Little 500 2010 Edition Awards thread

[Andy S]

Ok, so the final tally is still being worked on and the attendees are being counted but it had to have been close to 100 people there last night with pretty much everyone getting at least one ride out on the track. Plenty of people sneaked in early to get some last minute practice, meaning the races were starting at about 6.30pm with the last race seeing the checkered flag drop one last time at 11.35pm. I walked in through my front door at 3am in the end, and I'm sure that puts me nowhere near the last person to arrive home from the night's activities.

Plenty of food and drink in the pits for everyone, and special thanks to Oneoff, Ocala Jim & Virginia, Edm, the Cuddys, Boneman, Sam Peterson, Jimmy McKinley and Scotty Ponder for their contributions to keep all the hungry and thirsty racers happy. And we were also graced with a proper photographer this year - no offense Rex! - so look out for Racnphotos68's gallery coming later in the week showing all the best action from a long night of crashing and bashing.

Special thanks to all the track staff at Little 500 who took it all in good spirits and only had to step in a couple of times to calm things down, while sprinting all over the infield to sort out what became some major wrecks once they put all 12 karts out on the track. To be fair, we'd only destroyed one by the end of the night, so they can't be too unhappy with us!

And now on to the awards - feel free to use these categories to give your own winners and losers, or add your own:

Driver of the Night:

Joe Winchell - arrived first, lasted right until the end, took on all comers and got right into the spirit of the night from the get-go. Was a real pleasure to be out on the track with!

Night's Biggest Winner:

Little Timmy Walters Jr - collected 5 of the coveted Golden Tickets, and would have had more if the event organizer hadn't negotiated a mid-evening rules change than denied Timmy a couple more wins. Did anyone come out with more than 5 tickets?

The Most Motivated Driver of the Night Award:

Edm - came out in his first race like a bat out of hell, looking to back up all his trash talking and with a face telling everyone out there that he meant business. Got all of his aggression out in the first couple of races, settled the scores he wanted to settle, then got down to the business of winning races. It helped that by the end he only elected to go out in races where at least half the field were women and children.

The 'Needs To Calm Down' Award:

Michael Seay - no doubts about it. Twice the track crew had to jump on the back of his car to stop him trying to wreck people getting out of their karts in pit lane. Obviously not coming back with his usual haul of Golden Tickets was getting to him.

The 'If I've Told You This Once...' Award:

Frasson118 - got his night's exercise in with all his walks back to his cooler after getting to the track gate and having to be told he couldn't take his beer onto the track with him. EVERY SINGLE RACE! By the end the poor guy on the gate was trying to intercept him when he was a couple of races away from getting out there, just to save him the long walk.

The 'Who Said Chivalry Was Dead?' Award:

Little Timmy Walters Jr - Samantha was going to end her night's racing well and truly in the wall before Tiimy Walters stepped in to defend her honor from the evil stalker who had spent 4 laps lining her up perfectly to be turned around. Then he hit me from the side to spin me out instead!

The 'Every Man For Himself' Award:

Rex 'Boneman' Hollinger - slamming into your own son when he's stranded sideways in the middle of the track for no good reason? That's harsh...

2nd place went to Chad Pierce for reasons that are explained below.

The Worst Excuse of the Night:

"Going that wrong way round is hard. My arms just aren't used to turning the wheel that way". - embarrassingly at least two drivers were using that excuse for their terrible early performances, but I won't make things worse for any of them by naming names or humiliating them.

One of them *does* drive a Sportsman Car numbered 76 in the Ocala region though...

The Bet You Should Have Taken:

"Andy actually finishes a race at the little 500 1000/1" - I could have made you all very, very rich...

The 'Got To Know The Track Staff By Name' Award for most time spent spun out on the track:

Both Duane Kelley and Jeff Cole were both early contenders for this. But then Butch Pierce showed up, and his own son delighted in putting him into the wall at every opportunity. About 4 races and around 15 or 16 spin-outs makes him the runaway winner of this one.

Best Reaction Of The Night

William Hindman - was really not happy at whoever had smashed into his rear quarter to pin him to the wall out of turn 3, until he turned around and saw it was me, threw his hands in the air and cracked up laughing! Oh, the humiliation to even have me close enough to hit him!

And finally...

