{"id":2073,"date":"2010-07-16T08:54:36","date_gmt":"2010-07-16T08:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/?p=2073"},"modified":"2010-07-17T04:07:45","modified_gmt":"2010-07-17T04:07:45","slug":"larry-macmillan-memorial-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/front-page-news\/larry-macmillan-memorial-100\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry MacMillan Memorial 100"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jack Smith<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Three<\/a>

Three wide action in the Larry MacMillan Memorial 100<\/p><\/div>\n

When you can get 33\u00a0 open wheel modifieds show up for a 100 lap race in central Florida these days it is a big deal.\u00a0\u00a0 So it was at Citrus County Speedway this past Saturday night, a big deal indeed for the first Annual Larry MacMillan Memorial 100.<\/p>\n

While most asphalt tracks these days in Florida would be happy to get half as many,\u00a0 Citrus seems to have found something with the modifieds.\u00a0 There were enough cars to run a “B” Main, which earned the top two cars in the\u00a020 lap race a trip to the night’s featured 100 lap event.\u00a0 Interestingly, two of\u00a0Florida’s top drivers, both track champions and winners of major events, did not\u00a0 finish high enough to get in the feature.\u00a0 Mulberry’s\u00a0 Wayne Morris and New Smyrna Beach’s\u00a0Jerry Symons,\u00a0 one of the best to ever race at New Smyrna\u00a0 Speedway, \u00a0had to pack up and watch from the grandstands.<\/p>\n

The Modified feature was a good one, a handful of short cautions gave fans time to catch their breaths, and until the post race inspections were concluded, took many veteran observers by surprise.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Gerstner started on the pole by way of a three row inversion set by the roll of the dice.\u00a0 He managed to lead the first 28 laps,\u00a0 at times pulling away from the field and setting a pretty fast pace.\u00a0 Mark Nelson from Clearwater took the lead from Gerstner and when the #19 of Tommy Schnader spun out on lap 32 Gerstner left the track but was able to return for the restart joining the field at the rear.<\/p>\n

When the green dropped for the restart, \u00a0Nelson was followed by Robbie Cooper, Wayne Jefferson (driving Tony Careno’s #61), Kyle Bookmiller and Fort Myers driver L.B. Skaggs in the #71.\u00a0 Two other fast cars were at the rear on this restart, those being #46\u00a0 Doug Moff and #19 Tommy Schnader.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The top five cars pulled away from the rest of the field, but the excitement was at the rear with Moff, Gerstner and Schnader battling each other hard while trying to pass slower cars.\u00a0 Moff spun out in turn one on lap 37, bringing out the fourth short caution of the race.<\/p>\n

At lap 49 the race was halted so the drivers could take on fuel. During the short break announcer Phil Schryver interviewed the top contenders from the infield.\u00a0 “These things sometimes turn into crash fests,\u00a0 but\u00a0 everybody\u00a0 is doing pretty good and staying out of trouble”,\u00a0 Robbie Cooper said.\u00a0 The “Rocket Man” \u00a0Wayne Jefferson laughed when he said, “We’re not bad, trying to ride and keep the tires on this thing, but L.B. [Skaggs] is making it rough on me back there. It’s all good, we’re having fun.” \u00a0 Skaggs meanwhile had this to say during the break,\u00a0 “We’re hanging in there, trying to stay calm, I figure the last 30 laps it will get interesting with the top eight cars here, we’ll probably get a little goofy here.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The restart was set so that drivers could choose a lane when they approached a red cone set on the track just before the entry into turn one, one lap before the green flag would restart the feature.\u00a0 L.B. Skaggs was the first to choose the outside followed by Sean McLaughlin.<\/p>\n

It took two tries to get lap 50 in, but after that the full field of cars raced for 46 caution-free laps.\u00a0 Skaggs grabbed the lead on the restart, passing Nelson on\u00a0the outside and held onto the lead until the lap 95 yellow.<\/p>\n

Skaggs would go on to win the race, only to be disqualified in tech for being too light for the motor package he was running, according to a track official.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Robbie Cooper passing the #11 of Mark Nelson <\/p><\/div>\n

