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Sixty years ago in 1951 the New
London-Waterford Speedbowl ran its final Wednesday night race meet.
Charlie Busiere took the 25 lap Modified win and Jim Tourjee winning
in the Claimers. At the Speedbowl on Sunday, George Lombardo took
the Modified win and Charlie Webster in the Claiming Cars.
Fifty five years ago in 1956 Don
Collins took all the money as he won a 75 lap Modified event on
Sunday afternoon at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. Charlie
Webster was the non-Ford winner.
Fifty years ago in 1961 Don Hall
closed out the season at the Stafford Speedway with a win. Red Foote
was the Saturday night winner at Norwood. At Waterford, Ted Stack
won the 25 lap Modified feature. Ed Moody was the winner in the
Bombers.
Forty-five years ago in 1966, an era came to an end in
Stafford Springs Connecticut as Pete Corey would win the last ever
dirt track feature. The track would be paved over the winter months
and would open in 1967 with an all-new look and all new competitors
with the exception of a few. Corey would never again race in
Connecticut, as he would do his entire racing in New York from then
on. Mario “Fats” Caruso was the Saturday night winner at Norwood.
The New London -Waterford Speedbowl wrapped up their season with a
100 lapper for the Modifieds on Sunday afternoon which was won by
Newt Palm. Jiggs Beetham was the Daredevil winner.
Forty years ago in 1971, the annual Race of Champions was
scheduled to be run at the Langhorne Speedway in Langhorne, Pa. It
rained all weekend and competitors were dismayed and split over the
fact that the event would go head to head with the season ending
NASCAR modified event at Martinsville. Thompson also had an event
scheduled but that too, was rained out.
Thirty-five years ago in 1976,
Fred DeSarro in the Len Boehler Ole Blu made up three laps and was
closing on leader Maynard Troyer when Troyer took the win in the
annual Race of Champions at Trenton. DeSarro settled for second and
was followed by Charlie Jarzombek, Geoff Bodine, Bugsy Stevens, Paul
Radford, Merv Treichler, Jerry Cook and Bob Potter. Thompson
Speedway ran a 30 lap program which saw Freddie Schulz take the win
over Jim Landry, Ron Cote, Dick Dunn and Nick Gardinia.
Thirty years ago in 1981, Oswego
ran their season ending Modified 30 lapper which saw Richie Evans
take the win over George Kent and Jerry Cook. Merv Treichler was the
big winner of the Super Dirt Week events at Syracuse. Treichler
pocketed $25,085 for his efforts. Seekonk ran a 100 lapper on Sunday
with Bugsy Stevens taking the win over Jim Landry and Leo Cleary.
Twenty five years ago in 1986,
Stafford ran the Fall Final which was 100 laps. Jamie Tomaino scored
a big win over Jim Spencer, Brian Ross and Mike Mclaughlin but the
big news was to come two days later when Stafford along with the
Spencer Speedway announced that they were dropping the Modifieds
from their weekly racing venue. Stafford said they would upgrade
their SK Modifieds to lead division status in 1987 and Spencer would
lead with their late models.
Twenty years ago in 1991, the
only action for the weekend was at Charlotte, NC. where Harry Gant
won the Busch Grandnational event and Geoff Bodine was the Winston
Cup winner.
Fifteen years ago in 1996,
Flemington ran two events on the weekend. Their Challenge of
Champions event, run on Saturday was won by John Blewett III. Billy
Pauch finished second with Lee Sherwood, Ted Christopher and Pete
Britain following. The Featherlite Modifieds ran on Sunday. Mike
Stefanik had the field covered and was headed for victory when he
wrecked while leading. Stefanik had gotten into oil dropped by a
blown engine. Jan Leaty avoided the wreck and drove to victory.
Steve Park finished second and was followed by Rick Fuller, Charlie
Pasteryak and Tim Arre. Waterford also ran a 100 lapper on Sunday
with Jim Broderick taking the win over Steve Chowanski, Tom Fox,
Tucker Reynolds JR and Scott Spaulding. In Winston Cup and Busch
Grandnational action at Charlotte, Mark Martin was the BGN winner
and it was Terry Labonte taking the Winston Cup event .It was also
on this weekend that dirt driver AJ Romano received serious injuries
after being thrown from a car near his home in Syracuse, NY.
Ten years ago in 2001 the
northeast tracks were quiet with the exception of the DIRT 200 at
Syracuse. Billy Decker won the event, his third in four years at the
Moody Mile. For his efforts, he pocketed $50,000. Kenny Tremont
finished second and walked of with $25,000. Second generation driver
Tim McCready was by far the fastest and would have been a factor had
he not lost an engine, while leading by a half lap, on lap 89. On
the local scene, the racing world was saddened when news of Jimmy
Waterman’s passing was made public. Waterman was a vital part of the
NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour as he served as tech inspector. He
was also a former official at Stafford and Seekonk. In Winston Cup
action at Charlotte, Sterling Marlin took the win. The big news was
off the track where speedway promoter Humpy Wheeler went head to
head with NBC over the fact that they would not mention the Speedway
as ”Lowes Motor Speedway” unless they were paid to do it. Wheeler
threatened to take an ax to all their cables and have their
equipment towed off the property. Needless to say, Wheeler won his
case and the TV production went on as planned. On a sad note, Blaise
Alexander was killed during the running of the ARCA race, also on
the same weekend. Alexander had just taken the lead in the event
from Kerry Earnhardt and as he appeared to cut down, made contact
with Earnhardt and went head on into the wall and died instantly.
