Ocala notebook

[Boneman]

What a night! I love to see a standing-room crowd at a Florida short track. The surface looked great, but so did the concession area, the bathrooms, the playground...everything! I wish them much success with their track during this time when so many say that "it can't be done".

A few observations: the show was too long. Four hobby stock heats and a two B mains ate up too much time. Why not dispense with the heats and just run 2 B mains that transfer the top 10 or 12 to the feature? Even the late models had too many heats. Instead of 5 heats with 10 cars, please consider say 3 heats with 17 cars, then transfer the top 7 or so.

Also, there were too many yellows! Over and over, the some back-marker would spin out and sit there until the yellow came out. The starter fell for this almost every time. In the future, black flag anyone who draws a caution intentionally, or take the judgement out of it and just automaticly black flag anyone who brings out a second yellow. Another option is to just race around them if you can. One of the yellows was for a spun LM that was 20-30 feet in the infield. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Can they get rid of the "one to go" signal? Every caution period had an extra minute or so added because the field always got the one to go. Train the drivers to watch the lights. When the lights are out, be ready to fire. It is easy and would save a lot of time.

Kudos to race control for getting the next race out while the previous one was driving to the pits. They were really on top of that point.

Regarding the hole in turn 4: I was sitting at the end of the stands in that corner, and noticed a very smooth track near the completition of practice. I think the LMs could run all night without digging it up. However, in the final practice session, a Gladiator car dug a rut in the corner. It was a heavy, front wheel drive car on street tires. The driver had it full lock to the left and the RF tire dug in and cut a groove that I watched turn into a substantial hole that affected the racing.

I know that dirt tracks develop holes. They always have and they always will, but I can't help but think this type may be avoidable in the future. Is there a minimum air pressure for the Gladiators? Wouldn't it help if the track crew filled it in when it was still a small cut?

Finally, I enjoyed meeting KARNAC reader Randy. Hey, you are a guy who gets to a lot of Florida tracks and sees a bunch of racing. Get on here and post with us, I just hope you can't photoshop pictures!

Great job Ocala! Clearly, this track will be a real asset to Florida racers and fans.

[ocalaisback3]

boneman i love you but... most dirt tracks run the same program heats no matter how many cars b mains and features you have to remember this was the first night and because they started at 8pm it seemed like a longer night nothing could be done about the late models as they are a traveling series and have their own procedures. that being said i agree 1000% too many yellows when they could have easily got back going there should be no excuse if its still running then get back on the track.about the one to go most tracks have that also it makes it easier on officially to get one last look at the line up imo overall the whole night was awesome my dad and i have never had to park down the street i almost felt like i was at volusia during speedweeks kudos to everyone on the ocalaspeedway staff for putting on one heck of a show i will be back thats for sure every week if i can btw jerry were you there i tried calling you but your phone is shut off again. i saw OSF was there but couldnt find him either i did get to see Barb again,probably ocalaspeedways biggest fan dirt or asphalt she never misses a race and can always be found sitting behind the flagstand right above the entrance. so all in all very excellent

[Rick]

Yellow Flags

I agree with you guys on the yellow flags but my take on it was that, YES there were a bunch of yellow flags BUT there were way to many Caution laps it seemed they would drive around under caution for dang near 5 laps each time the yellow came out.

I don't think any of us are bashing the track so I hope nobody takes it as that, these are just simply observations and ideas the track may or may not think about looking into. I know it isn't gonna stop me from going back that's for sure.

[backrow]

Not bashing-just stating-I agree with the Boneman and Rick on the number of caution laps after a yellow flag. One would think with the Raceciever Technology they could tell the guys where to line up and get back to racing a whole lot sooner. It just breeaks the race up and the drivers get no momentum. Please institute a rule that if the same driver brings out two cautions without any help he is blackflagged. A dirt late model feature is no place to learn how to drive.

[Rick]

Backrow

I do know they were having trouble with the Raceivers last night. Our driver was told they could only get about half of them to work, again just opening night bugs and something I'm sure they will get taken care of right away and fixed for the next race.

[palmbayer]

NICE JOB OCALA!!!!!! In the words of "ARNOLD" I'll be back!

