Racin'
& Internet Stuff:
07/07/2011
First:
Here’s
hoping everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July!
Second:
The kind of
people we have to put up with today –
Last
Friday, I went to my bank to widthdraw some money at the ATM. My bank has an
"Entrance" to their parking lot and also an "exit", at the
other end. Two signs are posted at the
exit saying "No left turn". I guess the citizens of Port Jervis can't
read, because most of them DO make a left turn when exiting. From what I’ve been told, the police, who’s office is across the road, will not issue a ticket
because the signs are on “Private property”.
But Friday, as I was going into the entrance, some nitwit was exiting
the parking lot via the entrance. I told him it was an entrance, not an exit.
His response: "I don't care". This was not some kid, but a
"man" of around 40 years of age, maybe.
And people
like him reproduce, folks. One can see
why we’re having so many problems today.
Third:
Maybe this
fellow, below, didn’t care, either:
NY motorcyclist dies on ride protesting helmet law
ONONDAGA, N.Y. (AP) — Police say a motorcyclist participating in a protest ride
against helmet laws in upstate New York died
after he flipped over the bike's handlebars and hit his head on the pavement.
The accident
happened Saturday afternoon in the town of
State troopers tell The Post-Standard of Syracuse that
55-year-old Philip A. Contos of Parish, N.Y., was driving a 1983 Harley Davidson with a group of bikers who were
protesting helmet laws by not wearing helmets.
Troopers say Contos
hit his brakes and the motorcycle fishtailed. The bike spun out of control, and
Contos toppled over the handlebars. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Troopers say Contos
would have likely survived if he had been wearing a helmet.
Note: I live on the border of
Fourth:
Our National Anthem
– from the Daytona Cup race – Played by a Military band. Was great!
No one to mess it up while attempting to sing it. Why can’t more racing events and/or other
events follow this?
Fifth:
At the Stafford
Speedway, for Tuesday, June 28th, I checked out the results for the
NEMA race and there were only 13 drivers listed. It was said that the driver of the 6th
place car had dropped out, on the 25th lap of the 30-lap race, which
would lead one to believe only 5 finished, right? Well, a video shows more than 5 cars on the
track at the end of the race. Huh?
Sixth:
Some
interesting facts from the ¼ mile Accord track and the 5/8 mile OCFS track from
this past weekends racing.
At Accord, Kevin
Ward won the Sportsman feature, and had a fast lap of 13.303 – 67.654 MPH. That was faster than 19 of the 22 cars that
were in the Modified feature. Matt
Hitchcock, winner of the Spec Sportsman feature, had a fast lap of 13.531 and
that was faster than 10 of the Modifieds.
At OCFS, during the
Sportsman feature, Tim Paul had a fast lap of 22.406 for an average speed of
100.420 MPH. That was faster than 16 of
the 25 Modifieds in their feature.
The above times
were found on My Laps. Makes one wonder
– why go to the expense of getting a Big Block Modified?
Note: I must add here, though – at OCFS, during
warm-ups, all of the Modifieds are faster than the Sportsman. Track conditions later on favor the
Sportsman. Wonder why?
Seventh:
Not racing related,
for sure, but I got this in an e-mail on Tuesday evening. Maybe you might have also received the same
thing, from someone else?
This
was in the Waco Tribune Herald,
Put me in charge . . .
Put me in charge of food stamps. I'd get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for
Ding Dongs or Ho Ho's, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans,
blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want
steak and frozen pizza, then get a job.
Put me in
charge of Medicaid. The first thing I'd do is to get women
Norplant birth control implants or tubal ligations. Then, we'll test
recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine and document all tattoos and
piercings. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, smoke
or get
tats and piercings, then get a job.
Put me in
charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks?
You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your
"home" will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be
inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your
own place.
In addition,
you will either present a check stub from a job each week or
you will report to a "government" job. It may be cleaning the
roadways of
trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you. We
will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo
and speakers and put that money toward the “common good..”
