Hello from Florida where so far, it has been only periodically sunny and darn cold. It's been over thirty years since I was last to a race in the Sunshine State, and I guess the decision has been made that 2016 will be the year to do some things that had sat in the "bucket list" for quite some time.
With the push to do this coming from the other side of the family, I went along somewhat hesitantly to join in on the fun and take in some February action in Florida. However, the only caveat was that I was going to have to drive down and provide a ride when the other half of the family arrived on the "big bird" early next week.
The trip down was less than pleasant with driving on some of the southern states' highways a nightmare. I cannot believe how rudely and down right stupid that some people drive. There are no relaxing parts of the journey and it was frequently "elbows up" for mere self protection. My observations were that the worst drivers were those sporting Georgia plates with Florida running a close second. I even had residents of the Sunshine State apologizing to me for the ridiculous way that some of their fellow citizens drove, particularly on I-75. However, the good news was that I indeed made it in one piece even though I'm not looking forward to retracing my steps next week.
But let's talk racing which is what this post is supposed to be about. Unfortunately, things at the track started out pretty poorly too and except for a fortuitous interaction with a man named "Sam", my first weekend of Florida racing would have been a complete washout.
Making better time on the way down than I had planned, I found that I might be able to squeeze in a race on Saturday the 6th if I hustled. With some friends racing Modifieds on the Sunshine State Mod Tour, I made the decision that I could make it to Bubba Raceway Park and catch the second half of the Modified show there along with the All Star Sprints. I got there early in the afternoon and was able to talk to a few people and check out the place. Unfortunately, as I was arriving the weather forecast was changing dramatically and for the worse. A few sprinkles kept most teams from unloading their race cars and the few already out of the trailers were quickly covered up. The rain stopped but the conditions were grim looking and by mid afternoon, the rains started again, this time to not stop and gradually get heavier. Bubba pulled the plug and I was zero for one.
The Modifieds were scheduled to move up the road to Lake City where they would be joined by the UMP Late Models for an afternoon show on Sunday, so I drove up there through the rain which continued most of the night.
Sunday dawned sunny but cool but it seemed like a good day for racing and I fully expected that North Florida would be racing. I arrived at the track to find many haulers already in the pits and others waiting to pull in. The track didn't look bad and it seemed like with a little packing the track would be fine. The pits had some muddy spots but was overall decent. However, about the time that the gates should have opened, a few cars were instead pulling out of the pits. I asked and was told that the race had been cancelled due to wet grounds. My feeling was that after a bad week of racing at North Florida where a couple of previous shows during the week featuring some other classes were rained out and a third show drew only a handful of spectators track management wanted to cut their losses, particularly when they felt that some of the Late Model competitors that they had counted on were still in Georgia running a rain delayed event at Golden Isles.
In any event, it looked like I was going to be "skunked" for the second straight day and I was not feeling very happy as I stood in the parking lot and watched a procession of haulers heading out and down the road.
Here is where things got really interesting and one of the most fortuitous occurrences that ever has happened to me at a race track took place. As I was putting my things back in my car and getting ready to go somewhere, of which I had no idea where, another vehicle pulled up beside me and asked if the races were still on. The gentlemen, who's name I later learned as "Sam", seemed really knowledgeable about racing in the north Florida area and when I told him the races had been cancelled, he promptly told me that if I wanted to go to the races on Sunday, he knew of a race track that was only ten miles away and was racing! I was skeptical since it seemed unlikely to me that there would be two tracks that close together both racing on this day so early in the racing season, even by Florida standards. So I quizzed him closely to make sure it was "real racing" and not maybe karts or some such thing.
However, he told me that the show was featuring winged sprint cars and the racing was on dirt and if I wanted to go, he would even lead me to the track as he was on his way there, using his backup plan! I liked the way this Sam thought, as in my own realm of the world, I always have a back up plan too. So if he was willing to show me the way, I'd be willing to tag along and see just exactly what this other track was. So I followed him down the highway and sure enough, within fifteen minutes we were at the other race track and I confess, I was absolutely stunned.
