If there is a pretty girl in or around a red sprint car, it can mean only one thing – Kerry Gilbert is in action. Photo courtesy of Gary Johnson.

As with the TBARA race report, here are your late photos from the Top Gun Sprint Series affair at East Bay that was won by Capt. Tony Agin.

As always, when a sprint car race is in the greater Tampa area, our man about town, the tower of power, the man too sweet to be sour, international playboy Gary “Walk Quietly But Carry A Big” Johnson walked around the pits and took photos for you, the sprint car adoring public on this peninsula called Florida.

Enjoy.

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This man has been winning a lot lately. His name is Dave Steele.

We got swept up in fundraising, then your webmaster went on vacation for over a week, but better late than never, here is your TBARA race report for the season opener at the newly renamed Full Throttle Speedway.

DATE: May 4, 2013

SERIES: TBARA

ADMISSION: For once I genuinely don’t know what a pit pass cost because we were actually invited to cover the festivities as part of the media. This was quite a change from the former regime, that pretty much hated us. Admission at the front gate was only $13 for adults. That’s a steal and good to see.

FOOD GRADE: C. I had an expensive, average cheeseburger, over four bucks as I recall, and then I couldn’t find any relish or other fun condiments like chopped onions over in the condiments area, just mustard and ketchup. In all fairness I was seriously tempted to try the fried bologna sandwich, but they were sold out at the pits concession stand. But the food was fresh and hot and I wasn’t scared to eat it like I was when this track had a different name, so that’s progress right?

CROWD GRADE: A-. Not packed to the gills full, but still a very healthy crowd for opening night. And given that the old expression, “you could shoot a shotgun through the stands and not hit anyone” generally applied under the track’s last name, this was a step in the right direction and good to see because, in my opinion, this is a very good track for the TBARA to call home base.

NUMBER OF SPRINTS: I counted 23 sprint cars in the pits, of which 21 answered the bell for the feature.

WHO WON: Dave Steele picked up the feature win and also a heat win. The other two heat wins went to Scotty Adema and Joey Aguilar.

FSCF.com DRIVER OF THE RACE: I could make fairly legitimate arguments for a couple of drivers here – Dude Teate, Tommy Nichols, Scotty Adema and even Joey Aguilar…but I’m going with Dude Teate. The Dude was fast in the Conley Racing #31 all night and lead 25 laps until Steele got around him. Teate didn’t lay down when Steele caught him and wasn’t giving Steele the bottom no matter how many times Steele stuck a nose in there. It was a bold pass coming out of turn two on the outside that got Steele around Teate for the win. Dude drove a great race and had nothing to be ashamed of. Scotty Adema also had a brilliant drive and was a threat for the lead many times before getting passed by Steele and finishing third behind Teate.

RACE GRADE: A+. I would dare say this was the best TBARA race I have seen in the last five years. Yes Steele keeps winning, but these aren’t like seasons gone past in the #91 where he checked out and would put half a lap on the field in short order. The top five in the feature were virtually nose-to-tail over the last ten laps and it was anyone’s game. Teate, Adema, Nichols and Steele were all inches off each other and right behind them Mickey Kempgens and Joey Aguilar swapped fifth place back and forth so many times I lost count. And not once was there a collision or wreck of any sort. This was high speed precision driving that I would put up against any pavement series in this country. If you didn’t think this was a classic, you’ve got rocks in your head.

OTHER NOTES:

