St.Augustine Speedway

[sport603]

Is that Cope in the 61?

Yep that is jimmy driving pinky. That was one of Leroy's cars. Some good times from the best driver during my time.

[Jimmy McKinley]

Yep that is jimmy driving pinky. That was one of Leroy's cars. Some good times from the best driver during my time.

Well, I don't think LeRoy owned it, but, LeRoy also did drive for Randy Allen.

John Gertsner is in our car (#121); Randy Fox in the #4; Vaughn in the #127; and Cope in the #61. Couldn't tell ya who the #04 is.

Who knows why Randy Fox was allegedly "banned" from racing "for life" back in the early to mid-'90s? LOL

[Jimmy McKinley]

OldLakeland 1/4-mile

Rather than take up the "St. Augustine" thread, thought I'd post the rest of what I have of the Florida Pro race at Lakeland's old 1/4-mile.

#5 - Daniel Keene
black #4 - Bobby Spaeth
#121 - John Gertsner
orange #4 - Randy Fox

Lakeland was an entire complex: the 1/4 mile oval was inside of a bigger, high-banked 5/8th-mile tri-oval, with the "D" on the backside. There's also a 1/4 mile dragstrip - which, I believe, is still running. I also wanna say that there was a road course at one time.

The 5/8th's mile only ran one time that I know of; for a USAC Sprint car show in 1971. I *think* the drivers complained that the place was just "too damn fast" for the Sprinters - even faster than the 1/2 miles at Dayton, Winchester, and Salem. If you know anything about the late '60s and early '70s at the "triple high banks", you'd seen some guys with some *serious*...well...kahonies.

[Frasson118]

Just remembered the 04.... I believe it is Gayle Haines.

[JD99]

Who knows why Randy Fox was allegedly "banned" from racing "for life" back in the early to mid-'90s? LOL

Did it have something to do with mercury in the frame rails, a crash, a crack, and a mega-money haz-mat clean-up?

[elmer]

I remember that as well . A crash...A mercury leak...and the races canceled for the night. Wow

[sport603]

Cope

No the 61 wasn't owned by Leroy, it was one of his old cars. I am not sure but it may have been after Jimmy came back from Lawarre, when Garvey took over the #8. I remember that night @ OSW when Fox had the mercury come out of the car pretty crazy. Jimmy Cope got the win that night.

[AB195]

#61--

Burke Hammond drove the #61 for a bit.

[AB195]

This St. Augustine thread turned into a Lakeland thread, and to answer some questions; the drag-strip is still going strong, there is a mud-bog, mud dragway, an old dirt go-cart track, and gone are a cross-country dirt course, a moto-cross track, and the old 5/8 and 1/4 milers.

The asphalt road-course was used quite a bit, with the raceway using the long drag strip, a weaving return toward the ovals, the original old entrance to the ovals, a trip around the big 5/8 track, and out to the drag-strip again through an opening that was on the other side of the 1/4 mile grandstands, which most nobody knew had ever existed, because it had been closed-up and cemented over, before the re-opening of the 1/4 miler.
If you looked close enough, you could see where the other opening in the wall had once been.

[zerofor]

It sounds like the Lakeland facility was a hell of a place at one time.Sheesh it sounds like all they needed was to move a NASA launch pad into it and they would have had all bases covered.St Augustine was a true half mile wasn't it?I wasn't down here before it closed its doors.Wish I could have seen them both along with Hialeah.I've never been to any of the Indiana tracks even though I've seen races on tv and many many pictures of Salem and Winchester.I did go to races at the old Dayton Ohio Speedway as a very young kid and then again for the last Dayton 500 race held there in 1981 before it was closed for good and turned into a landfill.The last Dayton 500 was a run what you brung race with no weight rulesetc. In effect and even had a couple sprint cars and hobby stocks in the field WITH the late models.Both 250 lap segments were won by Ed "Hillbilly" Duncan in a car owned by Ben Pelphrey and driven a year earlier by Don Gregory.Dayton was actually bigger than a half mile,a little closer to a 5/8 mile and even at that dilapidated point in its history,scary fast.A wicked wreck just past the start finish line towards the end of the second segment eliminated a number of the remaining field and tore the entire front clip from Columbus's Larry Lahrmer's car with it erupting into a ballof flames and leaving Larry visibly shaken,even an hour after the race ended.I read a story about Jim Hurtibese coming to race there for his first time in the late 50's and arriving late so he requested a ride around the track to check it out and see where any bumps or dips were on the racing surface and after a ride around the track they asked him what he thought of it and he supposedly said well the tracks fine but why did they plant bushes around the outside the track in the turns?Supposedly they told him,Jim, those aren't bushes those are tree tops.

[dd38]

Randy Allen (Deceased) owned the 61 cars that LeRoy drove. Burke Hammond worked on them (and the #7), but I don't remember him driving them. I believe the car shown was the one that LeRoy got hurt in and Jimmy Cope rebuilt it and drove it on occassion. Me, Randy and LeRoy all rode to St. Pete together(LeRoy didn't know what was up. Just thought we were going to the races) the nite they unvieled it after the rebuild. LeRoy was very emmotinal that nite.

[Don Nerone]

Lakeland - the 3/4 mile "super-spee..."...sorry..."short track"...was HARD on equipment, especially the "local" classes. And not just by tearin' stuff up. Mini stocks, street stocks, and sportsman cars - the "low-buck" classes...just couldn't hardly afford to be turning 10,000 RPM at a big track like Lakeland. The races you saw on TV were probably the old Hooter's Cup series, because they had the TV deal at the time. In my opinion, even the Late Models didn't really *belong* at a track that big; Nashville, which is just under a 5/8ths officially measured at .597 mile), is *plenty* big.

Wish they woulda left Lakeland alone and left it a 1/4 mile. We ran a Florida Pro race there, and it wasn't too bad Just needed to fill in the ditch inside of turn three....

Dont think it was a Florida Pro race Jimmy. The only FPrace ron there was on the 3/4 mile 1 time. Pete Ore wore them out that night.

U can see the roof of my house in one of those pic..
Boy the grass was greener on the other side.
Don62

[Groundpounder]

Wow, what a crappy way to ruin the St. Augustine thread with all of this Lakeland crap...and who drove what...from you guys that are too old to correctly remember . I was looking forward to hearing more about the St. Augustine track.

[Jimmy McKinley]

Wow, what a crappy way to ruin the St. Augustine thread with all of this Lakeland crap...and who drove what...from you guys that are too old to correctly remember . I was looking forward to hearing more about the St. Augustine track.

Sorry for ruinin' yer day... :/

St. Augustine...ain't really much to say, I don't think. It was only open for a few years (1992-2001). They ran a few Hooter's Pro Cup races there after it was paved. I don't know what the situation was with it closing without much of a notice.

http://staugustine.com/stories/122101/spo_375300.shtml

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/st...r_8454764.html

[Lurkin]

I went there the first year it opened as a dirt track. Packed house all around and the show was killer.. The outside wall was goofy, but they fixed that and the WoO ran there at least once. They paved it and it was gorgeous, but I have no idea why it closed. I remember George Rudolf's Grandson got into the fence in a TBARA race and got messed up real bad, and someone else got messed up real bad there in TBARA as well but his name escapes me at the moment.