It's been a bad week for Florida racing...

[Rick Anges]

From the Citrus County Message Board:
Larry Mac Millan passed away this morning just before 9 am at his home. He had been under Hospice care for the past four days. His wife said she'd rather not get a bunch of phone calls right now. Please give her a little time to deal with her loss. Thank you.

Larry was an accomplished Announcer and an exceptional writer. He worked at many tracks in Florida but was known as "The Voice" of Citrus County. People like Larry are few and far between...



Click Here for Citrus Message Board

[Jim Fenton]

I am shocked and so saddened to hear this news about Larry's passing.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Edwina and their children at this most difficult time.

Larry was a big part of my life for several years. He was a true friend and I will miss him deeply.

[Jane]

This is very sad news Rick. Larry was a good friend and also one of the few who did write for Florida racing. He and I had many conversations about this over the years and Larry will be truly missed in more ways than one. He was a good friend and a true, true lover of racing and Citrus County.

I am glad he is no longer in pain or suffering and know he is in a much better place and we will have one true friend in heaven watching over us but Larry, you will be missed. I thank you for all your hard work over the years and dedication to Citrus and making sure they had their press out. Racing truly won't be the same anymore and no one can really replace you in alot of hearts.

As you asked, I will wait awhile to contact his wife and here is Larry's last story as he sent it to me on September 6th.

Neumann Takes 4th Late Model Win at Citrus

<b>by Larry MacMillan</b>

(Inverness, FL. 9/5/09) Other than a brief rain delay into the second feature of the night it was a perfect night for racing at Citrus County Speedway Saturday night and the fans got some of the best racing of the year from 5 local divisions and the visiting American Mini Cup Racing series. A total of 91 cars took on the 3/8ths mile oval.

Twenty one Late Models went on the clocks for qualifying runs and Wayne Anderson set fast time close to record time at 13.572 seconds with Jeff Schofield, Dave Pletcher, Scott Grossenbacher, Doyle Boatwright and Herb Neumann not too many ticks off.

On the pill draw Kyle Maynard won the pole and Neumann started outside pole. When the green flag dropped things jammed up in the first few laps with a couple of caution flags slowing the first 10 laps on what was a green track from an earlier rain shower.

On the restart Maynard took the point with Neumann in pursuit and the race went non stop for the next 40 laps with the entire field vying to move through the heavy traffic. Neumann made the pass for the lead and managed to get through slower traffic in a wild shoot out with Wayne Anderson who started 6th for the final 15 laps. Both drivers had to work the whole track with loose conditions for the entire race and it was a well earned 4th win of the season for point leader Herb Neumann. Anderson gave it all he had and just couldn’t make the pass settling for second with Scott Grossenbacher closing on him in the final laps for third. Rounding out he top five were Raymond Lovelady and Doyle Boatwright.

Week 20 of the Mini Stock season saw 13 cars make the scene and it was Travis Hoofer’s night to put on a show. Pulling up second in his heat behind point leader Clint Foley showed he had the power to get the job done. Starting 5th in the line up when the green flag flew in their 20 lap feature he wasted no time putting that horsepower to use and took the point early leaving the rest of the field behind. Clint Foley started in the rear as usual and made his way through the field on the outside groove and it looked like it was going be another win for him but despite a mid race caution he just couldn’t make it through all the slower traffic and had to settle for second. Chris Harvey managed to hang onto his third starting spot for a third place finish ahead of Steven Smith and James Ellis. Steven Griffin driving Chris Hooker’s car took the win in the second heat.

Jay Witfoth and Richie Smith are in a battle to see who can win the most Street Stock features and after Saturday night’s win by Witfoth they are even up at 5 apiece. Jay managed to take both his heat and the 20 lap feature win over the 16 car field. Starting 15th, Richie made it through all that traffic and took a final two lap run at him when the checkered flag flew and settled for a 2nd place finish. Jay is currently running second in the point’s race for the year behind Dr. Mark Fallows. Bubba Martone stayed in the hunt throughout the race and moved from 8th to 3rd at the finish line ahead of Mike Loudy and early leader Jim Hand. Loudy took the win in the 2nd heat.

Pure Stocks went into their 22nd week of the season with Tommy Smith being the man to beat as he went on to log his 13th feature and 11th heat win of the season. The man definitely knows how to put a winning race car together and devotes every spare moment to that end. He started 14th after finishing 3rd last time out and took what was left of the 18 car field in a breeze. Wes Filyaw seemed to be the only car that had anything for him but it wasn’t enough this week after taking the win last week and he had to settle for second. Richard Dinkins took the win in first heat and stayed in the hunt to the finish line for a third place finish followed by Bill Ryan who had to make his way from the rear of the pack on 3 occasions due to a couple of incidents on the track. Rounding out he top 5 was 7th starter Rick Shahid.

