USA "Memories"

[Rick Anges]

The "HEAT" was on at
USA International Speedway




August 15, 1999

by Rick Anges

Lakeland, Fl - Florida's finest touring classes took to the track Saturday with some
fantastic racing and some breath taking moments as the S.A.R.A. Late Model
Sportsman & Open Wheel Modifieds joined the Florida Pro Late Models for one
awesome night of racing on the high banked 3/4 mile oval in Lakeland, Fl.
Racing was tight and the action was hot (literally). This is the biggest and
fastest track these guys run on so setups and driving skills were critical in
all the races, some hit and some didn't.....

#77 Darryl Shelnut took the early lead as 32 Fla. Pro cars, the best
from all over the state, took the green for the 125 lap race running strong
hard laps, but the #00 of Dickie Anderson was looming back in 6th and moved
hard and fast, picking off spots at will. By the 12th lap Anderson moved into
the second spot and was closing in on the leader Shelnut. Dickie showed
Shelnut why he is considered the "Real" king of the short tracks bump
drafting moving inside and outside working both grooves setting up the #77

Early race favorite #61 Jimmy Cope retired his car behind pit road early with apparent engine problems. Meanwhile Anderson was heating it up on the track finally getting an inside move on Darryl and taking the lead on lap 20. The whole time veteran Late Model driver Pete Orr in the #30 had cagily moved up through the field and slid into 3rd behind Shelnut and the three cars moved away from the field. The rest of the field was tight and the battles were all over the race track #11 David Rogers was making steady advances from his 10th starting position also moving up was the #41 Jeff
Williams who had help on his car all weekend from Hooters Pro-Cup Star Mario
Gosslen, the #99 current points leader Glenn Whitney was also making strides
towards the front.

On lap 59, while coming up on lapped traffic, Anderson had a slight slip and after taking 2nd from Shelnut, Orr made a move on the inside and pulled up even with him but with his brakes glowing going into each turn the crafty veteran Anderson held off the charge and kept the lead position. #93 Rob Partelo who was running consistent laps had to pull into the pits with an overheating motor. He was able to get back into the race but was never much of a factor after that.

Meanwhile #44 Williams had moved into 3rd and was all over the rear bumper of the #77 finally sliding inside of him and taking the spot and bringing David Rogers by Shelnut. The race for second was on as Anderson was driving away with almost a full straight lead. #0 Dave Pletcher who was hanging tough staying in the top 10 throughout the race pulled his car behind pit wall just after the half way mark with what seemed like suspension problems ending his bid for the win. #99 points leader
Glenn Whitney's night ended early with an unknown problem as he to pulled his
machine behind the wall after a having a good run going.

Running hard with the leaders had its toll on #77 Shelnut as he pulled into the pits with a flat then after changing the tire and starting a charge back up through the
field, crashed hard on the backstretch wall ending what had been a great run
for him and his crew. The crash in the backstretch also took out top runner
#41 Jeff Williams after pulling on pit road with an apparent flat it was
obvious the damage was much worse with a broken control arm also ending his
race. During the caution the #16 of Eddie King caught fire on the rear
stretch from an electrical fire but was quickly extinguished.

Meanwhile, while starting near the rear of the field due to problems in qualifying, # 5
David L."Buggy" Pletcher quietly made his way towards the front. The battle
in the front continued but it was "Trickie" Dickie Anderson holding off the
hard charging Orr taking the win, #11 David Rogers brought his car home 3rd,
#34 Bronson winner Ricky Carlton was 4th, and the "BugMan" David L. Pletcher
rounded out the top 5.

* Note: "Iron Man" Dwayne Dempsey finished 8th in the first of 3 races he
would run this night.

When the 35 cars pulled onto the track for the S.A.R.A. Late Model
Sportsman feature you could feel something in the hot, humid August night
air. These cars who are used to running on the 3/8th and 1/4 mile bullrings
across the state were now on the high banks of the 3/4 mile USA Speedway.

The green dropped and the speeds were up as #45 Sonny Hughes took the early lead
with the #5 of Joe Boyd falling in behind him in 2nd the rest of the field
was tight and battling hard behind the leader when on lap 7 #81 Mike Cioffi
crashed into the backstretch wall igniting an inferno from a burst fuel cell,
the #74 of Richie Henry exploded into a fireball as 5 or 6 other cars
involved were also damaged in the flames.

