Fifty years
ago in 1960 Tommy Fenley, a former competitor at the half mile
Kingston Fairgrounds in Rhode Island was the Modified feature winner at the
Stafford Springs Speedway. Don Collins was the big winner at the Waterford
Speedbowl as he won Modified events on Wednesday and Saturday. Ted Stack, in
the non-Fords and Ed Moody followed suit as they also recorded double
features at the shoreline oval. Red Foote was the winner at the Norwood
Arena.
Forty-five years ago in 1965
Don Wayman made it two in a row on the Dirt at Stafford Springs on Friday
night. Ed Moody was the Modified winner at the Waterford Speedbowl. Charlie
Krashen was the Bomber winner. Lou Lazzaro made it two in a row in Saturday
night action at the Fonda Speedway. Ken Orr took the win at Riverside Park
and Tom Kotary took the win at Utica-Rome. Finishing second was an unknown
by the name of Richie Evans. Dave Kotary was third.
Forty years ago in 1970,
it was a busy week to say the least. The All Star League took to the dirt on
Tuesday at the Orange County Speedway in Middletown, N.Y. Rags Carter took
the 100 lap win over Will Cagle and Lou Lazzaro. Asphalt standouts Charlie
Jarzombek, Fred DeSarro and Richie Evans finished eighth through tenth. At
Malta on Friday night, Fred DeSarro took the top spot over Eddie Pieniezak
and Dave Gault. Stafford's twin 25's went to Leo Cleary and Bugsy Stevens.
At the Waterford Speedbowl, Glynn Shafer in the Ron Yuhas No. 6 took the
Modified feature win. Ron Cote was the Late Model Daredevil winner. On
Sunday, Thompson ran a 100 lap-double point event, which saw Bugsy Stevens
take the top spot over Cleary, Ed Yerrington, Jack Malone, Bernie Miller,
Bob Santos and Billy Harman. Pocono ran an open competition event which saw
Geoff Bodine make one of his first big track appearances and he almost won
it until traffic master, Ray Hendrick gave him a lesson in how to pass
lapped cars. Hendrick ended up with the win and was followed by Bodine,
Maynard Troyer and Bryan Osgood. Ron Newman was the winner at Utica-Rome on
Sunday night.
Thirty five years ago in 1975,
Charlie Jarzombek went two out of three on Long Island as he won Friday
night at Freeport and Sunday at Westhampton. On Saturday at Islip, the Long
Island legend finished second to Gary Winters. Saturday night at Stafford
saw Bob Vee win his first and only feature at Stafford. Bugsy Stevens
finished second with Ronnie Bouchard, third. Bob Potter took the 35 lap
Modified win at Waterford. Joe Mullins was the Grand American Late Model
winner.
Thirty years ago in 1980,
Waterford and New Egypt ran on Wednesday night. At Waterford, Bob Potter won
a 100-lap open over Rick Donnelly and Dickie Doo Ceravolo. Ceravolo was
elevated to second spot after Donnelly was disqualified for illegally
altering his tires. At New Egypt, Gary Cretty scored his first win. Wayne
Anderson finished second. On Thursday night, Punky Caron returned to his old
haunts at Monadnock and kicked butt as he took a convincing win over John
Rosati and Jack Bateman. Friday night at Stafford, Ronnie Bouchard was on a
tear as he won the 30 lap modified feature over Corky Cookman, Bugsy Stevens
and Richie Evans. Bouchard carried his winning ways to Westboro on Saturday
where he scored two more victories. Bob Fuller and Leo Cleary scored
seconds. Bouchard was going for four when lack of oil pressure forced him to
park it at Thompson on Sunday. Jerry Cook ended up with the win with Bob
Fuller, second. Other weekend winners included Don LaJoie who scored his
50th win at Danbury, Maynard Troyer at Spencer, Charlie Jarzombek at Islip,
Billy Griffin at Shangri-La, Reggie Ruggiero at Riverside and Alan Whipple
at Claremont. Up north, Geoff Bodine walked off with$12000 after taking the
win in the Oxford 250.
