Racin'
Stuff:
By Tom Avenengo
First things, first:
Well, “Mother Nature” kind of threw a Monkey wrench into the Eastern States Weekend this past weekend. The activities for Friday and Saturday did get accomplished, but Sunday, with the forecast of 90% chance of rain, and with some light rain early Sunday morning, the Sunday activities were postponed until Saturday, November 7th, with a rain date of Sunday, November 8th.
Some of my thoughts:
In my column of September 3rd, I had this:
“I still have no
idea as to what some of the rules will be for ESW. The main thing is tires – what kind? OC has a special branded American Racer tire. Might that tire be mandatory? And if so, so what – heck you have to buy
tires for the weekend anyway, right? Ah,
but here’s a little “problem” – it seems that some of those that have run OCFS
for the whole 2009 season have had a hard time getting their chassis hooked up
with the track, with those tires. So,
what about “Invaders” – will they also have those problems? I’ve spoken to two of the areas top drivers
and both agree, if the OCFS track tire is the only one
to be used, it will affect the amount of entrants for ESW – in all classes.”
Speaking with
quite a few of the race fans at ESW, and reading on various message boards and
forums on the Internet, the tire situation for ESW really seems to be the main
culprit for the low car counts. Some
“name” drivers have come out and said that the tire deal for ESW was what kept
them from participating. Granted the
weather forecast for the entire weekend left a lot to be desired, but it all
comes down to the tires, so it seems.
I’d venture to say the amount of cars taking time trials for the Big Block
portion of the weekend was quite a bit down from what we’ve seen in years
past. Only 47 cars took time, and some
of them were either Small Blocks or Sportsman cars, too. 39 cars took time for the Small Block
portion, while 42 cars took time for the Sportsman portion of the program.
Here are some
figures form past ESW as far as time trials go:
2004: 89 Big Blocks, 94 Small Blocks and 71 Sportsman
2005: 75 Big Blocks, 93 Small Blocks and 43 Sportsman
2006: 77 Big Blocks, 78 Small Blocks and 64 Sportsman
2007: 78 Big Blocks, 74 Small Blocks and 54 Sportsman
The above figures
were taken off of “My Laps”, and I could not find My Laps information on the
2008 ESW.
The fan turnout
wasn’t all that good, either – by a long shot.
I suppose it was a combination of things like the weather forecast, and
rumors of low car counts – which ended up being correct, to an extent. Ticket prices? They were about the same as in years
past. I did hear and read about people
complaining about the cost to get into the pit area, and that could very well
have a lot to do with low car counts too – hey, if the guys on your pit crew
can’t afford the cost, well, you see where I’m heading on that, right? We were in row “O” in the ˝ covered stands,
and I was in seat 44, which was the first seat on the aisle, on the second
stairway. Row “O” is two rows from the
top. All weekend long, it was basically
empty around us, and I kind of think that some of those that sat up towards the
top on Saturday, didn’t really have reserved seat tickets, either. So, how were the ticket sales, anyway? If they were way off, maybe all that has
happened might cause those that run OCFS to open their eyes and make corrections? Time will tell.
Going
back, in time:
Going
back to October 22nd in:
1949
Tommy Hinnershitz won
the AAA Eastern Sprint Car race at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds,
1950
Duane Carter
won the AAA Eastern Sprint Car race over Tommy Hinnershitz at the Williams
Grove Speedway, Mechanicsburg, PA.
1955
Bill Randall won the
ARDC Midget race at the Morristown Speedway, Morristown,NJ.
Buddy Powers won the URC
Sprint Car race over Lou Johnson at the
1961
Johnny Mackison won the
Super Modified race at the Williams Grove Speedway, Williams Grove,PA.
1978
Chuck Ciprich
won the 50 lap Sprint Car race at the Salem Super Speedway, Salem, IN.
Ron Bouchard
won the NASCAR Winston Modified race and Harry Gant
won the Late Model Sportsman race at the Kingsport International Speedway,
Kingsport, TN.
Keith
Kauffman won the Super Sprint Car race and Tom
Hager won the Modified Stock Car race at the Reading Fairgrounds,
Reading, PA.
