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By Phil Smith |
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Forty years ago in 1969, action in the
northeast shifted into high gear. At Stafford on Friday night,
Fred DeSarro in his own No.11 took the opening night win. Eddie
Flemke in the Garuti-Arute No.14 was second. Gene Bergin, in the
Garbarino Bros.V-4 was third with Bugsy Stevens in the Len
Boehler No.3 and Ed Yerrington in the Freddies TV No.23 rounding
out the top five. At the Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta,
N.Y., Jerry Cook took the win and was followed by Richie Evans
and Lou Lazzaro. Saturday night at Norwood, Johnny Thompson in
his Ford powered No.122 took the victory over DeSarro, Stevens
and Jack Malone. At Fonda, Lou Lazzaro beat out Rene Charland
for the win. Daring Dick Caso was the Modified winner at the
Waterford Speedbowl. |
Jim Shampine was the winner at
Shangri-La Speedway in 1969. (Photo Courtesy of John Bisci) |
On Sunday at Thompson, the Bugman took the main event despite stiff
competition from Flemke, DeSarro, Bergin and Ed Yerrington. At the
Utica-Rome Speedway it was again, Cook and Evans finishing one-two
over Lazzaro and Dave Lape. Tioga Motorsports Park was called the
Shangri-La Speedway. Jim Shampine was the winner there.
Thirty five years ago in 1974, rain-washed out a scheduled
100 lapper at Utica-Rome on Friday night. Racing at Shangri-La on
Saturday was also cancelled, as it was way to cold for night racing.
Charlie Jarzombek went two for two as he won at both Freeport and
Islip. At Stafford on Friday, Bugsy Stevens held off Don Flynn and
Jerry Cook for the win. Sunday was busy in New York State as Oswego
and Fulton ran afternoon and evening programs. At Oswego, Gary
Reichart won the 75 lap Port City event over Maynard Troyer, Richie
Evans and Geoff Bodine. At Fulton it was Bodine over Cook and Evans.
Waterford ran an open show on Sunday with Dynamite Ollie Silva
taking the top spot over Bugsy Stevens, Bob Santos and Glynn Shafer.
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Ronnie Wyckoff took the win at
Plainville Stadium in the Nils Linstead owned 10x in 1979. (Phil
Hoyt Photo) |
Thirty years ago in 1979, a full plate
of Modified racing was on the table. The weekend started on
Friday night at Stafford where Richie Evans took the win over
Bugsy Stevens, Ronnie Bouchard and Brian Ross. On Saturday
night, Tom Dunn fired Freddie Schulz and put Bentley Warren in
his T-5. Warren turned the trick and took the win at Westboro
over Joe Howard and John Falconi. At Seekonk, Bugsy Stevens beat
out Ronnie Bouchard, Fred Astle and George Summers. At
Waterford, Rick Donneley took the win over Dick Ceravolo, Roland
LaPierre Jr. and Billy Greco. At Plainville,
Ron Wyckoff held of
Ronnie Rocco for the win and at Islip, Tom McCann, Wayne
Anderson, Greg Sacks and Fred Harbach were the top four.
Shangri-La action saw George Kent over Richie Evans and Dave
Nichols. On Sunday at Thompson, Joe Howard got a well-earned win
over SJ Evonsion and at Monadnock it was Dunk Rudolph over
Reggie Ruggiero and John Rosati. The mods also ran at Montreal
in Canada where Evans beat out Satch Worley, Jerry Cook and
Ronnie Bouchard. |
Twenty five years ago in 1984, the family of the late Larry
Mendolsohn sold the Islip Speedway, which meant the track would
close forever at the end of the 1984 season. The lawsuit between M &
H tires and Hoosier, Stafford and Seekonk was settled in appeals
court after many months of bitter fighting. M & H lost and the door
was open for tracks to implement track tire rules without fear of
being sued. Stafford rained out on Friday night. It cleared on
Saturday. Richie Evans won at Riverside over Stan Greger and Bob
Polverari. George Moose Hewitt took a 30 lapper at Waterford over
Bob Gada and at Islip, Chris Young outran Bill Park for the win.
Down on the Jersey shore at Wall Stadium, Tony Siscone added another
victory. At Thompson on Sunday, Mike Mclaughlin in the Len Boehler
No.3 took the 30-lap win over Richie Evans and Ray Miller. In
Winston Cup action at Talledega, Cale Yarborough was the pole sitter
and the winner.
Twenty years ago in 1989, the Modified tour was at Stafford
for a 100 lapper on Sunday. Mike Stefanik took the win over Mike
Mclaughlin. Ted Christopher beat out Bob Potter for the SK mod win.
In other weekend action, Christopher beat out Moose Hewitt at
Waterford, John Blewett Jr. beat Bill Park at Riverhead and Reggie
Ruggerio ruled over Dan Avery at Riverside Park. It was also the
seventh week in a row that Seekonk rained out.
Fifteen years ago, in 1994, rain washed out Stafford,
Waterford and Riverhead. At Riverside, Steve Park in the Joe Brady
No.00 started 16th and went on to win the 50 lap modified event over
Stan Gregger and Reggie Ruggerio. At Seekonk, Eddie StAngelo beat
out Vinnie Annarummo for the Pro Stock main event. The Winston Cup
Teams were off and the Busch cars were at Loudon for the Chevy
Dealers 250. Derek Cope, driving for Red Farmer, won the event after
Hermie Sadler ran out of gas in the closing laps.
