To All those that THINK I am a RUCKER ORR FAN

Ok, I have been accused of writing pro things about driver Rucker Orr, lets talk!

To everyone that seemed to believe that Rucker Orr was paying me for my comments regarding him, YOU ARE DEAD WRONG.

Rucker Orr, has no idea what I will write about him or any other driver I choose, I am not being paid by him, all I am doing is telling my side of the story about a driver that has talent and guts. I respect your right to like other drivers, and I respect your ways of seeing things. I want you all to know that where I stand I see lots of things that others don't see or want to see.

If you think I like Rucker Orr, GREAT, because he is talented and I have never had words with him, I respect all drivers that are honest and kind to me. I do NOT have to like certain drivers, just as you as a fan have your favorites. I don't speak about some drivers because they are not worth taking the time I have. I can and will continue to follow the drivers that I have respect for, and that includes hobby drivers Jeff Carter, Joe Hillman, and Cory Hillman. I will also respect Winford Minex of the Enduro class, as well as other drivers in that class, like Eddie Harris, I can and will always have my favorites.
And as for as Crate Cars go, there is none better than Mark Knight and Tony Kemp, I am not leaving out any Crate Car driver, not even young Mark Sims, every Crate Car driver is special in his own way.
When it comes to the Sportsman, YES I do like Rucker Orr, Yes I do like Glenn Waters's and Yes I do like Brian Reese, plus Fletcher Cavender. Do I have a favorite,
YES and I don't have to say who, it could be anyone of them are NONE of the above.
My favorite driver in the Modified Mini class is Richard Bagby and that is because we go way back to the days when 7 Flags speedway was in operation, but that does not mean I do not like Richard Dale or Frank Long, because I do. I have just known Richard longer.
The pure mini class is a mixture of unknowns, except for Rocky Johnson, and Danny Smith, if I had to pull for one it would be hard.
In the Street Stock, I have no favorite just turn them loose and let them run, I have never seemed to care for Street Stock.

Now you say, well why do I write so much about Rucker Orr, well it is the same reason I write articles on Mark Knight and Richard Bagby not to mention Jeff Carter, I even wrote a article that appeared in MotorSportAmerica magazine about the owner of West Georgia Speedway, Sammy Duke, does that mean I don't like him?. So to all those that have read the Rucker Orr article and said I must have been getting paid by him, GET REAL.
Life goes on, the race tracks I cover are different each in there own way, some are old and run down like West Georgia Speedway but that does NOT mean it is not a good track, it just means it could be better with improvements.
So remember, Racing is Racing, and each of us are fans down deep in our hearts.
I have my FAVORITES and you have YOURS, so just remenber we all live in a free country and we all can pull for drivers we like.
This was meant to please all the fans that have come down hard on the article I wrote regarding Rucker Orr.
Many Thanks too all,
Tino Patti (A MSA reporter)

Jeff Carter, the MAN in RED

Jeff Carter Hobby Car driver Supreme, plus hard worker and Family Man

When you talk about a all around nice guy, you must be talking about Big Jeff Carter, who drives the red #3 hobby car at West Georgia Speedway plus other tracks.

There is no way you can miss this BIG MAN, as he is a gentle giant, he speaks soft but caries a big engine under the hood of his car. He has always let the talking be done with his car, he can start in the rear of a race and by the middle of the race he has made his way to the front, and battles everyone, cuts no slack. One thing for sure Jeff is not a showoff, and he is not wrecking his car if he can't win. He always brings the car back home in one piece, and that's a good thing.

Jeff is a family man, and his family supports him every time he steps inside his race car, they know he is going to give it his all to win or place or show.
His wife Lisa Carter is a huge supporter and when the Carter's come to a track they come in truck loads of people, sometimes when I was working at West Georgia Speedway I would look down from the tower at his car and all his friends surrounding Jeff. He has a army of people that help him with his car, from his son to his daughter, then there is "Spotlight" what can be said about him, he is a bright spot in anyones day. If his son Robbie does not have the car dialed in they look to Mark who takes care of things when Robbie is not around.
But like I said behind every good driver is a woman, with a backbone that won't quit, and that is his wife Lisa Carter. She is a force in her own, never shy with words she can make anyone happy. She is intelligent, just make sure you don't drink her last coke are you have had it.