* Lou Lazzaro
won the 17th annual Eastern States Modified Classic race at the Orange County
Fair Speedway, Middletown, NY. *
Mark Martin
won the 2nd annual Buckeye 400 ASA race at the Queen City Speedway, West
Chester, OH.
*
If interested, check out the article about this event that was in the National
Speed Sport News, by going here:
http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/report/10_22_78-6.html
And
on October 23rd, in:
1920
Nick Fornoro Sr... Born
... Nick was the American Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) driving champion in 1950,
and he was the first NASCAR Midget driving champion in 1953. After retiring, he
went on to be one of the best starters (flaggers) ever, starting out here in
the Northeast and eventually ending up as the flagger for two hundred
consecutive Championship Auto Racing Teams Indy Car Series races (CART),
serving in that position from 1979 to 1992. In 1993 he was the honorary starter
for the
1929
My brother, Raymond Gerard Avenengo was born. Happy Birthday, “Jim”! The big “80”!
1947
Tim Flock scored his
first stockcar win, at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta, Georgia.
1948
Tommy Mattson won the
AAA Eastern Sprint Car race at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds,
1949
Johnny Mantz
won the AAA Eastern Sprint Car race at the Williams Grove Speedway,
Mechanicsburg, PA.
1960
Pete Folse won the IMCA
Sprint Car race at the Louisiana State Fairgrounds, Shreveport,LA.
Parnelli Jones, in the
#51 Fike Plumbing Special, won the USAC Sprint Car race over A.J. Foyt at the
Meyer Speedway,
1966
Dick Atkins
won the USAC sanctioned Golden State 100 on the 1 Mile Dirt Oval California
State Fairgrounds in Sacramento,
Alex Zanardi ... Born
... An Italian racing driver. He won two CART championship titles in
1970
Gary Gabelich, driving
the Blue Flame, set at new Land Speed Record of 622.407 mph on the
1971
A.J. Foyt won the Bobby
Ball Memorial 150 USAC Championship Race on the 1 Mile Paved Oval Arizona State
Fairgrounds in Phoenix, Arizona. Roger McCluskey finished
second followed by Billy Vukovich Jr, Mario Andretti and Gary Bettenhausen.
1986
Sammy
Swindell won the World of Outlaws Pacific Coast Open preliminary Sprint
Car race race at the Ascot Park Speedway, Gardena, CA.
Coming
up:
Ok,
it’s over a month away, but on Sunday, November 8th, the annual
Lobitz Movie Party/EMMR Auction will be held in
You
can call Lynn Paxton for information on this at: 717-432-8188.
The number I’ve found for the Lobitz Catering Hall is: 570-455-2037.
If you plan on attending, get there early – at least before noon. And, if you have something you’d like to
contribute for the auction, all the better!
Note: I’ll continue to post this item throughout
the month of October.
Someone
was nice enough to post this on the Internet about this event:
Indoor
Go-Kart racing returns to
Racing
on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
Actual live racing on TV:
Saturday,
October 24th:
1:00
PM to 3:30 PM on SPEED: Truck Series
race from
3:30
PM to 6:30 PM on ESPN2: Nationwide race
from
Sunday,
October 25th:
1:30
PM to 6:00 PM on ABC: Cup race from
3:00
PM to 4:00 PM on SPEED: FIM World
Superbikes Race # 1 from
4:00
PM to 5:00 PM on SPEED: FIM World
Superbikes Race # 2 from
5:00
PM to 6:00 PM on SPEED: FIM 250 World Championship from
6:00
PM to 7:00 PM on SPEED: FIM MotoGP World
Championsip from
Other
forums/message boards and websites:
From
the Track Forum - http://www.trackforum.com/forums/
A
nice idea, but I doubt it would work in today’s world:
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129660
And,
this – what the “Sisters” would like:
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129697
Empty seats at the races? I noticed
quite a few at Lowes on Saturday night for the Cup race.
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129690
From
Jayski - http://www.jayski.com/
RCR making big
changes; #07 team could go away: Team owner Richard Childress, speaking on Saturday
at Lowe's Motor Speedway, addressed the struggles of Richard Childress Racing
and the possible departure of Kevin Harvick when the driver's contract expires
at the end of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. "All I've got to say is
we are making a lot of changes," said Childress. "We'll probably be
announcing more changes next week coming. We're using these last races to get
prepared for 2010. We know we have to be better. We've seen some improvements.