• Tommy Nichols gets a big atta boy for his drive Saturday night. Tommy’s been out the better part of a year since having back surgery and recently rolled out his bright yellow #55 at Showtime Speedway with mixed results. Saturday night was the Tommy of old, running up front and he actually had a tire going down most of the feature, so the fact that he stayed in the top three as long as he did was very impressive, before sliding back to sixth.
• It was good to see our safety guru Scotty Adema back in action and he didn’t disappoint. Scotty is very laid back and was very much a sleeper throughout the night, though if you were paying attention, you could tell he was one of the fastest cars out there and his car was absorbing the bumps better than most. There were a few times I thought Scotty may have got around Teate for the lead, but Scotty isn’t one to take wild chances. A third place was well deserved for one of the nicest guys in the pits. Scotty was also going to pull TQ double duty (he recently bought a TQ for his son) but mechanical gremlins kept him from running the heat or feature.
• Speaking of the TQs, don’t let the official results listed on the Full Throttle Speedway website fool you – that was indeed Dave Steele that swept the TQ night as well. How did it happen? Well, before the heats were getting ready, Mike Belusar said to Steele, “I have a bad headache, do you want to drive?” to which Steele replied, “I don’t know…is it fast?” Belusar said yes, Steele jumped in and that was that.
• We had a couple of “new to sprint car” rookies in the field, that included Chris Gimmler, Grant Thormer and Todd Haggard. Chris has been running TQs and had dad Mark and Uncle Gary helping out, with Gary serving as driver coach as Mark was also in competition. It goes without saying that Chris is in good hands. Grant Thormer is well known in the late model circles and had a new Diablo at his disposal, but by his own admission needs some more seat time to get used to the vast change of going from late models to sprint cars. Haggard’s weekend never really got started as engine problems raised their head at every turn.
• Mickey Kempgens and Joey Aguilar provided great entertainment as they waged their own personal war for fifth place in the feature. Kempgens was his usual fast, smooth self all night and Aguilar charged through the field to get at Kempgens and threw everything he had at him, finally wrestling the spot away.
• Jimmy Alvis Sr. was back behind the wheel of the #21 we had been accustomed to seeing his son drive as of late, and put in a solid night’s work to come home a fine seventh behind Nichols.
• Defending TBARA champion Johnny Gilbertson had a quiet night, coming home eighth, followed across the stripe by Larry Brazil Jr.
• Speaking of Larry Brazil Jr., he was not a happy camper after lighting up the rear tires in dramatic fashion in his heat race and then pulling into the infield. Now truth be told, we’ve seen Larry light up the rears at this track many times in the past, even on the way to a win back when he drove the #20, but this time was a little different. Once Larry got settled down for the feature, he kept his nose clean and brought home a ninth place finish.
• It was great to see Sonny Hartley back in TBARA competition once again. Oddly enough, this was the same sprint car Sonny last drove at New Smyrna two years ago before it got shipped up to Jason Cox, then back down here where Troy DeCaire drove it at Showtime Speedway and now it’s back to Sonny again. Sonny finished tenth in the feature.
• Last time we checked in on Jason Bradford last year at Showtime Speedway, he was taking a job out in Colorado and we wished him well. Turns out he wasn’t nuts about the cold and he’s back down here and in competition once again.
• The car that Dave Steele won with wasn’t the black car he has been winning with non-stop since last year, as Sport Allen’s team owner bought the car, so this was the white car that Steele trucked up to the Panhandle races for Must See Racing Xtreme Sprint Series competition. It was hit and miss as to whether Steele would show as he and friends were thrashing on it late into the week to get it ready.
• As reported earlier, Geoff Styner was to pull double duty but never got the chance following his terrible accident. I would like to note that Geoff was one of the first people in the pits to flag me down and you could see he was beaming with joy about pulling double duty. If any good comes out of the excessive wait to get Geoff out of the track and to a trauma center, it’s that the TBARA contracts will insist on an ambulance on site.
• And finally, our buddy Josh Wichers deserves some recognition for running the club this night as president Buff Fritz was away seeing his son, and TBARA competitor, Ben Fritz get married. After everyone realized there was no ambulance on site, and then it left after attending to Geoff, despite his being flown out, the pits were a fairly chaotic environment with some upset drivers and team owners. Josh made the right call and worked with track officials to make sure the ambulance was back and parked in the infield for the feature.
• All in all, it was a positively brilliant feature race, one that I will remember for a long time, and Full Throttle Speedway looks to be moving in the right direction and once they get all the bugs worked out, this should make for a great place to take in more TBARA races.

RACE REPORTER: Todd Michaels

Capt. Tony Agin picked up his first sprint car win at the Top Gun Sprint Series race at East Bay last weekend. Photo courtesy of Gary Johnson.

Chase Cabre added another Florida Mini Sprints Association victory to his resume last weekend at Hendry County Motorsports Park.

Last week Capt. Tony Agin and Chase Cabre were the big winners, with the Top Gun Sprints Series and the Florida Mini Sprints Association respectively. Mother Nature won at Marion County Speedway (Southern States Midget Series) last weekend and also at Putnam County Speedway (Florida Mini Sprints Association) but the FMARA did return to Full Throttle Speedway this weekend and Chris Gimmler picked up the victory.

In other Florida driver news, Brian Gingras piloted a super modified to a fifth place finish at Winchester Speedway in Must See Racing competition. And in the the sprint car feature, Troy DeCaire came home fifth.

Your local friendly webmaster is on vacation for the next week.