Earnhardt ended up flipping and was declared the race winner when
the event was halted. In other action at Charlotte, Greg Biffle won
the Busch Grandnational 300 after Matt Kenseth spun out while
leading, with two laps to go.
Five years ago in 2006, the
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour was at the Waterford Speedbowl. There
were 32 cars on hand for the 30 available starting spots. Jerry
Marquis was the Busch Pole sitter as he turned the 1/3-mile oval in
13.618 seconds. Marquis drew fifth after the re-draw. The event was
run on a very cold track due to the fact that the backstretch track
lighting failed to come on due to the fact that an underground cable
had broken. Engines were started at 8:15 following a 90-minute delay
when the tracks lighting refused to come on. Eddie Flemke started on
the pole and jumped out to an early lead. Mike Stefanik started on
the outside but faded almost immediately. Ron Yuhas Jr. was an early
contender as he ran side by side with Flemke for many laps. Donny
Lia, who took the lead from Flemke on lap 128, also ran side by side
with Flemke before he was able to execute the winning pass. Once in
the lead Lia was able to open up a sizable cushion which ended up
being over ten car lengths at the finish. Flemke ended up second
with Ted Christopher, third. Stefanik toughed it out to finish
fourth. Zach Sylvester rounded out the top five. His day went from
bad to worse when he lost an engine during practice. His crew had to
run home to Hebron, CT to retrieve a replacement. Chris Pasteryak
finished sixth with Yuhas seventh and Eric Berndt, eighth.
Defending Series champion Tony Hirschman had a day he would like to
forget. During time trials Hirschman hit the front stretch wall and
after making repairs ended up crashing again on lap 22 of the
feature. Marquis was involved in his share of wrecks also.
The Waterford Speedbowl ended its regular season. Dennis Gada
finished second in the 100 lap SK Modified feature to Rob Janovic
after numerous laps of wheel banging. Gada did, however solidify his
SK Modified Championship, his sixth which tied Bob Potter. Jimmy
Blewett finished third with Don Fowler, fourth. Dwayne Dorr went
into the Limited Sportsman feature a scant four points behind Joe
Curioso and came out the winner and division champion. Curioso’s day
went sour right from the start as he suffered a flat tire on the
parade lap. Once in the feature his car was like a ping-pong ball as
it was hit numerous times in multi-accidents. In the end Curioso
finished thirteenth. In the Late Model feature Corey Hutchins and
Allen Coates slugged it out for close to 100 laps with Coates coming
out the winner by inches.
In what had to be an ideal day for racing the Speedbowl had a
marginal crowd, mainly because of the total lack of advertising.
In other weekend racing Danny Johnson figured there was no way he
was winning the DIRT Motorsports Eckerd 200, the main event of Super
DIRT Week at the Syracuse, NY Fairgrounds. To win he needed to run
the final 114 laps on one tank of fuel. He didn't think it could be
done. Later, while clinging to the lead with just nine laps
remaining, two-time winner Jimmy Horton whizzed past a surprised
Johnson. At that point, Johnson figured the race was over, that
there was no passing Horton in the final nine laps. Yet when you're
on a hot streak like Johnson, you somehow find a way to win. The
Rochester native passed Horton on lap 191 and squeezed enough fuel
out of his No. 27J car to earn the victory and a $100,000 pay day.
In Nextel Cup action at Talladega Brian Vickers stole his first
career Nextel Cup victory Sunday by spinning Jimmie Johnson into
leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the last lap of the Talladega 500.
At the D. Anthony Venditti Memorial at the Seekonk Speedway, With
New England Hall of Fame racers on hand, including his legendary
father Carl “Bugsy” Stevens, Seekonk, MA, veteran Dave Berghman
scored the win Sunday afternoon in the “DAV 100” for the True Value
Modified Racing Series. It was Berghman’s first with the series and
the first for car owner Bill Eaton on the third year tour. Berghman
becomes the 11th different winner in 2006. On lap 28,Mechalides drew
the attention of tour officials when a fluid leak was seen coming
from his racer prompting officials to display the black flag for the
hard charging veteran driver for 3 laps. The fluid leak seemed to
subside during a caution period on lap 34 and Mechalides was allowed
to continue to race. It was at the end of the race that the driver
and his crew were informed that, “as a result of not adhering to the
black flag displayed for 3 consecutive laps, as well as several
radio transmissions to the team’s spotter advising him of the same,
the # 40 car would be placed back one position in the official
finish”. As a result, Mechalides and Berghman swapped the first two
positions, the result of the tour official’s decision.
