Racin'
& Internet Stuff:
By Tom
Avenengo
Volume # 5
First things, first:
Late last Saturday night, I posted this, over on the
Track Forum, regarding the Indycar race that was held down in
“People want to see a "good" race. Me
too. But on city streets - I dunno. Might end up like most of our dirt
track racing up here in my area - "freight train" racing - if they
make it through the first turn on the first lap.”
Well, once the race started, and as they got to the very first
part of the track that wasn’t straight, all hell broke out. Geez, it wasn’t really what one could call a
turn – just a little kink to the left.
Marco Andretti, who had just turned 23 the day before, had a car end up
on top of his, right over the cockpit.
No serious injuries happened. But
it seems that every time there’s a race on a road course with these guys, they
manage to do damage to cars on the very first turn on the very first lap. One would think…………….
What was surprising was that there actually was some passing – no
not like you might see on an oval or on a regular road course. Still, I’m not a fan of this kind of
“racing”.
Special
notice to OVRP racers:
Just in time for the whole racing season
The bridge between
You can get to OVRP without going through Port Jervis, as long as you don't
have a humongous trailer, if you head towards Port Jervis by getting on Rt 6
after getting off I-84. Make a right at the end of the exit ramp, then a left
at first light (Rt6). Go to second traffic light and make a right onto North
Maple. There will be a one lane tunnel about two blocks in on N. Maple. Stay
straight (you'll now be on
Going back South, from OVRP, you will be able to cross the Matamoras/Port
Jervis bridge, but there might be some delays.
This work is scheduled to last into October, and will start effective March
29th.
Going
back, in time:
Again, most of this info is taken from: http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/history.html
MARCH 14
1914
Lee
Petty... Born
1940
Bill
Simpson ... Born
1972
David
Pearson drove a Chevrolet Camaro to victory as NASCAR inaugurated it's new Grand National East division with a 100 mile race
on the 1/2 mile dirt
MARCH 15
1927
Al
Herman... Born ...ARDC/AAA /USAC driver from the 1950's and 60's
1930
Cliff
Woodbury drives a front-drive Miller 91 to a 180.90 mph record over a measured
mile at
2008
Rick
Laubach won the Race Fuels Race of Champions Dart Dirt Modified Tour
Icebreaker 50 race at the Selinsgrove Speedway ,
Selinsgrove, PA.
MARCH 16
1896
Louis
Unser... Born ... Race Car Driver. "Uncle
Louie" Unser was a nine time winner of the
1910
Barney
Oldfield drove a Benz to a One-Mile Speed record 131.724 mph.
1962
Will
Cagle won both the Modified race and the Late Model race at the Sunshine
Tony
Bonadies won the 100-lap Eastern States Championship TQ Midget race at
the
1967
Andy
Granatelli's turbine-powered Indycar is unveiled to the press.
1980
Dale
Earnhardt won the NASCAR Winston Cup race at Atlanta, Georgia. Rusty
Wallace, in his first Winston Cup start, finished second. ( Click here for
the race report. )
Geoff Bodine won the 250 lap NASCAR Championship
Modified race at Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, VA. ( Click here for
the race report. )
Billy Pauch won the Modified race at the East Windsor
Speedway, Hightstown, NJ. ( Click here for
the race report. )
MARCH 17
1910
Ralph
Pratt... Born ... AAA driver from the 1940's and 50's.
Inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in
1998.
____________________
1915
Barney
Oldfield won the
1974
Mike
Mosley, after starting last in the field, won the 150 mile USAC
Championship race at FasTrack International Raceway.
1979
Dub May
won the Super Sprint Car race at
Lynn Paxton won the Super Sprint Car race at Port
Royal Speedway, Port Royal, PA. ( Click here for
the race report. )
1985
Sammy Swindell won the World of Outlaws Sprint Car
race at Fairgrounds Speedway, Oklahoma City, OK. ( Click here for
the race report. )
Keith
Kauffman won the Super Sprint car race over Steve Siegel, Maynard
Yingst, Frankie Kerr, Tighe Scott and Paul Lotier at the Williams Grove
Speedway, Mechanicsburg, PA.
