Racin'
& Internet Stuff:
By Tom Avenengo
Volume # 13
First things, first:
Last Saturday, due to a medical emergency, the modified feature at OC wasn’t run due to their curfew. I, for one, thought it would be run this coming Saturday, as most tracks would do it. Not so, from what I’ve read. This, from the OCFS website:
“However, because of a severe medical
emergency centered around the pit area of driver Ric Hill, that race has been
postponed until a later date this year."
Huh?
OK, maybe I’m out of step here on this
about OC not running the feature this coming Saturday. One of the forums that I frequent, I posted
about the feature not being run this Saturday, and here was a response about
it:
“From a modified owner's perspective......... please wait until the track gets straightened out. Our car can't take much more.”
Some
of my thoughts:
Accord: Great racing, good food, friendly fans, lots of fans, smooth track, still quite dusty. If you go, bring goggles or something to cover your eyes from the dust. I’ve noticed no 50/50 at Accord this season, so far. Wonder why?
And I’m not sure just what the safety rules are for Accord, as far as drivers equipment goes, but we did notice some drivers last week that were not wearing gloves. Dumb.
OCFS: Getting better as far as the racing surface
goes, but still needs work. I always sit
in the ½ covered stands, and on any Saturday night they’re less than ½
full. I’ve read that the covered
grandstand has been pretty well filled on Saturday nights, however. Then, looking at a photo of the start of one
of the Sprint Car heats last Saturday, it showed a lot of empty seats in the
covered grandstand, as well. With the
cooler weather, the Drive-In has been looking pretty good, as far as having
quite a lot of cars in it. No idea as to
why the track doesn’t advertise – either in the local paper or through posters
put out in various stores. There was a
time that was done. With the lack of
advertising, especially in the local paper, I’ve noticed a big decline in
coverage of the on goings as far as racing goes. Results, that normally were in the Sunday
edition, in the past, are now put in on Tuesday – and only results, no
article. This past week, the paper said
the only information furnished was a list of feature winners. Huh? I
don’t go there during the fair due to the lack of parking, and I can see that
hurting any racing events that are held while the fair is on. Also, at one time, when you paid to get into
the fair (which I consider to be an outrageous cost today, especially for a
family), you would get the cost of the fair admission off of your race ticket
price. The place is in dire need of a
new speaker system. I’d love to see
handrails put on the stairways in the ½ covered stands. No, not 100% from top to bottom, but maybe
about ½ dozen or so per stairway, with spaces between them – like Big Diamond
has. The removal of the banking in the
turns, to “slow” the cars down and give better racing – still to early to
tell. As far as slowing the cars down,
not really happening – yet – even with a horrendous racing surface over the
first few weeks. As for better racing –
again, not really, as far as I’m concerned.
I still think that if the track were to be made smaller – like move the
third and fourth turns in to where they’d be about where the ½ covered stand
ends, might help for better racing. For
the last couple of years, they’ve had discount coupons, good for some monies
off the price of admission, in various businesses – however, you had to hunt
for those places. At one time, the track
had no idea as to what stores had them!
I have not seen anything about those discount coupons for this current
season. I only noticed one 50/50 ticket
seller last Saturday at the track. Do
they have one in the pit area and also one in the Drive-in? As you walk into the ½ covered stands,
there’s a sign that says “Family Section”.
OK, just where is it? Also, the ½
covered is in dire need of a new GOOD paint job. The paint that was put down a couple of years
ago is now flaking and the wind blows it around. I go to pick up the blanket that we sit on,
and it’s covered with pieces of green paint.
Hopefully,
the next time they have the CRSA Sprint cars in for a show, they’ll make
arrangements for a couple more push vehicles.
Going back, in time – Part One:
Note: The following information was found
here: http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/history.html
May 13th, in:
1971
Mark Donohue recorded
the first sub-50 second lap (49.73 seconds) and first 180 mph lap (180.977 mph)
at the
1988
Rick Mears ran a lap of
220.453 mph in qualifying for the Indy 500. It was the first official 220 mph
lap at the
May 14th, in:
1966
Chuck Rodee... Died ...
