Racin'
Stuff:
By Tom Avenengo
First things, first:
Please keep all those in
New article:
In case you didn’t know – I have a new article out about what’s being said on the Internet. The articles about what’s being said on the Internet will be a weekly thing for a while – usually early in the week.
More on Crocky Wright:
Last week, I made mention of the passing of Crocky Wright. This past Monday, Gordon White sent this message out to all those that belong to the Yahoo! Race History Group:
“The extensive racing records
of the late Crocky Wright have been delivered to the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing
in
R.I.P. Crocky - an old friend”
And, later on, Stan Lobitz sent this:
“Gordon,
Tony`s father delivered a trailer load of neat stuff last week. It
will take a heck of a long time to catalog and list all the fine
memorabilia. I`m thrilled that Crocky thought enough of EMMR to entrust
it to us. I will be happy to spread his ashes there.
When we first bought the property Crocky helped clear the brush
and
worked his butt off at
Stan Lobitz......Drums,
Pa...................”
Over last weekend, one of those that I met while being at
OVRP’s Dirt Oval over the years, Jeff Muller, from
Some of my thoughts:
On Monday I received an e-mail from SPEED which showed some of their shows for this coming week. I attempted to copy and paste what was in the message, but that didn’t work. So I went to their website and checked out their schedule for this week. Kinda sucks, really, as far as “racing” goes. And I got to thinking – here is one of the biggest racing events of the year – the Chili Bowl, and it ain’t on TV! Why in the world hasn’t SPEED attempted to get this on TV – or have they? Surely those that run the Chili Bowl can’t be worried about not selling their seats if it was televised live, can they? Heck, it’s sold out very shortly after they announce the tickets as being for sale.
Here is the link to what they will have on TV for this week:
http://www.speedtv.com/schedule/filter/date/2010-01-10/2010-01-16/
Chili Bowl results:
Sad to say, but at this time I only found results from the Tuesday opening nights racing.
http://www.chilibowl.com/2010resultstue.asp
For daily updates, you can go here: http://www.chilibowl.com/home.asp?uUrl=12/4/200963408.02
Going
back, in time – Part 1:
Going
back to early January on:
January
11, 1923:
Carroll
Shelby was born.
1981: Bobby Allison won the NASCAR race at
1987: Rich Vogler won the Chili Bowl
January
12, 1928:
Lloyd
Ruby was born
1958: Chuck Rodee won the 50 lap midget race in
January
13, 1957:
Gene
Hartley won the 100 lap midget race in
Shorty
Templeman won the 67 lap midget race at South Mountain Speedway in
1959: Ernie Irvan was born
1962: Jimmy Davies won the 50 lap midget race in
1984: Rich Vogler won the opening night feature at
the Chili Bowl
2007: Joey Payne won the TQ race at
January
14, 1961:
Bob
Wente won the 50 lap midget race in
1967: Jim Clark won the Levin International race in
the Tasman Series
1968: Billy Vukovich won the 30-lap sprint car race
at the San Gabriel Speedway
1982: Johnny Matera, east coast racer, passed away
1989: Sammy Swindell won the Chili Bowl Link to race report: http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/report/1_14_89-1.html
Nick
Fornoro, Jr. won at Niagara Falls Link:
http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/report/1_14_89-2.html
Sean
Michaels won the Micro race at the Philadelphia Convention Hall Link:
http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/report/1_14_89-3.html
January
15, 1950: Johnny Mantz won the 50-lap
sprint car race in
1960: Chuck Booth won the 30 lap midget race in the
1966: Jimmy Maguire won the TQ race in
1978: Mario Andretti won the Argentine GP
Rich
Vogler won the 75 lap midget race in Ft. Wayne Link:
http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/report/1_15_78-1.html
A
bad day at Laguna Seca out in
January
16, 1935: A.J. Foyt was born.
1960: Jim Lacy won the TQ feature at the
Pee
Wee Griffin won the stock car race in
2007: Benny Parsons passed away from cancer, at
65. He retired from racing in 1988 and
went directly into broadcasting, being the first driver to do so.