In the V8 Thunder Rookie division it was a 7 car battle that Scott Werstein made short work of for his 3rd win of the season. One more and he moves up to Pure Stocks and becomes a pro. Jason Ayers was looking for his 4th and final win and looked like he may pull it off but lost it in turn 4 in a 360 degree spin but still salvaged 2nd. Chris Ickes, Tara Wilder and Cassie Selvage finished out the top five.

Eighteen American Mini Cup Cars came to race and an interesting note was that 2nd fast qualifier in late Models, Jeff Scofield decided to play with them. He took the win in the second heat and the way he ran it looked like he never lifted his foot off the throttle for the entire 8 laps. Cindarae Irish took the win in the first heat and turned out to be a major competitor in the feature giving back all the guys had for her. She and Scofield were caught up in a mid race 5 car wreck on turn four that narrowed the field and took Scofield out of the races for the night. The rest of the field went on to finish the race with James Irish taking the win over Rodney Haddock, Brandon Beech, Blake Haddock and Tony Martin.

The action returns to Citrus County Speedway next Saturday night featuring the Open Wheel Modifieds, Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Pure Stocks, V8 Thunder Stocks, 4 Cylinder Stocks and the wild and crazy Figure 8’s.

Citrus County Speedway Results 9/5/09

Super Late Model Feature – 50 Laps – 21 Cars

1. #98 Herb Neumann Jr. – Inverness – 4th Season Win

2. #84 Wayne Anderson – Wildwood

3. #09 Scott Grossenbacher – San Antonio

4. #7 Raymond Lovelady – Lakeland

5. #127 Kyle Maynard - ?

Fast Qualifier - #98 Wayne Anderson – 13.572 Secs.

Mini Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 13 Cars

1. #20 Travis Hoefler – Floral City – 2nd Season Win

2. # 7 Clint Foley – Dunnellon

3. #51 Christopher Harvey – Belleview

4. #32 Stephen Smith – Inverness

5. #98 James Ellis – Brooksville

1st Heat Winner - #7 Clint Foley

2nd Heat Winner - #6 Steve Griffin – Inverness

Street Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 16 Cars

1. #4 Jay Witfoth – Beverly Hills – 5th Season Win

2. #42 Richie Smith – Hernando

3. #98 Tom Bubba Martone – Floral City

4. #21 Mike Loudy – Brooksville

5. #05 Jim Hand – Brooksville

1st Heat Winner - #4 Jay Witfoth

2nd Heat Winner - #21 Mike Loudy

Pure Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 18 Cars

1. #24 Tommy Smith – Hernando – 13th Season Win

2. #39 Wes Filyaw – Brooksville

3. #69 Richard Dinkins - Bushnell

4. #33 Bill Ryan – Bushnell

5. #88 Victor Shahid – Floral City

1st Heat Winner - #69 Richard Dinkins

2nd Heat Winner - #24 Tommy Smith

V8 Thunder Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 7 Cars

1. #45 Scott Werstein – Belleview – 3rd Season Win

2. #39 Jason Ayers – Inverness

3. #20 Chris Ickes – Brooksville

4. #41 Tara Wilder – Inverness

5. #37 Cassie Selvage – Floral City

American Mini Cup Feature – 20 Laps – 18 Cars

1. #14 James Irish

2. #31 Rodney Haddock

3. #47 Brandon Beech

4. #23 Blake Haddock

5. #44 Tony Martin

God bless you my old friend, I will truly miss you.

Jane

[BJ Cavin]

I never really got to know Larry (I'm sure that's my loss) but I heard him announce quite a few times when I would visit Citrus County Speedway. Even with his health not being perfect, he always kept announcing and doing it well, plus writing the press for the speedway too. In fact, when I was pondering doing the writing and announcing for Ocala at the same time, sometold me that if Larry McMillan could do it then I could too.

Fred Tuski won the final Sportsman feature of 2009 Saturday night at Bronson and said in our winner interview that he wanted to dedicate his win to Larry, which I thought was a very nice gesture. In fact, that is when I learned about Larry's passing.

My wife, Cindy, and I send our sincere condolences to the family and to everyone at Citrus County Speedway in your time of loss.

[Rick Anges]

Larry MacMillan
Viewing & Services will be on 10/01/09, Thursday, at:
Chas. E. Davis
3075 S. FL Ave.
(Hwy 41) Inverness
Ph: (352) 726-8323

Viewing: 2:00 - 4:00
Service Starts at 4:00

Cards may be sent to his wife:
Mrs Edwina MacMillan
5627 E. Anna Jo Dr.
Inverness, FL 34452

[Joe Dirt]

Back in the nineties I had the honor to alternate Saturdays at Citrus while Larry was on the road with the Florida Pro Series. He has been a huge influence on my announcing career and is already sorely missed by all who knew him. Edwina has always been so supportive of him and joined him at the track each time I visited Citrus Co. From all of us at V.S.P., Our heartfelt condolences and prayers are with his entire family. R.I.P." Larry Mac"

[Jimmy McKinley]

The ORIGINAL Larry Mac.

Larry and Bob Schmidt were one of the best announcing teams I can remember. Most tracks back in the '70s and '80s only had one announcer, but St. Pete had the Bob and Larry show. Larry'd been around Sunshine since at least the Leo Musgrave days - and that's been a loooooong time.