USAC driver from the 1950's and 1960's. He won 35 career features in USAC midget
competition. He drove in the USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1957,
1958, 1960, and 1962-1965 seasons. He finished in the top ten 4 times, with his
best finish in 5th position in 1965 at
1986
Nelson Stacy... Died ...
Stacy was ARCA Champion for three years 1958, 1959, 1960, prior to entering
Winston Cup racing when he was over 40. An "Old Man" for a rookie by
today's standards. He still managed to win the World 600 and two races at
Darlington and
May 15th, in:
1953
Chet Miller ... Died ...
AAA driver 1928 to 1953. Ran the Indy 500 sixteen times with a best finish of
3rd in 1938. He was killed at the
1955
Louis Tomei... Died ...
AAA driver 1932 to 1949
1957
Keith Andrews ... Died
... He started racing on oval tracks in 1946 driving Roadsters, progressing to
midgets in 1947 and winning three feature races at Lakeside
1982
Gordon Smiley... Died
... American race car driver from Omaha, Nebraska that ran SCCA Formula
Atlantic, Can-Am, Formula 5000, Formula Super Vee and Indy cars. Smiley raced
in the
May 16th, in:
1909
Luigi Villoresi ... Born
... Driver from
1948
Ralph Hepburn... Died
... A pioneer of American motorcycle racing champion from 1914 to 1924 and a
AAA and
1955
Manny Ayulo... Died ...
AAA driver from the 1940's and 50's. His efforts, along with those of friend
and teammate Jack McGrath, helped establish track roadsters as viable Indy race
cars. He ran the
1995
Red Amick... Died ...
USAC driver
May 17th, in:
1959
Jerry Unser... Died ...
He was the 1957 USAC Stock Car champion. Jerry was the first of the Unser
family to compete at
1996
Scott Brayton ... Died
... USAC/CART/IRL driver 1981 to 1996. Scott tragically lost his life in a
fatal crash during practice at the
May 18th, in:
1886
Earl Cooper... Born ...
AAA driver 1911 to 1927
1961
Donnie Beechler... Born
... A former driver in USAC and the Indy Racing League. He raced in the
1998-2001 IRL seasons with 36 career starts, including 4
1968
Graham Hill is the first
to break the 170 mph barrier in qualifying at Indy, and records a four-lap
average of 171.208 mph in his STP-Lotus 56 turbine car, his fastest lap being
171.887 mph. Soon after, Joe Leonard improves
on Hill's time and puts his own STP-Lotus 56 on pole, with a four-lap average
of 171.559 mph, fastest lap 171.953 mph. These two gentlemen remain P1 and P2
on the final grid.
1969
Jigger Sirois waved off
his qualifying attempt on the first day of qualifying for the Indy 500. Because
of rain, no other cars attempt to qualify that day. If Sirois had not waived it
off, he would have sat on pole. Sirois failed to qualify for that year's 500
and also failed six more times and never got to race in the 500. Note: it was his car owner that waived off
the attempt.
1972
Jim Malloy... Died ...
USAC driver 1950's , 60's and 70's. He drove in the USAC Championship Car
series, racing in the 1967-1972 seasons, with 61 career starts, including the
1968-1971 Indianapolis 500 races. He finished in the top ten 23 times, with his
best finish in 2nd position in 1969 at
1991
Hiro Matsushita becomes
the first Japanese driver to qualify for the Indy 500, he qualified 24th.
1994
Al Unser Sr. announced
his retirement from auto racing, ending one of the greatest Indy Car careers of
all time. With his win of the 1987 race, Unser became only the second man to
win the Indy 500 four times after starting in the twentieth position. The next
year he broke Ralph DePalma's seemingly unbreakable record for most laps led at
the 500. His 1970 season was one of the greatest ever, as he won ten races on
ovals, road courses and dirt tracks to capture the national championship. He
won back-to-back Indy 500s in 1970 and 1971, and in 1978 he became the first
driver to win the "Triple Crown" of Indy racing by placing first in
the Pocono 500 and the
1996
Scott Brayton, after
winning the pole, died in a practice accident for the
1998
John Force set an NHRA
Funny Car top speed record of 323.89 mph at Englishtown, New,
May 19th, in:
1973
Dario Franchitti ... Born ... A Scottish racing driver of Italian
descent. He formerly competed in the CART series before switching to the
IndyCar Series where he was 2007 champion, and won the rain-shortened 2007
1997
Troy Ruttman... Died ...
