Racin'
Stuff:
By Tom Avenengo
First things, first:
I’ve never started a column or article like I’m starting this weeks column. My wife, Joan, and I, have three daughters and two sons. From those five children, we have a total of 17 grandchildren. On granddaughter, not included in that total, passed away at 5 months to the day after she was born. And we now have 6 great grandchildren. As of now, most are in good health, with maybe one big exception – our granddaughter Jessica. Below, is an e-mail I received on Wednesday, from here mother, our first-born – Judy – about the health issues that Jessica is presently having.
“Hello
Everyone,
This
email is to let everyone know about some medical problems that Jessica has been
having (by the way, she'll be 24 tomorrow (8/6).
She
went to see her regular doctor because she had been having some issues with her
heart (palpitations, etc.). Her heart would stop, sometimes up to 40
seconds, begin again, and then race up to 200 beats per minute. While at
her doctor's office, and EKG was done. It showed
the heart stopping and then racing. Her regular doctor had bloodwork done
to rule out thyroid, among other issues. Jessica also had an
echocardiogram, which was ok. She had to also wear the
"harness" for 24 hours (this monitors your heartrate, etc.). Her
regular doctor called her last week and had an appointment set up with a
cardiologist names Dr. Gazmo, who is affiliated with the hospital in
She
went to see Dr. Gazmo (actually she saw his nurse-practitioner) and a 21-day
"harness" was ordered which Jessica received at home the next day.
She needs to wear this harness 24 hours a day. She can take it off for
showers, but otherwise she has to wear it. She was also scheduled for a stress test, which was for this past Monday
(8/3/09).
Jessica
went on Monday, 8/3/09 for the stress test. It was not completed. Her heart rate and blood pressure
was bouncing all over the place. Plus, she started having chest pain. The nurse-practitioner went and
showed Dr. Gazmo the results and he told her she had to see him today (8/5/09).
She
called me a little while ago and told me she has to go to the hospital in
So,
if you pray, please keep her in thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Judy”
At this time, I can’t really add more except to repeat what Judy has to say: “Please keep her in thoughts and prayers”.
Some of my thoughts:
Last weekend, the Cup race at Pocono was rained out on Sunday, and was held the next day – Monday. That happened a few years ago, too, and we were in attendance, then. We went back on Monday. Funny thing was – no one was there to check our tickets. I hear the same thing happened this past weekend. Now I don’t know if all those that were in the stands at Pocono actually paid for their seats, but like it was a few years back, the place was still what I could call “full”.
Along the second straight at Pocono, just on the other side of the wall is trees. They’re so close that as the cars go by, the wind from the cars makes those trees move. No “catch fence” is on that part of the track, either. It doesn’t take much for a deer to jump that wall, that’s for sure. I’m rather surprised that NASCAR hasn’t insisted on some kind of fencing along that part of the track. I agree with others that have posted on the Internet – IF the Indy cars should run there in the future, it might be advisable to have some kind of fencing between the wall and those trees. Heck, I’d hate to go over that wall in one of these “safer” CoT cars and end up in those trees.
During the Cup race last Monday, a car rubbed against the wall. Instant yellow! Now, I’m wondering – was that yellow so a certain car could get the “Lucky Dog” pass? The next time a car rubbed against the wall – NO yellow. You gotta love the consistency of NASCAR.
Talking about NASCAR and consistency – it’s quite ironic how often they seem to “catch” Robbie Gordon going to fast on pit road. If children weren’t reading this column, I’d really tell you my thought on this. And while on the subject of Robbie Gordon – how about the deal between him and Stremme? In my eyes, most of the fault is on the driver of the # 12 car, and when they handed out the 5 lap penalties to both cars, I felt that was wrong. Then again, I like Robbie Gordon, so maybe I really shouldn’t comment?
Going
back, in time:
On
August 6th in:
1948
Lucky Lux won the AAA
Eastern Sprint Car race at the Williams Grove
1950
Al Keller
won the IMCA Sprint Car race at the Plant Field, Tampa, FL.
