Champ Trail - March 1, 2016

  Now that Florida Speedweeks are over the clock is ticking in the northeast as there are only six weeks before the Men that live by the Grace of God and 600 horsepower get it on for the 42nd Annual Icebreaker at the Thompson Motorsports Park. The will take place on April 8-10, featuring the first championship race of the season for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT). The Icebreaker this year has been expanded to twelve divisions of racing, and will once again include the popular Fan Appreciation party on the track on Sunday morning before the second day of races begin.

  The Icebreaker will start off with a practice day on Friday, April 8. The pit area will open for haulers to start coming in at noon, and rotating practice sessions will begin at 1PM for all divisions except for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and the Pro All Stars Series (PASS). Tickets for Friday cost $15 per person for pit access. Haulers will be able to come in until 7PM on Friday to park for the weekend.
  Saturday’s on-track activity will begin at 9:45 AM with practice for PASS and NWMT competitors. The pits open at 8:00 AM and the grandstands open at 9:30 AM. Qualifying races will begin in the afternoon at 2:30 for all divisions, ending with time trials for the NWMT cars at 4:00 PM. Feature races will begin immediately after, starting with the Vintage Outlaws division who will be racing their first of three events at TSMP this season. Also returning to the Icebreaker will be the Lite Modified division, NEMA Lites, Lite Modifieds, and Trucks. Newcomers to the Icebreaker this year include the Pro All Stars Series (PASS), for their first return to the 5/8-mile oval since 2010, and the start-up stock car series, the North East Street Stock Tour (NESST). The NESST is open to any of TSMP’s Limited Sportsman cars, giving drivers the opportunity to compete twice on Icebreaker weekend.
  Sunday’s events will start off with the return of the Fan Appreciation party on track. Fans will once again be invited to the Icebreaker Fan Appreciation party on the track Sunday morning for the opportunity to meet the stars and cars and enjoy some live entertainment. The morning’s activities will include a Champion Banner Raising Ceremony at 10:30 AM followed by a live concert by American Idol contestant, Timmy Brown.
The racing action will begin on Sunday afternoon at 12:35 PM starting off with the TSMP’s premier NASCAR Whelen All-American Series (NWAAS) division, the Sunoco Modifieds. Also on tap will the TSMP’s other three NWAAS divisions – the Late Models, Limited Sportsman and Mini Stock. The Limited Sportsman and Mini Stock divisions will both be competing in their first race of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Triple Crown Championship, which earns competitors separate points in the three-race series in addition to TSMP points. PASS will be putting on an exciting 75-lap race, and the afternoon will finish up with the feature event, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour 150-lap race at 3:30PM.

  NASCAR announced the 20 nominees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Class of 2017, as well as the five nominees for the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR.
  Among those nominated are Mike Stefanik, winner of record-tying nine NASCAR championships in the NASCAR Modified and K&N (Busch North) series, Buddy Baker, won 19 times in NASCAR’s premier (now Sprint Cup) series, including the Daytona 500 and Southern 500, Red Byron, first NASCAR premier series champion, in 1949, Richard Childress, 11-time car owner champion in NASCAR’s three national series, Ray Evernham, three-time NASCAR premier series championship crew chief, Ray Fox, legendary engine builder, crew chief and car owner, Rick Hendrick, 14-time car owner champion in NASCAR’s three national series, Ron Hornaday Jr., four-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, Harry Hyde, 1970 NASCAR premier series championship crew chief, Alan Kulwicki, 1992 NASCAR premier series champion, Mark Martin, 96-time race winner in NASCAR national series competition, Hershel McGriff, 1986 NASCAR west series champion, Raymond Parks, NASCAR’s first champion car owner, Benny Parsons, 1973 NASCAR premier series champion, Larry Phillips, only five-time NASCAR weekly series national champion, Jack Roush, five-time car owner champion in NASCAR’s three national series, Ricky Rudd, won 23 times in NASCAR’s premier series, including the 1997 Brickyard 400, Ken Squier, legendary radio and television broadcaster; inaugural winner/namesake of Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence, Waddell Wilson, won three NASCAR premier series championships as an engine builder and Robert Yates, won NASCAR premier series championship as both an engine builder and owner.
  The five nominees for the Landmark Award, listed alphabetically, are: H. Clay Earles, founder of Martinsville Speedway, Janet Guthrie, the first female to compete in a NASCAR premier series superspeedway race, Raymond Parks, NASCAR’s first champion car owner, Ralph Seagraves, formed groundbreaking Winston-NASCAR partnership as executive with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Ken Squier, legendary radio and television broadcaster; inaugural winner/namesake of Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence.
  From the list of 20 NASCAR Hall of Fame nominees, five inductees will be elected by the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel, which includes a nationwide fan vote on NASCAR.com. Voting day for the 2017 class will be May 25.

