|
Thirty years ago in 1980, the season opening Dogwood 500 was
on tap. Mike Porter took the Grandnational win but it was Geoff
Bodine who stole the show. Bodine was in contention to win when he
suffered a flat tire on lap 211 of the 250-lap contest. Pitting
under green and losing only one lap, Bodine charged to the front
until his motor blew. Bodine had better luck in the modified half as
he recorded his sixth win. Bodine had his hands full with Richie
Evans in the early going but Evans' run came to a halt on lap 53 as
he hit the wall after suffering a flat tire. Maynard Troyer ended up
second and was followed by Jerry Cook and George Summers.
Ten years ago in 2000 Don Hoenig, owner of the Thompson
Speedway won his court case to evict Gordon "Butch" Davis and Brian
LaForte as they were over $100,000 in arrears in their lease
payments. Hoenig also announced that the season opening Icebreaker
scheduled for April 2 was cancelled to a later date.
Five years ago in 2005, the big news of the week was the
announcement that former Whelen Modified Tour Series Champion Mike
Stefanik would be driving the Joe Brady No. 00 in 2005. Stefanik
would remain committed to the Busch North Series where he drove the
Grizco Racing entry. Stefanik would be forced to miss five Whelen
Modified Tour events including those at Waterford on June 25 and
August 27 when the Busch North Series would be in Holland, NY and at
Oxford Plains in Maine. Stefanik would be at Waterford on July 23
when the Modifieds are in Scarborough, ME at the Beech Ridge
Speedway. Stefanik would also miss Modified events scheduled at the
Seekonk Speedway and the Jennerstown Speedway in Pennsylvania. Even
on a part time basis Stefanik and Brady would add immense quality
and intense competition to the Whelen Modified Tour Series.
In a joint announcement from NASCAR and the Wall Township Speedway
in New Jersey, the Jersey shore oval would once again be under the
sanction of NASCAR. It had previously been announced that New
Jersey’s last remaining asphalt oval would revert back to being an
independent oval in 2005. Extended negotiations between speedway
partner Fred Archer with NASCAR’s Don Hawk and Ed Cox made it
happen. Hawk, by the way, said that NASCAR was still working to get
some television coverage of tour series events for the 2005 season.
It was announced that auto racing facilities in the state of
Connecticut could now allow entire families, regardless of age, to
enter their pit areas. Previously no one under 16 was allowed. With
the advent of budget restraints the Motor Vehicle inspectors that
previously over-saw racing in the state would no longer be in that
role.
Mark Martin moved into the lead when Carl Edwards was sidelined by a
flat tire, extending his record for Busch Series victories to 47 at
the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman fought
for the lead often running side by side through the late stages of
the Nextel Cup event, but Johnson managed to take the lead away with
55 laps to go, and hung on for the win. For Johnson it was his 15th
career win. Johnson's newest team mate, rookie driver Kyle Busch had
a great day going too, and followed across the finish line in second
place. Finishing in third place was Kurt Busch, the top running Ford
of the day. Two more Chevy's driven by Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick
round out the top five across the finish line. Jimmie Johnson lost
the Nextel Cup points lead and his crew chief was suspended when
NASCAR handed out several penalties for violations at Las Vegas
Motor Speedway. Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, was suspended for
two weeks and fined $35,000 when the race-winning car failed to meet
the minimum height requirement in the post-race inspection. The crew
chiefs for Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick also were suspended. Todd
Berrier was suspended for four weeks and fined $25,000 for rigging
Harvick's fuel tank to appear full when it actually wasn't during
qualifying. Alan Gustafson was suspended for two weeks and fined
$25,000 because Kyle Busch's runner-up car was too high in the
post-race inspection.
Last year, 2009, after a 50 year absence, auto racing
returned to the state of Rhode Island. Mike Iles of Medford, N.J.,
pulled off a huge upset Friday night at the Dunkin Donuts Center by
claiming the 20-lap TQ Midget feature race. TQ Midget star Joey
Payne of Fairlawn, N.J., finished second, while Ryan Smith of
Kunkletown, Pa., was third, Timex Morgan of Rochester, N.Y., was
fourth and Matt Roselli of Broadheadsville, Pa., completed the top
five spots. Lou Cicconi Jr., a top name on the indoor Midget Car
racing circuit, was running in the second spot and pressuring Iles
for the lead when a water line broke and sent his car and others
into the wall in turn one. Cicconi’s car crashed and collected many
other front runners including cars driven by Matt Janisch,
multi-time NASCAR Modified champion Mike Stefanik, defending NASCAR
Whelen Modified Tour champion Ted Christopher, Mike Lichty and Jeff
Heotzler.
