What seems to be the fastest passing racing
season in recent memory is coming to an end this Saturday night. It seems to me like it all started just a couple of months ago, but I guess the old saying “Time Flies When You’re Having Fun” is true.
By Chuck Corder
After Years of Near Misses at Five Flags, Casey Smith Can Close Out Southern Super Title Saturday Heartbreak Hill is hands down the toughest portion of the Boston Marathon. It’s a treacherous 0.4-mile ascent near the end of the 26.2-mile torture chamber that leaves its victims pleading for mercy. Begrudgingly, Five Flags Speedway has become Casey Smith’s version of Heartbreak Hill. The Austin, Texas, Super Late Model driver has had more than his fair share of close calls and disappointments at the famed half-mile asphalt oval in the 15 years he has raced in Pensacola. But at the Deep South Cranes Rental 150 come Saturday, with the Southern Super Series championship hanging in the balance, Smith has a chance to turn his boulevard of broken dreams into a yellow brick road.
After crowning Randy Thompson a Champion in the Faith Chapel Super Stocks and Ryan Luza in the Allen Turner Hyundai Pro Late Models, it’s time to turn our attention to the remaining four divisions. Tonight will be the deciding factor as to who can call themselves champions in the Deep South Cranes Super Late Models, the Better Built Pro Trucks, Butler U Pull It Bombers and the Beef O’Brady Sportsmen. After the final checkered flag we will know who can put add their names along with Thompson and Luza and be called the elite group of 2015 at America’s Favorite Home Track. In the Super Late Models two champions will be crowned, one will be in the Five Flags Speedway Blizzard Series and it being the final race for the Southern Super Series, a champion will also be crowned. You can also look for a large field of Supers to be on hand who are not thinking about any kind of points. They will be on hand to get extra laps and use this race for a tune up for the Snowball Derby. We send very special Congratulations to Randy Thompson and Ryan Luza on their championship season and at the same to whoever comes out on top tonight in the remaining four classes. This will be the last newsletter for 2015 but make sure you tune in to “IN THE GROOVE” with Tim and Steve every other Monday night at 6:00 pm on BLAB TV or visit our website. We will keep you in the groove on the upcoming 48th Snowball Derby. Thank You to all our fans for your continued support throughout the years. The loyal fans and the great drivers we continue to draw is the reason we work so hard to bring the best of the best here to Five Flags Speedway.
“For me, even in Blizzard races, something happens and I don’t finish great,” Smith said. “I can think of three Derbys where we were one of the fastest cars on the racetrack, but didn’t win it because of a bad pit stop or a caution or a wreck taking us out. Saturday, Nov. 21 IP Casino Snowball Derby Preview 9am 7pm Thursday, December 3 - Sunday Dec 6th 48th Annual Snowball Derby National Anthem: Krewe du Yayas
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Casey Smith Continued“Man, closing it out in Pensacola makes my stomach turn,” the 30-year-old Smith said. “Pensacola is to us the way Daytona was to Dale Earnhardt for so many years. Different things have happened there that have taken us out of a lotta wins. “But it’s something to keep fighting for, and it actually makes us stronger than at other tracks because I wanna succeed there so badly.” Every driver in the pits will be looking to succeed desperately Saturday. This weekend marks Five Flags’ annual Night of Champions, the final chance to see live racing in Pensacola until the 48th annual Snowball Derby festivities kick off the first week of December. Smith brings a 62-point lead over Donnie Wilson in the Southern Super Series standings into Saturday night. “No matter what Donnie does, we have to finish 15th or better,” he said. “It’s comforting, but it won’t be easy to run 15th with the caliber of late models that will be there Saturday night.” Smith has a chance to sweep the night. He trails current leader Casey Roderick by nine points in the race for the Blizzard Series crown.Smith knows for fortune to shine on him Saturday, he’ll have to erase a string of bad luck at Pensacola’s high banks.
“Every year we’re competitive at the Derby. We just haven’t got the finishes. But a lotta that comes on me, too.” He plans on leaving the past right where it belongs in his rearview mirror this Saturday. Smith has been trending upward in 2015. He has scored top-10 finishes in all 12 Southern Super Series races this season with nine of those being top-five results. Smith has captured checkered flags at Mobile International Speedway (April) and Montgomery Motor Speedway (June) and has come home no worse than fifth in the three Pensacola races. “We’ve had a lotta luck on our side and, hopefully, it won’t change there at Pensacola,” Smith said of his Smith Excavating and Paving No. 99 team. “But this’ll be a tune up for the Derby, so anything can happen. There will be a lotta really good cars there, and I wanna make sure we’re one of the ones to run up front.” Smith has long eschewed the late model norm of utilizing a crew chief. Instead, he chooses to call the shots and make the important decisions. “Racing is a hobby for us,” Smith said. “We’re not set up to hire a big-time crew chief and spend a half-million dollars. We have good equipment and everything it takes to make the car go fast. “Plus, I enjoy that part. I enjoy knowing if we win a race, we beat somebody that has a crew chief. The flip side of that, though, is if we get beat, I’m down in the dumps and trying to figure out how to get better. But that’s part of it.” Read the rest of Chuck’s story on our web site: www.5flagsspeedway,com
Jones, a past Pro Late Model champion at Five Flags, is bound and determined to go out with a flurry in the Deep South Crane Rentals Blizzard Series and Southern Super Series finale.
By Chuck Corder
By Chuck Corder
Under Garvey’s Guidance, Teenage Sensation Garrett Jones Comes of Age Heading into Blizzard/SSS Finale It takes Garrett Jones a couple of rings before he answers his iPhone. When he does, the 16-year-old late model driver’s voice, which has noticeably dropped several octaves, echoes like he’s trapped down a well. “I just got my license!” Jones shouts from inside his 2015 Chevy Silverado, the cherished birthday gift bestowed upon him from his grandfather, Larry. And, so, eight days after celebrating his Sweet 16, Jones has officially become a distracted driver. Thank you, Bluetooth. But when Jones gets behind the Tracy Goodson No. 1 Super Late Model on Saturday for the Deep South Crane Rentals 150, rest assured his attention will be focused fully on the task at hand. “Pensacola is unlike any track we go to,” Jones said. “It’s as technical a racetrack as you’ll find.”
With Saturday’s race being the final stop before the 48th annual Snowball derby in December, Jones knows a lot of first-time drivers will try to master the famed half-mile asphalt oval. He sits fourth in the overall Southern Super Series points chase and is the odds-on favorite to win Rookie of the Year honors. “The goal is always to be up front,” said Jones, seventh in the Blizzard standings. “Usually, if you’re running in the top-five, you should be OK and be able to run a clean race and not worry about cautions and wrecks. But as far as the competition goes, I consider us to be one of the teams to beat.” A pair of Caseys eye up SLM crowns with Casey Smith maintaining a 62-point lead for the Southern Super Series championship and Casey Roderick holding a slim nine-point lead for the Blizzard Series title. Jones’ debut season in the Southern Super Series has been quite the roller coaster ride. Behind the steering wheel of his familiar No. 88, Jones scored a pair of top-five finishes in the first two races, under the tutelage and close watch of crew chief Kelly Bires.While Jones continued to regularly score top-10s all the way into June, a stretch of seven races, the outcomes were stuck in reverse. “At the beginning of the season, we had great chemistry,” Jones said of Bires, who has competed in more than 90 Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series races. “But, it fell away during the summer. We were running decent. Nothing to complain about, but we weren’t qualifying well at all. We were handicapping ourselves.” (Continued on our web site: www.5flagspeedway.com).
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Season Complete
Season Complete
Ouch...PLM Race last week