[Flatrightrear]

Interested in reading what fans that went to Ocala experienced. Did you like the track, were things well ran, food any good, etc.?

[interpreter66]

racing was great,food was very good,other than a fat guy on a john deere that wouldn't turn off his light's and road around the track it was a good time.

[The Old Coyote]

Great weather, nice track, good racing. I'm back if USAC boes back.

[Max Revs]

Here's my Ocala report - complete with links for videos:

http://www.hoseheads.com/richard.html

[Andrew S. Quinn]

Weather was a lot better this year than last. Sitting in the stands 2 of the 3 nights in a t-shirt in February is alright with me.

I liked the first nights racing the best. The other 2 nights the track was a lot wetter,and anytime I hear its a new track record numerous times I cringe,as usually that means no passing.

The t-shirt deal was pretty good,1 for $20 or 2 for $30. If you have a buddy to split with you its a great deal.

No complaints about sprint car car counts. A few locals,but most came from the midwest.

Nice job of keeping the place looking clean,no easy feat with multiple day shows,and dirt thrown in the stands each night.

Heard quite a few grumbling about not being able to purchase 3 day tickets for $60 as advertised,yet when they went up to purchase tickets were told it was for Serviceman or Seniors. We looked on the website and it made no mention of it there,just said 3 day tickets for $60. We didnt have any trouble purchasing them despite not being Seniors,nor Serviceman. Many others we talked to said they wouldnt sell them to them.

Would like to see USAC sprints run somewhere else while down there,like East Bay perhaps.

Chase Stockon has really picked up the pace in qualifying. Very fast all 3 nights.

Never count out Tracy Hines for a win or 2. I asked the President of his fan club if he wanted to come with us to Florida,but he said he had no money. Probably spent it all on his campaign for public office......

Mark Smith has also improved greatly since the last time I saw him run without a wing.

Interesting to see Brian Paulus run without the top on. He improved every night.

Got to tell the funny story from 2007 or so about "You've got to know your Coons/Kuhn's/Kunz" after running into the guy the story is about,in the parking lot.

Had a lot of folks ask me if we were going to raise more money to hand out at the Smackdown later this year. I'm hoping to,and a few ideas were tossed around in the parking lot/grandstands each day.

[ISF]

Mr. Quinn very aptly covered just about everything but I'll chime in with several of my own observations.

In regards to the facility it's gets an A rating from us. The food is pretty standard racetrack fare and not overpriced relative to other dirt tracks. The bar area where you can get a bottle or a glass of beer and hang out for a while is a great touch that we took advantage of all three nights. And again, not overpriced in comparison to other dirt facilities.

As I told those in our crowd at the time, the racing entertainment bar was set so high the first night it would have been nearly impossible to top that or even equal it. That left the 2nd and 3rd night open for a bit of a let down. Whatever they did differently in reference to track preparation Friday and Saturday nights it didn't seem to be as conducive to the manic, chaotic racing that prevailed in the feature on Thursday evening. But as I said the bar had been set awfully high right off the bat. This is a track that seems to have been made for the top division sprinters and the racing I've seen over the last 5 nights going back to last February rivals some of the best we've seen up here.

Track management is to be commended for the free camping policy. As was earlier stated, most in attendance were from up North and had already spent a pretty good wad just getting down there and this eased the monetary pain a bit. We were staying in my Wife's family's camping unit and they are from near Daytona so we hadn't had the long drive down there but it was still great to be able to camp for free.

Regular parking and ingress and egress to the track property seemed to go very smoothly, as well.

This is the second year in a row that we've made the trip to Florida for this series of races and will continue to go as long as the wingless sprinters run at Bubba and I can get there to watch them in February.

Just a final note, it was great that the track ownership and USAC were able to get past the nastiness which occurred in February of 2012. This deal smacks of a traditional opening to the USAC Sprint Car season that has the potential to grow into a highly anticipated early season event.

[JJMooney]

I only made one night of Ocala, the Friday night show. I liked the track a lot. It’s definitely unique: a tri-oval with some elevation changes. I never realized the track ran down hill between the backstretch turn and the frontstretch. Video doesn’t do it justice. It reminded me a bit of Flemington Speedway (NJ) back in the day watching the cars go sideways through the short chute.

Nice grandstands. Place is pretty standard as far as track amenities go. I really liked the bar area behind the grandstands. $3 drafts, $4 bottles. A little dissapointed that they didn't have Yeungling, which has a brewery down the road in Tampa. I didn’t purchase any food other than a bag of popcorn which was a buck.

The track was fast on Friday night. The feature winner was in doubt right up until the very end. Hines was hounding Ballou the entire way. Then Ballou’s tire exploded on the last lap handing Hines the victory. I sat with a bunch of old friends from Binghamton NY. It was their first non-wing sprint show. Some of them don’t really care for sprint cars much at all. Still, I think they had a good time and came away impressed.

[Andrew S. Quinn]

A few more things....

Good to chat with the "Cowboy" Tim Wolffrum after the races one night. I always thought he was in charge of entertainment at the Hoffman race team,but I now realize he is multi talented after catching him using a broom the other night!

Speaking of the Hoffman team,I think Brady Bacon will be in for some wins this season. Also nice to see the Bacon t-shirts in multiple colors- which is good for people like me that that dont like white,or black shirts.

Robert Ballou was fast in the Baldwin 5. I thought he might have been running out of fuel on the last lap Friday night till I saw the tire shredding. What a heartbreaker to lead all laps except the most important one.

Hated to see Chris Windom take a huge dump which destroyed the car. Not a good way to start the season.

Bryan Clauson has made the transition from driving his own car to driving the TSR 20 seem rather painless. Fast right out of the box. Flat tire late in the race on Saturday night hurt the chance of 3 good finishes to start the season.

[Sprint car fan]

Nothing like being in Flordia in Feb. for sprint cars. Weather was perfect and the racing was great. If you haven't been I highly recommend it, you won't be disappointed. Few more weeks we will be racing in Indiana.

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[BrentTFunk]

I thought the track did a nice job of keeping the place clean, considering how many nights they had ran in the last few weeks. The first race was the best of the 3, but knew it would be as soon as it was over. It was that good. I am sure it will be one of the better races in Florida this year. If Bubba and his media empire could really get behind this race, I think it could draw national attention, and be something like the Smackdown. I will definetly be back. I also enjoyed New Smyrna. They just needed a couple of more cars. Last, but not least, thanks to all the teams for making the long haul.