Champ Trail - November 7, 2017

  The Concord Speedway in North Carolina hosted the annual North-South Shootout last weekend. The event featured Tour Modifieds, SK Modifieds, and the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Models. Ten SK type Mods, 12 Pass Late Models and 27 Tour type modifieds were on hand.
  The action began on Friday night with the Ted Christopher Memorial Shootouts for both classes of Modifieds, honoring the memory and legacy of Ted Christopher.
  Fresh off his win in the Tri-Track event at Seekonk, Matt Hirschman drew the pole position for the 13-car, 13-lap shootout, and led every lap to collect the $3,000, winner-take-all paycheck. Ryan Preece, who won the SK Modified Ted Christopher Dash for Cash, finished second. Gary Putnam finished third in the Modified event with Bryan Dauzat and Anthony Nocella rounding out the top five.
  Following Preece in the SK type event was Chase Dowling, Todd Owen, Josh Wood and David Arute.
  Matt Hirschman completed a $13,000 weekend at Concord Speedway (N.C.), winning the 125-lap Tour Modified feature at the North South Shootout. Hirschman took the lead from Ryan Preece with 12 laps to go in the $10,000-to-win feature, scoring his sixth victory in the event. Bobby Measmer, Jr. finished third and was followed by Burt Myers and Jeff Fultz. Rounding out the top ten was Kyle Ebersole, Jon McKennedy, Anthony Nocella, Chuck Hossfeld and Jason Myers.
  Todd Owen won the 50-Lap SK Modified Feature, David Arute finished second with Chase Dowling, third. Josh Wood and Ryan Preece rounded out the top five.
  Matt Craig all but locked up his second straight Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South Super Late Model championship by claiming his sixth win of the season. Other winners at the Shootout were J. Sanders in the Mini Stock Feature, Justin Carroll in Limited Late Models and Jeremy Haudricort in the Chargers.

  Saturday, November 4 was a huge day for the North East Motor Sports Museum. Beginning at noon, the Museum honored two of New England’s finest racers, Bugs Stevens and George Summers. The Legends Day event at the Museum included an entertaining roundtable with the honoree superstars that included audience participation. There was free food and a cash beer and wine bar. Ceiling banners featuring both drivers were unveiled at the event as well as a surprise ceiling banner featuring a third honoree, Ron Bouchard’s banner was hung next to those of Summers and Stevens.

  Get well wishes to former New England Late Model driver Ricky Shawn who was injured in a plane crash in North Carolina. Shawn was a passenger in a plane piloted by George Howard Chartress III, 62, a Florida man who was was killed after his plane crashed outside of Whiteville Tuesday morning.
  FAA officials said a Beechcraft BE-35 crashed in a wooded area short of runway 24 at the Columbus County Municipal Airport. Highway Patrol officials said the pilot, took off from Lake City, Florida, at 7:40 a.m. and was headed to Rhode Island. Chartress was approaching the Columbus County Municipal Airport to refuel when the plane lost power about 400 yards south of the runway and crashed.
  Shawn, 58, of Rhode Island, was a passenger in the plane and suffered minor injuries. Shawn ownes and operates a towing service, Bradford Motors, in Bradford, RI.

  A tip of the hat goes to Cassie Rocco and Maina Rufrano. As part of their Racing for the Cure campaign leading up to the NAPA Fall Final on Sept. 30, Cassie Rocco and Maina Rufrano took to the wheel of DARE Stock cars supplied by Rent A Racecar for the NAPA Fall Final feature event and in the process raised $5,903 for cancer research in the process. Rocco is the wife of 3-time Stafford SK Modified® champion Keith Rocco and Rufrano is the wife of Rocco’s car owner John Rufrano and mother to SK Light driver Marcello Rufrano.
  Rocco and Rufrano set up an online donation page through the American Cancer Society where donations could be made to support Rocco or Rufrano in their fundraising efforts leading up to the race. Rocco’s race was cut short due to a fuel leak and she finished 21st in the feature event while Rufrano came home with a 16th place finish. While Rocco might have lost the battle on the track, she raised $2,985 to Rufrano’s $2,918 to win the duel of raising the most money.
  “Together we raised just shy of $6,000,” said Rocco. “Our goal was to raise $5,000 so we exceeded our goal and expectation but I feel like we could do better for sure. Maina won the race on the track but I won the race of raising money, so I’m all right with her beating me on the track. She’s a little braver than I am so I think she would always beat me on the track. Once I got over my fear and anxiety of being out on the track, I was having a blast. I was literally just starting to really have fun and the car stopped. I only got like 5 laps and I was hoping for more. Now I know what to expect and I think it’ll be much better.”
  With the success of their fundraising efforts this season, Rocco and Rufrano in conjunction with Stafford Speedway, are excited about organizing a ladies race for 2018 to help raise money for cancer research.