Ten years ago, in 1999, Jeff Malave beat out Willie Hardie to
win the Friday night SK modified event at Stafford. Waterford and
Riverside rained out as the action shifted to Loudon for the twin
BGN-BGNN events. Elton Sawyer was the BGN winner and Brad Leighton,
the Busch North. Nascar’s Winston Cup had an off weekend, as it was
Mothers Day. In other news from the weekend, Steve Bird who led Bace
Motorsports to multiple Championships was released (fired). Steve
Hmiel was named as crew chief for Steve Park and The International
Speedway Corporation and Penske Motorsports announced that they were
merging. ISCA stock shot up and closed out the week at 43-1/8.
Five years ago in 2004, gas prices soared near or past the
$2.00 per gallon mark. Lloyd Agor won his first SK-Modified win at
Stafford on Friday night but it wasn’t pretty. Agor started on the
outside pole of the 40 lap event and proceeded to block or ride up
anyone who attempted to pass, even Ted Christopher who is known to
put the bumper to a competitor when they block his progress.
Christopher did more than his share of the bump and grind but in the
end, finished the night in sixth spot. George Bessette finished
second with Chuck Hossfeld, third. Kerry Malone and Shawn Tryon
rounded out the top five. After a weeks absence Eric Berndt returned
to the Friday night wars with a heavy heart, still suffering from
the loss of his mom. Berndt managed to survive to finish seventh.
Maybe getting back in that racecar was good therapy. It seemed that
everybody blamed everybody but Bo Gunning for all the wrecks on
Friday night. Gunning and car owner Eddie Partridge felt almost like
they had three wins in a row by not being there. No bent cars, no
tire bills and nobody was mad. Gunning was tossed out of Stafford in
2003. It was not totally his fault but that’s history now. Gunning
was told he could return to Stafford if he took anger management
classes. Gunning chose not to and was backed by his car owner. Mike
Quintiliano made it three in a row in Late Model competition at
Stafford. On Friday night he and Joe Rzeszutek swapped spots and
traded paint right to the final second when Quintiliano won by a
whisker. Aaron Goff was the Dare Stock winner. At the Waterford
Speedbowl on Saturday night rain put a damper on the SK-Modified and
Late Model features. A partial program was completed before the
rains came with Dwayne Conant taking the win in the Sportsman
division, Dave Silvia in the Mini Stocks and Silas Hiscock in the
Legends. John III and Jimmie Blewett finished one –two at the Wall
Township Speedway on Saturday night The Nextel Cup division had a
weekend off in celebration of Mother’s Day. The Busch Racing Series
was at the Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill. on
Saturday night. Martin Truex Jr. continued to make a name for
himself as he led 123 of the 200-lap distance. Tom Rogers was the
winner at Riverhead. Bill Park finished second with John Fortin,
third.
Last year, 2008, gas prices ranged from $3.75 to $4.00 per
gallon. The Stafford Motor Speedway fell victim to rain for the
second week in a row. The New England DODGE DEALERS LATE MODEL 100
was. The Arute family that owns and operates Stafford announced that
NASCAR New England, the hour long Television production that covers
the weekly racing would be back on NESN for ten episodes during the
2008 season. The tentative starting date would be in late June.
The Waterford Speedbowl.enjoyed another good night of competition
with Keith Rocco making it two in a row in SK Modified competition.
Rocco took the lead from Jay Miller with 13 laps remaining in the 35
lap feature. Miller faded shortly after as Jeff Pearl moved into the
second spot. Pearl tried repeatedly to overtake Rocco but was forced
to back out of it when it became obvious that Rocco would wreck
anyone who attempted to pass. Rather than wrecking Pearl made a
smart decision to settle for second spot. Rob Janovic finished third
and was followed by Ron Yuhas Jr and Tyler Chadwick.
In Late Model action, it was Bruce Thomas Jr. recording his third
feature of the season. Thomas battled with Ron Yuhas Jr. during the
last half of the event before finally getting the advantage as the
two approached lapped traffic and Thomas was able to sneak-by on the
inside. Following Yuhas was Tim Jordan, Vin Esposito, and Ed Reed
Jr. Other Feature winners were Walt Hovey Jr. (Sportsman), Randy
Churchill (Mini Stock), Jason Palmer (Legends), and Randy Cabral (NEMA
Midgets).
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series and the True Value Modified
Series were in the middle of their “Spring Break”. To date both
series had enjoyed good counts despite the high costs of traveling.
The Whelen Modifieds have had 41 Modifieds enter into competition
while the TVMS has had 39. With the two major series on break the
All Star Speedway in Epping, NH hosted a special 100 lap open
competition event for Modifieds. Mike Stefanik took the win over
Andy Seuss and Ron Silk. The event drew 31 cars.
Wayne Anderson won Saturday nights NASCAR Modified feature at the
Riverhead Raceway just one week after a hard crash on opening night.
Anderson started on the pole and led every lap.
Kyle Busch won the battle of attrition Saturday night as one of
NASCAR's least popular drivers overcame a pit-road penalty and
several scrapes with the wall to win the Sprint Cup Dodge Challenger
500 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, S.C. Carl Edwards finished
second, Jeff Gordon was third and Dale Earnhardt Jr finished
fourth.. Tony Stewart had never won at Darlington before, but he was
dominant Friday night in gliding to victory in the Nationwide
Diamond Hill Plymouth 200, the first race on the track's repaved
surface. |
