Mostly
Racin' Stuff
By Tom
Avenengo
Volume # 176
04/10/2014
Some
personal/family stuff:
We got back here to the “frigid” country
ok. About the only problem we had was
that once we got over an hour away from
Something else quite noticeable with both
my wife and me was how much harder it was to breathe. We have to figure it’s due to the cooler
temps (blood thinker, maybe?) and the change of climate? Time will tell.
Racin’
stuff:
I had a request to have the Brett Hearn
interview that I did eleven years ago be put back on the Internet. If you’re interested, you can see it in the
link below.
http://newenglandtractor.com/racereport/ta/bretthearn.htm
Also, I’ve been working on some
information on the ARDC midgets racing in New England from back in the day, for
Dick Berggren and the forth coming museum that will be at the track in
Note:
Hmmm – I received a message on Facebook, on Wednesday, that Mr. Berggren
has more or less abandoned the Loudon location.
Seems there will be a meeting on April 19th at the Stafford
Club house for an “important” update on future plans.
Race track schedules:
Not sure if you get the AARN
or not, but they had a good amount of track schedules in last weeks issue.
Vintage Racing Celebration
Friday, August 01 - Monday,
Aug 04, 2014 - 9:00am - 5:00pm
Road Course Days: Aug. 1-2
Oval Days: Aug. 3-4
Former
OVRP Dirt Oval runners:
There are some results to make mention of
this week.
At OCFS in the Hard Clay Open, in the
modified 50 lap feature, Tim Hindley was 2nd, Billy VanInwegen 6th,
Anthony Perrego 16th (got a flat with a few laps to go while in top
3) and Danny Creeden 20th.
Mike Ruggiero, Tyler Dippel and Clinton Mills were all DNQ’s. Dipple, was scheduled to start 3rd
in a consi (3 qualified), but his car would not start. Same as last year at ESW, so it seems.
In the Sportsman feature, Brian Krummel
was first, Andrew Reeves 4th, John Illanovsky 6th, LJ
Lombardo 7th, John Virgilio 19th and Matt Hitchcock 23rd. Mike Traver was a DNQ.
Down in
Note:
I did have a small article in last weeks AARN about some of those that
ran at the Dirt Oval and how they’ve done in bigger forms of racing. It was on page 33. Space limits meant I could not put in all
names – I guess that maybe there are at least 50 that have run at the Dirt Oval
and have graduated to bigger things.
Chevy has not heard from
Earnhardt about swap
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/chevy-not-heard-earnhardt-swap-221655700--nascar.html
Racing on TV:
A couple of things that were
posted on the Dirt Track Digest by Brett Deyo:
Any NDRL Modified teams
present at Orange County Fair Speedway on Sunday for the start of the NDRL
Short Track Super Series Fueled By VP that failed to qualify for the main
event: we will pay your car entry fee for the next series race, the Olum's
Lightning on the Mountain presented by Rochinski Contracting Services &
Husqvarna Tuesday, May 20 (rain date: May 21) at Thunder Mountain Speedway. Simply
e-mail Deyo99H@aol.com and we will get you on the entry list. Thanks again for the support on Sunday as we
kicked off our inaugural tour!
Some thoughts from my end at
Orange County Fair Speedway on the promoters’ side as we opened the NDRL Short
Track Super Series Fueled By VP...
The bad: the
track – the surface in turn four seemed to actually break apart. After taking a
look Monday morning, it appeared the fourth turn area was the most effected by
frost (there is fairgrounds drainage that runs through that area – thus it
stayed frozen deeper, longer). I can tell you that two full pallets of calcium
were used to prepare the track between Saturday and Sunday. The areas of the
track that didn’t break up – most of the track - were the typical OCFS, hard, black
and not dusty. However, the problem area of turn four definitely created took
attention off the other three corners.
Would watering the track
before the feature have helped? Not likely. The actual start of the race wasn’t
terribly dusty – it reared its head on the 18th-lap restarts – and honestly we
would have wasted the racers’ fuel drying it back up to the point where it
immediately became dusty again with the sun beating down and 65-degree
temperatures with a 2 p.m. start (1 p.m. hot laps). I’ve been at a lot of races where the track
is soaked right before the feature, cars waste $10 per gallon fuel and fans’
time running it in only to the point where it is dusty again on the start.
How do we fix it? I met with Michael Gurda on Monday morning and requested we find a
date next spring when we could run in the evening, or start later so the Mod
race is run after the sun goes down. That is something we will talk about again
in September. I do think sail panel Modifieds under the lights would be really
cool.
The good: the field! The race was exactly what I wanted: a whole bunch of weekly racers
representing seven states, one Canadian province and
The GRIT Series also provided
a nice diversity of 602 Sportsman drivers and a solid 37-car field.
The great: the crowd! As someone who
literally grew up at the Hard Clay, it was so awesome to see such a big turnout
at the place again. The buzz in the
stands and drive-in was back. Thank you
to all the fans that turned out.
The new: the
passing points system, albeit new and slightly confusing to traditional
Modified folks, made its debut without any major issues. I received a really
nice e-mail from Darwin Greene, who has raced at Penn Can, I-88 and Fonda,
about the system. Here it is:
“Congratulations on a great
show. Lots of passing in heat and consi
made it exciting for fans. Even though
we drew 93 out of bucket, the passing points gave us a fair chance to qualify.”
It was nice to see a little
guy, per se, benefit.
The awesome:
all the sponsors that kicked in to pay out almost $40,000 to Modified racers on
hand for a 50-lap race. I created this breakdown of earnings for the top-10
finishers Sunday – this is all cash, not including product.
