From Jean Lynch
Barberville, FL — (February 8, 1997) — Ever since the Frigidaire All Star sprint cars first sanctioned the Florida Sprint Speedweek at Volusia Co. Speedway in 1993, one driver had never won more than two races in a year – until Saturday night. Texan Gary Wright shattered the record books and completely dominated the tour so far, starting off with a tenth place finish in the opener, then winning the next three nights in crowd pleasing fashion.
“We are really lucky right now, with lapped traffic and everything,” said Wright after claiming another $3,000. His Action Rent-To-Own Schnee was tuned perfectly for the fast track conditions which showed a hint of cushion and saw many drivers running the high groove.
The winner started the 25-lap main from the fourth spot and chased outside pole man Bob Felmlee for the first dozen laps. Wright’s Crown Motorsports Chevy engine hummed to perfection and his choice of McCreary tires was correct. David Whitworth, Dave Ochs and car owner Brian Shearer turn the wrenches on the Texas Kenworth sponsored machine.
According to Wright, “It was a deal like last night when we came up on lapped cars. Tonight they were two wide and Felmlee went low and I went high and came out ahead.”
Felmlee had a big lead in his Kriner powered Gambler, sponsored by Car-Mate trailers, Don Graham Jr. Logging and World of Wheels. He drove away from Don Kreitz Jr., the Butlerbuilt Hot Seat pole sitter. But by lap six, Wright had moved into second and tailed Felmlee around the top of the racetrack.
Twice Wright tried the inside in turn one, but Felmlee stayed high and his momentum put him ahead of Wright coming off turn two. By lap 12, they came up on Lance Dewease in turn three and this time Wright dove under and Felmlee stayed high, only to stall high in turn four.
On the restart Wright led Kreitz, Frankie Kerr, Dean Jacobs, Kelly Kinser and Fred Rahmer. A lap later, Jacobs put the hammer down in the Frigidaire Stealth and blasted into second with thoughts of catching Wright. Jacobs was on Goodyear tires and using a Gaerte Chevy engine. “We were as good as last night,” said Jacobs. “I think I was catching Gary for a while, but maybe I was just trying too hard. We ran the exact same set-up as last night except we changed engines because we blew the oil filter off and couldn’t get oil pressure. Maybe this one wasn’t as strong.”
In the closing laps Wright was awesome in lapped traffic, never hesitating and he finished with a margin of three lapped cars over Jacobs. Kreitz had his best finish so far with third in the new Maxim of Dennis Stone. The ride for Kreitz developed when Stone called to order parts from Kreitz Auto Racing Parts. Stone, a product engineer for Booth-Aarons, builds dragster engines and off-shore boats. They rode McCreary tires.
Dale Blaney chalked up his first top ten finish, in fourth. “For the first three nights we were on the wrong tires,” said the defending All Star champion. He is adjusting to a new down tube J&J and new crew chief Rick Ferkel. “We’ll be okay this year, Florida is always a time to sort things out for us.”
Kerr, Kinser, Rahmer, Tim Shaffer, Billy Pauch up from 21st to ninth, and Terry McCarl, who spun early and kept going, completed the top ten. The United Expressline heat went to Van Gurley, Jr., the Southwest Expressline heat to Brian Schnee, the Southwest Glass heat to Rahmer and the United Specialties heat went to Chad Kemenah. James Fisher won the KSE Racing Products C Main and Pauch captured the United Expressline B Main.
