|
08/10/12
|
August 10, 2012 |
Sixty
five years ago in 1947, the Lonsdale Sports Arena, just outside
of Providence, R.I. opened. Lonsdale featured a 1/3-mile high-banked
speedway with the midgets as headliners. Lonsdale was also one of the first
speedways to hold races for production automobiles, which was the forerunner
of what we consider today as being stock cars. Lonsdale took four months to
build and was dubbed the Worlds Greatest Midget Track. The chutes were 45
feet wide with a 7-foot bank. The turns were 60 feet wide with a 15-foot
bank. Lonsdale ran until 1953 when the track was severely damaged by a
flood, which wiped out half of the backstretch. The track was never rebuilt.
The remains are still there on the banks of the Blackstone River. If in
operation today, the track would be perfect for the modern modifieds as it
would be comparable to a mini-Bristol. Wall Stadium, in Belmar, NJ is a
carbon copy of the Rhode Island oval.
Sixty years ago in 1952, rain
prevailed at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Wednesday night. Cy Yates
won the 50 lap mid-season Sportsman championship at the shoreline oval on
Saturday night. Ed McAvoy was the Claiming Car winner.
Fifty five years ago in 1957
Red Bolduc made it three in a row at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl as
he won the Wednesday night Sportsman feature. Irwin Fox was the non-Ford
winner. Saturday night racing at the Speedbowl rained out.
Fifty years ago in 1962, Dick
Beauregard was the 50 lap Modified winner at the Waterford Speedbowl. Eddie
Moody was the Bomber feature winner.
Forty five years ago in 1967,
the All Star League had a scheduled stop at Riverside Park but rain
prevailed. Friday night at Stafford saw Gene Bergin make it two in a row as
he won the 30-lap feature. Eddie Flemke finished second with Ted Stack,
Smokey Boutwell and Wild Bill Slater rounding out the top five. Ernie Gahan,
like Bergin, made it two in a row as he won the Friday night 30 lapper at
the Slbany Saratoga Speedway. George Pendergast finished second with Bob
Bruno, third. Don MacTavish and Lou Lazzaro rounded out the top five. Lee
Osborne made it two in a row at Fulton and George Wagner took a victory at
the Riverhead Raceway. Fonda ran a 100 lapper on Saturday night. Rene
Charland made it four in a row at the Track of Champions. Bill Wimble
finished second with Lou Lazzaro, third. Newt Palm scored his ninth Modified
win of the season at Waterford. At Utica-Rome on Sunday night, Defending
NASCAR Modified Champion Ernie Gahan took the win in the scheduled 30-lap
feature. Lou Lazzaro finished second and was followed by Jerry Cook, Bernie
Miller and Rene Charland.
Forty years ago in 1972, Bobby
Sprague was the big winner at Seekonk on Friday night. Freddie Schulz
finished second with Johnny Tripp, third. At the Albany-Saratoga Speedway,
Eddie Pieniezak took the win over Denis Giroux, Dave Lape and Eddie Flemke.
George Summers, in the Ken Curley No.31 took a popular win at Stafford on
Saturday night. Eddie Flemke finished second with Fred DeSarro, Bob Santos
and Ernie Gahan rounding out the top five. Islip ran a 200-lap national
championship event on Saturday night, which drew in many outsiders. Once the
checker dropped and the dust settled it was Jim Hendrickson sitting in
victory lane. Jerry Cook finished second with Bernie Miller, third. Fonda
ran a double point event with Jack Johnson taking the win. Dick Watson was
the Modified winner at Waterford. At Utica-Rome on Sunday night, Dave Kotary
held off Richie Evans, Lou Lazzaro, Jerry Cook and Denis Giroux for the win.