Winner – Andy Bachetti:
$5,637
2nd – Tim Hindley: $4,960
3rd – Danny Tyler: $3,023
4th – Danny Johnson: $1,845
5th – Jeff Heotzler: $1,565
6th – Billy Van Inwegen:
$1,802
7th – J.R. Heffner: $1,690
8th – Tommy Meier: $1,248
9th – Stewart Friesen: $1,100
10th – Jimmy Davis: $1,000
A big thanks to Ken Sands,
Mike Gurda and the OCFS staff for allowing me to realize a dream and promote a
race at my home track. They were all very accommodating.
I was also happy to see a
good turnout at Big Diamond Sunday, as well. Even with the conflict, we both
did well. Congrats to race winner Ryan Godown and Big D operator Jake Smulley
on a great ‘Money in the Mountains’ race at Big D.
We move on to Thunder Mountain
for Round No. 2 of the Super Series on Tuesday, May 20 - there are a few tweaks
on our end we will make to make the show run smoother from a series
perspective. Looking forward to it –
thanks again to all the fans, drivers, sponsors, etc. who took a chance on the
“new series” and supported us at Orange County Saturday and Sunday. Series suggestions are always welcome at Deyo99H@aol.com.
And this, too, on the DTD
forum:
Tracks' inability to control
dust lately
http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/DTD/index.php?/topic/50363-tracks-inability-to-control-dust-lately/
Note: If you were at OCFS this past Sunday, towards
the end of the show, it was very dusty - especially in turn 4. There are some interesting comments on this
thread. I wonder what those that had
complaints about the dust at OCFS would have done back in the day when the
Champ cars, Sprint cars and Midgets, used knobby tires on the dirt tracks, and
would throw “Rooster tails” for quite a distance.
A little about OCFS:
I found this on the Victory
Speedway forum:
“I was doing some research
tonight on the horse Harry Clay and didn't know that he was buried at the track
in
I saw a Middletown Times
article from the 30's saying there was a stone somewhere "by the entrance
of the fairgrounds".
Ken Sands verified this
morning that the stone to memorialize Harry Clay is indeed right outside of the
track's office.”
Note: At one time the track was known as the Harry
Clay Oval.
A
little trip back in time:
Back to September 19, 1959. Check how old some of the cars were!
http://www.ultimateracinghistory.com/race.php?raceid=4798
Note:
Yes, back then if ya didn’t qualify, ya didn’t race.
An interesting thread on the DTD forum –
Food at race tracks....
http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/DTD/index.php?/topic/50367-food-at-race-tracks-imo/
Note: Personally, I loved the beef & onion and
sausage & pepper sandwiches form JP’s at OCFS. Wish they were still in business!
My plans:
I was not planning on going
to the Accord Speedway this Friday – gonna wait until it warms up a
little. But, me, being “Mr. Negative” as
many refer to me as, I see that the forecast for Accord for this coming Friday
isn’t the best.
And I might accompany my son,
Eric, on Saturday, down to Virginia, so that would knock out OCFS, which might
get their show in, since it’s forecasted to be rainy on Friday, Friday night
and into Saturday morning.
From
Jayski:
Hamlin discusses issue with
eye at
"I literally thought on
Friday that I was starting to get a sty. It happened sometime during practice
whether it came in through the car or through the air conditioning unit through
the helmet -- something, it came in through somewhere, but I don't remember the
exact time when it happened. Friday evening I definitely felt an agitation
right in the corner to my upper eyelid so I thought I was getting a sty because
it just felt like one. Then Saturday, I woke up and it was a little worse. I
ran through practice and vision was fine, but just a lot of watering and I
didn't see any swelling of the eyelid so I knew it wasn't a sty at that point.
I didn't go to the infield care center until late on Saturday. Me and my
girlfriend went to the mall -- we were shopping around and it was bothering me so
much that I contacted one of the NASCAR liaisons and asked if anyone was still
at the infield care center. They said they would wait on me so they waited on
me. They looked at it, they dyed it, they put it under a black light -- didn't
see any scratches, didn't see anything in the eye.
Immediately we started trying
to figure out what would be causing it if there's nothing in it. The only thing
I could think of is I was starting to actually get a little stuffy on my left
hand side of my face and my nose was running a little bit. I mentioned to them
in trying to cover all the possibilities that I showed them a CT scan from
January where I had a really, really bad sinus infection -- it was the worst
the doctor has ever seen and Dr. Petty has been around a really, really long
time.
So the only other option, I
went to bed Saturday night, woke up Sunday and felt twice as worse -- pain was
twice as worse and vision was slightly impaired over where it was Saturday. So
I stayed in the infield care center for a couple hours and we tried to go over
all the possibilities of what it could be and really since they didn't see
anything in it, the only thing we could do was get an optometrist to come to
the race track, which it was too late into the day for that, it was too late
for me to go to one and come back in time so everyone came to an agreement that
the best thing for me was to go to the hospital and get scanned in case.
There's tons of different
possibilities, whether it be a blood clot -- anything that affects because
there's more to it, but any time wind would hit my eye it would shoot a pain
right to my temple so they thought that there was something really bad going on
behind the eye that they didn't have the equipment in the infield care center
-- you need some pretty -- you need to get a CT scan. By the time I got to the
hospital and the optometrist came in with her microscope, saw the metal, got it
out -- a portion of it, she couldn't get the rust out she said -- it would need
a couple more days for that to harden to get out. Once the metal came out, I
felt a lot better. We went home, the CT scan showed that I was perfectly clear
on the sinus part of it.
Long story short, it won't
keep me from going to the infield care center at any point. I wanted to race of
course, no matter what. I felt like if I was going to be a liability I would
have pulled myself during the race, but there's protocols that we have to go
through and it's not just my safety that has got to be taken into account.
We're racing around other guys and that's one of the fastest tracks we go to.
What if I caused a wreck early on? I don't need to be a liability out there and
obviously with this new format we hardly lost anything in points."(
Note:
In my last column, there was mention of NASCAR cutting back on
horsepower in Cup cars.
