Forty-five years ago in 1963 Mr. Rene Charland took the 25 lap
NASCAR Sportsman win at the Utica-Rome Speedway. Lou Lazzaro finished
second with Tom Kotary, third. Jim Luke and Jeep Herbert rounded out the
top five.
Forty years ago, in 1968, the action was hot and heavy at
the Albany-Saratoga Speedway where Rene Charland held off charging Don
MacTavish for the win. Bernie Miller finished third with Dave Kotary and
Ed Pieniezek rounding out the top five. At Stafford, Bugsy Stevens took
the top spot over Jack Malone, Bill Slater, Lou Toro and Joe Trudeau.
Saturday night action at Norwood and Fonda rained out. Bugs Stevens made
it two for two on the weekend as he won at Thompson on Sunday afternoon.
Sunday night racing at Utica-Rome fell victim to rain.
Thirty-five years ago in 1973, weekend action began Friday
night at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, N.Y., where Fred DeSarro
took the win over Eddie Flemke. On Saturday, at Stafford,
Ronnie
Bouchard came from deep in the field to make it three in a row. Don
Flynn finished second. Dan McNamara won at Islip over Charlie Jarzombek
and Jim Hendrickson. In Sunday action at Lee, Bugsy Stevens led the way
over Freddie Schulz, Moose Hewitt and Bob Santos. Utica-Rome and Tioga
rained out.
Thirty years ago in 1978, Geoff Bodine made it two in a row
in Friday night action at Stafford. Bugsy Stevens finished second and
was followed by Ronnie Bouchard and Leo Cleary. Bodine ended up going
three for three as he also won at Seekonk on Saturday and at Thompson on
Sunday. At Waterford, Dick Dunn beat out Blaine Belz and at Westboro,
Joe Howard took the win. Other weekend winners were Maynard Troyer at
Spencer and George Kent at Fulton.
Twenty-five years ago in 1983, the weatherman won at
Stafford as it rained. At Waterford on Saturday, Joe Tiezzi won out over
Glynn Shafer and Ted Christopher. At Riverside, it was Mike Stefanik and
at Islip, Fred Harbach was still winning. George Kent won out over
Richie Evans at Spencer and at Tioga, Kent slipped to third behind Evans
and Jim Spencer. In Winston Cup and Grand National action at Dover
Downs, Ricky Rudd took the GN win and Bobby Allison won the WC 500
.
Twenty Years ago in 1988, the weatherman got another at
Stafford. Richie Gallup got his third win at Waterford over Larry
Lanphear and Bob Potter. At Riverside, Jerry Marquis took the win and in
Modified Tour Series action at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Mike
McLaughlin earned a victory over Jeff Fuller and Reggie Ruggiero. Fred
Harbach won at Riverhead and at Monadnock, Kenny Bouchard took the win.
Fifteen years ago in 1993, Rick Donnelly got his first
Stafford win. Bob Potter finished second and was followed by Mike and
Ted Christopher. A.J. Foyt officially retired from Indy Car racing after
making one final lap around the fabled Brickyard. Bob Potter scored his
89th career win at Waterford on Saturday night over Mark Lajunesse and
Larry Lanphear. Ron Rocco was going for second spot until getting walled
by Jim Dolan who never turned when they entered turn three. Cris Kopec
got his first win at Riverside after rookie Jim Houghton was
disqualified with illegal gears. Bob Park won at Riverhead and in BGNN
action at Monadnock, Robbie Crouch took the win over Kelly Moore and
Mike McLaughlin. In Winston Cup action at Sears Point, Geoff Bodine
survived a vicious hammering from Ricky Rudd to take the win.