Thirty five years ago in 1977,
Bugsy Stevens made it three in a row at Stafford in Friday night modified
action. Ronnie Bouchard finished second with Ray Miller, third. At
Riverhead, also on Friday, Fred Harbach took the win over Wayne Anderson and
Charlie Jarzombek. At Seekonk, on Saturday night, John Rosati took on the
big boys and came home the winner. Henri ”Red” Barbeau finished second with
Jim Wilkins, third. At Westboro, George Savory mastered the high-banked
quarter mile oval. Mike Murphy finished second with Butch Walch, third. It
rained at Waterford and Thompson but at Monadnock on Sunday night, Donnie
Ayer beat the rain and Don Miller to take down the win. Brian Ross finished
third.
Thirty years ago in 1982,
Reggie Ruggiero won a hotly contested 40 lap-Thompson 300 Pole Qualifier
over Greg Sacks and Ronnie Bouchard. Ruggerio took the lead on the start
from pole sitter, Ronnie Bouchard. Sacks was declared the winner after a
post race inspection indicated that Ruggerio’s carburetor was illegal. Ray
Miller took the Friday night win at Stafford despite the fact that Ruggerio
was breathing down his neck during most of the feature. Ruggerio settled for
second with Greg Sacks, third. In other Friday night action, George Kent won
at Spencer over Jerry Cook and Billy Griffin, John Blewett JR won a 100
lapper at Riverhead over Fred Harback and George Brunnhoelzl and at New
Egypt, Richie Evans won out over Jamie Tomaino and Tony Siscone. Thirty-four
Modifieds were on hand at Waterford on Saturday night. Harry Rice took the
win over Randy Lajoie and Moose Hewitt. Brian McCarthy was the Super Stock
winner. At Riverside Park it was Mike Stefanik over Stan Gregger and at
Seekonk, George Summers outran Ronnie Bouchard and Mike Murphy for the win.
George Kent made it two for two on the weekend as he took the win at
Shangri-La over Doug Hewitt and Richie Evans. At Islip, Wayne Anderson
mastered the 1/5th mile oval.
Twenty five years ago in 1987,
the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Series was at Riverhead for a 151
lapper on Wednesday night. Rain postponed the event to Thursday night. Mike
Ewanitsko slipped by Bob Park on lap 132 and went on to record the win. Tom
Baldwin led the early going until he got caught up in a wreck, which had
been triggered by a blown engine in the Don Howe car. Park finished second
and was followed by Mike Stefanik, Bill Park and Jim Spencer. Ed Flemke JR
was the SK-Modified winner at Stafford on Friday night but the big story was
that NASCAR Chief Steward, Leo Waters, resigned after a dispute with General
Manager Ed Yerrington. What happened was that Waters had suspended and fined
Bo Gunning for a rough riding incident the previous week. During the week,
Gunning appealed to Yerrington who, in turn, over-ruled Waters. Needless to
say, Yerrington never told Waters of his decision. Waters felt that
Yerrington had made a fool out of him and quit on the spot and would never
return. Saturday night at Waterford, Moose Hewitt beat out Jerry Pearl and
Ronnie Rocco. At Riverside it was Dan Avery over Stan Gregger and at
Riverhead, Bill Park beat out Tom Baldwin and Eddie Brunnhoelzl. In other
weekend activity, Lee Sherwood took the win at Tioga and rain prevailed at
Thompson on Sunday
.
Twenty years ago in 1992,
Mike Christopher was the Wednesday night winner at Thompson. Tom Tagg
finished second. Bo Gunning put the S&S 33 in victory lane at Stafford on
Friday night. Richie Gallup finished second with Ronnie Rocco, third. Ricky
Fuller went two for two as he put the Mario Fiore No.44 in the winners
circle at Monadnock on Friday and at Riverside on Saturday. At Waterford on
Saturday night, Ted Christopher drove the North End Auto Parts No.54 to
victory lane over Jerry Pearl. In late model action, Phil Rondeau scored his
eighth win of the season. Mike Ewanitsko won the Charlie Jarzombek Memorial
at Riverhead and Tony Siscone won his fifth of the season at Wall.
