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7/15/2009
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PAVEMENT NOTES:
SPENCER SPEEDWAY 155
by Walt Stubbs |
It started out as your typical racing travel day. For any of you who are
fans, car owners, team members, drivers or member of the media, you know
what I’m talking about. You plan ahead, figure out who you are going with,
what time you are leaving, and you go on your merry way. This past Saturday
myself, Tim Riggelman, and John (Scooter) Flores made the excursion from the
Jersey Shore on what was a beautiful day up to Williamson, New York and
Spencer Speedway for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event. With not a cloud
in the sky, we made our way thru New Jersey, up to the Poconos, passed thru
Scranton and were heading to Binghamton, New York when all of a sudden the
text messages started coming thru from those already at Spencer, waiting to
sign into the pit area.
Why the texting you ask? Simple; it was raining at Spencer with
showers forecasted to continue up until about 6 pm. With the modified teams
not scheduled to sign into the pits until 2 pm and the cars not allowed to
fire up their engines until 5:30 pm, this did not seem like a big deal. With
this rain coming down in the Rochester, New York area, our rented Hyundai
decided to make a detour and check out the sights of the now defunct
Shangri-La Speedway (Tioga Speedway as it was known the last few years of
its existence). Heading to Owego, New York and the track brought back some
fond memories of days gone by when I’d head up Upstate on a Friday night,
take in the action at Spencer Speedway, get a hotel room with my Dad
somewhere on I-81, and then head to Shangri La for Saturday night’s modified
event.
Upon arriving at the deserted track and entering thru the half
locked gate, we made our way thru the thick weeds up to the grandstand,
which is still standing. Looking at the track, turns one and two, along with
the backstretch, were already bulldozed away. Still standing, besides the
grandstands, were the pit area, the front stretch, the press box and the
starters stand. (It should be noted the men’s room was also still standing
and managed to get some use by one of my travel partners). After taking some
pictures, it was back on the road for the remaining two hour trip to
Spencer, though we also managed to check in at 07 Racing Collectibles, a
must stop for those in the Binghamton area. As we made the remaining two
hour trek up to Spencer, the storm clouds became more prevalent, and finally
the same rain that had hit Spencer started to come down in Syracuse. The
race, however, still had not been cancelled. And why should it? It was still
only around 1:30, and with the forecast calling for clearing, it didn’t seem
like a big deal. Well, with around 40 miles left into our trip, word came
that the race had been rescheduled for Sunday afternoon. The decision seemed
to be one that was made a tad too soon, based upon the clearing that could
be seen to the west. Sure enough, upon arriving at the Spencer entrance, the
sun was shining with crystal blue skies and a slight breeze, a perfect
summer afternoon. The question was then, why cancel the race until Sunday? A
pretty legitimate question, I think, based on the fact most of the teams had
traveled a great distance to run, to put it nicely, not one of the better
paying purses on the tour. All the teams and drivers were there, with the
exception of Donny Lia, who was at his sister’s wedding in Long Island and
was the only person, with the possible exception of his car owner, Bob
Garbarino, who was praying for a cancellation. (Garbarino was there and had
Jan Leaty scheduled to drive the Mystic Missile in Lia’s absence) Some
actually joked that NASCAR was trying to help Lia with the cancellation,
which would have given him time to fly up Sunday morning and get to the
track in plenty of time for the noon practice. More realistic, were the
concerns of the water that had saturated the infield because of the rain and
NASCAR was concerned with safety, based on the happening a few years ago
with the wet infield at Thompson and the Tom Baldwin crash. I checked the
track and infield myself, walking the complete half mile, and the only
puddles were those in turn four and in turn one, something a sub pump could
alleviate real quick. Whatever the reasons, it was official and any racing
would have to wait until Sunday. With a beautiful evening in store in the
area and time on our hands, it gave many who had campers on the grounds, a
chance to catch up on things. It was at this time, that I remembered why I
actually made the pilgrimage up to Spencer. It wasn’t the racing
necessarily, but to catch up with some people I haven’t seen in quite some
time, like Kenny Troyer. Troyer would be the crew chief for Chuck Hossfeld
for the race, and when asked if he missed being behind the wheel, was quite
honest. “Not really. I’ve been in and out of a race car a few times, and
each time I didn’t have a ride, I’d miss it. Not this time. I actually enjoy
doing this more, because you are still doing the same stuff you did as a
driver as far as working on the car, setting it up, and everything else,”
said Troyer. With the cold beverages flowing, the smell of barbecue coming
from the Pennink camp and a horseshoes competition going on, and remote
possibility of not staying the night quickly evaporated. (much like the
beverages and food)
While the evening was great, it still did not explain why the
cancellation had to take place until Sunday. With the race being a reduced
purse event, the track and NASCAR were now asking its teams to put up the
expense of staying an extra night, which did not sit well with a few. Ed
Bennett, who wound up being the winning car owner once again at Spencer,
this time with Erick Rudolph as his driver, wasn’t exactly a happy camper.
