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Hot Streak continues for McCrary and Big Daddy’s SARA Late Model Team
July 31, 2000
It wasn’t just the weather that was hot at USA International Speedway this past Saturday. Richards Motorsports with Driver, Mike McCrary, Jr., finished 2nd, keeping a mid season hot streak alive. Extra fun was added as Big Daddy’s CEO, Dan Lloyd, Sr. and Gayla McCoy attended the race. We also enjoyed a racecar cake as crew chief, Bobby Richards, celebrated a birthday (29?).
Practice sessions on Friday and Saturday were held at quick intervals. This resulted in the team members receiving the maximum amount of body punishing heat that Central Florida can deal out. Regardless, things really came together in the last practice session. Mike made the black over red #8 Chevy appear light (its really 2,975 lbs.) as he turned some very quick laps.
It took a long time to complete qualifying as 46 cars made their runs trying to make a 32-car field. Mike put the car solidly in the field, posting the 6th fastest time. The “SARA
Shuffle” of the top ten qualifiers put us back to the 9th starting position.
Dan Lloyd, Sr. was the honorary starter and waved the green flat at the ¾ mile high-banked asphalt facility. A serious 5 car crash including a rollover occurred on the 1st lap. On the ensuing restart, Mike quickly gained 2 positions and on lap 7 made an inside pass to take over 6th. Two laps later he amazingly dodged a 2-car accident right in front of him on Lakeland’s super fast back straightaway. The next 58 laps of this 100-lap event ran under the green flag. During this period, attrition and hard driving moved us up to 2nd place. Unfortunately, the car was not handling well at this point and Mike would have his hands full during the closing part of the race. After a restart with 25 laps to go, the crowd was witness to some great racing as the top 3 in the SARA points battled it out for 2nd place. As the checkered flag flew, Mike had weathered the storm and finished 2nd.
We have now had 4 top 3 finishes in a row, including 1 win. Ironically, when you add these finishing places together (3+2+1+2) you come up with the number 8 (Mike’s car #).
It’s uncanny how often that number pops up in our racing scenario. This for sure puts us near the top of the ladder for the Southern Automobile Racing Association point’s championship. With 5 events remaining, it is sure to be an exciting time for the Big Daddy’s team.
Our next race is August 12th at Auburndale Speedway, located in Central Florida. It’s just a short haul from our race shop and we expect to be very competitive there. Please come out and enjoy what will be the epitome of short track racing.
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