Twenty five years ago in 1985,
Thompson ran a 35 lap special on Tuesday nights, which saw John Rosati,
score an upset victory over Charlie Jarzombek and Richie Evans. The modified
Tour was at Riverhead on Wednesday Jim Spencer and Brian Ross broke the
strong hold that the regulars had as they finished one-two. Fred Harbach
finished third with George Kent, fourth. Stafford rained out on Friday night
but Spencer and New Egypt was spared. Doug Hewitt won at Spencer and Tony
Siscone won at New Egypt. Waterford ran a 100 lapper on Saturday night. Ed
Flemke Jr. took the win over Ted Christopher. Richie Evans won at Shangri-La
and at Riverside Park, SJ Evonsion beat out Mike McLaughlin. Chris Young won
riverheads regular Saturday modified program. The modifieds ventured to
Claremont for a Sunday event, which drew 29 cars. Richie Evans took the
100-lap win over Jim Spencer and Dwight Jarvis. The Busch North Series was
at Thompson on Sunday. Randy LaJoie took the
win and in the SK division it was Wayne Dion.
Twenty years ago in 1990,
Star Speedway hosted the modified tour for a 150-lap event. Tony Hirschman
took the win over Mike Stefanik, Reggie Ruggiero and George Brunhoelzl. At
Stafford on Friday night, Steve Chowanski beat out Tom Bolles for the win
and at Monadnock; Reggie Ruggiero was on a roll as he won out over Jerry
Marquis. Ruggiero carried over his winning ways to Riverside on Saturday
where he again took the win. Richie Gallup finished second with Tom Bolles,
third. Lennie Fischer got his first win in 14 years of trying at Riverhead
on Saturday. Don Howe finished second. At Waterford it was Gary Dyer over
David Gada and at Shangri-La Randy Hedger beat out Jan Leaty. The New
Hampshire International Speedway celebrated their grand opening with the
Chevy Dealers 300 for NASCAR's Grand National division. The event drew 50000
spectators who looked on as Tommy Ellis took the win over Harry Gant, Chuck
Bown and Morgan Shepherd.
Fifteen years ago in 1995,
Jim Broderick was first under the checker at Stafford but almost found
himself in the fence during the cool down lap when a frustrated and mad Ted
Christopher, spun him out. Christopher, who finished second was fined$200
and put on probation for two weeks. At Waterford on Saturday night, Todd
Ceravolo won out over David Gada and Mark LaJunesse and at Riverside it was
Dan Avery in victory lane. The Featherlite Modified Tour was at Jennerstown.
The scheduled 150-lap event was called after 132 laps when the lights went
out and wouldn't come back on. Steve Park was declared the winner with Ed
Flemke Jr., Jan Leaty, Tony Hirshman and Tom Baldwin rounding out the top
five. Al Ermarino won at Riverhead and Dave Dion won the Busch North Series
event at Shangri-La. In Winston Cup action at the Pocono Raceway, Dale
Jarrett took the win and ran out of gas on the cool down lap. Jeff Gordon
finished second with Ricky Rudd, third.
Ten years ago in 2000,
Ted Christopher started his weekend with a win over Todd Ceravolo and Steve
Lombardo at Thompson on Thursday night. At Stafford on Friday it was again,
Christopher. Brad Hietella finished second. Rain washed out Waterford. At
Nazareth on Sunday, Ron Hornaday won the BGN 100.Mike Stefanik in a Cretty
Motorsports Team car made a surprise entry to the modified portion and
proceeded to come home a winner. Reggie Ruggiero finished second and was
followed by Ted Christopher, Jerry Marquis and Ed Flemke Jr.
Five years ago in 2005
the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series traveled to the New Hampshire
International Speedway in Loudon, NH on Friday. Forty Modifieds were on hand
for time trials which were supposed to be held on Thursday afternoon. Heavy
rain and high winds put an end to that. High winds that topped out near 60
MPH overturned protective tents that competitors had been using to shield
themselves and their equipment from the heat of the Sun. Electricity was
also knocked out. When it became apparent that time trials would not be held
NASCAR made the decision to base the starting lineup on the latest point
standings.
