April 17, 2015 |
Sixty years ago in 1955 Don Collins made it two in a row in
Modified action at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. Lou Tetreault
followed suit as he made it two in a row in non-Ford action at the Conn.
shoreline oval.
Fifty five years ago in 1960 Wild
Bill Slater, driving the famous Connecticut Valley Rocket V-8, was the 25
lap Modified feature winner at what was called then, the New
London-Waterford Speedbowl. Charlie Webster was the non-Ford winner and Newt
Palm was victorious in the Bombers.
Fifty years ago in 1965 Sal Dee
became an early season repeat winner as he notched the 35 lap Modified win
at Waterford. Bill Scrivner was the Bomber winner.
Forty five years ago in 1970,
Martinsville ran their spring 100 lap modified event on Saturday afternoon.
To no ones surprise, Ray Hendrick took the win over Jerry Cook, Jimmy
Hensley and Fred DeSarro. Stafford ran twin 25's on Saturday night. Leo
Cleary, driving the Koszela NO.15 took the opener over Bob Melnick and Ed
Yerrington. Yerrington came back to win the nightcap despite a lot of
pressure from Bill Greco and Don Flynn. At Fonda, Jerry Pennock and Lou
Lazzaro shared victory lane .Don Wayman finished second to Pennock and was
followed by Lee Millington and Rene Charland and Bob Langevan. Cook managed
to fly back to Fonda where he recorded a sixth. At Thompson on Sunday, Bugsy
Stevens and Moose Hewitt shared victory lane as they both won 25 lap events.
At the Waterford Speedbowl, Glynn Shafer took the Modified win while Larry
Crandall was victorious in the Late Model Daredevils.
Forty years ago in 1975, the
Modifieds ran at Beltsville on Friday night. Joe Thurman took the win over
Geoff Bodine, Billy Hensley and Jerry Cook. Richie Evans ran out of gas and
finished 10th.Evans made up for Beltsville on Saturday night as he took the
win at Shangri-La. George Kent finished second with Ronnie Bouchard, third.
Evans gambled that it would rain at Fulton and he hit it right as he headed
for Franklin County in Virginia for a Sunday afternoon event. John Bryant
took the top spot over Joe Thurman and Ray Hendrick. Evans had problems and
finished 11th. Blast Off ’75 at the Waterford Speedbowl fell victim to rain.
Thirty five years ago in 1980, the
only weekend action was at Shangri-La where Jerry Cook took an 80 lap win
over Richie Evans and George Kent. A dispute over race purses between
competitors and Wall Stadium owners caused track owners to cancel racing
indefinitely.
Thirty years ago in 1985, all
eyes were on Riverside Park where Doug Hevron, in the Mario Fiore N0.44,
took an 85 lap win. Reggie Ruggiero finished second with Ted Riggott, third.
In Winston Cup action at North Wilkesboro, Neil Bonnett took the win.
Twenty five years ago in 1990, Stan
Greger was the Saturday night winner at Riverside Park. Tom Bolles finished
second and was followed by Dan Avery, Bob Polverari and Steve Park. Stafford
ran their Sizzler on Sunday. A glorious day turned to sadness when Tony
Jankowiac lost his life in a bad crash. Mike Stefanik was the eventual
winner and was followed by Mike McLaughlin and George Kent. In Winston Cup
action at North Wilkesboro, Brett Bodine scored his first Winston Cup Win
Twenty years ago in 1995, Reggie
Ruggiero broke Chris Kopec's streak at Riverside as he won the 50 lap main
event on Saturday night. Chris Young took the opener at Riverhead over Lenny
Fischer and John Fortin. Mike Ewanitsko in the Art Barry No.21 won the 200
lap Spring Sizzler on Sunday by a large margin over Rick Fuller and Mike
Stefanik. Reggie Ruggiero led the first 70 laps before going down one lap
because of worn tires. Ewanitsko took the lead from Fuller in turn two on
lap 178.Dan Avery finished fourth and Satch Worley rounded out the top five.
Steve Park won the 80 lap-SK-Mod Feature. Last but not least, DIRT Legend,
Barefoot Bob McCreadie scored his 400th career win at Canadaigua Speedway on
Sunday night.
Fifteen years ago in 2000, it was
Easter weekend. Scheduled events at Riverhead, Wall and Waterford were
rained out.
Ten years ago in 2005, The Waterford
Speedbowl ran under clear but cool skies. Rob Summers made up for the
previous weeks disappointment as he won the SK Modified feature. Summers
never got to race on opening night as his engine expired during a qualifying
heat. Summers started on the pole. Mike Finkeldey had a career high second
place finish. Finkeldey now had Rick Ceravolo as his crew chief. Rob Janovic,
Jay Miller and Kurt Lenehan rounded out the top five. Carl Eriksson edged
Bruce Thomas for the Late Model win and Jim Procaccini was the Sportsman
winner. George Whitney took the victory in the Legends Car feature.