I think if you look, we've been up front with the different [RCR] cars in the
last few weeks. This [new] car is very touchy and right now Hendrick
[Motorsports] is right up on top of it. They've got it figured out for the most
part. Kevin's going to be with us next year and [sponsor] Shell's going to be
with us. "We'll just see how everything plays out in the future. I didn't
see his interview [at
Note: Ah, sponsorship! That necessary evil! Yup, 2010 looks to be very interesting.
Dale Jr. feels
he's at 'end of my rope': #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn't sound like a driver who was sure Lance
McGrew should be his crew chief in 2010. In fact, he didn't sound like a driver
who was sure about anything: "I'm about to the end of my rope," he
said. NASCAR's most popular driver, who for months has been upbeat about the
progress he was making under McGrew, appeared as low as he's been all season
Friday at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "Yeah, I feel like I don't have any
control, you know," Earnhardt said before practice for Saturday night's
Sprint Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "[Rick Hendrick has] put me in a
great position, but I haven't made the most of it or for whatever reason we're
just not getting it done. I don't know what to do. We were top-15 in practice
and we go out to qualify and we were one of the worst cars here. ... It's like
really encouraging one day and the next day it's equally discouraging. That
gets really old. I'm about to the end of my rope on it." Earnhardt isn't
in favor of switching crew chiefs during the last six races, but he didn't give
McGrew the ringing endorsement he has in the past. Hendrick recently said he
planned to meet with his driver about the crew chief following this weekend's
race. "I don't have the credentials to make the call," said
Earnhardt, who made the switch to McGrew at midseason after a struggling start
with Tony Eury Jr. "If I told you that I wanted to be with Lance next year
I wouldn't be telling you that out of my knowledge of expertise and talent. I'd
be telling because it's fun hanging out with him. Hell, you don't even know if
Lance wants to do it. Hell, I wouldn't want it. It's a tough job."
Earnhardt said whomever he works with needs to be a dictator like Tony Eury
Sr., who was his crew chief for 16 of his 18 victories. Asked
if McGrew wasn't that type of crew chief, Earnhardt said, "I didn't say
that." Earnhardt added that Eury Sr. would have no interest in
moving from his job as the crew chief for the #88 Nationwide Series team at JR
Motorsports. Earnhardt is 22nd in points. His teammates are first (#48-Jimmie
Johnson), second (#5-Mark Martin) and fifth (#24-Jeff Gordon). They have 11
wins among them. He has none.(see full story at ESPN.com)(10-16-2009)
Note: Whenever “Joonyer” comes up for discussion at
our supper table, we are all wondering when Mr. Hendrick will terminate the
contract with him.
Harraka headlines 10-driver
diversity class: Paul Harraka, the
Program operations have been transferred for next year's class to the 909
Group, a sports marketing agency run by Max Siegel, who spent two seasons
running Dale Earnhardt Inc. until the team merged with Chip Ganassi Racing late
last season. He's created his own team, Revolution Racing, to field cars for
all 10 drivers in the 2010 diversity class. Siegel then formed his agency and
partnered with NASCAR to help its struggling diversity program. Since its
inception, no participant has competed full time at any of NASCAR's top levels.
Emerging from the two-day tryouts was Harraka, who won two races and rookie of
the year this season in the NASCAR Camping World West Series. The class
includes four other 2009 Drive for Diversity participants:
- Mackena Bell, who finished eighth in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series
Late Model standings.
- Michael Cherry, who had 19 top-10s in the Late Model
division at Greenville-Pickens Speedway.
- Katie Hagar, who set a track qualifying record at Stockton
(
- Juan Pitta, who had 12 top fives in the Late Model Division
at All-American Speedway.
The newcomers are: Jessica Brunelli of Hayward, Calif., Ryan Gifford of
Winchester, Tenn., Rebecca Kasten of Mequon, Wis., Sergio Pena of Catharpin,
Va., and Darrell Wallace, Jr. of Mobile, Ala.