Based on the point standings going into the event Ted Christopher
was placed on the pole with Chuck Hossfeld, outside. Christopher led twice,
the first 26 laps and more importantly the last four as he made it three
wins in a row as he beat Tony Hirschman to the finish line by a bumper. With
10 laps to go in the 100 lapper Eric Beers was leading the field under
caution. Doug Coby was running second with Christopher, Hirschman and Steve
Whitt following. When the green came out on lap 91 Coby took the lead. Beers
slipped to fourth while Christopher and Hirschman closed in on the leader.
On lap 97 Christopher made his bid as he passed Coby. Coby also gave way to
Hirschman who closed in on Christopher’s bumper. Beers ended up third with
Steve Whitt rounding out the top five. Sixth through tenth were Rick Fuller,
Chuck Hossfeld, Jerry Marquis, Mike Christopher and Nevin George.
Twenty-five of the original 40 starters were running on the lead lap at the
finish. Later in the day Christopher ran in the Busch North Series event
which he didn’t finish. Mike Stefanik took that win.
Kerry Malone made a miraculous recovery from a devastating wreck on
the third of thirty laps in the Sunoco SK type Modified feature at the
Thompson Speedway on Wednesday night. Malone got caught up in a wreck during
a restart. His car sustained a lot of damage including a destroyed oil
cooler, a broken tie rod and a pulverized rear spoiler. Because of the fact
that it took a lot of time to remove the wrecked car of Richard Savory,
Malone’s crew was able to remove the damaged oil cooler and replace it with
a jumper hose plus replace the tie rod. Malone restarted in the rear of the
field without losing a lap and clawed his way through the field to take the
lead from Todd Ceravolo on lap 26. Ceravolo had inherited the lead after
leaders Tom Cravenho and Bert Marvin tangled and spun on lap 24. Ceravolo
finished second and was followed by Jeff Malave. Cravenho and Marvin
recovered to finish fourth and fifth. Other winners at Thompson included
Norm Wrenn in
the Pro Stocks, Roger Larsen JR in the Mini Stocks, Charles Bailey III in
the Late Models and Larry Barnett in the limited Sportsman.
The Stafford Speedway also ran on Wednesday night as they featured
the NEMA Midgets and the ISMA Supers along with Pro Fours. Special guests
included Erin Crocker, Dave Blaney, Carl Edwards and Ken Schrader along with
Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice and Indy veteran Al Unser Sr. Despite the
fact that Stafford and Thompson are less than 60 miles apart both tracks
drew decent crowds for their mid-week events.
At Stafford on Friday night Frank Ruocco won the 40 lap SK Modified
feature over Jeff Malave and Lloyd Agor. Ted Christopher made his grand
entrance from Loudon in a helicopter and finished fourth. Todd Owen rounded
out the top five. Among those in the field was Chris Jones who up until last
Friday had been on indefinite suspension. Evidently the Stafford management
has relented and forgiven Jones of all his prior sins. It has also been
rumored that Bo Gunning will be back at Stafford for this Friday night’s 100
lapper. Other Friday night winners at Stafford were Tom Butler in the Late
Models, Michael Bennett in the Limited Late Models and Robert Dow in the
DARE Stocks.
The Waterford Speedbowl had one of its earliest nights of the
season as the entire Saturday night program was completed by 9:30pm. Second
generation SK Modified driver Chris Pasteryak ended a dry spell that went
back to July of 2003 as he took his second career victory at the shoreline
oval. Pasteryak took the lead from Ronnie Silk with 13 of the scheduled 35
laps to go. Rob Summers finished third with Frank Mucciacciaro and Dennis
Gada rounding out the top five. Other Saturday night winners were Bruce
Thomas Jr. in the Late Models, Ken Cassidy Jr. in the Mini Stocks, Chris
Correll in the All Star Trucks and John Puglisi in the Sportsman.