In Whelen Modified Tour Series news, Eric Beers, driver of the Boehler
Racing Enterprises No.3 was on the mend at his home in North Hampton, PA
after suffering a broken collar bone and hairline fractures of two ribs at
the Thompson Ice Breaker. Beers stated that he hoped to be in competition at
Stafford the following weekend and would like it to be known that his LaJoie
seat and the rugged construction of the Boehler No.3 saved him from what
could have been severe injuries. After much thought it was decided by Beers
and car owner Mike Boehler to put Todd Szegedy in Ole Blu for the Sizzler.
Connecticut Speedway Developer Gene Arganese was forced to wait until
April 25 to learn what property will be rezoned to establish the
resort/recreational development (C-5) zones he needs to build his proposed
racetrack and convention center in the town of Plainfield. On April 12 the
Planning and Zoning Commission decided to delay a decision on creating the
zones on land off Interstate 395 exits 87 and 88 until the Town Planner
could define more clearly the properties that could be included in the
zones.
In some sad news it was learned that Leon Drake, known better as Leo
Hill, passed away on April 9 at the age of 66. For many years Drake’s garage
in North Stonington Ct housed the Modified driven by Johnny Thompson at the
Norwood Arena and later at Thompson and Stafford. Drake was a Plumber by
trade and was also a welder and steel fabricator as he did numerous repairs
and built more than his share of race cars including a replacement V-8 for
Bill Slater when he was hurt at Thompson in the late 60’s.
Greg Biffle won the Nextel Cup event at the Texas Motorspeedway. Kasey
Kahne was the Busch Series winner. Junior Miller won the Whelen Southern
Modified Tour 100 at the Caraway Speedway in North Carolina,
Five years ago in 2010, the Waterford
Speedbowl began their Saturday night racing series with Keith Rocco making
it two in a row in the SK Modifieds. Prior to the event Rocco indicated that
his car did not have a Jerico Racing Transmission. He stated his car was
equipped with a Saginaw 3-speed transmission. Rocco's big secret is the fact
that his car out-handles his competition, especially in the outside groove.
Dan Field and Allen Coates repeated in the Norwich Bulletin Mini Stock
and Truck divisions. Other winners were Ronnie Oldham Jr. in the Street
Stocks and Giovanni Giarratana in the Legends Cars.
A full field of SK Modifieds went to post for the 35 lap main event.
Rocco, who started 12th, took the lead from former Legends Car track
champion Mark Bakaj on lap 20. For the remaining 15 laps Rocco was on cruise
control. Justin Gaydosh ended up in second with Rob Janovic third. Bakaj ran
up front all night to finish fourth and Jeff Paul rounded out the top five.
Todd Ceravolo, who finished second on opening day, was headed to the front
to muster a challenge, had the misfortune of having an engine go bad which
forced him to drop out. Ceravolo was credited with a 23rd finish.
The NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour visited the South Boston
Speedway in Virginia last Saturday for a 150 lap event. Connecticut native
James Civali, driving the Roger and Sandra Hill No. 79 took the victory
after withstanding a late race charge from LW Miller. Civali and Miller were
out front for most of the race as the pair swapped the lead eight times with
Miller getting past Civali for the final time on Lap 144. Civali was able to
get back by on Lap 147 and hold on for the win. Miller finished second,
while Andy Seuss recovering from an early-race accident that took him out of
the lead to finish third. Thomas Stinson was fourth. Zach Brewer, who won
his first Coors Light Pole Award with a track record of 14.765 seconds
(97.528 mph), finished fifth. Tim Brown finished sixth. He started on the
point after drawing the pole in the post-qualifying redraw of the top eight
spots, but was involved in the early accident with Seuss. John Smith, Burt
Myers, Brian King and Brian Loftin completed the top 10.
Kevin Harvick took advantage of a late caution to win the NASCAR
Nationwide Series race Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway. Harvick and crew
chief Ernie Cope gambled by taking two tires when the eighth yellow flag of
the day came out with 34 laps to go. That enabled Harvick to seize the lead
from Kyle Busch, who was unable to mount a challenge as the race wound down.
Harvick, strong on long runs all day, led three times for 52 laps, including
the final 34.
Harvick, driving his own Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet, beat Reed Sorenson
by 0.2 seconds. Busch, who beat Harvick in the Trucks race on Friday night,
was third. Justin Allgaier, coming off a victory two weeks ago at Bristol,
was fourth, and Brad Keselowski rallied to finish fifth.