MARCH 18
1920
Ralph
Beardsley... Born ... AAA driver from the early 1900's
____________________
1923
Andy
Granatelli... Born
1937
Mark
Donohue... Born ...
1942
Jochen
Rindt ... Born ... F1 World Champion
1962
Dan
Gurney and Paul Goldsmith each won
100-mile USAC Stock Car races at the Riverside International Raceway,
Riverside, CA. ( Click here for the race report. )
1974
Wally
Booth drove his AMC Hornet to victory over Jack Roush's Mustang in the
Gatornationals Pro Stock finals. This was the first NHRA Pro Stock win for AMC.
MARCH 19
1951
Bill
Cantrell won the AAA Midget race at the South Mountain Speedway,
Phoenix, AZ.
1961
A.J.
Foyt won the 50 lap USAC Midget race at the Orange Show Stadium,
1977
Gordon
Johncock set an
1978
Lee Shephard made the first 160 mph NHRA Pro Stock
pass when he ran 160.71 mph at a meet in La Place,
1989
Darrell
Waltrip won the Motorcraft 500 over Dale Earnhardt at the Atlanta
International Raceway , Hampton, GA. ( Click here for the race results. )
Kenny Jacobs won the Sprint Car race at Williams Grove
Speedway, Mechanicsburg, PA. ( Click here for
the race report. )
Mike Balzano won the Late Model race at Hagerstown
Speedway, Hagerstown, MD.
Bobby Davis Jr won the World of Outlaws Sprint Car
race at the State Fair Speedway, Oklahoma City, OK. Doug Wolfgang was second followed by Jeff Swindell, Andy
Hillenburg, Jac Haudenschild, Danny Lasoski and Cris Eash.
MARCH 20
1915
Barney Oldfield won the 103 mile Tucson Road Race in
Tucson,
1920
Bert
Brooks... Born ... Eastern midget and sprint car driver from the 1940's,
50's and 60's. He was the United Racing Club (URC) Sprint car champion in 1954,
1956, 1957 and 1958.
1949
Johnny Mantz
won the 40 lap AAA Sprint Car race over Andy Linden, Manuel Ayulo and Red Amick
at the Arizona State Fairgrounds, Phoenix, AZ
1952
Geoff
Brabham... Born
1955
Larry
Crockett... Died ... AAA driver who ran the
Championship series in 1954. He was killed in a sprint car accident at
Langhorne Speedway.
Mike Nazaruk ,
driving the Nyquist #29, won the 25-lap AAA Eastern Sprint Car race on the 1
mile dirt Langhorne Speedway in
1960
Don Branson won the 30 lap USAC Sprint Car race at the
Meyer Speedway, Houston, TX. ( Click here for
the race report. )
1966
Jim
McElreath drove a Ford powered Brabham to victory in the 150 mile USAC
Championship race on the 1 mile paved Phoenix International Raceway.
1977
James McElreath won the 50 lap USAC Sprint Car race at
the Salem Speedway, Salem, IN.
1992
Kenny
Bernstein became the first drag racer to break 300 MPH in the quarter
mile when he drove his Top Fuel Dragster 301.70 MPH in qualifications for the
NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida.
MARCH 21
1920
Fonty
Flock ... Born ... NASCAR great and one of the central figures in the
formative days of NASCAR.
1926
Bennett
Hill won the 250 mile AAA Championship race on the 1.25 mile high banked
board track Culver City Speedway in Culver City, California. Hill averaged
131.29 mph at the wheel of a Miller.
1948
Ted Horn , driving
the Ted Horn #1, won the 20-lap AAA Eastern Sprint Car race on the 1 mile dirt
1960
Ayrton
Senna... Born ... Three time F1 World Champion.
1966
Kenny
Brack... Born ... A race car driver from
1970
Mario
Andretti jumps into the Ferrari 512S of Ignazio Giunti/Nino Vaccarella
and drives it to a 23.8 second victory over the Porsche 908 of Peter Revson and
film star Steve McQueen in the 12 Hours of Sebring, at Sebring, Florida.