Martin Truex held off a late surge by Carl Edwards to take a
green-white-checkered flag in Saturday's NASCAR Busch Series New England 200
at New Hampshire International Speedway for his circuit-high fifth victory
of the season. Tony Stewart led 232 of 300 laps and beat the Ford of Kurt
Busch by 0.851 seconds in the New England 300 at Loudon.
Kentucky Speedway owners filed suit against NASCAR and
International Speedway Corp., claiming NASCAR violated federal antitrust
laws and illegally restricted the award of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series
races. Kentucky Speedway, in Sparta, Ky., also said NASCAR illegally awarded
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series races to the International Speedway Corp. owned
tracks. Kentucky Speedway also alleged antitrust violations relating to
various restraints of trade involving the NASCAR Busch Series races and the
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races. The lawsuit had been filed in the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky in
Covington. The International Speedway Corporation which is controlled by the
same family that owns and controls NASCAR announced that they had chosen a
spot outside the greater Seattle, Washington area to build a $250 million
NASCAR racetrack.
Last year, 2009, The
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour headed to the Spencer Speedway this past
Saturday, July 11. Following constant rain throughout Saturday morning,
NASCAR and Spencer Speedway officials postponed the Spencer Speedway 155 to
Sunday.
Erick Rudolph’s first career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win on
Sunday in the Spencer Speedway 155 made him the youngest winner in tour
history. At 17 years, 6 months, 3 days, the Ransomville, N.Y., driver
eclipsed the mark set by Ryan Preece in 2008. Preece was 17 years, 10
months, 25 days when he won at the Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
After failing to finish each of the first four races of the season,
Rudolph led the final 48 laps and withstood a furious charge from Todd
Szegedy on the final lap to claim the victory. On the last lap, Szegedy got
by Chuck Hossfeld for second and had the nose of his car nearly up to
Rudolph’s front tire as they crossed the finish line. The scheduled 125-lap
event was extended to 131 by a green-white-checkered finish. Hossfeld
followed on Rudolph’s bumper for third. Rowan Pennink and Ryan Preece
rounded out the top five. Donny Lia, who would have missed the event if it
had not been rescheduled, Mike Stefanik, Eric Goodale, Ron Silk and points
leader Ted Christopher completed the top 10. Lia attended the wedding of his
sister on Saturday when the event was originally scheduled. Earlier in the
day, Szegedy and Christopher won the two 15-lap heat races that set the
feature lineup. Rudolph, who was fastest in practice, finished 12th out of
14 cars in his heat. Szegedy led a race-high 60 laps before being forced to
pit for a flat tire on lap 80. He was able to cut Christopher’s point lead
to 17. There were 26 Modifieds on hand. Caution Flags, the yellow was
displayed on 12 occasions for 55 laps. And there were ten lead changes among
four drivers.
In Thursday Night Thunder action at the Thompson Speedway on a
night when the Speedway was to have been silent, there was plenty of
activity on the 5/8th mile oval. Keith Rocco and Les Rose were among those
taking down victories. After experiencing three rainouts thus far this
season, Thompson Speedway management added a full slate of NASCAR Whelen
All-American Series competition that included a 50 lapper for the Sunoco
Modifieds. Keith Rocco came home the victor in the 50-lapper for the Sunoco
Modifieds. Les Rose took home the Super Late Model victory. Tommy O’Sullivan
broke into victory lane with his first feature win of the 2009 season in the
Late Models. Hometown racer Paul Coutu, Jr. scored an exciting win in the
Limited Sportsman division while Glenn Boss turned his luck around with a
victory in the TIS Modifieds. Brad Caddick was declared the winner of the
Mini Stock main event after post race technical inspection. Tim Taylor took
the Mini Stock checker but was found to be under weight at a post race tech
session. In victory lane Taylor voiced his displeasure with the way the
Thompson officials had alledgedy treated him and was quite vocal over the
fact that he was moving his racing efforts to the Waterford Speedbowl.
Ryan Truex of Mayetta, NJ, used tire conservation to win the annual
visit of the Camping World East Series event on Saturday night at the
Thompson International Speedway. Thompson regular Derek Ramstrom of W.