The Worst Idea Of The Night

Rex 'Boneman' Hollinger for "Hey, let's climb the fence and have a running race around the track...' at about 12.30am this morning.

So, who were your winners and losers of the night?

[ocalasp76]

In My Defense.....

I will say that by my second race I managed to finish without a single spin out going the 'wrong' way. A big help was going flat footed,4 wide, against the outside wall,in turns 3-4....there was no room to spit out in that situation......
Had a great time with everyone last night. Those 'NO BUMPING' signs on the back of each cart were completely 'IGNORED'.
My wife became Jerrys official 'beer matron',holding and guarding his adult beverage while he was on the track.

Having 12 carts on the track at the same time was a blast and only one leaving on the hook is amazing. We need to do this next month too, if the track can afford it and stock up on parts and re-inforce the outside wall a little more....especially for boneman.

My last comment....I bet this board was dead last night because everyone(almost) was at the Little 500......

-JIM-

[Billy Cuddy]

i got six wins

[Andy S]

i got six wins

We have a new champion!

That's just going to make Timmy even more angry that Rex 'stole' a win from him just because he got into the pits faster!

[Edm]

The biggest goof of the night.

He was not a Karnacian but he schooled most of us on the track. Don't know the guys name but he showed up with gloves in hand and was the most serious one out there. I tried wrecking him and couldn't catch him. Tim beat him once by luck. He got mad and left, probably late for his Dungeons and Dragons game at the retirement center.

[Edm]

Ok, so the final tally is still being worked on and the attendees are being counted but it had to have been close to 100 people there last night with pretty much everyone getting at least one ride out on the track. Plenty of people sneaked in early to get some last minute practice, meaning the races were starting at about 6.30pm with the last race seeing the checkered flag drop one last time at 11.35pm. I walked in through my front door at 3am in the end, and I'm sure that puts me nowhere near the last person to arrive home from the night's activities.

Plenty of food and drink in the pits for everyone, and special thanks to Oneoff, Ocala Jim & Virginia, Edm, the Cuddys, Boneman, Sam Peterson, Jimmy McKinley and Scotty Ponder for their contributions to keep all the hungry and thirsty racers happy. And we were also graced with a proper photographer this year - no offense Rex! - so look out for Racnphotos68's gallery coming later in the week showing all the best action from a long night of crashing and bashing.

Special thanks to all the track staff at Little 500 who took it all in good spirits and only had to step in a couple of times to calm things down, while sprinting all over the infield to sort out what became some major wrecks once they put all 12 karts out on the track. To be fair, we'd only destroyed one by the end of the night, so they can't be too unhappy with us!

And now on to the awards - feel free to use these categories to give your own winners and losers, or add your own:

Driver of the Night:

Joe Winchell - arrived first, lasted right until the end, took on all comers and got right into the spirit of the night from the get-go. Was a real pleasure to be out on the track with!

Night's Biggest Winner:

Little Timmy Walters Jr - collected 5 of the coveted Golden Tickets, and would have had more if the event organizer hadn't negotiated a mid-evening rules change than denied Timmy a couple more wins. Did anyone come out with more than 5 tickets?

The Most Motivated Driver of the Night Award:

Edm - came out in his first race like a bat out of hell, looking to back up all his trash talking and with a face telling everyone out there that he meant business. Got all of his aggression out in the first couple of races, settled the scores he wanted to settle, then got down to the business of winning races. It helped that by the end he only elected to go out in races where at least half the field were women and children.

The 'Needs To Calm Down' Award:

Michael Seay - no doubts about it. Twice the track crew had to jump on the back of his car to stop him trying to wreck people getting out of their karts in pit lane. Obviously not coming back with his usual haul of Golden Tickets was getting to him.

The 'If I've Told You This Once...' Award:

Frasson118 - got his night's exercise in with all his walks back to his cooler after getting to the track gate and having to be told he couldn't take his beer onto the track with him. EVERY SINGLE RACE! By the end the poor guy on the gate was trying to intercept him when he was a couple of races away from getting out there, just to save him the long walk.

The 'Who Said Chivalry Was Dead?' Award:

Little Timmy Walters Jr - Samantha was going to end her night's racing well and truly in the wall before Tiimy Walters stepped in to defend her honor from the evil stalker who had spent 4 laps lining her up perfectly to be turned around. Then he hit me from the side to spin me out instead!

