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07/15/11
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July 15, 2011 |
Sixty
years ago in 1951, Wes Kingsley was the Wednesday night winner at
the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. On Saturday night a young man by the
name of Bill Slater won his first ever Modified feature at the shoreline
oval.
Fifty five years ago in 1956,
John Georgiates, who in later years would become a pit steward at the
Stafford Motor Speedway where his son John raced and his son-in-law Dan
Pardi oversaw the early days of the SK Modified division, was the Modified
feature winner at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. Ralph Banning was the
non-Ford winner.
Fifty years ago in 1961, Ernie
Gahan, driving the John Koszela Woodchopper Special, made it four in a row
on the dirt at Stafford. Taking the lead on the final lap of the feature,
Eddie Flemke went on to score his second victory of the year at the Norwood
Arena on Saturday night. Ted Stack won 25 lap Modified features on Tuesday
and Saturday at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. Ed Moody and Daring Dick
Caso shared top honors in the Bombers.
Forty-five years ago in 1966
Kenny Shoemaker took the top spot in a 40 lapper at the Albany Saratoga
Speedway on Friday night. Dick Dixon finished second with Eddie Flemke,
third. Jerry Cook, who had become an accomplished dirt track racer, won a 50
lapper at Fonda on Saturday night. Bill Wimble finished second with Ernie
Gahan, third. At Lancaster, Donald “Dutch” Hoag was the winner. At Norwood
Arena Carl "Bugs" Stevens won his first of many feature wins at the Route 1
oval. The NASCAR Grandnational Northern Tour visited the 1/5 mile Islip
Speedway on Long Island. Bobby Allison took the win. Bert Taylor, a close
friend of Billy Harman, won the 30 lap Modified feature at the Waterford
Speedbowl. Lou Lazzaro closed out his weekend with a win at the Utica-Rome
Speedway on Sunday night. Cook finished second and was followed by Gaston
Demaris, Flemke and Gahan.
Forty years ago in 1971, Denis
Giroux was the Friday night winner at Malta. Joe Thomas finished second with
Dick Fowler, Bill Henry and Andy Romano rounding out the top five. At the
Fulton Raceway Mike Loescher won a 60 lapper over Richie Evans, Sonny Seamon,
Dave Nichols and Guy Chartrand In NESMRA competition at Thompson on Friday
night Big Don MacClaren got the best of Dynamite Ollie Silva. Fred DeSarro
was in top form at Stafford on Saturday night as he put the Ole Blu of Len
Boehler in victory lane. Hop Harrington finished second and was followed by
Bugsy Stevens, Freddie Schulz, Ernie Gahan, Ray Miller and Billy Harman.
Glynn Shafer took the win at Waterford over Dick Caso, Bob Potter and Don
Kibbe. Bill Sweet was the Sportsman Sedan winner at the shoreline oval. Dave
Lape won at Fonda over Maynard Forette, Ken Shoemaker and Lou Lazzaro.
Lazzaro, using the same car he had run on the dirt at Fonda, was the winner
at the paved Utica-Rome Speedway on Sunday night. Following Lazzaro were Ken
Cannestrari and Bernie Miller. Stafford ran an open competition on Tuesday,
July 14.Bugsy Stevens took the win over Ernie Gahan but the big story of the
night was the fact that a young kid from Fitchburg, Mass by the name of
Ronnie Bouchard made his first ever appearance at Stafford. A four-time
champion at Seekonk, Bouchard had never been on a track bigger than a 1/4
mile. Although he could do no better than third, a lasting impression was
made on many who were there. Little did anyone know at the time that
Bouchard would become one of the all time greatest NASCAR Modified drivers
who would eventually move on to the Winston Cup division and score a win at
Talladega, Ala.
Thirty five years ago in 1976,
the Yankee All Star league paid a visit to Star Speedway on Wednesday night.
