Ocala Speedway ended its regular racing season in grand fashion Friday night, November 21st with the 2003 awards Banquet at the Yankees Ramada Banquet Hall in Ocala. Trophies were awarded to the top drivers in each division with plenty of cash handed out as well.

By Dave Westerman After a full season of ASA racing

by Dave Westerman Perfect Fall weather greeted a large crowd

Ocala Speedway closed out its 51st regular season of racing in style on a Halloween Friday night which included trick-or-treat for the kids going car to car during intermission and a surprising end to the second half points championship in the Steven A. Bagen Super Late Models.

The final points night for the WIND-FM Classic Rock Modifieds turned out to be extremely interesting Friday night at Ocala Speedway as Raymond Vann finally put it all together for his first win of the season and one of the Gerstner brothers walked off with the second-half points championship, just not the one everyone was expecting to win it.

Scott Grossenbacher of nearby San Antonio, making just his third regular season start of the year, slipped by an opening lap crash that ultimately claimed the top three cars in points and sped to his first Steven A. Bagen Super Late Model win at Ocala Speedway Friday night.

Bartow’s Tommy King was perfect in FASTRUCK competition Friday night at Ocala Speedway although his Ford Truck looked less than perfect as it sat in victory lane following one of the wildest finishes ever seen here.

It was a night for Ocala Speedway’s Four Cylinder Stock drivers to have a chance at some big money, and in the end it was Justin Durbin finding his way to victory lane and a prize of $1,000 in a class that normally pays $100 to win on a regular Friday night.

Great weather and a great field of cars welcomed fans to Ocala Speedway Friday night with the main attraction being the 50-lap, $1,000 to win J.R. Wilbanks Memorial for the K-Country 93.7 FM Street Stocks. Rookie Street Stock driver A.J. Schreier surprised everyone by setting fast time at 17.807 seconds followed by Mike Wilson’s 17.820and the 17.841 of “Speedy” Pete Close, Jr.

Jacksonville’s Johnny Collins and local favorite Rich Pratt were among the big winners as Ocala Speedway wrapped up a big two-day show that saw plenty of action and excitement for the fans who packed the track both nights. The National Late Model Series dirt-track Late Models were back at Ocala Speedway racing “topless” and were blistering the track in their qualifying efforts Friday evening.

Light rain associated with Tropical Storm Henri has forced cancellation of racing activities for Friday night at Ocala Speedway. Also, due to the uncertainty of the weather for the remainder of the weekend and the extremely wet grounds, there will be no Sunday rain date.

Racing veteran Ben Booth of Deland made the most of his pole position start to lead every lap of Friday nights Classic Auto Racing Series 15-lap feature at Ocala Speedway. Booth topped the opening heat while defending CARS champion Jim Rahman outran the field in heat two.

Well, it was one of those nights at Ocala Speedway punctuated by rain, wet conditions, blown engines and big crashes and fans certainly got their money’s worth of action and great racing. Just as it looked like the afternoon rains were moving out of the area, a persistent drizzle began to fall and didn’t let up for nearly two hours.

Despite a stellar field of Florida Pro Series Super Late Models, the biggest for any Super Late Model race this year at Ocala Speedway, no one had anything for former Florida Pro series champion Rick Carlton as he dominated the field for all 100 laps Friday night.

Orange City’s Mike Fritts continued his recent hot streak by topping the 30-lap Steven A. Bagen Super Late Model feature Friday night at Ocala Speedway. For once, the rains fell on the track early in the afternoon making for a pleasant evening of racing.

Mother Nature did her best to put a damper on things Sunday afternoon at Ocala Speedway, but when all was said and done, all the racing was completed well before dark. The WIND FM Modifieds were back and in big numbers for a Sunday afternoon show. Despite several no-shows of cars that had signed in Friday night, 20 Modifieds were on hand including several new machines.

After a rather nice Friday afternoon, thunderstorms began to rumble through the Ocala area during the evening and put a damper on activities at Ocala Speedway. Clouds began to build just as practice was wrapping up, and the skies opened up shortly thereafter dumping several inches of rain and treating fans who ducked for cover to a spectacular display of lightning.

An extremely persistent rain shower put a damper on this past Friday’s racing activities at Ocala Speedway forcing track officials to “throw in the towel” so to speak around 8:30. It was a good move as the drizzle continued until almost 10 PM.

It was an interesting night at Ocala Speedway Friday as a veteran Super Late Model driver picked up a win for a new car owner while two other drivers picked up their first wins in their respective classes and for one it was his first feature win ever.

Mooresville NC driver Jeff Fultz took advantage of a lap 83 crash that eliminated race leader David Reutimann and several other top contenders, then dominated the remainder of the Victory Junction 150 for the NASCAR Kodak Southeast Series Late Models Wednesday evening at Ocala Speedway.

Ocala Speedway finished up the first half of the 2003 point season in style Friday night and a good crowd was on hand and stayed despite a brief rain shower that delayed action for about an hour just as the features were getting under way.

Continuing rains forced Ocala Speedway officials to cancel Friday night’s race program. The six division program has been rescheduled for this Sunday afternoon with the weather is expected to be much better.

Lakeland’s Darren “Action” Jackson didn’t let a Friday the 13th with a fullmoon bother him as he took advantage of a late mistake by the leaders to claim victory in race number six of the United Promoters Modified Tour Friday night at Ocala Speedway.

