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Action begins for Pro Late Models at Five Flags

Written by
Chuck Corder
News Journal correspondent

Ronnie Smith gives you goose bumps describing the impact of winning at Five Flags Speedway.

He should know. The local boy, turned 38-year-old father of two, has done more than just capture a handful of features. In 2009, Smith hoisted the Pro Late Model track title.

And while he followed that with a respectable runner-up finish to Mobile’s D.J. VanderLey last season, Smith has his eyes on returning the championship to Pensacola.

He looks to begin that quest Friday night at the half-mile asphalt oval when the Pro Late Models kick off their seasons with the Allen Turner Elantra 100.

“Anytime you can represent Pensacola for anything you do, any type of sport, it means a lot,� Smith said. “Someone like Johanna Long winning the Snowball Derby (last year), and being a native of Pensacola says a lot. You have a lotta pride winning championships when you’re from Pensacola.

“Five Flags has so much history behind it. Any time you win a race in Pensacola, you become a part of history.�

Another chapter will be written in Five Flags’ distinguished history Friday when the Pro Late Models race in the first of five 100-lap events this season.

It’s customary for the Super Late Models in the Blizzard Series to run 100 lappers throughout the season, but the Pro Late Models races typically haven’t tasted 100 until just before the Derby.

“Longer races make you a better driver,� said Smith, who will drive a Ron McDonald-owned car that Dwayne Buggay drove in the first Blizzard race last month. “I like to put the ol’ brain to work. And this gives you the opportunity to have a strategy or game plan. I’m not saying anybody can win a 40-lap race, but the mentality is completely different for 100-lap races.

“You’re not going to have just two or three cars that can win. Six or eight cars will have a shot.�

Tommy Rollins and Logan Boyett, another pair of Pensacola drivers with title aspirations, hope they can be a part of the mix come Friday.

Rollins, 50, finished third in points behind VanderLey and Smith last year. But a disappointing end to his season — a blown motor in the lead-up to the Derby and admittedly had a terrible car Derby week — has Rollins chomping at the bit to put 2010 behind him.

“I feel like every time I get in the car, I should be able to win the race,� said Rollins, a rookie last year after running Super Stocks forever. “Last year, I was a student again, having to learn. These cars are so far advanced now that if somebody hits on something and you don’t, they’re capable of running away with it.�

Boyett, 21, seems to be close to that right groove. His team made a lot of adjustments to his car following the Derby.

The car has responded well in practice sessions and races so far this season.

“It’d be a really special moment to have the championship,� said Boyett, whose grandfather Lennie Boyett competed in the inaugural race at Five Flags in 1953. “We’ll ease into it and see how the racing goes. Sometimes you can’t race for points. You have to let it happen.�

However dreams may come for these local drivers, it’s easy to hear the pride in their voices for their hometown track.

“That trophy means the world to me,� Smith said. “You can say you’ve competed on a racetrack with some of the great race cars of the past. Guys that have excelled at the top level. I’ve been blessed to go out and compete with these guys.�

Super Stocks, Sportsman and Bombers will also be action when the gates open at 5 p.m. Friday.

Admission is as follows: $15 Adults; $14 Seniors/Military; $12 Students; $5 Child (6-11); Under 6 is Free.

 

 

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