Biffo Posted December 9, 2007 Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 Crash-o-Rama night - Speedworld Bithlo Florida - 23/11/07 After an hours drive from where we were staying we arrived at the small town of Bithlo on the Eastern outskirts of Orlando, via a number of toll expressways and highway 50. There was always a worry the Crash-o-Rama night could be rescheduled at the last minute , but we need not have worried. The track here is a 3/8 banked tarmac oval , that’s just over the ¼ mile if you`re bad at maths. Although we arrived early (5pm) allowing 2 hours before start time we found out that it wasn’t starting until 8pm, plenty of time to look around. Lots of souvenirs and loads of food available, bought a Crash-o-Rama tee shirt for $10, that’s about £5. Two of the school buses did free trips around the track for the kids, then we had a motor cycle display team doing the usual stuff that they do. Start time had by now drifted to nearer 8.30 pm and their wireless mike started to play up becoming very intermittent, which I found amusing,, anyone old enough to remember Norman Collier and his dodgy mike and chicken routine ??….lol . [attachmentid=21434] [attachmentid=21435] Part of the pit area & kids bus rides We then got a small speech for the Starting Marshal about how lucky we all were to be able to enjoy our freedom due to the American Military fighting overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. We then had to listen to a country record track referring to a soldier away fighting overseas.. After that we had the Start Marshal say he’d been reminded that it wasn’t only the Americans that were out there but the Canadians , the U.K. and ….(pause for thought)….other countries as well. Turns out half his family were out there in the Army so I let him off. Now it was time to all stand with one hand on your wallet and sing the American National Anthem. Things finally kicked off with a guy driving what looked like his normal road car around the track until he got enough speed up and jumped a ramp, a bus and 2x parked cars until T boning into 2x mini buses, along with a shower of pyrotechnics exploding at the same time. First actual race was an Endruro 50 lapper. About 50 standard looking Bangers turned out for this one, lining up four abreast at the start line. Quite a lively race with only three stoppages , 2x fires and 1x car obstructing the straight which was removed by a giant fork lift, car and driver together ! Then we were introduced to four ladies driving mini buses ( they call them mini vans). They were fighting over one parking space on the centre green in a kind of Demolition Derby. Thought this was a pathetic waste of time as they just produced a few dents before three of the others gave up, but the crowd seemed to like it. We were then told the basic rules to Car Roller Hockey. Several teams line up for the Professional race, which just meant they’d raced at least twice before. Each team consists of three cars, one small white car which doesn’t run and has to be pushed, these are called the Puck cars and two large old v8 cars with big front bumpers , one to push the puck car and one to defend the pusher or attack the other teams. First white puck car over the line after about ten laps is the winner. Quite interesting as they were all in team colours and four teams were competing at the same time. Several pucks lost their pushers for a while early on as they’d been spun out, and had to free wheel around until they were caught up again. by a pusher. Some teams had the knack and some didn’t. The Amateur teams were next, this time eight competing together. Well something different I suppose. [attachmentid=21436] A full Grandstand Then it was time for a demo of the Mambo Jet Car driven by a guy called Doug Rose. Was used as a dragster by Mr.Rose until a big accident in which he lost both legs. The cars now been rebuilt , alas Doug Rose is still missing his legs but can still drive it. Fifteen feet of flames out of the rear end down the straights was impressive. [attachmentid=21439] Mambo Jet car At last time for those School Buses on the fig.8 track, 16 huge buses thundered round for 20 laps. Lots of bouncing around but when it came to the centre green cross-over it was the brake pedal that was used most. Nobody was interested in taking anyone out, just a few near misses until we got one turning onto its side on the last lap . Disappointed, have seen better action with a Van fig.8 back in the U.K. [attachmentid=21437] Blurry buses on rolling start Time for Skid Car Racing - just take a FWD car, remove the rear tyres and weld onto the rear wheels a Skid Plate, get the picture ? A car which drags its bum along in a shower of sparks. Thirty cars lined up for this one , after the flag drops they `re off into the first bend and the fastest one usually ends up facing the wrong way. Steering very flexible in this one as you can imagine. An interesting novelty race over about ten laps. Then it was the Flag Pole Race. To represent the flag pole we had two mini buses lined up on the centre green opposite the Start/ Finish straight. Another thirty odd bangers are lined up for this one as normal except that ,when the flag drops for the off, they have to drive across the start line and then turn sharp left to the centre green, drive round the mini buses using them as a roundabout, then back on to the track crossing the line again before starting round for their first lap around the track.. This is repeated over about 15 laps until we had a winner. The beauty of this race is as they come round the Flag pole back onto the track they have to smash their way through the rest of the field which are still crossing the line ready to turn onto the centre green themselves. The result was chaos with cars being pushed in all directions. Can just imagine that roundabout under the Chiswick fly over that gets grid locked at rush hour using this system……excellent fun. Not too much time delay clearing away between races , if cars couldn’t be driven back to the pits they were just shoved into a pile on the centre green to be cleared off after the meeting. Time now for the Boat & Trailer Race About 20 laps in a straight banger race except you have to be towing a boat & trailer behind you. If you lose both boat & trailer you’re disqualified, however if you’ve still just got the trailer you’re O.K. and if you’ve still got the remains of the boat roped on behind and no trailer your O.K. too. ! 