Where Sam had taken me to was All-Tech Raceway, South of Lake City and near the burg of Ellisville. When I came down the service road and got my first look at the track, I was shocked as it was much better looking than either of the other two tracks I had been at so far over the weekend. Sam knew everybody at the track (clearly he was an insider and I couldn't help but marvel over my pure luck at stumbling into meeting him). He introduced me to the promoter, the promoter's father and wife and virtually everyone else that worked at the track. I also learned some of the inside stories of this track, how it came to be founded and also about some of the things going on at the other region tracks.
All-Tech Speedway was a half mile asphalt track and has been racing in this area for over forty years under a variety of different names. Racing there dates back to the All Pro days and some of the famous names in southern asphalt racing have raced at the track. However, in recent years the track has met with hard times and has been siting dormant for the last year or so with just one or two races there in the last year before it closed down permanently.
Wendell Durrance is the General and Track Manager of the track. The story of how this track rose from the ashes is interesting. Wendell owned a machine shop and built racing engines and last year fielded a call from an individual who was looking to buy a race car and have him build him a motor and teach him how to drive. Wendell said that this person should just buy his own race track and then he could practice all he wanted. When the other person asked Wendell if he knew of such a track, Wendell said he did but that the asphalt would have to be removed from the track and clay added. One thing led to another, business contacts were made, checks were written and this person bought the track!
As it turns out, this individual was raised just a few miles from the track and now lives in New Jersey where he is a ranking official at a fiber optics business. He hired Wendell who began the process of converting the blacktop track to a dirt track. They purchased the fifty acre property, removed the blacktop surface and laid down fourteen inches of yellow clay, which they found just over the hill and traded the dirt for the farm storage ponds the removed dirt created for the farmer that owned the land. While the remodeling of the track continues as an ongoing project, they held their first race late last Fall and have a full schedule of races for 2016. They still have many plans on further improvements including another expansion of the pits and tiered parking on the back chute for spectators' vehicles. However, the place already looks very nice and quite frankly, far superior to either of the tracks I saw previously this week. It is a full half mile, wide enough to race on, with good lighting and sound system and cement slabs the length of the front chute for lawn chairs. One of the things not working yet was the track scoreboard.
The featured attraction on this day was the Top Gun Series of sprints out of the Tampa area. This is a club trying to restore sprint car racing to Florida with a twenty or so race schedule and they run restricted 360 engines, some with injection and some with carburetors. It is clearly a budget series with both veterans and young drivers just starting out in sprints. This was their first visit to All-Tech and the furthest North their series had traveled. Sam told me that this was the first time in at least forty years that sprint cars had raced on dirt at this track.
The racing was decent on this day. Wendell said that they had three inches of rain on Saturday so the track took longer than planned to roll in and it did get a bit bumpy in the corners, which caused him to do a few rounds of track prep during the show, as Wendell is clearly a perfectionist when it comes to his track surface. The sprints were a little under powered for this big track but they put on a decent show and the two local divisions, the Hobby Stocks and Pure Stocks, both put on entertaining shows even though neither class had a huge field.
Once they got racing, they moved the show along well and the actual race program took a little over two hours to complete. I was very impressed with how friendly the whole staff was and they all thanked me for coming, even though I was the thankful one for finding the track. I was shocked when the announcer started and I thought I recognized his voice and sure enough, announcing was the legendary Ozzie Altman of all people, assisted by local announcer Chuck Strickland.
As surprised as I was to find Ozzie working here, I was even more surprised when at intermission the legendary editor of the National Speedway Directory, Allen Brown, stopped by to say hello. I used to run into Allen all over the place when he was seriously chasing racing, but this was the first time I had seen him in years. What a pleasant surprise!
I told Wendell that I was very impressed with the facility which will get nothing but better in the coming days and months and I told him that the touring Modifieds and Late Models should be racing at his track, not at some of the ones I saw earlier this weekend that didn't do much to impress me, although in all honesty I did not see a wheel turn at either track.
In any event, I was able to make a memorable race day out of one that looked to be a nightmare to start with and it all resulted simply as a result of a chance meeting. I can't believe how lucky I was as I had absolutely no knowledge of this track and would have driven right past it and down to Tampa. Sam, I am(indebted).
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