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This
race has a special meaning for me as Tommy Druar was
my childhood neighbor, and his sisters, Peggy and
Debby, were schoolmates of mine. Tommy was friendly
and well-liked. He was a skillful wrench and very
good racecar driver.
Druar, who was the NASCAR Modified Track Champion at
Lancaster Speedway (now known as Dunn Tire Raceway
Park) in 1987-1988, was leading the championship
mid-season in 1989 when he suffered a life-ending
encounter as he ballooned over another competitor’s
wheel on June 10th. Tommy’s wife, Mickey, was on
hand tonight as were his daughter Ashley and his son
Matt, who competes in the #37 Sportsman Division at
DRTP. Matt finished second in tonight’s feature. The
Druars lost another brother, Robert, earlier this
year. According to Debby Druar Jankowiak, Bobby was
a big fan of the “the Tommy and Tony Memorial Race.”
In less than a year the Druar and Jankowiak families
would suffer another devastating loss as Debby’s
husband, Tony, suffered a life-ending injury on the
NASCAR Modified Tour event at Stafford Motor
Speedway in the Spring Sizzler on April 22, 1990.
Tony was driving the #99 Pots/Riggs machine and was
passing a lap down car. They touched wheels, sending
Tony nose first into the turn one wall.
Tony was survived by his wife Debby Druar Jankowiak,
and two sons. Son Andy is the leading the points at
Holland Speedway with four wins going into tonight’s
event at Holland. Tommy Jankowiak is not a
motorsports enthusiast - he is into other sports and
athletics.
In attendance tonight in addition to Debby
Jankowiak, were Ashley Druar, Peggy Druar and Mickey
Druar. The event would pay $3000.00 to win and
$300.00 to start. Howie Markel and Lori Ovedorf also
collected lap money for the racers. I’m not sure of
the exact amount collected, but I believe I heard
over the PA system that $5800 was raised. The event
offered $370 for the leader of lap 37 and $730
dollars to the lap 73 leader. Both laps were led by
Erick Rudolph of Ransomville, NY.
 The event was run under Race of Champions Asphalt
Modified rules as far as the weight, motors, and
shocks allowed. Lap 73 was a mandatory caution. For
the last 37 laps only the green-flag laps were
scored - which was a good thing as many cautions
came after lap 73, including a green-white-checker
finish.
Many of the laps sponsored were in the memory of
other racers who have passed. Hazel and I sponsored
lap 99 in memory of John Blewett III (lap 66 was
taken). There were just too many people to remember
and I couldn’t hear all of the announcements.
Qualifying for the “Tommy and Tony” was done with
heat races.
Heat 1 winner: Jimmy Zacharias; Heat 2 Winner:
Austin Kochenash; Heat 3 winner: T.J. Zacharias.
The race drivers were introduced on the front
stretch with Debby Jankowiak and Mickey Druar
wishing each
 competitor good luck. They gave the
command to “start your engines.”
Jimmy Zacharias and Mike Leaty started on the front
row and Leaty scooted to front on the star with
Zacharias in hot pursuit. Leaty lost his challenger
on lap 24 when the caution came out. The leaders
were Leaty, Zacharias, Storace, Erick Rudolph and
Sege Fidanza in the top five. On the lap 24 restart
Zacharias and Storace made contact and Zacharias’
nose ended up against the front stretch wall coming
out of turn four. He made nice recovery by not
hitting the big foam blocks. He took the #71 to the
pits to be looked at and returned. The #47 of
Storace was sent to the rear for the incident. On
the restart Billy Putney in the #88 made contact
with the #71 and right front control arm damage
caused an early end to the night for Jimmy
Zacharias.
On lap 37 Erick Rudolph took the lead from Leaty and
held it until the lap 73 break. On the lap 74
restart Matt Hirschman took the lead and was
challenged by Hossfeld in the #22 over the last 36
laps. On lap 90 caution came out again. Hossfeld’s
car appeared to be stronger on the long run, but no
matter what line or tactic he tried, he just
couldn’t catch the speedy Hirschman on the numerous
restarts. The green-white-checkers was a nice finish
with the win going to Matt Hirschman in the #60.
Hirschman hails from Northampton, PA, and he thanked
the fans for supporting the event. Hossfeld also
thanked the fans for the support.
Tommy Druar & Tony Jankowiak Memorial Modified
110 Feature Finish:
Matt Hirschman, Chuck Hossfeld, Patrick
Emerling, Rusty Smith, Billy Putney, Erick Rudolph,
Mike Leaty, Jan Leaty, Austin Kochenash, Sege
Fidanza, Jim Storace, Doug Reaume, TJ Zacharias,
Kevin Lewis, Karl Hehr, Dick Kluth, Kevin Miller,
Daren Scherer, Jimmy Zacharias, Mike Odwazny, Tom
Weist, Tim Neis, Tommy Cloce.
Lap Leaders: 1-36 M. Leaty; 37-73 Rudolph;
74-110 Hirschman
Heat Winners: J. Zacharias, Kochenash, TJ
Zacharias |
