Meet the Drivers Night: After Time Away, Tutchtone Revels in 1st Career Outlaws Feature Victory By Chuck Corder Bill Tutchtone figures he was a few laps away from heading back into retirement. Tutchtone, 46, raced once in 2012 and hadn’t raced a full schedule at Five Flags Speedway since the late 2000s.
3 Joseph Meyer 9 Logan Boyett 12 Tony Dalton 12 Brandon Burks 18 Jesse Salazar 39 Memphis Villarreal 40 Brian Weimer 54 Grant Thompson 56 Darryl Rudd 56 Josh Hicks 64 Cale Gale 97 Hunter Lambert
He wasn’t feeling like a comeback tour was a smart idea following a ninth-place finish in the Faith Chapel Outlaws season opener on March 9 during the ARCA Menards Series Pensacola 200. “I’m very competitive. Around Valentine’s this year, I was so nauseated thinking about how bad I’d do,” (continued inside page 2).
1 Donald Crocker 4 Bill Tutchtone 6 Jody Henderson 7 Kody Brusso 8 Jacob Bensock 12 Justin Beck 15 Perry Patino 15 Kevin Chase 21 Jason Furrow 21 Jason Welch 21 Michael Fisher 22 Jeremy Pate 26 Corbitt Moseley 33 Joe Bathea, Jr 40 Shanna Ard 41 Troy Grisaffi 51 Derrick Griffin 54 Conner Sutton 57 Charlie Skipper 81 Chris Cotto 84 Doug Thorpe 92 Bubba Winslow 94 Jason Johnson 95 Phillip Crownover 96 Fisher Smith 96 Rick Pollaro 97 Hunter Lambert
3 Mark Barnhill 07 Jim Pokrant 8 B J Leytham 13 Paul Mathis 28 Dayton Sidner 29 Shanna Ard 29 Garrett Cobb 55 Jimbo Walker 71 Tommy Blocker 76 Tony Boyd 97 Hunter Lambert 99 Billy Hoover
Tutchtone said. “I was real apprehensive about it. Then, after the ARCA race, I was seriously thinking that if I did not perform well at the next practice, I was going to tell (car owner Ronnie Enfinger) to put somebody else in the car.” Thankfully, it all clicked at the next Outlaws feature last month. Tutchtone slid by defending Outlaws Snowball Derby champion Jeremy Pate 10 laps from the white flag and pulled away from the rest of the field to collect his first career Outlaws victory and his first checkered flag in a decade. “Honest to God, it was the wildest thing I’ve ever been a part of,” Tutchtone said. “The emotions everybody else had, man People that have known me for years that you wouldn’t necessarily think would have those emotions. They were speechless and couldn’t get out what they wanted to say. “A lotta things have changed. A lotta things have happened. But, it still felt like one big family.” Tutchtone has been coming to Pensacola’s high banks since he was a three-year-old toddler. To get a chance to interact with the fans rekindles his own nostalgia. Bubba Winslow, another Outlaws driver, shared his memories of meeting drivers as a kid.
Friday May 10th 3:00pm Pits Open 5:00pm Practice O, PT, SP, PS 6:00pm Practice Round 2 O, PT, SP, PS 7:00pm Meet the Drivers (all cars to front stretch) 7:55pm Pre-Race Festivities 8:00pm PS Heats (6 Laps) SP Heats (6 Laps) PT Heats (6 Laps) O Heats (6 Laps) Pure Stock Feature (20 Laps) Sportsmen Feature (25 Laps) Pro Truck Feature (25 Laps) Outlaws Feature (35 Laps)
2019 Schedule May 24 Sportsmen Spectacular 35, O, PT, PS Jun 7 ATPLM, SP, PS; Kids Bike Races Jun 21 Blizzard, O, PT, PS; Fireworks Jul 19 Blizzard, PT, SP, PS Aug 2 Demo Derby , Mods of Mayhem, O SP Aug 16 ATPLM O, PT, PS Aug 31 * Big Rig Trucks Sep 14 * O, PT, SP, PS, Championships Sep 21 * Blizzard, ATPLM Championships Nov 23 * SBD Preview Dec 4-8 Snowball Derby
National Anthem Lacy Lofton
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Tony Boyd, Pensacola, Chance Imel, Irvington, AL Johnathan Day, Mobile Cameron Leytham, Mobile Michael Moody, Mobile T J Thompson, Mobile Robert Loper, Theadore, Brad Mosley; 8 Mile Rocky Boyd; Pensacola Lee Williams, Theadore, Daryl McDonald, Theadore, Butch Harvell, Pensacola John K Merritt, Pensacola Dylan Courtney, Citronelle, Caleb Burkett, Pensacola Jimmy Hollingsworth, Mobile Matt Thompson, Wilmer, AL Bobby Suarez, Pensacola Cory Pittman, Cantonment Brandin Sidner, Pensacola Jay Whalen, Pensacola Randall Moye, Robertsdale Robert Balkum, Pensacola Zack Jordan, Pensacola Jonathan Smith, Theadore Sarah Dority, Pensacola Robert Riley, Gulfbreeze David Johnson, Irvington
“(Meet the Drivers Night) was one of the biggest things I remember as kid,” Winslow said. “You couldn’t get into the pits back then. I remember watching guys like Okie Mason. He was always super nice. He never had a bad attitude, and was one of the guys I always looked up to. “It’s something special when you see kids down there on the track. They recognize the car before the driver, but then they make the connection.” Winslow, who leads the Outlaws points standings through two races, owns a pair of top-four finishes. “This class, you go to the racetrack, and five people could win,” Tutchtone said. “You have to be on top of your game to beat ‘em. That’s the kinda stuff I like.”
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Howard Connor Okrzesik Jake Garcia Chris Davidson William Hale