With a number of local sprint-car racers again in Florida for the winter series of races, I thought it might be a good time to take a look back at how local drivers have fared in the "Sunshine State" over the years.

The record of local drivers winning races in Florida during the winter months dates back almost as far as weekly sprint-car racing in this area. Sprint cars became a weekly attraction in this area in 1967. The first Florida win for a local team came in February of 1968. That year, Wrightsville's Bobbie Adamson won a pair of races at the old Tampa Fairgrounds. Local drivers have been consistently winning in Florida ever since.

Local racers have won at the original Tampa Fairgrounds and the track that replaced that oval. Both are now long gone. Local racers have also won at East Bay, Volusia County, Ocala, Lake City, St. Augustine and JAX.

It's probably fitting that Florida native Bobby Allen has won most often among local racers in Florida. Allen moved north in the mid 1960s, and has resided in Hanover for most of the years since. Allen actually won his first two Florida races before moving north, and both of those came on asphalt tracks near his Miami home. After moving north, Allen won 11 more times in Florida, so he's actually won 13 races in Florida.

There are four drivers from the local circuit who have won nine times in Florida. Keith Kauffman, Lance Dewease and Jan Opperman won nine races each in Florida. Doug Wolfgang has won more often than that,

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but scored nine of his Florida wins while running the local circuit.

Adamson won five times in Florida, and since that time so have Fred Rahmer, Billy Pauch and Jeff Shepard. Three-time Florida winners include York's Johnny Mackison Jr., Loganville's Paul Pitzer, Thomasville's Greg Hodnett and Stevie Smith.

Kenny Adams won twice in Florida as a local racer, and has won there many more times since moving to the state. Frankie Kerr won twice in Florida as a local racer, and several more times after moving his show on the road. Other two-time Florida winners from the local circuit include: Kenny Weld, Steve Smith, Paul Lotier, Hanover's Cris Eash and Billy Brian Jr.

Single Florida wins have gone to York New Salem's Steve Stambaugh, Thomasville's Josh Wells, Kevin Gobrecht, Randy Wolfe, Lee Osborne and, last year, Daryn Pittman won a Florida race as a local competitor.

Not counting this year, in the 42 years since a local driver first won a race during the winter series in Florida, there have only been seven years when a local driver didn't win at least one race there -- 1971, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986, 2006 and 2007.

The most wins in a single year for local drivers happened in 1989, when local teams won eight of the series races. That year Kauffman won twice, while Stambaugh, Lotier, Adams, Allen, Kerr and Steve Smith each won once. The second most wins for local drivers in a single year happened in 1973, when local drivers won seven races in Florida. That year, Allen, Opperman and Weld each won twice and Adamson won once.

In 1974, local drivers won five times. Opperman won three of those, with Williamson and Osborne winning one each. Eight times local drivers have won four of the Florida races, while twice they have won three times.

All told, local drivers account for 92 wins during the winter series of races in Florida.

Bryan Householder covers dirt-track racing for The York Dispatch. He can be reached at sports@yorkdispatch.com.