Siegel will end the practice of sending the diversity program drivers to teams
all over the country, and instead base them all out of
Note: I’m trying to figure out just what one must
be to be included in this “Drive for Diversity” program. I know Harraka raced Karts at OVRP on their
road course when he was a kid, back around 1997, or so, and I do believe he was
born in this country. Does his father
having been born outside of this country mean that Paul qualifies for this
program? I was born in this country, so was my
father. My grandfather was born in
NASCAR.com: http://www.nascar.com/
An
interesting article about “Junior” can be found, here: http://www.nascar.com/2009/news/opinion/10/19/cross.words.charlotte/index.html
Dirt
Track Digest’s forum: http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/forum/index.php
An interesting thread about attendance at SDW in years past and this past SDW, and some mighty fine photos of cars from the good old days, can be found if you go here: http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=32458
http://newenglandtractor.com/racereport/
On this website you’ll find some race reports for OVRP’s Dirt Oval, photos from Ralph Corwin, and this column, too. There are 25 photos up from last week in case you didn’t know of them, and they can be viewed if you go to “Going back in Time Vol 1”. More photos will be coming soon!
Tracks:
OCFS
- http://www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net/
As noted above, the Sunday portion of ESW was cancelled due to the forecast
of a 90% chance of rain. On top of that,
it was also quite cold. Could they have
gotten the show in? Well, to be honest,
I don’t live in Middletown Middletown
Also, believe it or not, it still is not to late to enter the ESW 200!
This, from the OCFS website:
On Saturday,
November 7, all gates will open at 7:00 AM, with track action beginning with
warm-ups at 9:00 AM and racing an hour later at 10:00 AM.
Prior to the headline Eastern States 200, the Modified stock car drivers will
have a last chance consolation race to determine the final starters in the
200-lap grind around the five-eighths-mile Hard Clay track. In addition, the
Vintage Modifieds will run their feature race, and the Pro Stock class will see
action in qualifying races and a 30-Lap feature.
Entries for the Eastern States 200 are still open and additional competitors
are welcome to attempt to qualify, although they will start behind those
drivers already assigned a position in the consolation race.
Accord
- http://www.accordspeedway.com/
From
their website:
October 24th
Racer's Flea Market
Scarecrow Showdown
October 24th & 31st
Racing-Quads
Bikes Slingshots 4 & 2 cyl Karts
Oct
24th Gates open at 3 Racing at 5
Oct 31st-opening time to be announced
CHECK OUT THE MID WEEK MADNESS SECTION
FOR CLASSES
Call 845-626-3478 for more info
___________________________________________
Racer's
Flea Market
Oct
24th 8AM-1PM
2009 Awards Banquet
November 7, 2009
Hudson Valley
Resort
Reservation form in the "forms" section
SAVE MONEY BUY BEFORE Oct 24th
OVRP’s
Dirt Oval - http://www.ovrpdirtoval.com/
Info on “Octoberfest”, October 23rd, 24th and 25th, which was “Novembefest” in years past, can be found, if you go here:
http://www.ovrpdirtoval.com/Octoberfest.html
Last
Saturday, the racing was postponed due to weather. They have this, on their website:
“Rain Out
Information
Please note...we
have rescheduled the last points race to be held the weekend following
Octoberfest...either October 31st or November 7th. If you have any questions,
you can reach us via email or phone.”
Note: “Mother Nature” is scheduled to do her normal
weekend thing on both Friday and Saturday for the OVRP area.
OVRP’s
road course: http://www.ovrp.com/ovrp/pages/home.asp
From their website:
Saturday,
October 24th
Open Practice
10:00am-3:00pm
Endurance
Race 3:00pm
Sunday,
October 25th
OVRP Race Series
Former
OVRP Dirt Oval runners:
This week I’m only
reporting about what happened at ESW with the former Dirt Oval runners.
In
the Sportsman portion of the weekend:
Time
Trials:
Joe
Conklin: 1st Matt Hitchcock: 3rd, Anthony Perrego: 10th, Mike Ruggiero: 14th, Rich Coons: 18th, Matt Janiak 19th,
Doc Young 24th, Keith Still 28th and Bobby Hassenmayer 41st.