This post is going to have to last you a week because your webmaster is packing the family into the family truckster and retreating to the mountains for a week of hiking, waterfall exploration, fun and peace and quiet.

Now I do owe everyone a race report for the TBARA race at Full Throttle Speedway. I devoted all of my free time this week to working on the Geoff Styner fundraiser with Scotty Adema, so getting the race report fell by the wayside, but I promise to write it up when I return from vacation.

Speaking of the fundraiser, I am proud to announce that we’ve raised a little over $4,000 in just over four days! There was also a driver suit auction courtesy of Mike Franklin, that was won by sprint car all around good guy Dean Bartholomew for $800. We’ve also heard that James Powell (of late model and Ocala Speedway fame), Carol Wicks (of KARNAC/Real Racin USA) and John Gilbert Jr. (of the TBARA green #7 fame) are all matching that bid! Add that with our money raised and you’re looking at about $7,500ish raised this week for Geoff Styner! Everyone that has donated or helped spread the word, give yourselves a big pat on the back.

Also, Geoff was discharged from the hospital and has headed home with his wife. Now the long recovery period starts. We’ll pass along further updates once Geoff gets settled in and starts to adjust to his new way of life for the next couple of months.

So, upcoming races this weekend include the Top Gun Sprint Series at East Bay Raceway Park, the Southern States Midget Series at Marion County Speedway, and the Florida Mini Sprints Association at Hendry County Motorsports Park.

Now since your webmaster will be cut off from society for the most part, feel free to post the weekend’s winners information in the Comments area down below to keep your friends updated.

And to hold you over for the next week, here is the 2013 Q1 pavement sprint car podcast spectacular, recorded two weeks ago at the same time we did the dirt podcast.

The ageless wonder Sonny Hartley was back in TBARA action Saturday night at Full Throttle Speedway. Photo courtesy of Gary Johnson

The TBARA was the headlining class at the re-opening of Full Throttle Speedway (formerly Desoto Speedway) Saturday night and we’ve got multimedia galore for you.

First up, ride along with the feature winner, His Holiness Dave Steele as he works his way through the field, finally having to put down a bold outside pass on leader Dude Teate to pick up the win. The dicing among the top five working traffic is really a feather in the cap to all involved, it is masterful stuff.

Now here’s an all-kinds-of-awesome video that Chase Cabre put together of the whole day/night’s activities. I’m warning you, it’s really cinematic excellence.

And finally, our man about town, international playboy Gary “Walk Quietly But Carry A Big” Johnson roamed the pits, taking pictures for you, the Florida sprint car public.

Enjoy.

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Also, if you prefer the Dave Steele multi-cam shot, we got that too.

For those of you wishing to make a donation to help Geoff Styner with his soon-to-be enormous medical bills, we (myself and Scotty Adema) have set up a donation website dedicated to the cause and here it is:

Help Geoff Styner

If you’re in a position to donate and help the Styners out during this very difficult time, please do so. If you’re not in a position to make a financial contribution, please share the page on your Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. to help spread the word.

Also, if you would like to send Geoff a card, gift card for groceries, some racing magazines, whatever you feel would help him out during the next four months or so of wearing a halo, here is the address:

Geoff Styner
204 SE 25th Terrace
Cape Coral, FL 33904

Also, we’ll have an offical Facebook page set up today to keep Geoff’s updates located in one place.

We’ve not had this donation site up for even twelve hours yet and we’re almost up to $500, with a goal of $5,000, so to all of you that have donated, thank you very, very much. Some of the donations so far have been very generous.

UPDATE – As of 12:30 May 8, 2013, we have raised almost $3,000 so far for Geoff Styner. This is all kinds of awesome and I can’t thank everyone enough for your support. Let’s keep it going!

NEW UPDATE! – As of 9:45 am, May 9, 2013, we are only $80 away from $4,000 raised!

As we reported yesterday, Geoff Styner was seriously injured at Full Throttle Speedway Saturday night in a very violent wreck in the TQ feature. We do have an update, and in the grand scheme of things, the news is good.

Geoff has a shattered C1 vertabrae, punctured lung and a cracked sternum. The neurosurgeon said this type of injury usually ends in a funeral, so Geoff is very lucky. Now Geoff is awake and alert at Blake Medical Center in Bradenton, and practicing pushing the morphine button quite a bit and does face a very long recovery. He is scheduled to have a halo put in to help him with his recovery. He will have to wear the halo for about four months and will probably be out of work longer than that, so this will obviously be quite the burden on the Styners.