1982
Doug
Hoffman won the Sportsman Stock Car race at the Bridgeport Speedway , Bridgeport, NJ. ( Click here for
the race report. )
Ronnie
Tobias won the Modified Stock Car race at the Bridgeport Speedway , Bridgeport, NJ. ( Click here for
the race report. )
1999
John Force set a NHRA Funny Car speed record of 324.05
mph at Gainesville,
2008
Pat Cannon won the 358 Sprint Car race at the Williams
Grove Speedway, Mechanicsburg, PA. Dave Calaman
was second followed by Aaron Ott, Kevin Nouse and
Danny Lasoski won the O'Reilly American Sprint Car
Series race at the State Fair Speedway, Oklahoma City, OK. ( Click here for
the race report. )
Craig Dollansky won the 410 Sprint Car race at the
Williams Grove Speedway, Mechanicsburg, PA. ( Click here for
the race report. )
Racing
on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
Friday,
March 19th:
12:00
PM to 1:30 PM on SPEED – Cup practice from
1:30
PM to 3:30 PM on SPEED – Nationwide practice
3:30
PM to 5:00 PM on SPEED – Cup qualifying
5:00
PM to 6:00 PM on SPEED – Nationwide final practice
Saturday,
March 20th:
10:00
AM to 12:00 PM on SPEED – the beginning of the American LeMans 12 hour race in
Sebring. Fl.
12:00
PM to 1:00 PM on SPEED – Nationwide qualifying from
1:00
PM to 2:00 PM on SPEED – Cup final practice
2:00
PM to 11:00 PM on SPEED – More coverage from Sebring, Fl.
2:30
PM to 5:00 PM on ABC – Nationwide Series race from
Sunday,
March 21st:
1:00
PM to 4:30 PM on FOX – Cup race from
More
racing on TV:
This will make some people very happy – some NASCAR Modifieds on TV. I found this while over on the Track Forum:
Seven Modified races to be on SPEED
& nine more on Versus - same-day air of NH, Bristol & Charlotte on
SPEED
And:
NASCAR has announced today the television schedule for its developmental
series for 2010.
The expanded calendar includes 21 events on SPEED for the NASCAR K&N Pro
Series and seven races for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR Whelen
Southern Modified Tour. This comprehensive package includes airing of every
race on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West schedules. Three of the
Whelen Modified Tours will air as same-day televised events.
More on this can be found,
here: http://www.racerhub.com/forum/showthread.php?20810-News-on-the-Modified-TV-coverage
Also, that thread on TF had some bad
news, too, which you’ve probaly already heard –
Making The Cut: NASCAR Slashing
Developmental Division Season-Ending Payouts For 2010
Some interesting
comments, for sure, in this thread:
Bus
trip to
A gentleman named Erwin Benz (Benzee) usually has bus
trips to some of the Cup races in this area – the Northeast. He has one coming up for the
Some
info:
NASCAR Dover Bus Trip May 16th in the works. R/T Deluxe Motorcoach
, Premium Reserved Seat , Hospitality Tent all day with Food and Drinks
, Trackside Tour and meet and greet with NASCAR Driver Greg Biffle . Proceeds to support the FOP and the Law Enforcement Memorial in
Wash DC. Approx cost $160 per . Interested PM
me or email .
“Benzee” can be reached here:
benzee95@hotmail.com
Track
news:
Hey,
don’t forget – this coming weekend at the arena at the Orange County
Fairgrounds, the annual Middletown Motor Sports show. All the info you might need can be seen if
you go here: http://www.middletownmotorsportshow.com/
Also,
from the OCFS website, as of March 16th:
New Look for 2010 - RainedOut.com
Posted: March 16th 2010
Welcome to the 2010 version of
OrangeCountyFairSpeedway.net - It's been a few years since the official site of
OCFS has had a fresh look. You will still find all of the same features as
years past, but this season we have added an exciting new feature powered by
RainedOut.com - You can sign up for text message and email alerts that will
provide vital information when the weather is threatening. Simply sign up and when
OCFS has severe weather, you will be notified right away if the event is
postponed or canceled. Take a look around and we'll see you soon!