Robbie Cooper who had dogged Skaggs in the final stages of the race inherited the win, followed by Jefferson and Bookmiller.\u00a0\u00a0 Jeremy Gerstner did an outstanding job coming from dead last early in the race\u00a0 to finish in the sixth spot, which is right where he qualified.<\/p>\n

It was a fitting tribute to Larry MacMillan who loved the modifieds and announced for 53 years, 23 of them at Citrus County Speedway. He was the first announcer at Sunshine Speedway, lasted 27 years and was also the first announcer at DeSoto Speedway.\u00a0 Two of his sons were present and spoke to the good sized crowd about their father during the intermission.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Larry MacMillan Interview 2009<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

At the end of the day it was a fitting memorial for the longtime announcer at the track,\u00a0 a great competitive race,\u00a0 with 20 cars completing the race before a large crowd in both the pits and grandstands.<\/p>\n

Car# — Drivers Name — Home Town — Qualifying Time<\/strong>
\n1.\u00a0 98\u00a0 Robbie Cooper Bronson\u00a0 14.640
\n2.\u00a0 61\u00a0 Wayne Jefferson Pinellas Park\u00a0 14.655
\n3.\u00a0 03\u00a0 Kyle Bookmiller Riverview3 14.702
\n4.\u00a0\u00a0 4\u00a0 David Foster Wildwood\u00a0 14.748
\n5.\u00a0 191 Kevin Macy Bartow\u00a0 14.772
\n6.\u00a0 70\u00a0 Jeremy Gerstner Wesley Chapel 14.659
\n7.\u00a0 01\u00a0 Curtis Neumann Inverness\u00a0 14.602
\n8.\u00a0 127 Kyle Maynard Weirdale\u00a0 14.800
\n9.\u00a0 0\u00a0\u00a0 Troy Robinson Wesley Chapel\u00a0 14.760
\n10. 00\u00a0 Shawn Harper Lake Wells\u00a0 14.739
\n11. 12\u00a0 Ralph Bowman Seminole\u00a0 14.895
\n12. 19\u00a0 Tommy Schnader Largo\u00a0 14.616
\n13. 53\u00a0 Doug Miller Largo\u00a0 14.855
\n14. 77\u00a0 John Gerstner Eustis\u00a0 14.758
\n15. 11\u00a0 Mark Nelson Clearwater 14.687
\n16. 88\u00a0 Bobby Ervin Pinellas Park\u00a0 14.784
\n17. 31\u00a0 Jeff\u00a0 Sloan Crystal River 14.776
\n18. 25\u00a0 L. J. Grimm Seffner\u00a0 15.113
\n19. 991 Sean McLanghin Punta Gorda\u00a0 14.717
\n20. 46\u00a0 Doug Moff Fort Myers\u00a0 14.608
\n21. 981 Johnny Allen Lehigh Acres\u00a0 14.880
\n22. 42 Richie Smith Hernando 14.898
\n23. 101 Raymond Lovelady Lakeland\u00a0 14.797
\n24. 71 L.B. Skaggs Fort Myers DQ 14.490<\/p>\n

B Main Consisted of the following drivers:<\/strong>
\nRalph Bowman & Johnny Allen were top two and so made the feature.
\nRichie Smith & L.J. Grimm were voted in by the fans.
\n981 Johnny Allen Lehigh Acres
\n25\u00a0 L. J. Grimm Seffner\u00a0 15.113
\n12\u00a0 Ralph Bowman Seminole\u00a0 14.895
\n42\u00a0 Richie Smith Hernando 14.898
\n198 Wayne Morris Mulberry 14.887
\n121 John Carter Jr. Bellview\u00a0 14.917
\n2\u00a0\u00a0 Steven Hise Inverness\u00a0 15.035
\n66\u00a0 Jerry Symons New Symrna Beach\u00a0 15.104
\n14\u00a0 Jarrett Snowden Salt Springs\u00a0 15.072
\n271 Ryan Rust Port Saint Lucie 15.112
\n13\u00a0 Joh Ditges Orlando\u00a0 15.960
\n65\u00a0 Ken Lawrence Auburndale\u00a0 15.530<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jack Smith When you can get 33\u00a0 open wheel modifieds show up for a 100 lap race in central Florida these days it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[9,3,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-citrus-county-speedway","category-front-page-news","category-race-results","category-tracks"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2073","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2073"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2137,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2073\/revisions\/2137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}