Some great racing is on tap for this Saturday night as Harvest Meat Markets and owners Ed and Anita Kirkland are sponsoring Armed Forces Night at Auburndale Speedway. Members of the Armed Forces, both past and present, in attendance will be recognized and all current military members as well as veterans will receive $5 off their general admission simply by showing their ID card.

The big race of the night will be for the Sunshine State Challenge Series
(SSCS) Pro Trucks who will duke it out for 50 laps. Also on tap are the V-8 Bombers, Mini Stocks, Scramblers and Mini Cup Cars.

Tommy Kelly of Myakka City has two wins at Auburndale this year and has a comfortable lead in the SSCS Pro Truck point standings. Leading the charge to unseat Kelly will be Lakeland’s Cody McDuffie, Cody Martell of Arcadia, Jason “Scooby” Lester of Palmetto, Plant City driver Kristen Clements, Chris Narramore, Sr. of Lakeland, Bradenton’s Danny Anderson, Corey Bigley of Naples, young Lakeland drivers Dakota Hunt and Tyler Davis along with veteran driver William Kerns of Winter Haven who will be making just his third Pro Truck start. The new Greenbriar Landscape team of Nick Haag and Big Donnie Burkhalter will also be in the line-up. (more…)

The fields of cars weren’t huge but race fans got to see some awesome racing and close finishes on a windy, smoky Saturday night courtesy of huge brush fires burning to the west of the Polk County area. It was also Cinco De Mayo night and each race winner recieved a designer sombrero.

The Sunshine State Challenge Series Pro Trucks were back in town and a decent field signed in with quick time going to Myakka City driver Tommy Kelly at
14.483 seconds while Lakeland’s Cody McDuffie was second fastest at 14.615 and Donnie Burkhalter of Ocoee third quick at 14.679.

The re-draw put McDuffie and Burkhalter on the front row with Jason Lester and Kelly starting the 50-lap event from row two. McDuffie took off at the drop of the green and opened up a substantial lead over Lester, Burkhalter, Kelly and Danny Anderson as that quartet put some distance on the remaining starters. Kelly and Anderson slipped by Burkhalter on lap 16 to move up to third and fourth with Kelly sliding by Lester for second on the 24th lap and Anderson moving into the top three on lap 30 as the race looked like it might go the whole way under green. (more…)

For the second time this season Auburndale Speedway hosted twin 50-lap events for the Sunshine State Challenge Series Open Wheel Modifieds and Street Stocks along with celebrating the Easter weekend with a huge Easter egg “bash” and prizes for the kids including bicycles and nearly 50 Easter baskets donated by the drivers, race teams/sponsors and fans.

Polk City’s Josh Todd, who had a stellar 2016 season driving a Modified for Dick Anderson before Anderson sold the car late in the year, was back with his old team and they had a brand new #0 car on track for the first time.

Everything was working well for Todd as he was fastest in qualifying right out of the box turning a lap of 13.935 seconds to just nip veteran Herb Neuman by one-one-thousandth of a second as Neuman stopped the clocks at 13.936!  Bobby Blake of Eustis was third quick at 14.253.

Shawn Harper and Blake would bring the field down for the start with Neuman and Todd making up row two.  Harper led the opening three circuits before Neuman stormed past bringing Chad Rutherford and Todd along with him. (more…)

After two weeks away from stock car racing action due to the Night of Destruction and the time needed to clean up after it, Auburndale Speedway gets it’s season into high gear starting this Saturday night.  The Sunshine State Challenge Series has a pair of 50-lap contests on tap for the Open Wheel Modifieds and the Street Stocks plus the Mini Stocks and Scramblers will also see action.

Along with the racing, there will be a huge “Easter Bash.”  This big Easter egg and prize hunt will take place at intermission when track officials and a bevy of volunteers lay out the prizes and eggs on the track and in the infield.  Once the goodies are set out, the younger kids aged 7 and under will go with their parents to one area to do their hunt.  They will be given a set time to collect all they can and then the kids aged 8-12 will be given a set time to go through all that remains on the track.  The children will be asked to be on their best behavior, though, as the speedway will not allow any running, pushing etc.  If any child becomes unruly, track officials will ask them to stop collecting and go back to stands with their parents as the speedway wants everyone to have a good, yet safe, fun time.  After the “hunting” concludes, track workers will clean up everything that remains quickly so racing can be resumed in a timely manner. (more…)