January
17, 1960: Fred Clifton won the TQ race at the
Bud
Hamilton won the TQ race in
1965: Dan Gurney won his third straight race at
1976: Jack Bertling won the TQ race in
Racing
on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
You
might want to check the above link on occasion to see what might be on TV, race
wise, over the next month or so.
While
not on live TV, there will be some stuff coming out of
This
should not have to be:
Found
this on a link on Track Forum:
“Looking
for pavement rides in USAC Silver Crown, Sprint or Midget, or sponsorship to
help our small family team. I can provide the knowledge and ability to win
races, just lacking funding. Willing to help your team or young
driver. Can work on cars and setup, and bring my dad as a top pavement crew chief.
If interested you can e-mail me at bs39898@hotmail.com.
Or I can call you.
Thanks, Bobby Santos”
Bobby,
in my way of thinking is one of the best, today, as far as racing on pavement
goes. It’s a damn shame when driving
skill takes a back seat to “can you bring money?”
Other
forums/message boards and websites:
Note: Unless I see something really interesting, I’ll just be posting links to the various places for a while.
Jayski: - http://www.jayski.com/
NASCAR Says Rear
Spoilers, Yellow Lines, "No Bumping Zones" May Disappear In 2010: NASCAR's Managing Director
Corporate Communications, Ramsey Poston, said Friday that the sanctioning body
is investigating the possibility of replacing rear wings with old-style rear
spoilers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, in time for the start of the 2010
Daytona 500. However, Poston told Sirius NASCAR Radio's Sirius Speedway with
Dave Moody that the change has nothing to do with cars becoming airborne during
high speed crashes at the circuits two superspeedways; Daytona and
Poston revealed that NASCAR is likely to loosen the reins on drivers next
season, saying, "We're going to let the drivers drive." While
declining to give specifics prior to the official announcement, it is expected
that NASCAR will eliminate the controversial "no bumping zones" at
superspeedways, and possibly even the rule prohibiting drivers from racing
below a yellow line at the bottom of the banking at both Daytona and
Talladega.(Sirius
Speedway)(1-9-2010)
Nine of Ten
Chase races on ESPN: Nine of the 10 races in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and 14
total races in all will air on ESPN next season, the network announced
Wednesday. ABC, which aired 11 races last year, will air three NASCAR races in
2010 -- all on Saturday nights. ESPN will handle the other 14 races to end the
season, starting with the Brickyard 400 on July 25 and concluding with the
final race of the season Nov. 21 at Miami-Homestead. All of the East Coast
races will begin at 1:00pm/et. West Coast races will
begin at 3:00pm/et (other than the Sept. 5 race at
"This is exciting news for NASCAR and our fans," said NASCAR Media
Group President Paul Brooks, in a statement. "The ESPN subscriber base is
larger than ever at nearly 100 million, and the network has the proven ability
to attract younger viewers. As the premier network during the most competitive
time of the year for sports, having more NASCAR races on ESPN will create more
exposure." Starting on Aug. 28, ABC will show 16 straight weeks of sports
on Saturday nights, including the Little League World Series, three NASCAR
races and 12 college football games.(ESPN)(1-13-2010)
Larger
plate at Daytona? Sources tell Sirius NASCAR Radio's Sirius
Speedway with Dave Moody that NASCAR could mandate a larger restrictor
plate for this year's running of the Daytona 500. Sprint Cup Series racers were
required to run a 31/32" plate at Daytona and
NASCAR to
announce changes Jan 21st: On Jan. 21 at the
AND: NASCAR teams are testing this week at Texas World Speedway
[#12-Keselowski tested at TWS last week], to see how that planned new rear
spoiler might work on their Sprint Cup cars, according to stock car crews.
NASCAR officials are tentatively planning to change the rear wing on the Cup
cars to a more standard flat rear spoiler, beginning either with the Bristol
500 March 21 or Martinsville 500 March 28. But it will be the Cup races at
NASCAR
to test spoliers on the COT; Wing gone? denied: NASCAR officials are
seriously considering a plan that would replace the rear wing with a spoiler on
Sprint Cup cars, spokesman Ramsey Poston said on Thursday. "We are
currently meeting with drivers and owners to discuss a number of options,"
Poston said. "Going back to the spoiler is one of them under serious
consideration. We'll make an announcement in the coming weeks." Before the
governing body makes a final decision, the spoiler and how it reacts with the
new heavier car will be tested in the wind tunnel and on the track. If there
are signs the spoiler will improve competition then the switch is likely to
occur. Poston would not say when the change might occur, but it is unlikely it
will happen in time for the February opener at Daytona International Speedway.
