Forty-five years ago in 1963, Jim Luke won the 25 lap NASCAR
Sportsman feature at the Utica-Rome Speedway. Ken Meahl finished second
with Bobby Cain, third. Rene Charland and Lou Lazzaro rounded out the
top five.
Forty years ago in 1968 the Fonda Speedway
opened for the season with Eddie Pieniezek taking the win over Jerry
Cook and Ron Narducci. Ray Hendrick won the Spring 100 at Martinsville.
Steady Eddie Flemke, in the Bobby Judkins No.2x went two for two as he
won season openers at Norwood Arena on Saturday night and Thompson on
Sunday afternoon. In other northeast action, Don Diffendorf won the
season opener at Fulton Raceway in New York on Sunday.
Thirty-five years ago in 1973, Stafford was
running on Saturday nights. Ronnie Bouchard took the 30-lap win over Bob
Santos, Eddie Flemke, and Leo Cleary. Islip opened for the season with
Charlie Jarzombek taking the win over Jim Hendrickson and Fred Harbach.
Seekonk ran a 200 lapper on Sunday. Leo Cleary in the RGM 87 took the
win. Jerry Cook finished second and was followed by Freddie Schulz,
Flemke and Bugsy Stevens.
Thirty years ago in 1978, opening night at
Stafford rained out. At Waterford Ron Bouchard made it two in a row.
Bugsy Stevens finished second and was followed by Moose Hewitt in third.
At Westboro, George Savory took the top spot over George Summers. Down
on the Island at Islip, Tom McCann was the big winner. At Thompson on
Sunday, Cleary in the Steve May no.15 out ran Fred DeSarro to victory.
Ray Miller, Bugsy Stevens and Freddie Schulz rounded out the top five.
Other weekend winners were Dunk Rudolph at Monadnock, Dave Thomas at
Star and Maynard Troyer at Fulton.
Twenty-five years ago in 1983,
Stan Greger won
at Riverside on Saturday over Ray Miller and SJ Evonsion. Gil Hearne
scored his 70th career win at Wall Stadium and at Islip, Alan Harbach
held off Don Howe for the win. Waterford cancelled because of high water
in the infield. Thompson ran twin 30's on Sunday. Richie Evans won them
both.
Twenty years ago in 1988, Bob Potter won at
Waterford on Saturday. Ted Christopher finished second with Dickie Doo
Ceravolo, third. At Riverside, Charlie Pasteryak braved the cold to get
a well-deserved win and at Riverhead, Tom Baldwin won out over Ed
Brunnhoelzl. In SK modified action at Thompson, Ted Christopher and Bo
Gunning finished one-two. The Mod Tour traveled to Jennerstown, Pa.,
where Reggie Ruggiero got his second tour win of the year. Jim Spencer
finished second and was followed by Brian Ross and Steve Park
Fifteen years ago in 1993, Bo Gunning was the
Friday night SK-Modified winner at Stafford. At Waterford, on Saturday
night, Ricky Young came home the surprise winner after Ted Christopher
and Dennis Gada spun while fighting for the lead on the final lap.
Christopher, running second, made a move outside of Gada. Gada moved up
to block and subsequently hit Christopher. Both spun and crashed. Bob
Potter ended up in second spot. Bob Gegetskas won out over Dan Avery and
Larry Moore at Riverside and at the Riverhead Raceway, on Long Island,
Tim Continaro went pole to pole to win the 36 lap Modified feature. Jeff
Malave finished second with Ed Brunnhoelzl, third. The Featherlite
Modifieds and the Busch North Series were at Loudon on Sunday. With
16,000 fans looking on, Reggie Ruggerio won the 125-mile contest. Mike
Stefanik tried his darnedest but couldn’t muster a charge and ended up
second. Doug Hevron finished third with Tim Arre and Bob Park rounding
out the top five. Jamie Aube was the BNS winner. Kelly Moore finished
second with Mike Mclaughlin and Dave Reszendes following. Thompson ran
SK-Modifieds on Sunday with Mike Christopher taking the win over Tom
Tagg and Lloyd Agor. Less than 1,000 spectators were on hand. In Winston
Cup action at Talladega, Ernie Irvan took the win over Jim Spencer and
Dale Jarrett. Rusty Wallace took a mean looking dump as he went end over
end after getting some help from Dale Earnhardt Sr.