  Race of Champions, Lake Erie Speedway and the Erie Sports Commission management announced that the 2018 Race of Champions Weekend will take place in North East, Pennsylvania as the organizations reached a three-year agreement to keep the event in the Erie Region. The announcement comes following a successful 2017 Race of Champions Weekend, which was held at Lake Erie Speedway for the first time in September.
  The 2018 event will take place Thursday, September 27 through Saturday, September 29. The culmination of the traditional weekend will see the Race of Champions Asphalt Modified Series compete for 250 laps in the 68th Annual Race of Champions. Matt Hirschman was this years winner.

  On the speedway stock market scene last week, two of the three speedway stocks were down for the week. Dover Entertainment went up 0.15 to 2.10 while Speedway Motorsports dropped 0.04 to 19.47 and the International Speedway Corporation dropped 0.20 to 38.50. NASCAR cup sponsor Monster Beverage went up 0.92 to 57.67 and NASCAR fuel supplier Sunoco (Energy Transfer) went up 0.50 to 17.51 while NASCAR tire supplier Goodyear dropped 2.23 to 29.45. Two of the three car manufacturers were up for the week. Toyota went up 1.39 to 125.62 and Ford went up 0.30 to 12.36 while General Motors dropped 2.30 to 42.34. In the home improvement sector, Home Depot dropped 2.95 to 164.39 and Lowes dropped 2.69 to 77.92. The big teams sponsors stocks were all over the lot. McDonalds went up 3.26 to 168.65 and Coca-Cola went up 1.62 to 224.19 while Fedex dropped 6.23 to 224.24, Aarons Rentals dropped 2.71 to 36.43 and Target Department Stores dropped 0.90 to 59.36.

  On the tube this week:

  Friday, November 10
2:30 AM, NASCAR Race Hub, Fox Sports 1
11:00 AM, NASCAR Camping World Truck Seroes Phoenix final practice, Fox Sports 2
12:45 PM, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Phoenix practice, NBCSN
2:30 PM, NASCAR Xfinity Series Phoenix practice, NBCSN
4:30 PM, NXS Phoenix final practice, NBCSN
5:30 PM, NCWTS Phoenix qualifying, FS1
6:30 PM, MENCS Phoenix qualifying, NBCSN
8:00 PM, NCWTS SetUp, FS1
8:30 PM, NCWTS Phoenix race, FS1

  Saturday, November 11
8:30 AM, MENCS Phoenix practice re-air, NBCSN
9:00 AM, NCWTS Phoenix race re-air, FS1
10:00AM, MENCS Phoenix qualifying re-air, NBCSN
11:30 AM, MENCS Phoenix practice, NBCSN
12:30 PM, NXS Phoenix qualifying, NBCSN
1:30 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
2:00 PM, MENCS Phoenix final practice, NBCSN
3:00 PM, NXS Countdown to Green, NBC
3:30 PM, NXS Phoenix race, NBC

  Sunday, November 12
6:00 AM, MENCS Phoenix final practice re-air, NBCSN
12:00 PM, NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
1:30 PM, NASCAR America, NBC
2:30 PM, MENCS Phoenix race, NBC
3:00 PM, American Pickers - NASCAR Challenge, HISTORY
6:00 PM, MENCS Post Race Show, NBCSN
6:30 PM, NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN
11:30 PM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1

  Monday, November 13
12:00 PM, NASCAR Scan All, NBCSN
2:30 PM, NASCAR 120: MENCS Phoenix race re-air, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, 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: November 7, 2017