{"id":14364,"date":"2012-10-08T23:32:01","date_gmt":"2012-10-08T23:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/?p=14364"},"modified":"2012-10-08T23:32:01","modified_gmt":"2012-10-08T23:32:01","slug":"florida-mafia-to-defend-home-turf-at-47th-annual-florida-governors-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/front-page-news\/florida-mafia-to-defend-home-turf-at-47th-annual-florida-governors-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cFlorida Mafia\u201d to Defend Home Turf at 47th Annual Florida Governor\u2019s Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"With only 40 days left until the 47th annual running of the\u00a0Florida Governor\u2019s Cup 200, all eyes of the\u00a0New Smyrna Speedway\u00a0Super Late Model drivers, also known as\u00a0\u201cThe Florida Mafia\u201d<\/em>, are staring at the border, eagerly awaiting this year\u2019s challengers. In 2011 it was 15 year old phenom, Michigan driver,\u00a0Erik Jones\u00a0who took the challenge and it paid off in a big way. Jones led all 200 laps in a flawless performance against a full field of seasoned drivers leaving racers and race fans alike stunned. It had been a 30 year streak for the \u201cMafia\u201d reigning supreme and defending their race. The last outsider to do it, in 1981, was fellow Michigan native\u00a0Mike Eddy.<\/p>\n

What is the draw to the\u00a0Florida Governor\u2019s Cup?\u00a0It\u2019s quite simple really. Of course there is prize money and a take-home trophy, but the true prize for winning this race is the pride and honor that comes with adding your name to the Al Keller Trophy. Commissioned in 1965 by then Governor Hayden Burns, the trophy commemorates Florida\u2019s most historic race and adorns the names of those that have stood proud as Governor\u2019s Cup Champions. Legendary drivers like\u00a0Gary Balough, Robert Hamke, Ed Howe, Dick Trickle, Mike Eddy, Dick Anderson, David Rogers\u00a0and\u00a0Wayne Anderson\u00a0are among the 29 that have accomplished the feat.<\/p>\n

9-time NASCAR National Champion, the late\u00a0Richie Evans, coined the phrase, \u201cIf you can win at New Smyrna Speedway, you can win anywhere in the Country\u201d. Over the last few years even more \u2018out-of-state\u2019 drivers have begun to return to the high-banked half-mile each November to test their skills at what is considered one of the Country\u2019s toughest half-mile ovals. More and more non-Mafia members have found recent success. In 2010 Ohio\u2019s\u00a0Jimmy Weller\u00a0sat on the pole for the event alongside a car owned by former winner\u00a0Robert Hamke\u00a0with driver\u00a0Ryan Lawler. Weller would dominate early, but the 200 lap distance on the 28\u00ba banks would prove too much and he dropped out with mechanical problems halfway through. When the dust settled it was Florida\u2019s\u00a0David Rogers, veteran of the NSS half-mile, who took the checkers to extend the streak of \u201cMafia\u201d drivers in Victory Lane. Nobody was prepared for what was to follow in 2011. Who would\u2019ve thought that a 15 year old driver in just his second time behind the wheel of a Super Late Model would hold off Rogers, at his home track, to break the streak!<\/p>\n

The Florida Governor\u2019s Cup\u00a0is more than just a race. It\u2019s young versus old, big money versus garage teams and perhaps most notably, it\u2019s the best drivers in the State of Florida defending their turf and the hallowed grounds of their home track against the best that dare to come in and try to steal the glory, the prestige and the title of Florida Governor\u2019s Cup Champion.<\/p>\n

Joining the\u00a0Super Late Models\u00a0for the two-day event will be the\u00a0Pro Late Models\u00a0who will run for 100 laps on Friday (11\/16) along with the\u00a0FASCAR Pro-Trucks 75\u00a0lap State Championship race. The 200 lap Governor\u2019s Cup will headline Satruday (11\/17) with a special 100 lap\u00a0Open Wheel Modified\u00a0feature for $5,000.00 to win presented by HTI – Heat Treating Inc, to follow.<\/p>\n

Entry Forms for all divisions are available online at\u00a0www.NewSmyrnaSpeedway.org<\/a>. Teams with oversized haulers (10\u2019 or taller) must reserve Pit Slab, free of charge, by calling Kim Brown at 386-427-4129.<\/p>\n

Race fans can purchase advanced discounted tickets at all Central Florida area\u00a0Walgreen\u2019s\u00a0stores beginning on October 26th through\u00a0See Event Engineering, LLC. Advance tickets are $20.00 for 11\/16 and $25.00 for 11\/17. (Cost at the gate is $5.00 more.)<\/p>\n

For those that can\u2019t make it to the Speedway, we are pleased to welcome back\u00a0Speed51.com\u00a0as the\u00a0Official Media Outlet\u00a0of the\u00a0Florida Governor\u2019s Cup 200\u00a0with their live and in-depth Trackside Now coverage throughout the event. Fans can follow along with all the action on the track, as well as behind the scenes activities in the pit area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With only 40 days left until the 47th annual running of the\u00a0Florida Governor\u2019s Cup 200, all eyes of the\u00a0New Smyrna Speedway\u00a0Super Late Model drivers, also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"publish_to_discourse":"","publish_post_category":"","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,3,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-front-page-news","category-new-smyrna-speedway"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14364"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14371,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14364\/revisions\/14371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}