12/1/2008
PAVEMENT NOTES: 12/01/08
by Walt Stubbs
You
would have thought I was pulling into a mall on Black Friday a few years
ago, when the economy was good and people were looking to spend. The
only problem with that was that it was this past Saturday morning around
10:00 am and the place I was pulling into wasn't a mall, though I'm sure
a few people who aren't fans of a race track were wishing it was a mall
or some other type of complex other than a race track. No, instead, I
was pulling into Wall Township Speedway, a place I thought I wouldn't be
turning into anymore after it was announced the track was closing this
past year. And I wasn't the only one pulling into the facilities from
Route 34, only to be held up by grid lock as security directed us not
only thru the parking lot, but across Hurley Pond Road to a grass field
near the airport where buses were waiting to take us back to the track.
Upon arriving at the track and making my way to the stands, it was clear
that my eyes weren't deceiving me or that one person was in each of the
cars in the lot. The stands were completely full, going three deep
behind the stands. In all the years I had attended Wall, be it Speedway
or Stadium, I had never seen the front row on the front stretch filled.
It was on Saturday. I guess you could say that the race fans missed the
track. It could even be an understatement. The pits were also filled,
with each of the divisions having good car counts. And to put icing on
the cake, the racing, for the most part, was the best I've seen at the
track in quite some time. So, with all the positives that came out of
this weekend, the question begged to be asked, is now what? Nobody right
now seems certain as to the future of Wall, though many were
speculating, including yours truly. Here's my take, for anyone
interested. IF the track is to reopen again, and that's anybody's guess,
it should only be with a partial schedule. There's no reason to run a
full slate, beginning in April and ending in October. Start on Memorial
Day and run to Labor Day or if you want to cut down even more, run a
race once a month, starting at the end of April and running to the end
of September. Make the fans and teams WANT to come to the track. Running
a limited schedule will accomplish this, not a full slate where it
becomes a weekly grind for both the fans and teams. Plus, it will enable
both to travel to other tracks in the process. Even if Wall had run
weekly this past year, it is unlikely that Jimmy Blewett and Steven Reed
would have been at the track each and every week. Both were going to run
touring series anyway, be it the NASCAR Whelen, ROC or True Value
Series. By running a partial schedule, and by making sure there are no
conflicts with those Tours, or maybe even hosting one of those tours,
would enable drivers like Reed and Blewett to run at the track as well.
Again, nobody knows exactly what the future of Wall holds, but
nobody can deny that the fans voice was heard, loud and clear. It was
good to see some of the drivers who made Wall's history on hand, showing
there
support. Seen in the stands or pits were the likes of Gil Hearne,
Martin Truex, Jerry Cranmer, Eddie Bohn, and Sonny McCurdy, to name a
few. For Bohn and McCurdy, it wasn't a quick trip, like it would have
been in years past. Both now reside down south, with Bohn moving to
North Carolina in the last year. As Bohn told me, "I've never missed a
Turkey Derby and I wasn't going to miss one now. I was at the first one
in 1974 sitting in the stands watching my Dad race and then I was racing
myself a year later." Bohn's son Danny was on hand in his modified to
keep the tradition of one Bohn running in the race. Here's hoping that
Bohn and all the rest of the teams, will be at Wall a year from now for
another Turkey Derby, this one XXXVI.
With the economy being the way it is, everybody is out looking for
a bang for the buck. Well, if you were at Wall on Saturday, you found it
both literally and figuratively. The 100 lap modified event, had much
banging going on, no matter where you looked in the 28 car starting
field. Never was it more evident than at the front of the field on lap
88, where Matt Hirschman, who had led from the start of the race, was
looking to hold off Jimmy Blewett. Blewett went onto the apron going
into turn three, getting under Hirschman, making contact with Hirschman
and taking the lead in the process. Pete Brittain, who was running third
behind Blewett, also took advantage of the hole with Hirschman being
left in third. Brittain used all of his bag of tricks to try getting by
Blewett, even trying the outside lane in turn one on the last lap,
looping his Ling Trucking modified in the process but it was Blewett
claiming the win. Needless to say, Blewett offered no apologies for his
move on Hirschman. "When I have my right front to your left rear, I
don't have to be up to your door. If I'm along side your car, I don't
have to let you in getting in to the turn especially when it's the last
race at this track. I came here to win, no matter how I got it, and I
won. That's the type of driver I am. I'm not out there to win anything
but the race. Some guys when they go out there they play Mr. Nice Guy
and they never win. Like I said, for every super hero like Matt
Hirschman there's a villain like myself. I don't mean to sound arrogant
but it's the way it is. When you come here, you come here to win and
that's it," said Blewett.
