Racin' & Internet Stuff:
By Tom Avenengo
Volume # 19
First:
Independence Day
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(United_States)
In the United States, Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth
of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on
July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games,
political speeches and ceremonies, and various other public and private events
celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the
During the American
Revolution, the legal separation of the American colonies
from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted
to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. After voting for independence, Congress turned its
attention to the Declaration of Independence, a
statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee
of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration,
finally approving it on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:
“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the
history of
One of the most enduring myths about Independence Day is that Congress
signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The
myth had become so firmly established that, decades after the event and nearing
the end of their lives, even the elderly Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had
come to believe that they and the other delegates had signed the Declaration on
the fourth. Most delegates actually signed the Declaration on
August 2, 1776. In a remarkable series of coincidences, both
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two founding fathers of the
United States and the only two men who signed the Declaration of Independence
to become president, died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the United States' 50th
anniversary.
Second:
I spent another two nights at racetracks this
past weekend. Friday
at Accord, and Saturday at OCFS.
Further down in my column, check out the “Track News” section for a
little info on both tracks. If all goes
as planned and “Mother Nature” doesn’t interfere, I’ll be making those two
tracks again this coming weekend. As of
Wednesday evening, the weather looks GOOD!
Some
of my thoughts:
Reading on the Internet, and in various racing publications, I can see I’m not alone in being worried about attendance at races. Oh, I’ve been to tracks this year that have somewhat “small” grandstands and they’ve been pretty full. I’ve also been to some that have some pretty big grandstands, and they haven’t been what you would say as being full.
I’m
somewhat surprised that on the televised Indycar and
NASCAR races, Truck, Nationwide and Cup, that, at times, the stands are shown,
and most times, it isn’t a very pleasant sight with a lot of aluminum being
shown.
NASCAR’s
races are televised on major networks while Indycar
is basically only on Versus, a channel that a lot of
people can’t get. But even then, in most
NASCAR Cup events, even viewer ship is down, too.
I
would not be surprised that once the TV contract between those that carry the
NASCAR events - and NASCAR runs out that due to such low ratings, they are not
renewed, and the NASCAR races will end up being telecast only on SPEED.
And:
It seems to me that NASCAR just can’t get
away from having only 45 entrants for their Cup races. Only 45 are entered for Daytona this week.
http://jayski.com/stats/2010/entries/18dis2010entry.htm
Going back, in time:
Note: Most of the following
information was found here:
http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/history.html
Covering the days of June 25th to June 30th.
JUNE 25
1971
Jan Opperman won the Super Sprint Car race at the
Williams Grove Speedway, Mechanicsburg, PA.
http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/report/6_25_71-1.html
1996
On
June 25, 1996 my son, Eric, and I attended the races at the Accord
Speedway. Funny, but I was also there on
that date this year, too – last Friday!
In ’96 I believe it was a Syracuse Qualifier and Danny Johnson was the
winner.
Note: Check out June 28th, below for
additional info.
1939
Dick Moroso
... Born ... Motorsports performance parts manufacture and racetrack operator.
1943
I hope I have the year correct, but I believe on June 26 in 1943, noted racing photographer Ralph Corwin was born.
1996
On
June 26, 1996, I smoked my last cigarette.
You’ll find out why a little further down.
JUNE 27
1963
Johnny Benson Jr. ... Born
1994
Sam Hanks ... Died ... He
won his first championship in 1937 on the West Coast in the AMA. He barnstormed
the country, racing on the board tracks at Soldier Field in Chicago and the
JUNE 28
1931
Junior Johnson ... Born
... Junior was a legendary moonshiner in the rural South who became one of the
early superstars of NASCAR in the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in
his career before retiring in 1966. In the 1970s and 1980s he became a highly
successful NASCAR racing team owner; he sponsored such NASCAR champions as Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip.
He is credited with discovering drafting.
1996
On
June 28, 1996 I had some surgery performed on me at the
When
I was informed of the impending surgery, I just knew I would make it
through. Why? Well, to be honest, I was never a fan of
Danny Johnson, and I just knew that God would not let me see my last race being
won by someone I wasn’t a fan of!!! Will
agree, though, Danny does put on a show!
