Showtime Speedway

[Frasson118]

Almost forgot to acknowledge my friends I saw along the way:

Went there with AB195, who took the time to formulate a deck for us to stand on for an outstanding view.

Tony Carreno, with an invitation to call him to "work something out", made sure we had A-1 reserved parking, and along with being cool as shit, even hooked me up with a T-shirt, that I'm proudly wearing as I type.

OSF.... what can you say about the old fart? Anyone that's met him knows how cool and fun he is to be around. My next door neighbor for the night.

Gary J. - here's a guy who I only see on occasion, but hard to find a more dedicated racefan, nice guy besides, and check out some of photography. Does a great job.

Long ago local hotshoe, Kenny Alderman.... met him once before, but really had time to get to share stories with him. Only wish Jim Fenton was in that circle also.

Looked for the Burkhalter Boys, but they had rolled up the sidewalks by then.

Stopped by the 18 truck to say hello to, or get slapped by, Don Nerone. Saw the crew, but didn't see Don.... Heard his food was awesome from several people. Very nice of you to step up on that job Don.

Spent a few minutes with the Josh Todd crew, who won the first Mod feature. Cool group, and I will be pulling for you guys along the way.

For me, this wasn't "just" a race.... it was more of a Woodstock II deal. Lot of people that were damn proud to have been around for phase 1 of this speedway, and even more thrilled that it came back to life.

For probably 40 years or so, Ulmerton Road was the place to be seen. It looks like it will be for the next foreseeable future too.

Damn.... that was COOL..!!!!!

[Jimmy McKinley]

So, how was the *racing*? Did a groove get worked in? Outside passing like the old days?

Heat races, or did they run "time trials"? How was the Figure 8 racing?

[Trash Inturn4]

Features only, no time trials. The outside was starting to come in a little by the last race of the night (second Modified Feature). They need to put barrels in the bottom groove to make all of the cars run the second groove during practice, this would help to rubber up the second groove. The track is much better though, definitely will be like the days before the concrete corners as time goes by. The Figure 8's were entertaining, just need more cars to increase the 'intersection action'.

[Frasson118]

No Idea who was in the white 25, but he put on a fantastic show in the Pro Fig-8's. Great timing and control. My adrenaline was pumping pretty good there.

[polesitter61]

Cody Stickler was in the 25.

[ancrdave]

Would have been neat if someone was actually there to write a press release with finishes etc. What classes ran? How many cars in each class? Who won?

[Darren]

If you missed Tampa Bay News on channel 8 Wed. night and want to see a report, they have a nice film of the mods and what the crowd looked like plus comments from Yoho. Its off the front page now so you have to write in Showtime Speedway in the search box.

[dd38]

Do they have any results posted anywhere? Looked on their Facebook and clicked on "Results" and then on the date, and nothing. Are they somewhere else?

[openwm53]

I want to Thank T.C. and Jefferson

I want to take a minute to personally thank Tony Carreno and Wayne Jefferson for all the time spent and the work they put into making the 4th race happen. I would like to thank EVERYONE involved with making this happen. There were many people putting in hours of labor for our track. Just wanted to point out that without the volunteer work we would not have got it done. Still many things that need to happen but time will help. It was awesome to race on the track again and even better to have the hoosier slicks under us again.........DD38 were u there ?.....Airplane tires are gone..........Sure you dont need a driver for that late model ?.....lol....... D Miller

[dd38]

On summer vacation in Tennessee for about 6 weeks.

[mrcoo89]

Thunder happens again at the quited lady.

There was so much on both the good and the bad side of the coin at the "Soft Opening" of Showtime Speedway. It was fantastic to see that many people at a local speedway. I can't remember any track in the last 10 years with that kind of fan turnout. Yoho is deffinatlly on the right track with this one. Well I'm going to run down the lists of the good the bad and the ugly. feel free to add to which ever list you deem.

The Good
Fan pertisipation: Turn out was out of this world, estimated 5k people on that little track. WOW
Car count: Stellar! Every race was 6 or more cars. 21 open wheels.......
Working with the hand dealt to you: Yoho has brought life back to track that was left for dead. no matter the bumps in the road, my hats off to you sir.

The Bad:
PA system: Was spotty at best, and the race anouncer had little to no comunication with race officials.
Missing scoreboard: Was a bit fustrating but the flagman at least tried to tell the crowd when there was only 5 left.
Food??: I'm not going to comp[lain the food or bevrege prices, but some people always will

The Ugly:
Pace Driver: Had even less comunication than the anouncer. He was placed in some very dangerous places. Flag man and him need to get on the same page.
Fans safety: I saw some major safty concerns with fans on the catch fence (or standing where the was no catch fence) the catch fence is only a barrier and are not garenteed to catch everything. STAY BACK AND BEHIND THE FENCE!!!!!