One year ago this month, I wrote in this column how cool it would be to have the World of Outlaws back at East Bay Raceway Park in Florida.
One year ago this month, I wrote in this column how cool it would be to have the World of Outlaws back at East Bay Raceway Park in Florida.
I really didn‘t believe, though, that it would ever have happened in a normal world. East Bay will be gone in a few years and I thought it was going without ever having another World of Outlaws show.
This year changed all that, but it took a pandemic, rain in four Southeastern states and snow in Texas to put the pieces into place.
When I left Volusia Speedway Park back on Sunday, Feb. 7, I didn‘t expect to cross paths with the World of Outlaws until summer in central Pennsylvania.
All of the teams thought they were on a very long journey through the south and west for about two and a half months.
The weather canceled about half of the weekends and the pandemic shut down all of the west coast weekends, so the next race for everyone was back at Volusia, which they‘d left a month ago. It was strange pulling back in to Volusia Speedway Park for a second time in 2021. It was completely different than the two-week-long DIRTcar Nationals.
The gator pond pit area was completely empty and all of the vendors were missing. The car count was down, since many teams not running the full series didn‘t come back. Racing had already started in central Pennsylvania, so none of those teams were there.
The quality of the field was excellent though.
The weekend was put together in 10 days, with Friday at Volusia and Saturday at East Bay. No one knew just what to expect. Would the fans show up? And what drivers would come back besides the fulltime World of Outlaws drivers?
It worked out well though, as the crowd at Volusia on Friday was very good. I‘ve seen smaller crowds for the mid-week shows during the DIRTcar Nationals.
Carson Macedo started 10th and passed race leader Sam Hafertepe Jr. with four laps to go for the win and left the track with the series point lead.
The next day, after a drive through Orlando, it was the return of the World of Outlaws to East Bay Raceway Park after 38 years.
It was the same field of cars from the previous night at Volusia and one of the toughest fields I have seen at East Bay since the February All Star shows 20 years ago.
Many of the drivers had either never turned a lap at the track or hadn‘t been there for a long time. A few have been running there every February for the 360 shows and a few recent All Star shows. The driver that came out on top was Aaron Reutzel, who has been really fast at the track the last few years in both 360 and 410 competition.
Reutzel ran a line above the cushion where no one else would venture and rode it all the way to victory lane. He put on a show for the near-standing room only crowd in attendance. It was also one of the largest crowds I‘ve seen at East Bay in 20 years.
The concession area was packed with fans spending money and cars were parked along the entrance entering the track.
Reutzel‘s inspiration for the daring drive was his home state Texas hero Gary Wright. He watched a video of Gary Wright running East Bay above the cushion and Reutzel used the same route to perfection.
Saturday‘s program ended up being one many fans won‘t forget and many of those fans haven‘t seen the World of Outlaws for a long time. The last time the series had been on the west coast of Florida, Ronald Reagan was president.
The fans, the drivers and promoters were all happy with how both shows turned out, so look to see East Bay Raceway park on the World of Outlaws schedule again next year … and I would bet until the track‘s demise in three years.