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5/9/2007
PAVEMENT NOTES: WALT STUBBS
Wall Township Speedway
I have been attending races at Wall Township Speedway (formerly Wall
Stadium) for over 40 years. In that time, I have seen good races, bad
races and races that were both good and bad. Needless to say, more than
a few asked my opinion then on how I thought the new Flash format would
work out on the high banks. Most of the people who I had spoken to
sneered and said things like, "It will be a flash in the pan, to flush
the flash or it will be gone in a flash. All catch phrases, I must
admit. Being the optimist, however, I reserved my opinion until Judgment
Day, when the Tour would initiate it's new Flash format at Wall, to then
be followed at Twin State Speedway (Claremont) in July and concluding at
Riverhead Raceway on August 4th. And to be honest, the first leg did not
go well. Not well at all.
When the Flash concept was sketched up by
those in Daytona, the intent was to give the fans more racing while
cutting the cost for the teams. The feeling was that fans would rather
see heat races than time trials. This argument of time trials versus
heat races has been going on for years. The theory is the fans want to
see cars racing each other rather than seeing cars go single file for
two laps racing against a stop watch while owners and teams favor the
time trials for fear of damaging cars, not making the field, and in the
process losing money to repair those cars. Two valid arguments, if I do
say so myself. So, rather than stay in the press box during the two 50
lap qualifying races, I decided to venture into the stands to see for
myself what the fans thought after seeing the end result. What they saw
wasn't pretty as both heat races had there share of cautions, with not
much passing.
So, the question is, did the fans get there bang for the
buck? My guess is not. Watching cars crash every fifth lap with very
little passing for fear of going off on the hook and not making the
field, is not most fan's idea of racing. So, what exactly, are we to
make of this Flash event concept and can it work? And, if it was a
failure, then why was it a failure? Is it the fault of the actual race
track itself, in this case Wall, for it being too small in configuration
to hold of Modified Tour race? Is it the fault of NASCAR, for the three
50 lap race concept with no caution laps counting? Or is it the fault of
some of the drivers themselves, too inexperienced or anxious to drive a
track like Wall, and as a result, banging into each other causing
caution after caution to be thrown? My guess is a combination of all
 three.
Needless to say, in speaking with all of the driver's in attendance, all
had an opinion on the concept and none of it was positive. Tony
Ferrante, who has been racing at Wall since the early 80's and attempted
to qualify on Sunday but was knocked out in his qualifying race and thus
watched the race in the fourth turn stands, had the nicest thing to say.
"I'm glad I wasn't in the feature. No, I wanted to be in the race,"
joked Ferrante, who then got serious. "Listen, they (NASCAR) tried
something. You have to give them credit for trying but I hope they don't
continue with it. That was a terrible race. There were guys that were in
every wreck and caused every wreck. They shouldn't have been left to get
back on the race track. But being 50 laps and double file the whole
race, that's the way you have to race. You have to push each other. What
are you going to do? It's a small race track but they need to go back to
the way they used to do it, run 100 to 150 laps."
Reggie Ruggiero, who wound up third in the race, was never a
supporter of the Flash concept and even with his finish, was not about
to change his mind. And Ruggiero actually thinks the race at Twin State
Speedway, a track Ruggiero has raced before, will be even worse.
Ruggiero, though, does have a suggestion to improve the Flash events if
anyone in Daytona is listening. "I finished up front but there was
nobody passing The only time passing occurred on the restarts because
the guy on the outside or gets stuck. If this was a 150 lap race, after
100 laps some guys will have there tires get loose or tight and someone
can pass him. It's not going to happen in only 50 laps. I love this race
track. Since they put the guardrail up, you can bang off the wall and it
doesn't suck you in. I think we should run time trials, take two cars
out of time trials. Then run a 15 or 20 lap heat race for the other
guys, starting them where they time in time trials. Then
run 75 to a 100 lap event race. Then, your getting two heat races and a
little bit longer feature. That's what they should do. 50 laps is not
enough laps to do anything. Today, if it was 150 laps, it is likely John
(Blewett) wouldn't have been able to hold on for second because he was
getting loose but 50 laps it wasn't going to happen," said Ruggiero.