1958
George Amick won the USAC
Midget race at the Berlin Raceway, Grand Rapids,MI.
Jack Rounds won both of the
IMCA Sprint Car feature races at the LaCrosse Fair Speedway, LaCrosse,WI.
1960
Dutch Schaefer won the
ARDC Midget race at the Danbury Fairgrounds, Danbury,CT.
George Monsen won the
URC Sprint Car race over Eddie Gallione and Dave Humphrey at the Lincoln
Speedway, Hanover,PA.
Ray Kable won the Super
Modified race at the Lincoln Speedway, Hanover,PA.
1961
A.J. Foyt won the USAC
Sprint Car race at the
Bobby Hersh won the
Super Modified race at the Susquehanna Speedway, Newberrytown,PA.
1965
Bobby Malzahn
won the Modified Stock Car race at the East Windsor Speedway, Hightstown, PA.
Frankie
Schneider won the Modified Stock Car race at the Harmony Speedway, Harmony,
NJ.
Dick Tobias won the
Modified Stock Car race at the Reading Fairgrounds, Reading, PA
Mitch Smith won the
Super Modified race at the Williams Grove Speedway, Williams Grove,PA. Ray Tilley was second followed by
Willie Musselman, Lynn Paxton and Johnny Crawford.
1966
Don Meacham won the USAC
Midget race at the Allentown Fairgrounds, Allentown,PA.
Lynn Paxton won the
Super Modified race at the Lincoln Speedway, Hanover,PA.
Ralph
Quarterson won the Sprint Car race at the Mercer Raceway Park, Mercer,
PA.
Nolan Swift won the
Supermodified race at the Oswego Speedway, Oswego,NY.
Roger McCluskey won the
USAC Sprint Car race over Don Branson, Mario Andretti, Bobby Unser and Larry
Dickson at the Reading Fairgrounds, Reading,PA.
1967
Mel Kenyon won the Hut
Hundred USAC Midget race at the Terre Haute Action Track ,
Terre Haute,IN. Bob Wente was second followed by Mike McGreevy, Tommy Copp and
Mike Mosley
1994
Jeff Gordon
won the first running of the NASCAR Winston Cup Brickyard 400 over Brett Bodine
at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, IN.
Note: On August 11, 1923, racing great Frankie
Schneider was born. Yes, he’ll be 83 on
8/11/09. Happy Birthday, Frankie!
Racing on TV:
Check out what’s on
TV, racing wise, here: http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
Other
forums/message boards and websites:
From the Track
Forum - http://www.trackforum.com/forums/
An interesting
thread about IndyCar and the televising of their races can be found, here:
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126957
And, one about
IndyCar and
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126930
Might there be a
slight cut back on amount of races in the Truck Series? Check out this thread:
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126873
Yes, there’s even a
thread going on TF about “Cash for Clunkers” Some interesting points being made.
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126946
Then
there’s this about “health care reform” – thread titled: “White House asking Americans to rat out
Americans against Health Care?”
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126988
The very first post
of the thread leads to more info and some videos, which can be seen, here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/
Going along with
this “Health reform” stuff, there is this, too, on Yahoo! News:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/politics3187760
Note: You’ll have to use your own judgment on this
stuff, folks!
From
Jayski - http://www.jayski.com/
No speedometers
planned for NASCAR: Some drivers would like a speedometer added to their cars, or have
NASCAR's electronic timing system that records the pit row speeds refined to
cut down on possible error. "I have wondered why we don't have
speedometers," veteran driver Mark Martin said Friday. "The tachs are
not quite as accurate as a speedometer might be. But the system works. It's
just really devastating when you have one of the races of your life slip
through your fingers." Could NASCAR make the switch from RPM to mph on the
dash? Not so fast. Sprint Cup Series director John Darby said the tachometer
was the most reliable factor in determining pit row speeds. "They get
multiple usages out of a tachometer as an engine meter as well, without having
to bother with the expense and the troubles of adding another piece of
equipment to the car," Darby said at Pocono Raceway. "The tachometers
today are so sophisticated that teams can actually program their pit road speed
into the tachometer." Most teams have even added a lighting system to the
tachometer. A green light means a driver's speed is in the clear, yellow
signifies he is pushing the limit and red means the speed is over the limit.