JUNE 29
1952
Tom Cherry
won the 100 mile NASCAR / Champ Car race on the 1 Mile Dirt Oval Langhorne
Speedway, Langhorne, PA. Steve Yanigan was second followed by Wally Campbell, Tony Bonadies and
Note: See results of that race, below, in “More racin’ stuff.
JUNE 30
1930
Chuck Booth
... Born ... USAC driver from the 1960's.
1957
Sterling Marlin ... Born
... NASCAR driver.
1974
Eddie Johnson... Died ... AAA/USAC driver from the 1950's & 60's. Ran in 13 Indy 500's with a best finish of 6th in 1960.
Racing
on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
Thursday
July 1st:
4:00
PM to 5:30 PM on SPEED – Cup practice from Daytona
5:30
PM to 6:30 PM on ESPN2 – Nationwide final practice from Daytona
6:30
PM to 8:00 PM on SPEED – Cup final practice
Friday,
July 2nd:
1:00
PM to 4:00 PM on ESPN2 – Nationwide qualifying
4:00
PM to 7:30 PM on SPEED – Cup qualifying
8:00
PM to 10:30 PM on ESPN – Nationwide race
Saturday,
July 3rd:
11:00
AM to 2:00 PM on SPEED – Grand-Am Rolex race from Daytona
7:30
PM to 11:00 PM on TNT – Cup race
Sunday,
July 4th:
8:00
AM to 9:00 AM on SPEED – FIM Moto GP from
3:30
PM to 6:00 PM on ABC – Indy car race from Watkins Glen
5:00
PM to 6:00 PM on SPEED – FIM Moto2 from
Track
news:
From
last week:
“Accord
Well, the “Lightning Sprints” will be back at Accord on July 9th, then after July 16th, they’ll be a weekly addition to the racing program. They’ll also be a part of the “King of the Catskills” racing weekend, replacing the 600 and 270 Micro Sprints.
When I inquired on DTD’s Forum
about the engines in these “Lightning Sprints” (They are also called this out
in
“Tom, these are all 1000cc STOCK motors.No exceptions.The motors are available for $2000 or less. They run the 1000cc motors in the 600 chassis in PA, they call them sidewinders.At this time they are not permitted to race with us.They run our cars together in PA with the sidewinders but the sidewinders seem to have an advantage due to weight”
OCFS:
On THURSDAY, August 5th, the “358 Hard Clay Challenge” will be held. From what I understand, Michael Sanchelli (Suitcase) started on this project at the beginning of the season, hitting tracks out in Pennsylvania in a rather successful attempt in getting some of the PA drivers to attend.
It will be only 40 laps for the feature and the winner will get $10,000.00. Yep, TEN GRAND! It’s $400.00 to take the green.
Some info: Tickets ordered in advance will run you $16.00 for adults. Children 12 and under are admitted free. If you get your tickets on race day, they’ll cost you a couple of dollars more - $18.00. If you’re the holder of OCFS Season tickets, they WILL be honored. Normal Drive-in prices will be in effect, too.
More info on this even can be seen If you go to www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net and click on “358 Hard clay Challenge”.
This coming Saturday night, there will be double features for the Modified class, with the rained out June 5th feature being run. Also, on tap will be a Sportsman “Elimination” race featuring the top ten in points.
Top ten, point wise, per the OCFS website:
1) 3
Erik Holmgren 499
2) J73 Joe Conklin 498
3) 44 Brian Krummel 487
4) 29 Sammy Piazza 443
5) 27V Frank Venezia 420
6) 71D Frank Doty 409
7) 6 Darryl Ford 378
8) 88 Dion Naples 362
9) 2X Eddie Burgess 354
10) 35 Shane Jablonka 351
As long as all of those above are able, it would be # 10 against # 9, then the winner against # 8 and so on. The last time a similar event was run, with the Modifieds, the outside lane was best, by far, and with these races, the winner of the previous race has the option of starting outside.
Going out on a limb here and picking Sammy Piazza.
OVRP:
Both tracks at OVRP, the road course, and the Dirt Oval, are closed this coming weekend.
The
History of the Sport:
More
from Peter Kessler and what it was like – “Back in the day”:
I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $10.00.’
'Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long before $1,000.00 will only buy a used one.
'If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. 20 cents a pack is ridiculous.
'Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging 7 cents just to mail a letter.
'If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.
'When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 25 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage.
'I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying DAMN in GONE WITH THE WIND. It seems every new movie has either HELL or DAMN in it.
'I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's
possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have
some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in
'Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $50,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the president.
'I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now.
'It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.
'It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.
'I'm afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.
'Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the government
takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to government.
'The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.
'There is no sense going on short trips anymore for a weekend. It costs nearly $2.00 a night to stay in a hotel.
'No one can afford to be sick anymore. At $15.00 a day in the hospital, it's too rich for my blood.'
'If they think I'll pay 30 cents for a haircut, forget it.'
If any of these are relevant to you, you’re old.
I was wandering through some old racing newspapers, and I found a few articles that may have been written around the same time as the quotes above. Thanks to Joel Murns, Sr. for these great old publications.
From the “Illustrated
Malzahn –
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – Sept. 20 – Bob Malzahn of Keensburgh, N.J. and Ivan Jennings of Maybrook were the winners in the Modified and Sedan Races on the “Fastest Half Mile Dirt Track” at the Orange County Fairgrounds here Saturday night.
Trailing Malzahn in close striking distance was Otto Harwi of Easton, Pa., with Sonny Strupp
of South
Placing in the1st four positions of the Sedan Main event were Jennings, Ralph Mariano of West Nyack, Roger Terwilliger of Middletown, and Roy Knight of Branchville in that order.
Winners of the qualifying heat in the
Modified Stock heat winners were Harwi, Jim Delaney
of
A regular card of Stock Car and Sedan Races will be run again next Saturday night starting at 8:15 P.M. and on Saturday night October 3rd, promoter Eno Van Dam will wind up the 1959 season with a 100-lap HVARA New York State Championship Modified Stock Car Race. This championship race is scheduled to start at 8:30 P.M. with October 10 reserved for a rain date.
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 some only had occasional appearances at the Dirt Oval, too. And, yes, some I’m not even sure about!
Mike Mammana was 6th in the Sportsman feature at Big Diamond.
Out in Selinsgrove, in the 358 Sprint Car feature, Davie Franek was 5th.
Josh Pieniazek was 2nd and Danny Hennessy 4th, in the CRSA 305 Sprint Car feature at Utica/Rome.
At New Egypt, in the Modified feature, Johnny Guarino was 23rd.
I believe that Cori Tufano had
run on occasion at the Dirt Oval, and at
David Webb was 6th in the SK Light Modified
feature at
Roger Coss had a 4th place finish in the Modified feature at Wall Stadium.
At
Tiffany Wambold was 2nd in the 270 Rookie Micro Sprint feature, and Kyle Rohner had a 3rd in the make up feature and a 1st in the night’s regular Stage One Modified feature at Borgers.
AJ Filbeck was 12th in the Sportsman feature at Utica/Rome.
At
At Accord, in the Modified feature, Danny Creeden was 4th, Tom Hindley 8th, Jimmy Johnson 16th, Clinton Mills 17th and Greg Hastie 22nd.
In the Sportsman feature, Mike Ruggiero was 1st, Brian Krummel 2nd, Anthony Perrego 12th and Brad Szulewski 13th.
In the Spec Sportsman feature, Kyle Rohner was 2nd, Jason Roe 9th and Kayla Smykla 19th. I should note here that Kayla led the first ten laps, then was in second place when she got punted into the 4th turn wall, with some major damage being done to her car.
At OCFS, in the Modified feature, Billy VanInwegen was 8th, Clinton Mills 9th, Mike Ruggiero 10th, Tim Hindley 20th and Danny Creeden 23rd.
Keith Still was 4th, Brian Krummel 5th, Joe Conklin 8th, John Lodini 13th, Matt Janiak 20th and Matt Hitchcock 23rd in the Sportsman feature. Bobby Hassenmayer was a DNQ. Matt Janiak was in 4th place with a few laps remaining when he had mechanical problems and had to drop out.
More
racin’ stuff:
The results of that NASCAR 100-mile race for cars similar to the day’s Indy cars, is below. How many names might you recognize?