Before you
write that I've violated someone's rights, realize that all of
the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules.. Before
you say that this would be "demeaning" and ruin their "self
esteem,"
consider that it wasn't that long ago that taking someone else's money for
doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.
If we are expected to pay for other people's mistakes we should at least
attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system
rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.
AND While you are on Gov’t subsistence, you no longer
can VOTE! Yes that is correct. For you to vote would be a conflict of interest.
You will
voluntarily remove yourself from voting while you are receiving a Gov’t
welfare check. If you want to vote, then get a job.
Now, if you have the guts - PASS IT ON...
Eighth:
Quite a few postings
about the 2x2 racing, like this one: “Place your complaints here. Saw practice, and they were
again racing in pairs.
And this
one: “Be it the pack racing of years
past or the pairs competition we have now, plate
racing has sucked for a while. Pack racing is at least entertaining, although
one can certainly debate whether it is legitimate racing. I'm no engineer, but
there has to be a solution that would slow the cars down without creating this
mess. After the Allison crash in '87, there were several options discussed,
including plates and running smaller carbs. I wonder if a smaller, unrestricted
carb would be the answer now.
I hope they come up with something. The Daytona 500 has been a total farce for
the last decade or so and Talledega is one of my favorite tracks to go to, but
I won't pay to watch the pairs competition.”
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?152576-This-Ain-t-Racing
Some
Indycar news:
Miller: IndyCar to
Fontana in 2012 (now confirmed)
Note: At least it’s another oval. But the question is – will Indycar lose an
oval or two in 2012, if attendance is too low at some 2011 races?
Ninth:
In a lot of
cases, “I calls ‘em as I sees ‘em”. I’ve made a few “enemies” along the way by
doing that. I’ll b*tch and moan about
the “freight train” racing that I feel is what you get at OCFS. I’ve griped about how a track that I attended
way back in the mid to late 40’s, watching midgets race on a small track in the
OCFS infield, and how OCFS – the track, stands, eating establishments and the
grounds themselves have gone down hill over the years. I’ve complained about the dust at
Accord. I was one of many that spoke up
for OCFS when they had the big dust problem some years back, when a hoard of
race fans turned out at the Town of Wallkill Town Hall in defense of the
track. I’ve read comments on the
Internet about dust, freight train racing and how the sport has gone to h*ll,
from what it was just a few years ago.
I’ve been in the stands at Langhorne, a one mile circular oiled dirt
track, and at the end of the days racing, we were black from that oiled dirt
surface. If one sits down low enough at
OCFS now, you can get black just from the tire rubber that gets worn off of the
tires. My car is tan. Last Saturday, my next door neighbor knew I
was at Accord the preceeding night – saying, “I see you have brown on brown”,
before I was able to get to the car wash.
So, where am
I going with this? Well, last weekend
therre was a USAC Silver Crown race sheduled for the
Folks, you
ain’t gonna believe what you’ll see when you click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvirVMHFBCQ
That video
was linked to in a thread about the race – or what should have been a race, on
the Track Forum. Read some of what peope
are saying. Some of it might fit in for
a track you might visit.
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?152635
Sumar-Cancelled
Note: The driver interviewed was making mention of
having 75 gallons of fuel on board.
Could very well be, since that’s what they carried “back in the day”
when the Silver Crown cars were powered with 4 cylinder Offy engines, and they
ran 100 miles on a mile dirt or asphalt track.
Tenth:
On a
lighter side, there is a photo article about the trip to Loudon that my
daughter and I did a while back, to attend the Vintage Race Car Meet, over on
the New England Tractor website. For
those of you reading this on Dirt Track Digest, you can go here to see it: http://newenglandtractor.com/racereport/
Note: For some unknown reason, that webiste had a
problem on Wendesday and would not come up.
It should be corrected rather quickly, I woul dimagine.
Coming up:
Accord:
JULY 8th
Fred Reichle Diesel Night
Modifieds
$2000 to win
Plus: Sportsman, Spec Sportsman, Pro Stocks,
Pure Stocks and Lightning Sprints
Pit
gates open at 4:30 Spectator gates 5:00
Warm ups 6:30
Racing at 7:00
Jul 15:
All Season Fuel Night – Racing all divisions plus RaceSaver CRSA Sprints – Lebanon Valley Spec Accord Challenge Series.