"In NASCAR's defense, the system that they have, you can't dispute
it," four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon said. "I would dispute the
person that feels like they're in the wrong, because their system is very
accurate." There have been 75 speeding violations in 20 Cup races this
season, Darby said. NASCAR does not warn teams when they're on the edge of
speeding or give them a chance to plead their case. Speed once coming in or out
of the pits, and a penalty is instantly assessed.
"The teams know exactly where they're supposed to be," Darby said.
"They know where the threshold is." Darby also said there are no
plans to reveal pit road speeds to fans or the rest of the field during a race.
"If you have put your combination together and you're real confident in
your driver and you've got him set to where you think he can run 3½ miles over
all day long without getting caught, that's their business," he said.
"We shouldn't display that to the other 42 competitors to let them figure
out how they did it." NASCAR switched from a stopwatch system to electric
timing in 2005 to provide a more legitimate way of assessing pit road speeders.(Associated
Press)(8-4-2009)
Note: I think that if they put speedometers in,
anything 6 MPH over the pit road speed should be taped over, so the drivers
don’t get scared of the speeds they run.
Injured F1
driver heads home: Ferrari driver Felipe Massa is on his way home to
Note: Great news!
However, I’m somewhat concerned for Michael
Schumacher coming out of retirement to take the place of
Hornaday enters
record book with win: Ron Hornaday Jr. moved higher into the NASCAR record book alongside
some famous company Saturday in the Toyota Tundra 200 Camping World Truck
Series at Nashville Speedway, becoming the third driver to win five straight
races in a national series and the first in 38 years. Horanday joined Richard
Petty and Bobby Allison, who both did it in 1971 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series, in a tie for second on the all-time consecutive win list. Petty holds
the all-time record with 10 straight in 1967 in the Cup series (NASCAR). See
more about the Camping World Truck Series on my Camping World Truck Series site.(8-2-2009)
Note: Quite a feat by Mr. Hornaday! Somehow, it seems that he’s been racing since
forever, doesn’t it?
Gordon's back
doing better:
#24-Jeff Gordon met with media and discussed many issues, including fielding a
question about his ailing back:
ON HIS BACK PAIN: "Yeah, it's been really nice to not get asked too many
of those questions these days, or it seems like it's tapering off a little bit
which is kinda nice because it started to get a little bit too much (laughs).
It's slightly improved since the beginning of the year and then it's just sort
of leveled off where I'm just able to deal with the pain that's there, or the
discomfort. At these types of tracks it's more
discomfort than it is pain. At
Note: Bad back or good back – I doubt you’ll see
Jeff at the Prelude to the Dream race on Sep 9th. It just seems that he doesn’t really have any
interest in going back to something similar to his “roots” or like earlier in
the year when he was inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame
– he didn’t even appear, in person, to accept the award, and from what I
gather, he wasn’t really scheduled for anything that day. Granted, he was scheduled for some appearance
at Daytona the following day, but there are such things as jet planes, ya know?
Stewart still
considering a third team: #14-Tony Stewart met with members of the media, part of the transcript:
STEWART - WHERE ARE YOU ABOUT ADDING A THIRD TEAM TO STEWART-HAAS RACING:
"We are definitely open to it for sure. We are interested for sure. We
feel like it is a matter of timing, it is everything. I don't know that
something would happen for next year. I think we are getting close to the stage
of the season where it may get too late to have that opportunity to add a third
car for next year. It is something that at least as a company we feel
comfortable with and feel like with the right opportunity, that it is
definitely possible."(Chevy Racing)(8-1-2009)
Note: Oh yes, I can see him having a third team,
and maybe after another year with three teams, a fourth one, too. I’d really like to see him also have a team
for Indycar racing, too.
