I left for the Winterfest on Thursday afternoon and arrived at our hotel at 5:30PM...checked in, got some dinner and rest for the weekend of racing...I always look forward to racing a new track...

Towed to the track Friday morning, found a pit space and unloaded my junk...the weather was spectacular but a bit cool for us thin blooders...lol...52* and a 12 mph breeze...this turned out to be a weekend of running over things for me..more on that later...a bit about Immokalee...it is on a former airport runway with planes taking off and landing all around you currently...the layout is difficult to work with but sort of doable...I understand it used to be much better but they had to move things around a couple of years ago to please the County airport folks...

Anyway, they called me up for my one and only time run at noon thirty...I go down the track and run 6.36 with an .002 red eye...I get back to my pit and smoke is pouring out of my hood...WTF!...my buddy comes over and finds the problem...I somehow got a full sized traffic cone wedged between my right front tire and fender...it was rubbing big time and smoking like crazy...sheesh!...I have no idea how this happened but, oh well...btw, all the pit roads and staging lanes are very tight to say the least...

They call us up for first round...oh yeah, we are pitted way out in the "lower forty" and cannot hear any announcements and the radio station is nothing but static...I almost missed first round bit made it as the last car in line...sigh...I ran the wait and see bye an old firebird...I put 6.36 on mine but completely missed the tree with a tasty .110 tree...ugh...I did run it out and went 6.34 @ 106.74 mph...the right lane was very rough with a dip at about 300"...I thought my truck was going airborne every time I hit it...that right lane was a two handed driving deal to be sure...

I buy back in and wait for round two..oh yeah, they changed my name from Warren to Mr. Warner...lmao...In round two I get a mustang dialed 5.94..I put 6.34 on mine and off we go...I am 14 red again and the Dime runs 6.39 on the wood...fooey...I am done for the day so I hang around as my buddy is going well...he made the final in his Malibu wagon...he lost so we left to go find dinner...at 9PM only fast food is available so Steak and Shake it was...

I had gone into this event with a hurt right shoulder...for Saturdays $5 grander I asked my buddy to run my junk...he was there helping his son and daughter race...my shoulder was not good...he jumped in and went three rounds before going out...he was under the weather and not really well enough to race but I appreciate him helping me out...I decided to get back in the Dime on Sunday and do my best...letting go of the button is what hurt the most but I tried to do my best...for what it's worth, I played football in college and damaged my right shoulder pretty good...a shoulder separation and two rotator cuff tears later it is held together by scar tissue they tell me...surgery was/is not an option due to severely limited range of motion afterwords...

So Sunday dawns bight and sunny but 50* with a 15 mph head wind...I switch to the left lane and it is so much better...first round I race a vega dialed 7.15...I put 6.36 on my board as an off the trailer guess...I let go and, dang!, the wheels go up higher than ever before...she comes down and I catch the guy by 300"...I kill 12mph at the stripe and get the win...I was going 6.32 according to my time slip...holy moly!...I was .011 on the tree to his .100...oops...

Round two sees me lined up with a really nice 63 chevy two dialed 6.11..I put 6.34 on mine and off we go...at the stripe he is not going to get there so he tries to drop me on my head but I catch it and whomp for the win...I was .019 and he was .082 on the leave...see ya pal...

Round three was exciting to say the least...my buddies and I go up to the lanes and there is no one to direct us...two of us end up in the overflow lanes and I end up in the right lane thinking I ws in the left...btw, the staging lane guy was a cluster the entire weekend making numerous mistakes...one of my buddies gets into a huge shouting argument with him and they had to be separated...he wlks bt me in the lanes and I mention myself and the three behind me wanted the let lane but got into the right by mistake...he tell me too bad...I ask him why he was not at the head of staging directing cars and he gave some lame excuse...one thing led to another end and told me to f**k off...that got me going and we ended up nose to noae...he chest bumped me and I did him...more words were exchanged and I told him to take the first punch so my bail would not be too high and he backed off...

To add insult to injury I had to run my good buddy in his S-10...he dialed 5.98 to my 6.36...we both missed the tree, my 39 to his 71...he came at me hard at the stripe so I stayed in it and went 9 thou under...dang!...it turns out he has a serious tranny/converter issue so his junk would not leave correctly when he let go... he is always 10 to 15 on the tree...oh well...the tower somehow called the race with me as my buddies Dad and a father son race..goofy as chit...sheesh...

Oh yeah, about me running over stuff...it began with that cone deal...then I ran over my favorite stool for checking tire pressure..I turned that into splinters...then I was trying to move the yuke around in the pit to get radio reception and I ran over my gas can and busted my fuel refill pump all to pieces...good grief!....

I am glad I race Immokalee for bucket list reasons...they are closing for good soon but, honestly, I would not go back there regardless...on to the next event which is the New Year Nationals at Bradenton at he end of the month...

 

Thanks for the story Fuzz, you had a quite eventful weekend I see.