Bugsy Stevens in the Bob Judkins 2x took the win over Mike Weeden, Pete
Fiandaca, Bob Karvonen and Jim Landry. New Egypt ran on Thursdaty night with
Fred Harbach taking the win over John Blewett Jr. Riverhead rained out on
Friday but it didn't stop Harbach as he came back to take the checker at
Islip on Saturday night. Fred DeSarro scored a popular win at Stafford on
Saturday night as he beat out Ronnie Bouchard and Eddie Flemke for the win.
At Riverside, also on Saturday, Pete Fiandaca lived up to his name of being
the traveling man as he won the nights modified feature over Bob Stefanik.
Bob Potter scored a 35 lap Modified win at the Waterford Speedbowl. Andy
Guimond was the late Model Grand American winner. Rain washed out action at
Westboro and at Monadnock on Sunday; Geoff Bodine won a 100 lapper.
Thirty years ago in 1981,
Waterford ran an open competition event on Wednesday night which saw the
first six finish the 100 lap event under a blanket. Taking the win was Kenny
Bouchard in the Len Boehler 3. Rick Donnelly finished second with John
Rosati, third. Friday night at Stafford saw Ray Miller take the top spot
over Kenny Bouchard and Reggie Ruggiero. Punky Caron got his 45th career win
at Monadnock and Doug Hewitt won at Spencer. Rain washed out Waterford,
Riverside and Seekonk on Saturday night. At Westboro, Pete Swartz took the
win and at Islip, Richie Evans won his 25th of the year over Don Howe and
Wayne Anderson. Charlie Jarzombek had a difference of opinion with the Islip
management and went to the Wall Stadium where he walked off the winner
beating out Gil Hearne. At Danbury Bones Stevens took the Modified feature
while Randy LaJoie annexed another Sportsman win. Reggie Ruggiero took the
win at Thompson on Sunday over Ray Miller and Corky Cookman.
Twenty five years ago in 1986,
the Mod tour ran at Riverside on Wednesday. Mike Stefanik took the win over
John Blewett Jr and Tom Baldwin. Charlie Jarzombek was the top gun at
Stafford on Friday night. John Rosati finished second with Bugsy Stevens,
third. Rain washed out Waterford and Riverside. Other weekend winners were
George Kent at Spencer and Jan Leaty at Shangri-La.Due to rain in Maine on
Sunday, the Oxford 250 was run on Monday night with Chuck Bown taking the
lions share, $28,000 for the win.
Twenty years ago in 1991, Steve
Chowanski was the Friday night winner at Stafford over Bob Potter. At
Monadnock, Jerry Marquis won the Whitcomb 100 over Reggie Ruggiero and
Richie Gallup. All Saturday and Sunday racing rained out.
Fifteen years ago in 1996, it
was Winston Cup weekend at Loudon. NASCAR announced that Bruton Smith and
Bob Bahre, who had jointly bought the North Wilkesboro Speedway in North
Carolina, would each take a Winston Cup date. Smith’s date would be moved to
his new speedway in Texas and NHIS would now have two dates. To this day,
North Wilkesboro sits idle. Stafford had a Tuesday show scheduled but gave
way to rain. Claremont ran on Thursday with Jack Bateman taking the win over
Dwight Jarvis. Randy LaJoie dominated the BGN Stanley 200 run on Friday at
Loudon. LaJoie led 173 of the 200 laps. Terry LaBonte finished second. Brad
Leighton won the Friday Busch North Series event. Ted Christopher was
running third with 15 laps to go when he blew a tire and hit the wall. The
Busch North Series were also scheduled for a Saturday event along with an
event for the Modifieds. Both events were rained out and not rescheduled. In
Winston Cup action, Ernie Irvan scored an emotional win as he won the Loudon
event in the Robert Yates 28.It was Irvans first win since an accident two
years previous at Michigan that almost took his life. Dale Jarrett finished
second.