The decision to look at the spoiler came after intense meetings, including one
Thursday at NASCAR's Research and
AND - Wing Gone? Denied:
#19-Elliott Sadler told Sirius NASCAR Radio's Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody
Thursday that NASCAR is investigating new ways of keeping Spring Cup Series
racers from taking flight during events at Daytona International Speedway and
Talladega Superspeedway. Sadler was one of many drivers and
team owners who attended a closed-door meeting with the sanctioning body at
NASCAR's
NASCAR.com: http://www.nascar.com/
Dirt Track Digest’s forum: http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/forum/index.php
Track
Forum: - http://www.trackforum.com/forums/
Hoseheads:
- http://www.hoseheads.com/
On
Hoseheads, from my friend, Richard Golardi:
http://www.hoseheads.com/richard.html
Track
news:
OCFS:
The 2009
OCFS Awards Banquet will take place this Saturday, January 16th, 2010 at the
Kuhl's Highland House in
I see that
Accord has a “tentative” schedule up on their website already. http://www.accordspeedway.com/
Also, the
ARDC has their schedule posted, too.
From their
website:
Other
racin’ stuff:
Speaking
of OCFS – I’ve had different things said to me about the CRSA and OCFS. Things like, “Look for three shows in 2010”,
“I doubt we’ll be there in 2010” and “Too much wear and tear on our cars at
OCFS”.
More racin’ stuff:
I’ve read different things about
Friday nights in 2010 – where some drivers might be. Mostly “wishing” things, I’d say. What will the drivers do that used to run at
Albany/Saratoga on Fridays, now that it’s paved? How many will return? How many will stay? There are “Rumors” going
around, like this: “Dave
Camara at Accord on Fridays along with Brett Hearn, Higbie and 3 BIG
Namedrivers from northest PA and 2 from NJ.”
When I read that, I just
had to post this:
“Well, it that is true, then
Mr. Palmer best think about getting more stands up, new rest rooms, and maybe
more help in the kitchen. Might need a bigger parking lit, too.”
Methinks it would
be great if that above rumor was partly true.
The
History of the Sport:
Something a little different this week. Going back a few years to
the Accord Speedway, and their very first “Turkey Chase” race. What follows, in part, is from my article
that was on www.openwheelracing.com
- or was it www.openwheelracers.com?? Since the article was quite long, I’ll just
put in a little from the article, and the finishes of the four features that
they had, almost as it appeared in my article.
“Being November 30th, and with Accord being about an hour north of Port Jervis, weather was the biggest concern. Good old Weather Channel was forecasting showers in the afternoon, with temperatures in the low 40's. Here in Port Jervis, we still had some snow on the ground, in some areas, from an earlier snow fall, which, thank God, was not what the Weather Channel had predicted - amount wise, anyway! I just had to wonder how much snow would be on the ground - an hour north? After an hour drive north, I found out.
Seems like the further north I drove, the less snow could be seen. The day was quite overcast, but it really did not feel like we would be getting some form of precipitation. As I pulled into the parking area at the speedway, I noticed that it was quite full. This was approximately 1:30 in the afternoon. The racing was scheduled to begin at 2 O'clock. I have to commend Mr. Gary Palmer for having the intestinal fortitude to schedule an event for this late in the season. I, like many others, were thinking that the show would never come off, or it would be too cold.
This "Turkey Chase" event was the last race meet in the "Fall Series" at the speedway. Unfortunately, "Mother Nature" had not been to kind on Saturdays during the months of September and October, and some of the racing was cancelled due to rain. The town allowed Mr. Palmer to extend the schedule to cover those rained out events. Guess it does not hurt to have a good relationship with the town fathers.