Christopher rebounded from his Friday night crash to take the win on
Saturday night. Christopher was the only driver in the country to
score wins in the first three months of the year. Christopher had a
busy 24 hours in Rhode Island. After Friday’s race Christopher had
to take his TQ Midget to Seekonk, Mass., where it was repaired at
Wayne Darling’s race shop. In his qualifying heat race on Saturday,
Christopher barely qualified after a rear radius mount broke. The
team went to work and made the respective repair just in time for
the main event. Mike Stefanik wasn’t as fortunate as he ended up
21st.
Promoter Len Sammons said he was happy with the racing and the
turnout. About 3,500 people attended on Friday, which was about half
the capacity. Sammons had been running TQ Midget indoor racing in
January in Atlantic City since 2003 and this was his first move to
expand out of the Garden State. He plans to make indoor racing in
Rhode Island an annual event.
A sparse field of 20 Modifieds was on hand for the Frostbite
Modified Nationals at the Orange County Speedway in North Carolina.
Ronnie Silk in the Roger Hill No.79 was the top qualifier. Second
fastest was Matt Hirschman. Charlie Pasteryak, George Brunnhoelzl
III and Burt Myers rounded out the top five. Few details were
available except for the fact that Hirschman passed Silk in the
closing moments to take the win. Silk settled for the runner-up spot
and was followed by Charlie Pasteryak, Brunnhoelzl III, JR Bertuccio
and Jay Foley.
Spencer Speedway, a weekly racing venue in upstate New York took a
bold step which should have been followed by others. As we all know,
the overall economy in this country was on a down slide which has
put many out of work and many others being forced to take pay cuts
in order to keep their jobs. That being said, Spencer promoter John
White reduced regular admission prices from $12 adult admission to
$10. Senior citizen admission was reduced to $8.00 from $10. It was
White’s feeling that his move would attract families on limited
entertainment budgets. Spencer Speedway is located west of Syracuse,
near Rochester. Waterford Speedbowl Race Director Tom Fox indicated
that the shoreline oval would implement aggressive pricing
strategies to make it easier for fans and families to take in the
races. Former Stafford and Waterford promoter Ed Yerrington often
said, “Every empty seat is lost money”. Even if you let fans in for
free promoters will still make money as most will spend on food and
drink. Fox also indicated that he would be driving a Late Model
owned by Scott Gregory in Thursday Night Thunder competition at the
Thompson Speedway.
The Wilkes Journal Patriot, a newspaper in North Carolina, reported
that former NASCAR driver Dean Combs was charged with making
moonshine. Charges were filed in connection with a large liquor
still found near the North Wilkesboro Speedway on Speedway Road. The
illegal distilling plant was so large it had to be blown up by
authorities. Carl Dean Combs 57, of Speedway Road, North Wilkesboro
[NC], was charged with manufacturing non-tax paid liquor, as well as
one count each of possessing, possessing ingredients to manufacture
and possessing equipment to manufacture non-tax paid liquor, said
N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) Agent Shon Tally. Tally said
Combs was at his nearby residence when he and other ALE agents found
the still in the back of a gray shop building behind a go-cart
track, near the North Wilkesboro Speedway. Combs made 24 Sprint Cup
starts from 1981-1984 with a best finish of 8th at Atlanta in Nov
1983. He also was a five-time champion in NASCAR's now-defunct
Goody's Dash Series and was a crew chief for car owner Junior
Johnson.
Kurt Busch led more laps in one afternoon than he did all of 2008
(164). Not even a couple of heavy scrapes with the wall and a late
caution that knocked him out of the lead could deny the victory. He
blew by Carl Edwards on the restart and beat Jeff Gordon to the line
for a 0.332-second victory that really wasn't that close. With four
laps to go, Robby Gordon shredded a tire to bring out the final
caution flag of the race. Edwards gambled as all the leaders ducked
into the pits, changing only two tires so he got back on the track
first. Busch and Jeff Gordon both went with four new tires, coming
out second and third behind Edwards. But the leader had no chance of
holding off Busch on the two-lap finish, watching him blow by on the
backstretch and cruise to his 19th career victory. Gordon also got
by Edwards, who settled for third.
There were huge sections of empty seats along the front stretch of
the track that is south of Atlanta, which was no more than
two-thirds filled on a warm, sunny day. Without a doubt, the economy
was taking its toll on NASCAR's fan base.
Kyle Busch won his second straight NASCAR truck race, holding off
Kevin Harvick on the final lap at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Even
though he struggled on restarts after losing both second and third
gear in his Toyota, Busch surged past Todd Bodine on the back
straightaway with five laps to go and held on the rest of the way to
win the American Commercial Lines 200.
|
This week are several vintage racing
photos from the old West Haven, Ct. Speedway, courtesy
of SpeedwayLineReport.com & VintageModifieds.com.
Click on Photo for Full Size |
That’s it for this week from 11 Gardner
Drive, Westerly RI 02891. Ring my chimes
at 401-596-5467. E-Mail is:
smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com |