Ten years ago in 2001 Ted
Christopher recorded his 55th career win at Stafford on Friday night as he
won the scheduled 150 lap SK-Modified feature. Lloyd Agor finished second
with Eric Berndt, third. Waterford remained silent as there was a big
fireworks display in New London. Thompson ran on Saturday night with Ted
Christopher taking the win over Todd Ceravolo, Eric Berndt and Jim
Broderick. At Riverhead it was JR Bertuccio and at Wall Stadium, John
Blewett III beat out little brother Jimmy for top honors. In a surprise
move, NASCAR suspended George Kent because of failure to submit to a drug
test. Kent’s' suspension did not effect his participation at independent
tracks in New York state. In Winston Cup action at the Chicagoland Speedway,
Kevin Harvick took the win. Jimmie Johnson was the Grandnational winner.
Based on an agreement with the US Government, RJ Reynolds designated
NASCAR's Winston Cup division as their dedicated sponsorship. The NHRA and
NASCAR Weekly Racing Series were dropped.
Five years ago in 2006 it was
stated that a few years ago Terry Eames called a press conference at the
Groton Inn and Suites. Members of the media and NASCAR Officials were in
attendance. He announced that he was taking control of the Waterford
Speedbowl. Many who knew him in the local business community felt that he
would drain the business dry, then drop it like a hot potato. He proclaimed,
“I’m in it for the long haul, I’m not going anywhere”. How quick we forget!
It seems that “Long Haul Eames” had hit a bump in the road and had landed
face down in a ditch. In addition to owing $1.6 million, hundreds of
thousands of dollars were owed to newspapers, lumberyards, police,
sanitation companies and who knows whom else. All the talk of the demise of
the shoreline oval had had a profound effect on the competitors. Fields of
cars were down to the point where consolation events were no longer needed.
No one was building cars because of the uncertainty of the future of the
track.
Eames announced on Monday, July 10, 2006 that he had reached an
agreement with a developer to sell a portion of the track’s excess property
in an effort to alleviate financial issues that had plagued the track.
According to lawyers for the Washington Mutual Bank, which was owed $1.6
million, nothing was signed. Speedbowl owner Terry Eames may have a verbal
agreement but nothing was cast in stone.
Speaking of speedways, the Boston Globe reported that 79-year-old Bob Bahre,
owner of the New Hampshire International Speedway stated that his speedway
is definitely not for sale. He did allude to the fact that if and when he
dies, his son Gary will sell the track before he is in the ground!
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour traveled to the New Hampshire
International Speedway forty-five cars strong. Practice and qualifying were
held on Thursday despite rain that blanketed the area and flooded the tunnel
leading into the track. The Modifieds got on the track shortly after noon.
Zach Sylvester, who was the 45th car to time trial took the pole for the 100
mile event with a speed of 125.595 mph. Second fastest and taking the
outside pole was Jimmy Blewett. Danny Sammonds who had a problem during the
practice session and Tom Cloce who crashed and caught fire did not take
time. Reggie Ruggiero, Tony Hirschman and Eric Beers rounded out the top
five. Sixth through tenth were Todd Szegedy, Doug Coby in the Mansfield, CT
based entry of Curt Chase, Ted Christopher, Donny Lia and Kevin Goodale.
In what should have been the most exciting race of the weekend that
had 28 lead changes among 9 drivers the 100 lap Whelen Modified Tour Series
turned out to be a display of confusion and indecision by NASCAR scoring.
James Civali was originally declared the winner. Forty-five minutes later
the win was given to John Blewett III. Upon completion of the event Blewett
exited the speedway to catch a plane that would take him to the Wall
Township Speedway located on the New Jersey shore. Blewett ended up winning
the Garden State Classic at the New Jersey oval. While Civali sat in victory
lane NASCAR reviewed some pictures and decided that Blewett did in fact have
the lead when the final caution of the event was waved on the final lap.
Civali was leading at the conclusion of the last green flag lap, lap 99.
NASCAR rules dictate that who ever is leading when the caution comes out is
the race leader. A picture taken at the time of the final caution clearly
showed Blewett in the lead. Blewett was well on his way to New Jersey when
he got the news. Civali ended up settling for the second spot. Almost half
the event was run under caution. There were seven caution periods for 47
laps.
