Barberville, FL – Feb. 14, 2006 – By Tom Skibinski, DIRT NorthEast PR Director
The 2006 edition of the Florida Tour officially kicked off Tuesday evening at Volusia Speedway Park with a record number of Advance Auto Parts Modified Super DIRT Series teams taking advantage of the optional practice sessions to dial in their open-wheel mounts. Two warm-up periods were afforded competitors in DIRT MotorSports NorthEast's premier division, with nearly 50 drivers taking part representing seven states plus the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
Still more race teams are expected to sign in on Wednesday for the big-block Modified opener as the 35th Annual Winternationals presented by Daytona Dodge Chrysler/Mopar Speed Shop & Valvoline, Inc. continues Race Weeks '06 in the Sunshine State. DIRT NE's 31st season of short-track racing is scheduled to begin down south on Feb. 15 with a full set of qualifiers followed by a 30-lap feature race paying $2,000 to win. Check out the complete program line-up by logging into
www.dirtmotorsports.com on the internet.
Leading the Advance Auto Parts SDS contingent during hot lap sessions was New Yorker Dale Planck steering the no. 77x Quality Concrete-King Enterprises-Chiefs Tobacco & Gas/Troyer housing a Kevin Enders-prepared powerplant. Open-wheel veteran Danny Johnson and reigning Florida Tour points co-champion Andy Bachetti followed Planck in session one while Delaware invader Jamie Mills and third-generation Canadian standout Stewart Friesen trailed Planck in the nightcap.
It was Planck recording the fastest times in both practice attempts with the initial warm-up period including nearly every car while part two only attracted two-thirds of the field. The mighty DIRT Modifieds participated in those two sessions that were mixed in among UMP Late Model and UMP Open-Wheel Modified competition. In all, 204 DIRT MotorSports entries ---99 UMP LM, 56 UMP Mod, 49 big-block Mod--- jammed the VSP pit area that was spread out both in and around the spacious half-mile clay oval.
With Brett Hearn and Steve Hough electing to keep their cars loaded, the first group pulled out onto the track for the initial laps that were afforded at 7:30pm following Late Model hot laps. Planck (18.349 sec.) was one of eight drivers to break the 19-second bracket, turning in an average one-lap speed of 98.098 mph.
The second and final session arrived just prior to 11pm and before the UMP Late Model and Modified consolation rounds. This time it was Planck stopping the clocks at 19.325 sec. (93.144 mph) despite the smooth half-miler beginning to blacken and slick up as the program progressed.
SKIDMARKS
While the no. 20 Wentworth Custom Homes-Madsen Motorsports/TEO entry driven by Brett Hearn remained locked up during opening day practice, DIRT NorthEast's winningest driver still has more laps logged during the winter months than any of the opposition set to contend this week. Last week Hearn traveled to Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, NC where he circled the 4/10-mile clay oval no less than 300 times sharing duties between his new big-block DIRT Modified machine and the no. 57 ride of teammate Martin Roy, Jr. from Victoriaville, Quebec. The invitation was extended by track promoter David Ifft, the crew chief for his initial Grand National effortat Dover Downs (finished 10th) and also a former pit wrench for NASCAR legend David Pearson. "I had talked about practicing down here before but it just never happened," said Hearn, who described the Carolina oval as "kind of like Volusia with a broad turn three and tight turn four with nothing symmetric all the way around." Added Hearn, "Dave would really like to host an Advance Super DIRT Series race but its just too long a trip for most teams. It's a nice layout that also reminds me a little bit of Weedsport and seems like a real fat 3/8-miler. We probably won't ever run there but it's a great place to get some laps in before the season starts." Hearn is the winningest Advance Auto Parts SDS pilot in Florida with 15 big-block Modified victories to his credit.....
Also getting a head start on the field this week were defending overall Hoosier Tire-Sunoco Race Fuels Mr. DIRT Champion Tim Fuller (19) and past Eckerd 200 winners Billy Decker (91) and Vic Coffey (32c). Yet all three were in attendance this week parading around in full-fender Late Model machines. Fuller proved to be the most consistent, qualifying for three of his initial seven LM efforts with an 11th-place best scored at Oglethorpe Speedway Park in Savannah, Georgia. Decker placed seventh in his only start at Oglethorpe while Coffey reached the starting grid once in four tries and settled for 13th at East Bay Raceway in the Tampa suburb of Gibsonton. Jim Rasey will also be competing in the headline Modified and Late Model classes at Volusia during the week, although his no. 32 open-wheel machines will take priority, carrying sponsorship from Twin Oaks Services South-AKJ Industries-Alcon on both Troyer and Dirt Wheels entries .....