35 cars lined up for the start…. Lots of action in this one. If you get too fast into the corners your trailer will fling out and drag the car round too. Lads of wreckage across the track , mainly fibre glass. A big yellow hearse which was disqualified , having lost its boat & trailer, just kept going, destroying any stray boats in his path. Race of the night, very much like our caravan racing. [attachmentid=21438] 4 Cyl. DD Time now for the two Demolition Derbies, first for 4 cylinder Compacts and then the final for V8`s. Sounds good but they only use part of the start / finish straight and wet the track too ! About the size of a fun fair Dodgem track . About 16 cars started in the DD , lots of wheel spinning but no room to get up any speed. The commentator seemed to be wetting his pants for the slightest little dent. Took about 20 minutes to have one car left. Why do they make it so boring ??? If that was their idea of a Destruction Derby we`d seen enough and weren`t bothered staying around for the V8`s , besides it was now Midnight so we left before the end along with many others. Enjoyed a quiet hours drive back down the freeway in our Dodge Grand Caravan minibus (3.3 ltr auto) getting back at 1am. Well Crash-o-Rama was fun but I wouldn`t rush back especially for that. Been there, done that, got the tee shirt…….. Cheers Biffo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Posted December 9, 2007 Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 (edited) had heard of crasharama before and didnt sem to interest me too much... ure better off going to lowes motor speedway when your near and watching the midgets there... they are amazing.. atleast it was only one bad night. ure becoming a bit like wheres wally now... what is it next time??? france?? Edited December 9, 2007 by Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biffo Posted December 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 Talking of Lowes Motor Speedway , when we were out in Florida, it was on the Speed channel on the cable TV showing the World of Outlaws World Final from there. Unfortunately we were just going out so I only got to see the first ten laps.....arrrrrrg dont you hate it when that happens...... Just have to get to North Carolina next time and then visit Lowes Motor Speedway.....although no plans as yet.........honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick M48 Posted December 9, 2007 Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 Nice write up Biffo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikard Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 Great read there Biffo, thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wee dode Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 nice write up mate and am sure its either that track or a similar one was on tv with banger teams it looked quite kool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack 360 Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 (edited) wasnt the crash-o-rama meeting what driven to destruction was based on? good read there biffo, its got to of been better than sitting at home watching xfactor Edited December 10, 2007 by jack 360 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walker Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 wasnt the crash-o-rama meeting what driven to destruction was based on? good read there biffo, its got to of been better than sitting at home watching xfactor Whats wrong with x-factor better then going out and getting wasted like chavs do sometimes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splinter Posted December 11, 2007 Report Share Posted December 11, 2007 Thanks for sharing your experience and for the interesting write up. Them Yanks like some strange stuff over there hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xTx Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Really enjoyable read, thanks for it. Next trip, take a fold up table, 50 copies of firecracker 15 on dvd, $25 bucks a pop, cover your flights at least I'm now gonna sound like a complete anorak, but did you see/photo much of their banger prep, i think they run rads out there and no door plates, be interested in what you saw, wiring, cages. belts etc. cheers, xTx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xj40 Posted December 13, 2007 Report Share Posted December 13, 2007 Interesting write up Sounds ok but I'm not keen on their idea of a DD. I also don't approve of the whole military speech, singing the national anthem etc, your there to watch racing but thats the Americans for you I suppose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kruiz 136 Posted December 13, 2007 Report Share Posted December 13, 2007 (edited) Good write up Biffo I went to the crash-a-rama a few years ago at the very same one you did. Have to say I didn't think much of it, nothing special, it was more for the TV camera's than the corwod, and the racing was a bit tame. When I was there, we didn't stay for either DD's, but there was also a roll over event, a reverse mini van race, and a school bus chain race. As you can imagine after 2 laps all the chains had snapped, a bit pointless really. The flag-pole race was my personal favorite when I was there. On the way we saw some impressive looking dirt cars, they looked like open wheel grass track cars crossed with Long nosed dragsters. We ended up wishing we had seem them instead as we think they were just down the road from the crash-a-rama as we saw an awful lot of dust kicked up coming from not very far away. Edited December 13, 2007 by Kruiz 136 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biffo Posted December 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2007 I went to the crash-a-rama a few years ago at the very same one you did........................ The flag-pole race was my personal favorite when I was there. On the way we saw some impressive looking dirt cars, they looked like open wheel grass track cars crossed with Long nosed dragsters. We ended up wishing we had seem them instead as we think they were just down the road from the crash-a-rama ............. ==================================================================== Yes they are a bit slow getting started , a couple of years back, at the old Tampa track we stood for their National Anthem and then had a prayer read out for all those taking part from the local vicar..... I was just thinking , come on and just get on with it, at the time. Yes, Kruiz, I think the Flag pole race was about the best too. [attachmentid=21575] There`s a dirt oval right next door also a drag strip on the other side, I guess maybe thats why they call it Speedworld. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kruiz 136 Posted December 17, 2007 Report Share Posted December 17, 2007 (edited) I went to the crash-a-rama a few years ago at the very same one you did........................ The flag-pole race was my personal favorite when I was there. On the way we saw some impressive looking dirt cars, they looked like open wheel grass track cars crossed with Long nosed dragsters. We ended up wishing we had seem them instead as we think they were just down the road from the crash-a-rama ............. ==================================================================== Yes they are a bit slow getting started , a couple of years back, at the old Tampa track we stood for their National Anthem and then had a prayer read out for all those taking part from the local vicar..... I was just thinking , come on and just get on with it, at the time. Yes, Kruiz, I think the Flag pole race was about the best too. [attachmentid=21575] There`s a dirt oval right next door also a drag strip on the other side, I guess maybe thats why they call it Speedworld. Thats fantastic, thanks for that Biffo That must be where the dirt cars were as we could certainly see dust and hear some loud engines from not too far away, I bet that was more entertaining than the slightly tame crash-a-rama. Edited December 17, 2007 by Kruiz 136 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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