Heats: Matt:
4th, Keith: 5th,
Doc 8th, Mike: 1st,
Rich: 2nd, Anthony: 3rd and Bobby 9th.
Consi: Bobby:
9th. I really am
wondering – was that him or someone else in Danny Creedens 16x?
Feature: Matt H:
1st, Joe: 2nd. Mike:
3rd, Anthony: 8th,
Matt J: 19th, Rich: 21st and Keith 27th.
In
the Small Block (358 Modified) portion:
Time
Trials:
Michael
Storms: 4th, Tim
Hindley: 9th, Danny Creeden:
10th, Kyle Armstrong: 22nd, Rich Coons:
31st, Doc Young: 38th. No times were shown for Kolby Schroder, Mike
Ruggiero and Matt Hitchcock.
Heats: Rich:
6th, Matt: 8th,
Mike: 11th, Tim: 2nd, Kolby: 7th, Danny, 2nd, Kyle:
4th and Doc 10th.
Consi: Matt:
3rd, Doc: 9th.
Feature: Michael:
2nd, Tim: 5th,
Danny, 11th, Matt: 19th,
Rich: 22nd, Kyle: 30th and Kolby: 40th.
In
the Big Block portion:
Time
Trials:
Michael
Storms: 15th, Danny Creeden
27th, Tim Hindley: 29th,
Heats: Jimmy 5th, Danny: 2nd, Michael: 3rd, Tim: 2nd and
Consi: To be run on November 7th or 8th.
Feature: To be run on November 7th or 8th.
In
the CRSA 305 Sprint Car portion:
Heats: John Lodini:
2nd, Danny Hennessy: 3rd,
Billy VanInwegen: 4th and
Chuck Alessi 3rd.
Feature: John: 4th, Danny: 15th,
Chuck: 17th and Billy was a
DNS
Family members in racing:
Weather permitting, grandson Brett will be
racing at OVRP’s Dirt Oval in the Octoberfest event. Friday it looks so - so, weather wise, until
the nighttime. Can’t
say the same for Saturday. Sunday
will be Ok, but cooler than Saturday. In
the event the weekend gets cancelled and run the following week, Brett will
more than likely miss the show since some college work is scheduled.
Other racin’ stuff:
The lineup for the Eastern States 200, now
re-scheduled to November 7th, as of October 18, 2009:
1-Tim Fuller *
2-Matt Sheppard
3-Brett Hearn
4-Jerry Higbie ***
5-Jimmy Phelps
6-Billy Decker *
7-Rick Mill ***
8-Chuck McKee
9-Tommy Meier
10-Mitch Gibbs
11-David Van Horn
12-Rich Eurich ***
13-Rick Laubach
14-Pat Ward **
15-Danny Creeden
16-Kenny Tremont
17-Tim Hindley
18-Steve Dodd
19-Jeff Heotzler
20-Andy Bachetti ***
21-Michael Storms
22-Chris Schultz
23-Bobby Varin **
24-Clinton Mills
25-Gary Edwards Jr
26-Bob McGannon
27-Craig Mitchell
28-Mike Kolka
29-Ric Hill
30-Jeremy Markle
31-Jimmy Johnson
32-Donnie Wilson
33-Kirk Horton
34-Billy Eggers
35-Jimmy Horton
36-Tim Bayles
37-44 Consi cars yet to be determined
Note #1: It is being said on the OCFS website that it
is still possible to enter for the 200, but if you did, you’d start at the rear
in the consi. They’ll be taking at least
8 out of the consi. That can be seen, here: http://www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net/09-News/10-18.html
* Tim Fuller is scheduled to
run a Late Model at Lowes on 11/7. Same for Billy Decker, from what I could find.
** Both Pat Ward and Bobby
Varin have a Utica/Rome Banquet to attend on the night of 11/7.
*** Jerry Higbie, Rick Mill,
Andy Bachetti and Richie Eurich might be attending the Accord Speedway banquet
too, after the ESW 200.
Note # 2: I see the Accord Speedway also has their
Banquet on November 7th, too.
As long as the racing gets over with early enough, I believe that it
will be possible to make those banquets, if you’re going to attend either one
of them.
