Racin' Stuff:
By Tom Avenengo
First things, first:
Late last week, a special little article with some photos, about former ARDC and NASCAR midget race driver – the late Jim DiMarco – that I made up from information sent to me by his brother, Joe DeMarco, was published on the New England Tractor website. Besides making mention of it in my column, I also posted about it on the ARDC’s message board. I was wondering just how many “hits” that article might have had, so I e-mailed Jeff Johnson, from New England Tractor this:
“Jeff,
If
it isn't too much trouble, might you be able to tell me how many
"hits" the Jim DiMarco photo article has
had?
No
problem if it takes to much time. Just curious.”
I
was kind of surprised by his response, which was:
“I had 105 views
of that page. This is not 100% accurate as some browsers and some spyware
programs block the tracking software that I use. The actual number could be
much higher.
Jeff J”
Some of my thoughts:
Back in the mid to late ‘50’s, I started smoking
cigarettes. No idea really as to
why. Maybe because, to some of us, it was the “cool” thing
to do. I first realized how expensive it
was when I was in the Army and stationed at
OK, so where am I going here? Well, a friend of mine has tried – over and over again to quit. No luck. This friend has a website that is devoted to the history of the Orange County Fair Speedway – or Victory Speedway, if you like. He also has a message board too. It was on that message board that he made mention of trying something new in order to stop his smoking habit – “Electronic Cigarettes”. Well, to make a long story a little short - that worked. Here, below is what he said on his message board:
Update:
As of today, I have been tobacco-free for 71 days, have
saved $625.00 by not purchasing cigarettes.
Based on a pack a day, I have successfully avoided
1,786 cigarettes.
I have spent a couple hundred bucks on extra e-cigs,
nicotine juice, and accessories, but I'm way ahead financially.
I'm going to make an appointment with our doctor just
for fun, get my blood pressure and lung capacity checked, etc.
I enjoyed puffing away on my e-cig at the OCFS awards
banquet, and frequently "vape" while
working.
The best parts:
I don't cough.
I can walk long distances at a brisk pace.
I can climb stairs while carrying heavy equipment.
Best of all....
I FEEL GREAT!!!”
Going
back, in time:
Going
back to early February:
On
February 1st in:
1959:
It
was on that date when cars first took to the new two and a half mile speedway
in Daytona, Fl.
1969:
Richard
Petty won the 500 mile race at
1981:
Nokie Fornoro won th eTQ
race at A/C
1987: Doug Wolfgang won an All Star sprint car race
at the Volusia Speedway.
1988: Tony Stewart won both the midget and Silver
Crown races at
On February
2nd in:
1966: Billy Boat was born.
1969: Bobby Hamilton won the TQ race in A/C
1985: Bob Glidden was the first NHRA Pro Stock
driver to do a ¼ mile in under 7.6 seconds – with a
time of 7.5557.
On
February 3rd in:
1960: Pete Folse won an
IMCA Sprint car race in
1971: Jerry Blundy
won a sprint caz race in
1973: Ed Enes won the TQ
race in A/C
1979: Johnny Coy won the TQ race in A/C ( Click here for the race report. )
1991: Stevie Reeves won the midget race, Jeff
Gordon the Silver Crown race and Davey Hamilton (who just ran the indoor race
at A/C last weekend) won the Supermodiifed race at
On
February 4th in:
1927: Malcolm Campbell set a land speed record of
174.833 MPH in his Bluebird at Penpine
1951: Bob McLean won an indoor midget race in
1968: Billy Vukovich won
a 50 lap midget race at the El Cajon Speedway in CA
1978: Lenny Boyd won the TQ race in A/C
1987: Bruce Jacobi died. After coming out of retirement to drive, he
came to the 1983 Daytona Speedweeks without a ride
but picked one up with a smaller independent team by the time of the Twin 125
Qualifiers. During the first Twin 125 qualifying race , he lost control of his
car at the exit of Turn 2 and flipped upon entering the grass infield,
eventually coming to a stop near the inside dirt bank. The car flipped end over
end and it is speculated that his roll cage failed during the crash. Jacobi
suffered extensive head injuries from the crash and was in a coma for almost
four years before passing away at
1989: Connie Kalitta was
the first in NHRA history to go over 290 MPH when he did 291.54 in
1990:
Stan Fox won the midget race, Rebel Jackson the Supermodified
race and Ken Schrader the Silver Crown race in
2001: Ernie McCoy died. He was a midget, sprint car and Indy car
driver from
On
February 5th in:
1931: Malcolm Campbell set a Land Speed Record of
256.09 MPH at
1934: Ted Johnson was born. In 1978, he started the “World of Outlaws”.
