New Smryna 8/27/16

[Patrick Thomas 25]

Just so everybody knows, I haven't run a built motor since the last night of speed weeks, the night my heads were found to be illegal. There has been a crate motor in my car and will be for the forseeable future. There are several cars running vortec head built motors at Newsmyrna, I am not one of them. A vortec head built motor has not won a race at Newsmyrna all year, unless the 9 car of Cody Jett had vortec heads which I would not know. The heads allowed to run on these cars in the past were 1960 and early 1970s double hump style heads, good luck finding a set of those to build into a race motor. They allow the aftermarket SR type heads from World Products, or Dart I believe also. I know of 1 race won this year by a car with that motor combination, and he won because his car handled better than anybody elses. Congrats on that win Sean. Every other race this year was won by a crate motor, except for the night my crate motor got claimed, and Derrick Wood ended up with the win. Congrats also to Derrick.

At other tracks I can only think of 2 races this year that were won with Vortec heads, one at Showtime, one at Desoto, the others were won by Sean and Mike Smith, or a crate motor car.

Remember the Vortec heads were production heads first produced in 1996, and you can buy one brand new from GM today complete with valves and springs for $345.00 each. Sounds like an economical start to a built motor, instead of searching and paying big bucks for an old used up set of double hump heads. Plus the weight penalty for the vortec heads and there you have it, penalizing you for what we all think are better heads. Sounds like somebody thought about a rule change a while ago, and when all the other tracks allowed it with a weight penalty, Newsmyrna did as well.

Patrick Thomas 25

[souk45]

Patrick I see you view but let me explain mine. NSS sportsman class has seen a ton of rule changes over the last 5 or so years every time it hurts the budget racer not the well funded team. Most of the budget guys accumulate parts (used ones)for there car over a period of time so when they break they can replace them. When a rule change happens all those parts plus the ones on the car become obsolete. Weight penalty dissapears in no time. Race shops and car builders destroy racing (lower classes)because they want to outspend the budget guy giving them the advantage. In my time affiliated in sportsman cars at NSS I have seen way to many changes who cares what the other tracks do!!!!sportsman rule changes in the last 5 yearsor so, that I can remember; tires,wheels,shocks,fire walls,lightwieght clutches, flywheels, quick changes,third links, motors,bodies, and I know I missed a bunch. I love NSS speedway but it gets tougher each year for the budget racer to stay involved. The well funded teams move on to the next big thing in a few years!

[Patrick Thomas 25]

Mike I get it, you forget I work for a pool company similar to you, and scraped money together for the last 15 years trying to race as often as I could. I have great friends who have pushed me to get better as the competition has gotten tougher. I don't make rule changes, I just race and try to do what I can to win, as everybody does. Last year was the first year I have run for a track championship since 1999 at Columbia Motorsports park in Lakecity. This year is very different for me, yes I have more money to spend than in the past thanks to a true long time car owner who lost his driver last year and had an open seat available, but I still spend as little as possible. I still go 2 sometimes 3 weeks on tires, even though new ones would help. I can't justify spending money when what we have will work.

The class has changed a lot. All the other tracks changing forced Newsmyrna to change too. If you remember car counts were less than 10 from 2008 through 2013. The changes brought more cars, the class advanced too far for some and they feel they were slighted, but what else could Newsmyrna do. They had a sportsman class with more motor than anywhere, on 10" wide tires and wheels, with what is now a streetstock at any other track in the state.

Patrick Thomas 111

[shorttrackcar1]

Patrick do you think it should be crate motor only? Tracks can survive with out engine builders . they can't survive with out racers FACT !

[Patrick Thomas 25]

Absolutely, I wish it was crate motors only. Just think the most prominent sportsman team in Florida right now went way out of state to get motors built, Gaerte Engines. The reason why it will never be crate motor only is because there are people that will cry and say they can build a sportsman motor for less than the $3500 it costs to buy a crate motor. Add in the carb and flywheel and you have an additional $1200 on top of the $3500 for a total of $4700 for a brand new crate motor, with a brand new carb and flywheel. But guys will say well I already have a carb and flywheel so now you making it crate motor only knocks out the little guy.