RIP, Mr. MacMillan. You will be missed.

[Jim Fenton]

A few memories about Larry & Edwina from my stuff…..

Here is an article from the Citrus County Chronicle written by Kim Common commemorating Larry’s accomplishments back the first of this year right after winning the Announcer of the Year Award.

Larry not only put in a lot of time towards his passion of short track racing but being a veteran he also worked tirelessly for the Citrus County Veterans Coalition where he was in charge of PR and their website HERE. Between these two passions, I don’t know how he kept up with all of that stuff. I used to call him the Energizer Bunny.




Edwina was a great fan of the FOUR Late Model and managed to get down once in awhile for a photo-op. Here she is between my dad and me after a win at Sunshine. Allen Seeds is on the left.

Larry & Edwina were married at Sunshine Speedway.



Here is a shot of Larry waiting in the background on the right to take the mike at a Sunshine Speedway Awards banquet in the early 70’s. That’s Al Lamphier, GM of Sunshine at the time on my right and Benny Moore, Race Director on my left. The only reason I put this up is I ran across this shot not too long ago in my stuff and when I saw Larry dressed in his Yellow Bell-Bottoms and White Bucks, I had to rag on him about it.

When I sent this to him back at the first of the year after he won his award, I did one of those set-ups you see on other email pics like this:
Bow-Tie on Speedway General Manager - $5.00
Bad art-work on floor behind presenters - $15.00
Gigantic Trophy for High-Point Tornado - $25.00
Sunshine Speedway Announcer dressed in his Banana-Colored Sports Jacket, Yellow Bell-Bottoms and White Bucks – PRICELESS!

He got a big charge out of that.



Recently I debated whether or not to bother him by visiting him in the hospital after his surgeries because of what he had been through however I elected to go anyway. I visited with him and Edwina on August 12th., the day he was released. We had a nice long chat mostly revisiting the times ‘back in the day’.

Now I’m so glad I went.

R.I.P. Larry. I’ll miss you brother….

[ancrdave]

It is hard to put into words how shocked I am at Larry's passing... I still find it is amazing how he still performed his duties at Citrus despite his heath problems... The biggest reason I looked forward to doing Florida Pro and Legend Tour races at Citrus was getting to see Larry... The "stories" would fly all night in the tower... I've had the chance to listen, learn and work with many great announcers like Gordon Solie, Bob Keith, Dick Edwards and many more... Larry certainly fits in the category of the great Florida announcers... RIP my friend.....

[badfoot]

As many people have posted before, and will post afterwards. We all agree that Florida Short Track Racing has indeed lost a great friend. My family & I have been blessed with the honor of having the pleasure of knowing and working with Larry for many years. A great friend on the track and off, Larry helped me handle the V. A at a time when I was really down. He would help any and all, and he did. So now on saturday nights, we should put an ear to the heavens and listen to Larry and Baker Miley talking about " them youngins and their racin "
From all of us at Ellison Photo
GOD BLESS YOU LARRY

[Winger]

I'd heard Larry announce quite a few times but only recently had the privilege of working with him. I wish it had been much longer and wish I had known him better. Below is a picture of him and Brent Fults, taken in April just before receiving his Announcer of the Year award.
RIP

[flraceguy]

Sorry to hear about Larry... Citrus will have a heck of a time to find another to replace him... My best to his family...

[Marty Little]

Larry Mac

While I never had the pleasure of working with Larry and didn't know him personally I certainly knew of his top shelf work at both Sunshine and Citrus. He was a class act all the way as he knew his craft, knew the people, cars and the details behind the scenes and presented all of that every Saturday night for the fans enjoyment. RIP Larry.

Marty Little

[Rick B.]

Saddened to hear !

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Larry. I had the pleasure of working with Larry on the Florida Pro series, and when I came to Citrus for a number of touring or special events. Larry was a professional, with a great love for the sport. He was very dedicated and always a showman. My prayers are with his wife and family at this time, and Florida racing has lost a great family member. Gob Bless, God Speed my friend !

[Jim Fenton]

Just a few words about the service yesterday for Larry Mac.

I was holding up fine through the Pastor’s sermon, all of the tributes to Larry, the acknowledgment to his 17 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, etc., up until the end that is when the Citrus County Veterans Coalition performed their tribute to their fallen comrade which finished with the playing of Taps while the Honor Guard stood at each end of the casket. I felt so humbled I couldn’t stop the tears at that point.

What a great honor for such an honorable man!

My thoughts on the way home were at first sorrowful with regret that we would never again hear that golden voice wafting out over the grandstands calling a race. But then I thought; just think of the names he will be calling out now in his new place.

He will surely love again calling out the likes of;

McInnis

Alderman

Edwards

Orr

Lindley

‘Wild Bill’ Revard

Daughtry

Coffin

Wescott

….and others that I may have forgotten.

R.I.P. Larry and know that my life has been enriched by your friendship.