With an estimated 44,000 fans on hand the Modifieds provided some
great racing when the green flag was out. Reggie Ruggerio ended up third
with Ed Flemke and Mike Stefanik rounding out the top five. Sixth through
tenth were Todd Szegedy, Ted Christopher, Jerry Marquis, Tony Stewart and
Ronnie Silk. Stewart had some unkind words for Jerry Marquis during a post
race encounter on pit road. Stewart, who has been arrogant at times has the
attitude that anybody in his way should just move over and let him by. With
the money lap in sight, Marquis wasn’t about to roll over for Tony Stewart
or anyone else. It was the 9th career win for Blewett and his third at NHIS.
He led a total of 17 laps in the Blewett Motorsports Chevrolet.
Twenty-nine of the original 42 starters were running at the finish.
Twenty-six of them were on the lead lap. Outside pole sitter and early
leader Jimmy Blewett was the first out after a tangle with Ken Barry, which
resulted in his Eddie Partridge, owned mount getting consumed in a ball of
fire. Blewett emerged unhurt but his car was severely trashed. Nevin George
crashed on lap 23. Nextel Cup star Carl Edwards retired on lap 43 with
severe front-end damage after a confrontation with the retaining wall. Donny
Lia was hoping for a good showing after qualifying ninth but ended up 38th
after losing an engine. Doug Coby, in the Mansfield, CT based No.77 of Curt
Chase retired from the event after a hard hit on lap 66. He finished 33rd.
The Thompson Speedway fell victim to severe weather and was forced
to postpone Wednesday’s Nextel Fan Appreciation Night for 24 hours. The Pro
All Star Series (PASS) made their annual visit to Thompson International
Speedway on Thursday night. Their regularly star-studded cast was made
brighter with Kenny Wallace and Jimmy Spencer joining the field. The crowd
was treated to commentating by John Roberts of SPEED TV. Cassius Clark of
Farmington, ME was dialed in to take the PASS victory on Nextel Fan
Appreciation Night presented by Charter Communications. In addition, five
divisions of NASCAR Weekly Racing Series were also part of the festivities.
Claiming victories were Woody Pitkat in the Sunoco Modifieds, Corey
Hutchings in the Late Models, and Shelly Perry in the Mini Stocks. The
Limited Sportsman and TIS Modifieds found new winners in victory lane with
Larry Barnett of Ledyard, CT and Kurt Vigeant of Oxford, MA capturing
victories respectively.
The 75-lapper for the Pro All Star Series was a day later then
originally planned but the event was worth the wait. Cassius Clark continued
his domination of the Touring Series with his fourth victory. Johnny Clark
took the lead in the opening laps before relinquishing the lead to Wallace.
Ben Rowe then took his turn at the head of the field taking over the point
from Wallace on lap 25. C. Clark made his way into the runner-up spot before
hunting down Wallace. Rowe and C. Clark waged a tremendous battle for the
lead at the halfway marker. Rowe had the spot but was dogged lap after lap
by C. Clark while Wallace and Spencer ran third and fourth. While battling
for the lead Rowe and C. Clark made contact. Rowe cut down a tire ending
with impact in the wall. Once out front, Clark set sail. In the late stages
of the event, Spencer took the runner-up spot from Wallace. The dominating
performance was made even special by beating the likes of Wallace and
Spencer. J. Clark and Travis Benjamin rounded out the top five.
Woody Pitkat of Stafford, CT turned in a dominating performance to
win his second Sunoco Modified feature event of the 2006 season at Thompson.