  Jim Schaefer has announced that the up-coming Tri Track Open Modified Series now has enough cars to start 11 rows deep, three wide. The first 33 entries to the NorthEast Race Cars Tri Track Open Modified Series have been submitted by Mike Holdridge, Todd Annarummo, Troy Talman , Matt Hirschman , Kirk Alexander, Jeff Gallup , Chris Pasteryak, Mike Douglas Jr. ,Dwight Jarvis , Max Zachem , Steve Masse , Pitkat A Woody, Joe Doucette , Les Hinckley, Rowan Pennink , Rob Richardi Jr. , Richard Savary , Derek Ramstrom , Jon McKennedy, Zane Zeiner, Dan Meservey , Eric Berndt, Roger Coss, Jon Kievman , Teddy Christopher, Dennis Perry , Garrison Grubisa, Ron Silk, Justin Bonsignore , Dylan Kopec Johnny Bush , Tommy Barrett , Andy Jankowiak . The last day for pre entry was Monday, Feb. 29. Please contact James Schaefer if you need more info on entering.

  On the speedway stock market scene last week the International Speedway Corporation was the only speedway stock to have a positive ending as they finished out the week at 34.99, up 0.50. Speedway Motorsports dropped 0.26 to 18.27 and Dover Entertainment dropped 0.02 to 2.15. NASCAR cup sponsor Sprint went up 0.40 to 3.33 and NASCAR tire supplier Goodyear went up 0.64 to 30.25 while NASCAR fuel supplier Sunoco (Energy Transfer) dropped 2.32 to 26.62. Ford went up 0.37 to 12.47 and General Motors went up 0.85 to 29.63 while Toyota dropped 0.17 to 105.14. In the home improvement sector, Home Depot led the way as they went up 4.57 to 126.26. Lowes followed as they rose 0.58 to 69.10. Big team sponsor’s stocks were all over the lot. Fedex went up 7.62 to 137.38 and Target went up 6.11 to 78.43. McDonalds went up 0.53 to 17.06 and Aarons Rentals went up0.61 to 22.64 while Coca-Cola dropped 3.38 to 173.62.

  On the tube this week:

  Thursday, March 3
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBC Sports Net
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN

  Friday, March 4
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
1:30 PM, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Las Vegas practice, FS1
3:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub Weekend Edition, FS1
3:30 PM, NASCAR Xfinity Series Las Vegas practice, FS1
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NXS Las Vegas final practice, FS1
7:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub Weekend Edition, FS1
7:30 PM, NSCS Las Vegas qualifying, FS1

  Saturday, March 5
4:00 AM, NSCS Las Vegas practice re-air, FS1
5:30 AM, NSCS Las Vegas qualifying re-air, FS1
11:30 AM, NSCS Las Vegas practice, FS1
2:30 PM, NSCS Las Vegas final practice, FS1
3:30 PM, NXS RaceDay, FS1
4:00 PM, NXS Las Vegas race, FS1

  Sunday, March 6
6:00 AM, NXS Las Vegas race re-air, FS1
1:30 PM, NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
3:00 PM, NASCAR Pre-race, FOX
3:30 PM, NSCS Las Vegas race, FOX
11:30 PM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1

   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.
 

Source: Phil Smith / Champ Trail
Posted: March 1, 2016