And, if you’re a racer and intend to do some racing at
OCFS, there is also a link to their rule book, too.
The
History of the Sport:
Back
in the summer of 1951, this writer was living in
Walt
Faulkner won the race in the Agajanian # 98.
That car, with Troy Ruttman in it, would win the Indy 500 the following
year, with Vukovich’s car having it’s steering break,
while leading, with 8 laps to go.
Out
of those midget drivers that I had seen race previously, Nazaruk finished 8th. Schindler was 21st, with Parsons
23rd. Barzda and Shanebrook
both were DNQ’s. Vukovich ended up 26th.
There
were 44 cars entered to try to make the 28 car starting field.
From
what I can recall, there was no roof over the stands at that time, and yes, it
was rather “warm” in
Shortly
after that, we moved back North, ending up in
Again,
from the midget days, Schindler, Parsons and Nazaruk ran in that race. Being it was a dirt track and only for 100
miles, the field was quite a bit smaller, with twenty-one entrants for the 18
starting places.
What
I remember most about that day was that it was during the State Fair. The infield had some pretty big circus tents,
and they, in effect, blocked off the view of the backstretch. And, like
The
scheduled 100 miles was cut back to 67 due to an accident that happened over in
turn 2. Schindler broke a front spindle,
and he, along with Jack McGrath, Chuck Stevenson and Buzz Barton, all
crashed. Andy Linden spun, to avoid
things. I’m not sure if the track was
rough that day, or not, but quite a few of the cars retired due to broken
parts. I can recall Bill Vukovich
stopping on the front stretch, at the starters stand; to tell the starter that
the second turn was completely blocked with wrecked racecars. I have no idea as to why they didn’t re-start
the race, but it was deemed to be official at the end of the 67th
lap. So, maybe it was the roughness of
the track. Tony Bettenhausen was leading
at the time, and he was the race winner.
He was followed by Faulkner and Vukovich. Schindler was placed 8th. Parsons and Nazaruk both dropped out and were
placed 17th and 18th.
Former Dirt Oval runners:
Nothing to report on this week.
Other racin’ stuff:
Coming up:
The 20th annual Vintage Race Car Meet up in Loudon, NH is coming up, and for the race cars, it’s Tuesday, May 18th, Wednesday, the 19th and Thursday, the 20th. I’ve been lucky to attend that show – well one time, anyway, a few years ago, 2005, to be precise, when the late Keith Herbst and I traveled together. At that time, Keith was working with Coastal 181 and getting things going with his book
“Daredevils of the Frontier” – a book that covered most
every race held in the
If you’re a fan of what used to race “Back in the day”, then if at all possible, you should see if you could hit this show. I’m hoping to go again, this year. It is very reasonable, cost wise, and you are right in the infield area with all the cars, drivers and the owners of some real nice restored racecars. Yes, they do get an ample amount of track time, too.
Info on this can be found if you go here: http://www.vintagecelebration.com/
And they even have a link to some of the photos I took when I was there, and they can be seen, here:
http://vintageracingphotos.smugmug.com/gallery/2403278
Note # 1: Photo 19 – The late Keith Herbst is on the right, and Gordon White is in the light blue shirt, with his # 9 midget in the foreground.
Note # 2: You’ll notice that there is a place for you to order photos, which I really didn’t subscribe to, so just in case you might want a photo, and there are about another 40 of them, e-mail me and I’ll gladly send you one via e-mail.
Ed Tauschman – RIP:
I’ve known Ed Tauschman for quite a few years. Ed left us this past Sunday – way to early, at the young age of 47. Ed was, as far as I’m concerned – “Good People”.
His obituary:
Edward
J. Tauschman, age 47, of Promisedland, died on arrival at
Born in
Ed was a craftsman in metal and owned and operated Fabrications by Tauschman,
where he designed and built Dirt Track race cars. He also owned and operated
Tauschman Excavating Co., and owned Tauschman's Motel, taking over after the
death of his parents.
