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James Knight battled through chemotherapy and 35 competitors to win a championship in the Pure Stocks at DeSoto Speedway in 1999. After being schooled by Gus Coorssen, one of Florida’s best, he beat all the odds becoming DeSoto’s fan favorite and taking home the first place trophy. James told his story on Inside Florida Racing Tuesday night with hosts Jack Smith and Racin’ Jason Beckner.

Also in the studio Tuesday night were Phil and Michelle Ellis. Phil is a first year driver in the Pro 4 Cylinder division at Punta Gorda Speedway. Phil is having the time of his life, running in the top three in points with his wife helping all along the way.

If you have a driver or other racing personality you would like to hear on Inside Florida Racing, e-mail us at KARNAC@comcast.net .  Feel free to comment on any of our shows by using the add comments link or on our racing forums.

Use this link to download tonight’s show.

The first public statement from a Florida speedway ownership in the wake of Monday’s owners meeting came today in the form of a press release from Punta Gorda Speedway.

The speedway issued the following press release:

Punta Gorda Speedway will continue to stride to be the premiere short track in the state with fair purses, entry fees and tire costs for the racers, fair ticket prices and a friendly clean environment for the fans.

We are going to stay with our current tire company (Goodyear) thru the 2011 season. We as businessmen have made a commitment to them and in return they have made a fair commitment to us and our racers.

We will make an attempt not to create schedule conflicts with the other tracks.  We will not participate in an across the board purse schedule for all tracks as this may create undo hardship for our racers and ultimately our fans.

We will do what we feel is right by the racers and run our business accordingly.

We have already achieved many of our short term goals and we feel by running our business by our standards we will achieve long term success.

We look forward to seeing you at our racing facility.

RRUSA Media

Wayne Anderson, Florida super late model racer and promoter of the Florida All Stars Tour, joined CeCe Brooks and Jack Smith Tuesday night on Inside Florida Racing. The series is ready for its final race of the year on October 9th at DeSoto Speedway, a year that all in all showed that fans and drivers will certainly support a good late model toruing series. Averaging around 25 cars per race with a high of 38 cars at New Smyrna Speedway and a low of 18 cars at Columbia Motorsports Park, the series has to be called a success in its first year.

Also on Inside Florida Racing was a youngster from DeSoto Speedway who has been turning heads in the open wheel modifieds. Dalton Baldwin , son of accomplished open wheel racer Bobby Baldwin, drives the #4 modified and is headed for Rookie of the Year and will finish in the top five and maybe the top three at DeSoto. This well spoken 16 year old is going to put his mark on asphalt modified racing in the state before too long.

Real Racin USA announced today the Hilderbrand Jewelers Driver of the Year ring for Florida’s top racer will be awarded again this year. Also Tuesday night’s show featured commentary on the Florida asphalt track onwers meeting and other news from around the state.

Use this link to download tonight’s show which includes the full interview with one of Florida’s racing legends, Jack Duffy.

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Jack Duffy - Racing Legend

How does he do it?  How does this man continue to get behind the wheel and find the winners circle racing against guys a quarter of his age?  What drives Jack Duffy to continue to have the drive to not just race, but win long after nearly all of his contemporaries have put their helmets on the shelf.

These questions and many others were answered on Tuesday night’s edition of “Inside Florida Racing” with hosts Jack Smith and Racin’ Jason Beckner.  From Daytona and Wall Stadium and Madison Square Garden to the little bull ring in South Florida, Duffy has seen a lot of racing his in time, and he loves to talk about the people he has raced with and against.

Ronnie Bacelo was also a guest on IFR this night. Ronnie is the organizer of the Hialeah Speedway Reunion coming to Florida the week after Thanksgiving. Many of the old time stars of the speedway will be attending and much more coverage leading up to the event will be featured on shows in coming weeks.

Use this link to download tonight’s show which includes the full interview with one of Florida’s racing legends, Jack Duffy.

Gary Balough helped usher in a new era for Inside Florida Racing on Tuesday night.  IFR is back and with a new format, new hosts and a whole lot of good racin’ radio coming to race fans.

Gary talked about his exciting past and current racing endeavors. Gary lit up talking about the “Batmobile”, Syracuse and winning the 1968 Florida Governors Cup as a nineteen year old young man.

Tune into to get the inside story of Gary Balough’s  new vision for cars on the big tracks.  CLICK TO LISTEN!

RRUSA Media

The weekly Inside Florida Racing radio show will fire back up beginning Tuesday September 14 with a new one hour format. Each Tuesday IFR will feature interesting personalities from the world of Florida racing. The show will run from 7-8 PM and be hosted weekly by CeCe Brooks and Jack Smith with rotating guest co-hosts. Among the weekly co-hosts will be “Racin” Jason Beckner, Robert Howell, Rick Anges, Bill Green, Scott McAllister, Carol Wicks and others.

