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Home Town Driver Ready for Vores Compact Series this Weekend

By Chuck Corder

It was love at first sight for Steve Sidner.

Who can blame him? The famed half-mile oval with its delicious curves and perfect asphalt imperfections is a thing of beauty. On any given night, she can make dreams come true or crush them.

But, Five Flags Speedway has always been a blast to Sidner. His childhood was spent at the track every chance he could get. He sold Coca-Colas in the stands as a teenager during the 1980s and has never missed a Snowball Derby since 1979.

When sons, Dayton and Brandin Sidner, told their old man they wanted to race a few years ago, Steve was emptying pockets and turning wrenches in the pits every Friday night.

Steve Sidner will write his next and, perhaps, biggest chapter to his Five Flags story beginning Friday night. Sidner will compete in the Vores Compact Touring Series (VCTS), presented by Mercer County Electric, as a part of the Pensacola 200 ARCA race weekend.

VCTS is the Midwest’s premier compact car touring series. And their first trip to the Sunshine State also marks the first time a field of four cylinders have raced at Pensacola’s high-banked oval. The track’s annual Sweat Hog races, full with four-cylinder cars, is a road-course style event.

“Right now, my goal is just to make the race,� Steve Sidner said. “I’m already a little outgunned because I don’t have half the cars the guys I’ll be competing against do. I want to make the race and go from there.�

Sidner and a field of 30-plus VCTS cars will see hotlaps and twin 25-lap qualifying races at 7 p.m. Friday and then compete in a 40-lap feature, paying $1,500 to win Saturday night.

The Faith Chapel Outlaws and Lloyd’s Glass Pure Stocks join the VCTS as the 2020 season at Five Flags opens in style. For the second straight year and the sixth time in track history, the ARCA Menards Series returns to Five Flags with the Pensacola 200 presented by Inspectra Thermal Solutions.

For admission questions, please call the 5 Flags ARCA Ticket Hotline at 850.941.4343.

The race weekend festivities officially kick off at approximately 5 p.m. Thursday when Beef O Brady’s on Nine Mile Road will host a welcome party and karaoke contest for drivers, teams, and fans.

Last year, Utah driver Michael Self held off Ty Gibbs – the teenage grandson to NASCAR owner and former NFL coach Joe Gibbs – and 2016 Snowball Derby champion Christian Eckes to swipe the Pensacola 200 checkered flag.

VCTS typically races at Midwestern tracks, but the series caught Steve Sidner’s eye when he saw them up close last year at Bristol Motor Speedway while Dayton Sidner was racing his Sportsmen car on the same weekend.

Steve Sidner outfitted a 2004 Nissan Sentra with a roll cage, a fuel cell, and that’s about it. But when he looked around for nearby asphalt tracks that ran a four-cylinder class, the closest he found was two hours away in Opp, Ala.

Instead, he raced on dirt and won a championship at Southern Raceway in Milton.

“(Asphalt) is not my normal racing, but I am an asphalt guy,� said Sidner, a superintendent for South Bay Construction, who also helps sponsor his car along with Dreamer Graphics, Specialty Contractors Inc.

His true self was grinning ear-to-ear last Sunday when Sidner got his first chance to test at Five Flags.

“When we went practice, that was the best,� he said. “Speeds were way higher. It was way better than dirt. I’m thoroughly excited.�

He did have one small issue before practicing, though. Sidner had to reclip the car and replace the motor after getting into a wreck in last month’s Sweat Hog.

Amazingly enough, Sidner was able to rebuild the car in a week and is chomping at the bit for Friday night.

“I’m ready,� he said. “Me and my best friend have three camping spots reserved and our top row seats. Although, I won’t be using mine because I’ll be in the pits racing, and that’s just fine with me.

“We’re gonna have a blast. I don’t care where we end up. It’s gonna be fun.

 

 

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