SPRING CLASSIC
What: Budweiser Series swamp buggy race
When: Sunday (race), 12:30 p.m.
Where: Florida Sports Park, 8250 Collier Blvd., Naples
Tickets: Sunday (adults $17, children 6-11 $8)
On-site parking: Free
With mere fractions of a second separating the fastest entries, and only a handful of points separating the championship contenders, the stage is set for Sunday’s season-ending Spring Classic swamp buggy races at the Florida Sports Park.
With a crowd in excess of 6,000 anticipated, the first green flag drops Sunday at 12:30 p.m. About four hours later, the outcome of the 2012-13 Budweiser Cup Series chase will be known.
Will Lorrie Johns repeat as Bud Cup champ with her V8 Sportsman buggy called Lady Liberty?
Or will Pro Modified Fatal Attraction leadfoot Bonnie Walsh make up the four-point deficit to points-leader Johns to add to the world championship she won in 2005?
And don’t forget about Eddie Chesser, the nine-time points champ who lurks in third place in the standings. He drives the Pro Mod called The Rapture.
Even Jeep driver Jeremy White has an outside chance to make history in his orange General Lee.
Sunday’s action will cap a three-race season that included events last November and January.
“I’m looking for some good side-by-side racing,” Walsh said during Saturday’s preliminaries and practice laps at the canal-like oval east of Naples. “That’s what makes the racing fun. When you are side-by-side, you can see the other driver’s eyes. It’s unbelievable.”
And what will she need to overtake Johns in the standings?
“Luck,” Walsh said without hesitation. “These buggies are as competitive as they can get.”
Driver Dan Greenling, who pilots the Pro Mod called Roll On, voiced similar sentiments after barely winning Saturday’s Pepsi Pro Modified Challenge.
“It’s close, that’s for sure. People have really closed up the gap out here. Everybody is good,” Greenling said.
In Saturday’s time trials, Greenling was clocked at 51.34 seconds. Second went to Tyler Johns’ Patriot at 51.52, followed by Steve Dunson’s surprising Pump It Out at 51.62 and Walsh’s Fatal Attraction at 51.81.
Next on the speed chart was 70-year-old Leonard Chesser, who came out of retirement to drive his familiar orange Dats Da One to a lap of 52.40 seconds.
None of Saturday’s racing influenced the points standings. Sunday’s mudslinging will be an entirely different story, however, as drivers will push their homespun creations to the max to try to seize Budweiser Cup Series honors.
Also at stake is a chance to participate in the traditional Queen’s Mudbath with Swamp Buggy Queen Taylor Trew. This will be last of her dunkings. A new queen will be crowned April 6 at the annual Queen’s Scholarship Pageant.
The V8 Sportsman buggies also had time trials Saturday. Johns’ Lady Liberty was best at 57.66 seconds in the Jet’s Pizza V8 Sportsman Challenge. Wayne Harris’ Southern Thunder followed at 1:02.87.
Jumping for joy Saturday was Jeep driver Todd Davis, who won the Jeep Final with his yellow entry called Lunatic Fringe.
“I’ve been trying 25 years to win a Jeep race,” Davis said. “I’ve won heat races before, but not a final. It might be a Saturday race, but in the Jeep class, a victory is a victory. We ran the same races today as we will on Sunday. So this is big for me.”
Drivers on Sunday will compete in various classes, with the winners advancing to a series of feature races called the Little Feature, Intermediate Feature and Big Feature.
2013 Winged Foot nominees
Color Collier Healthy Run 2013
Devastation, death indescribable in…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 10
Max_Headroom writes:
Swamp buggie racing is more white trashy than NASCAR is.
dixielee writes:
you're an idiot!
BillBrasky writes:
Swamp buggy racing was invented in and is unique to Naples. For that reason I like them.
Max swamp buggies were needed to get around in Naples in the old days, that people starting racing them seems like a given.
swfl_ff writes:
No one is making you go to the Swamp Buggy races Max Hardhead. Swamp Buggy racing has been around long before you ever knew Naples Florida even existed.
Ruskin writes:
This Max character can't even spell buggy correctly. Could he be the epitome of this so called white trash?
brianfl writes:
The sad part that the swamp buggy park will be on life support in a few years. With more new housing developments going up so close to the track, I'm sure the new residents will pull their money together and sue the park for excessive noise. The snow birds always win and the average Naples residents will lose. We have already lost most of the beach to them already. My neighbor grew up here an remembers when they used to drive onto the beach, drink and have bonfires all night long. Then it all eventually eroded away. Sad.
Beachtowel writes:
Same thing has happened the people out in the glades. It is sad.
swfl_ff writes:
Sad but very true. I am sure once that new Hacienda development is built the newcomers there will be complaining about the noise and the swamp buggy track will be forced out.
What you say about the beach is also true. There was a time you could drive your jeep on the beach and have bon fires there at night. All that is gone of course as we can't have that kind of nonsense disturbing the people in the high rises.
ravenhawk writes:
Nope, not gonna happen. Florida Sports Park is "grandfathered in" as an established motorsports complex. There are also in the works a proposed sand drag race track facility at the same location as well as other racing venues.
HAP writes:
Shut this crap down. Can't believe NDN actually covers this redneck trash.
Want to participate in the conversation? Become a subscriber today. Subscribers can read and comment on any story, anytime. Non-subscribers will only be able to view comments on select stories.