Thirty five years ago in 1975,
the NASCAR Modifieds made their annual spring trek to Martinsville for a
250-lap event. Bugsy Stevens in the Koszela No.15 took the win over Ronnie
Bouchard, Jerry Cook and Mike Loescher. A horrific fire on the front stretch
marred the day when Brian Ross in the Bob Garbarino Mystic Missile was rear
ended by a bumper-less car driven by Melvin Chilton. Chiltons bare frame
rail tore into Ross' fuel cell and ignited the fuel. Flames raged as high as
the grandstand roof but luckily Ross emerged unhurt. To add insult to
injury, when fire crews arrived on the scene, the fixture that was supposed
to dispense the purple-K wouldn't work and the fire had to be extinguished
with water and hand held extinguishers.
Twenty years ago in 1990,
Reggie Ruggiero started 17th and took the lead from Jamie Tomaino on lap 142
and went on to win the season opening 200 lapper at Martinsville. Jeff
Fuller finished second and was followed by Jamie Tomaino, George Kent and
Jerry Cranmer.
Fifteen years ago in 1995,
the Modifieds were silent as the action was in Atlanta. Johnny Benson passed
Ken Schrader with eight laps to go and went on to win the Busch
Grandnational event. Jeff Gordon dominated the Winston Cup event.
Ten years ago, in 2000,
Mark Martin was the Busch Grandnational winner at Atlanta after waiting out
a six-hour rain delay. Dale Earnhardt Sr. was the Winston Cup winner after
teammate Mike Skinner lost an engine in the closing laps.
Five years ago in 2005,
the big news of the week was the announcement that the NASCAR Whelen
Modified Tour Series would be returning to Martinsville, Virginia on
Saturday night, September 3. The event, 250 laps in length, would carry a
purse of $110,000. The speedway would install temporary Musco lighting to
illuminate the .525 mile speedway. Speedway President Clay Campbell stated
that the event would be held in combination with NASCAR’s newly-formed
Southern Modified Tour. Drivers will earn championship points for their
respective divisions. The Martinsville event will be NASCAR’s version of the
highly popular North – South Shootout that is run as an open competition
Modified event at the Concord Motorsports Park.
In the opinion of many the NEAR display at the annual Race-a-Rama
was the highlight of the show. Plenty of drivers from years gone by and the
present were on hand to sign autographs including Bob Polverari, Billy
Greco, Jap Membrino, Ray Miller, Moon Burgess and Bob Potter. It was also
announced that Eddie Flemke Sr, a charter member of NEAR and a member of the
Hall of Fame would be inducted into the New Britain CT. Sports Hall of Fame
on March 31. Flemke, who became a Modified Legend in his own time has over
500 wins to his credit and is responsible for mentoring many including Pete
Hamilton, Richie Evans and Ronnie Bouchard. A hot topic of conversation was
the momentum that the True Value Modified Series is gaining. The True Value
Modifieds are an affordable alternative to the Whelen Modified Tour. Series
leader Jack Bateman says he has 46 teams lined up to compete in 2005. The
TVMS was born when the Modified division was displaced from the Claremont
Speedway in New Hampshire. Since then the series has branched out to other
tracks in the state as well as those in Vermont and now Massachusetts as
they have three dates at the Seekonk Speedway.
It looked like the voting taxpayers in the State of Florida didn’t
want to subsidize a proposed NASCAR Auto Racing Hall of Fame in the Daytona
Beach area. The Quinnipac University in Hamden, Ct released results of a
poll taken that showed that voters, by an 81 percent to 16 percent margin,
opposed the possibility of giving $75 million to help Daytona Beach land a
NASCAR Hall of Fame. To add insult to injury, even NASCAR fans didn’t like
the idea: They opposed it by a margin of 63 percent to 35 percent. The poll
was taken of 1,007 voters in the state. Known for its exactness and
thoroughness, the Quinnipac poll was selected a "winner" by the New York
Post for the most accurate prediction on the Schumer-D'Amato Senate race in
1998, and results are featured regularly in The New York Times, The
Washington Post, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and on national network
news broadcasts.