John Blewett III, who finished second, joined in the
conversation with Ruggiero with his own observations. "It's frustrating
for me here because I know what this place is capable of. The Turkey
Derby format here is pretty good-you qualify 20 thru time and run two
heat races with not a lot of cars so nobody is killing each other. Doing
something like that in one day can somewhat justify the cost of a lower
purse. As for today, you can blame a lot of the cautions on guys with no
experience on a short track like this. It was the same guys over and
over again. Where did they come from and what did they do before they
came to the Tour? If I couldn't win a race here on a Saturday Night,
damn if you'd see me going to a Tour race. Blewett's brother, Jimmy, who
wound up winning the Flash event, took it even one step further. "I
wasn't allowed to move out of here (Wall) until I proved myself on a
weekly basis running every Saturday Night."
One driver who echoed those same sentiments was a driver who chose not
to run in the race at all. Tony Hirschman had made a decision at the end
of 2005 to cut back on the Tour and not run it on a full time basis. His
reasons were many, but had mainly to do with the fact that running the
Tour had taken up too much time while the daily grind of running the
tour had become tiring to both he and his team. He also was not happy
with the 2007schedule so his decision to scale back became even more
justified. Thus, the first race he missed wound up being Wall on Sunday,
a race track that Hirschman had raced on a regular basis some 25 years
earlier, getting his feet wet on what wound wind up being a great
career. Hirschman, though, not racing, was in the pits, helping his son
Matt. When asked if the results of the Flash justified his reasoning for
not racing, Hirschman just shook his head. "I said all along I didn't
like the format. This is the kind of racing we did here twenty five
years ago. We couldn't wait to get away from that and go to bigger and
better places. Now, it seems like none of the younger drivers get there
feet wet at places like here and then move on like we did. Now, it seems
like some of the guys are coming with just money and getting rides like
they're doing in Cup and Busch. Do some of those guys belong there?
What's there background? They don't have anybody. They come with a trunk
of money; that's how they got there and the same thing is going on now
here on the Tour. And that's where all those cautions come from. That's
the way racing has turned out to be." Both Hirschman and Ed Flemke
wondered why the Tour wasn't at Richmond racing on this particular
weekend, be it on Thursday or Friday. Flemke even took it a step further
with this suggestion, "I know we have to try something. Here's an idea;
lets go to Richmond. Let's have a $300,000 purse and do it. Lets try it.
We just took our cars and purse and did the same thing reversed. We came
here with the same cars we always run and a 40% reduction on the purse.
We tried it. Now let's try it the other way and see what happens and if
it doesn't work, fine. At least we have some money in our pockets."
NEWS FLASHES: It's hard to believe, but one track that Mike
Stefanik has never raced on in a modified, has been Wall. Stefanik only
practiced at Wall in a Busch North car a few years back but had never
taken a spin in a modified. That changed on Sunday as Stefanik drove a
very smart race, avoiding all troubles while moving up from his ninth
starting spot to grab fifth. One driver who was making his way up from
his 20th starting spot was Jamie Tomaino. Tomaino has been a veteran of
the high banks for many years and the savvy veteran was firmly
entrenched in the top seven until he got into a melee in turn four.
Tomaino was not happy with the turn of events and who can blame him. For
some reason, NASCAR officials let Anthony Sesely enter the track from
the pits as the race was about to restart, causing much scrambling and
the ultimate pileup in turn one. Tomaino was not a happy camper
afterward, "There is no way this Flash deal is ever going to work. I'm
looking here at five or six race cars that are totally totaled. And
whoever is running things, to let somebody out of the pits in front of
the leaders is ridiculous, especially when the guy can't get
lapped. I ran 247 laps total today. At Stafford, I ran less than 170
laps between the race and warmups and used six tires the whole day.
Here, I used eight tires and ran 247 laps and got 300 dollars to take
the green and 100 bucks for the heat. Can't forget that. I really can't
blame the track because the Turkey Derby race was good. It really was
the concept and because of that a lot of people were not looking forward
to coming here other than myself and the Blewetts because we live two
feet away," said Tomaino. By the way, Wall has made some more noticeable
improvements, including a freshly pained grandstand, concession area,
and complete guardrails around the track. Well, the Tour takes a few
weeks off before heading to Stafford on the Friday Night of Memorial Day
Weekend. And, finally, whatever happened to Ed Lilly? And This Week's
Quote of The Week comes from John Blewett Jr, " I don't think my sons
listen to me. There always right and I'm always wrong." All news and
views can reach me at 2 Constitution Court Unit 501 Hoboken, N.J.
07030...
Source: Walt
Stubbs/Independent
WMT PR
Posted:
May 9, 2007 |