AAA / USAC driver from the late 1940's to 1964. He raced in 12 Indy 500's and
won in 1952. He was the older brother of NASCAR driver Joe Ruttman.
2000
Johnny Baldwin... Died
... USAC driver from the 1950's. Started racing midgets in 1946 & retired
from driving in 1966.
Racing
on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
Live racing telecasts
Friday,
May 14th:
10:00
AM to 11:30 AM on SPEED – Truck qualifying from
11:30
AM to 1:00 PM on SPEED – Cup practice from
1:00
PM to 3:00 PM on ESPN2 – Nationwide final practice from
3:00
PM to 4:30 PM on SPEED – Cup qualifying
8:30
PM to 11:00 PM on SPEED – Truck race
Saturday,
May 15th:
8:00
AM to 9:30 AM on SPEED – Formula 1 qualifying from
10:00
AM to 11:30 AM on ESPN2 – Nationwide qualifying from
11:30
AM to 12:30 PM on SPEED – Cup practice from
12:30
PM to 2:00 PM on SPEED – Cup final practice
2:30
PM to 5:00 PM on ABC – Nationwide race from
8:00
PM to 10:00 PM on ESPN2 – NHRA qualifying from
10:00
PM to 11:00 PM on SPEED – AMA Pro racing – bikes race # 1 from
11:00
PM to 12:00 AM on SPEED – AMA Pro racing – bikes race # 2 from
Sunday,
May 16th:
6:00
AM to 7:30 AM on SPEED – FIA Gp 2 from
7:30
AM to 10:00 AM on SPEED – Formula 1 Grand Prix from
1:00
PM to 5:00 PM on FOX – Cup race from
3:00
PM to 4:00 PM on SPEED – FIM Superbike – race 1 from
4:00
PM to 5:00 PM on SPEED – FIM Superbike – race 2 from
7:00
PM to 10:00 PM on ESPN2 – NHRA Eliminations from
Monday,
May 17th:
12:00
AM to 1:00 AM on SPEED – AMA bikes race # 3 from
1:00
AM to 2:00 AM on SPEED – AMA bikes race # 4 from
Track
news:
Not really “Track news”, but some sad news. A few years ago, a fella that lives in
The
History of the Sport:
Here is
some more of what Peter Kessler has written about OCFS – for the Hard Clay racing program.
Part 1
In
the summer of 1941, the
In
1941, the role of the
The average price for a new car was $850.00. A new house cost $4,075.00. A gallon of gas was twelve cents. Average salary was $1,750.00 a year. For the first time in a decade, many Americans had some money in their pockets.
The Annual Races at the Orange County Fair promised to be the best ever.
The
It was the 101st anniversary of the Orange County Fair.
The Middletown Times Herald began pitching the big race on Thursday, August
14. There would be 60 racers in attendance on Saturday competing for 32
starting positions. Drivers such as Rufe Anderson of
"When thirty-three drivers face the starter's flag on Harry Clay Oval at the Orange County Fair tomorrow, each speedster will have three definite reasons to win.
"Each driver competing in the New York State Open Championship automobile races will be thinking of coming out in front to cop the state title and the major share of the prize money which goes with it.
"In addition, each driver will be striving to gain points which will put him in front in his own racing organizations which will be represented in the title races, and each and every driver will be out to help his organization boost its reputation as compared with other organizations."
In the Saturday paper, the headline announced:
Crowds
Throng to Harry Clay Oval For Auto Races
35 Drivers Set for
Time Trials; Track Dries Fast
With the mid-morning announcement of Walter C. Stebbins (promoter of the races) that the auto races would definitely be held, another banner crowd was expected at Harry Clay Oval today for the six events of the gasoline derby which annually serves as the concluding highlight of the Orange County Fair.
The track, which received a thorough drenching all day yesterday and last night, began to dry this morning under a warm sun and a light breeze. Workmen busied themselves removing the thick layer of muck caused by last night's performance of the rodeo and officials declared the track would be in fine shape when the time trials got under way at one p.m. The trials were delayed an hour in order to insure a fast and safe track. Under the revised program it was announced that the trials would be speeded up considerably in order to allow the staging of the first competitive event as soon after two o'clock as possible.
