Last
year, 2009, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series was part of
the NASCAR Touring Series Awards Gala in Concord, N.C. on Saturday, Nov. 14
at which Donny Lia and the rest of the touring series champions were
honored. The NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Gala featured the champions
and top drivers from all of NASCAR’s North American regional touring series
including invitees from the NASCAR Camping World Series East, the NASCAR
Camping World Series West, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, the NASCAR
Whelen Southern Modified Tour, and the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. NASCAR
champions Jason Bowles (Camping World Series West), George Brunnhoelzl III
(Whelen Southern Modified Tour), Donny Lia (Whelen Modified Tour, Philip
Morris (Whelen All-American Series), Andrew Ranger (Canadian Tire Series
presented by Mobil 1) and Ryan Truex (Camping World Series East) were
honored at the end of the week during awards ceremonies at the Concord
Convention Center.
In a somewhat related matter, Keith Rocco was released as the
driver for Eddie Partridge Racing
NASCAR also announced that they were working on final details of televised
coverage of a select number of Whelen Modified races with Versus and SPEED.
Now that the Waterford Speedbowl property owner Terry Eames (1080
Hartford Road LLC) was protected against foreclosure by a Chapter 11
Bankruptcy Petition some interesting questions and facts had come to light.
A New London Connecticut Attorney who represented a mortgage holder in
another matter stated that at least three petitioners are required to force
an entity into Chapter 11 rather than the sole petitioner, Rocco Arbitell,
in this case. He also alluded to the fact that a petition for Chapter 11may
be deemed frivolous if it is clear on the date of filing there was no
reasonable likelihood that the debtor intended to reorganize and no
reasonable probability that it would eventually emerge from bankruptcy
proceedings. The lawyer also added that he felt the intent of the last
minute filing was done to frustrate Arbitell’s efforts to exercise his
rights and foreclose on the mortgage that he holds. Arbitell had another
option. He could petition the
court to dismiss the Chapter 11 petition and have it converted into a
Chapter 7 bankruptcy which would call for the immediate liquidation of all
assets that come under 1080 Hartford’s holdings.
The True Value Modified Racing Series concluded their 2009 season
when they crowned Jon McKennedy the 2009 series champion. McKennedy scored
four wins in 2009 (Twin State, Seekonk, Oxford Plains and Beech Ridge),
paving the way to his first series title. McKennedy held off a late-season
charge by veteran driver Rob Goodenough to capture the title by a 15-point
margin.
In some sad news it was announced by Kevin Rice of the Area Auto
Racing News that True Value Hardware had decided not to renew their
sponsorship for 2010. Series founder Jack Bateman felt confidant that a new
title sponsor for the series would be found. The True Value Series had
become a legitimate alternative to “Tour Type Modified Racing” for both
competitors and promoters. Plans for 2010 were already in motion with a
maximum of 18 races to be run included a spring event on April 10 at the
Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, NY.
Series officials deemed the 2009 season a big success. Seventh-three
racers competed with the TVMRS in 2009. In 15 races, 12 different drivers
were victorious.
Carl Edwards rolled to a dominating win at Phoenix International
Speedway that temporarily staved off Kyle Busch's bid to clinch the
Nationwide Series title. Busch spun his Toyota eight laps into the race,
suffered heavy damage when he hit the wall, and had to battle to a
ninth-place finish.
In Sprint Cup action Jimmie Johnson cruised to a dominating victory
Sunday that moved him to the edge of history, winning the fourth race of
this Chase for the Sprint Cup championship in what his rivals considered a
"statement" showing. His win at Phoenix - Johnson's fourth in the last five
races here, and seventh victory of the season, stretched his lead to 108
points over Martin heading into the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
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 &
Dave Dyke's
Racing ThroughTime.com
Frankie Schnieder
Gary Reddick
George Savory
Ken
Meahl
Nel Wholstrom
S.J. Evonsion
All photos courtesy of Tom Ormsby and
VintageModifieds.com
Looking Back Archive
.
|