[BJ Cavin]

I just want to take a moment to thank everyone! Thanks to all of the fans who came out in droves and filled Ocala Speedway to overflowing! Thanks to all of the hordes of racers who totally filled the pits to capacity, then spilled out the back end to take up a few acres of the back 40, and who put on an awesome night of racing! And especially thanks to Mike and Angie for having a dream, taking the extreme risk to make it a reality, and for allowing me to be a part of it in some minute way! Please, everyone overlook our opening night hiccups and remember that we are learning as we go, and we'll get better and better as time marches on! And everyon eplease come back and keep coming back! We really do appreciate all of you!

[1wildfastgirl24]

What a night! I love to see a standing-room crowd at a Florida short track. The surface looked great, but so did the concession area, the bathrooms, the playground...everything! I wish them much success with their track during this time when so many say that "it can't be done".

A few observations: the show was too long. Four hobby stock heats and a two B mains ate up too much time. Why not dispense with the heats and just run 2 B mains that transfer the top 10 or 12 to the feature? Even the late models had too many heats. Instead of 5 heats with 10 cars, please consider say 3 heats with 17 cars, then transfer the top 7 or so.

Also, there were too many yellows! Over and over, the some back-marker would spin out and sit there until the yellow came out. The starter fell for this almost every time. In the future, black flag anyone who draws a caution intentionally, or take the judgement out of it and just automaticly black flag anyone who brings out a second yellow. Another option is to just race around them if you can. One of the yellows was for a spun LM that was 20-30 feet in the infield. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Can they get rid of the "one to go" signal? Every caution period had an extra minute or so added because the field always got the one to go. Train the drivers to watch the lights. When the lights are out, be ready to fire. It is easy and would save a lot of time.

Kudos to race control for getting the next race out while the previous one was driving to the pits. They were really on top of that point.

Regarding the hole in turn 4: I was sitting at the end of the stands in that corner, and noticed a very smooth track near the completition of practice. I think the LMs could run all night without digging it up. However, in the final practice session, a Gladiator car dug a rut in the corner. It was a heavy, front wheel drive car on street tires. The driver had it full lock to the left and the RF tire dug in and cut a groove that I watched turn into a substantial hole that affected the racing.

I know that dirt tracks develop holes. They always have and they always will, but I can't help but think this type may be avoidable in the future. Is there a minimum air pressure for the Gladiators? Wouldn't it help if the track crew filled it in when it was still a small cut?

Finally, I enjoyed meeting KARNAC reader Randy. Hey, you are a guy who gets to a lot of Florida tracks and sees a bunch of racing. Get on here and post with us, I just hope you can't photoshop pictures!

Great job Ocala! Clearly, this track will be a real asset to Florida racers and fans.

I agree there is a few bugs that needs to be worked out exspecially in the hobby stock division,But that is only natural and exspected the first big opening night....but they will soon get it all together.....Thank you to Mike & Angie and all the staff at Ocala who done a great job of putting on a great show for the fans.Your right yes this track is a real asset to florida racers and fans......Keep up the great efforts and hard work Ocala!!....Ya'll Rock!!

[Speedweeks junkie]

Fun track, fun night, good racing, BIG crowd lol. I will be back for sure.

[mocha2@dishmail.net]

I think Ocala did a very good job for the first night back on dirt.I agree with above posts on the cautions and number of laps run under caution but this is understandable on first night.Can't wait to see how the rest of the season goes.Nice car count in the hobby stock division I hope they can keep those numbers up as this is a great class in my book.

[Benny The Mule]

I choose to withold comment for now until the milldle-end of july. I will then re-visit the ruts and car count. sounds like opening night was a huge show......hopefully for the benefit of local racing in that area it will hold up. I origionally made my comments on the selection of dirt way back when it was being dumped and what blend was being used. Ruts this time of year are nothing compared to summer and usually the best track conditions are on (new) dirt.............Again this is merely an opinion based on a number of things including posts from opening night. I wish you hundreds of cars and thousands of fans weekly BECAUSE OF the effort everyone made to make the transition.