When Jeff is not racing on Saturday night, during the week you will find him almost anywhere hauling broke down big rigs, as he has the ultimate tow truck, and it is a horse, huge, powerful and clean. Jeff and his wife run Carter's Wrecker Service out of Stockbridge Georgia. They are highly "Wreck-o-mended".
I had the pleasure of seeing Jeff work as he was in Douglasville, to pick up a truck that needed to be moved, when I first arrived on the scene I was expecting to see a small tow truck, WRONG!!!!, this truck was massive, and I grabbed my camera and started shooting. It made for some great photo's on my smugmug website.
I have seen Jeff win some pretty amazing races and before I really got to know Jeff when he would win I would always say "Man he's a MAGIC MAN", and sure enough while walking in the pit area at West Georgia Speedway on a HOT Saturday afternoon prior to the race, I noticed on the back of his car the saying "Magic Man", somehow that made me feel special. I want to thank Jeff and his family and his crew for making my time down at West Georgia Speedway a time that I can always look back and remember. I not only made good friends, I made some special friends that I will never forget. If after all the time I was allowed to work at the Speedway, I can say in all honesty that my favorite Hobby car driver was the big man, Jeff Carter. He made my time at the race track special, and so did his entire family.
Lisa was as good as gold on those HOT nights, making sure I had a drink, that was so kind, these are the kind of people we need more of in world.
THANK YOU FOR EVERY THING, AND ALL THE GREAT TIMES. I will never forget that #3 Red car making it's way around that old dirt track in Whitesburg, Ga.
The Carter's are some special folks!!!

Thanks, Tino Patti ( an MSA Reporter)

COME ON LETS GET REAL

RACING WEST GEORGIA STYLE

August 9th, 2008 proved to be my last time filming at the old rundown historic track in Whitesburg, Georgia.

I know this is going to really sound crazy, but when some one tells you that you can not film the races anymore and it is just prior to the first feature race of the night, you can say that my heart was not in my work. I have mentioned how I was fired because of a mysterious camera that sent crazy signals to the time clock and some how knocked out a microchip and blew the light. The camera was not on, and my film camera does not send signals out, the camera does when turned receive signals from a hand held microphone. Some one did not want me filming a certain driver tearing other drivers up. I wonder who?

Getting back to the nights action, the Modified Mini race was a good race car #16 of Huie Stewart would go on to win followed by car #20 of Ryan Heppner with Richard Dale finishing in 3rd place, while his father Richard Bagby broke a rear end and you could see sparks flying, I was just hoping the car did not catch fire needless to say he was out for the night, something I hated to see happen.

The enduro race was a hard fought battle, cars were all over the track, the #15 of driver Eddie Harris would get the win, but he would be spun by the #8 car, #57 of Jeff Harris would finish in second place followed by car # 8 of Lee Owensby. Car #32 of Randy Brady was all over the track all because he needed fresh tires. Randy had the motor just in the dust bowl of West Georgia Speedway there was no way he could make his car stick. Next week he promises to have better tires.

Then there was the famous Hobby car race, featuring some of Georgia's toughest drivers, such as Jeff Carter and Blant Duke plus Lee McElwany. Joe Hillman would have made the show but he had engine troubles prior to his feature race.
So the lineup looked great from where I was filming as Jeff Carter in his famous red #3 lined up on the inside pole, while right beside him was the #01 of Blant Duke.
When the race went Green, I knew we were in for a great race, all except Jeff Carter who's cars tires went South on him and he was sent back in a huge dust storm, the track as always was dry as a bone and racing was miserable. With no traction there was no way of catching Blant Duke, was he legal, I guess he was no one dared protest him.
So the hobby race was a blow out because Blant Duke took the win and even had to make a round with the checkered flag to make sure everyone knew he was back. In 2nd place was #56 of Lee McElwany and in the third place was car #8 of Michael Nelms.

Then there came the Crate Car race always a exciting race, this was my favorite race to film because I knew two of the drivers and knew they were always capable of winning. #16 of Tony Kemp and #K17 of Mark Knight would always put on a show.
But then Saturday night was different, as car #19 with driver Jeremy Hall took the lead and seemed that he was not looking back, for several dusty laps car #19 seemed to own the speedway, until #16 Tony Kemp made his move and past him, leaving #K17 of Mark Knight to run in third place where Mark would finish. The secret came out after the race that the reason Mark could not catch Tony was because of tires that were worn out and had no traction where Tony and car #19 had good tires on their cars. Also I found out that car #19 driven by Jeremy Hall was Tony Kemps old crate car, so that is also where all the power was from.

Then the Sportsman rolled onto the track, would this be another repeat of the prior Saturday night when Fletcher Cavender would run all over Rucker Orr? The battle seemed ready except no one counted the #G1 car of Glenn McWater's to be a threat, wrong!. When the cars lined up we had Rucker Orr on the poll with G1 of McWater's right along side, in row two was car #26 of Fletcher Cavender but when the green flag flew we had Rucker Orr's #99 blowing everyone away, there was one chance for G1 for Glenn Waters's to get around him, he tried but Rucker laid on the gas and he was gone and no way to catch him. He was cruising, the race which was my last to film proved to be a winner as again Rucker Orr took the Win and carried the flag around the old speedway. So Orr would win, and coming in 2nd place was G1 of Glenn Waters's and in 3rd place was car #26 of Fletcher Cavender.
So my night came to a close, as I was hot and mad and disgusted because after all the good I have done to promote West Georgia Speedway I was getting the boot because of a wild made up story regarding my camera blowing out the timer light when my camera was never on, and it does not send radio signals out. The crazy things people can make up, what next my camera is able to zap a car to the winners circle!

Thanks Tino (a MSA Reporter)