Your memories!!!

[carolwicks]

What are some of your favorite memories of people or events at USA Speedway in Lakeland???? I know there are many!
carol

[Jane]

Ok here goes. My fondest memory was the first race held at USA and how I thought I had died and gone to racing heaven when we got there. It was the most fantastic track I had ever seen, other than Disney and the truck race and my few times to Daytona. The Hooter's Cup was there and to our surprise, David Rogers. Back then my daughter loved David and she was so happy. We got a motel, which is now closed, and stayed for the whole weekend, practice and all. We had a blast. The smells, the sounds of the cars, everything was just perfect.

That was my fondest memory because I was there with my whole family and it was the first time I got to see Dick Anderson race in person and Mike Garvey and a few others. Still have the model cars I bought that weekend and saved.

[carolwicks]

you never knew who you would bump into. just a huge sad loss! i hate thinking about it. ;-( some of the things i remember were dennis boyd working hard on jasons car, my dearest friend kyle busch playing with rivets while insulting Chaplain Bill & little bobby, david stremme (what a wonderful man), Bobby Santos 2 & 3!, Chris Fontaine playing with his adorable little mini pincer chasing a laser beam, Dickie Anderson running around on his golf cart always chattering away with some other driver, Justin Drawdy, Jay Middleton, Shane Sawyer, Lee & Mike Faulk..Hooters Cup, ARCA...i met Billy Bigley, Bubba Pollard, Travis Kittleson, Dave Rogers who is still winning races, LeRoy Porter, and so many fantastic racers at USA...too many to be able to mention...if memory serves me well i am sure i saw Derrick Cope and Bobby Gill too...
well i prefer to remember the old girl as she was before her demise. she was beautiful and she was special... that is my preferred memory. my less than happy memory was not being able to get over that dam wall to take pictures. i remember James Powell saying he would help me!!! ROFLLLL what the heck did he have for breakfast??? i never made it over that wall but drivers were so kind and would turn around for me and let me take their pics in the wonderful winners circle..... i think Wayne Jefferson was the first...guess i need to stop babbling before someone insults me...roflllll however seeing what she has become can be a valuable lesson to us...maybe...
i know this is part of a repeat post but wanted it in the right place. ;-) yep Jane...we sure dont have enough room to capture all the memories. i can still see you in the trailer and sandy nerone on her puter by the rest rooms...
i remember the safety crew that i faithfully visited every time i went there over by turn 1....all the photographers and media!!! and it only took me an hour and 20 mins. to get there!!!! sniff... ;-(
carolwicks aka oz

[Boneman]

That track is where I did the most dangerous thing I've ever done in my life. Not just in racing, but ever. At Crash A Rama, 2007, they ran an "obstacle race". There were concrete "jersey barriers" arranged on the front straight and on pit road. They stuck out into traffic flow, so we had to weave around them.

I was driving a compact car with a lap belt and a plastic bumper. The problem is that we were going 70 mph. If I clipped the end of one of the barriers I'd be picking that plastic bumper out of my teeth. I led that race for several laps (got crashed by a lapped car), but I knew I wasn't going by those barriers with some big heavy car next to me.

Hopefully the next obstacle race with use something a little more conformable. Mattresses, sofas, anything but concrete.

Also, the day after the first Modified Reunion, I went there with Jerry Binner and a few friends to drive old worn out Cup cars. I think I paid for 26 laps. The instructors gave us very somber warnings about how powerful and fast the cars were. Mine felt like an underpowered mini stock at New Smyrna, but at least I got a few practice laps around that track where I never raced.

[RSB]

I'll TRY to keep this short!

As usual, I show up to race at USA about 3 hours late(tow truck problems), miss qualifying and the only place they can find to park me is in between two late model(Sunbelt/ Hooters?) teams with REALLY big haulers right on the frontstretch. Of course I'm pulling my truck with a Ford diesel van and an open trailer so these teams around us are looking at us like WTF are these guys doing parking here? Anyway, I had to start last..26th I believe and ended up finishing second or third. I don't think there was even a caution..my truck was just hooked up and I could drive it anywhere on the track.
After going through tech and pulling back into my pit, all of these snobby F%@#ks that wouldn't give us the time of day started coming by and congratulating us. Pretty damn cool moment!

[Jane]

Another great memory that I have was when we took the Sunbelt, Mini Stocks to Sebring. That was alot of fun and I have never seen Dick Anderson move so fast as he did on that road course. And Mike Bresnahan did fantastic. That was alot of fun and I have some very fond memories of that one also plus spending the day with Pete Orr. He was there as a Crew Chief and we sat together and had a great time. Running back and forth from the front stretch to the back, what a great time.

