Racin' Stuff:

By Tom Avenengo

First things, first:

I hope you had a Merry Christmas and an enjoyable New Years Eve – and day, and let’s all hope for a better 2010. How will it end up – “Twenty Ten” or “Two Thousand Ten”? I guess it’s anyone’s choice? At the end of 2009, we had some sad times, and also some happy ones. They’ll be covered later on in this column. There will be some minor changes in my columns, eventually. Also, like I said in my last column, look for some additional articles on what’s going on in the Internet.

Presently my columns appear on two different websites, and they are:

http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/ in the “Recent Columns” section

and also in: http://newenglandtractor.com/racereport/.

If you read them on DTD, you’ll notice some slight differences than what’s on NET – on DTD, links that I supply have to be copied and pasted, whereas on NET, you just have to click on them. Also, at the present time, photos do not appear in my columns on DTD, but have on NET. I’ve been told that to have photos on DTD I’d have to have my own “blog”. I’m considering that – getting one set up. Also, on NET, I also have some photo only articles already up for viewing – mostly open wheel stuff from “Back in the day”. I’ll continue those photo articles too, in 2010.

Some of my thoughts:

Not racing related, but the other day, I was looking in the sports section of our local paper and counted the amount of College “Bowl games” they had listed, and I counted 25! Geez, I can remember when there were maybe six at the most? I think it’s becoming over saturated – really. Teams that have records like 6 wins and 5 losses are in Bowl games. Ridiculous, isn’t it?

And while on the subject of Bowl games, how about who is sponsoring some of them? Yup, banks and businesses that we, the taxpayers, have bailed out. Check this little article out: http://blogs.chron.com/lorensteffy/2010/01/bcs_championshi_1.html

I’ve read on the Internet that “Speed Weeks” was only six weeks away, and already someone was trying to make a correction by calling it “Danicaweeks”. Hey, I hate to say this, but when they did have the ARCA practice, Danica wasn’t the fastest female driver. The ARCA race will more than likely have a huge TV audience.

Again, not racing related, but who in the world are the idiots that have now scheduled the NFL’s “Pro Bowl” to be held a week PRIOR to the Super Bowl? Naturally, any player that will be in the Super Bowl will not be playing in the Pro Bowl. Why try to fix something that wasn’t broken – in my opinion, anyway?

Going back, in time – Part 1:

Going back to early January on:

January 1, 1950:

On that date I, along with my brother and father, went to what was billed as the “Gasoline Bowl” – midget and stock car races at the Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, NJ. No, I don’t recall the stock car races that much, and I doubt we stuck around to watch their feature, if it was the last event of the day, since my father wasn’t into them. However, in the midget feature, Art Cross was the winner and he was followed by Hawley Kight and Nick Fornoro, Sr. Others in that race were Jim Forte, Len Duncan, Tony Martino, Jiggs Peters, Bill Baker, Dick Dowd, Al Cooper, Fred Meeker and Bob Disbrow.

January 1, 1965:

That’s the day NASCAR banned the Hemi engine from competition.

Jim Clark won the F-1 race in the South African GP, and repeated that feat on January 1, 1968.

January 2^nd, 1956:

Jim Reed won a NASCAR Late Model race at Gardena Stadium in Gardena, CA.

In 1967:

Pedro Rodriguez won the South African GP in a Cooper-Maserati.

In 1969:

Robby Gordon was born.

January 3^rd had these birthdays: Joe Sostilio – 1915, Allen Heath – 1918, Mike McGreevey – 1926, Coo Coo Marlin – 1932, Willy T. Ribbs – 1956 and Michael Schumacher – 1969.

In 1960, Bobby Marshman won the TQ feature at the Island Garden in West Hempstead, L.I.

January 4^th had these birthdays: Dee Toran – 1910, Richie Hearn – 1971 and Graham Rahal – 1985.

In 1967, Donald Campbell was fatally injured while attempting to set a world water speed record.

On January 5^th in 1965, Billy Wade was fatally injured while tire testing at the Daytona Speedway, and in 2000, East Coast racer Otis Stine passed away. Otis was the very first driver to have turned a racing lap at the famous Williams Grove Speedway, in PA.

