Strawberry Dash

[Snake X3]

Does anyone know where the name came from?

[wfo2007]

Does anyone know where the name came from?

Not sure but back in the day the winner got a flat of strawberries and products from sponsors and not a starting spot in the A main.

[nuff said]

I don't know,but my guess would be because that area produces a lot of strawberries.The have a Strawberry Festival/Hillsborough County Fair this time of year and they feature strawberry shortcake at the track.It is a take off of that.

[Snake X3]

Not sure but back in the day the winner got a flat of strawberries and products from sponsors and not a starting spot in the A main.

Thanks! That could be where it comes from. It makes sense. I googled it and one of the top results was from 4m back in 2011. It didn't mention the name, but that does point to a traditional type thing.

[Snake X3]

I don't know,but my guess would be because that area produces a lot of strawberries.The have a Strawberry Festival/Hillsborough County Fair this time of year and they feature strawberry shortcake at the track.It is a take off of that.

Cool. Thanks!

[BTExpress]

Could be wrong, but I thought it had to do with the late JW Hunt who was a long time sponsor of both Sprint Cars & Dirt Late Models and a Florida strawberry farmer?????

[GA-DIRT]

Ray Cook named it,back when Goodson Farms sponsored him.

[dirtcrazy4u]

JW Hunt was the strawberry farmer from florida. Was a big supporter of racing in general. If memory serves me correctly his name was on Charlie swartz LM and Jack Hewitt 's / Hampshire owned sprint and USAC champ car ride for many years.

[nuff said]

He was also local to the bay area and sponsored local cars at East Bay.It's been a long time ago but I think his son ran late models weekly at East Bay. Jim Hunt I think was his name.He also sponsored a car for John ''Sugarbear'' Berg who was very good on the Florida scene back then.70's and early 80's
I've killed a lot of brain cells since those days so if I'm wrong I apologize.

[Latemodel333]

This time of year was (yrs ago) the time Florida Strawberries where ripe, and ready to pick. Local Farmers sponsored the dash to promote the berry's to the thousands of visitors, it was a huge success $$$$$$ and the name stuck. Much like the fresh oranges in the late fall people would load up flats to take home to family and friends... This year they picked the first crop the week before Christmas........

[bigq11]

JW Hunt was the strawberry farmer from florida. Was a big supporter of racing in general. If memory serves me correctly his name was on Charlie swartz LM and Jack Hewitt 's / Hampshire owned sprint and USAC champ car ride for many years.

Seen J.W. add money to the purse at Eldora many times back in the day. He was a huge Jack Hewett supporter.

[CIRF]

Jack Hewitt has told me that J.W. Hunt was like a father to him. Jack also told me that he has seen J.W. pull out his wallet and fork over sizable amounts of cash to racers who were in need or down on their luck knowing he might not ever get repaid. Sadly, I met J.W. only one time at Eldora at the World Hundred and you'd never even get an inkling that he was a multi-millionaire.

J.W. Hunt's enterprise was located near Plant City, FL (about a half hour from East Bay) and Plant City is known as the strawberry capital of the world. Plant City is host to the Florida Strawberry Festival which is a huge 10 day long event in late February-early March. Given all that the moniker "Strawberry Dash" is definitely deserved and appropriate.

J.W. was known all across the country as the Strawberry King. There was a time back in the late 1980's early 1990's that half the late models in the A-main at Fairbury on any given night had the J.W. Hunt strawberry sticker on them. I proudly display one on my pickup truck right now.

J.W. Hunt was inducted into Knoxville's National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1996.

[Snake X3]

Thanks for all the info and history guys. Great input and much appreciated.

[latemodelman]

If I remember right JW also would show up to Eldora and was really the only man who could turn a grumpy Earl Baltes face from a frown to a smile when Earl's temper got hot.