Orange Blossom 100: Thoughts

[movindirt]

a girl in a bikini with flash cards will work for me

[helper]

That would work..

The way that SLM race looked they could have gotten a UFC girl to walk back and forth with a lap sign it would have been par for the night. That was a brutal race for many of the drivers and cars. I don't think too many went with out a scratch.

Jimmy, did your brother have something against the 112 he seemed to get into him a few times.

[RSB]

I don't know what kind of connectors, relays, etc that are in it... I know the scoreboard got struck by lightning at one point...

But since I'm lying about what everybody has said that has looked at it... and you are obviously more of a genius than the other 12-15 people that have looked at... then why not volunteer and help fix the problem!

Can we expect you Monday morning?

L O L ! Thank for starting my Sunday right!

[Jimmy McKinley]

You mean Weaver's car? Nothing against him; it was Scott's first 100-lapper and first time starting with that many cars. Think he just couldn't stop in time when all those cars got together on the first lap; he bent up the nose a little bit. I also think that Weaver was having problems; they had their car up on jackstands in the infield during qualifying. Looked like maybe they were dumping water out the exhaust. He did get around quite a few of those messes in front of him; in fact, besides getting into the back of Weaver on the original start, he didn't touch another car. He had problems after that very last caution/red flag; he had to be push-started because they think the battery went dead :\ Then he finally just parked it because it was acting like it was missing. But, not a bad run; and at least they could drive the car up on the trailer at the end of the night. Can't say the same for a lot of other guys.

Winchell stated after the race that Marty Handshaw was working on his car. Now, I do remember that a Handshaw car won the first Orange Blossom in '69; and I wanna say Balough was driving. Maybe Westerman, or definitely Marty, for sure. Sure would be cool to see Winchell driving a orange #237

[Jimmy McKinley]

Going back to the scoreboard, my suggestion was to maybe partner with a local electrical contractor to either fix or replace the current one. Since Rick says the current one can't be fixed, get it replaced. Have a local contractor come out, install it, and give them a billboard at the track, and give 'em some passes for their families and employees, good for any one race night during the season, including special events. Give 'em a three- to five-year contract on the billboard.

On another note:
We had heard mention of 2-for-1 passes for both Orlando and New Smyrna at some local Kangaroo gas stations/convenience stores. On our way over, we decided to stop at the one just east of 408 on 50. Poster in the window; OK, we'll check. Go into the store, and the guy has no idea what I'm talking about. Head east a little ways, to the one just west of the track. Girl inside says that they used to have 'em, but that "the guy that brings them hasn't brought us any for like two months". So we call up another one, just west of 408 on 50, and the guy that answered the phone doesn't speak English Rick, are these things only supplied at the Kangaroo's, or will they be at other places as well? Think maybe we could get some on the WEST and SOUTH side of Orlando?

[Joe Winchell]

Marty Handshaw drove the car it was his last Late Model Win before getting hurt at Hialeah Speedway.

I plan to drive Marty's 237 at Punta Gorda at the end of the month.

[Todd McCreary]

and you are obviously more of a genius than the other 12-15 people that have looked at...


of course i am. *buffs fingernails*




then why not volunteer and help fix the problem!
Can we expect you Monday morning?



let me get this straight.

i go out there and put on the best show you've got in Strictly ... and go home with nothing.

now you want me to make a 2 1/2 hr round trip on a work night, to fix your sign for free? i feel so ... what's the phrase ... grateful for the opportunity?

you haven't even bothered to clarify the question of whether it's the sign or the controller or both. have you bothered digging up the service schematics? or are we supposed to build everything from scratch? do you have ANY display areas on the sign which are designed to show anything OTHER than numbers ( 7 seg displays can't portray most letters properly, you have to jump up to a 14 or 16 seg display element )

you know bonerman does electronics for a living ... and is 15 minutes down the road? and i bet you've got( had? ) a bunch of guys who do electrical contracting in the Orlando/Titusville area.

[Todd McCreary]

good job Friday night, Joe.

you just can't argue with an outside pass for the lead though.