He is survived by his friend, companion and fiancee of many years, Tina Marie
Shiffler; her children, Allen D. Shiffler Jr. and wife Danielle, of Greentown,
and Ashley E. Shiffler of Wyomissing; and grandchildren, Stephanie Frable and
Addison Shiffler.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 20, in the Arthur J.
Frey Funeral Home, 201 Route 191,
Memorial remembrances may be made to the Promisedland Ambulance Corps,
More racin’
stuff:
Here’s a list of
some racetracks, organizations and a track you can even race on - yourself,
websites:
http://www.hamlinspeedway.com/
http://www.ssspeedways.com/ - You race
miniature stock cars indoors!
http://www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net/
http://www.selinsgrovespeedway.com/
http://www.desotosuperspeedway.com/home/home.htm
http://www.accordspeedway.com/
http://www.fivemilepointspeedway.net/
http://www.greenwoodvalleyactiontracks.com./
http://www.hagerstownspeedway.com/
http://www.cvra.com/index2.htm
http://www.lincolnspeedway.com/
Sundance: http://www.mountainspeedway.com/
http://www.shenandoahspeedway.com/
http://www.staffordspeedway.com/
http://www.njmotorsportspark.com/
http://www.whipcityspeedway.com/
Wyalusing: http://www.wvmpracing.com/
http://www.bethelmotorspeedway.com/BethelMotorSpeedway/HomePage.html
http://www.aftonmotorspeed.com/
http://www.newegyptspeedway.net/
http://www.thenewbridgeportspeedway.com/
Next
week: Some opening dates, and some more
websites.
Video
time:
Maybe you’ve seen this one before. It would be interesting to find what the financial outcome was – ya know lawsuit probablility. And, since this lucky fella can’t speak English, how’d he get a drivers license, anyway?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuNjOfan0zA&feature=related
And, a rather sad video of a “Boy” and “Girl” racing against each other
way back on July 6, 1975. A “match
race” that was seen live by countless millions, including this writer. Yes, there are some things that we never
forget. This was one of them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnZFnCvKspw&feature=related
Some of my thoughts:
Gonna be truthful here.
I’m not a big fan of city street “race
tracks”. Especially with open wheeled
Indy cars. They are designed to go
fast. These temporary city street tracks
do not allow that, especially with some turns having to be made at around 30
MPH. And, in a lot of
cases, when you have “Spec” cars – little passing, too. On top of that, most of the turns tend to be
of the “blind” category, what with the “
While checking out Jayski’s website, I checked out the
entry list for this weekends Cup race at
While watching parts of the Indycar race last Sunday, it was, to an extent, nice to see the cameras focus on other rather than on Danica Patrick, constantly, like they do when she’s racing in NASCAR.
Oh, and here’s some news – the Nationwide car that Danica has run, the one owned by Joonyer – well they’ll have someone else in it while she’s away for four months. More than likely to help her out when she returns so qualifying wont be a problem for her, and she’ll get those “owner points” – another NASCAR farce, in my opinion.
OK, it seems that Jeff Gordon is listed as the car owner of the # 48 car driven by Jimmie Johnson, on every entry list that comes out. Yet, at the NASCAR Cup banquet, Rick Hendrick is the one sitting at the Championship table. Why? I wonder if Jeff gets anything at all, for being the “owner”?
Is this true?:
As usual, something from an e-mail I (and probably you, too), have
received:
“Let
me get this straight......we're trying to pass a
health care plan written by a committee whose chairman says
he doesn't understand it, passed by
a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it. To be signed by
a president that also hasn't
read it and who smokes, and the funding will be administered by a treasury
chief who didn't pay his taxes, all to be overseen by a
surgeon general who is obese, and financed by
a country that's broke.
What the
hell could possibly go wrong?”
Well,
this little bit is very troublesome: “, passed by
a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it.”
If
it’s supposed to be what WE need, then THEY should also be included, too.
