[AlkyMadness]

Call this event a Tale of Two Tracks. Despite starting track prep immediately after Friday night's show, the North Florida Speedway surface was very dry and took rubber instantly. Passing in the heats was at a minimum. I suspect the full sun and higher temps caused this since the track received a healthy dousing of rain on Friday morning. The track crew did work the track before the feature and added some water, but it really didn't help much (but it did help).

That said, tonight's show had 31 entries.

Quick time (and new track record): Lance DeWease

Heat winners: Bob Felmlee, Paul McMahon, Ryan Myers and Dustin Morgan (again)

Dash winner: Danny Smith. Shuman slipped into tonight's feature with a fourth place finish. Geoff Dodge had the spot, but struggled to keep the car going straight in 3/4 with a sizable lead over Shuman. Lee Stark was fifth and just missed making the show. But, Stark's night was much better than Friday.

B-Main: Brock Mayes

Feature was a Posse Stomping as Fred Rahmer picked up his first win of the new season. He was followed by Lucas Wolfe and Lance DeWease. Danny Smith was a distant fourth. Brandon Martin fifth and Randy Hanagan sixth.

Rahmer jumped to the front at from his outside front row spot and never gave it up. One caution after the first few laps when Casey Shuman lost power in 3/4. After that, the race went green all the way. Wolfe closed toward the end and was looking inside Rahmer but couldn't make it stick. In the last few laps he got slowed trying to get around the lapped car of McMahon and Rahmer had clear sailing after that.

On the second lap, Rahmer's motor pushed some oil out onto the headers which erupted into fire and smoke causing many to think he blew. NOT.

Again, another safe night with no reds. Kaley Gharst did break a motor in his heat race driving Webb's car.

Overall, North Florida was a good host and the All Stars have indicated they will return next year. Also, rumor is that the All Stars will add Ocala Speedway next year to fill in between North Florida and Volusia. Ocala is being converted back to dirt.

Also, kudos to the UMP Mods. They brought a good field of 30+ and their events (except the B-Main) ran quick and clean with a lot of good racing. Lot of good drivers from Minnesota and Wisconsin. Other notables were Buzzie Reuttimann (Friday only). Florence regular David McWilliams and PA late model ace Dave Hess. Most impressive were the young Tyler Thompson (I believe they said he was 15yrs old) and Julie McDermid who finished third tonight.

Well, a few days to soak this action in and then, if all goes to plan, I'm off to Volusia for the first three nights for the All Star action. After that, I'll pack it in because I don't care to pay the inflated ticket prices just because the sanction changes name from All Star to WoO. And, on Friday, all hotels and everything else jumps up in cost because the NASCRAP crowd will descend on the beach area like a plague of locusts for the Saturday night Bud Shootout (do they even call it that anymore?).

For those who think I've gone completely wing crazy, don't worry. I'm keeping the faith by wearing a Damion Gardner T-shirt (in honor of his Chili Bowl win), a Sheldon Kinser Memorial Sweatshirt and my faithful USAC cap. Of course this brought some questions from locals who wanted to know why they weren't getting any non-wing action in Florida this year. While I had no answer to that question, I did tell them that Indiana is a great place spend summer vacations.

[petey]

Rahmer Rahmer Rahmer! Here's to ya AERO!

[Dwight Clock]

Great report, Alky. Thank you.:applaud::thumb

[AERO410SCJA]

Originally Posted by petey Rahmer Rahmer Rahmer! Here's to ya AERO!

FATHEADS,FLATHEADS AND BLOWENHEADS, FREDDY FANS GIVE :censor:!Back at ya Petey:moon:

[AlkyMadness]

I've seen Rahmer win before, but this was the first time that I didn't hear a chorus of "Rahmer $ucks" coming out of the stands like I usually hear when I'm in PA.

The Rahmer Haters were definitely not in attendance (or, they kept the Hate to themselves).

Even though I have nothing against Rahmer, I almost felt compelled to yell out something just so he wouldn't feel out of place.

A few final notes about North Florida:

--No joke, on 41 going thru Lake City, they have a Chinese Restaurant named "Fu King Chinese". I almost wrecked when I saw it and had to do a double take on the next night. I guess the folks in Lake City have a pretty good sense of humor. That would never fly in my home town.

--Bi-focals $uck and they add nothing to watching the race. Probably the worse thing I've encountered in the aging process so far (other than the day I realized I don't look good naked anymore).