Fifteen years ago in 1997,
Steve Chowanski was the Friday night winner at Stafford. Todd Ceravolo won
his sixth of the year at Waterford on Saturday night. Don Fowler finished
second with Eric Berndt, third. John Brouwer was the late model winner. Ted
Christopher made it three in a row at Riverside and backed it up with a
Busch North Series win at Watkins Glen. In the BNS event, Christopher
started third and had to pit on the first lap when his shifter jammed.
Restarting in the rear, Christopher marched to the front and took the lead
with 27 laps to go. Kim Baker finished second with Martin Truex, third. Pole
sitter Mike Stefanik led the first two laps before losing a transmission.
The NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Series was at Riverhead for a 201-lap
event. Mike Ewanitsko took the lead on lap 60 and managed to weave his way
through the lapped traffic to take the win over Mike Stefanik, Tom Cravenho
and Tim Connolly. In Winston Cup action at Watkins
Glen, Jeff Gordon scored his first ever road course win. Geoff Bodine
finished second with Rusty Wallace, third. In other news, NASCAR announced
that the Las Vegas Speedway would have a Winston Cup date in 1998. Dave
Blaney won $1 million in a sprinter at Eldora Speedway in Ohio and Danny
Johnson won $17,500 in the Mr. DIRT USA event at the Lebanon Valley
Speedway.
Ten years ago in 1992, the
racing weekend started on Thursday at Thompson where an elated John Brouwer
Jr. won his first feature at the 5/8-mile oval amid some tough customers.
Brouwer, who left the Waterford Speedbowl after an early season dispute with
track officials, made Thompson his new home. In fact, it was probably a good
career move especially if Brouwer has a design to move up to one of NASCAR’s
touring divisions. Brouwer took the lead on lap five of the 30 lap main
event and led the rest of the way to take the victory over Bobby Santos III.
Ted Christopher fought with an ill handling car and finished third. Bo
Gunning and Tom Tagg finished fourth and fifth after recovering from a first
lap jingle with Eric Berndt. Defending track champion Bert Marvin finished
sixth. Stafford ran a 150 lapper for the SK-Modifieds on Friday night. With
$3,500 and valuable track points on the line, Bo Gunning was hoping to pad
his point lead and get car owner
Eddie Partridge his first track championship. Gunning seemed to have the
race well in hand until a lap 86 restart when Lloyd Agor booted him. The
spin and eventual wreck also collected Ted Christopher and Jeff Baral. Ron
Silk, who had been running second, took the lead and went on to record his
first Stafford win. Eric Berndt, who has had a miserable season, got the
monkey off his back as he came home in second spot. Doug Coby, Lloyd Agor
and Mike Holdredge rounded out the top five. The Featherlite Modified Tour
Series was represented by Ed Flemke Jr. who finished seventh and rookie
sensation Todd Szegedy who finished 33rd. Gunning ended up 23rd and
Christopher finished out the night in 24th spot. There were ten cautions 109
of the scheduled 150 laps run under green. The regular Saturday night racing
program saw Dennis Gada score his fifth win of the season. It was also a
milestone for car owner Harry Wyatt as it was his 50th win at the shoreline
oval.
It looked like tech inspector Everett Marvin was not fooling around
as he made extensive checks looking for traction control devices. Marvin
even had those checked remove their body tin. All those checked were legal.
Ed Reed JR finished second.
Five years ago in 2007, the
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour started the weekend of on a wet note as rain
washed out the scheduled event at Stafford on Friday. The entire event was
rescheduled for Saturday night. Ted Christopher ended an almost year long
dry spell as he won the event over Todd Szegedy and Mike Stefanik. It was
Christopher’s seventh win at the track where he is the all-time winningest
driver and the points leader in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series’ SK
Modified Division. But it was his first trip to Victory Lane on the Whelen
Modified Tour since Aug. 17, 2006 at Thompson (Conn.). Christopher led 58
laps before pitting on lap 76. He quickly worked his way back up front and
retook the lead on lap 114. Doug Coby, making his first start of the season
for the No. 77 Race Against Cancer Foxwoods/Subway Pontiac, finished fourth.