Birthdays on January 6^th: Dick Rathmann – 1924 and Pat Flaherty – 1926.

In 1952, Allen Heath won the AAA Sprint Car race at Carrell Speedway in CA. He was followed by Johnnie Parsons and Troy Ruttman.

We lost Jim Hurtubise on January 6^th in 1989.

Sam Schmidt ended up paralyzed when he crashed at the Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, FL, when his neck was broken.

On January 7^th, we lost George Constantine in 1968. It was George that gave Rodger Ward his biggest fight for the win at the Formula Libra race at Lime Rock in 1959.

And, on January 7^th in 2007, Bobby Hamilton passed away at the age of 49, due to cancer.

On January 8^th, in 1956, USAC sanctioned their very first race, having taken over for the AAA who dropped out of race sanctioning after the 1955 season.

In 1960, Emil “Buzzie” Reutimann, father of Davey Reutimann, won the Modified feature at the Orlando Speedway.

In 1961, Gene Force won a 100 lap Midget race in the Memorial Coliseum, in Ft. Wayne, IN.

Bobby Hamilton, Jr. was born on January 8^th in 1978.

On January 9^th, in 1959, Mark Martin was born.

In 1960, on January 9^th, Russ Klar won the TQ feature at the Teaneck Armory in Teaneck, NJ

Russ Gamester was born on January 9, 1965.

“Liquid” Lou Cicconi won the TQ race that was held in the Atlantic City Convention Hall in 2004. The Slingshot race was won by Tim Howell.

January 10^th was a pretty big day for birthdays. Rodger Ward – 1921, Harry Gant – 1940, Bobby Rahal – 1953, Eddie Cheever – 1958 and Larry McReynolds – 1959.

In 1960, Johnny White won a 90 lap Midget race in Ft. Wayne, IN. Bud Hamilton won a TQ race in Columbus OH and Jim Lacy won a TQ race at the Island Garden in West Hempstead L.I. Mel Kenyon won a Midget race in Ft. Wayne in 1965 and Joey Payne won the TQ race in Atlantic City, NJ

Going back, in time – part 2:

One of the drivers that impressed me quite a lot, when I started watching racing, was Ted Tappett. Tappett was my brother’s favorite driver. As the midgets started to die out, Tappett went over to racing stock cars and excelled in them, too. Later on, he hooked up with Briggs Cunningham, and when he did that, he raced under his given name – Phil Walters. Needless to say, he excelled in the sports car racing too – to the extent that he was given a contract to race for Ferrari in their sports/racing cars and even their Formula One cars, something he was supposed to do in 1955. However, the tragic Levegh accident at LeMans caused Walters to retire from racing, that day.

While checking out the history of the Cunningham race team, I came across some results that showed Walters winning something at the Daytona Beach Raceway in Daytona Beach, FL. in 1955. I’m somewhat confused on just what “track” that might be, so I posted this, below, on the Track Forum. Maybe someone reading this column might have an answer?

“While checking out the history of the Briggs Cunningham race team, I came across these, below, for Feb 20 & 21 in 1955. Any idea as to just what it was that they ran on in Daytona? Was it the beach? Maybe a measured mile? Just what is/was the Daytona International Raceway?


Entry Date Event/Location Trophy/Duration Car/Chassis No. Driver/Co-Driver Car# Results Notes
203 2-20-1955 Daytona International Raceway
Daytona Beach, FL NASCAR – Paul Whitman Trophy
Jaguar D-Type XKD406
Phil Walters
A-1 1st O.A.
164.136 mph average
162.602
204 2-20-1955 Daytona International Raceway
Daytona Beach, FL Nascar Speed Week
Cunningham C4R
5216R B. S. Cunningham
B-1 4th O.A.
144.405 mph average
142.18
205 2-21-1955 Daytona International Raceway
Daytona Beach, FL
Jaguar D-Type XKD406
Phil Walters
A-1 1st O.A.
163.862 mph average
162.895
206 2-21-1955 Daytona International Raceway
Daytona Beach, FL
Cunningham C4R
B. S. Cunningham
B-1 5th O.A.
149.386 mph average
144.927”

If interested, the Cunningham team race history can be found, if you go here:

http://www.briggscunningham.com/home/race-history/?q=Daytona&search_init=yes&year=0&submit=Submit+Query

Note: Upon further investigating, I found that it was on the beach. Interested? Check out this article:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1129394/index.htm

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 Tulsa about the Chili Bowl, and you can check out what it is if you go here: https://www.racinboys.com/racintv/video_view?channel_id=12

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.