UPDATE:
NASCAR has another meeting
scheduled in April with Sprint Cup engine builders to determine possible
changes to the engine for next year, said Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR vice
president of innovation and racing development. NASCAR has talked with teams
since late last year about engine changes for 2015 that would reduce
horsepower. "We're all working together to find the solution,''
Stefanyshyn told Motor Racing Network on Friday at Martinsville Speedway.
"We have to make sure that the little guys, the smaller engine builders
are OK with this and we don't hurt them financially. It's a balance, and we've
probably got six different alternatives we're looking at. We're going to be
needing to get to a decision here pretty soon.'' Engine builders expect NASCAR
to reduce horsepower by about 100 or so for next year.(Motor Racing
Network)(3-29-2014)
Latest on Biffle's contract
status:
#16-Greg Biffle's contract
with Roush Fenway Racing ends at the conclusion of the 2014 Sprint Cup Series
season. Biffle answers a question concerning his contract status, taken from an
interview with FrontStretch:
Neff: Your contract is up
this year. Have you been talking about that or are you waiting to see how the year
shakes out a little more?
Biffle: We've been working
pretty diligently on that. It has been a pretty good negotiation so far. There
are a lot of new people on both sides of the table so everyone is kind of
getting a feel for the program and learning it. We feel pretty good that we'll
have something to announce before we get to summer.(Frontstretch)(4-8-2014)
Earnhardt, Jr. Scores First
Last-Place Finish Since 2007:
#88-Dale Earnhardt, Jr. picked up the 7th
last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Monday's Duck
Commander 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway when his #88 National Guard Chevy was
involved in a scary single-car accident after he completed 12 of the race's 340
laps. The finish was Earnhardt, Jr.'s first of the 2014 season and his first
while driving for Hendrick Motorsports. It is also his first last-place finish
in 225 Cup Series races, dating back to November 11, 2007 and the Checker Auto
Parts 500 at
Billy Standridge ill:
Former NASCAR driver Billy
Standridge has cancer and is seriously sick but is in good spirits. Billy made
23 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts from 1993-1999 with a best finish of 14th in
the 1995 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. See more and leave a well wish /
comment at Billy's blog: Billy's
Jayski.com was the listed
sponsor of the #47 Ford at
UPDATE:
The three cars entered by the
JD Motorsports with Gary Keller team in Friday's VFW Sport Clips Help A Hero
200 Nationwide Series race at Darlington Raceway will carry a decal honoring
former NASCAR driver and team owner Billy Standridge. Standridge, who raced in
the Nationwide Series from 1986 to 1993 and in Sprint Cup from 1993 to 1999, is
battling cancer. He lives in
Bud Moore recovering:
NASCAR Hall of Famer Bud
Moore suffered a mild heart attack over the weekend and is recovering in a
hospital near his home in
Sad News - Ed Spencer:
Edgar Robert Spencer Sr., 85,
of
Earnhardt Jr. comments on his
lap 12 wreck at
On lap 12 of the Duck
Commander 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, #88-Earnhardt Jr.
went low on the front stretch, getting into the grass, which was wet. The left
front of the car buckled and the left front tire blew sending the #88 up the
track and into the outside wall hard. The car caught fire but Earnhardt Jr. got
out and was fine. The car was not and retired from the race. Earnhardt Jr.
comments via a Team Chevy transcript:
Q) ON WHAT HAPPENED:
Earnhardt Jr. "Just
didn't see the grass. Didn't know the grass was down there. With the way the
A-post is on these cars you can't really see that good to that angle. I just
didn't have a good visual of where the apron and the grass was and got down in
there pretty good. You can't run through there they way they have these cars on
the ground like that. Just a mistake on my part. I just didn't know I was that
close to the grass, and made a mistake."
Q) WHAT HAPPENED?
Earnhardt Jr. "I drove
the car down there. I didn't know we were that close the grass and was
following the #43 (Aric Almirola). I thought I was taking a decent line through
the dogleg. We were going low around the No. 42 (Kyle Larson) so I was lower
than normal and just misjudged it. It tears the car up pretty good when you run
through the grass."
Q) SOME DRIVERS WERE
COMPLAINING OF A WET TRACK AT THE OUTSET. WAS THAT A FACTOR?
Earnhardt Jr. "It was no
factor. I just made a mistake."(Team Chevy)(4-7-2014)
Manager: Schumacher has
'moments of consciousness:
Michael Schumacher is now
showing "moments of consciousness and awakening," more than three
months after suffering serious head injuries in a skiing accident, the retired
Formula One star's manager said Friday. Schumacher, 45, fell while skiing in
Teams to test at Michigan
UPDATE2 - 215mph & 217mph: a few NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will test
(tires) at Michigan International Speedway on Tuesday, April 8 & Wednesday,
April 9. Scheduled to test are: #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr., #16-Greg Biffle,
#15-Clint Bowyer, #21-Trevor Bayne and #31-Ryan Newman. The Turn 1 grandstand
seats will be open for fans free of charge on April 8-9.(MIS)(4-2/8-2014)
UPDATE: Greg Biffle's #16
Ford Fusion was first car on track at Michigan International Speedway in
UPDATE 2: How fast is
NASCAR's new Sprint Cup car with new aerodynamic rules on one of its fastest
tracks? #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. topped 215 mph during a test Wednesday morning
at Michigan International Speedway, one of NASCAR's fastest tracks. Track
president Roger Curtis tweeted about Earnhardt's fast speed. Clint Bowyer,
meanwhile, said he ran 217 mph during Wednesday's test.(Sporting
News)(4-9-2014)
Found
via a link on Jayski:
MIS uses jets dryers to melt
snow in preparation for the 2014 season:
More than 80 inches of snow
has fallen at Michigan International Speedway this year. And with just a week
to go before NASCAR's fastest track opens its gates for a Goodyear Tire Test,
it was time to call in the big guns to melt ice and snow from the track.