Thirty-Five Pilots
Listed
Thirty-five drivers, virtually all of them new to Orange County Fairgoers, were scheduled to compete. Following the time trials, three qualifying events were listed. Then, it was announced, would come a match race among the three fastest cars in the time trials. Listed as the fifth event was the consolation race, this to precede the featured thirty-lap event with ten cars. The three fastest cars in the qualifying events and the winner of the consolation race would race for the title in the finale, it was said.
Among the last-minute entries for the races was that of Harry Harper, 1940 Pennsylvania State Champion and 1941 National Open Champion who wired Walter C. Stebbins yesterday stating that he would definitely be on hand to compete in the New York Open Championship events.
Other top-rung speedway daredevils whose entries were accepted include Al Karp, of New York City, Jerry Eaton, of East St. Louis, Joe and Pete Schmauch, the racing brothers of Tamaqua, Pa., Ducky Pehlman, of Allentown, Joe Lovely, of Boston, and a score of others.
It was all set for Saturday, August 16, 1941.
Next week: Race results and the end of auto racing “for the duration.”
Former Dirt Oval (
Note: In most cases, the names that appear in this section are names of those that have run at the Dirt Oval for an extended period of time. And, in some cases, maybe only an occasional appearance at the Dirt Oval, too.
At Big Diamond, Mike Mammana was 4th in the Sportsman feature.
At Penn Can, Danny Creeden was 24th in the Modified feature.
At
At Five Mile, Mammana was 8th in the Modified feature and Brad Szulewski was 5th in the 600 Modified feature.
At
At Accord, in the wingless 600 Micro feature, Joe Kata was 3rd and Brittany Tresch 4th. In the Spec Sportsman feature, Jason Roe was 1st, Kyle Rohner 3rd and Kayla Smykla 10th. In the Sportsman feature, Anthony Perrego was 1st, Brian Krummel 13th and Mike Ruggiero 16th. In the Modified feature, Clinton Mills was 1st. Tom Hindley, Lex Burritt and Greg Hastie were all DNQ’s.
At OCFS, in the CRSA Sprint Car feature, Billy VanInwegen was 1st, while Danny Hennessy was a DNQ after hitting the third turn wall while leading his heat. In the Sportsman feature, Joe Conklin was 4th, Brian Krummel 6th, Doc Young 7th, John Lodini 14th, Bobby Hassenmayer 20th, Rich Coons 22nd and Keith Still 23rd. The Modified feature wasn’t run due to a medical emergency in the pit area just before their feature, and curfew had set in. However, Danny Creeden was 8th in his heat and 4th in the consi. Tim Hindley was 4th in his heat, Mike Ruggiero 3rd in his, Billy VanInwegen 2nd in his and Clinton Mills 4th in his.
At New Egypt, John Guarino was 24th in the Modified feature. I noticed a Jeff Muller listed in the 305 Sprint car races. Might that be the Jeff Muller from OVRP’s Dirt Oval?
At Williams Grove, with the ARDC midgets, they got in their heats before the rains came. Justin Grosz is listed as a DNQ for the feature.
At Sundance Vacation, Nick Pecko was 10th in the Modified feature.
At Borgers, Tiffany Wambold was 3rd in the Rookie 270 feature, while Kyle Rohner won another feature with the Stage One Modifieds.
Hope I didn’t miss anyone!
More
racin’ stuff:
From
last week:
“This coming weekend, the wingless 600 Micro Sprints will be in action at Accord on Friday night – a short series that includes the Hamlin track. And, at OCFS on Saturday, the CRSA 305 Sprint Cars are added to the program.”
Ok, I had a feeling that there would not be many 600
Micros at Accord, and I was correct. Six
showed up. One must keep in mind that
almost 100% of those 600’s that will race at Accord are from
As for the CRSA at OCFS – they had 22 cars sign in on a day/night that really wasn’t fit for racing, with low temperatures and high, gusty winds. Despite that, they put on a decent show. As with most tracks that don’t usually have races with cars that need push starts, a few more push vehicles would come in handy the next time the CRSA visits OC.