1947:
Darrell Waltrip was born.
1950: Harold Kite won a 200-mile race on the
1956: Bob Sweikert won a
USAC sprint car race in
1961: Paul Goldsmith won a 100 mile USAC stock car
race in
1977: Bob Cicconi won the
TQ race in A/C. – he
also won that race last weekend, too.
1989: Rich Vogler won the midget race,
Davey Hamilton the Supermodified race and Ken
Schrader the Silver Crown race in
1995: At
2005: Matt Triplett won a USAC midget race in
On
February 6th in:
1955: Herb Thomas won a NASCAR race in
1960: Frankie Schneider won a modified stock car
race in
1971: Doug Craig won the TQ race in A/C. ( Click here for
the race report. ). A.J. Foyt
won the pole position for the Daytona 500.
( Click here for
the race report. ). Jerry Blundy won the second event of the Winternational
Sprint Car series at the Florida State Fairgrounds,
1986: Bill Cantrell died. Bobby Davis, Jr. won an All Star feature at
the East Bay Speedway. ( Click here for
the race report. )
1994: Chuck Gurney won the midget race, Kenny
Irwin, Jr. the Silver Crown, and Davey Hamilton the Supermodified
race in
1999: Mike Dunn turn the ¼
mile in 4.503 seconds in his NHRA Top Fuel car at
2000: Tony Stewart won the midget race and Jason Leffler the Silver Crown race in
Note: A majority of the info that I get for this section, above, can be found here: http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/history.html. Special thanks to them for allowing me to, at times, copy from their website.
Racing
on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
Somehow,
the qualifying for the Daytona 500 wasn’t posted in the link above, last week,
and due to “Daim Bramage”
on my part, I didn’t realize it until way after last week’s column went out, so
it wasn’t in my column, either.
Thursday,
February 4th:
5:00
PM to 6:00 PM on SPEED – Cup practice from Daytona
6:30
PM to 7:30 PM – Cup practice from Daytona
Friday,
February 5th:
2:00
PM to 3:30 PM on SPEED – Cup practice from Daytona
4:00
PM to 5:30 PM on SPEED – Cup practice from Daytona
Saturday,
February 6th:
1:00
PM to 4:00 PM on FOX – Cup qualifying for the Daytona 500
4:30
PM to 6:30 PM on SPEED – ARCA 200 from Daytona
6:30
PM to 8:00 PM on SPEED – Preview for the Budweiser Shootout – not racing.
8:00
PM to 10:00 PM on FOX – Budweiser Shootout – Cup cars from Daytona
Thursday,
February 11th:
2:00 PM to 5:30 PM on SPEED – Cup Duel races – two of them to set the
line up for the 500.
6:30
PM to 9:00 PM on SPEED – Truck qualifying at Daytona
Other
forums/message boards and websites:
Note: I’ll no longer copy and paste what’s said on the Internet, but will give a short “lead in” and if necessary, a link to a particular thread or subject.
Jayski: - http://www.jayski.com/
Some interesting things being said, and you can check them out, if you go here:
http://jayski.com/cupnews.htm#news26fri
Things like: NASCAR cutting race purses to all three series – I was under the impression that there was still some mega millions coming into NASCAR via the nice TV contract they have.
And: Motorsports Authentics bogs down ISC's 2009 finances. Maybe their prices are kinda too high?
Hoseheads: - http://www.hoseheads.com/
My friend, Richard Golardi, has
his latest report from some sprint car races from
http://www.hoseheads.com/richard.html
Track Forum: - http://www.trackforum.com/forums/
NASCAR.com: http://www.nascar.com/
Dirt Track Digest’s forum: http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/forum/index.php
Coming
up:
For up here in the Northeast, not much doing right now. Most of what’s happening is either down south or out west, and some of those events are on TV. Here in this area, some car shows will be coming up, but as far as racing goes, it won’t be until maybe early March, at the earliest.