Michigan International Speedway maintenance crews used old-fashioned know-how
Monday, enlisting the help of jet dryers to melt snow drifts and sheets of ice
on some areas of the racing surface. The ice was several feet thick in some
places, especially in shaded areas of the track. And while temperatures are
expected to be warmer this week and next, it was important to get a jump on
melting the ice before cars test. The jet dryer was first used in the early-70s
to melt snow at Michigan International Speedway. It evolved to eventually be
the primary means NASCAR used to dry racetracks after rain-delays. Today, jet
dryers have been replaced by NASCAR's innovative Air Titan technology. MIS
President Roger Curtis expects all the snow and ice will be gone by next
week.(MIS)(4-5-2014)
From
Track Forum:
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/forum.php
RIP Billy Coy; Second place
Indy 500 finisher in the late '40s
Note: actually it is about the passing of Mickey
Rooney, who played the Billy Coy part in the movie “The Big Wheel”. A link to the complete movie is below in my
Racing video section.
From
the AARN:
From last weeks edition:
AARN Pull Out Schedule
Edition:
44 Pages Of Weekly Tracks,
Regional, National Series
Gerard McIntyre Is Upset
Winner
Of Williams Grove 410 Season
Opener
Gravel Claims Thrilling WoO
Verdict
At
Rainy Weekend
Shuffles Season Openers
For Dozens Of Speedways
Seekonk Speedway Matriarch
Irene Venditti Passes At 94
Asphalt Mod Season:
NASCAR Whelen, Valenti MRS,
RoC Mod Tours Previewed
Pro Stock Series Opener
At Thompson This Weekend
Ageless LM Veteran Billy
Moyer
On Top Of His Game
In WoO
Robbie Emory
Tops
NASCAR Sprint Cup Score
Is Kurt Busch’s First
In Three Years
This Week
In AARN
Bonsignore Tops
NASCAR Whelen Mods
At Thompson
With Late Race Icebreaker
Charge
Heimbach Now Two-For-Two
In 410 Sprint Pennsy Starts;
Stewart Friesen
Puts Norm Hansell’s Mod
In
NDRL Super Series Inaugural
At
Wire To Wire, By Andy Bachetti
Pittman, Sweet
Provide Kasey Kahne
With
WoO Rainout Salvaged
By Rick Eckert
With
Billy Pauch Nets
First Win Of Season
At New
Keith Rocco’s
Wild Weekend:
Wins SK Thompson Race,
Loses Icebreaker LM Score
Post-Race
Veteran Jimmy Siegel
Grabs 410 Win At
Godown Takes Big Diamond’s
Big Block / Small Block
Challenge
And Wins
Press releases:
News from the NDRL Short
Track Super Series Fueled By VP
Media Contact: Brett Deyo –
Deyo99H@aol.com or 845.728.2781
For Immediate Release/March
29, 2014
Loyalty Will Be Rewarded In
2014 National Dirt Racing League (NDRL) Short Track Super Series Fueled By VP:
Champion With Perfect Attendance Will Receive Mammoth $10,014 At Season’s End
Thanks To Series Sponsor VP Racing Fuels; No Changes To Season Schedule Or
Point Distribution
Series title sponsor VP
Racing Fuels has teamed up with NDRL Short Track Super Series coordinator Brett
Deyo to present a ‘Loyalty Bonus’ paid to a championship-winning competitor
entering all six points-paying series events and the “post-season” Oct. 17
‘King of the Can’ special at Pa.’s Penn Can Speedway.
The NDRL Short Track Super
Series Fueled By VP kicks off on Sunday, April 6 at N.Y.’s legendary Orange
County Fair Speedway with the inaugural ‘Hard Clay Open’ presented by United
Pump & Tank, East Coast Speed/ECS Auto and West Point Golf.
The first five stops on the
series – Thunder Mountain (N.Y.) May 20, I-88 (N.Y.) July 23, Accord (N.Y.)
Aug. 5 and Penn Can (
However, the new Loyalty
Award should entice a driver to compete in every event.
The ’14 NDRL Short Track
Super Series Fueled By VP championship is currently worth a cool $6,000. Should
the driver who wins the title attend all six of the ’14 NDRL Short Track Super
Series Fueled By VP events and return to compete at the “post-season” 15th
annual ‘King of the Can’ on Friday, Oct. 17 at Penn Can, the championship take
climbs to a mammoth $10,014!
Yes, a $10,014 championship
pay envelope for just seven events!
“Nothing has changed with
regards to our point distribution or schedule,” series organizer Deyo said. “A
driver can still miss one of the first five events and win the championship.
However, we want to reward the drivers who run every one of our series races
and come back the week after the Short Track SuperNationals to race in the
‘King of the Can’ at Penn Can. If our champion demonstrates this amount of
loyalty with their attendance, they will earn $10,014! If the champion does miss an event, they will
still take home a very hefty $6,000.
“This is a win-win for our
racers and fans. For the racers, it provides extra cash for their support. For
fans, it ensures all the talent will make it a point to attend every one of our
events.”
The bonus check will be
presented at the Penn Can ‘King of the Can’ event prior to the start of racing
Oct. 17. It will provide Penn Can fans the opportunity to hear from the
inaugural NDRL Short Track Super Series Fueled By VP champion!
The ‘Loyalty Award’ is just
one of many attendance bonuses this season.
Drivers with perfect attendance up to – and including – the Aug. 12
Pioneer Pole Buildings Inc. ‘Hot Summer Night’ at Penn Can Speedway will be
eligible for a pair of $250 cash drawings to be held at the drivers’ meeting.
Drivers who finish outside
the top-12 points-paying positions in the final NDRL Short Track Super Series
Fueled By VP standings will be eligible for a $250 perfect attendance bonus.