NASCAR.com: http://www.nascar.com/

New England Tractor: http://newenglandtractor.com/racereport/

Dirt Track Digest’s forum: http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/forum/index.php

Track Forum: - http://www.trackforum.com/forums/

Jayski: - http://www.jayski.com/

Hoseheads: - http://www.hoseheads.com/

Track news:

OCFS:

The 2009 OCFS Awards Banquet will take place on January 16th, 2010 at the Kuhl's Highland House in Middletown, New York. Tickets are available by calling Bob Perran at 352-503-3847. I hope it isn’t to late to order them!

Other racin’ stuff:

Some sad news to report: Racing Historian and thrill rider Crocky Wright has passed away, just a few days shy of his 91^st birthday. I refer to his books quite a bit when I’m doing these columns. I had the opportunity to meet him one time, many years ago, when they held the very first race at the Pocono Speedway – a 100 lap midget race on the ¾ mile oval. I had taken a book that he had written – a book that covers every race ever held at the Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, NJ and as Crocky was walking through the stands I happened to have him sign the book. Yes, Crocky was fired from a job he had – fired for driving too fast on the Indianapolis Speedway, believe it, or not. No, it wasn’t in a race car but in a tour bus!!

Some good news to report: A new world’s record was made this past New Years Eve, when Travis Pastrana jumped a World Rally Car from land to a barge, out in California. Towards the end of this column I’ve supplied the link to the video of that jump. Quite a remarkable feat, I’d say!

A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Travis at the racetrack in Lakeland, Florida, when they had a PRA Silver Crown race, and Travis was running a SC car for the very first time. In fact, it might well have been his very first oval track race, on pavement. Speaking with him, he said his biggest “fear” was that of how soon he might get lapped. Well, it didn’t happen. He started 24^th and finished 14^th – on the lead lap.

A gentleman from Florida, Richard Golardi, wanted to go along with me in order to learn some of the ropes of motor sports writing, and he was/is a big fan of Travis. He did get some photos of him, and a couple of them had this writer in them, too. Rich ended up writing for www.openwheelracers.com and I’ve always enjoyed his writings, along with some excellent photos. With the demise of OWR, Rich has been accepted as a writer on the Hoseheads website. Check his stuff out, when you get a chance. I know he’ll be covering some of the Sprint Car races down in Florida later on this winter.

More racin’ stuff:

Beginning on January 12^th, and ending on January 17^th, the “Chili Bowl” Midget races from Tulsa, Oklahoma return. As of now, there is no live TV scheduled, either free or PPV. I’ve read that portions of it will be taped and shown on SPEED at a later date. During that week, they also induct new inductees into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame. Last year I nominated the late George Rice, the 1947 ARDC driving champion, and while I can’t be positive it was my nomination that got him nominated and elected, he will be inducted, which pleases me no end. It also has pleased his daughter, Sarah “Sally” Strickland, too. Most all of the information that I sent in on Rice, was sent to me by noted photographer John DaDalt. Sarah did ask me if I’d go to accept the award for her, since her health really wouldn’t allow such a trip from Connecticut to Tulsa. I had to decline her offer too, for basically the same reason. When I made mention of Rice getting into the HoF to Mr. DaDalt, he told me that he would now have to go to the Chili Bowl to see that. Well, as of this writing, he will be attending and he will accept the award for George Rice being inducted into the HoF.