It looked like
Blewett was giving
Brittain more than enough room on
the outside to get by him. Brittain attempted to use the high groove but
couldn't get by Blewett, spinning out in the process while running
second. Brittain had no regrets. "We had a great car all weekend and I
want to thank Zane Zeiner and the guys on the crew. We came thru the
back in 30 laps. Jimmy ran me clean. He gave me a lane and I went down
in there for the win. We came here to win, not run second so if we
didn't win, I could have cared less if we finished 30th. It's the Turkey
Derby, we were here to win. Jimmy wasn't going to give me the inside so
I had to use the outside lane. Unfortunately, I looped it."
As for Hirschman, who wound up second, he blamed the caution sequence
more than Blewett for his shot at the win. "What happened is that we
were out on our original tires and almost everyone else wound up
pitting. It's just the timing of the cautions played into there hand and
somebody was going to get by. Jimmy just bulled his way by and he
probably didn't have to but that's what he did to everybody else from
what I understand. He wound up getting by with Pete following him thru.
It's not like we really died but we were just out there on tires longer
than anyone else. Too many cautions from laps 50 to 80. When you are
leading here it's hard to give it up. Anybody that's every leading here
never pits but it doesn't guarantee you are going to win but that's the
best decision. I don't regret that at all. I had to stay out but it just
timed out bad for us," said Hirschman.
One "outsider' who has taken a liking to Wall has been
Les
Hinckley. Two years ago, Hinckley almost wound up winning the race, a
race won by Blewett with some last lap banging. Hinckley was once again
in the hunt and wound up sixth. "We wound up on the short end of the
traffic. I didn't get thru traffic the way I needed to. Three years ago
we came thru here with everybody moving out of our way and we just
didn't get thru it well today. We were in perfect position with 40 to
go; we just put new tires on and in front of everyone else, including
the guy who won the race. He wasn't any better than we were. He got thru
it, or made his way thru it, better than I did and I'll take the heat
for that," said Hinckley.
DERBY LEFTOVERS: Car owner Dick Barney had two cars in the
field for the Derby, one driven by Ken Wolley and the other by Billy
Pauch Jr. His regular driver, Reggie Ruggiero, had a prior commitment
and was not on hand... Another familiar entry, that of the Reed #55 was
on hand with Steve Reed partaking in both the open modified race and the
Wall Modified 100 lapper. Reed wound up third in the open race and was
happy to be back at his home track. "I had a lot of fun," admitted Reed.
"It's great for the fans. I'm happy because I finished third and my
stuff is in one piece. If I finished 13th and I had the right front
knocked off; I might not be so happy. You have to take it for what it
is. As for the fans, it's a race that will be talked about for a long
time and I'm happy where we wound up." Reed, by the way, hopes to
continue to race weekly up at Stafford in 2009 and also run shows in the
ROC and of course Wall if it does reopen... I'm usually the first one
out of the gate after the modified race but decided to take in all of
the action on Saturday Night, including the Wall Modified 100 lap event.
Glad I did as I witnessed Rowan Pennink collect his first career
modified win. It was an emotional win for Pennink, his family and
friends. All of turn four was cheering as Pennink got the checker. "The
first win is an unbelievable feeling," said Rowan. "Everybody gave so
much effort to this. We struggled with the car at the beginning of the
weekend but we were really good out there the second half of the race.
The last couple of laps a lot was racing thru my mind because I've been
waiting a long time for this. My Dad's been saying to me we haven't won
a race in four years since Go Karts so this was for him." Needless to
say, the crew was celebrating into the night, with a bonfire that I'm
sure isn't still out... Besides former drivers, a few former car owners
were on the grounds at Wall. Among those were Howard Harvey and Frank Courvesier, better known as Frenchie. (Tony Hirschman ran the Frenchie's
Auto Body #6 in the early 80's, a car formerly owned and ran by Maynard
Troyer for you Wall historians)... The banquet season gets in to full
gear with New Hampshire Motor Speedway celebrating there champions on
December 11th before the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour crowns Ted
Christopher champ on December 13th. Will be interesting to see if NASCAR
releases there schedule at the banquet. There are already some rumblings
that Martinsville will not be on the schedule in 2009. And as we
conclude, we are wondering Whatever happened to John Giacobbe. And
finally This Week's Quote of The Week comes for AARN photographer Fran
Lawlor, on Jimmy Blewett's day. "Brake pedal, pace car and the lottery
are the only things that Jimmy Blewett didn't hit today."
All views and news
can reach me at 2 Constitution Court Unit 501 Hoboken, N.J. 07030......
Source: Walter
Stubbs / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted:
December 1, 2008 |