Boylston, MA, led wire-to-wire to score a popular victory in the Pro
All-Star Series (PASS) feature event. Jeff Zuidema was back in top form in
the Late Models as part of the Pepsi Full-Fendered Frenzy. “Leadfoot” Larry
Barnett extended his point lead in the Limited Sportsman division.
Second-generation driver Brian Tagg scored his first career win in the TIS
Modifieds. Tim Taylor scored his fourth Mini Stock win of the season.
The Stafford Motor Speedway came alive on Tuesday night, July 7th,
with the 6th annual CARQUEST Extreme Tuesday program. Chris Perley won the
50-lap ISMA Supermodified feature for the second consecutive year, Nokie
Fornoro won the 30-lap NEMA Midget feature event, and Norm Wrenn made it two
in a row at Stafford by taking the 25-lap Pro-4 Modified feature event.
The Stafford Speedway returned to action on Friday night with a
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series program of five divisions. Ted Christopher
took down his second consecutive victory in the 40-lap SK Modified feature,
Ryan Posocco took his third feature victory of the 2009 season in the 30-lap
Late Model feature, John Montesanto came out the big winner in a thrilling
duel with Jay Goff to score his first career victory in the 20-lap SK Light
Modified feature, Carla Botticello outdueled her father to take her first
win of 2009 in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Barry Fluckiger
took down his first feature victory of the 2009 season in the 15-lap DARE
Stock feature.
The racing action at Waterford Speedbowl was fast and furious for
July 11’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing event. Keith Rocco and
Danny Field picked up their fourth wins of the season, extending their
points lead in the SK Modifieds and Norwich Bulletin Mini Stock divisions
respectively. Bruce Thomas Jr. and Tim Jordan put on a classic duel in the
Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Model feature with Thomas prevailing at the last
moment. Brandon Plemons picked up his first Street Stock win of the year and
Jason Palmer returned to Legends Car victory lane.
The True Value Modified Racing Series headed to Lee USA Speedway on
Friday, July 11th for The Laticrete 100. Jimmy Kuhn, Jr. won his first ever
TVMRS race. Kuhn was the sixth winner this year in the series showing that
the competition has been tough and the race for the win tight. In the past
Kuhn himself has come close to winning a race but in the end lady luck
jumped in and robbed him of a victory. As usual the #72 team showed up at
the track with their car pristinely prepared and ready to race. And yes,
race they did as they won the first heat race and started the series race on
the pole This has only been the second series race for the Kuhn team, but
both races have found the team with the right combination for their pursuit
of a win. Rob Goodenough settled for a second place finish after a late race
pass. On lap 97, Goodenough lost his hopes for the win as Kuhn made his pass
for the lead. Goodenough had inherited the lead on lap 63 after a race
incident took out the race leaders. Goodenough held off several challenges
for the number one spot during the race but in the end his efforts were not
enough.
Motorsports publisher Coastal 181 announced the upcoming release of
I’LL NEVER BE LAST AGAIN, the autobiography of Bill Wimble. The long-awaited
memoir of the legendary racer from Lisbon, New York, was written in concert
with award-winning journalist, Lew Boyd.
Joey Logano won the Nationwide race at Chicagoland Speedway for his
third win of the season. Logano passed Kyle Busch with 25 laps left then
held him off on old tires over the final 10 laps. The 19-year-old Logano,
the youngest winner in Sprint Cup history, did not make a late pit stop to
get fresh tires. The gamble paid off for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. There
were only two cautions for 11 laps over the entire 300-mile race, including
one with 14 laps remaining that sent Busch and most of the rest of the field
into the pits. Busch took two tires.
Mark Martin is still nifty at 50 and has made Cup racing his
personal senior circuit. He won at Chicagoland Speedway, getting the strong
jump off the double-file restart with two laps left to win his series-high
fourth race of the season. Martin dominated the race early and led 195 laps,
easily the most of the 400-mile race.
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.
Ronnie Rocco
Stan Greger
Jerry Cook
Bentley Warren
Bobby Vee
Rene Charland
All photos courtesy of Tom Ormsby and
VintageModifieds.com
Looking Back Archive
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