While on the subject of the Chili bowl, I checked over the entry list that’s available on their website - http://www.chilibowl.com/home.asp?uUrl=12/4/200963408.02 and found out that there are 14 drivers entered from the Northeast area – Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

They are: Lex Burritt, Tim McCreadie, Dusty Heistand, Rick Eckert, Steve Buckwalter, Aaron Ott, Chris Zrinski, Trevor Kobylarz, Billy Pauch, Jr., Nick Wean, Bruce Buckwalter, Cody Darrah, Andrew Hannula and Donnie Trent. Tim McCreadie is a former winner of the Chili Bowl, and in last years event, had a horrific accident that kept him out of racing for most of the year.

As of Monday, January 4^th, there were 258 entrants for the Chili Bowl – yet no live TV. Go figure! However, you might want to check this out, as far as coverage goes: https://www.racinboys.com/racintv/video_view?channel_id=12

Additional racin’ stuff:

I found out, via the Internet, that the annual car show that is held in the arena on the Orange County Fair property, will be held on March 19^th, 20^th and 21^st.

Also, coming up in the near future will be the AARN’s Motor sports show, with a new location this year. That will be held on January 22^nd, 23^rd and 24^th.

The following week is the weekend of indoor TQ/Micro Sprint, Slingshot and Champ Kart racing down in Atlantic City, NJ – January 29^th and 30^th.

Info on these two shows can be found here: http://www.aarn.com/

Even more Racin’ stuff:

Lewis “Lew” Parks:

A couple of years ago, while at the Stan Lobitz annual party/auction, I happened to meet up with a young lady. I introduced myself as “Tom”, my daughter as “Judy”, and she introduced herself as “Carla”. My daughter Judy, and her family lived in Texas for a while – Hockley, to be exact – where A.J. Foyt lives. I happened to mention to Carla that my grandson, Josh had a slight altercation with AJ, IV, while living there – something about a nose meeting a fist, with Josh being the fist part. Somehow, we must have gotten on the subject of me writing stuff on the Internet. Later on, just as we were getting ready for the sit-down dinner, Carla stopped by and gave me something she and her family were starting up – some pages from a book about her father – Lewis “Lew” Parks. What really caught my attention was her last name – her married name. Seems I had been quite instrumental in getting here brother-in-law hired to work with me when I was with the Grand Union Company – way back in 1970 or 71. She asked if I’d like to read it and I said I’d love to. It seems that Lew has been around racing for quite some time, too, as a mechanic. Even worked for the Foyt team for quite some time.

Over time, Carla sent me parts of what was being written for me to check out, and if necessary, maybe make some minor corrections, if needed, which I did, and enjoyed reading about her father and his exploits over the years.

They’re hoping to get the book published in 2010, and I’ll keep you posted on when that might be. I can say this, though:

If you get a chance to buy the book, do so, by all means. Some really interesting things went on with Lew and the race teams he worked with. Some serious, and also some quite comical. I’ll keep you posted!

The History of the Sport:

As I said above, I would get into some of the books that I have that Crocky Wright had written and then put some of that info into my columns on occasion. Here are some things from his “Midget Auto Racing History – Volume Two” (the Gold covered book):

In that book, Crocky covers the Northeast midget scene by years.

Just a little about Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, NJ for the year1946 – the first year that I started going to the races.

The track was promoted by Ed Otto. There were 35 race meets and 36 features run in 1946. The first race was on April 14^th and the final show was on October 15^th. The winner of the first race was Chet Gibbons. The winner of the final race was Johnny Ritter.

On October 15^th, there was a special 50 lap “Race of Champions” and every feature race winner was in that race with the exception of Bill Schindler who was racing out west in California. Ritter actually won both features on the 15^th, I should add – the regular 25 lap feature and the 50 lapper.

On June 9^th, one of Pappy Hough’s cars was involved in two flips, with two different drivers. Lloyd Christopher was the first to get upside down, after hitting the guardrail. “Jeep” Colkitt replaced him in the car for the re-start, and he ended up upside down in the very same spot. Neither driver was injured.

Colkitt was involved in other accidents at Hinchliffe in 1946, and one that had him suspended for the balance of the season. That happened on Friday, September 13^th. Ray Jackson and Colkitt got together, and Jackson crashed into the guard rail, had his car flip over and ended up back on the track. Jackson was taken to the hospital – unconscious. Before the race was re-started, some of the ARDC officials had a quick talk with the clubs President – Bill Schindler. I was there that day, and I can still vividly recall Schindler raising his right hand with a “thumbs up” but moving his right hand over his right shoulder – a symbol of the driver being tossed out. Jackson never recovered, and passed away from his injuries.

