The Trip Down South
Story By: HUNTER HORTON / RACERSGUIDE.COM
Photos By: DAVE DALESANDRO / RACERSGUIDE.COM
Barbersville Fla. – February 21, 2017- Well it’s that time of year again where all the big time racers and race teams make the haul to Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Florida. Dad myself and the crew decided to make the long tow down south. This is the first time that I ever made the trip down with my dad and the crew. Also it has been 2 years since Dad raced down there.
We decided to head out 7 AM on Monday morning. The guys that are going with us down south are Mike (A guy that’s been on our crew for 13 years), my Grandfather, Gary Tirone ( Who has made multiple trips to Florida with us) and finally John Willman (Who races at Big Diamond & Grandview who also helps us at Oswego).
From where we live it takes about 14 hours to get down there. Personally, I have never been on a trip this long in a car before so this aught to be interesting! About 45 minutes into the trip I decided to lay back down and go back to sleep. On the way down while I’m falling asleep I can hear Mike & Dad talk about set ups for Florida that we should use, also Dad & Mike tell old time stories about how racing was back in the day. Dad also told stories about his NASCAR experiences. Our first stop of the trip was at a WaWa in Virginia to fill up and get some lunch.
The trip to Florida usually is a four-stop gas trip. Our second gas stop was somewhere in North Carolina. After we got fueled up my dad noticed that there was something wrong with the trailer tire. With that being said we had to change the tire before we went any further. Our second stop was in South Carolina where we got food and gassed up! The boys ate at the diner and I got tacos from Taco Bell.
In the middle of Georgia we had another flat tire on the trailer so we had to changed that one also! Our third gas stop was in Georgia. After that fuel stop I decided to lay down and go to sleep. At this point we had 2 hrs left until we got to our hotel. We ended up stopping at a motel 6 in Brunswick, Georgia about two hours away from Volusia because the tire was not looking good at all. Luckily, we found a tire shop that has the tire we need so we will go there tomorrow morning to get it fixed. Better to be safe then sorry!