After a season of being frustrated at every turn, Ocala drivers E.J. Wise and Doug Webster both got their first feature wins of the year Friday night at Ocala Speedway in their respective Super Late Model and Street Stock Classes.

Ocala Speedway race fans had to wait for the weather to clear Friday night, but when it did they were treated to some incredible racing along with some great stunts performed by Rocky Hauri of Extreme Stunts including a well-executed school bus jump.

Anderson came to Ocala Friday with a string of second place finishes in major events all over the state, but he was back in winning form on this night as he dominated the Steven A. Bagen Super Late Model field and will certainly be one of the heavy favorites for the Powell Memorial here on June 6th.

Palm Harbor’s Bud Spencer and his “Lavender Love Machine” 1934 Ford sedan topped the Classic Auto Racing Series field Friday night at Ocala Speedway for his second win of the year, but Spencer was probably happy the race was 15 laps instead of 20 as five cars finished under a blanket as the checkered flag fell.

Archer’s Patrick “Doughboy” Williams topped the Steven A. Bagen Super Late Models for the second time this year. After setting fast time, Williams darted from the outside pole and led every lap of the half-century grind, but it wasn’t as easy as it looks on paper.

Sylvester, GA driver Stacey Roberts passed fast qualifier and early leader Richard Sauter at the halfway mark then cruised to an easy victory as the National Late Model Series dirt cars thrilled fans at Ocala Speedway Friday night.

Waycross Ga. May 03,03, When the “Southern Dirt Tour” makes it’s way onto Asphalt, excitement is in store, and this weekend with the Florida swing was no exception. Racing kicked off on Friday night at the Ocala Speedway with late models taking to the speedway. The large crowd on hand at the beautiful facility witnessed one exciting night of short track racing.

Perfect weather greeted fans Sunday afternoon at Ocala Speedway following the soggy conditions that forced postponement of scheduled action on Friday night. The big race of the day was for the K-Country Street Stocks as they ran their 50-lapper postponed from the previous week.

Persistent rain showers ahead of a slow-moving weak cold front have forced Ocala Speedway track officials to move Friday evening’s scheduled racing program to Sunday afternoon, April 27th.
Pit gates will open at 12 noon with grandstand gates opening at 1:30PM.

A bad crash near the end of the 50-lap Super Late Model feature Friday night forced Ocala Speedway track officials to cancel the remainder of the program after three feature events had been run.
Ocala-area driver Mac McCullough was the driver involved. McCullough was airlifted to Shands Hospital in Gainesville after firefighters and track personnel worked for over 45 minutes to remove him from his machine. A spokeswoman at Shands would say only that McCullough was listed in “critical” condition as of late Saturday morning. No other information was available.

There was action aplenty Friday night at Ocala Speedway helping warm up a good crowd of chilled fans as all six regular divisions were in competition. Mike Bresnehan led the Steven A. Bagen Super Late Model field in qualifying with a lap of 15.534 seconds and drew the pole for the feature.

Great weather and a fantastic crowd greeted the stars of the United Promoters Modified Tour Friday night at Ocala Speedway and the 50-lap race turn out to be a wild one. Former track champion David Baxley got things off on a speedy note by tripping the clocks at 15.187 for quick time among the 23 cars in attendance. Jamie Burrows, Alan McCafferty, Gary Southard and Mike Wilson timed second through fifth quick.

Emotions were running high Friday night at Ocala Speedway in more ways than one, but the biggest moment of the night belonged to K-Country Street Stock driver David Chastain. Chastain’s son, home on leave from the military, lost his life along with a friend in a car crash just before Christmas last year and the Leesburg driver has been working on his race car as a way to keep his mind off things.

St. Petersburg, FL driver Dwayne Dempsey made his first visit to the Cordele, GA Motor Speedway a winning one as he thoroughly dominated the second event of the new United Promoter’s Modified (UPM) Tour Saturday evening.

James Powell III grew up at Ocala Speedway and learned to race here when his family owned the track, scoring many victories. However, Powell had never won a race here since the track was paved, in fact, hadn’t won a race at Ocala Speedway since his family sold the facility several years ago.

On a day which saw late morning temperatures in the low 80’s fall to the upper 50’s by mid afternoon, along with persistent rain showers, Ocala Speedway management refused to pull the plug early and the wet stuff had subsided by 6PM to allow track drying efforts to begin.

Gates will open Tuesday at 5PM with practice scheduled from 6-9PM and good weather is forecast. As was planned for Sunday, all drivers will be admitted free while all others wishing to go in the pits will pay a fee of $10. There is no charge to watch practice from the new grandstands. Ruben’s Tex Mex Grill will also be on hand to debut the track’s new concession menu.

The sun was still high in the sky and shining brightly when Red Vann took the checkered flag as the apparent winner of the Hangover 100 Sunday afternoon at Ocala Speedway. Several hours later as darkness and cold temperatures engulfed the speedway, Mark Mitchell of nearby Anthony was declared the winner and carried off the winner’s share of $5,000.

Ocala Fl. – A huge crowd of fans enjoyed some great weather and some wild racing as Ocala Speedway closed out the 2003 season with the annual enduro 150. The day got started with ever popular school bus figure 8 race. 9 Buses took the green but Ben Fritz , the local sprint driver now trying out the IRL series saw his hopes end early as his bus died on the start. The rest of the field raced on Fritz abandoned his bus right in the intersection making things exciting every lap.