Drivers in the top-10 in the
final point standings returning to Penn Can Speedway for the ‘King of the Can’
will each receive a $200 check at sign-in for their support. The ‘King of the Can’ is a Brett Deyo
co-promotion with track operators Reed Miller and Al Wilcox. It is a 50-lap
event paying $5,015 to the winner and $315 to start.
“The success of our
first-year series depends on racer loyalty and support,” Deyo said. “We want to
make sure the drivers and car owners who stand by us will be rewarded as such,
whether they are the inaugural champion or a low-budget racer who just missed
out on the top-12 in points but attended every show.”
The inaugural NDRL Short
Track Super Series Fueled By VP boasts a $25,000-plus point fund and a long
list of contingency and product award sponsors.
To learn more, visit www.bdmotorsportsmedia.com under the Super Series
tab.
NDRL Short Track Super Series
Fueled By VP point fund raffle tickets are currently on sale for $50 each.
Those who purchase tickets will be eligible for a pair of $1,250 cash drawings.
To purchase a ticket, contact Brett Deyo at Deyo99H@aol.com.
The season gets underway
Sunday, April 6 at Orange County Fair Speedway with the $30,000-plus ‘Hard Clay
Open’ featuring NDRL Short Track Super Series Fueled By VP
big-block/small-block Modifieds in a 50-lap event paying $5,000-plus to win,
$4,000 for second, $1,500 for fifth, $1,000 for 10th and $500 to start. The Dig
Safely New York GRIT Series 602 Sportsman will run an accompanying 25-lap event
offering $1,000 to win and $100 to start.
Pit gates open at 8 a.m.
Grandstand and drive-in gates swing open at 10 a.m. The pre-race drivers’
meeting begins at 12:45 with hot laps at 1:05 p.m. The first green flag will
drop at 2 p.m.
Grandstand and drive-in
section admission is $20 (Adults), $18 (Seniors) and $2 (Kids 12 and UNDER).
Pit admission is $35 with no license required. Modified competitors can
register their cars on race day for just $20, a mere $5 increase from the early
entry fee.
To learn more about the ‘Hard
Clay Open’ or the NDRL Short Track Super Series Fueled By VP, contact Brett
Deyo by e-mail at Deyo99H@aol.com, by phone at 845.728.2781 or on the web:
www.bdmotorsportsmedia.com. Find BD
Motorsports Media on Facebook or follow @BrettDeyo on Twitter.
Located at
News from the
Media Contact: Brett Deyo –
845.728.2781 or Deyo99H@aol.com
For Immediate Release/April
9, 2014
Record-Breaker: Huge,
Record-Setting Purse Set For Tuesday, May 20 Olum’s ‘Lightning on the Mountain’
NDRL Short Track Super Series Fueled By VP Event At Thunder Mountain Speedway;
Payout Tops $27,000, Plus Bonuses & Lap Money Offered For 50-Lap Modified
Spectacular
CENTER LISLE, NY – Records
will not only fall – they will be shattered – when Thunder Mountain Speedway
hosts the Olum’s ‘Lightning on the Mountain’ presented by Rochinski Contracting
Services and Husqvarna on Tuesday, May 20.
The National Dirt Racing
League (NDRL) Short Track Super Series Fueled By VP big-block/small-block
Modifieds invade the Center Lisle, N.Y., three-eighths-mile oval for a
first-time 50-lap special boasting a record payout for the facility, which held
its first event in 1992. More than $27,000 has been posted for the NDRL
Modified division purse: $5,100 to win (including a $100 bonus from Simplicity
Design of Middletown, N.Y.), $1,500 for fifth, $1,000 for 10th and $500 just to
take the green flag.
Additionally, there will be
lap money, contingency awards, bonuses and product certificates distributed at
the unprecedented event promoted by Brett Deyo of BD Motorsports Media LLC and
speedway owner Karl Spoonhower.
“No, we’ve never had a race
like this before,” asserted Spoonhower, a 59-year-old
“I can tell you we’ve been
working all winter on the place. We’ll have it nice for that night for sure.”
Spoonhower, who sold the
speedway in 2006, reacquired Thunder Mountain last fall and has implemented
countless improvement projects including the resurfacing of the track, new
lighting, a reworked entry road, clean-up of the grounds and buildings and much
more. Spoonhower brings the big-block/small-block Modifieds back as a Saturday
night headliner after several seasons away in 2014.
The NDRL Short Track Super
Series Fueled By VP kicked off its inaugural season April 6 at Orange County
Fair Speedway in
“This will be our first event
at
“The ‘Lightning on the
Mountain’ will be one heck of a show. Many of the drivers planning to race that
night have never even seen the track. I guarantee they will love it. Karl is
known for having an awesome surface. The size, layout and banking should
produce some up-on-the-wheel action.”
A diverse field is expected
to attend the
For qualifying, drivers will
draw for their starting positions upon entry to the speedway. Heat-race
finishes utilizing staggered passing points will be calculated to set the
redraw participants and qualified cars from 10-lap heat races. Consolations, 10 laps each, will set the
remainder of the starting field via their order of finish. The heat-race
finish/passing point combination will set the starting lineups for the
consolations.
The passing points system,
new to Modified racing but widely used in other forms of racing including
Sprint Cars and the famed ‘Chili Bowl’ in Tulsa, Okla., aims to satisfy the
desires of both racers and fans by easing the consequences of a poor draw for
competitors and providing heat-race excitement for fans. The system made its
debut at
Sportsman (Open vs. Crate)
will also be featured on the ‘Lightning on the Mountain’ card in a 25-lap event
paying a minimum of $1,000 to the winner and $100 to take the green flag.
Sportsman will qualify via a traditional draw/redraw format.
Complete rules, general
information and pricing have been posted on the BD Motorsports Media LLC
website – www.bdmotorsportsmedia.com – under “Events” and “Lightning on the
Mountain” from the main menu.