[OLD STYLE RACER 2]

Boneman-- Shame on you! To come on here and post your ideas is welcomed for our track. But post a lie about cautions and to write about the long rut in turn 3 and 4 , is just not right.
First of all, cautions--- More times than naught, we did go back racing by just flashing the lights and throwing the green when the leader fired in turn 3/4, when we thought it was safe to do so. There were some times when we did show them 1 to go and it WAS questionable to just go back racing, but it's better to be safe than sorry. I'm not saying that you are wrong about how long it took for some of the yellows. We had some new people starting out last night and there was, at sometimes, entirely to much radio traffic under cautions. That problem is/has been addressed. Can our show be better? YES it can, and that is what we strive to do each and every week.
For the late model that was 20-30 foot off of the race track when the caution was thrown, I have no idea what you are talking about unless you are speaking of the one off of turn 4. If so, it was because he was trying to get going and he was stuck in the mud. He wasn't just sitting there waiting for the caution.
As for the racecievers, we will be useing them as we did last night. All of the late models had them last night. As for all the other classes, the only cars that had them were the drivers that have raced at other tracks that use them. Mike ordered them months ago but they are on back order.
2nd--the track---IT was rough in 3 and 4. But no matter what we could have done, it would have still been rough. Even if we would have stopped the whole show [make the show even longer] it would have been pushed out in 1 heat race. Anyone with a little knowledge about dirt tracks, knows this. Bottom line is that it is a brand new dirt track. We knew that it was going to be rough. That's the problem that you have with a new track. It's going to be that way for a few shows. We've had 2 practices and now 1 full show. The track has gotten better with each one and will continue to get better with each show. It'll just take some time to get the clay to compress to be more consistent. When that happens, the track will be awesome!!!!!

[Rick Anges]

Shane and Ivedent both told me after the race that the track indeed was coming up but they did say that after they had a base down the track would be just fine. They also both agreed it was very racey and tacky.

[Rick]

Boneman-- Shame on you! To come on here and post your ideas is welcomed for our track. But post a lie about cautions and to write about the long rut in turn 3 and 4 , is just not right.
First of all, cautions--- More times than naught, we did go back racing by just flashing the lights and throwing the green when the leader fired in turn 3/4, when we thought it was safe to do so. There were some times when we did show them 1 to go and it WAS questionable to just go back racing, but it's better to be safe than sorry. I'm not saying that you are wrong about how long it took for some of the yellows. We had some new people starting out last night and there was, at sometimes, entirely to much radio traffic under cautions. That problem is/has been addressed. Can our show be better? YES it can, and that is what we strive to do each and every week.
For the late model that was 20-30 foot off of the race track when the caution was thrown, I have no idea what you are talking about unless you are speaking of the one off of turn 4. If so, it was because he was trying to get going and he was stuck in the mud. He wasn't just sitting there waiting for the caution.
As for the racecievers, we will be useing them as we did last night. All of the late models had them last night. As for all the other classes, the only cars that had them were the drivers that have raced at other tracks that use them. Mike ordered them months ago but they are on back order.
2nd--the track---IT was rough in 3 and 4. But no matter what we could have done, it would have still been rough. Even if we would have stopped the whole show [make the show even longer] it would have been pushed out in 1 heat race. Anyone with a little knowledge about dirt tracks, knows this. Bottom line is that it is a brand new dirt track. We knew that it was going to be rough. That's the problem that you have with a new track. It's going to be that way for a few shows. We've had 2 practices and now 1 full show. The track has gotten better with each one and will continue to get better with each show. It'll just take some time to get the clay to compress to be more consistent. When that happens, the track will be awesome!!!!!

Easy there "Old Style" Boneman wasn't "Posting Lies" about the track there was indeed a rut that had developed in turn 4, he was simply posting his take on how it got there. He wasn't making up the line about the cautions there was indeed a bunch of them and more times than not there was 3 or 4 caution laps that there really didnt need to be.

I'm sorry to tell you but NOT every Late Model had a Raceiver, our driver went up to get one and was told not to worry about it cause half of them weren't working anyway.

All these posts were not meant as bashing and were stated as such so again relax a little and re-read the posts you'll find we all wish the track much success.

[OLD STYLE RACER 2]

I am sorry if I came off sounding bad. What he said about the cautions was wrong.He said "everytime" and that just was not the case.Could we have been faster? YES. But you also need to remember that this was the first time that we had worked with 98% of the drivers. I probably should not have said "lie", but that was the first thing that I thought and that is referring to his caution refferance. As for the track---there was nothing that could've been done. Once it was done, it was done. We could have stopped everything and made it look like we were trying to fix the track, but then when the next race came out, the rut would have opened back up. Then the show would have been even longer, cause we took the time to fix it.
Ive been on here for years and was looking forward to meeting Boneman last night, after he said he was gonna try to come up an race.
PS. There official told me that all of them [LM] had racecievers.