I have no idea as to why the CRSA isn’t running any events at Accord – as of now they’re not, anyway.
Ralph Corwin:
Ralph will be leaving – or has already left for
Other forums/message boards and websites:
Track Forum: - http://www.trackforum.com/forums/
Bernard: "Indy Racing League"/"IRL"
name needs to go away
Frontstretch.com:
http://www.frontstretch.com/
Matt McLaughlin’s Thinkin’ Out Loud:
http://www.frontstretch.com/mmclaughlin/29339/
Jayski: - http://www.jayski.com/
Daytona repaving gives Goodyear tight timeline, Old Spice
leaving Stewart Hass next season, Ford looking for new racing engineer, Race
attendance still dropping and Budweiser to become official beer of NFL;
Michelob renews with PGA
http://jayski.com/cupnews.htm#dis-tires
Note: Might low TV ratings and lower race
attendance lead to Budweiser maybe dropping out of sponsoring in NASCAR?
In
part: “Even after the governor assembled a committee to deal
with New Hampshire Motor Speedway's concerns about the cost of police and fire
coverage at the track, the speedway and Loudon police Chief Bob Fiske are about
$100,000 apart on the cost of covering next month's NASCAR race weekend.”
http://jayski.com/pages/tracks/nhms.htm
Video
time:
Back to Accord, again. This time a short clip of the wingless 600 Micro Sprints. We had a 600 Micro that my grandson, Brett drove. One night at the Greenwood Valley Action Track, they had two “features” for the 600’s – one with the wings and one without, the “without” feature being last on the night. Due to a family function, I wasn’t able to attend, but Brett said he liked it without the wing much better. From what we saw last Friday at Accord, if they get more 600’s to come up there, they should have some real good racing. Problem is getting more to come on Friday nights when they’re scheduled. I don’t expect too many to be there on Wednesday nights when that series starts up, in June. Accord, for the 600’s will definitely be a “motor” track. Oh, forgot – there was one 600 Modified that was as Accord last Friday. He managed to get in about a lap before we think his chain came off. Those 600 Modifieds aren’t scheduled for Accord in 2010, as of now, but I feel they would also put on an excellent show, and they normally pull in some nice fields of cars, too.
Thanks to “DirtModJunkie” for the video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJhORjZTKlM
Is this true?:
I found this on one of the forums that I frequent – supposedly this is
being done at the
“TALK ABOUT PAYING DRIVERS
OFF...THEY ANNOUNCED ON SATURDAY THE TOP FIVE IN POINTS ARE NOW GUARANTEED $500
SHOW UP MONEY”.
Going back, in time – Part Two:
A quick trip back in history. May
18, 1980. That wasn’t so long ago, was
it? Almost 30 years ago, believe it or
not. What special event happened on that
date – almost 30 years ago? Any
idea? I remember it like it was a lot
closer to this day and age than what it really is. May 18, 1980 is the date that
For information on that day, and prior and after it,
check out this link, below:
http://www.olywa.net/radu/valerie/StHelens.html
Other
(non racing) news:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100510/ap_on_re_us/us_immigration_enforcement_referendums
Closing with these:
“Walking
can add minutes to your life.
This enables
you at 85 years old to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing
home at $7000
per month
My grandpa started walking five miles a day when he was 60.
Now
he's 97 years old and we don't know where the heck he is.
I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me..
The only reason I would take up walking is so that I could hear heavy
breathing again.
I have to walk early in the morning, before my brain figures out what
I'm doing..
I joined a
health club last year, spent about 400 bucks.
Haven't
lost a pound. Apparently you have to go there
Every time I hear the dirty word 'exercise', I wash my mouth out
with chocolate..
The advantage of
exercising every day is so when you die, they'll say,
'Well,
she looks good doesn't she.'
If you are going to try cross-country skiing, start with a small
country.
I know I got a lot of exercise the last few years,...... just
getting over the hill.
We all get heavier as we get older, because there's a lot more
information in our heads.
That's
my story and I'm sticking to it.
Every time I start thinking too much about how I look, I just find a
Happy Hour
and
by the time I leave, I look just fine.”
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