FLORIDA CITY
SPEEDWAY
A COLLECTION OF ODDS & ENDS FROM AROUND THE TRACK.
Work wraps up on the track in preparation for its grand re-opening in 1970.  The blue pick-up belonged to George Sweeting.

The view toward turn 1. Can anyone guess where the photographer stood to take this? 
Hint: it was not the concession stand.

Check out that dip at the start-finish line!

This is turn 2 with the famous Florida City water tower in the distance.

Cleanup is underway after a demolition derby at Florida City. The stands have emptied as this was the last event for the evening.  Ed Bowling, the mini-stock hot shoe, was the driver of this car.
Photo by Ed Oberlies c. 1972

Pushcars!
The kids took over during intermission for a one lap race in their "man-powered modifieds". A fresh "engine" was waiting on the back-straight, and took over after a perilous, full-speed "engine" change. Your humble correspondent drove #16 tonight, and if memory serves correctly, the engine was Jeff Leserra; a life-long racer and friend.  We finished 4'th!
(Photo by Ed Oberlies May 12, 1973)

From time to time, the track ran a Powder Puff Race.
Here is a photo of Barbara Hollinger (my mom) after a victory in her son's car. 
She was pretty fearless for a mother of 5.  At the time this picture was taken, she had taken up motorcycle riding as a hobby.
Photo by Ed Oberlies
 June 9, 1973
An Opel pace car!
March 16, 1974

Bitsy Dahlberg wins a "Powder Puff" race in Rob Bean's Renault. Note what it says on the roof: Foreign Auto Race Team. That makes an interesting acronym!
The United Mini-stock Conference was a traveling group organized by Dana Barlow. They ran at Naples, Hialeah, Fort Pierce, Suncoast Speedway in Fort Meyers and many other tracks. At some places, race fans had never seen anything like mini-stocks before.
Here is a shot of tight traffic at the Hollywood Speedway. 

The last time you saw David Hollinger, he was driving his 1172 CC Anglia in the stock class. Well, here is his latest creation: a STREET LEGAL Super Modified. This car raced for years at the Oswego Speedway in New York. David bought it and prepared it for the street with a new 496 CI Chevy, a racing power-glide and a radically offset quick-change.
Yes, it is as fast as it looks!


Only a real gear-head could come up with something like this! Orville Krienke was a racefan and local business man. He owned the A+W Rootbeer stand in Homestead and built this creation to help advertise the business.
This is a Jeep body mounted on the running gear from a giant 1957 Chrysler. The next time you mount a Jeep body on a Chrysler, remember to remove 18 inches of the Chrysler frame, and to add 10 inches to the Jeep hood!
Orville's car still exists in Homestead. I enjoyed meeting him at he reunion and hearing about his project; another Florida City original!

Demo night, and Wayne Varner trashed a perfectly good Anglia!

Someone had the good fortune of driving Carl Hilton's potent car during some sort of special event. Was this a "celebrity race" or a police race? Anyone know?
March 16, 1974 photo by Ed Oberlies


Check out this add from the Opa Locka Speedway 35 miles up the road.
.  A colored section!   It was a different world back then.
A feature winner sticker!
In 2002, this concrete block wall is all that remains of the old track.  It ran parallel to the back straight.
Here was an innovative experiment in track drying!  I understand it worked pretty well, but the hovercraft slid down the banking in the corners.
Sept. 6, 1971
An hour and a half north of FCS was Boynton Beach Speedway. I am not sure of the years, but they ran some TQ races there. I suspect it was in the early 1960's.
                                                                                Behold.....the Shotgun Start!
In the 1960's, Florida City had its version of the famous Le Mans start.  The drivers lined up in the infield, ran to their cars, jumped in and took off.  I wonder if they worried about safety belts at all?

Dana Barlow tells the story of the "Beer Race".  The track had a sponsorship from a beer distributor who donated a few cases.  Just for fun, they decided that a beer race would consist of racing a few laps, pulling into the infield to chug a beer, and then pull back out for another round.  To win you have to drink AND drive.........as fast as you can!