There were eight cautions for 43 laps including a five-car pileup that
brought out a 14-minute red flag. Two cautions involved rookie James
Buescher and veteran Jason Leffler. They tangled in turn two early in the
race and Leffler was ejected later after crashing Buescher into the wall on
the front straightaway. NASCAR's Sprint Cup division was off in observance
of Easter.
Last year, 2014, The main event in
New England was the running of the re-scheduled Blast Off at the Waterford
Speedbowl on Saturday and Sunday. Literally tons of cars from New England
and Long Island were at the Connecticut shoreline oval. In total, 13 race
divisions saw action on the three-eighths mile oval, with seven feature
races run Saturday evening.
Keith Rocco hit a home run as he went three for three on Sunday as he won
the SK Modified 64 lap Blast Off, the Late Model feature and the 100 lap
Valenti Modified Racing Series 100. Rocco, clearly the class of the field in
all three divisions, took the lead in the 64 lap SK Modified feature on lap
10. He started on the pole in the 100 lap VMRS event and led every lap.
Following Rocco in the SK 64 lapper was Craig Lutz, Kyle James, Ted
Christopher and Shawn Thibeault. Chris Pasteryak finished second to Rocco in
the Valenti Mods, Todd Szegedy finished third with Jeff Rocco, fourth and
Max Zachem, fifth. Sixth through tenth were Mike Holdridge, Eric Goodale,
Anthony Nocella, Todd Annarummo and Mike Willis, Jr. In the Late Model
feature Bruce Thomas finished second with Jason Palmer, third. Glenn Boss
and Vince Esposito rounded out the top five. Sixth through twelfth were Jeff
Smith, Anthony Ryan, Nick Sowa, Joe Gada, Mike Sweeney, Rich Duranti and
Ryan Morgan.
Qualifying for Sunday’s six big events took place Saturday afternoon.
Leading the way were the Rocco brothers, as Jeff and Keith each picked up
heat race wins in the Valenti Modified Racing series. Ted Christopher won
the Series’ third heat race while Justin Bonsignore won the 15-lap
consolation race. Jeff Rocco followed up his strong Valenti Modified run by
earning pole position honors for Sunday’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series
SK Modified® division’s 64-lap race which commemorates the track’s number of
years in operation. He won his qualifying race in that division as well,
joining Christopher and Todd Ceravolo as winners in the three qualifiers.
In features run on Saturday night at Waterford, Rick Williams scored a
first-ever victory in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Light
Modified race. Dylan Izzo continued his domination of the INEX Legend Cars
division winning for the second straight week while Zach Thomas and Jon
Porter won for consecutive weeks in the X-Car and Super X-Cars,
respectively. In touring series races, P.J. Stergios of Candia, NH won the
NEMA Lite feature and Chris Turbush of Riverhead, NY won the NewEngland
Truck Series race. Oakdale’s Derek Debbis checkered the INEX Bandolero
feature for the youth racing class.
There were 33 Valenti Modified Racing Series Modifieds on hand. The SK
Modified car count totaled 25. The next event for the Valenti Modified
Racing Series is a 100 lapper at the Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, NH.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series was off as competitors made
preparations for the upcoming Spring Sizzler at the Stafford Motor Speedway
on April 27. While most of the Modified teams enjoyed the weekend off their
southern counter parts were racing at the Langley Speedway in Virginia.
George Brunnhoelzl III led the final 67 laps of the 150 lap event after
passing points leader Andy Seuss, and survived a green-white-checkered
finish for his first win of the season. Twice in the first three races,
Brunnhoelzl finished second to Seuss. It also extended Brunnhoelzl's tour
record for career wins to 21. Seuss came home second and David Calabrese was
third. Luke Fleming and Ryan Preece rounded out the top five. Seuss took the
lead on Lap 62 from Ryan Preece, who won the Coors Light Pole Award earlier
in the day. Burt Myers was sixth, followed by rookies Bobby Measmer Jr. and
Joe Ryan Osborne, Jason Myers and Gary Putnam. There were 17 cars on hand.
Chase Elliott drove around Elliott Sadler on the last lap of Friday’s VFW
Sport Clips Help A Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway to score his
second-straight series victory.
Kevin Harvick turned around all the bad luck he has faced in the last
five weeks by winning Saturday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington
Raceway. Harvick dominated at the 1.366-mile oval Saturday after starting
from the pole, leading 239 of 374 laps.
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. |
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Looking Back Archive
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Source: Phil
Smith / Looking Back A Bit
Posted: April
17, 2015 |
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