18th Annual Night of Fire

Orlando Speed World

Orlando, Fla., Nov. 23 – With Thanksgiving approaching, Jet Car fans in Florida have much to be thankful about. Orlando Speed World’s 18^th Annual Night of fire kicked off the first of three consecutive weekends of Jet Car racing in the heart of the state. Many of the seven drivers who appeared at Speed World will move on to both, or one of the events to come: Murray’s Speed & Custom Citrus Nationals at Moroso Motorsports Park, Nov. 29 & 30, and Bradenton Motorsports Snowbird Outlaw Nationals, Dec. 6 & 7.

It’s a good thing, because when the jets lit up the track at 8 p.m. on Saturday they only whetted our appetites for more, more, more. And their exquisite fire shows brought some needed warmth to us thin-blooded Florida fans who flocked to see the show in the wet mid-60 degree air.

The really good news is that those who weren’t in the stands Saturday night can get a taste of what the evening was like on TV. Jim “Jet” Neilson’s Jet Limo will be featured on a coming episode of the Travel Channel’s Limo’s Unlimited show. Travel Channel had eight cameras filming Jim’ s day and night at the track, from arrival to prepping for his run, talking to fans in the pit, and both his awesome runs down the tower side of the track. I didn’t get a time/mph for the first run, but the second run was a 7.52 at 217.49 mph. The exact date the show will run has not been set, but rumor has it that the Jet Limo is going to get a full 10-minutes of air time on the 30-minute show. Way to go Jim!

Lou Sattelmaier of Brunswick, Ohio, took both of his passes with his Sonic Thunder II funny car alone. Because Orlando is a short track, several cars shut down early on both passes ensuring a safe shut down. I didn’t get the time for the first pass, but the second run timed in at 7.20 at 145 mph.

Rainouts shortened Lou’s season to about 10 events, according to his wife, Elaine. Sattelmaier and his crew, which includes his daughter, granddaughter, George and Joey, will finish the season at Moroso Motorsports next weekend.

Mario Carranca and his Super Mario funny car, and partner Pat Davidson, driving Mario’s Phantom funny car, put on rip roaring fire show before they took their first pass side by side. Pat took Mario racing on the tower side of the track with a 5.94 at 240 mph. Mario ran a 6.18 at 263 mph.

Perhaps Mario’s defeat was a portent of things to come in the second pass. Phantom started like a charm, but Mario’s ignition failed. Although he had to run alone, Phantom just cooked down the track and clocked a 5.88 at 243.77. Better luck next week Mario when you finish out your season at Moroso! In between races, Mario was knee deep in signing posters for the kids.  Boy those kids sure do love the posters.

Pat won’t be with Mario next week. He’s going home to Cape Cod, Mass. to celebrate Thanksgiving with his wife and new baby and then flying off to Aruba so he can drive Bob Van Sciver’s Jet Pick-Up in an exhibition in the Caribbean nation. When he gets back from Aruba, Pat plans to finish his labor of love for the past two years, a new Jet Amublance truck powered by a J-79 General Electric engine, like the new engine in Bob Motz’ truck, he said.

“I wanted to do a truck, but Bob Motz does such an awesome job, so I needed a gimmick,” said Pat. “I figured the kids would get a kick out of the lights and the siren.”

Boy, will they!

Ancel Horton got off to a frustrating start when he red lighted red-white-and-blue  Mississipi Madman jet dragster on his first run (those of us who know Ancel knew right away he wasn’t going to be happy about that!).  Ancel got right back on it though on with his second pass, running a 5.14 at 279.58. Ancel and his little black dog Puff must have been visited by every person at the track between runs. He will be at Moroso to finish up his season at Bradenton, on the same track on he made his first pass this year in March.

Crewing for Ancel while he’s in Florida are Chris and Elaine Larsen, and their 7-year-old son Andrew, of Larsen Motorsports, Haines City, Fla. Chris reports that he is putting the finishing touches on the three new jet cars (one for the track, one back-up car, and one promotional car) he’s built for his wife. Elaine plans to make the leap from Funny Car driver to pilot of the Miss-Ta-Fire jet dragster as soon as she can get her jet license. Fans should expect to see Elaine on the circuit in 2004. Also on crew with the Larsens is Doug Hancock, a teacher at Embry- Riddle Aeronautical University, Aviation Maintenance Technology.  Who’s been hanging with Ancel and company since Ancel’s first race of the year.

Sarasota, Fla.’s Pepi Urban and his Showdown jet dragster matched up with Ancel in their two passes. Pepi ran unchallenged in the first run. In the second pass Pepi clocked a 5.75 moving at 245.23 mph, but Ancel crossed the line first.

Bob Motz’ of Akron, Ohio, continued to suffer from pesky problems with his new Kenworth Freightliner “Original Jet Truck,” but he didn’t let that stop him from firing up the crowd, and the track, as only Bob Motz can do it. His passenger side stack refused to flame up on both passes. On the first pass it was spewing fuel into the air, giving spectators on the pit side of the track a nose full. But nobody cared as he put on a spectacular fire show and torqued the cab back and forth as he popped up to the tree and took off like a shot, leaving behind a boiling lake of burn-out rubber that track workers hurried over to water it down.

There was no fuel coming from the stack on the second pass, it still wouldn’t flame up.  Perhaps that’s because a solid wall of fire was blasting out the new J-79 General Electric engine for at least 20 seconds as he gave the fire show to end all fire shows before he popped to the line and ran a 7.17 at 208 mph. Motz will finish his year at Moroso next weekend.

I was one of the last people to leave Orlando Speed World around 12:30 a.m. The smell of rubber and fuel was thick in my hair and on my clothes and a cool fog had enveloped the parking field, which was still lit up by the generator lights. The night I’d been dreaming about for months was over, but I felt like I just won a million dollars because one thought kept going through my head . . . two more weekends in a row, in a row I said, of Jet Car racing lie ahead. What more could a girl want?

 See you at Moroso!