Denny
Hamlin and David Reutimann – found on Jayski’s website:
http://blog.al.com/blogoftomorrow/2009/08/denny_hamlin_says_he_owes_one.html
From
Jayski’s website:
Reutimann still
miffed at Hamlin over Pocono wreck: #00-David Reutimann doesn't buy the explanation
#11-Denny Hamlin gave for the wreck in Monday's Sprint Cup race at Pocono that
may also have wrecked his chances of making the Chase. Reutimann said he never
brake-checked Hamlin, as the eventual race winner claimed occurred prior to the
accident on Lap 174 that not only took out Reutimann but also Michael Waltrip
Racing teammate #47-Marcos Ambrose. He said Hamlin basically ran over him in an
effort to get position. "I was just trying to get away from him,"
Reutimann said on Wednesday. "In the end, if you push a guy sideways enough
he's not going to be able to bring it back. I didn't hear [his] explanation,
but I can tell you it's pretty inaccurate. I was in
the throttle all the time to the point I was hung out so far I kind of had to
do something." Reutimann went on to say he was as "mad as heck"
at Hamlin, even though the two have exchanged text messages in which Hamlin
apologized. "If a guy says he's sorry I tend to believe it,"
Reutimann said. "Look back at Daytona at what I did to Ryan Newman. Everybody's
capable of making mistakes. I'm a forgiving guy if he sincerely apologizes or
says he was in the wrong. In the end I'm still confused at why it happened. It
wasn't just one shot. It was multiple shots." Reutimann entered the race
in 13th place in points, 68 out of the top 12 who would qualify for the Chase.
He was in position to possibly move into the top 12 with a solid finish after
having run up front most of the day. The wreck left him 16th in points, 121 off
the cutoff point, after finishing 29th.(ESPN)(8-6-2009)
Note: Completely uncalled for – what Hamlin did,
and NASCAR really should have penalized him – maybe not as much as they did
Robbie Gordon and David Stremme, but, well, we’re talking NASCAR here, right?
NASCAR.com: http://www.nascar.com/
With NASCAR going
to Watkins Glen this coming weekend, there’s an interesting article about
NASCAR and “road” racing.
Interested? Check it out, here:
http://www.nascar.com/2009/news/features/08/05/enterprise.inside.nascar.road.courses/index.html
Also, as for this
weekend at Watkins Glen, I see that there are these “ringers” on the entry
list:
Car 04 – PJ Jones,
Car 08 – Boris Said or Terry Labonte, Car 09 – Ron Fellows, Car 36 –
Brian Simo and car 71 – Andy Lally.
Dirt Track
Digest’s forum: http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/forum/index.php
Check it out and
see what everyone is saying, and check out race results, too.
http://newenglandtractor.com/racereport/
Have
you checked out this website, yet?
This, from last weeks column:
“To be able to post on this forum, you have to register. Hey, if I can do it, you shouldn’t have any problem. At times, there are some good things talked about, and at times, some idiots do get on. If you do attempt to post, it does get “screened” prior to it’s being posted. Oh, one thing though – if you mention the Dirt Track Digest in your post, it WILL NOT be posted.”
OCFS
- http://www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net/
A few weeks ago, I requested some info from a couple of people at OCFS about Eastern States Weekend, and when I did, I did say that I would appreciate a response to the questions asked, but if they would rather address the issues in a forthcoming OCFS Newsletter, that would be fine. The other day, I did receive the latest newsletter. Nothing in it about ESW, and no, no direct response from the two I sent the request to, as of yet. But when one looks at the DIRTcar Super Dirt Series race results that get sent out, make notice of the last two dates. Both are “TBA”, as you can see, below, in the latest info sent out – yesterday, Wednesday. That first “TBA” date is the exact date for the Eastern States 200. Yes, there were rumors going around a short time ago about the possibility of a race scheduled opposite ESW, and that it would be at Albany/Saratoga. I’ve been led to believe, by a certain driver that runs exceptionally well at A/S that that is not going to happen. However, there are new rumors going around that are saying that A/S will be going from dirt to asphalt (apparently to appease a certain new business that will be opening fairly close to the A/S track, and they would appreciate a little less “dust”, so we say?). Might that open up a grand finale event for A/S on October 18th? Or, might there be a chance that ESW might be “sanctioned” by DIRTcar?