On the 14th we are thrilled to announce Gary Balough as our very special guest. Gary is very excited about his involvement in motorsports these days and will talk about his current activities and future plans.

In the coming weeks, we will present some new faces on the Florida racing scene mixed with the activities of long time veterans who though their roles may have changed are still having impacts at local short tracks.

Real Racin USA is also developing a special edition of Inside Florida Racing for the month of Ocotber, profiling the men and the memories of USA International Speedway. This two hour documentary will feature interviews with participants from some of the most memorable events at the “Daytona of  Florida Short Tracks”.  The track has been closed for several years now and its loss is still having severe repercussions for short track entertainment in Florida.

The racing radio shows created by Real Racin’ USA have pretty much been on hold for the last year due to the health issues of Jack Smith, the producer of most of the content and manager of the web site. While Jack says he “is not out of the woods yet, it is time to try and bring some excitement to the short track racing community again”.

Any ideas or suggestions for guests for the Inside Florida Racing show should be directed to program assistant Carol Wicks at carolwicks@comcast.net

To listen to any of our older shows from the last several years use this link.

More information about the upcoming shows in September will be posted here next week.

by John Berti

The NASCAR Hall of Fame, for the second year in a row, has nominated Richie Evans for induction into the hall.

Followers of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing may not be familiar with Richie, but his record speaks for itself of the tremendously talented race car driver he was.

Evans won nine NASCAR National Modified Championships, including eight consecutively from 1978 to 1985. His eight straight championships is a record setter for any NASCAR division and may never be matched or broken.

In his illustrious career “The Rapid Roman” from Rome, NY won more than 400 feature races and over 30 track championships. He won virtually every major race for asphalt modifieds, some more than once, including the prestigious Race of Champions which he won on three occasions.

Perhaps his proudest season was in 1979 when Evans ran 60 races collecting 54 top five finishes and 37 wins.

Evans came to Florida many times to compete in the New Smyrna Speedway “World Series of Stock Car Racing” during February Speedweeks.  He won six Tour-Type Modified championships at the high banked asphalt oval: 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, and 1984.

Tragedy struck on October 24, 1985.  Evans had just clinched the 1985 NASCAR National Modified title the week before at Thompson International Speedway (Thompson, CT) and was practicing for the “Dogwood 500″ at Martinsville Speedway (Martinsville, VA) when he crashed heavily in turn 3.  The 44-year-old perished in the wreck.

The NASCAR Modified racing world was devastated by the loss of Richie, but devoted fans have done much to keep his memory alive even to this day.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team owner Tommy Baldwin fielded a Richie Evans Tribute car in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona on July 3, 2010 with Steve Park behind the wheel of the No. 36 Chevrolet.

Though not diagnosed at the time, many racing safety experts have concluded that Evans’ death resulted from the same type of “head-whip” injury and resultant Basilar skull fracture that claimed the life of Dale Earnhardt in 2001.

By Ken Kinney, Jr.

After much thought and deliberation, the United Dirt Late Model Challenge Series and it’s  sponsor Sunoco, are proud to announce the names of the drivers who have made it’s first annual Chase for the Cup, along with thirty participants. The series is also  releasing the chase schedule, which will take it to many exciting venues in both Georgia and Florida.

The chase will surely create the most exciting points battle of 2010,season.  This will give race fans the most intense Late Model racing in the country. Although, the series originally planned on running a separate North and South schedule, both the series and Sunoco are convinced that by merging the North and South regions,  that it will match the best Late Model drivers in Central and South Georgia against  the best Late Model drivers in Florida.

This will elevate one of the most premier Late  Model Series to an even higher level and create must see events for all race fans in  both Georgia and Florida.

How the Chase was seeded
After much thought, I decided that Tyler Ivey, who had the most overall points, Ivedent Lloyd, the North points leader and Mark Whitener, the South points leader, will all be number one seeds and will be receiving $1000 respectively, at the banquet for their  accomplishments up to now.

Secondly, on the seedings I made a decision that a driver must have earned a minimum of 450 points, all other drivers were eliminated from the chase consideration. At this  point, thirty drivers are in the chase and one last driver, who is a member, will be  chosen through a blind lottery draw.

This driver will be offered the opportunity to participate in the chase, being awarded 180 points, which would be equal to the points of Patrick Williams, who is currently the thirtieth in the chase. Should the driver winning the lottery draw decide to decline the offer, the draw will continue until a  winner accepts the offer to participate.

The other seeds were chosen second in the South to second in the North, however in the  North, Tyler Ivey was awarded a number one seed and the second seed went to Chelsey  Dixon in the North, who was the next highest points earner.

The same in the South being Tyler had already received a number one seed, moved Dillon Woods into the second seed.  The bottom line is once a driver was seeded by using his highest points total, they were  skipped in the other region when seeding the next highest points earner.