Internet stuff:
Other
forums/message boards and websites:
Note: In this section, from now on, I’ll be making mention of some certain things being said on the Internet, and will give you links to those items, along with links to various websites, message boards and forums. Hope you get a kick out of what some people are saying.
Track Forum: - http://www.trackforum.com/forums/
Some more being said, and some links are in this link,
below, about the Edwards/Keselowski deal at
“I wonder if this whole event wasn't staged...if NASCAR
didn't tell Carl Edwards to play up the rivalry a little by rattling Brad's
cage a bit and it got away from them all...
It may be unthinkable to some, but it makes sense to me. NASCAR has to put on a
good show, they need ratings, they've been known to give certain teams
"the call" (even though it's never been proven), and the
Edwards/Kesleowski feud was the perfect opportunity to raise a ruckus.
It's well known that if you want to succeed in NASCAR, you play by their rules
and do what you're told. If you don't, you go home.”
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134631
And some interesting things said about the Indycar race
in
Frontstretch.com:
http://www.frontstretch.com/
How about: The next five NASCAR drivers to “Get taught a lesson”?
http://www.frontstretch.com/tbowles/28859/
And this, too, from Tom Bowles: Did you notice?
http://www.frontstretch.com/tbowles/28876/
Jayski: - http://www.jayski.com/
How about some of these subjects:
Drivers could face legal problems if intentionally crashing another driver - http://jayski.com/cupnews.htm#legalissues
Speedway Motorsports revenues down in 2009: http://jayski.com/cupnews.htm#news-smi
Note: And
How about these
subjects: Keselowski in jeopardy of
missing top 35, Danica Patrick: Looking For Success, But Where?, Brad Keselowski did not learn his lesson, Jeff Gordon
Says
and Edwards Intentionally Wrecked Keselowski, So
What?
They can be found
here: http://jayski.com/pages/stories.htm
Spoiler/Tire test news from
Well, someone hit 196.467 MPH during the test on Tuesday.
http://jayski.com/cupnews.htm#news-tss
Jeff Gordon and wife having a boy:
http://jayski.com/cupnews.htm#news24tue
NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race Adds Exciting New Wrinkle:
In part: “There's an added twist this year before the green flag drops for the final segment: once the field takes a lap behind the pace car, all cars must enter pit road for a four-tire stop. The order in which the cars exit off pit road is how they will line up for the final 10 laps, placing an even greater premium on the efficiency of the pit crews.”
More about it, here: http://jayski.com/cupnews.htm#all-star
Hoseheads:
- http://www.hoseheads.com/
http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/forum/index.php
A rather interesting thread about DIRT’s “Greatest crew chiefs” can be found here: http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=33665
Note: To be able to read and/or post, you must register on SJDR’s message board
You can read what’s being said, but to post, you must register.
OWR3: http://www.openwheelracers3.com/
Other
(non racing) news:
You’re gonna love this one, folks:
Lawyer defends
Prius driver's story of stuck pedal
And, this, too
about that Toyota Prius:
I guess I’m not
alone in wondering just what did happen.
I did make mention in last weeks column that this guy did drive that car
for 30 miles.
Social Security
to start cashing Uncle Sam's IOUs
Senators
question $1 million pay for charity's CEO
The issues they
raise could threaten the reputation of a popular charity that supports 4,300
local Boys & Girls Clubs serving about 4.8 million children. The timing
threatens a bill moving through the Senate that would provide up to $425
million in federal money to the national organization over the next five years.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100312/ap_on_bi_ge/us_charity_expenses
Federal court
approves 'under God' in Pledge of Allegiance
Closing with these:
The
North has Bloomingdale's; the
South has Dollar General .
The North has coffee houses; the
South has Waffle Houses .
The North has dating
services; the South has family
reunions.
The North has
switchblade knives; the South has .45's
The North has double
last names; the South has double first names.
The North has Indy
car races; The South has stock car races .
North has Cream of Wheat; the South has grits.
The North has green salads; the
South has collard greens .
The North has
lobsters; the South has crawfish
.
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