Donny Lia (No. 4 Dodge), who won the first two Whelen Modified Tour stops of
the season at Stafford, was fifth.
Matt Hirschman, Jerry Marquis, Eric Beers, Jimmy Blewett and Woody
Pitkat rounded out the top 10. Thirty-two cars, light by Tour standards,
were on hand. All started the event. Numerous wrecks and spins were the
cause of 13 caution periods as almost half (73laps) of the 150-lap distance
was run under the yellow.
In True Value Modified Series action Jon McKennedy took the
checkers at the Canaan Speedway in New Hampshire.
In regular Thursday Night Thunder action at the Thompson Speedway
Keith Rocco picked up his third Sunoco Modified (Sk) win of the year. Jay
Macedonio wired the field for his first-career Pro Stock win. Rick Gentes
continued his dominance of the Late Model division with his sixth win of the
season. Larry Barnett turned his recent bad luck around with a win in the
Limited Sportsman division while Kurt Vigeant made it two in a row in TIS
Modified competition. Brad Caddick scored his second Mini Stock feature win
of the season. Rocco of Wallingford, CT, scored his win with an impressive
performance in the Sunoco Modified division. The headline division was
stacked up three-wide before they entered turn one on lap one. Things got
worse when a struggling pole-sitter, Danny LaJeunesse, spun in turn two. Bad
luck continues to plague Todd Ceravolo, who, once again, was in the wrong
place at the wrong time. Danny Cates and Steve Masse occupied the front row
when the racing went back to green on lap one. Masse lost ground on the
restart handing the lead temporarily to Danny Cates. Before the completion
of the lap, Tommy Cravenho was the new leader. A grinding wreck in turn one
that included Russ Blanco, Brian Tagg, LaJeunesse and Dave Lacroix brought
the action to a halt with the red flag on lap three. Under caution, Jimmy.
Blewett headed to pit road. When racing resumed, Cravenho continued to show
the way with Rocco moving into the second position. The caution flew on lap
six when the #5 of John Blewett came to rest with a ball of flame in turn
four. The restart pitted Rocco against Cravenho for the lead. The two went
wheel to wheel, even bouncing off each other, as they headed toward the
start/finish line. Rocco was able to grab the top spot from Cravenho on lap
eight. Masse and Cates were hanging tough inside the top five. Kerry Malone,
Woody Pitkat and Bert Marvin were getting racey for the fifth position.
The duo of Rocco and Cravenho were putting some distance back to
third. They watched their lead fade when the caution flew on lap 14 for
further troubles for the T.S. Haulers Team. Jimmy Blewett came to rest in
the infield off of turn two. The green flew again one lap shy of halfway
with Rocco and Cravenho still showing the way. Rocco got away a bit from
Cravenho while they went two-by-two inside the top five. The fourth spot was
a busy place with Masse holding off Cates, and Marvin, who had made quick
work of Pitkat and Malone after the restart. Again, it was a two-car
breakaway with Rocco leading Cravenho. Masse ran third while Cates was being
hounded by Marvin. Pitkat, Buddy Charrette and Kerry Malone took chase.
Marvin was able to take the third spot from Cates with less than ten laps
remaining. Marvin caught Masse with five laps to go. Pitkat and Malone
ganged up on Cates as they were able to advance their positions on the
rookie. With Rocco checked out on Cravenho, Marvin continued to dog Cates.
Malone turned up the heat on Pitkat for the fifth position. At the finish,
it was all Rocco. Cravenho settled for the second position. Steve Masse had
a career day in the Modified finishing third. Marvin ran a smart race to
quietly finish fourth over Pitkat.