The ‘Lightning on the
Mountain’ is the first major midweek event at
Gates will open at 4 p.m. for
the ‘Lightning on the Mountain’ special. A drivers’ meeting takes place at 6:20
p.m. Hot laps begin at 6:40 p.m. with a 7:15 p.m. start time planned. The rain
date is Wednesday, May 21.
Adult grandstand admission is
$20. Seniors (ages 65 and over) and Students (ages 10-17) pay $18. Kids nine
and under are FREE. Pit admission is $35, with no license required.
Lap sponsorships, $20 per
lap, are currently on sale by contacting Brett Deyo via e-mail at
Deyo99H@aol.com. All lap money collected
will be distributed directly to the racers.
For further ‘Lightning on the
Mountain’ information, contact Brett Deyo of BD Motorsports Media via e-mail at
Deyo99H@aol.com or by phone at 845.728.2781. BD Motorsports Media is on the web
at www.bdmotorsportsmedia.com. “Like” BD Motorsports Media on Facebook or
“follow” @BrettDeyo on Twitter.
Note: Provisional starters,
two highest in NDRL Short Track Super Series Fueled By VP points unable to
qualify, receive $250 to start.
Brett Deyo
BD Motorsports Media LLC
Phone: 845.728.2781
E-Mail: Deyo99H@aol.com
Web: www.bdmotorsportsmedia.com
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/BDMotorsportsMedia
Twitter: @BrettDeyo
SUNDAY NIGHT OPEN COCKPIT
SHOWS COMING TO
by admin
SUNDAY NIGHT RACING RETURNS
TO THE
Follow us on Facebook!
On Sunday night, May 4th, an
old tradition will return to the high banks of the Grandview Speedway when the
first of four doubleheader shows are offered featuring the Hilborn Tri-State
Race Saver Sprint Cars and the wingless warriors of the American Racing Drivers
Club Midgets.
For the midgets of ARDC, it will be a
return to a tradition when for nearly fifteen years, midgets raced weekly at
When the Grandview Speedway opens its
gates for its 2014 season opener this Saturday night, April 5th, race fans will
have an opportunity to meet two of the headliners from the upcoming Sunday
night schedule. Mike Haggenbottom and
Trevor Kobylarz, both 2014 Champions, will be on hand to greet fans prior to
the night's racing events.
Haggenbottom, the Hilborn TSRS 2014
Champion, will have his #24 on display.
Haggenbottom had three wins on his way to the TSRS Championship while
driving a car owned by his brother, John.
The brothers captured back to back championships in 2013-14.
Kobylarz will have his RT Racing #1 on
display. Kobylarz earned four victories
en route to the 2014 ARDC Championship.
The second generation racer from
Both drivers will be on hand in the first
turn pavilion area to meet and talk to fans prior to the season opener on
Saturday night at
Contact - Deb Smith
phone (610) 972-6176
email - dsfotog@aol.com
admin | March 31, 2014 at
11:20 am | URL: http://wp.me/p3gxvk-zC
Opening Day at Borgers April
12, 2014
This Saturday April 12th,
2014 we will open our third year as the premier 1/7th mile banked asphalt oval
in
All of us love the sting of
the battle, the heat of the moment, that last lap side by side battle. The David beating Goliath. It’s that feeling we rationalize the
arrangement of our summer so it doesn’t interfere with our racing season. Often sports disciplines tend to look at racing
as a sub division of a sport, or a sort of sport. They obviously never felt what we feel every Saturday and especially that feeling we
feel on Opening Day.
Opening Day is a day when the
thought of losing is buried the deepest it will be all season. Every driver rolls out on Opening Day- no
matter where they are starting with the idea that today, today they have a
shot, a good shot at being David, if at least for week #1!
Since, paving our
battlefield, we have had a few David’s.
In 2013, some of the fastest drivers were defeated by David’s! Those few David’s have went on to become the
real hero’s at Borgers Speedway. Our
heroes are the ones who sat mid field on opening day but fought through the
doubts and their own fears and slayed Goliath.
Behind every David is a
team. It takes a team to organize, all
working and committed to a common cause to overcome the adversity and start and
end a year as a Champion. That team may
be Mom and Dad, Grandpa, some can be vastly bigger and operate on priceless
budgets. However, one thing is for sure, no matter how deep the pocket of the
team may be, Borgers Speedway is the “Great Equalizer”. It is the track were anyone can win
especially on Opening Day!
As a staff, we are excited to
again provide the very best platform for each driver and team to perform
on. Our commitment to give “David” the
opportunity to slay Goliath has not change since day 1. Glenn and Ruth Borgers carved up the earth in
hopes of festering that feeling that makes all want to be David and makes us do
what we do. Our commitment to asphalt
racing in the Northeast has not strayed off course.
The staff at Borgers
Speedway, Glenn and Ruth Borger, Bob Snyder and myself welcome everyone new and
returning to the 2014 Racing Season.
Many media outlets and seasoned racers continual push the notion that
this will be a break out year for Borgers Speedway- We believe them and will
continue our push and not disappoint the believers!
Brendan O’Connor
This weeks Races
Season Opener.
April 12, 2014
Triple $500 To Win
Borgers AllStar TQ/Asphalt
600 Sprints
Entry Fee $ 50.00 ( min 12 cars for $500 to Win )
Bonus Money – From SPL Fuels
and Brendan O’Connor Fire Protection LLC
AllStar Sr. Slingshots
Entry Fee $ 50.00 (min 12
cars for $500 to Win )
Bonus Money – From Slinger
Warehouse
Briggs Senior Champ Karts.
Entry Fee $ 50.00 ( min 12 cars for $500 to Win )
MSRS MicroStock Tour.
Clone Wars Round One
$ 250 to Win ( $ 50.00 entry
fee - 8 Kart min )
( Sr. Clone - Unrestricted,
Open Clutch, Big pipe )
Regular show of Wiingless
Dirt 600 Sprints, Junior Slingshots,and
Karts.