The 'Every Man For Himself' Award:

Rex 'Boneman' Hollinger - slamming into your own son when he's stranded sideways in the middle of the track for no good reason? That's harsh...

2nd place went to Chad Pierce for reasons that are explained below.

The Worst Excuse of the Night:

"Going that wrong way round is hard. My arms just aren't used to turning the wheel that way". - embarrassingly at least two drivers were using that excuse for their terrible early performances, but I won't make things worse for any of them by naming names or humiliating them.

One of them *does* drive a Sportsman Car numbered 76 in the Ocala region though...

The Bet You Should Have Taken:

"Andy actually finishes a race at the little 500 1000/1" - I could have made you all very, very rich...

The 'Got To Know The Track Staff By Name' Award for most time spent spun out on the track:

Both Duane Kelley and Jeff Cole were both early contenders for this. But then Butch Pierce showed up, and his own son delighted in putting him into the wall at every opportunity. About 4 races and around 15 or 16 spin-outs makes him the runaway winner of this one.

Best Reaction Of The Night

William Hindman - was really not happy at whoever had smashed into his rear quarter to pin him to the wall out of turn 3, until he turned around and saw it was me, threw his hands in the air and cracked up laughing! Oh, the humiliation to even have me close enough to hit him!

And finally...

The Worst Idea Of The Night

Rex 'Boneman' Hollinger for "Hey, let's climb the fence and have a running race around the track...' at about 12.30am this morning.

So, who were your winners and losers of the night?

Andy is only saying those nice things about me because I let him slide last night. I was real nice to most of the Karnacians but I had to really lay it on the sprint guys. Anyone that even resembled a sprint guy got turned. Sorry Rex, that "one time" was too easy.

[Andy S]

The biggest goof of the night.

That guy was something else! The look of concentration on his face while he was driving was incredible, and he seemed so angry that no-one else was taking it as seriously as he was.

You should have seen him before you arrived, Ed - when he was on track with Team Cuddy! He was NOT happy they were so fast and yet not taking it the slightest bit seriously!

And yes, you got your biggest hit on me nice and early on in the evening, then thankfully left me alone for the rest of the night. I think you had plenty of business to take care of with those Soukup boys...

[ss29]

ed it wasnt luck im just that good ...lol
and yes andy that doesnt help i have 5 tickets knowing i should have had 7.
boneman figured it out, race to the pits and stick you hand out and you will get the ticket... he did it to me 2 times lol
but i went to have a good time and it was better than good it was great!
i cant wait for the race season to get started.

[Jimmy McKinley]

Don't know the guys name but he showed up with gloves in hand and was the most serious one out there. I tried wrecking him and couldn't catch him.

This guy was just being a d***. He didn't *drive*; he PLOWED through EVERYONE at least once; He drove into me several times in one lap, my first time out on the track, and just flat turned me around because he couldn't pass me on the outside.

Some of those karts...man, there was at least two that were rocketships. They'd hook up on the bottom, wind up, and *get up* off the corners. At least one of those karts could DRIVE around the outside on turn 3 and 4 without lifting.

Had a BLAST; thanks Rex, for putting this thing together.

[Andy S]

To be very English for a moment, I agree that the guy with the gloves was a total 'arse'.

Jimmy's right about the karts too. I got lucky once and had the absolute ride of my life out there, which the Boneman can attest to (i.e. it was the first and only time I've ever beaten him fairly!)

There was another one that was a total nightmare too, that had no grip or power and once you realized you'd got it all you could do was stay out of trouble. I got that one once too, and I saw the look of disappointment on T-Mac's face the time he got it, as all he could do was slide out to the outside and do his best to get around the corners.

Made it all even more fun not knowing which kart you would be getting!

[Todd McCreary]

because he couldn't pass me on the outside.


nobody and no cart can pass reliably on the outside. unless you've got a wreck or a couple of real slow pokes on the bottom you're just going to lose time going out around near the rail.

trying to run the middle is a complete waste of time.




at least two that were rocketships. They'd hook up on the bottom, wind up, and *get up* off the corners.

then there were the dogs. i got in one that i couldn't give any throttle at all to for half the corner. i was going around the outside with that one because it was a waste of time trying to hold it down.