Every class that ran at the speedway during the course of the racing season was scheduled to run on the day of the Turkey Chase event. This included the new Four Cylinder class, and Pure Stocks, each with a $200.00 to win payday. The Pro Stocks and Mini Sprints would be running for a $500.00 to win purse. The DIRT Sportsman would have $600.00 going to that class’s feature winner. Last, but not least, the DIRT Small Block Modifieds would be running for a purse that would pay $3,000.00 to the OVERALL winner. Yes, I said overall winner. The small block feature race would be four twenty five lap races, with the field inverted, to a degree, in each feature, after the first one. The first feature would have a "Heads Up"start - in other words, the winner of the first heat would start on the pole position. The second heat winner would be outside pole etc, etc. The driver with the LEAST amount of points at the end of all four features would be the race winner. So, for a win, you would get one point. For second place, 2 points, then on up.
Considering the cold weather we had had over the last week to ten days, the tracks surface was in pretty good shape. Granted, it was a little frozen in the morning, and the track crew dug up the surface, got it thawed out, then hit it with the roller and track vehicles. All the heat racing and consolation races would be over the eight lap distance. the Four Cylinder class would have a feature of twelve laps. The feature racing program was set up in this fashion: Small Block feature # 1, Pure Stock feature, Small Block # 2, Pro Stock, Small Block # 3, Mini Sprint, Small Block # 4 and the Sportsman feature, to close out the show. Car counts: Small Block: 26. Sportsman: 20. Pro Stock: 17 Mini Sprint: 15 Pure Stock: 13 Four Cylinder: 4
Robbie Green was there. Why not? He has won the big money races at Accord this past season. In the seven features he has won at Accord, Robbie won the race that was held in his father's honor, that paid $3,000.00 to the winner, and then he won the Joe Winne Memorial race that paid $2,000.00 to the winner. Plus, Robbie had an outside chance of winning the "Fall Series" point title. Speaking to him, he was not to thrilled about the four twenty-five lap features. "Been there - done them", he told me. "You go out, do good in one, then get crashed in another", he continued. It is very hard to see this "kid" Robbie Green - at 40 years of age! Time sure does fly!
The Small Block features:
The first small block feature was led wire to wire by Frank Cozze. Frank started on the pole, due to the "Luck of the Draw". Finishing behind Frank were, in order, Mike Ricci, Rich Ricci, Jr., Robbie Green, Sparky Lowe, Scott Ferrier, Rick Mill, JR Heffner (in the Jim Baum # 220), Craig Mitchell, Phil Recchio, Alan Shiffler, Tom Perrego, Jeremy Markle, Nick Lapp, Keith Shoemaker, Dom Roselli, Tony Kawalchuk, Barry Davis, Rich Taylor and Bobby Puckett. Danny Creeden ended up as first alternate, although there were no alternates used. Also not qualifying were: Rich Lemiesz, Tom Greiner, Al Johns, Mark Pullen and Mark Johnson.
The second feature for the small blocks: Rich Ricci Jr., in his # 55 came out on top in this race. Behind Rich Jr. came: Robbie Green, JR Heffner, Sparky Lowe, Alan Shiffler, Nick Lapp, Phil Recchio, Mike Ricci, Keith Shoemaker, Frank Cozze, Jeremy Markle, Bobby Puckett, Barry Davis, Scott Ferrier, Craig Mitchell, Tony Kawalchuk, Rick Mill, Dom Roselli, Rich Taylor and Craig Mitchell.
The third feature: Robbie Green's "Green Machine" was starting to hook up better with each race. Robbie, in the # 69 was the victor in feature # three. Rich Ricci Jr. came across the line in second place, which kept the point situation very close, heading into the last segment. Rich had six points and Robbie had seven. After Robbie and Rich Jr., we had: JR Heffner, Mike Ricci, Rick Mill, Alan Shiffler, Frank Cozze, Scott Ferrier, Phil Recchio, Sparky Lowe, Nick Lapp, Keith Shoemaker, Barry Davis, Tom Perrego, Bobby Puckett, Jeremy Markle, Dom Roselli, Tony Kawalchuk and Rich Taylor. What was quite remarkable is the fact that, so far, every car has started every feature. There were some major problems with some of the cars, and credit must be given to the crews for getting the cars ready for each feature. There is a lot of "rubbing" when you get twenty cars on a tight1/4 mile track, and after about a dozen laps, the leaders are into lapped traffic. Quite a few times, this day, there were "get togethers" between leaders and lapped traffic, which, unfortunately, set the leaders back a bit. Was pretty neat to see the "hot shoes" come back through the pack!