Track
news:
OCFS:
I’ve read that OCFS was attempting to get a sponsor for the 358 class for 2010. Prior to this week, there was only one 358 race scheduled, and that was during Eastern States Weekend. Now, there has been a second 358 race scheduled.
From
the OCFS website:
“JULY 31 Howard Johnson of
Middletown Super 8 of Middletown 358/SP/PRO/PS 358s $2500 to win -
Winner will get outside pole for Eastern States 358 Championship
No Modifieds – Friends of Mike $10,000 to win New Egypt
Speedway - Winner will get a guaranteed Eastern States Spot.”
Note: I hate to say this, but that date – July 31st
is during the fair, so parking is at a premium, plus if you don’t order tickets
prior to race day, you also have the admission for the fair, too – at least in
the past you could get your tickets early.
I imagine the same will hold true for 2010.
It
has been said that Ken Sands, manager for OCFS is in the process of buying a
racetrack down in
“Yes,
as soon as the deal is complete with all the things that go along with buying a
racetrack, I will be moving on to
And in a second response:
“I
know Rick from my
Accord:
From
their website – in part:
“A tentative 2010 racing schedule
has been put on the Accord Speedway website but is temporary as the website
will be undergoing significant updates in a short span of time as webmaster guru
Jason Yaniga from the TriState
Studios is revamping the site to give it a fresh new look and will add many new
features to keep the loyal race fans glued to the popular site.
All of the speedway's five divisions will return in 2010 and the biggest change
will be in the Sportsman division where the ROC Open Head rule will be in
place. With many of the surrounding speedways opting to go to Crate Sportsman,
Promoter Gary Palmer has taken a positive step to give those affected by the
changes an opportunity to shift their racing endeavors to the
And:
“Midweek Madness will kick-off on
June 9th and the speedway will once again have go-karts return to the weekly
Wednesday racing activity under the rules of the WKA. To compliment the full
show, the speedway will have 270 winged Micros and 600 wingless Micros going to
war on the Accord high banks and the addition of those two exciting divisions
will produce some excellent side by side racing on the ultra-wide channeled
speedway. Last year in a practice session, Middletown's Brittany Tresch and Goshen's Joe Kata,
were hitting their marks and turning in some excellent times to prompt the
Palmer Family to include the racy creations to the Wednesday evening shows. An
additional race series in conjunction with the smooth as glass 1/5 mile Hamlin
Speedway in Pennsylvania, will find the 600's being added to the Friday evening
card for four shows and the home and home series will offer four Saturday
nights at Hamlin as well. The 270's and 600's will be included in the King of
the Catskills weekend.”
Note: I’m not sure how the 270’s and 600’s will do at Accord on Friday nights and for the King of the Catskills weekend. In a way, I kind of think the track might be a teeny weenie too rough for them, once the stock cars get on it.
The Accord website: http://www.accordspeedway.com/
The
History of the Sport:
Ok, by now you do realize that Open Wheel racing is what I really love, and have since I was about 9 years old – back in 1946.
Here’s
a little info from one of Crocky Wright’s books – the
Gold one about “Midget Auto Racing History”:
Back
in 1947, there were quite a lot of driving schools. Johnny Kay, Buddy Chase, Lou Fray, Cliff Riggott, Fred “Jiggs’ Peters,
Nick Fornoro, Sr., Pat Donahue and Gene Cady were
some of those that attended those schools and went on to racing careers.
In
1947, along with the ARDC running races practically every night and, at times
twice on Saturday and/or Sunday, another midget racing group here in the east,
the ARA also ran six nights a week. Some
of those that ran with the ARA were:
Andy Furci, Russ Klar,
Buster Williams, Tony Martino, Red Marlowe, Pickles Bickelhaupt
and Herbie Heldt. To add to those two clubs, up in
Georgie Rice, from what I’ve read, clinched the ARDC championship at
Rice,
as noted above, was the 1947 ARDC driving champion, even though Bill Schindler
won 53 features. Rice won 39, was second
24 times and had ten 3rd place finishes, and had earned 12,165
points.
In
1947, Ed “Dutch” Schaefer was voted “King Doodlebug” – a nationwide popularity
contest that was conducted by the Illustrated Speedway News. Rice was second in the voting.