Buddy Charette, who continues to get stronger week after week, led the field
to the green over Joe Lemay and Pitkat. Action was halted on lap two when
the caution flew when point leader Jeff Malave and Keith Rocco spun on the
backstretch. On the restart, Lemay was able to get alongside Charette before
the second caution flew almost immediately when Tommy Cravenho spun in turn
two while running in fifth. Henry Stampfl had nowhere to go making hard
contact with Cravenho’s Falmouth Ready Mix #31. Under the caution, Lemay
brought his race car down pit road with a flat right rear tire. Charette
relinquished his lead to Pitkat on the lap two restart. One lap later,
Marvin moved into second. By lap 10, the front two had checked out on the
rest of the field. Pitkat held a half straightway lead on Marvin, who in
turn had half straight on Charette. By lap four, Jimmy Blewett, who had
started scratch on the field after arriving at Thompson late after
qualifying for the Whelen Modified Tour event at NHIS, had moved into sixth.
Malave had worked his way back up to the seventh position by lap seven. On
lap 12, Blewett caught Ceravolo. With the duo of Pitkat and Marvin out
front, the likes of Charette, Ricky Shawn, Ceravolo and Blewett ran in a
tight pack. Ceravolo had the crowd on their feet on lap 14 when went around
Shawn in turn two and under Charette between turns three and four. A caution
on lap 19 bunched up the field for a restart. Back under green Pitkat led
the freight train that included Marvin, Ceravolo, Charette, Blewett, Shawn,
Malave, and Rocco. The first car to step out of line was Blewett. He made
the pass stick to take away the fourth position from Charette. Over the
closing laps, Pitkat stretched his lead, leaving Marvin and Ceravolo to
fight for second. Ceravolo closed but could not make any serious challenge
to Marvin. Pitkat soared to the victory over Marvin, Ceravolo, Blewett and
Charette. Ricky Shawn held on for sixth over Malave, Rocco, Lemay, and Dan
LaJeunesse.
The Stafford Motor Speedway ran on Tuesday night, July 11th. On tap
was the 3rd annual CARQUEST Extreme Wednesday program at Stafford Motor
Speedway. 1989 Nextel Cup Champion Rusty Wallace bested an all-star field of
drivers to win the 15-lap CARQUEST Clash, Chris Perley continued his
dominant season in the ISMA Supermodified division by winning the 50-lap
feature, Bobby Santos, III was the winner of the 25-lap NEMA Midget feature,
and Jeff Zuidema was the winner of the 20-lap Pro-4 Modified feature event.
Stafford’s week continued on Friday night when Bo Gunning ended a
long dry spell as he recorded his 45th career win. Gunning, who started on
the outside pole, jumped out to an early lead and in the closing stages held
off Frank Ruocco to take the win in the SK Modified 40 lapper. Willie Hardie
finished third followed by Zach Sylvester and Jeff Malave. Woody Pitkat, who
finished sixth in the SK event, won the 30 lap Late Model event, his fourth
of the year.
At the Waterford Speedbowl, some new sticky stuff was applied to
the asphalt in order to make the cars handle better and hopefully eliminate
many of the wrecks that have plagued the shoreline oval this year. They also
bounced Jay Stewart for the rest of the year. The sticky stuff did its job
and no one missed Stewart. The entire six feature race program was run in
two hours and 10 minutes.
Bruce Thomas Jr. and Tim Jordan were the twin Late Model winners while
Dennis Gada recorded his 48th career victory in the SK Modifieds. Dexter
Dorr took his eighth victory in the Sportsman division and Phil Evans beat
out Dave Silvia for top honors in the Mini Stocks. Mark Bakaj was the 20-lap
Legends feature winner.
Last year, 2010, The NASCAR
Whelen Modified Tour traveled to the 1.53-mile, 12-turn road course at Lime
Rock Park in Northwestern Connecticut last Friday and Saturday for a 66
lap-101 mile event that carried a race purse of $85,810. With a somewhat
short field of 25 cars on hand Todd Szegedy ran a lap of 53.099 seconds on
the 1.5-mile road course for an average speed of 101.697 mph. Szegedy was
among the final group of cars to go out under NASCAR's road-course
qualifying rules, and the time on his second lap knocked Ted Christopher off
the pole. Christopher had posted a lap of 53.220 (101.466) in the
second-to-last group and wound up second overall in qualifying for
Saturday's Lime Rock 100. Erick Rudolph qualified third, followed by Mike
Stefanik and Rowan Pennink. Points leader Bobby Santos qualified 10th.
