figure 8's at Auburndale....unexplainable

[Boneman]

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

I'm not saying tonight's figure 8 show was bad; it wasn't. I bet the big crowd in the stands enjoyed the racing. But from my vantage point in the pits, I saw a program that suffered from organizational issues, and had a pretty negative vibe; particularly between the Florida racers and the Indiana officiails.

Things could have been better: the car count was down signigicantly from Friday due to several reasons, one of which was race damage. One of Florida's star drivers went out very early in the 100 lapper, and was black flagged for on-track fighting during a colorful exchange under yellow with one of the Indiana guys. 3 or 4 others never started the race, and several cars went out very early. It is not what I expected from guys who are supposed to be the wildest and toughest.

Maybe things will go right tomorrow, but I would be surprised to see many Florida cars.

A few notes: I found myself as a last-minute substitute driver in the Scrambler division. We ran a heat, then our feature was cancelled with no notice. Yes, we only had 4 cars, but I wish they would have told us before we were strapped in and ready to go on the track. In fairness to the Indiana officials, they did pay us the advertised purse based on the heat finish, but naturally the money was secondary to the track time.

Michael Cherry looked like a figure 8 pro! I missed the last few laps, but he had driven the whole way cleanly and smoothly, and was running second.

I think I figured out one of the problems faced by the Indiana officials: their bright red t-shirts only come in size XXXXL, so they have to find officials to fit them. Yeah, they were big boys. It was hilarious watching some of those corn-fed Hoosiers "rushing" to the scene of an on-track fight: their running pace is the same as my walking pace, except they swing their arms more.

I guess that is why figure 8 in Florida is so fragmented and such a mess. I don't see much unity or momentum coming out of this series. It looked like our drivers and the IN officials were about equally frustrated with each other.

[Old Sunshine Fan]

Figure Eight

My first clue should have been when I saw them practicing the wrong way on the fig-8 course...never saw it run that way... they would pass the flagman BEFORE they crossed the start finish line ? ? ? (in all fairness, the only reason I could figure (no pun) would be they were concerned about that wall opening coming from the pit - that would be a bad head-on if it happened.)

HEY, did those big boys in the red shirts forget to tell the drivers it was a 100 lapper... I left early and there were only about 8 cars left (out of 19 starting). It looked more like the start of a DEMO!

And you were right about the pace of the RED TENTS going out to the fight..(perhaps they didn't want to get caught up in it and "Figured" it best to wait until it was over).

HEY, our boy Caulkins was hanging tough with those "Champs" from up north.

The announcer said the food was the best you could find at any track ANYWHERE.. (guess they were feeding him for free for him to say that).

All in all, the ride over and back was enjoyable, good music on the radio and not much traffic once I was past the State Fair (should have turned in there, bet they had the best food a person could find as well).


OSF:

OOPS, Forgot something BIG... that Son of the Owner - What a great job racing... just one question... where does he go when he finally gets into that thing... he sure is a big guy that folds up and drives like a pro... Watch this kid.. he is going to be a Super Star (guess he already is around that track)... very impressive driver (who knows how to haul the mail). They said he does alot of the work around that track. Seems to be well raised, polite and headed in the right direcdtion. Congrats to Him, Mom and Dad! ! !

[Big Daddy 2]

I was getting ready to go back over with some more parts for my buddy that has been camping there since Thursday .
Glad he called me before i left,He said they canceled today's show. I see they called it for bad weather moving in but the real story is... He said the Alabama boys don't want to play with the Fla. boys because of the mishap with the #89-#42 last night.. So much for the theory of F-8 drivers having big gonads.

[Ray C]

Here is my take on the Fig 8 weekend. I was intrigued by the post on this site and have always loved good figure eight racing. I had intentions to just sit in the stands and watch the races. I noticed on the schedule that they were running Sportsman on Saturday night. I figured it would be a good chance to get some racing in and watch the fig 8’s. I worked during the week getting the car ready. I then talk 6 of my crew friends to joining me. When we get to the track we have to buy a license for one night and pay a $30 pit fee part of the license questioner was to give them you Social security number. One of my crew objected to this because he was not going to receive any payout. The girl told him if you don’t put it in you don’t get in! Why did they need SS numbers from crew? I noticed when I signed in there were only 4 cars. I asked them are we going to race if not we will just go sit in the stands. They said yes we will run you guys. Well, we were supposed to run our heat as the last heat instead they moved us up to the first heat. I knew then something was up. After the heats they never posted a Sportsman Feature. I asked and no one would give me an answer. Then I’m told that we won’t run features and the heat was our feature and the $400 to win payout went to $100 and everyone else gets $50! My crew alone spent $210 to get into this race and they offer us $50!
I’m sure a big reason there were not anymore local support cars is because these guys from Indiana did nothing to promote it. If I didn’t notice on their site I would have not know anything about a Sportsman race. Maybe getting the names and numbers of the local division drivers and making some calls or sending out an invite would have got more cars in. I did get a call from Bobby at Charlotte County speedway inviting to race at his 50 lap Sportsman race. I should have taken him up on it at least I know he would have had the full race and PAID US.
As far as the Figure 8 race I agree with some of the other post. The drivers were taking each other out like it was a ten lap race not a 100 lap race. But it was still a good show I did sit in the front stretch stands to watch the race and after the race many of the spectators were also confused to see the races were over. People were just standing around looking at each other as the announcers were saying good night.

[flvideo]

Yeah Ray I was also confused. I was on the front straight shooting an interview when their announcer said goodnight. I thought we still had 3 more races left. I agree it was agood show but I think given the car count 100 laps was a little much, but all in all it was a good race. If you have ever watched any of the footage on their web-site you'll know thats the way they are used to racing. Rubbing is racing. I think i have a good shot of Rodneys spin. I have been knowing Rodney for upwards of 20 years or more and he was typical Rodney last night. He'll give you the shirt off his back but don't spin him. Oh Boy! Bob...

[loveracin']

Bad business

I was disappionted also in the figure-8 show, we were there all 3 nights prior to the Sunday show being cancelled!!!! I'm glad I didn't buy the 4-day passes, I would have been pissed!
I was looking for the Sportsman to race their feature also, but its to bad they cut you all short.

I think playing into the Indiana guys hands sounds about right to cancel the show today...that was to early to make that decision, then #55 Micheal Cherry didn't have a chance to win the points, and the #23 was a jerk friday night with stuff he said on the track, didn't really care for him after that. Micheal Cherry did a great job representing Auburndale Speedway. Thanks for the great show Micheal!