Ten years ago, in 1998, the rained out Spring Sizzler
at Stafford was finally run. Mike Stefanik took the lead from Doug
French on lap 134 of the 200-lap event and held off Tim Connolly for the
win. Tony Ferrante Jr. finished third with Jan Leaty and Carl Pasteryak
rounding out the top five. In a post race interview Stefanik said he
felt that Ed Flemke Jr. didn’t give him a fare shake as he attempted to
pass him. Mike Christopher was the 40 lap SK-Modified winner. In other
weekend action, Waterford was fogged out; Riverside Park hosted the
Busch North Series on Saturday night where Tom Carey took the win over
Kelly Moore and Jerry Marquis. Dan Avery was the modified winner. Bill
Park took the checker at Riverhead and was disqualified when a post race
inspection revealed an illegal clutch in his car. John Fortin was
awarded the win and Ed Brunnhoelzl moved up to finish second.
Five years ago in 2003 opening night at Stafford
rained out. It cleared out on Saturday as Riverhead opened for the
season with a 50 lapper. JR Bertuccio took the win over Joe Hartmann and
John Fortin. At Waterford, Dennis Gada picked up his first win of the
season beating out Jeff Pearl, Rob Janovic and Ed Reed Jr. Frank
Polimedia won out at Wall Township with Jimmy Blewett, second. In
Winston Cup action at Richmond, Terry Labonte took the pole. Jerry
Nadeau crashed hard during Happy Hour. He spun between turns one and
two, and then hit the wall on the driver’s side. Nadeau, who had to be
cut from the car and life starred to the hospital received severe head
injuries. Joe Nemachek was the Winston Cup winner with Bobby Labonte
finishing second. The event went 392 of the scheduled 400 laps because
of rain. A major confrontation erupted in the pit area after Jeff Green
and Kevin Harvick tangled and Green ended up getting wrecked. Both
drivers, in cars owned by Richard Childress, verbally assaulted each
other over what happened, plus Green argued with Childress. The end
result was that Green ended up getting fired from his ride.
Last year, 2007, the 2007 NASCAR Whelen
Modified Tour Series headed to the Wall Township Speedway at the New
Jersey shore for the inaugural “Flash Event” format race. Dubbed “The
Thunder at the Shore” by NASCAR, the event was the first of three flash
events for 2007. The races with the new format have met with mixed
feelings from competitors. Usually time trials determine starting
fields, the “Flash Format” eliminates time trials and puts qualifying
heats in its place. Twin 50 lap races determined the 50 lap main event.
Thirty-seven Modifieds attempted to qualify for the event
that was run in cool, early spring type weather. Among the missing was
Tony Hirschman and Bob Santos III who was at the Richmond race..
Hirschman had said earlier in the year that he would not run a full
schedule if he was not in the lead group in the point standings. The
first 50-lap qualifier was won by Reggie Ruggiero. Seven caution periods
slowed the event. Jimmy Blewett finished second with Todd Szegedy,
third. Matt Hirschman, Mike Stefanik and Ronnie Silk rounded out the top
five. John Blewett III won the second 50 lapper. John Blewett III
started on the pole of the second 50 lapper. He went on to lead every
lap. Six cautions broke up the action. Ted Christopher finished second
with Chuck Hossfeld, third. Bob Grigas and Bill Pauch Jr rounded out the
top five. Stafford Sizzler winner Donny Lia finished fourteenth. The
Blewett Brothers made Modified history as they scored a one-two punch to
cop the top two spots in the first ever “Whelen Modified Tour Flash
Race”. Jimmy Blewett gave Reggie Ruggerio a gentle nudge of the bumper
during a lap one restart as he took the lead and never looked back. John
Blewett III finished a close second. Ruggerio, Ted Christopher and Mike
Stefanik rounded out the top five. Ruggerio was credited with leading
one lap, Jimmy Blewett led the rest, ho-hum. NASCAR had good intentions
but it looked like the “Flash” ended up being a “Fizzle” NASCAR needs to
re-think their way of staging competitive racing rather than putting the
top dogs in front. Its ok to do that for long races where pit stops
shake up the field but to continue to stage races like this will all but
guarantee the demise of the division. If NASCAR wants to run short races
they should at least handicap the field by inverting the point standings
to create a little excitement. Sixth through tenth were Matt Hirschman,
Ronnie Silk, Todd Szegedy, Jerry Marquis and Billy Pauch Jr.
It appears that the northern based True Value Modified Series
has NASCAR looking over their shoulder. Although they won’t speak
publicly, Whelen Modified Tour competitors have “been spoken to” about
their participation in these events. Because of “Right to Work” laws
NASCAR has to tread softly on this issue but they can still make
offending competitors life miserable when they compete in NASCAR events.
During the late 60’s and early 70’s NASCAR branded the late Richie Evans
as an “Outlaw” because of his participation in non-NASCAR events. They
pulled his competitors license and prohibited him from racing in NASCAR
sanctioned events. Evans, who raced for a living took his case to court
and won the right to compete where ever he wanted to. As we all know,
Evans went on to become NASCAR’s greatest Modified competitor and
champion. The TVMS ran a rescheduled 100 lap event this past Saturday
night at the Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, NH. Les Hinkley took the
win over Dwight Jarvis and Kirk Alexander. Ted Christopher finished
seventh.
