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9/8/2008
PAVEMENT NOTES: 9/8/08
by Walt Stubbs
 It
was Modified Mania at Thompson International Speedway Sunday afternoon.
This is the third year of the Mania, which replaced the tradition rich
Thompson 300. I have to admit, I have taken a liking to the Mania, which
brings the modifieds from the three Series (NASCAR Whelen, True Value
and ROC) onto the same grounds on the same weekend. With Tropical Storm
Hanna hitting the Northeast on Saturday, there was some concern if the
program would get in but lo and behold, the Meteorologists actually got
one right, predicting Hanna would move out quickly early Sunday morning.
With qualifying rained out on Saturday, all three Series went by there
current point standings in determining the starting lineups. Unlike the
first year of Modified Mania, this year a few of the NASCAR Tour drivers
also participated in either the True Value or ROC Series besides the
NASCAR Whelen 150. Jimmy Blewett and Ted Christopher actually ran in all
three, or in Blewett's case four if you count the Sunoco Modified 50 lap
feature. It turned out to be a mixed bag for both Blewett and
Christopher as Blewett wound up winning the SK feature, following the
win up with a second place run in the ROC 75 lapper. Unfortunately
mechanical problems did Blewett in in the True Value and NASCAR Tour
features. As for Christopher, he finished fourth in the ROC race, had
the True Value race taken from him on the last lap, thanks to David
Pinkham coming in contact with him on the last lap, handing the win to
Todd Owen. The worst was yet to come as Christopher, who was in command
in the Whelen Modified Tour 150, elected to pit on lap 124 for fresh
rubber. It was only the third caution of the afternoon and Christopher
was the only leader who elected to pit on that sequence, despite having
the car to beat. When asked about the decision afterward, Christopher
was succinct. "Who knew it was only going to go 11 green flag laps with
30 left? I I could have predicted that, I would have stayed out but I
was expecting to have 30, maybe 20 green laps left to race, which is
more than enough to go on fresh tires. Then everybody starts banging
around. What are you going to do? Stuff happens sometimes."
Stuff does happen, and with it opportunity knocks. That can be said
of Todd Szegedy, who was surprised of Christopher's decision to pit and
used it to his advantage. to get his first win of what has been a
frustrating season. "I was very surprised Teddy pitted," admitted
Szegedy. "We were up in the air whether we were going to pit or not. And
from what we heard, the guys who pitted earlier weren't getting back to
the front very fast. The first thing I thought during the caution was to
fake him (Christopher) out to think I was pitting. Then all of a sudden,
he went in. I couldn't believe it. I was fast but I certainly wasn't the
fast car out there. Teddy was pulling away from the rest of us so I was
shocked that he did pit. If he didn't pit, he had a good shot of winning
the race. What did it for me was the restart. Ronnie (Silk) spun the
tires twice real hard and I was able to go around him. We'll take it.
It's been a tough year so we needed this."
Szegedy's win ended Ronnie Silk's reign as the King of Thompson, or at
least the last two Tour races run there. Silk missed continuing the
streak by one, finishing second. Todd just got me on the restart. It was
my fault. I spun the tires and it cost us today," said Silk.
Doug Coby hasn't been a regular on the Whelen Tour since his split
with Curt Chase a few years back. Coby has wanted to hook up with
another team, but there was no opportunities that presented itself.
Thus, Coby has been concentrating on the SK Mods at Stafford and
Waterford. An opportunity arose for Coby after James Civalli was
dismissed by car owner Don King after the Tour race at Riverhead in
early August. Coby, who had raced for King before, was asked if he'd
like to share the ride for the remainder of the season with Woody
Pitkat. Coby has run strong for King, as he collected another top three
finish. "I'm just trying to get top five finishes like today whenever I
run. The whole thing with Woody and I driving the car is not me versus
Woody. He works on the car, that's his job and Don is like my second
father basically and I hang out with him every weekend. When he asked me
to drive the car, it wasn't like he thought to make a phone call. I was
at his house when it all happened at Riverhead and I spent the whole
weekend with him. What I'm trying to accomplish is to either get in the
28 (King's car) but if he decides to do something else, I'm just trying
to show anybody else who might be looking for a driver. Give me a good
car and I'll take car of the equipment and hopefully good things happen
after that. A lot of these guys bring a lot of money to these teams. and
it's no secret that I don't have any to bring. There's a lot of teams
though that I think would have liked to have two third place finishes in
a row with a driver. For somebody, sooner or later that will be enough.