In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action at the Stafford Motor
Speedway Woody Pitkat and Ryan Posocco continued their streaks with Pitkat
taking his fourth consecutive SK Modified® feature victory, while Posocco
scored his third consecutive Late Model feature win. Glen Reen took down the
SK Light feature win for his fifth win of the 2007 season, Rick Lanagan
scored his fifth Limited Late Model feature win of 2007, and Megan
Bienkowski scored her first career victory in the 15-lap feature event. The
40-lap SK Modified® feature took the green with Todd Owen leading the field,
but he was surpassed for the lead by Jeff Malave on lap-4. The first 27 laps
of the race ran under green flag conditions, with Malave building up a full
straightaway lead over Owen before the caution erased that margin. Woody
Pitkat moved from third to second on the restart on lap-31 and then took the
lead from Malave on lap-34. Pitkat held serve on two final restarts in the
last
four laps to score the feature win. Brad Hietala charged through the pack in
the closing laps to come home second, with Malave, Ted Christopher, and
Frank Ruocco rounding out the top-5.
In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action at the Waterford
Speedbowl Tommy Fox went pole to pole as he ended a shutout season at the
shoreline oval. Fox held off Shawn Monahan during the final two restarts.
Tom Fox won his first feature of what has been a tough season for the
veteran driver, leading from wire to wire and holding off Shawn Monahan on
two restarts, the last with 14 laps to go. Dennis Charette was third and
Donnie Fowler fourth, with Jeff Pearl, fifth. Bruce Thomas Jr won his ninth
Late Model feature of the year and has all but wrapped up the division
title. Phil Evans won his fourth Mini Stock feature of the season. Mark
Lajoie passed Jim Procaccini, who led from the start, on the outside with
just two laps to go, to win his first career Sportsman feature and Michael
Gervais spun out Jason Palmer on the final turn of the last lap, so track
officials awarded Glen Billings, who was running third, the victory for a
win in the Legends INEX Nationals qualifier in a caution-filled 50-lap
feature.
Dirt tracker Brett Hearn scored his 500th win when he won a 100
lapper at the Lebanon Valley Speedway on Saturday night.
Kevin Harvick had victory lane to himself, using perfect pit
strategy to win the Busch Series Zippo 200 Saturday at Watkins Glen
International. Harvick, the defending Busch Series champion, led 37 laps and
beat Jeff Burton by 3.5 seconds for his second consecutive win, fifth this
season and 31st of his career. That ties him with Jack Ingram for second
all-time behind Mark Martin's 47. Polesitter Kurt Busch was third, followed
by Paul Menard and rookie Brad Coleman. Juan Pablo Montoya, who started on
the front row and was seeking a record third NASCAR road course win of the
season, ran up front much of the day but finished 33rd after being caught up
in a crash with Jason Leffler on a restart with 14 laps remaining in the
82-lap race. With just two laps remaining in Sunday's Nextel Cup Centurion
Boats at The Glen at Watkins Glen International, Jeff Gordon had a two
car-length lead on Tony Stewart. NASCAR's top two road racers were preparing
for a final
clash. It never happened. Gordon spun out on his own heading into the first
turn, Stewart zoomed past, held off a late charge from Carl Edwards, and won
for the third time in four races.
Last year, 2011, The Stafford
Motor Speedway played host to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series for the
Town Fair Tire 150. The event drew 28 cars.
Ted Christopher recorded his 41st career NASCAR Whelen Modified
Tour victory amid rumors that his ride in the Ed Whelen No. 36 is in
jeopardy. Christopher led the final 15 laps of the 150 lap grind after
taking the lead from Mike Stefanik. Stefanik had nothing for the Stafford
All-Time winner as he settled for the runner-up spot at the checkered flag.