The crowd was on their feet as the flames licked towards the top of the light poles in the infield. Also involved were the #75 of Richie Anderson, #56x Kevin Durden, #29 Tracey Raven and the #6 of Bill Chapman. All the drivers were pulled clear of the flaming carnage as the track crew was right on top of the fiery situation. Drivers
Anderson and Henry were taken to the hospital, Anderson with possible 2nd and
3rd degree burns on his face and hands, Henry with neck and back pains.

What was one of the deadliest looking crashes I have ever seen in racing was under
control and out from great work by the safety team at USA Speedway. After an
hour long red flag delay for the clean up which anywhere else would have
possibly closed any other race track racing resumed with Hughes again pulling
out and holding the lead while behind him #8x Shane Sawyer was all over the
Boyd machine finally getting an inside move and getting by with Boyd losing
positions as #7 "Iron Man"Dwayne Dempsey also got by. Dempsey then got by
Sawyer coming out of 4 and took the lead.

Meanwhile #8 Mike McCrary entered the fray getting by Hughes and pulling into 3rd spot. After leading several laps Shane again used some power and got by Dempsey in the same spot that he had lost the lead. McCrary then pulled up on the rear bumper of Dempsey and the race was on for 2nd with Mike eventually getting by and setting his sites on the leader but was unable to get by as Sawyer took the checkers followed by McCary, Dempsey ran 3rd, #69 Bobby Shelton 4th and #45 Sonny Hughes 5th.

*Note: Dempsey climbed from his car did the winners circle interviews and
headed to the pits to climb into the Modified for the next feature without
missing a beat.

The engines fired and 25 cars pulled out for the final feature of the
night the S.A.R.A. Open Wheel Modifieds roared out onto the high banks. #52
Robert ham who blistered the track in qualifying with 122.64 mph run moved up
through the field and slid into 2nd behind leader Larry Martin in the #07.
#89 Lee Collins who was 2nd in qualifying was also moving up until he got
caught up in a crash that took out #2 Jeff Girard appearing to break
something in the rear suspension in Collins machine.

Ham worked the Martin machine masterfully finally getting by and never looking back at times pulling out over a whole straightaway lead. Martin was briefly challenged for
the 2nd spot by both # 66 Jerry Symons and the #6 of Dwayne Dempsey but held
them both off as Dempsey and Symons swapping 3rd spot several times. Racing
action was great all over the track but when the smoke cleared it was Robert
Hamm taking the win convincingly. Martin roared across in the 2nd spot,
Dempsey came home 3rd,Symons floowed in 4th and #22 points leader Perry Brown
5th.

*Note: Again the Iron Man Dempsey climbed out of his car and did the
interviews after the race. I talked to him and the man seemed ready to go
another 100 laps in anything!!! This guy has the stamina to race. No wonder
he leads the points in Sportsman and is 2nd in the Modifieds......Look for a
feature article on Dempsey coming up in the near future on KARNAC.

Thanks go out to Billy Martino Jr. and his crew at USA Speedway for a
great 2 days. The racing was awesome the track as it always is. Coming up
next at USA Speedway are the Hooters ProCup cars Sept 4th for the Jackroo
Sauces 250 and the SARA Late Model Sportsman coming back for another feature
race.........From Lakeland.......Rick Anges

EDITORS NOTE: Shane Sawyer was disqualified giving the SARA late model winners trophy to Mike McCreary

[modracer22]

I was there that night and remember the fire. As always had a bad run in my modified.

[Rick Anges]

Derrick Kelley Wins Alan Kulwicki Memorial 300 At USA International

‘Kelley Shreds the Field’.......

November 29, 1999

by Rick Anges

The final leg of the Hooters Pro Cup Series roared onto USA International Speedway in Lakeland Saturday night. With the championship already decided the action was hot and heavy with anything goes racing action. Over 50 cars were on hand to attempt to qualify for the grueling 300 lap event in which only 42 cars would start. Champion Bobby Gill came out and blistered the track record set in 1998 by Mario Gosselin at 21.94 seconds to a new record of 21.804, not only Gill but the top 7
qualifiers were also under the record which meant for a fast paced action filled race.....and was it ever!!