Note:
No Lightning Sprints or Legends.
Mid Week Madness - 07/20/11
- 5:00pm
Van Kleeck Tire Night- Racing all
divisions plus Legends - 07/22/11 -
5:00pm
OCFS:
July 9th:
July 15th:
July 16th: Steve Dodd Plumbing and Heating - Little League Night - Kids Club
- M/SP/PRO/SS/4 Cylinder – Note: Don’t
count on 4 Cylinders, folks.
July 17th:
July 21st: 100 Lap Enduro
July 23rd: McGannon Excavating - Pine Bush Equipment - M/SP/PRO/SS - 2011
Little Miss OCFS
July 28th: Rock Fantasy - All Steel Aluminum - 50 lap Sportsman Eastern
States Qualifier - $1,000 to Win - SP/PRO/SS
July 30th: Howard Johnson of
July 31st:
Note: Here’s the link for
you to order your race tickets, online, for racing that’s held during the fair,
at a lower price: http://www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net/tickets.html
July 9: Freihofers & Abele Tractor Present
$Dollar Dog Night, Weekly Divisions, Budget Sportsman, The
ECHO Prostock Series & “Shear Studios 15-Lap Purestock Maiden Race”
July 16: Rifenburg Construction Presents $5,000 To Win Modified King Of The Track, Eastern States Qualifier,
Weekly Divisions
July 18, July 19
& 20:
MARCHESE FORD PRESENTS
3 NIGHTS OF USHRA MONSTER JAM
SUMMER NATIONALS Gates Open @ 5pm | Show Starts @ 8pm
July 23: NBT Bank & Heavy Hauler Present “Kids
Night” With A Bike Giveaway, Weekly Divisions, Budget
Sportsman (LV/Accord 602 Chase)
July 24: CARQUEST
Auto Parts & Castrol Oil Presents
The World Of Outlaw Sprint Car Series Plus The 358
Modifieds E.S.W. Qualifier
Gates Open @ 4pm | Show Starts @
6pm
Aug. 25: CARQUEST
Auto Parts & General Tire Present
$17,500 TO WIN “MR. DIRT Track
Found
on Jayski’s website:
Speed gets lien
against Red Bull:
Former
Red Bull Racing driver Scott Speed has obtained an order of attachment against
the team, placing a lien on its real property in
Danica not ready to
announce 2012 plans:
Although the
expectation is that Danica Patrick will move to NASCAR full time next year,
she's not ready to announce anything. "Obviously I'm racing in NASCAR and
not made anyone wonder whether or not I like it,'' she said.
"As I've said at the beginning of the year, it's complicated and
takes time. Whether I'm coming here or not has yet to be signed, sealed and
delivered.''(Ronoke
Times)(7-1-2011)
UPDATE:
On Friday, the Wall
Street Journal reported the GoDaddy Group's Bob Parsons agreed to sell the
company to KKR & Co., Silver Lake Partners and Technology Crossover
Ventures for $2.25 billion. Parsons, a huge advocate of Patrick's, will remain
CEO. Patrick is in her second partial season with JR Motorsports. She ran 13
races in 2010 and has six events under her belt in the #7 Chevy this season.
Her career-best finish of fourth came in March at
UPDATE2:
A spokesperson for
GoDaddy.com said Saturday that the company's sale to the KKR investment firm
will not change Go Daddy's status as a primary sponsor for Danica Patrick's
racing career. Bob Parsons, CEO and founder of GoDaddy.com, was traveling
Saturday and unavailable for comment. But Elizabeth Driscoll, the vice
president of public relations for GoDaddy.com, said the company will continue to
back Patrick. "I can tell you Bob's been very vocal about how well Danica
has fit into Go Daddy's marketing efforts," Driscoll said. "And the
new investors have specifically said they don't want to mess with Go Daddy's
secret sauce -- at least two of the magic ingredients, our customer service and
marketing. "We are very much looking forward to
the future -- on the Internet and on the race track."(ESPN)(7-2-2011)
The Kyle Busch /
Kevin Harvick 'handshake':
At separate press
conferences, #29-Kevin Harvick and #18-Kyle Busch were asked their thoughts
about Kyle Busch walking up to Kevin Harvick after the race at Infineon Raceway
and shaking Harvick's hand.