More racin’ stuff:
Getting back to
ESW, and some possible “problems” with both car count and fan wise, - looking
at things - and just what happened to cause this years ESW to be, in my way of
thinking – a “bummer”, what can be done to see that future ESW’s don’t suffer
the same fate?
Well, for one
thing – more advertising must be done.
Next, in my opinion, OCFS can still remain as an “Independent” track and
still have a successful ESW if they do one thing – get rid of the American
Racer tires and go back to Hoosiers. I
think that will happen.
I’ve heard, though
still not confirmed - and I don’t expect any confirmation if true on this until
later on – no 358 class at OC in 2010.
Would there even be a 358 race then on ESW in 2010? Heck, a good portion of the field in this
years 358 race was made up of OCFS 358’s and Sportsman cars, with just a few
“Invaders” – like maybe a dozen out of the 39 that took time. I doubt that with DIRTcar just happening to
schedule a 358 SDS race (scheduled just a few weeks prior to ESW, I should add)
on the same weekend as ESW, had much to do with the low car count this year,
but one never can know, for sure.
If there is no 358
class at OC in 2010, might OC go like Accord and have two classes for the
Sportsman – one “Crate” engine and the other “Race” engine? I doubt it.
That might mean that those that ran “Crate” engines in 2009 would
probably have to go to steel wheels and two barrel carbs, rather than what they
could use in this past season – Aluminum wheels and 4 barrels.
In order to get more fans in the seats at OC next year, what might be planned? Will we see more advertising about the RACING – locally, other than what I’ve heard on the radio? The “Night of Destruction” was advertised on TV and from what I’ve been told and have read, the place was a sell out. I’ve also read that there was a short conversation between one of those promoting that night and a fan and said fan made mention of the crowd and the TV advertising, and he was told that “Things will be different, next year”, by that individual. Interesting, huh? Wonder what that means?
NASCAR Cup
Points, as they were and as they are – from Jayski’s website:
UNOFFICIAL
Sprint Cup CLASSIC - the OLD
way - Driver Points Standings
[after Lowe's, race 31 of 36]:
pos, car#, driver, points, behind
1). #14-Tony Stewart, 4544
2). #48-Jimmie Johnson, 4427, -117
3). #24-Jeff Gordon 4405, -139
4). #5-Mark Martin, 4084, -460
5). #2-Kurt Busch, 4058, -486
6). #11-Denny Hamlin, 4022, -522
7). #42-Juan Montoya, 3979, -565
8) #39-Ryan Newman, 3907, -637
9). #16-Greg Biffle, 3904, -640
10). #99-Carl Edwards, 3862, -682
11). #9-Kasey Kahne, 3852, -692
14). #17-Matt Kenseth, 3774, -770
13). #18-Kyle Busch, 3755, -789
14). #33-Clint Bowyer, 3699, -845
15). #00-David Reutimann, 3644, -900
16). #83-Brian Vickers, 3631, -913
UNOFFICIAL
Sprint Cup CHASE Standings
[after LMS, Chase race 5 of 10; Season race 31 of 36]:
pos, car#, driver, points, behind, [wins], race finish
1) #48-Jimmie Johnson [6 wins], 5923, finished 1st
2) #5-Mark Martin [5 wins], 5833, -90, 17th
3) #24-Jeff Gordon [1 win], 5788, -135, 4th
4) #14-Tony Stewart [4 wins], 5768, -155, 13th
5) #2-Kurt Busch [1 win], 5746, -177, 10th
6) #42-Juan Montoya 5728, -195, 35th
7) #16-Greg Biffle 5655, -268, 16th
8) #39-Ryan Newman 5635, -288, 11th
9) #9-Kasey Kahne [2 wins], 5592, -331, 3rd
10) #99-Carl Edwards 5582, -341, 39th
11) #11-Denny Hamlin [2 wins], 5551, -372, 42nd
12) #83-Brian Vickers [1 win], 5438, -485, 34th
The
History of the Sport:
At times, we’ve lost drivers while they were
competing on the speedways. Here, below,
is just a small, partial list of those that have perished while doing what they
loved to do – alphabetically, finishing up with the letters Y and Z. I imagine that you might recognize some of
the names listed. Later on, in future
columns, I’ll continue my way through the alphabet. If you click on the names, below, you’ll go
right to the Motorsports Memorial website and info on that particular driver.