On the drop of the green it was Gill in the #5 taking the early lead followed by newcomer Lyndon Amick in the #135 who started on the outside of the front row. Mario Gosselin in the #10 was right in the mix for 3rd while the rest the of the field was slicing and dicing all over the track for positions when the first caution was brought out by 16 year old Regan Smith #28, as he looped the car on lap 9. On the restart Smith's motor expired on the backstretch exploding in a ball of flame but was quickly extinguished ending the youngsters night early.

The green flag brought more side by side racing, with #17 Ricky Hendricks son of NASCAR star Jeff Gordon's car owner Rick Hendricks made impressive moves through the field battling up and moving into the top ten quickly in the event. #44 Justin Labonte had his troubles after running well early in the race with several spins and hard crashes calling for him to retire before the end of the race.

On a restart after one of the 16 cautions in the race the cars mid pack were running 2 and 3 wide resulting in an inevitable 13 car pile up damaging several cars including rookie points leader #0 Steven Christian with severe front end damage. But he was able to return after great pit work when his team had to remove the whole front nose clip on the car making it look like a modified instead of a Pro-Cup car. Number 52, Jason Bowser's, car was the worst damaged in the melee and was unable to continue.

Gill looked like he was going to runaway from the rest of the pack when he got tangled up with a lapped car and spun on lap 91 putting him to the rear of the field. After pit stops by several leaders for fuel and tires Hendricks assumed the lead under the caution followed by a hard charging #25 Scott Wimmer who made a great charge up through the field to battle and take the lead from the #17.

Also racing hard up through the pack after starting 26th was local favorite Derrick Kelley #21 sliding into 3rd the taking the 2nd spot from young Hendricks. Kelley and Wimmer fought tooth and nail for the lead for the next 35-40 laps trading the lead back and forth but also watching the other teams stop for gas and then on lap 148 the unthinkable happened as Kelley' machine sputtered on the back stretch and ran out of fuel causing him to coast in under green to get fueled. Adding to the problem, Derrick's car failed to fire and had to be pushed down pit road by his crew before he could get it running and rejoin the race two precious laps down to the rest of the field.

The half way leader Wimmer was the next to fall victim to the empty tank blues sputtering as he crossed the start finish line on lap 152 but being able to make it around to the pits to refuel and going one lap down.

#5 Gill was having a great drive through the field after his early problems. Mario Gosselin wasn't as lucky though breaking on lap 177. Meanwhile Wimmer and Kelley were driving fast and furious trying to make up their lost
laps. Kelley was in line for a $25,000 bonus from the Four Champions Challenge if he could pull off the win which with over half the race gone seemed literally impossible.

But the best was yet to come. Wimmer eventually got his lap back and Kelley also was able to get one of his back. #47 Andy Thurman was able to lead 63 of the laps followed the whole evening by a great driving #51 David "Buggy" Pletcher.

The #05 of Mardy Lindley also had an impressive showing in the Herschel Walker Aloe-Vera racing machine running in the top ten and avoiding trouble all through the night. Meanwhile Wimmer had made it back through the field and had cracked the top 5 when Hendricks dove low pushing him hard into the turn 1 wall taking him out and getting Ricky the black flag sending him to the trailer for rough driving. Also running into trouble was the #5 of Gill who smacked the turn 3 wall ending it early.

This opened the door for a dominating run to the front from 2 laps down for Derrick Kelley, who took the lead on lap 260 and never looked back, crossing the finish line to collect his $25,000 bonus and $8,000 winner purse for a very profitable evening after looking like was going to be a disappointing one.

#05 Marty Lindley captured 2nd, #47 Andy Thurman held on for a great run for 3rd, 4th place went a hard charging #51 of "Buggy" Pletcher and #00 Lance Moss quietly took the 5th place spot.

Champagne flew as a jubilant Kelly climbed from his machine saying" never count the 21 out!"as he collected his over $33,000 winnings. #0 Steven Christian held on and ran right with leaders even with half a car and gathered '99 Rookie of the Year honors and fireworks flew as Bobby Gill was crowned 1999 Hooters Pro-Cup Champion to end another great year with a great race.

This series is one of the best in the country with up and coming and current stars from all divisions making the races and USA International Speedway is a fantastic speedway to watch them race on. With all the action and the fast paced excitement it was definitely the race of the year!!

Congratulations to Bobby Gill on a super championship run this year and also to Derrick Kelley for a come back that rates right up there with a Elway or Marino feat(only better)........
From Lakeland............Rick Anges

[georgep]

I smell a GREAT History BOOK in the making!!