Well by next weekend the racing season will be basically in full gear; with all the Florida short tracks in motion as well as that place in Daytona Beach.

As noted elsewhere on this website, there has already been some racing down in the Sunshine State. Ocala’s Bubba Raceway Park hosted racing the last few days. The World of Outlaw late models started up at Screven Motor Speedway in Georgia on Friday and Saturday. Golden Isles Speedway also had a late model on Sunday. By next weekend at least four short tracks in Florida will be having their version of Speed Weeks. Oh by the way so will that big track!

No matter what your favorite flavor of racing vehicle is, just head to Florida and you will be able to find it next week. Dirt sprints, modifieds, late models, big block modifieds are all easy to find. The same on the asphalt side of things at New Smyrna Speedway just south of Daytona.

A really cool thing happened at New Smyrna this past Saturday, as young dirt open wheel star Kyle Larson made his asphalt super late model debut in the Pete Orr Memorial/ Orange Blossom 100. This young man has been absolutely stunning so far in his career and he proved that it isn’t just on the dirt that he is impressive.

Driving for Tim Russell, a Florida late model perennial winner; he took the lead on the final straight in a door banging finish and won in his debut. This kid is one you should follow and remember his name. He is immensely talented and should be going places for sure. I have read that he doesn’t have a lot of financial backing, and I hope that this doesn’t hold him back in the future.

The usual preseason dealings have been in full swing, as NASCAR drivers that haven’t already secured rides for Daytona and beyond have been scurrying about working on the last second deals. I’m not going to dive into all of these dealings right now, but I hope that everyone works out a ride before all the divisions kick off in about two weeks.

Sad to see that John Wes Townley was charged with DUI this past week, it just serves as a reminder that we are all human and make mistakes; I just hope we all learn from them. Another sad story this week is the reported closing of Irwindale Speedway.

Well that is all I have for this week, I’m really looking forward to this week flying by.

Until next week keep the shiny side up!!

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