Time Trials: 1. Rod George, Penn 5, 13.987; 2. Kelly Kinser, Kinser 4k, 14.171; 3. Fred Rahmer, Hamilton 77, 14.186; 4. Frankie Kerr, Shoff 23s, 14.220; 5. Terry McCarl, Holbrook 8H, 14.231; 6. Gary Wright, Action 9, 14.288; 7. Jeff Shepard, J&M 55, 14290; 8. Bob Felmlee, Felmlee 6, 14.327; 9. Don Kreitz Jr., Stone 3, 14.381; 10. Dale Blaney, Hughes 94, 14.381; 11. Lance Dewease, Dyer 461, 14.453; 12. Todd Kane, Kane 78, 14.462; 13. Tim Shaffer, Reidling 50, 14.499; 14. Bobby Allen, Allen 1a, 14.564; 15. Dean Jacobs, Jacobs 1f, 14.569; 16. Todd Shaffer, Beam 88, 14.604; 17. Danny Smith, Smith 4, 14.641; 18. Brian Schnee, Tanksle 20, 14.662; 19. Travis Whitney, Whitney 7, 14.676; 20. Chad Kemenah, East Harbor 92, 14.733; 21. Van Gurley Jr., Gray 51, 14.842; 22. Bobby Hawks, Hawks 5H, 14.844; 23. Bobby Adamson, Adamson 2a, 14.895; 24. Andy McKisson, McKisson 0, 14.896; 25. Randy Wolfe, Johnson U2, 14.969; 26. Billy Pauch, Zemaitis 1z, 14.991; 27. John Koller, Koller 27, 15.020; 28. James Fisher, Fisher 48, 15.041; 29. Scott Jones, Jones 13, 15.076; 30. Daniel Coggeshell, Coggeshell 3, 15.093; 31. Mike Frost, Frost 88, 15.098; 32. Howie Gleason, Gleason 21, 15.116; 33. James Horton, Horton 80, 15.145; 34. Kenny Jacobs, Ashworth 92, 15.165; 35. Sarah Fisher, Fisher 9, 15.268; 36. Jim Nace, Weikert 29, 15.330; 37. Art Wendt, Wendt 77w, 15.379; 38. Brian Ellenberger, Ellenberger 20, 15.462; 39. Brenda Buster, Buster 31, 15.532; 40. Tim Allison, Mox 11, 15.605; 41. Mike Hudson, Hudson 1, 15.733; 42. Lou Kennedy, Kennedy 21, 15.971; 43. Jim Stinson, Spectrum 84, 16.158; 44. John Bankston, Bankston 8, 16.170; 45. Johnny Johnson, Johnson 72j, 18.095; 46. Joe Houck, Filla 34, NT.
United Expressline Heat: (10 laps): 1. Gurley 2. Smith 3. Kreitz 4. Tim Shaffer 5. McCarl 6. George 7. Jones 8. Wolfe 9. Horton 10. Wendt 11. Hudson 12. Johnson.
Southwest Expressline Heat: (10 laps): 1. Schnee 2. Allen 3. Wright 4. Blaney 5. Kinser 6. Pauch 7. Coggeshell 8. Hawks 9. Ellenberger 10. Kennedy 11. K. Jacobs 12. Hauck.
Southwest Glass Heat: (10 laps): 1. Rahmer 2. Shepard 3. Dewease 4. D. Jacobs 5. Koller 6. Frost 7. S. Fisher 8. Adamson 9. Buster 10. Stinson 11. Whitney.
United Specialties Heat: (10 laps): 1. Kemenah 2. Kane 3. Felmlee 4. Todd Shaffer 5. Kerr 6. Nace 7. Allison 8. Bankston 9. Gleason 10. J. Fisher 11. McKisson.
KSE Racing Products C Main: (12 laps): 1. J. Fisher 2. Wendt 3. K. Jacobs 4. Horton 5. Stinson 6. Hudson 7. Buster 8. Gleason 9. Johnson. United Expressline B Main: (15 laps): 1. Pauch 2. Coggeshell 3. Hawks 4. Frost 5. Wolfe 6. Allison 7. Bankston 8. Adamson 9. Nace 10. J. Fisher 11. Wendt 12. Jones 13. Horton 14. Stinson 15. S. Fisher 16. K. Jacobs 17. Gleason 18. Hudson 19. Johnson 20. George (DNS) 21. Buster (DNS).
Frigidaire A Main (25 laps): 1. Gary Wright 2. Dean Jacobs 3. Don Kreitz Jr. 4. Dale Blaney 5. Frankie Kerr 6. Kelly Kinser 7. Fred Rahmer 8. Tim Shaffer 9. Billy Pauch 10. Terry McCarl 11. Daniel Coggeshell 12. Brian Schnee 13. Bobby Allen 14. Van Gurley Jr. 15. Danny Smith 16. Todd Kane 17. Todd Shaffer 18. Bob Felmlee 19. Lance Dewease 20. Chad Kemenah 21. Jeff Shepard 22. John Koller 23. Bob Hawks 24. Mike Frost.