[crobinson76]

watching dave pletcher almost win the hooters race right after his dads death an to see how much it meant to him to try so hard to win 1 for his dad

[10racing]

It was the first place I worked on raccars my freind was racing and messed up a trans during practice and got to help change it. It was also the first place that I ran down the pits pussing a car to get it started.

[Don Nerone]

uas

USA was my world. It was all i though of for 10 years till we got it built. We bought it at auction. it had been closed for years. They cut the track property in many small peices. So we saved it once. IT took many years to find someone to finsh the project.( Bob Brokes billy Martino). Best day was wlen the first Hoters cars went out ot practiceon the new track. they were lead but Dick Westfall in his work van. He pulled of we waved the green. That was the best day for me ever.
(RSB didnt think you liked my shows )


Don62

[RSB]

Who me?

I sure liked racing on YOUR track, and if you were the one responsible for allowing PARTSPRO, FASTRUCK, and the SSS to race there, then thank you!

[Don Nerone]

You are welcome.

[carolwicks]

Don

isnt it sad that sometimes all we have left is dreams of days gone by and we sometimes never learn from them.....we have to do everything we can to save what we have left. we can all complain about our tracks but we will cry more when they arent here. it isnt just owners who need to try harder. drivers and fans can help too. drivers can mingle with the fans and can dress up some of those haulers so people can see a race car... fans can bring friends to the track and can talk alot about racing... when i see a race fan (hats & shirts)in the aisle as i walk thru to get groceries checked out i try to strike up conversation about racing and i always ask if they go locally... MOST say no and ask where!!!!.. we can all try harder and instead of using the board for bitchin we can try to come up with UNSELFISH solutions....the board is so much fun when we are being positive. when we are promoting... the nastiness is a total waste of time and energy and doesnt do a thing to improve our situation... just my silly opinion... when i was younger and saw race cars on trailers or race car pictures on haulers i would always get excited and want to go to a race... everyone is attracted to them when they drive by on the highway... the kids would wave to the drivers and the drivers would toot loud horns for them...
times sure have changed but we can improve... ;-)
carolwicks aka OZ

[BVS40FL]

Lakeland

Being a Mini-stock driver my dream was always to get a chance to race a Goody's Dash Series car at Daytona . I got to crew on a Dash team there and go over the wall for a pit stop . Thanks to Duane Haines and his family for that memory/opportunity. But I guess racing the FMSC races at Lakeland were as close as I'll ever get to Daytona. Thanks to Todd Hutto for that one.
Even lined up at the Sebring FMSC race next to Boneman. That was the fastest I have ever gone in my Mini-Stock. With calculations of tire size,gear ratio, and rpm's we were at 130 mph on the airport straight.
Didn't know why those latemodels all had windshield supports in the center of their dash , but when that lexan bowed in on me I thought the roof was coming off !
I actually tried to hold my hand held GPS at Lakeland to see how fast we were going there. but.... too much vibration and ran out of nerve and had to hold the wheel with both hands.

[RSB]

Being a Mini-stock driver my dream was always to get a chance to race a Goody's Dash Series car at Daytona . I got to crew on a Dash team there and go over the wall for a pit stop . Thanks to Duane Haines and his family for that memory/opportunity. But I guess racing the FMSC races at Lakeland were as close as I'll ever get to Daytona. Thanks to Todd Hutto for that one.
Even lined up at the Sebring FMSC race next to Boneman. That was the fastest I have ever gone in my Mini-Stock. With calculations of tire size,gear ratio, and rpm's we were at 130 mph on the airport straight.
Didn't know why those latemodels all had windshield supports in the center of their dash , but when that lexan bowed in on me I thought the roof was coming off !
I actually tried to hold my hand held GPS at Lakeland to see how fast we were going there. but.... too much vibration and ran out of nerve and had to hold the wheel with both hands.

Yeah, that long straight at Sebring WAS awesome! That long sweeping turn at the end of it was pretty tricky too. I never seemed to slow down enough to get through it smoothly.

[Boneman]

That day at Sebring is one of my favorite racing memories. 130 mph in a mini stock, then braking into a bumpy, flat right hander! I've done more road racing since then, but you know what they say, "you never forget the first time".

Why doesn't someone set up another weekend like that? They ran SLM, trucks, mini stocks and who knows what else. I believe it was run along with NASA road racing group.