There were quite a few more accidents on that night – September 13^th – a Friday. Hans Koehler crashed while attempting to pass Crocky Wright, in the first heat. On the re-start, Charlie Breslin spun his Eddie Allen Outboard on the first turn, and Wright was un-able to miss him, resulting in another crash.

In the second heat, Vic Sloane and Colkitt ran side by side for many laps, until contact was made and Sloan crashed into the guard rail and flipped.. On the re-start, Jim Ferrick spun and was hit by Harry Gassel who flipped end over end three times.

For the year, Ritter won six features with his Outboard powered midget. Schindler was next, with five in the Caruso Offy, along with Lloyd Christopher who drove one of Pappy Hough’s cars to five wins. Ted Tappett won three features in the Bourgnon Cycle powered car, while Shorty McAndrew in a Ken Hickey V-8, Colkitt in another Hough car, Walt Fair in another V-8 and Rex Records in another Ken Hickey V-8 won two. Single wins went to Chet Gibbons, Charlie Miller in the Whitehouse Outboard, Al Keller in the Cresbough V-8, Don Morris in the Red Eckert V-8, Johnny Jars in the Taylor V-8, Johnny Sweir in an Outboard, Art Cross in another Hough V-8 and Lew Volk in still another V-8.

Johnny Ritter ended up as the track champion, and he was followed by Schindler, Christopher, Records, Colkitt, Tappett, McAndrew, Cross, Morris, Len Duncan, Keller, Miller, Sweir, Jars, Gibbons, Volk, Tony Bonadies, Ed “Dutch” Schaefer, George Fonder, Breslin, Dee Toran, Mike Joseph, Red Redmond, Al Duffy, Len Wofsey, Gasell, Bill Baker and Johnny Carpenter.

Ritter, who is usually remembered for driving a Canary Yellow # 3 Outboard and Offy, drove his Canary Yellow Outboard with the number 163 on it in 1946.

Note: With me getting a lot of information from what Crocky Wright has written over the years, I think I’ll dedicate this weeks column to him –

This one is for you, Ernest Schlausky, A.K.A. Crocky Wright. Rest in peace, and enjoy the bench racing up above.

Video time:

Here is the video of Travis Pastrana and his record-breaking car jump on New Years Eve:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIfYbqw3QCM

Other (non racing) news:

Gradually I’ll be cutting back on this section, and within a month or so, it will be eliminated altogether.

Cities, counties take back corporate tax breaks

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_tax_fights

Deals made for the health reform bill

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20091221/pl_cq_politics/politics3271696

A heads up:

Sometime between this column and my next one – due out on January 14^th, you can look for my first article about what’s going on and being said, on the Internet. Various things pertaining to racing will be covered. I hope you will enjoy them.

Also, look for some more photos on the New England Tractor website. http://newenglandtractor.com/racereport/

Closing with this:

A Drunk man is stumbling through the woods totally drunk when he comes upon a preacher baptizing people in the river.
He proceeds to walk into the water and subsequently bumps into the preacher.
The preacher turns around and is almost overcome by the smell of alcohol whereupon he asks the drunk
'Are you ready to find Jesus?'
The drunk shouts 'Yes I am!'
So the preacher grabs him and dunks him in the water.
He pulls him up and asks the drunk
'Brother have you found Jesus?'
The drunk replies 'No I haven't found Jesus.'
The preacher shocked at the answer dunks him into the water again for a little longer.
He again pulls him out of the water and asks again 'Have you found Jesus my brother?'
The drunk again answers 'No I haven't found Jesus!'
By this time the preacher is at his wits end and dunks the drunk in the water again -- but this time holds him down for about 30 seconds and when he begins kicking his arms and legs he pulls him up.
The preacher again asks the drunk 'For the love of God have you found Jesus?'

(Are you ready for this????)

The drunk wipes his eyes and catches his breath and says to the preacher 'Are you sure this is where he fell in?'

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