In
1947, the ARDC could offer its drivers, 52 weeks of racing for the year, with
races starting indoors at the Kingsbridge Armory. Winners of the early 1947 Kingsbridge series
were: Ray Nestor, Rex Records, Johnny Ringger, Ted Tappett, Johnny
Ritter, Larry Bloomer, Art Cross, “Dutch” Schaefer, Len Duncan, Bill Schindler
and Al Keller. A 100 lap race, in March,
was won by Schaefer. At the end of the
outdoor season, they returned to the Kingsbridge Armory to finish out the
year. Tony Bonadies,
Ritter, Duncan, Tappett, Ringger
and Keller won those races.
Former Dirt Oval runners:
There were some former Dirt Oval runners that ran in the
indoor races down in
In the Slingshot feature, on Saturday, Matt Hearn was 9th, Perrego 12th, Molly Chambers 13th and Tiffany Wambold 17th.
Other
racin’ stuff:
I
watched portions of the 24-hour race from Daytona. Granted, the weather wasn’t that great, but,
wow- where were the fans? And if you go
to this link, you’ll see how they all finished at Daytona: http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Speed/OtherSeries/racSPEED95020110.htm
Also,
I had heard that the indoor TQ/600 Micro, Slingshot and Champ Kart races down
in
More
racin’ stuff:
Might you be interested in who is driving what, or for whom, in Cup racing for 2010? I found this over on Jayski’s website:
http://jayski.com/pages/2010teams.htm
Video
time:
From
the indoor race at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrY4G5Nqliw
Other
(non racing) news:
Raising unemployment
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gdp_unemployment
“
There's
just one problem: Growth would have to equal 5 percent for all of 2010 just to
lower the average jobless rate for the year by 1 percentage point.
And
economists don't think that's possible.
Most
analysts say economic activity will slow to 2.5 percent or 3 percent growth for
the current quarter as the benefits fade from government stimulus efforts and
from companies drawing down less of their stockpiles.
That's
why the Federal Reserve and outside economists think it will take until around
the middle of the decade to lower the double-digit.”
Is this true? - #1:
I
found this while checking out various message boards
forums and websites, late on Monday night:
“If anyone ever thinks this country and its government fairly
represent its citizens, just ask how effective the lobby for the homeless is.
Of course, there is none, because the homeless cannot afford one. Lawyers, physicians, insurance, automobiles, guns, and on and on
and on. they can afford it”.
Is this true? - #2 – from an e-mail:
“If you don't read
anything else today, read this......scary!!!
Someone did read the entire House Bill 3200:
The Affordable Health Care
Choices Act of 2009
From Michael Connelly - Retired
attorney, Constitutional Law Instructor,
Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of
proposed House Bill
3200: The Affordable Health Care
Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with
particular emphasis from my area of
expertise, constitutional law. I was
frankly concerned that parts of the
proposed law that were being discussed
might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than
what I had heard
or expected.
To begin with, much of what has been said
about the law and its implications
is in fact true, despite what the Democrats and the media are
saying. The
law does provide for rationing of health
care, particularly
where senior citizens and other classes of
citizens are involved, free
health care for illegal immigrants, free
abortion services, and probably
forced participation in abortions by members of the medical profession.
The Bill will also eventually force
private insurance companies out of
business and put everyone into a government run system. All decisions about
personal health care will ultimately be
made by federal bureaucrats and most
of them will not be health care
professionals. Hospital admissions, payments
to physicians, and allocations of
necessary medical devices will be strictly
controlled.
However, as scary as all of that it, it
just scratches the surface. In fact,
I have concluded that this legislation
really has no intention of providing
affordable health care choices..
Instead it is a convenient cover for the
most massive transfer of power to the Executive Branch of government that
has ever occurred, or even been contemplated. If
this law or a similar one
is adopted, major portions of the Constitution
of the
The first thing to go will be the masterfully
crafted balance of power
between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial
branches of the U.S.
Government. The Congress will be
transferring to the Obama Administration
authority in a number of different areas over the lives of the
American
people and the businesses they own. The irony is that the Congress doesn't
have any authority to legislate in most of those areas to begin
with. I defy
anyone to read the text of the
granted to the members of Congress to regulate health care.
This legislation also provides
for access by the appointees of the Obama
administration of all of your personal healthcare information, your personal
financial information, and the information of your employer,
physician, and
hospital. All of this is a direct violation
of the specific provisions of
the 4th Amendment to the Constitution protecting against
unreasonable searches and seizures. You can
also forget about the right to
privacy. That will have been legislated into oblivion
regardless of what the
3rd and
4th Amendments may provide.