Martin Truex, Jr. won the first Busch series race held outside of
the United States by pulling away from the field following the final caution
flag. Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards followed him across the line six
seconds behind; Adrian Fernandez in 10th was the highest finishing Mexican
national.
Last year, 2009, The
mighty Modifieds of NASCAR completed their tire test and shakedown runs at
the Bristol Motor Speedway in preparation for the August 19 combination
North-South 150 lapper. LW Miller and Brian Loftin from the southern tour
joined Ted Christopher, Todd Szegedy, Matt Hirschman and Ron Silk for the
historic day. Using restrictor plates used at Loudon in the morning session,
four other drivers also tested Bristol on Tuesday. NASCAR Whelen Modified
Tour veterans Ted Christopher, Matt Hirschman and Ron Silk turned laps as
well as Brian Loftin from the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour.
To start the day, all six cars employed the same restrictor plate
that is used annually at the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s two events at New
Hampshire Motor Speedway. In the cool morning session, Szegedy paced the
field with a fast lap of 15.022 seconds (127.733 mph). The afternoon session
proved to be significantly faster for all involved as the temperature
warmed. As of mid-afternoon, Miller topped the charts at 14.742 seconds
(130.159 mph.), well under the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series track
qualifying record of 14.908 seconds (128.709) set by Ryan Newman in 2003. In
fact, Christopher (14.805), Silk (14.818), Szegedy (14.869) and Hirschman
(14.894) had all exceeded Newman’s mark. According to Ted Christopher the
Modifieds are extremely fast due to the fact that it is wide open throttle
all the way around. One of the main issues that competitors will have to
deal with is frame height and shock travel. It is Christopher’s opinion that
it
will be a better race if restrictor plates are not used as there will be
better throttle response when exiting the turns. Two things are for sure as
he alluded to the fact that competitors will have to be on their game and
they will have to be mentally focused. The 150-lap combination Modified race
at Bristol is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Aug. 19.
After much speculation it was official, Donnie Lia was back in the
Bob Garbarino Mystic Missile for the full season on the NASCAR Whelen
Modified Tour Series. It had also been released that Woody Pitkat would be
the full time driver of the Don King No.28 on the tour. Doug Coby, who
shared the ride with Pitkat in 2008 would drive the mount formerly driven by
Jimmy Blewett. Blewett would be driving exclusively for Long Island car
owner Eddie Partridge in 2009.
Speedway Expo took center stage in New England over the weekend.
The brainchild of Speedway Illustrated Editor Dick Berggren opened on Friday
and ran through Sunday at the Eastern States Exposition Grounds in West
Springfield, MA.
Among the highlights was the Riverside Park Speedway reunion held
on Friday night. The track was torn down ten years previous to make way for
a roller coaster. Among those who were on hand for the gathering were former
track and amusement park owner Edward Carroll and former announcer, now
anchor for FOX Sprint Cup telecasts Mike Joy. Former Riverside Park drivers
included were Bob Polverari, Moon Burgess, George Lombardo, Mike Stefanik,
Reggie Ruggiero, Steve Park, Renee Dupuis, Billy Grecco, Dan Avery, Ted
Chalmers, Bobby Seymour and Ted Christopher.
In addition EXPO was loaded with displays from tracks, racing
divisions, sanctioning bodies, vendors and collectible sellers.
The highlight of the weekend was the awarding of the Speedy Awards to those
who have gone above and beyond for the sport of auto racing. Congratulations
to Richie Grodski and the gang at the web site Chrome Horn for the award for
Best Series or Track Coverage, 2009 Speedy Award. This award is given to the
publication, broadcast or web medium that provides outstanding coverage of
auto racing.
Among the other Speedy Awards were Best Weekly Racer, Dennis Gada, Breakout
Racer, Keith Rocco, Best individual Performance of a driver was Chuck
Hossfeld, Best Individual Promotion was Turkey Derby at Wall Stadium in New
Jersey and the Long Haul Award went to Ted Christopher.
