Champ Trail -
June 28, 2016 |
Modified car owner Mario Fiore passed away last Thursday, June 23, after a
hard fought four year battle with cancer. Fiore, who owned and prepared a
NASCAR Modified for many years and has over 200 wins to his credit, was 65.
Among his many drivers were Gary Coultiri, Reggie Ruggiero, Greg Sacks,
Jimmy Blewett, Rick Fuller, Tom Cravenho and Jerry Marquis. Fiore was
inducted into the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2012. Fiore
retired as a car owner early in 2001 after a win at South Boston Va. His
only Whelen Modified Tour Championship came in 2000 with Jerry Marquis.
Fiore was a long time car owner and was well known throughout New England
with his #44 car. Fiore won track championships at tracks throughout New
England. The Fiore no. 44 had a long run of success with Reggie Ruggiero.
Together, Fiore and Ruggiero won track championships at Riverside Park in
1979, 1984, and 1988; Monadnock Speedway in 1979 and 1988; and Stafford
Motor Speedway in 1983. They also won often at Thompson Speedway. Fiore was
the winning owner in the 1987 Race of Champions at Pocono International
Raceway, a two-time winner at Virginia’s Martinsville Speedway, and a repeat
champion of the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at Florida’s New
Smyrna Speedway.
Besides his father, Mario A, Mario is survived by his brother Louis and
sister Cindy of Springfield; his longtime friends Margaret and John Rosati,
many relatives and special friends. Visiting hours were held on Tuesday,
June 28, 2016 from 4-7pm at Forastiere Smith Funeral Home on 220 North Main
Street in East Longmeadow. The funeral took place on Wednesday, June 29th
beginning at 8:45am at the funeral home, with a Liturgy of Christian Burial
at 10am in Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Springfield, followed by burial
in St. Michael’s Cemetery, also in Springfield. Donations may be made in
Mario’s memory to D’Amour Center for Cancer Care, 3350 Main St, Springfield
MA 01107.
In weekly Friday night racing at Stafford, the Arute family honored the
memory of long time Modified car owner Mario Fiore by extending the SK
Modified® feature distance from its customary 40-laps to 44-laps this past
Friday night. The SK Modified® feature also paid out an additional $44 per
finishing position in his memory.
Ted Christopher served up a one-two punch as he won both the SK Modified
44 lapper and the Valenti Modified Racing Series 80 lapper. Other winners at
Stafford included Kevin Gambacorta who recorded his second consecutive Late
Model feature win, Joe Graf, Jr. who was a first time career winner in the
SK Light feature, Paul Arute took down his third win of the 2016 season with
a last lap pass, and Trace Beyer who scored his first win of 2016 in the
DARE Stock feature.
In the special 44-lap SK Modified® feature event in honor of Mario Fiore,
Christopher held off Ryan Preece to the checkered flag to pick up his first
SK Modified® win since the 2014 season. Rowan Pennink finished third, with
Woody Pitkat and Matt Galko rounding out the top-5.
Christopher and Jon McKennedy served up a see-saw battle on the closing
stages of the VMRS 80 lapper. With 6 laps to go, McKennedy was right on
Christopher’s back bumper. McKennedy hounded Christopher and he took the
lead in turn 3 on lap-77. Christopher came right back in turn 1 on lap-78 as
they were navigating their way around a lapped car and he retook the lead
from McKennedy. McKennedy made a strong move through turns 3+4 on the final
lap to get back to Christopher’s bumper, but he couldn’t make a pass as
Christopher took the checkered flag for his second win of the night.
McKennedy finished second with Dave Etheridge, third. Keith Rocco and Chris
Pasteryak rounded out the top five.
Ted Christopher is the Stafford's all-time winningest driver with 123
feature wins.
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour action shifted to the Riverhead Raceway on
eastern Long Island last Saturday night. Timmy Solomito piloted the No. 16
Diversified Metals /R.B. Enterprises Ford to the win in the Riverhead 200.
To get to Victory Lane Solomito had to hold off Justin Bonsignore in a
green-white-checkered finish that capped a wild night on the historic
quarter-mile. It was a Riverhead sweep of the podium, as Bonsignore settled
for second and Donny Lia came home third. Jimmy Blewett, who had to drop to
the rear on the start for making changes after qualifying, charged his way
up to fourth. And Dave Sapienza rounded out the top five. Max Zachem
finished sixth, followed by Eric Goodale, Chase Dowling, rookie Matt Swanson
and Doug Coby
Earlier in the day, Coby won his fifth Coors Light Pole Award in six
races this season. Coby led a race-high 81 laps but spun after contact with
Bonsignore as the two battled with Solomito for the lead on Lap 196. Coby
salvaged a 10th-place finish and maintained a 17-point lead over Max Zachem.
There were 27 cars on hand.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour takes a two week break before heading
north for the New England 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday,
July 16. It's part of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekend at the "Magic
Mile," which includes the non-points All-Star Shootout for the Whelen
Modifieds on Friday, July 15.
