According to Allan #8
This is the first installment on NSD Co-Founders’ Allan and Nancy Brown’s travels during 2012. Like many snowbirds, February means the racing season gets underway.
We headed south for Speedweeks with our first stop at Screven Motor Speedway near Savannah, GA for the All Star Sprints and World of Outlaws Late Models. Daryn Pittman ended the chilly night by ending up in victory lane after winning the30 lap Sprint Car feature.
Earlier
in the day we went to check out the Savannah Harbor Race Course. This neat circuit was created by
the city on Hutchinson Island, which is just north of downtown. It was built for vintage racing and they hope to run their annual late year event is successful for many years to come.
The next day we headed south for the USAC Sprints at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, FL. Darren Hagen in one of the Hoffman #69s was the class of the field and took the 30 lap feature.
We had a day off before we went
farther south for a week of racing at East Bay Raceway Park on the east side of Tampa. Forty some of the nation’s best dirt track Late Model drivers greeted the fans to some wild racing. Don O’Neil started the week off with two straight wins, but on Wednesday his luck went sour as Ray Cook had a great night as he topped the 35 lapper.
The next night
it was exciting as Steve Francis used the high groove around Austin Hubbard on the last corner. The Lucas Oil Late Model Series crew, keep the shows flowing and each night ended before nine-thirty, until Friday when an all day rain lengthened the night with the track too wet to race on. They kept working on the track and finally and 9:30 time trials started. Even with the long delay Dennis Erb won the 50 lapper before midnight. That made five straights at East Bay for us, but it was time to move on.
The next morning we headed to Daytona Beach and caught the ARCA race at the big track. Bobby Gerhart pulled a rabbit out of hat as he was running fifth on the the last corner but went to the outside and won his 8th ARCA 200.
The next day we headed south to watch sports car racing at Palm Beach International Raceway near West Palm Beach. Jan Magnussen dominated The Camaro Cup races that day. We headed back north to go to New Smyrna Speedway for night three of the World Series of Stock Car Racing. It was also the first night of two for the TBARA Sprints. It was Mickey Kremgens in the #68 that came out on top in the 30 lapper. We returned the next night and Troy DeCaires won the Sprint car finale.
That ended our Florida trip as we had to head back for a doctor’s appointment.