--Food was good; pit side food was being prepared by one of the track announcers from Port Royal and his son. Regular track concession had good fresh grilled burgers and the chili seemed to be pretty popular.

--Only thing I'd ask North Florida to do is BETTER RESTROOMS. I hope the womens was a hell of a lot better than the mens. They did bring in extra port o lets, but the main restroom was a disaster. NFS is a nice place overall, and that would make a huge difference for the fans. Heard many people complain about this.

--The PA system was fixed and working great Saturday night. Thanks to the track crew who addressed that problem and made sure the announcers could be heard.

--50/50: this was the first time I'd ever been anywhere that they sold tix on Friday for Saturday nights draw. I bought mine Friday and the only way I knew the draw was for Saturday was because I asked. It wasn't announced. I bought my ticket late and when I told others around me, they were ticked.

On top of that, when the winner was announced, it was 32 numbers ahead of mine, so the winning ticket was sold Friday night. As everyone was loading out, the PA came alive and it was announced that they still didn't have a claimer. I went to the lady and told her that it didn't surprise me because the ticket was sold on Friday. She seemed surprised. I then asked what were they going to do and that I'd gladly accept the prize on a re-draw :O: She then said the boss hadn't let her know what they were going to do. Maybe they would re-draw again today (Sunday; they are having a UMP Mod show as I type this).

I think this was BS and it amazes me that tracks continue to hose people like this. But, I've won 50/50's a few times, so, like a moth to flame, I keep going back.

--I thought gas prices were bad in NC. $3.10 a gallon for cheap regular in Lake City. Ugh.

--Nice T-Shirt for the All Stars Icebreaker 08.

[AERO410SCJA]

Out of STATE,POSSE PRIDE out ranks Rahmer HATRED for most

[Chris Nunn]

Hey speaking of that restaurant...

My friends are on their way down to East Bay for the Late Model Winternationals...and low and behold the picture on the front page of the Dirt Racing Connection website..

http://www.thedrc.net

[interpreter66]

Originally Posted by AlkyMadness I've seen Rahmer win before, but this was the first time that I didn't hear a chorus of "Rahmer $ucks" coming out of the stands like I usually hear when I'm in PA. The Rahmer Haters were definitely not in attendance (or, they kept the Hate to themselves). Even though I have nothing against Rahmer, I almost felt compelled to yell out something just so he wouldn't feel out of place. A few final notes about North Florida: --No joke, on 41 going thru Lake City, they have a Chinese Restaurant named "Fu King Chinese". I almost wrecked when I saw it and had to do a double take on the next night. I guess the folks in Lake City have a pretty good sense of humor. That would never fly in my home town. --Bi-focals $uck and they add nothing to watching the race. Probably the worse thing I've encountered in the aging process so far (other than the day I realized I don't look good naked anymore). --Food was good; pit side food was being prepared by one of the track announcers from Port Royal and his son. Regular track concession had good fresh grilled burgers and the chili seemed to be pretty popular. --Only thing I'd ask North Florida to do is BETTER RESTROOMS. I hope the womens was a hell of a lot better than the mens. They did bring in extra port o lets, but the main restroom was a disaster. NFS is a nice place overall, and that would make a huge difference for the fans. Heard many people complain about this. --The PA system was fixed and working great Saturday night. Thanks to the track crew who addressed that problem and made sure the announcers could be heard. --50/50: this was the first time I'd ever been anywhere that they sold tix on Friday for Saturday nights draw. I bought mine Friday and the only way I knew the draw was for Saturday was because I asked. It wasn't announced. I bought my ticket late and when I told others around me, they were ticked. On top of that, when the winner was announced, it was 32 numbers ahead of mine, so the winning ticket was sold Friday night. As everyone was loading out, the PA came alive and it was announced that they still didn't have a claimer. I went to the lady and told her that it didn't surprise me because the ticket was sold on Friday. She seemed surprised. I then asked what were they going to do and that I'd gladly accept the prize on a re-draw :O: She then said the boss hadn't let her know what they were going to do. Maybe they would re-draw again today (Sunday; they are having a UMP Mod show as I type this). I think this was BS and it amazes me that tracks continue to hose people like this. But, I've won 50/50's a few times, so, like a moth to flame, I keep going back. --I thought gas prices were bad in NC. $3.10 a gallon for cheap regular in Lake City. Ugh. --Nice T-Shirt for the All Stars Icebreaker 08.

always fill up at the georgia line when heading south, the county lake city is in has the highest gas tax in the state of florida

(sorry i didnt warn ya'll earlier)