The lineups in successive small block features were, to an extent, inverted. When the line up was announced for the last feature, it seemed to me that the higher point drivers were - shall I say - towards the rear of the field. Pretty sure that Robbie Green was starting in the number eighteenth spot, out of twenty.
After marveling at the way that Frank Cozze was getting around, and also how the Ricci boys were doing, I could see that the odds were against the "Green Machine". But no fear! Gradually, Robbie came towards the front. Cozze was in the lead, then he broke. Rich Ricci Jr., who was one point ahead of Green or the overall win, then had the lead. Then came the fateful re-start. As they got between the first and second turn, hard contact was made between Green and Ricci Jr. For reasons unknown, the magneto in Rich's car decided to quit. Talking to Robbie after the feature, he told me he had signaled Rich to go ahead of him, after the contact, since Rich was leading. But when Rich did not move, Robbie continued on. As for Mike Ricci, he would have had a hard time winning overall, since, in his own words, he was constantly in the wrong place at the wrong time all day long. But he was still in the running for the "Fall Season" championship. With about ten laps to go, there was another re-start. Green was still in the lead. Mike was at the end of the field. The announcer made the announcement that if Robbie won, then Mike would have to finish in seventh place or better. Mike had his work cut out. Was pretty neat seeing him come through the field. At the end of this last twenty five-lap run, Robbie Green had crossed the line in first place. Young Alan Shiffler ended up in second place. Mike Ricci came in third, and with that, he won the "Fall Season" championship. For Mike, at Accord, this season, he was now a two time champion, this year - winning the regular seasons title also. Behind these three we had: JR Heffner, Scott Ferrier, Rick Mill, Dom Roselli, Phil Recchio, Keith Shoemaker, Tom Perrego, Rich Ricci Jr., Frank Cozze, Sparky Lowe, Bobby Puckett, Jeremy Markle, Barry Davis, Nick Lapp, Craig Mitchell, Tony Kawalchuk and Rich Taylor.
So, overall the
finish ended up like this (with finishing positions & point totals): 1. Green (4-2-1-1 = 8 points), 2. M.
Ricci (2-8-4-3 = 17), 3. R. Ricci Jr.(3-1-2-11 = 17),
4. Heffner(8-3-3-4 = 18), 5. Cozze(1-10-7-12
= 30), 6. Shiffler(11-5-6-2 = 24), 7. Lowe(4-4-10-13 = 32), 8. Ferrier(6-14-8-5
= 33), 9. Rechhio(10-7-9-8 = 34), 10. Mill(7-17-5-6 =35), 11. Mitchell(9-15-20-18
= 62), 12. Shoemaker(15-9-12-9 = 45), 13. Lapp (14-6-11-17 = 48), 14.
Markle (13-11-16-15 = 55), 15. Perrego
(12-20-14-10 = 56), 16. Roselli (16-18-17-7 = 58), 17.
Before I made the trek up to Accord, I did inquire with the
Video
time:
Here’s an interesting video on indoor racing. The first part is what sure looks like 600 Micro Sprints with wings. The second part is midgets with no wings. Check it out and see which is the better race. I know which one I’m voting for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSsS0EwqxbU
And,
the 2009 Chili Bowl highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHHe-JrTGlM&feature=related
Other
(non racing) news:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100108/ap_on_bi_ge/us_geithner_fed_aig
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100111/ap_on_bi_ge/us_stimulus_unemployment
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100112/ap_on_bi_ge/us_stimulus_counting_jobs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100113/ap_on_bi_ge/us_meltdown_investigation
(Must
be why they’re raising the fees, etc, on our credit cards, huh?)
Closing with these:
Remember this:
Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.
Life is simpler when you plow around the stumps.
A bumble bee is considerably faster than any tractor.
The words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled.
Meanness don't jes' happen overnight.
Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.
Do not corner somethin' that you know is meaner than you.
It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
You can't unsay a cruel word.
To be continued
May “Guardian Angels” sit on the shoulders of all of
our race drivers and race fans, and guide them safely around the tracks!
Drive safe!
As
usual, you can reach me at: ygordad@yahoo.com