Bobby Santos finished third followed by Eric Beers and Eric Goodale. Sixth
through tenth were Rowan Pennink, point leader Ron Silk, Eric Rudolph, Doug
Coby and Jimmy Blewett.
The win was Christopher's 11th tour win at Stafford, where he is a
seven-time track champion in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series. He is
the track's wins leader over all divisions with 113 victories.
There were two caution periods for fourteen laps. The first yellow
was displayed on lap 116 when Doug Coby and Todd Szegedy spun in turn four.
Szegedy hit the wall as Coby went down in the dirt in the inside of the
track. It appeared as though James Civali triggered the incident as got
loose as the leaders were approaching him. Civali drove away. The second
yellow was for Ron Yuhas who spun without incident.
In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series feature racing at Stafford,
Keith Rocco recovered from a "Bump and Run" by Ted Christopher to take his
third consecutive and sixth feature win of the 2011 season in the SK
Modified® feature, J.J. Hill scored a dominating first win of 2011 by
leading all 30 laps in the Late Model feature, Joey Cipriano nailed down his
fourth win of 2011 in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, Duane Provost
picked up his first career win in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and
Josh Wood beat his father Don to the checkered flag to record his third win
of the 2011 season in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.
In Thursday Night Thunder action at the Thompson Speedway Ryan
Preece earned his second Sunoco Modified feature event win of the season
holding back some strong competitors. Rick Fuller and Preece were locked in
a heated battle for the top spot in the opening laps. With heavy pressure
from Preece, Fuller held the spot for two circuits before giving way to the
charge of Preece. By lap three, Keith Rocco had moved into third with Woody
Pitkat and Danny Cates occupying the top five. On lap five, Fuller got a run
on Preece but a lapped car impeded his progress. The veteran settled back in
line in second. Fuller immediately had to contend with Rocco; who was all
over the back bumper. The top five ran nose-to-tail in a high-speed freight
train. Preece continued to show the way over Fuller, Rocco, Pitkat, and
Cates.
During the long green flag run Cates began to fall back slightly.
Fuller and Preece got away from Rocco by a single-car length. Pitkat ran in
fourth several car lengths behind Rocco. The top-three began to break away
from the pack with Preece holding back Fuller and Rocco. The lead trio
continued to run together over the second half of the race. With five laps
to go Rocco lost the lead duo. Fuller continued to dog Preece as Rocco faded
back several car lengths behind. Fuller never lost the back bumper of
Preece; but, could not muster up a real assault on the leader over the final
laps.
It was one for the history books for Glenn Boss who scored his
fiftieth career win at Thompson in the extra-distance spotlight event for
the TIS Modifieds. For the second time this season, the O’Sullivan Brothers
of Springfield, MA, shared victory lane at Thompson. Big brother Mike scored
the victory in the Super Late Models with Tommy earning top honors in the
Late Models. Shawn Monahan continued his domination in the Limited Sportsman
division with his sixth win of the season. It was a convincing win for Chad
Baxter of Pascoag, RI, in the Mini Stocks.
At the Waterford Speedbowl fans and competitors went away happy as
the impending rain held off allowing the entire racing program to be run. In
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action, Rob Janovic Jr. snapped a dry
spell that dated back to August of 2009 to score his first win of the season
in the SK Modified® division. In a special 50-lap Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late
Model feature, Wayne Helliwell Jr. took down the win. Al Stone won his
second consecutive and fifth Street Stock race of the year, while defending
track champion Ken Cassidy Jr. won his sixth Mini Stock feature on the year.
Rob Richardi Jr. won the night’s visiting Pro Four Modifieds of New England
feature.
Janovic started the 35-lap SK Modified® feature in third position,
quickly moving up to second position in the opening lap behind Nichole
Morgillo. Janovic wasted no time in his pursuit of the lead, diving
underneath Morgillo on lap-3 in turn one to successfully take over the lead.
While Janovic went unchallenged to the win, Tyler Chadwick and Kyle James
crossed the stripe in second and third position. Morgillo kept Keith Rocco
at bay to take fourth over him at the checkered flag.
