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Forty years ago in 1971, the Modifieds and Busch
Grandnationals shared the twin bill at Martinsville. Ray Hendrick
was the 250-lap Grand National Late Model winner. The Modified 250
saw on of the biggest wrecks ever as over a dozen cars piled up in
turn four in the closing stages. Sneaking thru and taking a surprise
win was popular Bernie Miller from Cannestota, N.Y. Jimmy Hensley
finished second. Bobby Santos finished third and was followed by Leo
Cleary, Jerry Cook and Mike Loescher. Fred DeSarro was the defending
national champion and the outside pole sitter. During the opening
laps, he and Ray Hendrick banged wheels and DeSarro parked it for
the day with front-end problems. Unknown to him at the time, the
Martinsville race was to be his last in the Koszela N0.15 as car
owner Sonny Koszela was in the process of securing the services of
Bugsy Stevens.
Thirty five years ago in 1976, the Modifieds were quiet.
Thirty years ago in 1981, quiet again.
Twenty five years ago in 1986, Brett Bodine put the Art Barry
No.21 in victory lane at Martinsville. Driving one of the last
chassis built by the late Richie Evans, Bodine took the lead on lap
188 of the 200 lap event. Jamie Tomaino who led the most laps
finished second despite running on worn out tires. Maynard Troyer
finished third and was followed by George Kent and Corky Cookman.
Bodine, who was in the process of making the move to Grandnational
racing in the south was in contention to win the GN 200 and was
dumped by Kyle Petty while leading on lap 21.Mike Porter was the
eventual winner. Dale Jarrett who was running second on the last
lap, ran out of gas, allowing Larry Pearson to slip into second spot
at the finish. Fifty-one Modifieds were on hand and seventeen
thousand witnessed the event.
Twenty years ago in 1991, Riverside Park was scheduled to
open but freezing rain ruled. The Featherlite Modified Tour was at
Richmond on Sunday, Mike Stefanik, in his family owned No.15 took
the win. Doug Hevron finished second and was followed by George
Kent, Tom Bolles, Reggie Ruggiero, Tony Hirschman and Tom Baldwin.
Announced attendance was 18,000.
Fifteen years ago in 1996, Riverside Park opened with 27
Modifieds and 4795 chilled fans. At race time, the chill factor was
below zero but the show went on. Chris Kopec started second and took
the lead from Reggie Ruggerio on lap 12 and went on to record the 75
lap win. Doug Meservy finished second and was followed by Ruggerio,
Ted Riggott, Richard Savory and Dave Berube. At Darlington in
Winston Cup action, Dale Jarrett took the lead with fifteen laps to
go only to run out of gas with two to go. Jarrett missed his pit and
ended up in the Ernie Irvan pit. He got a splash of gas but was
penalized a lap by NASCAR for stopping in the wrong pit. Jeff Gordon
took the win with Bob Labonte, second. Penske Motorsports went
public on the stock market. After opening at 24, the stock jumped to
31-3/4 the first day.
Ten years ago in 2001, the Dutch Inn in Martinsville burned
and in Daytona a shake-up was taking place as NASCAR Vice-President
Tom Deery was relieved of his duties and replaced by Jim Hunter. It
was also on this weekend that New York driving legend Kenny
Shoemaker passed away at the age of 71. Elliott Sadler got a long
overdue win for the Wood Brothers at Bristol. Action on the final
lap was hot and heavy as Tony Stewart spun while trying to pass Jeff
Gordon. Stewart felt that Gordon had done it on purpose and
retaliated against Gordon, spinning him out on pit road. NASCAR
fined Stewart $10,000 and put him on probation.
Five years ago in 2006 The NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified
Tour season-opener got the green at the Caraway Speedway in North
Carolina. The weather in central North Carolina was mighty cold but
it didn’t stop Ted Christopher as he scored the 250-lap win over
Chuck Hossfeld. Christopher drove the Joe Brady No.00 while Hossfeld
made his maiden voyage in the Roger Hill No.79. There were 27 NASCAR
Modifieds on hand, a record count for Southern Modified Tour events.
Christopher took the lead on Lap 20 and never looked back, even
though his .219-second margin of victory over Hossfeld was anything
but easy for the Plainville, Conn. driver. A late caution allowed
Hossfeld to close in on Christopher’s bumper for the Lap 148 restart
with two circuits remaining. Southern drivers Burt Myers and Junior
Miller finished third and fourth with Jamie Tomaino rounding out the
top five. Andy Seuss, a regular on the Northern New England True
Value Modified Tour Series and recent Modified Champion at New
Smyrna, finished 27th after dropping out on lap 97 with handling
problems. There were eight caution flags that slowed the field for
48 laps. In Whelen Modified Tour Series news, Bob Finan, the very
capable Public Relations director at the Riverhead Raceway on Long
Island said that Mike Andrews Jr. would pilot the Ed Whelen #36
NASCAR Modified on the tour while Mike Ewanitsko continued to heal
broken bones in his foot. Ewanitsko was injured on opening night at
the World Series at the New Smyrna Speedway in Florida. In
non-modified news Finan eluded to the fact that Busch East driver
Bryan Chew’s mom was seriously injured in an accident in upstate New
York.
Last year, 2010, while a 'noreaster was dumping over four
inches of rain in New England the Whelen Southern Modified Tour
Series was at the Caraway Speedway in Ashboro, NC. Nineteen
Modifieds were on hand for the 150 lap contest. Burt Myers won his
22nd career Coors Light Pole.
New Hampshire invader Andy Seuss passed Burt Myers on the opening
lap and went on to win round two of the southern tour. LW Miller
finished second with James Civali, third. Brian Loftin and Zach
Brewer rounded out the top five. In the end, Burt Myers faded to
sixth. His History Channel Mad House co-stars Tim Brewer and Jason
Myers finished seventh and 18th. Brown is now the series point
leader.
Seuss pocketed $2000 for his efforts.
It was reported that the France Family Group, which included 46
entities ranging from members of the NASCAR-ruling France family to
companies they operate, own 69.6% of the voting stock at
International Speedway Corp., the company revealed in its annual
proxy statement. A year ago, the group owned 68.9%. With the
majority of the voting stock, the France Family Group controls the
decisions of the company. ISC Chairman Jim France controls 44.9% of
the voting stock (including his shares of the France Family Group)
and his late brother Bill's widow, Betty Jane France, owns 20.7%.
NASCAR Chairman Brian France (Jim's nephew), who was listed as
controlling only 0.23% of the voting ISC stock last year, now owns
1.3%. Executive compensation also was revealed as part of the proxy
statement. Chairman Jim France's compensation package was worth
$554,608, compared with $1.08 million last year when he was chairman
and chief executive officer. Vice Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer Lesa France Kennedy's compensation package was worth
$769,780, compared with $719,146 a year ago when she was the company
president. The compensation package includes salary, bonus,
incentives, perks, above-market returns on pay set aside for later
and the value of stock options and restricted stock granted during
the year NASCAR announced the television schedule for its
developmental series for 2010 and a partial television schedule for
the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified
Tour on the Speed Channel. The expanded calendar included 21 events
on SPEED for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and seven races for the
Modifieds. This comprehensive package included airing of every race
on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West schedules. Three of the
Whelen Modified Tours will air as same-day televised events.
NASCAR's Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck divisions enjoyed a
weekend off.
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This week are several vintage racing
photos Courtesy of SpeedwayLineReport.com & Dave Dyke's Racing
ThroughTime.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 |
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