I'm content to wait. People forget I have a great SK team that I drive
for at Stafford and at Waterford. If that's all I do next year, I'm
perfectly content to do that but I still want to race on the tour
because that's where my friends are at. When these guys travel and I
have to get text messages on how they did, I hate that because wish I
was there doing the same thing."
Two drivers who have logged many miles on the Tour since its
inception (or close to it) have been Reggie Ruggiero and Rick Fuller. It
was like old times for both as they battled each other and the young
guns on the Tour for there first top five finishes of the year for both.
It was especially noteworthy for Fuller, who teamed up with Curt Chase
for his second round of duty with the 77 team. And for you historians,
the first time they hooked up in the early 90's wasn't a bad deal as
they captured the Tour Championship in 1993. This year, however, has
been a challenge for Fuller and Chase. Luck definitely hasn't been on
there side. This past weekend Fuller was honored at Thompson for being a
past champion but earlier in the week, he and the rest of the Fuller
family lost there Mom. Needless to say, it was an emotional roller
coaster for Fuller. Fuller, however, managed to bring the Chase mount in
fifth place. "I wish we could have won. To finish in the top five, these
guys really needed it; I really needed it. It was the team collectively
that needed it. It hasn't been a good reunion for us. It's been
terrible. We can't do anything right. We come to the race track and we
have a fast car but we have nothing to show for it. Today, we decided
not to pit. We were not going to pit and get back in with the time bombs
so that when one of them detonates it takes us out. Look at all the good
cars that got wrecked today." As for the rest of the season, Fuller only
has one thing on his mind. "We want to win. I have nothing to prove to
anybody. I just want to win. That's it," said Fuller.
As for Ruggiero, he wished he had just a few more laps. "We were going
good at the end. We just needed five more laps," said Ruggiero who plans
on making the remaining Tour races with the exception of Chemung.
THOMPSON NOTES: Matt Hirschman dominated the ROC 75 lapper,
looking like he was on cruise control for much of the race. Afterward,
Hirschman confirmed that he will be racing for Evernham/Gillette at
Loudon, and if all goes according to plan, will be at Dover as well.
"We're going to see how Loudon goes. I'm going to do the best that I
can. The modified race and Busch race are on separate days so I'm really
excited about it because I know it's not going to take away from one
effort versus the other. I know what to expect from the modified but the
other car is going to be a learning curve for me. Ray's (Evernham)
background and roots are with the modifieds so I think he's paying
attention to the modifieds. It doesn't come as a surprise that he would
be the one to contact me," said Hirschman.... Rowan Pennink had a
topsy-turvy day, losing a lap in the early going. However, he got the
Lucky Dog and his lap back with 25 to go and wound up ninth. "The track
was greasy and it never really came back but fortunately we got by
Ferrante to get the Lucky Dog. and it worked out for us. To be a lap
down with thirty to go and to finish where we did, is great. We just
want to finish the year in the top ten points where we've been for most
of the year. It's something to build on for next year," said Pennink...
The Tour heads to Loudon this weekend for the second and final time. And
yes, word is that SPEED will be airing the race on a tape delay basis.
Of course, I remember hearing this before not too long ago. Also, the
race at Martinsville is also set to be televised as well. Still can't
believe that Wall Township Speedway will be running the annual Turkey
Derby after being closed all year. Hopefully, there is still hope that
the track can run full time in 2009. More details should be released
soon on the Derby format etc in the coming week. Friend and colleague
Brian Danko was at Thompson but a slip and fall in the pits sent Danko
to the local hospital. Hopefully, all tests were okay and Danko will be
back and barking in no time. And Finally This Week's Quote of The Week
comes from photographer Howard Hodge, on if he wanted a Diet Pepsi,
"What does the can spell when you take out the t?" All views and news
can reach me at 2 Constitution Court Unit 501 Hoboken, N.J. 07030......
Source: Walter
Stubbs / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted:
September 8, 2008 |