From DIRTcar on 8/5/09:
DAY-DATE
TRACK
WINNER/LOCATION
Wed-Feb 11 Volusia Speedway Park-NP Pat Ward
Thr-Feb
12 Volusia Speedway Park-NP Pat Ward
Fri-Feb
13 Volusia Speedway Park-NP
Jamie Mills
Sat-Feb
14 Volusia Speedway Park-NP Brett Hearn
Sat-Mar
28 Hagerstown Speedway
rain-cancelled
Sun-Jun
7 Airborne Speedway
rain-cancelled
Wed-Jun 17 Orange Co Fair
Fri-Jul
3 Ransomville
Sat-Jul
4
Thr-Jul
9
Fri-Jul
10 Autodrome
Sat-Jul
18 Cayuga Co Fair
Sun-Jul
19 Cayuga Co Fair Speedway Ryan Phelps ($20,000-to-win)
Mon-Aug
3 Merrittville
Fri-Aug
7 Brewerton
Sat-Aug
8 Canandaigua
Fri-Aug 21
Sun-Aug 23
Thr-Aug
27 Lebanon Valley Speedway West Lebanon,NY ($17,500-to-win)
Sun-Sep
6 Cayuga Co Fair
Mon-Sep
7 Rolling Wheels Raceway Elbridge,NY
Fri-Sep
11 Lernerville
Fri-Sep
18 Autodrome Drummond
Sat-Sep
26 Rolling Wheels Raceway Elbridge,NY
Sun-Oct
11 New York State Fairgrnds
Syracuse,NY ($50,000-to-win)
Sun-Oct
18 -TBA-
Sun-Oct
25 -TBA-
A
couple of big races are coming up at
Hamlin
A
$500.00 to win Champ Kart race is on tap for this coming Saturday, along with
make up features for the 600 Micro Sprints (wingless) and Slingshots from July
11th, plus a regular show.
Accord
- http://www.accordspeedway.com/
From my column, last week:
“The “Big A” can’t seem to win this year, due to “Mother Nature”. Another rain our last Friday night.” Well, you guessed it – same thing happened last Friday – the races were canceled due to wet weather. However, things are looking great for this coming Friday at the “Big A”, as of 5:00 PM on Wednesday:
The forecast: Friday: Mainly sunny. High around 75F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.
I believe that
the first race on tap for Friday is the curfewed out remaining 16 laps from the
modified feature back on July 10th.
It’s being said
that Danny Johnson and the Petruska team have parted, and that Jerry Higbie has
the # 66 ride for Accord on Friday nights, and maybe some other bigger races
towards the end of the season.
OVRP’s
Dirt Oval - http://www.ovrpdirtoval.com/
I’ve
heard rumors that there might be some new clay coming for the Dirt Oval? Kart counts appear to be steady, and near 60
per week. Not bad for the current state
of the economy and job situation.
Former
OVRP Dirt Oval runners:
Last
Saturday, at
At
OCFS, in the 358 Small Block feature, Danny Creeden was 13th, while
Clinton Mills was a DNS. Looking at the
results, I can see where the cut back in 358 events at OC has really hurt the
class – only 21 entrants. In the
Sportsman feature, Mike Ruggiero was 2nd, Matt Hitchcock 3rd,
Joe Conklin 7th, Rich Coons 10th, Matt Janiak 11th,
Bobby Hassenmayer 18th, Anthony Perrego 21st and Doc
Young 22nd. In the make up
CRSA 305 Sprint Car feature, Anthony Brennan was 2nd, John Lodini 12th,
Chuck Alessi 21st, Benny Rizzo 22nd and Danny Hennessey
23rd.
The
Sportsman feature was won by Frank Venezia, who I believe is a former Kart
racer - from
Down
at the Greenwood Valley Action Track, in
At
Davie
Franek had a 2nd place finish at Selinsgrove in the 358 Sprinters.