Langhorne 100
Langhorne Speedway
1 Mile Dirt Oval
100 Laps/100 Miles
June 29, 1952
Finish |
Start |
Driver |
Car # |
Sponsor/Name |
Chassis |
Engine |
Laps |
Status |
Points |
1 |
1 |
Tom Cherry |
38 |
Cherry |
X |
Mercury |
100 |
1:08:43 87.315 |
300 |
2 |
6 |
Steve Yanigan |
X |
X |
X |
Mercury |
99 |
Flagged |
288 |
3 |
2 |
Wally Campbell |
1 |
|
X |
Ford |
98 |
Flagged |
276 |
4 |
20 |
Tony Bonadies |
10 |
Red Crise |
X |
Chrysler |
97 |
Flagged |
264 |
5 |
13 |
|
75 |
Al Wheatley |
X |
Mercury |
94 |
Flagged |
252 |
6 |
8 |
Bob Halston |
12 |
X |
X |
Nash |
93 |
Flagged |
240 |
7 |
15 |
Gene Darragh |
X |
Leland Colvin |
X |
Ford |
90 |
Flagged |
228 |
8 |
10 |
Mike Magill |
X |
X |
X |
GMC |
88 |
Flagged |
|
9 |
4 |
Buck Baker |
87 |
Penny Mullis |
X |
Cadillac |
87 |
Flagged |
204 |
10 |
3 |
Lyle Scott |
77 |
Scott |
X |
DeSoto |
80 |
Flagged |
192 |
11 |
9 |
Charlie Miller |
X |
X |
X |
Ford |
74 |
Flagged |
|
12 |
5 |
Pete Peterson |
X |
X |
X |
Olds |
73 |
Flagged |
|
13 |
18 |
Mickey Fenn |
27 |
Bob Colvin |
X |
Mercury |
72 |
Flagged |
156 |
14 |
12 |
Budd Olson |
X |
X |
X |
Olds |
62 |
Overheated |
144 |
15 |
17 |
Frankie Schneider |
5 |
Ike Kiser |
X |
Ford |
61 |
Radiator |
132 |
16 |
7 |
Al Keller |
88 |
W.W. Burroughs |
X |
Cadillac |
60 |
Oil line |
120 |
17 |
19 |
Dutch Schaefer |
X |
X |
X |
Ford |
59 |
Rear end |
|
18 |
11 |
Bob Johnson |
X |
Arch Yates |
X |
Kaiser |
43 |
Spark plugs |
96 |
19 |
21 |
Sam Waldrop |
X |
X |
X |
Ford |
54 |
Overheated |
84 |
20 |
16 |
Steve McGrath |
33 |
Johnny Tadlock |
X |
DeSoto |
37 |
Spark plugs |
72 |
21 |
14 |
Jiggs Peters |
52 |
Edwin Darnell |
X |
Ford |
26 |
Radiator |
60 |
22 |
22 |
Len Brown |
X |
X |
X |
Kaiser |
5 |
Overheated |
48 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-- |
-- |
Bill Miller |
7 |
Raymond Parks |
X |
Olds |
-- |
Burned piston practice |
|
Other forums/message boards and websites:
Track
Forum: - http://www.trackforum.com/forums/
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?139209-New-Hampshire-Support-Races
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?139123-Richmond-we-hardly-knew-ye
Frontstretch.com:
http://www.frontstretch.com/
ONE: The No. 48 Team Is Back… Like It Was Ever Gone, TWO:
Weekend Attendance Should Get NHMS Off the Bubble, THREE: It
Takes Two…Start and Park Cars These Days, FOUR:
Junior’s Not So Thrilled to Drive the No. 3? And FIVE: Cup
Racing is a Job…This is Fun?
The above can be seen and read if you go here: http://www.frontstretch.com/bkeith/30077/
Jayski: - http://www.jayski.com/
A
Message from Bill Simpson, Truex accepts Gordon
apology, but – and, Dale Jr. doesn't plan to drive #3 after Daytona NNS race –
can all be seen, here: http://jayski.com/cupnews.htm#impact
And:
25
Nominee's for Hall of Fame to be announced, Race and Commercial Breakdown of
the 2010 Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Bliss to drive for TRG at Daytona, Dodge
President Says Challenger Could Race In Cup, Crew Member Suspended Due To
Violation Of Substance Abuse Policy, Reutimann signs contract extension and more can be seen if
you go here:
http://jayski.com/cupnews.htm#news00wed
Video
time:
How
about some “Lightning Sprint” (Mini Sprint?) racing action from the Accord
Speedway?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuGzmoYsIas
Is this true?:
Remember
this, from last week?