“The Bond Auto Parts 100” was a hotly contested battle in
front a large crowd that braved cold temperatures and gusty wind chills.
The event had been postponed twice by rain. It was the second time
Hinckley has won the first race at Monadnock. He did so in 2005. An
overflow field of 38 cars from throughout the northeast traveled to the
Granite State oval to contest in three 12 lap qualifying races and a new
twist added to the TVMRS program, a 20 lap “B” feature to give race
teams that did not qualify in heat race action a chance to race for a
separate purse and gain entry in the 100 lap main event. Six positions
were added to the 26 car field from that race.
Peter Jarvis and Louie Mechalides, brought the field to green
with Jarvis jumping into the top spot and leading the opening five laps
until the first caution flag was displayed for a spinning car on the
start of lap 6. On the restart, Hinckley, who started in fourth
position, took the lead from Jarvis and would hold it until lap 52
giving him the Black Mountain Painting ½ way award, Jarvis, who won his
heat race earlier, would stay right behind the race leader and wheel his
Wally Albro owned, Cheever Tire Service sponsored, race car to it’s best
run on the TVMRS. The former Claremont late model champ impressed, and
would take the lead back on lap 53 only to turn it back over to Hinckley
on the 56th go around. Hinckley would continue to set a hot pace despite
several caution flags that slowed the race including a stoppage on the
63rd circuit for second year driver Bryan Shumway, Belchertown, MA., who
was involved in a 1st turn skirmish that resulted in a hand injury. When
the race resumed Hinckley was the top dog but with the series defending
champion and the two time champion in hot pursuit.
Dwight Jarvis cut a tire at the half way mark and with a
fresh right rear tire on his new mount, he started to make his way to
the front with Alexander doing the same. The W. Swanzey, NH., driver
took the point and lead laps 85 to 87 with Hinckley taking it back for
good on lap 88. A lap 99 spin involving Stafford Springs, CT., hot shoe
Woody Pitkat brought out the eighth caution period. The TVMRS race
procedure is to finish the race under green with a green, white,
checkered flag finish, the race ended on lap 101.
In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action at the Stafford
Motor Speedway on Friday night Frank Ruocco, the defending SK Modified
track champion started on the pole of the 40 lap main event and led
every lap to take the win. Ruocco suffered a blown engine that relegated
him to an 18th place finish during the Spring Sizzler weekend. Ruocco's
win was not an easy win by any means. Kerry Malone worked his way
through traffic to come up to second, and he hounded Ruocco for the
final 10 laps, but came just up short at the checkered flag. Todd Owen
finished third, with Keith Rocco fourth and Jeff Baral rounding out the
top-5. Ted Christopher, who apparently had a regular ride for Stafford,
finished sixth. Eric Berndt, Curt Brainard, Brad Hietella and Woody
Pitkat rounded out the top ten. Sizzler weekend winner Lloyd Agor
finished a distant 23rd.
In other Stafford action Scott Foster, Jr. won the 30-lap
Late Model feature, Glen Reen, the 20-lap SK Light feature, Andrew
Durand, the Limited Late Model feature, and Robert Thompson the 15-lap
DARE Stock feature.
In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action at the Waterford
Speedbowl Rob Janovic took the SK Modified feature win after a heated
battle with Dennis Charette. Charette started on the outside pole and
was able to withstand the constant pressure applied by Don Fowler. In
the closing stages Fowler lost his handling as he spun and collected
Jeff Paul. Janovic avoided the tangle and with a green- white- checker
situation got the best of Charette. Shawn Monahan finished third and was
followed by Diego Monahan and Tyler Chadwick. Other winners included Tim
Jordan (Late Model) Bill Gertsch Jr. (Sportsman), Ken Cassidy Jr. (Mini
Stock) and Michael Gervais Jr. (Legends).
Tom Ferrel was the Saturday night winner at Wall Township and
Dave Brigati was the opening night NASCAR Modified winner at the
Riverhead Raceway on Long Island.
In Nextel Cup action Jimmie Johnson led 105 of the 400 laps
at the Richmond Raceway en route to capturing his fourth checkered flag
this season and second in NASCAR's next generation car. More notable,
though, team owner Rick Hendrick has won seven of eight races, including
three in a row and all four contested with the Car of Tomorrow. Clint
Bowyer won the race off pit road with about 28 laps to go Friday night
and easily went on to his fifth career NASCAR Busch Series victory.
This week here are several vintage racing photos of 3-time
Riverside Park Speedway champion, Stan Greger
courtesy of
vintagemodifieds.com
Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467 E-mail:
smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com
The Chrome Horn
'Looking Back with Phil Smith' Archive
THE END
