The World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing came to a close Saturday, bringing a conclusion to the latest edition of the Florida Speedweeks tradition. We now look back on this year’s World Series with this installment of “By the Numbers.”
2: Winning back-to-back championships is tough to do, but at the World Series it had not been done since the mid 1990s. Derek Griffith of Hudson, NH clinched the Super Late Model title for the second straight year, joining Pete Hamilton, Junior Hanley, Dick Trickle and Pete Orr as the only other drivers to do it in the Super Late Models.
5: Of the classes that ran all week, they produced at least five different winners in Super Late Models, Pro Late Models and the Florida Modifieds. Also, the Tour Mods had four winners in five nights.
5: Matt Hirschman capped off the week with his record-tying fifth win in the Richie Evans Memorial 100. His five wins tied him with the late Ted Christopher. The victory was his third-straight in the event and it helped him claim his third Speedweeks title in the Tour-Type Modified class.
5: Despite five second-place runs, Jerry Symons could not win the Florida Modified Championship. Symons, a six-time World Series champion in the division, didn’t win a race this year, and missed the title by two points.
5: The Pro Late Models produced some great racing during the week with five drivers winning races. There have now been 53 different winners in this class. Kody Swanson was the champion, despite being a rookie. We have seen a lot of great things in this class from 13-year old winners to crafty veterans winning titles.
12: Stephen Nasse now has 12 career wins at the World Series between the Pro Late Models and the Super Late Models. Nasse won both the 100-lap races for these classes to end the week.
15: Pro Late Model rookie and USAC champion Kody Swanson picked up one win on his way to the points title. He made it 15 different champions in 15 seasons for the Pro Late Models.
24: Despite all the weather that was in the area all week, the World Series pushed its consecutive dates to 24 with the completion of the ninth night. From what we can tell, the World Series went 37 straight at one point in the 70s.
34: The Richie Evans Memorial field was the largest in 20 years, as 34 Modifieds took the green flag.
39: In all, 39 races were run this week during the New Smyrna World Series.
Long Drought: Dan Fredrickson picked up a midweek win in the Super Late Models to claim his first checkered flag since 2002.
Gopher State Double: At the same time the Fredrickson win helped Minnesota drivers double up after Nick Panitzke won the Pro Late Model race. This is the first time in series history where two drivers from Minnesota won on the same night.
Long Drought II: Stephen Nasse won the finale for the Pro Late Models to claim his first Pro win at the World Series since 2010. Nasse won his first World Series race in 2009 when he was just 13 years old.
Courtesy of Speed51.com
-Story by: Elgin Traylor, Speed51 Correspondent
-Photo credit: Speed51 Photo / Will Bellamy
