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East Bay Driver Begins His Race Weekends In Texas

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By BILL GREEN, Tribune correspondent

Published: November 15, 2007

Clint Reynolds is not your typical 33-year-old limited sprint driver - especially when you consider his commute to the track.

His trip to a Saturday night start at East Bay Raceway Park begins every weekend in San Antonio, where he is a computer programmer.

"I just had this passion for racing," Reynolds said. "I enjoyed the go-kart racing from about age 6 right up till my move to Texas, but I wanted more."

Reynolds use to run local dirt go-karting tracks such as Dirt Devil and Lakeland, where his father Allen instilled the necessities of car control, being smooth on the wheel and some deeper driving lessons on the use of momentum and inertia.

"I couldn't do any of this without him still living in Tampa and my brother Todd helping each race weekend," Reynolds said.

After moving west, he started looking for a sprint car to purchase. It took two years to find a roller chassis (without the motor and transfer case) that fit his budget. The Wolf Weld car he now races was located in Lincoln, Neb., when he found it. It was driven to Texas in a U-Haul and then to Florida on a vacation trip. The motor was built by a company in Minnesota. The whole process took four years.

Reynolds said he saves money by flying back to Tampa to race. It would cost the same amount to garage the car in Texas and travel here to compete; the cost in gas alone would make up for plane fare. He will have made the flight to Tampa 10 times this season to race at East Bay at $200-$250 a pop.

Reynolds' first race came in October 2006. His bright spot was a second-place finish in his fourth race.

"I was so excited," Reynolds said. "I even happened to have an in-car camera I'd been playing with. You could see me shaking my fist and hear me yelling with joy. It was great."

EAST BAY RACEWAY PARK: Gene Lasker locked up the Limited Sprint title with a fifth-place finish, behind winner Jimmy Balew. Florida Mini-Sprint driver Amanda Furguson, 14, won the FMSA Feature. Other winners were Charlie Paris Jr. (Street Stocks) and Jerimie Ellis (4-Cylinder Bombers). ... Kenny Adams beat local favorite Greg Leonard on Friday night, then barely beat Matt Tiffany on Saturday as the ASCS Rebel Region 360 sprints visited.

DeSOTO SUPER SPEEDWAY: Winners were Todd Bontrager (DeSoto Pro Trucks), Marty Neikens (Mod-Minis), Dennis Wilson (Street Stocks), Wayne Jefferson (Open Wheel Modifieds) and Scott Dawley (Bombers).

AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY: Winners included Aaron Williamson (Sportsman), Brandon Morris (Street Stock), Brian Dorer (Modified-Minis), Fred Harrison (Mini-Stocks), Matt Cohen (Young Guns Trucks), J.R. Garcia III (Pro STARS Trucks), Bobby Baldwin (Open Wheel Modifieds) and Bobby Kelly Jr. (Scramblers).

CITRUS COUNTY SPEEDWAY: Winners included Joel Ashton (FAST Mini-Cups), Kevin O'Quinn (Street Stocks), Dave Dunkin (Sportsman), Daniel Miller (FAST Stars), Jeff Eberly (4-Cylinder Bombers), Bill Ryan (Pure Stocks) and Eddie Rosasco (Rookie Thunder Stocks). ... Larry Brazil won the feature Tampa Bay Area Racing Association event, but Troy DeCaire clinched the Winged Sprint title without racing. Brian Gingras won the rookie of the year honor.

USA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY: The 2008 schedule has been posted. Speedfest, on Jan. 24-26, kicks off the return to stock car racing. Call 1-800-984-7223 for early ticket sales and camping information.

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