The Waterford Speedbowl will be under the sanction of NASCAR in
2009. Property owner and track operator Terry Eames made the announcement at
the Speedway Expo.
NASCAR gave their local weekly competitors a shot in the arm. New
rewards and recognition were made available to first-time Whelen
All-American Series featured division license holders for 2009. A new Rookie
of the Year Award program would determine top rookie performers in each
state and province. From those winners, a North American Rookie of the Year
would be named. To be eligible to compete for the award, drivers must be a
first-time NASCAR Whelen All-American Series featured division license
holder. This award will be made to a competitor in the SK Modified division
at the Stafford Motor Speedway and a competitor in the Sunoco Modified
division at the Thompson Speedway. If, in fact the Waterford Speedbowl
secured a sanction, competitors in the SK Modified division there would also
be eligible.
In some sad news, H. Lewis Compton, 80, who was known as the “Mouth of the
South” for announcing every race at Martinsville Speedway for 44 years, died
last Friday at Memorial Hospital in Martinsville. Since 1962 he had been
known as “The Mouth of the South,” a moniker bestowed upon him by Elmo
Langley, one of NASCAR’s early drivers, car owner and longtime pace car
driver. Compton announced every race at Martinsville Speedway from 1955
until 1999, worked in radio for 52 years until he retired from WHEE Radio
and was a licensed auctioneer for 36 years.
Greg Biffle recovered after running out of gas to win the
Nationwide Sam's Town 300 in Las Vegas. Carl Edwards was second.
Kyle Busch scored the biggest win of his career by driving from the back of
the field to win the Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his hometown
track. Busch took the lead with 57 laps to go, then lost it during a late
round of pit stops. Busch was third on a restart with 22 laps to go, and
then chased down Jeff Burton and leader Clint Bowyer to move out front
again.
Middletown native Joey Logano, who like Busch is with Joe Gibbs
Racing, finished 13th and had the lead on lap 53, the first time he has held
the lead in his brief Sprint Cup career.
Busch beat Kurt Busch for the pole on Friday to put brothers on the
front row for the first time since 2000. But an engine change in his Toyota
meant he had to drop to the back of the field at the start of the race, and
Busch had to power his way through the field over 285 laps. Busch held off
Burton and Bowyer on a restart with eight laps left and then another, after
Jimmie Johnson was involved in a crash , with three to go. Carl Edwards blew
an engine during the final two laps, the third Roush Fenway Racing motor to
fail during the race, handing fourth to David Reutimann. Matt Kenseth,
trying to become the first driver in NASCAR history to win the first three
races of the season, had engine problems six laps into the race and was
last.
Two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves went on trial
in Miami federal court on charges he used shell corporations and offshore
accounts to evade paying taxes on millions in income. Prosecutors claim
Castroneves, 33, his sister and business manager Katiucia "Kati" Castroneves,
35, and Michigan attorney Alan Miller, 71, conspired to hide more than $5
million from the Internal Revenue Service between 1999 and 2004. Castroneves
was also charged with failing to report some additional income and
improperly deducting $687,000 as business expenses to reduce his taxes. If
convicted, the three could face more than five years in prison.
That’s about it for this week from 11 Gardner Drive, Westerly,
R.I.02891.
Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467. E-Mail,smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com.
Phil Smith has been a
columnist for Speedway Scene and various
other publications for over 3 decades.
This
week are several vintage racing photos,
courtesy of
SpeedwayLineReport.com &
VintageModifieds.com.
Gene Bergin - Stafford Dirt
Billy Greco - Riverside Park
Jocko Maggiacomo - Riverside Park
"Money Bags" Moe Gherzi
Stafford Speedway - 1950's
Buddy Krebs - Riverside Park
All photos courtesy of Tom Ormsby and
VintageModifieds.com
Looking Back Archive
|