Dale Quarterley got past the weekend’s dominant car of Todd Szegedy
with three laps remaining and captured the checkered flag in the inaugural
Lime Rock 100 at Lime Rock Park. Szegedy led from the start of the race, and
at times drove away from the field. Following a caution on Lap 56,
Quarterley restarted fourth when the race went back green on Lap 59.
Quarterley worked past Ted Christopher and Mike Stefanik and was able to
make the winning move on Szegedy in Turn 1 on Lap 63. Quarterley made his
first Whelen Modified Tour appearance since 2008 as he drove the No. 52
Furnace & Duct Supply Chevrolet this weekend for car owner Wayne Darling. An
accomplished road racer, Quarterley had two previous wins at Lime Rock in
NASCAR K&N Pro Series East races. On Saturday, while in third with 20 laps
to go, he pitted for tires. It proved to be the difference as he was able to
knife through the field in the last third of the race. Szegedy wound up
second, followed by Ron Silk, Ryan Preece and Ted Christopher in the top
five.
Mike Stefanik, Chuck Hossfeld, Ed Flemke Jr., Jamie Tomaino and
Wade Cole brought home the top 10 in the Whelen Modified Tour’s first road
course race since 2000, and just the seventh in the 26-year history of the
division. Points leader and winner of three of the first five races of the
year, Bobby Santos finished 17th after he suffered a blown engine on Lap 62,
while fifth-place qualifier Rowan Pennink's day ended with a broken axle on
Lap 2, though he did return to run a handful of laps late. Santos retains a
74-point lead after six races with Szegedy now up to second in the
standings.
Thirteen of the 25 starters finished on the lead lap. In addition
to Santos also losing engines were Justin Bonsignore, Richie Pallai, Jr.,
Kevin Goodale and Eric Beers.
There were 5 cautions for 21 laps. Quarterly received $6,900 for
his efforts.
The Thompson International Speedway Thursday night Thunder series
continues to be a big draw for fans looking to get their racing fix without
disrupting their weekend. Despite somewhat short fields of cars the
competition is far from short. Ted Christopher made it three in a row in
Sunoco Modified (SK type) competition. He was not as fortunate in the
special Tour type Modified event as he found himself sliding into the wall
after a confrontation with Tom Bolles. Christopher did recover to finish
sixth as Mike Stefanik and Ron Silk finished one-two
Other Thompson winners included Randy Cabral of Plymouth, MAwho won the
Marvin Rifchin Memorial event for the Northeastern Midget Association
(NEMA), Rick Gentes who won his third Late Model victory of the season,
Shawn Monahan in the Limited Sportsman main event who also scored his third
victory of the season. Brian Tagg earned to his first TIS Modified win of
the 2010 season and Leo Defevers, made it two in a row in Mini Stock action.
The tale of the tape showed 18 Sunoco Modifieds, 13 Tour type Mods,
21 Limited Sportsman, 9 Thompson Modifieds, 11 Late Models and 13 NEMA
Midgets. In all fairness the speedway management announced that 14 positions
not paid the previous week in the Tour type Mods would be paid as bonus
money. Some have been critical of the low count of Tour type Modifieds at
Thompson. It must be considered that the Whelen Modified Tour Series was
running at Lime Rock and the Modified Racing Series (formerly True Value)
was running at Monadnock only two days later. The majority of race teams
involved in these series simply can not afford tires or a mechanical problem
which would keep them out of competition in their respective series.
Among the special guests at Thompson Speedway were NEAR Hall of
Fame inductees Leo Cleary and Billy Harman.