Ten years ago in 1998, Curt Brainard scored his first ever
win at Stafford. In his 112th try, Brainard took the lead on lap three
and led to the checker at the 50-lap mark. Steve Chowanski finished
second with Mike Christopher, Chris Jones and Frank Wainwright rounding
out the top five. Matt Kobyluck was running a Pro Stock when he crashed
hard and suffered a broken shoulder blade and numerous broken ribs. At
Waterford on Saturday night, Rick Donnelly survived 13 cautions to win
the 35-lap feature that took over an hour to run. Tucker Reynolds
finished second and was followed by Bert Marvin, Dennis Gada and Mike
Gada. Allen Coates was the late model winner. Coats’ win was the 198th
for engine shop, Larry’s Automotive. Jim Broderick scored his first win
at Riverside Park. Ed Spiers, Richie Gallup, Ted Riggot and Brad
Hietella followed. Howie Brode scored his first ever win at Riverhead as
he won out over George Brunnhoelzl. The NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour
Series was at Nazareth for a 100 lapper. Mike Stefanik took the win
after a tough battle with Tom Baldwin and Ed Flemke Jr. Dan Avery
finished fourth with Jamie Tomaino rounding out the top five. Tim Fedewa
won the Busch Series event that was also run at the Pennsylvania oval.
Dale Earnhardt Jr was a pre-race favorite but got wrecked after a pit
stop. Randy Lajoie wasn’t too happy with Buckshot Jones after being
dumped into the wall. In Winston Cup action at Charlotte, Mark Martin
won the Winston after Jeff Gordon ran out of gas on the last lap. Jeremy
Mayfield won the Winston Open.
Five years ago in 2003 The NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour
Series traveled to Nazareth, Pa. Ted Christopher was the class of the
field as he won the 100-lap event that was extended to 107 laps because
of a late race caution. Christopher and Busch Pole sitter John Blewett
III were the only leaders in the event that was slowed by 8 caution
periods for 47 laps. It was Christopher’s race to lose as he had the
dominant car for just about the entire distance. Christopher led the
first 94 laps before giving way to Blewett who led only laps 95 through
97 before Christopher took charge for good. It was Christopher’s second
Modified tour victory of the year as he had previously won the Spring
Sizzler at Stafford. Blewett finished second. Eddie Flemke, who has had
a string of bad luck, got the monkey off his back with a strong run,
which placed him third at the finish. Nevin George and Todd Szegedy
rounded out the top five. Thirty-eight cars were on hand, a little light
considering the event. Not to insult anyone but there were at least
eight cars that didn’t belong in the field. Based on his strong second
place finish, John Blewett III took over the point lead from Chuck
Hossfeld.
Hossfeld crossed the finish line in 8th spot but was placed last,
19th, on the lead lap for jumping the final re-start. Hossfeld had now
slipped to fourth in the standings. Trailing Blewett by one point was
Todd Szegedy. Christopher moved up into third and Jerry Marquis sat in
fourth. Ted Christopher had a busy weekend for himself. In addition to
racing at Nazareth, he competed at Stafford on Friday night where he
finished sixth after qualifying through the consolation and on Saturday
night at Waterford he finished third in a rough night at the shoreline
oval. At Stafford, Brad Hietala passed Jim Civali on a lap 30 re-start
and went on to take the victory in the 50 lap main event. Hietala
started in seventh position. Mike Holdredge finished second with
defending track champion, Bo Gunning, finishing third. Civali finished
fourth with Jay Miller rounding out the top five. Rookie Curt Lenahan
started on the pole and captured his first ever win at Waterford on
Saturday night.
For the most part, many of the heavy hitters in the modified ranks
were collected in wrecks, which were the norm at the shoreline oval. Jay
Miller survived to finish second with Ted Christopher, third. Ron Yuhas
Jr. and John Brouwer Jr. rounded out the top five. The Busch North
Series was at the Lake Erie Speedway where Andy Santerre took the win
over Mike Johnson and Mike Stefanik. Kelly Moore was the pole sitter and
led the early going before losing two laps when he cut down two tires
and had to pit. Moore ended up 16th. In Winston Cup action at Charlotte,
Jimmie Johnson took the lead from Jeff Gordon on lap three of the final
20 lap leg of The Winston and went on to score the win. Kurt Busch
finished second. In Busch Series action at Nazareth, Ron Hornady took
the win after leading 148 of the 200-lap distance. Brian Vickers
finished second with Mike Bliss, third.