Last year, 2010, The NASCAR
Whelen Modified Tour Series headed for the Stafford Motor Speedway
for the annual Fall Final which carried a purse of $83,609. The
event drew 31 cars. Justin Bonsignore bounced back from his recent
disappointment at Thompson to capture his second Coors Lite pole of
the year with a sizzling run of 18.355 seconds around the half mile
oval. The young Long Island racer had recently won an open
competition event at Thompson only to have the victory stripped away
because he didn't use the proper gasoline. Eric Beers was second
fastest with Mike Stefanik, third, Eric Berndt and Ryan Preece
rounded out the top five. Sixth through tenth were Ed Flemke Jr,
Rowan Pennink, Ron Silk, Eric Rudolph and Bobby Santos III. In the
re-draw for the start Beers drew the pole with Flemke drawing the
outside pole spot. Bonsignore drew the seventh starting spot.
Bobby Santos, who was celebrating his 25th birthday, took the
eventual victory with the Garbarino Mystic Missile. Santos took the
lead after a massive pile-up forced a long red flag period as the
speedway fencing was destroyed and needed to be fixed. The wreck was
triggered when Richie Pallai hit Dale Quarterly sending him
sideways. It was a "Pig Pile" from then on. Also involved were Ed
Flemke, Todd Szegedy, Eric Berndt and Eric Goodale. With seven laps
remaining Santos jumped out and sprinted to the finish. Ron Silk
finished second and was followed by Erick Rudolph, Rowan Pennink,
Mike Stefanik, Ryan Preece, Glen Reen, Ted Christopher, Eric Beers
and Ken Heagy. Polesitter Bonsignore took a shot in the turn two
wall after getting sideways on lap 108. Also collected in the wreck
was Jamie Tomaino and Woody Pitkat. Bonsignore finished 29th while
Pitkat finished 30th and Tomaino, 28th.
All tolled, there were 8 caution periods for 45 laps. In addition to
those previously mentioned Jimmy Blewett and Eric Berndt also ended
their day in wrecks.
With one race remaining on the schedule, Santos carrys a 37-point
lead on Stefanik in the season standings to Thompson (Conn.)
International Speedway for the Sunoco World Series of Speedway Racin.
In regular weekly division racing at Stafford Keith Rocco, the 2010
Whelen All-American Series Champion, closed out the Stafford SK
Modified season with his 10th win of the year to set a single-season
track record. He clinched the track title earlier this year. Woody
Pitkat won Stafford's Whelen All-American Series Late Model finale
and Ryan Posocco clinched the division title.
Following Rocco in the 40 lap SK contest was Frank Ruocco with Chris
Matthews, Jeff Baral, and Zach Sylvester rounding out the top-5. Ted
Christopher, Stafford's winningist driver, finished 26th after being
eliminated in a wreck.
In action on the Connecticut shoreline the Waterford Speedbowl
completed its final Saturday night points race of 2010 with six
feature events including all five NASCAR Whelen All-American Series
divisions in action. It was also Cystic Fibrosis Night at the track,
raising awareness and funds for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Jeff
Pearl dominated the SK Modifieds® to roll to his third win on the
year. Bruce Thomas Jr. won the Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Model
feature, with Tim Jordan taking the championship. In the Street
Stocks Ed Puleo won his sixth race of 2010. Al Stone III claimed the
Street Stock championship after a wild race for the points
contenders. Ken Cassidy Jr. clinched the Norwich Bulletin Mini Stock
title in style, picking up his fifth win of the year. Allen Coates
did the same in the A.B. CDL Driver Training Center Truck division,
winning the race and title. Anthony Flannery finished the Saturday
night season on a high note by taking yet another Legends Cars win.
In the SK Modifieds, Tyler Chadwick was second over Rob Janovic,
Keith Rocco and Glenn Pressell. The win was the 34th of Pearl’s
career, good for second all-time in the division ahead of Ted
Christopher. Rocco already secured the championship.
Jason Myers won a special Modified event at the North Wilkesboro
Speedway in North Carolina. Junior Miller was second with Burt
Myers, third.
Joey Logano got aggressive on a late restart to get past Kyle Busch,
then used a push from Brad Keselowski to hold on at Kansas Speedway
for his second Nationwide Series win of the season. Greg Biffle was
the Sprint Cup winner. Busch had early contact with David Reutimann
that caused Reutimann to spin, and when they crossed paths later on
the track, Reutimann appeared to intentionally knock him into the
wall. Busch was running seventh at the time of the accident, fell to
22nd and demanded over his radio that NASCAR take action against
Reutimann. Crew chief Dave Rogers heightened the drama by telling
Busch that Reutimann's team demanded he retaliate against Busch.
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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 |