The Modified Racing Series headed to the Monadnock Speedway in
Winchester, NH on Saturday, July 3. Kirk Alexander, the three-time Modified
Racing Series champion, captured his sixth “Firecracker 100” win. The win
was his 19th at Monadnock and his 32nd career win with the touring series
for modified race cars. Alexander passed early race leader Sean Bodreau, on
lap 15, and went on to score the victory. Jon McKennedy finished second
after a late race charge followed by Jim Boniface who finished third. Chris
Pasteryak and Dwight Jarvis rounded out the top five. The event drew 33 race
teams. The Modified Racing Series, sponsored by BobValentiAutoMall.com next
competes at Lee USA Speedway, Lee, NH, Friday night July 9.
In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series division racing at the
Stafford Motor Speedway Keith Rocco recovered from his Thursday night
disappointment at the Thompson Speedway as he made it four in a row in SK
Modified competition. Rocco, who now has seven victories overall at
Stafford, took the lead from Ted Christopher on lap 33 of the 40 lap
feature. With Rocco out fron Christopher had his hands full as Jeff Malave
tried his utmost to take over the runner-up spot. With Rocco long gone,
Christopher was able to prevail over Malave. Jeff Baral, and Bo Gunning
rounded out the top-5.
Other Friday night winners at Stafford were Ryan Posocco who picked
up his second win of 2010 in the 30-lap Late Model feature, Dylan Liseo who
scored his first career victory by a nose in the 20-lap SK Light Modified
feature, Shawn Thibeault who won his first race of the season in the 20-lap
Limited Late Model feature, and Stephen Daddio who was a first time career
winner in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.
The Waterford Speedbowl hosted the mid-season Speedbowl.com 300 on
Saturday, an extra-distance extravaganza for its NASCAR Whelen All-American
Series divisions. In total, fans were treated to six divisions and 300 laps
of feature racing. Keith Rocco continues to dominate the SK Modified action
at the shoreline oval as he recorded his seventh track win of the year.
Bruce Thomas Jr. returned to the winner’s circle in the Bob Valenti Auto
Mall Late Models, while it was Ed Puleo and Sean Caron each scoring their
third win of the year in the Street Stock and Norwich Bulletin Mini Stock
races. Allen Coates continued his mastery of the A.B. CDL Driver Training
Center Truck division and Anthony Flannery topped the Legends Cars field
once again.
For the record, Rocco record had 17 wins for the season. His NASCAR
total is sixteen.
In NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour action at the Caraway
Speedway in North Carolina John Smith worked his way past L.W. Miller on a
green-white-checkered finish to win the Firecracker 150. Smith, who started
alongside leader Miller on the final restart, was able to get the lead and
held on for his first win in his 44th career start on the tour. James Civali
followed Smith and Miller across the line for a finish of third. Jason Myers
and Burt Myers logged fourth and fifth-place finishes, respectively.
The Bowman Gray Stadium was quiet for the holiday weekend.
At the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island the Modifieds had a 50-lap,
double-point feature, where Chuck Steuer led green to checker for the win.
A wild night race at Daytona International Speedway ended with
Kevin Harvick taking the NASCAR Sprint Cup Daytona 400 checkered flag,
teammate Clint Bowyer spinning through the infield grass and several angry
drivers searching for answers. Kasey Kahne finished second. Despite a record
18 leaders and 47 lead changes, the real excitement resulted from six
multi-car crashes in the second half of the race that essentially wiped out
half the field. The biggest of them all, a 20-car melee that included
four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, came with 12 laps to go
and halted action for 20 minutes. Jeff Gordon was third, followed by Dale
Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton, Edwards and Busch.
Dale Earnhardt jr raced to his first victory since 2008 on Friday
night, driving a tribute car to his father in the Nationwide Series race. It
was Earnhardt's first points win since his Sprint Cup Series victory at
Michigan in 2008, and his first Nationwide win since Michigan in 2006.
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
RacingThroughTime.com
Click on Photo for Full Sized
Bill Slater & Baldy Simons
Bob Rossell
Ernie Gahan
John Georgiates
Lou Lazzaro
Maynard Forette
All photos courtesy of Tom Ormsby and
VintageModifieds.com
Looking Back Archive
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Source: Phil
Smith / Looking Back A Bit
Posted: July
15, 2011 |
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