At
Nick
Pecko was 8th in the Modified feature at the Sundance Vacation
(formerly
At
Shangri-La, in the Tobias SPEEDStr feature, Billy VanInwegen came home the
winner, while Jeff Gallup was 7th.
Note: This writer still has concerns over the small
fields that this class is continually having, with what seems like a dozen cars
per show the norm. With these cars being
so much of a “Spec” car, you really can’t race them with any other type of
midget car – regular midgets, Ford Focus or Quad 4’s. Maybe that’s why the still low car counts –
not enough cars having been made and used in this area?
At
Merritville, in the SDS race, Michael Storms was 14th.
At
Fonda, in the Sportsman feature, A.J. Filbeck was 11th and Alex Bell
12th.
At
Kutztown, last night, Wednesday, in the Slingshot feature, Emily VanInwegen was
9th, Joe Kata 20thand Billy VanInwegen 21st.
Family
members in racing:
Nothing
to report on this week for both grandsons – John Rizzo down in
Other racin’ stuff:
Many years ago, there was a speedway built in the Pocono
area in
Well, every time people get on the Internet and suggest different tracks for the IndyCar Series, usually Pocono comes up. I have to agree with a lot of posters that for them to run at Pocono, some major improvements have to be made. Things like a complete re-paving, and some installation of fencing along the second straightaway. I did notice, while watching the Cup race this past Monday, that the trees that are right outside the track on that second straight, actually are moved, from the wind, by the cars passing by. No, no catch fence there, for sure.
The other day, over on the Track Forum, a new thread
came up with the title: “Pocono wants
IRL event”. There’s a link in that
thread that leads to an article about Pocono and what’s been done,
recently. That link is below. However, this is quoted from that
article: “"I'd love to see IndyCar come back here,
and we do get a lot of letters from fans pleading for a race," Igdalsky
said. "I realize the reason Pocono Raceway is
here was the [initial] association with open-wheel racing," noting that
the first 500-mile race on the track's 2.5-mile tri-oval in 1971 featured Indy
cars.
Rose Mattioli echoed her grandson's sentiment. "I still get a
special thrill when I hear those [open-wheel] cars," she said.
"That's where I learned about racing."
The article: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/52275522.html
Link to the thread on TF: http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126928
I’d love to see IndyCar come back to Pocono – even with the small amount
of American drivers that race in the series.
I had the opportunity to see one Indy car race there on August 14, 1983
– won by Teo Fabi, and a few Cup races there, too. I’d love to see them race there while I’m
still around, too, so they best get going.
Note: Did you know that at
Pocono, on June 14, 1981, there was a combination of cars that ran in the 500 –
most of the field was RE, but there were also six “Silver Crown” cars in that
race, too, with Mark Alderson in 11th place when the rains came on
the leaders (AJ Foyt) 122nd lap.
Alderson completed 104 laps, when flagged. If I’m not mistaken, back then, in 1983, I
think the same Silver Crown cars were used on both pavement and dirt.
More
racin’ stuff:
No IndyCar event for Loudon, as of now, and Loudon is not very happy about that. Check this out:
Written By: by Jerry Gappens, Executive
Vice President and General Manager of
Friday, July 31, 2009
"For the second year in a row, I'm extremely
disappointed for our fans who continue to hope for the return of IndyCar racing
to New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Our discussions with series officials explored an early
August date, but according to them, that turned out to be logistically
challenging with the schedule commitments they had in place. Then, I
offered to run on the traditional
What troubles me, as much as being left off of next year's
schedule, is that they are exploring an option of racing in the parking lot at
Gillette Stadium (home of the New England Patriots) in 2012, right here in our
back yard. That would be a real slap in the face.
We have a real speedway that produces great racing, located
in the seventh largest media market in the country, offers 93,000 grandstand
seats, and a dedicated staff that knows how to promote racing and sell tickets.
We have a real speedway that produces great racing, located
in the seventh largest media market in the country, offers 93,000 grandstand
seats, and a dedicated staff that knows how to promote racing and sell tickets.
