FLAT TRACK
DAYTONA SHORT TRACK
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAWRENCE AND DAVE
HOENIG/FLAT TRAK FOTOS
D
aytona's Short Track sea-
son-opening doublehead-
er has produced a slew of
surprise winners over the years
- dating all the way back to when
the event first attained Grand
National status. The only thing
predictable about Daytona is its
unpredictability.
Some names on the list of past
winners that won Daytona were
rarely heard from again. Steve
Aseltine won the inaugural Dayto-
na Short Track National in 1989.
The Canadian never won another
Grand National. Brett Landes ac-
complished the feat of winning
Daytona in 1995. That marked
one of his two-career National
wins. The list of unusual winners
goes on and on.
Terry Poovey, who was a domi-
nant force for years at the original
Daytona Short Track event at the
old Memorial Stadium, came out
of semi-retirement to finally win a
National at Daytona in an emo-
tional victory in 1997. In 2002
Rick Winsett, Jr. scored an in-
credible upset victory in only his
second career Grand National
main event to place his name with
the likes of legendary short track-
ers Will Davis, Chris Carr, Scott
Parker and Poovey as Daytona
Short Track winners. Mike Rush
scored his first National victory at
Daytona back in 2007. It marked
his one and only National vic-
tory until last year when he came
back, six years later, and won
Daytona again. And it was Bran-
don Robinson's turn last year to
break through at Daytona to win
his first National.
It's also a track where some
unusual motorcycles have won
over the years. Will Davis won
Daytona three times on an ATK,
and Chris Carr won in 2003 on
an even more obscure machine
- a VOR.
Are you picking up on the pat-
tern here? Strange and surpris-
PREVIEW
P64
There's really no place like
the Daytona Short Track.
Henry Wiles (17) leads a
pack of riders that includes
Brad Baker (12) and Brandon
Robinson (44), who won the
first of two races last year at
the Speedway.
FULL OF SURPRISES
WILL DAYTONA PRODUCE ANOTHER SURPRISE WINNER?