If you have  any question to where you are seeded, call me directly. After seeding Jordy Nipper, who was the last Northern driver seeded based on him being  the last Northern driver with over 450 points. All remaining Southern drivers with over or exactly 450 points, you were seeded in order until reaching Patrick Williams, who had exactly 450 points.

Once the chase starts all points will be awarded as normal, with the following exceptions. Because, I do not believe in double points nights, but I realized that drivers must be  enticed and rewarded for driving to the furthest SOuthern region track, which is Hendry County Motorsports Park and Screvean Motorspeedway, which is the Northern regions most Northern track.

On these two races, you will have to count your better finish. However, drivers going to either track will receive a 50 point bonus, just for going and supporting  these two tracks, which are geographically challenged.

If clarification is needed on this, please call me directly with any questions you may have. Thanks for your support,

Ken Kinney Jr. (863)673-4325

OLD BRIDGE, N.J. — A drag racing driver ran through a containment area at the end of a track and died of head injuries after crashing his alcohol-fueled funny car at a “high rate of speed” during a qualifying round at the NHRA SuperNationals at a New Jersey raceway Friday, state police said.

Neal Parker, 58, of Millville, N.J., crashed at Raceway Park in Old Bridge, state police Sgt. Stephen Jones said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Parker was entered in the Top Alcohol Funny Car competition. The crash occurred shortly before noon.

“Parker … crashed Friday at a high rate of speed in the shutdown area during qualifying,” the NHRA said in a statement on its website. “On behalf of everyone at NHRA and Raceway Park, we are deeply saddened and want to pass along our sincere condolences to the entire Parker family.”

NHRA officials and New Jersey state police are investigating.

The car ran through a containment area with soft barriers, sand and a safety net and wound up in pieces in front of a wall at the edge of the raceway property. State police declined to comment on whether the car hit the wall or on eyewitness accounts that a drogue chute designed to slow the car failed to deploy properly.

Spectator David Farrah of Manalapan said it appeared the chute malfunctioned.

“It looked like the chute just didn’t open and he couldn’t stop,” Farrah said. “The car was just crushed. It was tragic.”

Another spectator, George Tompkins, 63, of Metuchen, said he left the stands shortly before the crash. He didn’t see the wreck, but said he heard it.

“You heard that sound and knew right away that it was bad,” he said.

Racing was suspended for more than three hours while the crash was being investigated.

Parker often drove in NHRA events on the East Coast, but was not among the NHRA’s top-ranked drivers nationally, NHRA spokesman Anthony Vestal said.

Telephone messages left at Parker’s Millville home and an excavating business listed in his name were not immediately returned Friday.

Friday’s accident comes nearly two years after top racer Scott Kalitta died when his Funny Car burst into flames and crashed at the end of the track in central New Jersey.

Kalitta’s Toyota Solara was traveling at about 300 mph when it burst into flames.

New Jersey State Police investigators determined that “catastrophic mechanical failure” caused the fuel-fired explosion.

The 1994 and 1995 Top Fuel season champion had 18 career victories.

In February, a spectator died after being hit by a tire from a crashing dragster at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. The woman was watching a first-round Top Fuel run when Antron Brown’s Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster went out of control on the strip and its left rear wheel came off.

This Wednesday night, June 9th East Bay Raceway Park hosts the “Prelude to the Dream” pay per view live from the track’s first class restaurant.

The hosts of several Real Racin’ USA Internet radio shows will be on hand to award the 2009 Inside Florida Racing Driver of the Year championship ring to a deserving Florida driver.

The sixth annual “Prelude to the Dream” highlights modern-day superstars returning to the roots of car racing by competing on a dirt track in a dirt Late Model stock car. Bill Elliott, Kasey Kahne, Bobby Labonte, Joey Logano, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and David Reutimann are among the NASCAR stars competing in the 2010 “Prelude to the Dream”. The drivers do not compete for points and winnings, but for charity, as the 2010 pay-per-view proceeds will benefit four children’s hospitals: Cincinnati Children’s, Levine Children’s Hospital, Riley Hospital for Children and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Each year Real Racin USA presents the top Florida driver with a spectacular “Driver of the Year” ring, in association with Hilderbrand Jewelers. Last year dirt late model ace Johnny Collins of Jacksonville won the award.

Radio show hosts Rick Anges, Bill Green, Jack Smith, Rob Elting, CeCe Brooks and Bill Ausburn will be on hand to present the driver’s award and interview other guests during the two hour broadcast. The broadcast can be heard via the Internet at www.realracinusa.com and clicking on the listen live link.

East Bay Raceway park features a very modern restaurant, complete with a beer and wine bar, making a great fan friendly atmosphere at the Tampa dirt racing facility. Co-owner Mike Dezarn said, “We changed everything in the place except for the floor.”

East Bay Raceway Park is located just off Route 41 south of Tampa. For directions and more information about the track visit the web site: www.eastbayracewaypark.com

The show gets underway at 7:00 PM, come early to get a good seat.