What we all need to look at is this, Almost every racetrack has decided to stop officially posting on Karnac. Why because they can't control what's being said. Nobody tells Yoho, or Ronnie, or Rex, or the Rays, or the Harts how to run their racetracks, and them not be able to control it. It's their home, they will run it the way they see fit. It's us as racers and race fans choice to go where we want. If you want to go to a track go, but why bash these people and racetracks that give us a place to go play. Look at all the closed down tracks, speed world would be awesome to race at this Friday night, but that place has been bashed so many times, why would ozzy open the gates and pay us to come their. The perception on here says we don't like the way they are doing it, so why try.

Patrick Thomas 111

[shorttrackcar1]

Well said Patrick . To bad somebody like the Rays didn't take over osw can you imagine that track repaved everything fixed it was the best short track in FL. Had some good racing action .

[Scott Prentice]

....What we all need to look at is this, Almost every racetrack has decided to stop officially posting on Karnac. Why because they can't control what's being said. Nobody tells Yoho, or Ronnie, or Rex, or the Rays, or the Harts how to run their racetracks, and them not be able to control it. It's their home, they will run it the way they see fit. It's us as racers and race fans choice to go where we want. If you want to go to a track go, but why bash these people and racetracks that give us a place to go play. Look at all the closed down tracks, speed world would be awesome to race at this Friday night, but that place has been bashed so many times, why would ozzy open the gates and pay us to come their. The perception on here says we don't like the way they are doing it, so why try.

Patrick Thomas 111

Sorry if this is a hijack but I have to understand something here.

Patrick I respect you as a driver and as someone who knows the sport here in Florida so I want to understand what you are saying;

Track owners in Florida do not post on Karnac because it hurts their feelings when folks don't agree with them??? Is that right?
I mean this in all seriousness- Are they really that thin skinned that they cannot take a little disagreement?
If this is true it explains ALOT about why things are the way they are in the Florida pavement scene.

In the interest of transparency I will admit I am banned from the Bronson facebook page for comments I made about a rain out call last season.
So I knew one track owner was pretty thin skinned but I always wondered why the others didn't post on Karnac- wow, just wow....

[Patrick Thomas 25]

I believe the reason racetracks have stopped posting on Karnac, is because there are people that will just post whatever they can to make a certain track look bad. And here on Karnac, you can do it under any alias you would like to use, with nobody knowing who you are or being able to figure out who those people under alias' might be. So why post here and have the same people with personal vendettas against a racetrack, or a driver, or an official, get basically picked on with no repercussions because they use alias, and never say who they are. Facebook is the new medium all speedways are using from the north to the south. Speed51 is also another way, since they have no open message board. The tracks website would be next.

If you notice Showtime posts very little here, the Rays at Citrus have posted nothing, Desoto since Linda has gone has posted nothing, Auburndale only posts schedule of events for the race weekend for the most part, Bronson posts nothing here, and now Newsmyrna has chosen to do the same.

It just makes their lives easier I'm sure.

Patrick Thomas 111

[OldSchool+]

"[The Florida Promoters feel that no one should tell them] how to run their racetracks...It's their home, they will run it the way they see fit."--PT25

So, let's assume that Patrick's premise is correct.

Fair enough, the Promoters have a business to run, clearly they do not need to get involved personally at the discussion level unless they want to.

So, what's next? Logically...

Comment on what is good and works well, and make positive suggestions that are aimed at gaining larger crowds and making more money.

If the Promoters read something that sounds promising, they can weigh the idea and decide to implement it if they choose, and KARNAC input then moves the Sport forward. Of course, it is their prerogative to not take suggestions, even well intentioned ones.

Seems simple enough.

Further, while I find the "troll/rant" posts to be occasionally amusing, they are being ignored by the tracks--as they should be.

Annnnnnnnnnd presumably that behavior is attention motivated, and if there is no attention...

[Phil Jacques]

Scott, I'll say something. When Donnie was in charge of OSW, he would read Karnac, but not participate. He felt it was a waste of his time and would get nowhere. Ozzy is the same way. He has told me himself he has viewed this site, I think he even said he is a member, but he refuses to participate. It's just not worth the time because you are damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

I may not be as active as I once was, but I visit this site daily to read and sometimes I just sit back, shake my head and laugh at the ridiculousness. To go along with Patrick, there are definitely people who have vendettas against certain tracks, drivers or just people in general. They come here and hide behind a fake name and no one except maybe Rick, knows who a lot of them really are.