The Valenti Modified Racing Series traveled to the Beech Ridge
Speedway in Maine. Like their big brothers on the NASCAR Whelen Modified
Tour, car counts are suffering because of the economy as only 20 were on
hand for the event. Mike Holdredge took a well earned win after taking the
lead from Rowan Pennink on lap 57 of the 100 lap event. Pennink faded to
fourth before being spun by Tony Ricci on lap 70. Pennink rallied and worked
his way to the top five by lap 84 when he tangled with Steve Masse while
fighting for third spot. Les Hinckley finished second and was followed by
Dwight Jarvis, Tony Ricci and Joey Jarvis. Rounding out the top ten were Max
Zachem , Louie Mechalides, Joe Doucette, Jacob Dore and Chris Pasteryak.
At the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island, Justin Bonsignore made it
two in a row in NASCAR Modified competition with another visit to victory
lane this week in NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing.
The Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC was in action for two
nights last weekend, Friday and Saturday. The regular Saturday night racing
program, twin 50 Modified events, was moved to Friday to make way for a
NASCAR Southern Whelen Modified Tour event, 199 laps, on Saturday night. As
usual, competitors roughed each other up as the "Bump and Run" is the
accepted way of passing at the flat quarter mile oval. A tangle between
Joseph "Bobo" Brown and Burt Myers in the first of two scheduled 50-lap
Modified races ended with Jason Myers, Burt's brother, coming out the loser.
The winner turned out to be unrelated Tim Brown, who took the checkered
flag. The second scheduled Modified race was canceled because of rain.
In Saturday night Whelen Southern Modified Tour action, LW Miller
became the first driver to win a NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour race
at Bowman Gray Stadium two years in a row with a victory Strutmasters.com
199. Last year, Miller took the lead from Burt Myers with 17 laps left and
held on from there. This time, Miller didn't wait so long as he took the
lead from pole-winner and series leader George Brunnhoelzl just before the
half-way mark and then held off Myers in the closing laps.
Sweeping both dirt track Modified races at historic Fonda (New
York) Speedway on Wednesday evening, August 10, Brett Hearn, of Sussex, New
Jersey, reached a career milestone, winning his 800th feature event race.
Hearn’s total victories, garnered over a 37-year racing career, place him
among the all-time winners in any form of American motorsports.
At Fonda, Hearn first won a holdover 30-lap feature race passing
Alton Palmer on the final lap. He followed that victory by then winning the
60-lap “Thunder on the Thruway” evening finale, this time out running Matt
DeLorenzo. Hearn won a total of $9,000 for his two victories. The wins were
Hearn’s tenth and eleventh of the 2011 season. His 800-win career record
includes 471 Big-Block Modified victories, 327 in Small-Block Modified
competition, and two United Racing Company (URC) sprint Car wins. A master
of extra-distance races, Hearn has posted 330 (41 percent of all his wins)
in races of 50 laps or longer.
Brad Keselowski went out and raced all 500 miles of the Sprint Cup
race at Pocono Raceway with a broken left ankle. Competing with a brace on
his ankle, Keselowski sped off on the final restart late in the race to pick
up his second victory of the season. Blinded by smoke billowing from Ricky
Stenhouse Jr.'s car on the final lap, Carl Edwards slammed into his Roush
Fenway Racing teammate and inadvertently pushed him to victory in a wild
finish to the NASCAR Nationwide race at Newton, Iowa.
That’s about it for this week from 11 Gardner Drive, Westerly, and
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
RacingThroughTime.com
Click on Photo for Full Sized
Dick Watson Gary
Colturi
Gino Spada
Billy Greco
Lonsdale Arena
Newt Palm
Looking Back Archive
|
|
Source: Phil
Smith / Looking Back A Bit
Posted: August
10, 2012 |
|
|