Q) KYLE BUSCH CAME UP AND SHOOK YOU HAND LAST WEEK AFTER INFINEON, IS THAT ALL
OVER WITH AND YOU GUYS ARE GOOD TO GO?
Harvick: "I wouldn't call it good to go on that. I mean we raced
together for a lap and a half. I was as confused about all that as everybody
else."(Team Chevy).
Q) Why did you shake Kevin Harvick's hand after last weekend's race?
Busch: "I felt like we had a really good race with each other. So, just wanted to let him know that."
Q) Did you feel like you gave each other room in last weekend's race?
Busch: "Yes. We gave each other great room and raced each other
hard and clean. And, that's all there is to it. You all are reading way too
much into things."(
Kurt Busch
discusses his divorce:
#22- Kurt Busch walked
in the media center Thursday and wanted to clear the air about his personal
life, saying he is going through a divorce and hoping everyone will respect his
privacy in a personal matter. "Although we [Busch and his wife, Eva] are
no longer together and are legally separated, we appreciate privacy in this
situation," Busch said. "All I want to say on this is we are going
though the process of terminating our marriage, but we are doing it with
respect for each other and we'll always be friends."
"When you win, people want to bring you down," Busch said.
"While drivers sometimes have a beef with certain media members, the vast
majority are hard working and responsible individuals trying to do their job
the best way they can. I realize I'm an entity, but I'm also a person."
Busch was asked if his personal situation has impacted his performance on the
track this season. He ranks fourth in the Sprint Cup standings with nine
top-10s in 16 races, but he also has shown angry moments on the team radio when
he was unhappy with his car. "A lot of things are happening on a personal
level," Busch said. "But our performance on the race track is the
best way for putting all that aside."(ESPN)(6-30-2011)
Fox Sports boss
David Hill discusses NASCAR TV coverage:
Fox Sports Chairman
David Hill was at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, chatting with car
owners and meeting with NASCAR officials before the drivers meeting. Dustin
Long of the Virginian
Pilot / Roanoke Times was able to get with Hill briefly before he went into
the NASCAR hauler to meet with NASCAR President Mike Helton and others. Here's
what Hill had to say about a few things:
On what they learned from experimenting with the split-screen format this year
and its future for Cup races on the network:
HILL said: "We're still evaluating. It's something that we've looked at
and talked with for years and years and years and we got the OK to do it. There
are two key categories that we have to determine that it works. The number 1 by
like 99% is the viewers. If they think that it doesn't impact their enjoyment
of the race and you've got to weight that up against is that advertiser getting
his message through, so there's a whole bunch of things.
We're just slowly working our way through the research. I don't know what we're
going to come down to. It was great to do the experiment and get some evidence
and see how it's going to play out."
With ESPN doing more of it, how will it help in making your decision on if to
do it?
HILL said: "The more it's done, the more feedback and I'm quite sure that
the boys at ESPN are doing exactly the same as we are. We all hate having to
break into the race with commercials. That's a given. If we could do it without
commercials, we would but it's a business and the rights aren't free. It's
walking that fine line between keeping our viewers totally happy and the
clients totally happy."
On if TNT's Wide
Open Coverage is the best way to show racing and ads at the same time:
HILL said: "I just want to take the three, what we're doing, what ESPN is
doing and what Turner has done and probably in the dog days of August, just
have a look and say, "What do we think works and then research it again.'
It's too important to rush into it, but it's too important not to spend a heck
of a lot of time just working on it as much as you can about what's right,
wrong or indifferent. Maybe there's another way of doing it that none of us
have thought of yet and that's one of the reasons that research is so important
because you never know what you're going to hear in a marketing session."
