as it evolved, it developed into an autocross and drifting course as well as a one-eighth-mile drag strip. Before long, it was one of the most popular racing facilities in the State of Florida. But when Orange County forced the dragstrip to be shut down in 2012, CFRC’s main source of revenue was taken away from them. They attempted to keep afloat by continuing to host autocross and drifting events, including sanctioned events by the national drifting series Xtreme Drift Circuit. But it wasn’t enough, and the only full-fledged racing facility to ever form within Orlando’s city limits had to close. Interestingly, the CFRC facility provided young people with an organized facility to allow them to do their racing there and not on the streets. Apparently Orange County did not feel that was all that important.
Vivier now brings his expertise to SpeedWorld. Along with stock car racing this year, Orlando SpeedWorld’s oval track is now beginning to host organized drifting events and many of CFRC’s former drag racing events are now being hosted by SpeedWorld’s drag strip which plans its busiest year ever in 2014. To make sure the stock car racing program gets back on its feet, Butch Carr, Sr. has been brought on as track promoter. Carr has plenty of experience at the track starting as a competitor in Mini-Stocks back in the early-1980s. He has been helping to promote SpeedWorld over the past few years but has now taken on the job full-time. “What we are going to do is get back to some grass roots racing,” says Carr. “We are going to try and build up our lower divisions, attract new drivers, and get the pit area filled up again. Once we start putting on a quality entertaining show, then we can start working to attract more fans to sit in the stands. It won’t happen overnight, but with the support of the race teams and a little bit of sponsorship, we can get the old girl back operating like she should be,” he said.
This Friday night will feature the Pro Trucks in action along with the Super Stocks, Legend Cars, Strictly Stocks, and Four Cylinder Stocks. Several sponsors have already put up a total of $225 for the Strictly/Four Cylinder Stocks to race for. Although recent bad weather has put several “sprucing up” projects behind including some repainting and re-paving of portions of the pit area, the track is ready to go. Work on fixing the track lighting has also been slowed by the weather but Sunbelt Rentals has come on board as a sponsor and has provided SpeedWorld with extra lights for opening night.
Pit gates open Friday afternoon at 4 pm and grandstand gates open at 5 pm. Racing starts at 8 pm. Adult grandstand admission remains at $12 with seniors 65 and older and military personnel with valid ID being admitted for $10. All kids aged 11 and under get in free.