For the past two years, we have made a concerted effort to
bring IndyCar racing back to
There’s a thread about Loudon and IndyCar on the Track
Forum, and it can be seen, here:
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126751
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 from with last names starting with the letter “M”
this week. I imagine that you might
recognize some of the names listed.
Later on, in future columns, I’ll continue my way through the alphabet.
Curtis Maben, Dave MacDonald, Jacob MacFarland, George D. "Doc" MacKenzie, George W. "Doc" Mackenzie, Bill Mackey, Larry Mackey, Don MacTavish, Jim Malloy, Larry Mann, Jovy Marcelo, Ernesto Marchesich, Victorio Marchesich, Onofre Marimón, Bobby Mark, Mid Marozzi, Don Marsh, Andy Marshall, Bobby Marshman, Eric Martin, Bart Martin, Russell Martin, Dean Martin, Jim Martin, John Martin, Bobby Martindale, Tony Martinek, Mark Martinez, Billy Marvel Jr., Bobby Marvin, Edward Mathias, Rod Mathis, Slim Mathis, Scotty Matthews, Jim Matthews, Reds Matthews, Tommy Mattson, John Maxon, *Caleb Maxwell, Norris Maxwell, Tim Mayer, Ernie Maynor, Rex Mays, Charles McAdams, Ernie McAfee, Cal McCabe, Jimmy McCarron, **Ernie McCoy, Chad McDaniel, Johnny McDowell, J. D. McDuffie, James McElreath, Jr., Jack McGrath, Brian McGuire, Clint McHugh, Nina Marie McInnes, Pete McKeone, *** K.J. McKinster, Bruce McLaren, Jackie McLaughlin, Bob McLean, Leon McMinn, Charles McNish, Ed McVay, John McVitty, Eric Medlen, Russell Mendez, George Metzler, A. J. Michaels
Danny Milburn, Ken Miles, Chet Miller, Bert Miller, Shorty Miller, Curly Mills, Tony Monk, Chet Moody, Greg Moore, Kenneth Moore, Chet Morris, John Mulligan, Mark Munroe, Jimmy Murphy, Hugh Murphy, Luigi Musso, Bobby Myers and Billy Myers
*Caleb Maxwell's go-kart
flipped during a competition for young drivers at
Maxwell, who was a resident of
** This is not the Ernie
McCoy who raced midgets and sprint cars here in the east and also ran in the
Indy 500.
*** KJ McKinster was a
12-year-old talented kart driver from
KJ McKinster, who had won the Rotax Junior division on the same track three
weeks earlier, lost control of his kart and was unable to avoid cable fencing
near the track. He was transported to the
KJ's parents have started the KJ McKinster Track Safety Memorial Fund and a
website dedicated to their son, with the purpose to improve safety on kart
tracks.
Video
time:
One of the advantages of belonging to the Yahoo! Race
History Group is that, at times, we get videos.
Here are two – each a little over 9 minutes long that go
back to June 23, 1963 to the one mile circular oiled dirt track in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvPJeVPdNEE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nYUFzvd77I
Other (non racing) news:
“Cash for clunkers”
news:
Monday: Will the program end by this coming Friday?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_cash_for_clunkers
Wednesday: It looks like the Senate has approved more
dollars
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090806/ap_on_go_co/us_cash_for_clunkers
BoA paying a $33M fine – with OUR monies?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090803/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bank_of_america_sec
GM
still having problems:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090803/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gm_factory_workers
College
grad sues college because she can’t get a job:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090803/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_jobless_grad_sues
There
are still a lot of “crooks” in the mortgage industry, as you’ll see if you go
to this link, below:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090806/ap_on_bi_ge/us_mortgage_middlemen
Closing with this:
This past Monday I received an e-mail about a Robert Duncan, who was born on a farm and ended up being an artist. I was amazed at the work this man did, with some of his paintings looking like photographs. I attempted to find a way to get that e-mail into this column, with no luck. However, I did a search on him and the first thing that turned up was this website, below. If you enjoy looking at some fine art, check out the website. There are various things you can check on, on the left side of the site. Enjoy!
http://www.robertduncanstudios.com/
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