Last year, 2007 In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action
at the Stafford Motor Speedway the weatherman took the win. Forecasts of
heavy wind and rain forced the Arute family to pull the plug on the
night’s activities. Kerry Malone was the current point leader in the SK
Modified division. Malone led Eric Berndt by 10 points after three
events. Rounding out the top five were Ted Christopher, Brad Heitala and
Willie Hardie Jr. Defending SK Modified Champion Frank Ruocco was 11th,
54 points behind the leader. Other point leaders were Tom Butler in the
Late Models, Chris Mathews in the SK Lights, Andrew Durand in the Ltd
Late Models and Barry Fluckiger in the Dare Stocks. The Stafford
Speedway announced that Valvoline, in conjunction with CARQUEST Auto
Parts, had signed on to become an SK Modified 1st place contingency
partner for the 2007 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season.
Valvoline's weekly $150 contingency bonus brought the total winner's
check for each SK Modified® feature event to $1,850.
In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action at the Waterford
Speedbowl the weatherman also prevailed as close to two inches of rain
fell on the shoreline oval on Saturday. Shawn Monahan was the current SK
Modified point leader as he held an 18 point edge over Rob Janovic. In
six events Monahan had been the model of consistency as he had recorded
six top 10’s including one win. Janovic had two wins but has only five
top tens. Rounding out the top five were Doug Coby, Jeff Pearl and Diego
Monahan. Allen Coates was the Late Model point leader, Dwayne Dorr the
Sportsman leader, Ken Cassidy the Mini Stock leader and Chris Bakaj the
Legends leader.
Joey Logano won his third Grand National Division race in four
career starts in the Featherlite Coaches 200. And his latest win came
over runner-up Kevin Harvick by nearly two and a half seconds – a day
after Harvick won the NEXTEL Cup All-Star Challenge and three months
after he won the Daytona 500. The first NASCAR sanctioned event at Iowa
Speedway drew a facility-record estimated crowd of 24,741. It was also
one of the largest stand-alone crowds in NASCAR Grand National Division
history.
Kevin Harvick earned a $1 million payday, winning the Nextel
All-Star Challenge in Concord, N.C., after Matt Kenseth got caught
speeding and brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch took each other out of
contention. That made Jimmie Johnson, a two-time All-Star race winner,
the last driver for Harvick to contend with.
But Johnson barely mounted a challenge, staying in line behind
Harvick until the final lap at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Johnson made one
attempt at a pass, Harvick blocked it, then drove off to his second win
of the season. Mark Martin finished third and was followed by Jeff
Burton, Tony Stewart, Johnny Sauter and Kenseth. Ryan Newman, Dale
Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr., who got into the race by winning the
Nextel Open, rounded out the top 10.
It was announced that almost 1,700 former Sprint Corp. employees
would settle their federal class-action age-discrimination lawsuit
against the company for $57 million, according to a proposal filed
Friday in U.S. District Court for Kansas. The employees sued after
several mass layoffs between October 2001 and March 2003, alleging that
a computerized performance management system used in the layoffs
improperly targeted employees older than 40.The settlement amount
included $21 million to pay plaintiffs' attorneys fees and costs.
The Associated Press reported that NASCAR couldn’t stop AT&T Inc.
from featuring its logo on Jeff Burton's No. 31 Richard Childress Racing
Chevrolet, a federal judge ruled. NASCAR asked for the ruling to be put
on hold pending appeal. A federal judge and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals refused to grant NASCAR's requests for a stay to prevent
Burton's No. 31 car from racing Saturday with the AT&T logo. The first
ruling, issued just hours before the Nextel All-Star Challenge, was the
second in two days from U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob. Following the
second denial for a stay, NASCAR filed an emergency motion with the 11th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, which also denied the request.
This week here are several vintage racing photos of Hall of Famer
Bentley Warren from the R.A. Silvia Collection Courtesy of
vintagemodifieds.com
That’s it for this week from 40 Clark
Street, Westerly RI 02891.
Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467. E-mail:
smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com
The Chrome Horn
'Looking Back with Phil Smith' Archive
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