And, what if this
is true – your employer contributes monies to your health care benefits, which
is good – or is it? What if what he
contributes gets added to your 2010 or 2011 as taxable income? Since it’s supposed to start in 2011, I have
to figure it MIGHT be for the 2010 taxable year? Not so good, maybe?
From an e-mail I received:
Subject: Be informed, this starts next year...
And here we go...aren't
those people that thought this would be "FREE", going to be
surprised.
You
really need to read this……starts next year
This is supposed to be
part of the new Health Care Bill.
I
contacted my Congressman about House bill HR3590 the health care bill
that passed. I asked for a summary of changes.
The aid directed me to go to www: thomas.gov ;
enter HR3590 in the search
Box and look for summaries.
Starting in 2011
(next year folks) your W 2 tax form sent by your employer will be increased to
show the value of what ever health insurance you are given by the company. It
does not matter if that's a private concern or governmental body of some sort.
If you're retired ? So what; your gross will go up by
the amount of insurance you get.
The dollar value (cost of what the company pays for your insurance) will be
considered income
and added to your gross pay. You will be taxed on the total
You will be required to pay taxes on a
large sum of money that you have
Never seen.
Take your tax form you just finished and see what $15,000 or $20,000
Additional gross does to your tax debt. That's what you'll pay next year.
For many it also puts you into a new higher bracket so it's even worse.
This is how the government is going to buy insurance for 15 % that don't
Have insurance and it's only part of the tax
increases.
Not believing this I researched the summaries and here's what I'm reading:
On page 25 of 29 :
TITLE IX REVENUE PROVISIONS- SUBTITLE A: REVENUE OFFSET PROVISIONS-(sec .
9001 , as modified by sec. 10901)
Sec.9002. "requires employers to include in
the W-2 form of each employee
The aggregate cost of applicable employer sponsored group health coverage
That is excludable from the employees gross income."
Joan Pryde is the senior tax editor for the Kiplinger
letters. Go to
Kiplingers and read about 13 tax changes that could
affect you. Number 3 is
What I just told you about.
Why am I sending you this ?. The same reason I hope
you forward this to
Every single person in your address book.
Well
guess what? I’m glad I had it in “Is
this true?” I forwarded that e-mail to
quite a few people and I had a response from one that it was sent to saying
that it was FALSE, according to “Snopes”. Still, to be honest, I can see something like
this happening, for sure.
Then I
received a response from a very close relative of mine, and in it this is what
was said:
“According to everything that I've read, your employer must
include the amount on your W-2 beginning in 2011 and you must report it on your
tax return. However, you will not be taxed on the amount until 2018 if
the amount is over a certain amount. Unfortunately, where I work these
benefits will indeed be taxable and since the plan is a self insured plan, my
employer can claim that the premiums are whatever amount they so choose, so,
come 2018, I think ***** and I are screwed royally! Better luck to everyone
else out there.”
Note: Interesting, to say
the least, huh?
Other
(non racing) news:
“About 1,500 charging stations are being installed across
the country this year”
What I’m curious about is: That’s only a shade over 31 charging stations
per 48 states – not counting in
Closing with these:
These are actual
comments made on students report cards by teachers in
the
1. Since my last report, your child has reached rock bottom and has started to
dig.
2. I would not allow this student to breed.
3. Your child has delusions of adequacy.
4. Your son is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.
5. Your son sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve
them.
6. The student has a 'full six-pack' but lacks the plastic thing to hold it all
together.
7. This child has been working with glue too much.
8. When your daughter's IQ reaches 50, she should sell.
9. The gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming.
10. If this student were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week.
11. It is impossible to believe the sperm that created this child beat out
1,000,000 others.
12. The wheel is turning but the hamster is definitely dead.
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