Mr. Brendan O'Connor
570-856-6234
Borgers Updated 2014 Schedule
Each week consists of a
regular show which is TQ’s, 600 Sprints, AllStar and Junior Slingshots, and
Karts unless otherwise noted. All below
listed events are in addition to the regular show.
Schedule Is Subject To
Change.
April 5, 2014. Practice Only.
No entry Fee – Pit Pass Only
– Gates Open @ 10am – Practice till Dusk
*Season Points Start 04-19-2014
“Spring Forward” 2:00pm Start
Time
Season Opener. April 12, 2014 Triple $500 To Win for Borgers AllStar TQ/Asphalt 600 Sprints,
AllStar Slingshots, Briggs Senior Champ Karts.
MSRS MicroStock Tour.
Clone Wars Round One and
Regular show of Wiingless Dirt 600 Sprints, Junior Slingshots,and Karts.
Week #3 April 19, 2014 King
of Asphalt Round #2, MicroStock Racing League tour Race.
Week #4 April 26, 2014 Clone
Wars Round #2
“Money Making May” 2:00pm
Start Time
Week#5 May 3, 2014 ATQMRA 50
Laps $500 to Win
HYPER 600 sprints Cash Dash.
Winged Jr Sportsman Champ
Young Guns
Week#6 May 10, 2014 Vintage
ATQMRA
Week#7 May 17, 2014 Briggs
Flathead – Heavy
MSRS MicroStock Tour
$ 650.00 To Win
Week#8 May 24, 2014 Sons of
Anarchy Round #1
Week#9 May 31, 2014 Clone
Wars Round #3
“A June To Remember”
SUMMER SCHEDULE STARTS --
4:00pm Start Time
Week#10 June 7, 2014 ATQMRA
WINGED 50 Laps $500 to Win
HYPER 600 Sprints Cash Dash
King of Asphalt Round #1 ( MAKE UP FROM Week #1 )
TQ’s $500 to Win 50 Laps
Clone Wars Round #1 ( MAKE UP
FROM Week #1 )
Week#11 June 14, 2014 Clone Wars Round #4
Week#12 June 21, 2014 King of Asphalt Round #3
Slingshot Tour JR and SR
NO TQ’s
Week#13 June 28, 2014 Allstar TQ Memorial Race $
2000.00 To Win
75 Lap Feature presented by
COPART.com and Weis Markets
-ATQMRA Dates will run ATQMRA
Club Rules – All Other dates will be run under Borgers Speedway Rules
-Dirt 600 events are TBA.
-TQ Sportsman / Rookie
Presented by Green Flag Driving Experience dates will follow.
“Hot Summer Nights” -- 4:00pm
Start Time
Week#14 July 5, 2014 ATQMRA 50 Laps $500 to Win
HYPER 600 Sprints Cash Dash.
Microstock Firecracker 40
Briggs Flathead Heavy $500.00
To Win
Fireworks Show presented by
Blue Ridge Hook and Ladder
Week#15 July 12, 2014 OFF
WEEK – NO RACING
Week#16 July 19, 2014 Briggs Sr Champ $500.00 to Win
Week#17 July 26, 2014 MicroStock Racing League Tour Race. TBA
“Git R Done” August -- 4:00pm
Start Time
Week#18 Aug 2, 2014 King of Asphalt Round #4
ATQMRA Winged
HYPER 600 Sprints Cash Dash.
Week#19 Aug 9, 2014
Slingshots $500.00 to Win
Karts Double Points
Week#20 Aug 16, 2014 Sons of
Anarchy Round #2
Week#21 Aug 23, 2014 Stage One Modifieds Tour Race, Clone Wars Round #5
Week#22 Aug 30, 2014 Briggs
Heavy Sr Champ $750.00 to Win
“Month of Champions” August
-- 4:00pm Start Time
Week#23 Sept 6, 2014 Kid Kart
- Back 2 School 25
JR Back 2 School Spectacular
No TQ’s
Week#24 Sept 14, 2014
Championship Saturday
King of Asphalt Round #5
**** End of Season Points****
Week#25 Sept 20, 2014 All Divisions
Octoberfest Series Points
2:00pm Start Time
Week#1 Sept 27, 2014 TBA
MSRS MicroStock Tour.
Week#2 Oct 4, 2014 MicroStock Racing League Tour Race TBA
Week#3 Oct 11, 2014 TBA
Week#4 Oct 18, 2014 Slingshot
Tour JR and SR , MicroStock Racing
League Tour Race.
Week#5 Oct 25, 2014 No TQ’s
Week#6 Nov 1, 2014 TBA
“Run What Ya Brung” November
2:00pm Start Time
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 7, 2014
DICK JORDAN
14-34
SPRINTS EYE ELDORA'S
"BRANSON/LARSON" APRIL 19;
GRANT TAKES LAWRENCEBURG
SPRINT
The "Don Branson/Jud Larson
Classic" is next up for the AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Series, slated
April 19 at the Eldora Speedway in
Dave Darland, the 2013 series
runner-up, holds a one-point lead over Justin Grant in the latest standings
after Grant and Darland finished 1-2 in Saturday night's midwestern opener at
Lawrenceburg (
Grant, of
Stanbrough, who appeared headed for
victory until the final restart, would have tied Darland as the winningest USAC
Sprint drivers at Lawrenceburg had he won the race.
Tracy Hines, who failed to finish
at Lawrenceburg, enters the April 19 Eldora race as the defending
"Branson/Larson" winner, since he won in 2012 and last year's race
was rained out.
2014 AMSOIL USAC National
Sprint Car Standings: 1-Dave Darland-183, 2-Justin Grant-182, 3-Chase
Stockon-171, 4-Bryan Clauson-169, 5-Brady Bacon-167, 6-Jon Stanbrough-146,
7-Tracy Hines-138, 8-Chris Windom-118, 9-Robert Ballou-113, 10-Hunter
Schuerenberg-108.