There were actually 50 cars, with Bobby Varin warming up a pair of no. 24 Liberty Rock Crushing/TEO mounts as teammate Chris Shultz wasn't expected to arrive until Wednesday. Likewise for Rick Grosso, Jr., who schedule his first visit for Thursday although Mark Blackwell from Grosso's sponsor Metal Fab Race Pro Shop climbed aboard to test the brand-new no. r24 Gross Trucking/Bicknell car on Tuesday. Varin, Shultz and Grosso join Frenchman Pierre Berthiaume, John Dixon, Steve Hulsizer, Martin Roy and Tim Sears as add-ons to the original pre-race roster while Ted DeGroat, Gary Hager, J.R. Heffner, Floridian Scott Kurtzner and Dave Schrader were no shows on practice day. So were Drew Ricco (car not yet ready), Vince Vitale (motor), and Rex, Russ and Rex King, Jr. as Rex Sr. is currently recovering from surgery that was undergone the second week in February. The 1 hour 45 minutes operation, which required fusion of two vertebrae, ended with a two-hour recovery period before Rex was released to return home from Cleveland.....
Tom 'Chic' Chandler and Ray Swinehart, both 53, and Joe Isabell, 16, are the bookends as the Winternationals Class of 2006 spans 37 years on the age chart. Pennsylvanian Swinehart has made the trek to VSP every year since DIRT return in 1998, finishing a fourth-place best in the 2002 finale in 26 feature race starts aboard his familiar no. 33 J&L Speed Supplies/Bicknell entry. Massachusetts veteran Chandler has been a Florida Tour fixture much of the new millennium, sitting out last year as he saved up for a new Mastin motor to power up his no. 27m New England Disposal Technologies-Atlantic Coast Trailer-Diversified Sign/Bicknell mount that he won from Andy's Speed Shop in Johnstown, N.Y. in '05. After competing in the DIRT Sportsman class last season at Fulton (NY) Speedway and contending in the Mod Lite division the two years prior, Central New York rookie Isabell made his big-block Modified debut Tuesday night in the no. 6j JIR Motorsports-A&D Structures/Bicknell machine; part of the five-car team that includes Joe's father Jeff (no. 7j), Tom Sears,Jr. (no. 8j), Danny Johnson (no. 27j) and Sean Beardsley (no. 18).....
Open-wheel mainstay J.R. Crouse, 46, last traveled to gator country in the winter of 1989, ranking 17th in the final points standings after recording a ninth-place feature race finish in the tour finale. After a 17-year absence the Nazareth, Pa. racer will be recognized aboard the no. 4BE Terry's Auto & Towing/Tauschman entry sporting a Wally Fiehl engine. The 'BE' nomenclature is in memory of late parents, Betty and Ed, with his father passing away just last June.....
While listed as a rookie on the Florida Tour this winter, second-generation driver Beau Wilkins, 23, is an experienced driver at Charlie Cathell's Delaware Int'l Speedway where he has competed for the past three summers. 2003 marked his first year at DIS and he finished runner-up on the big-block Modified points chart while last year he settled for third in the final standings. His father Bobby Wilkins, who was helping out pitside at VSP, owns 25 DIRT Modified feature wins, capturing two track points crowns two of the three years (1996 and '98) that Delaware was sanctioned by DIRT MotorSports.....
The DIRT track action at Volusia will be just as hot and heavy when some of the same Advance Auto Parts Modified Super DIRT Series big-block stars compete in the 'Kart Clash' at the refurbished go-kart track stationed next door. On Feb. 16 members of the media, sponsors and promoters are invited to meet and talk with many of the Advance Auto Parts Modified top drivers and check out the new Mobile Media Center. The informal pre-race gathering will begin at 3 p.m. in the Media/VIP Hospitality Tent at the west end of track. At 4:30 p.m. following the media event, fans are encouraged to work their way over to the hospitality area for a special Autograph Session. On Feb. 18, Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series and World of Outlaws Late Model Series touring teams, as well as DIRT Officials and members of the media, will contend in the unique 'Kart Clash' at the neighboring dirt track, where fans can hang out afterwards with their short-track heroes, collect autographs and take pictures. The racing and autograph session will run until 5 p.m. near the kart track.....
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