Floyd Yaeger, Steve Yanigan, Bud Yearick, Myron Yoho, Terry Yost, Perry Younce, Danny Young, Joe Young,
Roy Young, Paul Young*, Don Young, Lem Young*,
Fred Youtz, Leopoldo Zabado, Danilo Zaffari, Ron Zanolli,
Milton Zapia, John Zentner, Henryk Ziemski, Adam Zimmerman, Alessandro Zocchi Ramazzi, Abel Zorrilla,
Attilio
Zuppini and Bob Zwemke.
Paul Young and Lem
Young, not related, were both fatally injured at the same track, Lebanon
Fairgrounds in Lebanon,
Note:
This ends this series of drivers that have been fatally injured while
racing. Next: More “History”.
Video
time:
I found this video over on the Track Forum – Langhorne –
1963. Due to “Uncle Sam” needing my
services at that time, and I was at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nYUFzvd77I&feature=related
Other (non racing)
news:
Some help for mortgages
and renters:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091019/ap_on_re_us/us_mortgage_help
A little help for you
if you’ve overdrawn your bank account:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091019/ap_on_go_co/us_overdraft_fees
Now they’re saying
there are more “Poor” people in the
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091020/ap_on_bi_ge/us_poverty
This “Winner” is a real
loser:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091020/ap_on_en_tv/us_big_brother_oxycodone
Note: I can see these
so called “Reality” TV shows going away, what with some of the news we’ve seen
lately like this, above, and the “Balloon Boy” thing. Maybe we’ll get some good shows on TV now –
shows that will last a couple of seasons, at least?
Hey, you have a kid in
college or one getting ready to attend one?
Things aren’t looking all that good, money wise. I read a while back that there will be more
requests for parents to be co-signers on college loans. Gotta love it! And why are books so expensive for college?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091020/ap_on_re_us/us_college_costs
Nearly one half of the
states in our country are reporting higher unemployment for the month of
September. Many times, in previous
columns of mine, I made mention that unemployment would hit 10%. If those that come out with the unemployment
figures were to also include those that have lost full time jobs, but have been
able to land part time work, then the unemployment figures would be well over
10%. Then it’s being told to us that
there are less workers being laid off today.
Well, it doesn’t take a “rocket scientist” to figure that out – less
workers employed, to begin with, sure you’re going to
have less lay offs. Sad to say, we need
more JOBS in this country and less out-sourcing. And by “Jobs” I mean jobs that pay GOOD wages
and include benefits, too. “Good”
meaning a lot more than the minimum wage, I should add.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091021/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_state_unemployment
Closing with this:
I imagine that most of you get e-mails similar to what I’ve copied and pasted, below. The question is: Might this really be true? And if so, what can we, as citizens, do to correct this? Another reason that if true, we should maybe have another “Operation Wetback” in the very near future? Don’t forget – the little paragraph above that cites the unemployment rate!
“If the immigrant is over 65,
they can apply for SSI and Medicaid and get more than a woman on Social Security, who worked
from 1944 until 2004. She is only getting $791 per
month because she was born in 1924 and
there's a 'catch 22'.
It is interesting that the federal government provides a single refugee with a monthly
allowance of $1,890. Each can also obtain an additional $580 in social assistance, for a total of $2,470 a month.
This compares to a single
pensioner, who after contributing to the growth and development of
Maybe
our pensioners should apply as refugees !
Consider sending this to all your American friends,
so we can all be ticked off and maybe get the refugees cut back to $1,012 and the
pensioners up to $2,470. Then we can enjoy some of
the money we were forced to submit to the Government over the last 40
or 50 or 60 years.
Please
forward to every American to expose what our elected politicians have been doing over the past
years - to the over-taxed American.”
Have you ever
received the above message in an e-mail?
May “Guardian Angels” sit on the shoulders of all of our race drivers and guide them safely around the
tracks!
Drive safe!
As usual, you can reach me at: ygordad@yahoo.com