[oneoff]

Joe let us know the date that you'll be in Marty's car. First saw the 237 in the 1966 Governors Cup and have been a fan of Marty's for 44 years now. Dam I'am getting old.

[Rick B.]

Answer to Jimmy, request to McCreary and Boneman !

Jimmy Joe Lewandowski and myself drove around to 145 Kangaroo Stores from Palm Bay, to Titusville, Kissimmee to WinterGarden, Apopka to Daytona. We did Altamonte, Lake Mary, East & West Orlando. I stopped in the two stores nearest track twice after we dropped off the first set and refilled them. They were asked to call when the cards were gone and we would refill. That promotion ends this next week if I remember right. Most of the stores after giving us permission, took down our stuff after we left. We found this our by going back by a few and hearing from couple drivers who saw it. It was a lot of work. If you would like some please see me at the track and ask me, I try to have some with me each week as Mark prints them.

Todd McCreay,
I am not sure you have been around so much this year so far at the track, on here a bunch I know. Listen, that Scoreboard has been checked by some electrical contractors, the boards are all fried, the wiring is fried etc. If you think you can fix it then I would certainly not expect you to do it for free, if you want to take a look at it, with Boneman I can certainly try to trade you all out some pitpasses, free tickets for family, etc. It would be appreciated, if we could get the lap counter to work, then maybe later the positions, that would be great. Please let me know if you all are willing to try. Thanks

[Mark Keeler]

A little more 'clarity' on the scoreboard... BOTH the controler and board itself are fried... there are NO schematics in existence... we tried tracking some down about 3-4 years ago, but again, because the company is out of business, there is no support and nothing that anyone has been able to do short of getting a new board...

We did look into the option of gutting the board completely and just replacing the interior with parts from another company but the expense is in the electronics, not the physical board itself... It would have cost close to what it is for a new board with little warranty since it is not 'their' scoreboard...

The problem (with the board) is in the modules and circuit cards... it is not just a matter of re-wiring it... Rusty had it completely rewired back in 06-07 for the PRI show and even spent over $700.00 and I believe traded his old Matador (from what I remember) on 'parts' for it and nothing worked...

The only viable solution when dealing with that kind of expense is to get a new one from a reputable company that offers a warranty... I have been going after Daktronics for 2 years now on a new board for OSW (they handle probably 75-80% of the scoreboards around the country for everything from Football Stadiums, High School Gyms, Racetracks, etc.) and their base warranty is 5 years...

[flvideo]

Mark have ya'll checked into Pepsi or another company. I seem to Remember a track a several years ago getting one for free from a vendor but it had their name on it but who cares. Bob...

[Todd McCreary]

BOTH the controler and board itself are fried.


i was kind of expecting that after you said the sign got hit by lightning. that is the one nice thing about wireless controllers, the lightning would never have backfed to it.

however, the controller should have never been left plugged in anyways. Fla gets way too much lightning to leave it hooked up.




I have been going after Daktronics for 2 years now


there's a scoreboard company here in Clearwater:
http://www.scoreboards.net/carracing...ards_cr012.htm


just to clarify, the existing board looks like this?
http://www.scoreboards.com/ScoreBoar...coreboard.aspx



a board like this is all 7seg elements. that's 15 7seg drivers in use for the board shown.




The problem (with the board) is in the modules and circuit cards.

yeah, that's what i'm saying. you could find a ten year old electronics / ham geek to breadboard that stuff. real circuit boarding is a little more involved but they sell home kits for hobbyists to screen print your own circuit layouts on that stuff too. even if they didn't sell hobbyist supplies, Melbourne has a buttload of electronics / avionics companies. Orlando probably has one or two as well.

i didn't take any electronics til i was a junior in high school.


anyways, it will probably be a while til i go back up there. get the controller and hand it off to Boneman if he feels like messing with it.

[Boneman]

As soon movindirt suggested a girl in a bikini waving numbered cards (like boxing), then I lost all interest in a working scoreboard.

I am a one man team who is preparing 3 cars. Todd can go it alone on the scoreboard. He is just that good!

[Joe Winchell]

I will be racing the 237 on 6/26/10 at Punta Gorda. Hope to see you there - Joe