If you decide not to have healthcare
insurance or if you have private
insurance that is not deemed "acceptable" to the "Health
Choices
Administrator" appointed by Obama there will be a tax imposed
on you. It is
called a "tax" instead of a fine because of the intent to avoid application
of the due process clause of the 5th
Amendment.
However, that doesn't work because since there is nothing
in the law that
allows you to contest or appeal the imposition of the tax, it is
definitely
depriving someone of property without the "due
process of law.
So, there are three of those pesky amendments that
the far left hate so much
out the original ten in the Bill of Rights
that are effectively nullified by
this law. It doesn't stop there though. The 9th
Amendment that
provides: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain
rights, shall not
be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the
people;" The
10th Amendment states: "The
powers not delegated to the United States by
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are preserved
to the
States respectively, or to the people." Under the provisions of this piece
of Congressional handiwork neither the people nor the states are
going to
have any rights or powers at all in many areas that once were
theirs to
control.
I could write many more pages about this
legislation, but I think you get
the idea. This is not about health
care; it is about seizing power and
limiting rights. Article
6 of the Constitution requires the members of both
houses of Congress to "be bound by
oath or affirmation" to support the
Constitution. If I was a member of Congress
I would not be able to vote for
this legislation or anything like it without feeling I was
violating that
sacred oath or affirmation. If I voted for
it anyway I would hope the
American people would hold me accountable.
For
those who might doubt the nature of this threat I suggest they
consult
the source. Here is a link to the Constitution:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript...html
<http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript...html>
And another to the Bill of Rights:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html
<http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html>
There you can see exactly what we are about to have taken from
us.
Michael Connelly
Retired attorney,
Constitutional Law Instructor
Carrollton , Texas
Please forward this on to your
friends, if you care. It’s up to you, and them, to decide if
this is what is good for us. Many of us will just say “oh, let
someone else do something about it.”
Is this true -
#3 – also via an e-mail:
Is this true -
#4 – another e-mail I received:
“Read this and weep folks.
This is what our elected officials
have done for you and me. A great thank you to us all.
I live and work in a border state
overrun with illegals; they make more money having
kids than we earn working fulltime; today I had a 25 year old with 8 kids
that’s right 8; all illegal anchor babies and she had the nicest nails;cell phone;hand
bag; clothing etc; she makes about 1500 monthly for each; do the math. I
used to say “we are the dumbest nation on earth” now I must say and sadly
admit: YOU are the dumbest people on earth (that includes me) for we elected
the idiot idealogues who have passed the bills that
allow this; sorry; we need a revolution; Vote em all
out in 2010.
This is an insult and a kick in the butt to all of us...
Get mad and pass it on - I don't know how, but maybe some
good will come of this travesty.
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 America for 40 to 50 years, can
only receive a monthly maximum of $1,012 in old age
pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement.
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. And not to receive a increase for 2010 Vote them all out of office…….
Please forward to every American to expose what our elected
politicians
have been doing the past 11years to over-taxed
Americans.”
Closing with these:
"Mr.
Clark, I have reviewed this case very carefully," the divorce Court Judge
said, "And I've decided to give your wife $775 a week,"
"That's
very fair, your honor," the husband said. "And every now and then
I'll try to send her a few bucks myself."
A
doctor examining a woman who had been rushed to the Emergency Room, took the
husband aside, and said, "I don't like the looks of your wife at
all."
"Me
neither doc," said the husband. "But she's a great cook and really
good with the kids".
An
old man goes to the Wizard to ask him if he can remove a curse he has been
living with for the last 40 years.
The
Wizard says, "Maybe, but you will have to tell me the exact words
that were used to put the curse on you".
The
old man says without hesitation, "I now pronounce you man and wife."
A
blonde calls Delta Airlines and asks, "Can you tell me how long it'll take
to fly from
The
agent replies, "Just a minute.."
"Thank
you," the blonde says, and hangs up.
Two
Mexican detectives were investigating the murder of Juan Gonzalez.
"How
was he killed?" asked one detective.
"With
a golf gun," the other detective replied. "A golf
gun?!
What
is a golf gun?" "I don't know. But it sure made a hole in Juan."
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