Honestly, I feel bad for Rick because he has spent a lot of time and money trying to build Karnac into something great. Unfortunately, it turns into nothing more than a giant pissing match 9 times out of 10. The tracks in FL are actually smart for avoiding that, and not promoting that, because they know the negative image can hurt them, just as the negativity on any and all social media can hurt them.

Sadly, I don't think it will ever really change.

[OldSchool+]

Things to be Thankful For

You know, we really are Blessed!

We have five tracks in the area, and two of them have risen from ashes.

Think about it. In the rest of our lives in the secular world we have:

>Identity Confusion

>Bathroom Confusion

>Kids (and many adults) that do not believe they can live on their own, much less fabricate a race car.

>Dilution, if not replacement, of our culture

>Unsafe streets

>And larger threats as well.

>fwd street cars that are mostly an embarrassment.

Overall, it ain't good...

But at the track, there are real men working on real race cars, even the girls in the pits are "real". It is like a time warp back to the '60s.

And then there is the racing! Man, at the track when it is close or there is an on track "disagreement", when else do you feel that alive? My 90 year old Father, who doesn't get around much these days, was cheering Robbie Cooper on with the rest of the crowd this past weekend...

I have said it before & will say it again: Track owners and operators--Thank you for all that you do.

[OldSchool+]

And the Sportsman cars?

They are currently enjoying some of the best car counts and best racing in the state.

Guys have been building, buying, or finding a sponsor to buy race engines forever. If vortec heads are cheaper than camel humps, that is a net plus.

It ain't broke, so we should celebrate, imo.

And congrats again to the #111 team, all rhetoric aside, their combination and driver won New Smyrna's most recent feature.

[Lurkin]

This turned into a pretty good discussion.

I would guess Ricky Brooks reads this zoo occasionally and I'd like to know if there are any plans to bring the, mainly motor, rules in the Panhandle closer to the rest of Fla as the class is really struggling.

[shorttrackcar1]

Phil as far as osw people getting on here and expressing their opinions had nothing to do with osw not opening .Ozzie made a lot of broken promises from the first day of his meeting he had . Where you there ? And I also heard they were in shock when they found out that in circle track racing they have to pay more than just the top three cars . If I remember right the only thing Ozzie did was raise the prices at the back gate From 20.00 to 30.00 and that's all he did couldn't even fix the light bulb and turn two or mow the grass in the pit stands so a lot of effort wasn't put into anything when he took over oh wait a minute yeah he did paint the stands but I think that was done for his drifting crap .

[Phil Jacques]

Phil as far as osw people getting on here and expressing their opinions had nothing to do with osw not opening .Ozzie made a lot of broken promises from the first day of his meeting he had . Where you there ? And I also heard they were in shock when they found out that in circle track racing they have to pay more than just the top three cars . If I remember right the only thing Ozzie did was raise the prices at the back gate From 20.00 to 30.00 and that's all he did couldn't even fix the light bulb and turn two or mow the grass in the pit stands so a lot of effort wasn't put into anything when he took over oh wait a minute yeah he did paint the stands but I think that was done for his drifting crap .

One thing you guys gotta remember about Ozzy, he runs a successful business with his drag strips, so he isn't a dummy. With OSW, he got screwed to start, so he passed it on to the racers instead of doing it the right way. The drag racing side of the screwing is well documented on Yellow Bullet. I will not defend him, I know he made a ton of promises that never came to fruition. I could frankly care less about OSW at this point. It's a dead horse. My reason for even bringing them into the discussion was simply to verify pretty much what Scott said to begin with, as well as make the point that no matter what you do (and this goes for every track in FL, CT or wherever, it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Not everyone will always be happy so the best thing to do seems to be do it your way and if it works, awesome, if it doesn't then you are SOL.

As a side note, Ozzy has a great thing going for himself with the Oval as much as we all hate it. It's sad for those of us who want to see stock cars back there full time, something that very likely will never happen. The drifting gang doesn't require purses, it brings it's own staff and is for the most part, self sufficient. All he seems to do, is unlock the gate, and turn on the lights when needed. They do the rest. That's an easy buck for him right there, and I am sure he makes a pretty good profit off of pretty much zero investment over on that side of the property. Even up here at Thompson Speedway, with our big crowds, nice car counts and tons of sponsors, they are just barely keeping ahead.

Short track racing is not a lucrative business for anyone anymore. Do I blame Ozzy at this point? Hell no... Do I wish it was different? Hell yes! OSW deserves to live, but it likely never will again.