“You’re here on a cheap purse, you plan on leaving your shop in the morning
and going back that night and then you’re scrambling around looking for
hotel rooms. It’s an added expense that most of the teams don’t need. I
don’t have any real way of knowing if they could have gotten the race in
since I was still on my way to the track, but I did hear the sun was out at
3:15,” said Bennett. Ted Christopher was in agreement with Bennett and
couldn’t understand why the race was cancelled. “We were flying up and the
pilot told us it would be raining when we arrived but that it would clear
later on. He nailed the forecast. It wouldn’t have been too hard to get a
sub pump and drain the water in the infield.” For others, like Jamie
Tomaino, the plan was to stay anyway based on the late scheduled start of
the feature Saturday Night. Another issue was the time constraints the track
had to get the race in based on some of the town of Williamson’s laws.
Because of that, Ed Flemke was understanding but did have a suggestion
regarding some of the reduced purse events and what the policy should be.
“The racer wants to race. I guess there’s a lot of stuff locally where I
guess they only had a seven hour window to get the race in Saturday and only
a five hour window today so the locals don’t care. It’s a shame the sun came
back out because if it stayed raining, everybody would have said they made
the right move. We were all upset but I think the problem was the local
residents because they would have put us in a bind based on the time issue
so I think they had no choice. Mike Stefanik and I were talking and with
these reduced purse events maybe we should only get one shot, sort of like a
green, white checker deal. You get one shot. If it’s a bad day you cancel
the show, that’s it and we’re not coming back. Don’t get me wrong, part of
me says we have to do what’s best for the tour. Coming here, first of all,
isn’t best for the tour. Nothing against the race track, I love it and the
fans are great. However, we do not need to be running a $100,000 race car
for ten bucks. With that being said, it’s hard enough to come here with the
expense issue as is and when you have other factors like the weather adding
more expenses, it doesn’t help.”
Going in to the race, most expected track position to be the main
advantage in finishing up front. Past history showed that to be true, as
Spencer is a flat track with passing hard to come by. While that may be
true, Sunday showed that track experience is even more important. Erick
Rudolph and Chuck Hossfeld proved that to be the case as Rudolph became the
youngest driver to win a tour race and Hossfeld, in his own modified,
finished sandwiched in between runnerup Todd Szegedy. Rudolph, who has
struggled in his first season running full time on the tour, started 23rd in
the 26 car starting field. Pitting earlier than most of the leaders, Rudolph
made his way thru the pack and then held off first Hossfeld and then Szegedy
by ½ a car length in winning his first Tour event. At 17 years and six
months in age, Rudolph is the youngest winner on the tour, ousting Ryan
Preece, who won at Martinsville last year. Hossfeld, who started 17th, also
used his vast knowledge of the track to his advantage in finishing third in
his first start on the tour this year. Rowan Pennink and Preece rounded out
the top five. The delay of the race until Sunday also helped out Donny Lia
immensely. Lia, who was at a wedding on Saturday evening in Long Island, was
in constant contact with team members and when notified of the race being
run Sunday, was on the first flight out to Rochester Sunday morning. Having
not run the race at Spencer last year as he was in the Truck Series, you
would have thought Lia would have had a disadvantage. Despite a few spins,
Lia hung in with a six place, and more importantly, was able to close the
gap in the point race with points leader Ted Christopher, who wound up
tenth. “We were lucky with the weather, to be honest,” said Lia, whose
sister reserved the date when Lia was scheduled to run the Truck Series,
which had an off week this past weekend. Even car owner Bob Garbarino, who
had slated Jan Leaty to run the car in Lia’s absence, admitted he had a
smile on his face when NASCAR rescheduled the race for Sunday.
SPENCER NOTES: 26 cars took the field in the feature,
including Renee Dupuis, who had originally was just planning to stop and
take in the racing action before heading towards a vacation in Delaware. She
got behind the wheel of Szegedly’s backup machine and took a few laps before
parking it. Same for Doug Coby, who was in the backup Silk machine. Jamie
Tomaino would have made it 27 cars but his car had engine problems in
practice and he did not make the show. One driver who had to leave after the
race was cancelled was Jake Marausz, who had a prior commitment on Sunday.
Looking for a driver, he handed the reigns over to local Buck Catalano, who
wound up 15th. Not a bad run for Catalano, considering the circumstances.
The Series now heads to Riverhead in a few weeks. Special thanks to the
Penninks for the fine food and to Ed Bennett for the fine hospitality. It
makes me remember why the modifieds are the best division in NASCAR. It’s
the people. And finally, This week’s Quote of The Week comes from Tim
Riggleman, Erick Rudolph’s spotter, to Brian “Hot Pockets” Crammer, “Can you
taste it?” And we are wondering whatever happened to Billy Griffin? All
views and news can reach me at 2 Constitution Court Unit 501 Hoboken, N.J.
07030
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Source: Walt Stubbs /
Pavement Notes
Posted: July
15, 2009 |
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