So how can you help? We’re working on it.

Myself and Scotty Adema are working out the logistics of the best way to get donations to the Styners in the fastest, most cost-effective way. Once we have the banking end worked out, we’ll be building out an online donation platform so that way you can donate directly to the Styners and also share the page very easily on all of your favorite social media outlets.

Continue to keep Geoff Styner in your thoughts and prayers as he has a long road of recovery ahead of him.

Dave Steele won a barn burner of a TBARA feature Saturday night at Full Throttle Speedway. Photo courtesy of Gary Johnson.

Full Throttle Speedway was the place to be Saturday night as it re-opened with new ownership at the helm and a new name on the sign out front. In front of a packed house, Dave Steele swept both the TQ feature and the TBARA feature and also picked up heat wins in both.

We’ll have a full race report soon, but the TBARA feature was an undeniable classic with the top six of Dude Teate, Scotty Adema, Tommy Nichols, Dave Steele, Mickey Kempgens and Joey Aguilar running nose-to-tail for the last ten laps. Teate led up until lap 27 when Steele had no choice but to go to the outside coming out of turn two to get around Teate for the win. Top five at the finish was Steele, Teate, Adema, Aguilar, Kempgens.

Unfortunately tragedy struck in the TQ feature when Geoff Styner (who was pulling sprint car and TQ double duty) suffered what appeared to be a mechanical failure and the car turned on its side and went into the wall cage first at a high rate of speed. The cage collapsed (see below) and Styner’s helmet also appeared to make impact with the wall.

While Styner did emerge from the car under his own power, he did collapse on track, complaining of back and head pain and also difficulty breathing. While the track did have three EMTs on site, it did not have an ambulance on site and while the EMT staff did stabilize him, there was a considerable wait for the ambulance and fire trucks. Then there was a wait for the helicopter that then flew Geoff out to the nearest trauma facility.

We hear that Geoff is doing alright at the moment, and is stabilized at the hospital, but he will certainly have quite the recovery ahead of him. Geoff was one of the first to greet us in the pits Saturday night and is truly a very nice guy with a big passion for open wheel racing, so please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

And one last note on the ambulance debacle, the TBARA did get together with Full Throttle Speedway management to make sure the ambulance (which left after Styner was flown out) was on-track and parked in the infield for the feature. Kudos to our pal Josh Wichers, who was running things for the club last night, who pulled the drivers together and made sure their safety was the top priority.

The remains of Geoff Styner’s TQ after he suffered a major crash in the TQ feature at Full Throttle Speedway Saturday night. Photo courtesy of Gary Johnson.

The moment the TBARA faithful, and pavement sprint car fans, have been waiting for is finally upon us…the start of their 2013 season!

And if that’s not enough, it also marks the grand re-opening of the track formerly known as Desoto Speedway, but is now known as Full Throttle Speedway. Kevin Williams (formerly the turnaround person at Punta Gorda) is now in charge and has been working hard at renovating the facilities and providing a superior fan experience, so it goes without saying that if you’re in the area, grab three of your closest friends (assuming your car seats four people) and head on out.

We’ll be covering the action and we’re figuring on 26ish sprint cars as this is a big to-do for the club and they’ve been working to get as many of the TBARA faithful together as they can. Two-time defending champ Johnny Gilbertson will be in action along with the likes of Mickey Kempgens, Joey Aguilar, Dude Teate, Sonny Hartley, Scotty Adema, Ben Fritz, the Alvis family, Rex Hollinger, Larry Brazil Jr., Matt Alfonso, JJ Dutton and more are expected. Dave Steele is also working on getting his car ready as we speak/type this.

In addition, our TQ friends are on the bill. Front gates open at 4:30, qualifying is at 5:45, heats at 6:15, features at 7:00.

On the dirt, the Top Gun Sprint Series rolls into Volusia Speedway Park Saturday night, weather permitting. We say that because the Florida Mini Sprints Association race at Bubba Raceway Park has already been scrapped due to rain.

If the weather holds and you’re a dirt person, support VSP as they try to gain traction and return to regular season racing. They still have the nifty pits spectator option, the general admission is cheap and in theory the Jacksonville faithful sprint cars will turn out to run against the Top Gun regulars. Drivers love VSP, so this should be Top Gun’s strongest turnout yet this year.

1:15 FRIDAY UPDATE - Just heard VSP is a no go.

And don’t forget to listen to our latest podcast on your way to the track!