Note: It’s a shame when some “Memorial” races are
held for a short time, then kind of disappear from the scene.
From my last column:
This weeks quiz:
He wasn't allowed to race in
2 diff series so he uses the name of his brother and the street he lived on. His “fake” name was Bob Dunham. What is his real name?
Note: I’m wondering – how many read my columns,
since not one person got back to me on this question.
Answer: Wally Dallenbach
From my column in volume # 174:
“Midgets used to start
Thompson 3 wide - max 33 cars.
I did a few of those starts.
Being in the middle of the pack and in the middle of the row was always
something to write home about.
We did those at Flemington
too.
Yeah, I had heard at a
Flemington race a certain driver passed damn near the whole field on the first
lap
On BOTH SURFACES TOO...lol
Right.
Note: Fifth comment was by yours truly. Sixth comment by the driver that did it. Any idea as to who that driver was?”
Again, no one attempted to
answer the above question.
Answer: Nick Fornoro, Jr.
Going back, in time in:
Note: Effective with this column, I’m dropping this
section.
This week’s photo:
Art Cross, a former stand out
driver here in the northeast in midgets, from back in the day, sprint cars,
then an Indy driver later on, left us on April 15, 2005, at 87 years old. He only raced in the 500 four times, finishing
5th in 1952 and getting the
A photo of him taken at
Note: My friend, Rich Boteler (Racer Rich) was
pretty close to Art when Art lived in
A record of some of his
races: http://www.ultimateracinghistory.com/racelist2.php?uniqid=1710
Racing videos:
The Big Wheel – almost an
hour and a half long.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_OFRxh5D2Q
RIP Mickey Rooney aka: Billy Coy
Found on the Internet – not racing related:
I wasn't the most engaged
student in school because I was bored, but in my school they had an advanced
program for kids like me, I learned the material taught the old fashioned way
and went on to get both a physics and engineering degree. Watching my nephews
go through school, there have been many efforts to "improve"
education and all seem to have focused on taking the education part out of it.
This mess above is an attempt to take the math out of math and allow a quick
form of guessing the answer. With my nephew, they took all the literacy
requirements out of english and wouldn't correct grammar or spelling because it
"discouraged" him. The dumbing down of the system coupled with higher
and higher marks helps nobody, and when they do something to correct it it is
always of the "No Child Left Behind" sort of thing that exacerbates
the problem and leaves all behind. Like I said, school wasn't perfect for me,
but to fix it I'd go back to the material of thirty years ago and boot
computers and electronics out of the classroom. Rather than try to info-tain
the students, let them tough it through the core material and if they can't pay
attention, give those who can't focus opportunity for after school tutoring and
offline help. Don't slow down everyone else because books don't have enough
bright lights to hold the attention of a few.
I am afraid of a future world
ran by these children that never learned what it is like to lose a game or fail
a class. Coddling them sets them up for misery later in life.
Emails – not racing related:
Got this one on April 9th:
A very interesting
story. True Story.............
Too often we judge people by
the way they look and not by what is in their heart.
A lesson on
pre-judging................
THE GINGHAM DRESS
A lady in a faded gingham
dress and her husband, dressed in homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the
train in
The secretary could tell in a
moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no
business at Harvard &
probably didn't even deserve to be in
"We'd like to see the
president," the man said softly.
"He'll be busy all
day," the secretary snapped.
"We'll wait," the
lady replied.
For hours the secretary
ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally
become discouraged and go
away. They didn't, and the secretary grew frustrated
and finally decided to
disturb the president, even though it was a chore she
always regretted.
"Maybe if you see them
for a few minutes, they'll leave," she said to him!
He sighed in exasperation and
nodded. Someone of his importance obviously
didn't have the time to spend
with them, and he detested gingham dresses and
homespun suits cluttering up
his outer office. The president, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward
the couple.
The lady told him, "We
had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy
here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed.
My husband and I would like
to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus."
The president wasn't touched.
He was shocked.
"Madam," he said,
gruffly, "we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard
and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery."
"Oh, no," the lady
explained quickly. "We don't want to erect a statue.
We thought we would like to
give a building to Harvard."
The president rolled his
eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun
suit, then exclaimed, "A
building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a
building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars
in the
physical buildings here at
Harvard."
For a moment the lady was
silent. The president was pleased.
Maybe he could get rid of
them now.
The lady turned to her
husband and said quietly, "Is that all it cost to
start a university? Why don't we just start our own?
Her husband nodded. The
president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment.
Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford
got up and walked away, traveling to
You can easily judge the
character of others by how they treat those who they
think can do nothing for
them. ----
A TRUE STORY By Malcolm
Forbes
Music videos:
The Lion Sleeps Tonight –
remember it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwy5uqemp6c
Joke
of the week:
Distracted Driving Incident
Everyone reading this will
enjoy it - no matter which gender you are.........
This morning on the
Interstate, I looked over to my left and there was a Woman in a brand new
Cadillac doing 65 mph with her face up next to her rear view mirror putting on
her eyeliner.
I looked away for a couple
seconds...to continue shaving, and when I looked back, she was halfway over in
my lane, still working on that makeup.
As a man, I don't scare
easily. But she scared me so much; I had to put on my seat belt and I dropped
my electric shaver, which knocked the donut out of my other hand.
In all the confusion of
trying to straighten out the car using my knees against the steering wheel, it
knocked my Cell Phone away from my ear, which fell into my coffee which was
between my legs, splashed, and burned Big Jim and the twins. Ruined the damn phone, soaked my trousers,
and disconnected an important call.
Damn women drivers!
Please don’t forget:
Until my next column – next
week.
I can be reached, via e-mail, at: ygordad@yahoo.com