Twin 25's for the SK Modifieds were the main attraction at the New
London-Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday night. Joey Gada won the first SK
Modified feature of the night and Keith Rocco topped the field in the second
for the division. Other winners at the shoreline oval were Ray Christian III
who won the Late Model feature, Chris Meyer who was the winner of the
Limited Sportsman feature, Wayne Burroughs Jr. who was victorious in the
Mini Stock feature along with Dana DiMatteo who topped the field in the
Legends feature and Robin Berghman who won the New England Pro Four Modified
feature.
Rocco continues to build on his record setting feature win total. Rocco's
win in the SK Modifieds brought his track win total to 125 wins. The win
also took Rocco over the top to a career overall total of 221 wins which
also include victories at Thompson and Stafford Speedways.
The NASCAR Modifieds ran twin 25s at the Bowman Gray Stadium in
Winston-Salem, NC. Jason Myers led a caution less 25 laps to claim the
checkered flag in the opener. Brother Burt Myers finished on his bumper in
second with Brandon Ward, third. Randy Butner won the nite cap over Daniel
Yates and Junior Miller.
On the speedway stock market scene last week, all three speedway stocks
finished the week on the negative side. The International Speedway
Corporation dropped 0.99 to 32.56 while Speedway Motorsports dropped 0.34 to
16.90 and Dover Entertainment dropped 0.08 to 2.08. NASCAR cup sponsor
Sprint went up 0.41 to 4.12 and NASCAR fuel supplier Sunoco (Energy
Transfer) went up 0.41 to 38.97 while NASCAR tire supplier Goodyear dropped
1.78 to 25.57. Two of the three major car manufacturers were down for the
week. Ford dropped 0.74 to 12.52 and General Motors dropped 0.88 to 28.35
while Toyota went up 0.72 to 103.96. In the home improvement sector, Lowes
dropped 1.36 to 77.06 and Home Depot dropped 0.74 to 126.40. In the area of
big team sponsor's stocks, McDonalds dropped 2.83 to 119.44, Aarons Rentals
dropped 0.98 to 21.73 and Fedex dropped 11.68 to 150.57 while Coca-Cola went
up 0.06 to 140.59 and Target Department Stores went up 1.85 to 69.35.
On the tube this week:
Tuesday, June 28
2:30 AM, NASCAR The List - Rookie Seasons, NBC Sports Net
4:00 AM, NSCS Sonoma race re-air, FOX Sports 1
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
8:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5:00 PM, NASCAR The List - Iconic Cars, NBCSN
5:30 PM, NASCAR The List - Best Daytona Moments, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
11:00 PM, NASCAR The List - Greatest Finishes, NBCSN
11:30 PM, NASCAR The List - Memorable Moments, NBCSN
Wednesday, June 29
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
8:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
8:30 PM, NCWTS Gateway race re-air, FS1
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
8:00 PM, NASCAR Special, NBCSN
8:30 PM, NASCAR Special, NBCSN
9:00 PM, NASCAR Special, NBCSN
9:30 PM, NASCAR Special, NBCSN
10:00 PM, NASCAR Special, NBCSN
10:30 PM, NASCAR Special, NBCSN
11:00 PM, NASCAR Special, NBCSN
11:30 PM, NASCAR Special, NBCSN
Thursday, June 30
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
8:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
12:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
1:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
2:00 PM, NASCAR Xfinity Series Daytona practice, NBCSN
3:00 PM, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona practice, NBCSN
4:00 PM, NXS Daytona final practice, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NSCS Daytona final practice, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
8:00 PM, NSCS Daytona practice re-air, NBCSN
9:00 PM, NXS Daytona final practice re-air, NBCSN
10:00 PM, NSCS Daytona final practice re-air, NBCSN
Friday, July 1
2:30 AM, NASCAR Special, NBCSN
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
10:00 AM, NXS Daytona final practice re-air, NBCSN
11:00 AM, NSCS Daytona final practice re-air, NBCSN
12:00 PM, NSCS Daytona practice re-air, NBCSN
1:00 PM, NSCS Daytona practice re-air, NBCSN
2:00 PM, NXS Daytona qualifying, NBCSN
4:00 PM, NSCS Daytona qualifying, NBCSN
7:30 PM, NXS Daytona race, NBCSN
10:00 PM, NXS Post Race Show, NBCSN
Saturday, July 2
5:30 PM, NASCAR RaceDay, NBCSN
6:30 PM, NASCAR America Saturday, NBCSN
7:45 PM, NSCS Daytona race, NBC
11:00 PM, NSCS Post Race Show, NBCSN
11:30 PM, NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN
Sunday, July 3
1:30 AM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
2:30 AM, NASCAR The List - Greatest Finishes, NBCSN
9:30 AM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
3:00 PM, NASCAR 120 - Daytona, NBCSN
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.
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Source: Phil
Smith / Champ Trail
Posted: June
28,
2016 |
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