About his idea of moving Cup races from Fox to SPEED Channel (most likely with
the next contact, which would begin after 2014),
HILL said: "Obviously I'd love to put some races on Speed. When we
started, we had races on FX. We put races on FX and that was always our plan
and that was to help FX, but it didn't destroy the impetus to the sport. I
think if there's a right balance between what's on Speed and what's on the
network, it's going to help grow. You're still doing exactly the same kind of
coverage. You're not changing your coverage. It's just the way the whole day
goes when the race is on that network."(see full
article at the Virginian
Pilot)(7-5-2011)
Note: "Obviously I'd love to put some races on
Speed.” Uh huh! As I’ve said a few times now in my columns, I
expect the NASCAR races to be televised on SPEED – at least a majority of
them. Viewership just isn’t worth the
big bucks that TV is paying NASCAR, today.
From my column,
last week, on items that appeared in the AARN:
“Jack Roush has come out and said that it will be
“soon” for us to see the 2013 Ford Mustang Cup car – a racecar that will be
more “Stock” appearing.” – That was in Dave Moody’s column.
And now this, from Jayski:
Ford to stick with
the Fusion:
Ford Racing will
continue to run the Fusion when the new Sprint Cup cars hit the track in 2013.
Jamie Allison, director of Ford Racing, said the company looked at different
models, including the Mustang, for Cup competition. But, after much
consideration, Ford believed it was in its best interest to continue promoting
its top-selling car in stock car's top racing series. "Initially we
submitted a Mustang, even back when we were looking at the Nationwide
car," Allison said. "We were really excited about what happened in
the Nationwide Series when we put Mustang in. We saw the interest from the
fans, the media and even a whole swatch of consumers that never really
followed NASCAR but loved Mustang started to follow Nationwide and NASCAR
because Mustang was in. It kind of gave of a view of what could potentially on
a grander scale happen if we moved Mustang into Cup." But Ford officials
kept coming back to the Fusion. "The Fusion is so important to our
company, it's our best-selling car, and when we launched the Fusion, we
launched it here in NASCAR," Allison said. "We believe that NASCAR is
a platform that can help us compel the fans to the fact that we have an
exciting sedan in Fusion, as well as Mustang." Ford will continue to run
the Mustang in the Nationwide Series, Allison said.(FoxSports)(7-5-2011)
Note: I’m trying to get clarification from Mr.
Moody, on this. Nothing as of midnight
on Wednesday, I’m sorry to say.
Wow! 48 cars are entered for the Cup race at the
Kentucky Speedway.
http://www.jayski.com/stats/2011/entries/18ken2011entry.htm
IMS adds Nationwide race for 2012:
The Indianapolis
Motor Speedway will be the epicenter of American stock car racing and North
American sports car racing July 26-29, 2012, as the NASCAR Nationwide Series
and GRAND-AM Road Racing will join the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for four
exciting races during the inaugural Super Weekend at the Brickyard. It will be
the first time in IMS history that races will take place on the 2.5-mile oval
and 2.534-mile Grand Prix road course during the same weekend, and the NASCAR
Nationwide Series and GRAND-AM Road Racing will make their IMS debuts. The 19th
annual Brickyard 400 for the Sprint Cup Series will race on the oval Sunday,
July 29, with the Nationwide Series also racing on the oval Saturday, July 28.
GRAND-AM will conduct separate races for its Rolex Sports Car Series and
Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge on the 13-turn IMS road course Friday,
July 27.
All four days of Super Weekend at the Brickyard will be packed with on-track
action, providing great value for fans:
Iowa Speedway sold:
An ownership group
headed by Featherlite Trailers owner Conrad Clement and former NASCAR Sprint
Cup Series driver Rusty Wallace has purchased Iowa
Speedway from its founders, US Motorsport Entertainment Group. Wallace, who
helped design the speedway, told Sirius XM NASCAR Radio's Sirius Speedway with
Dave Moody, "We've been working on the sale for about a year. The former
owners' core business is road construction. It's what they do, and they're
ready to get back to that. We've been talking to them about buying the track
for the last six months, and I'm real happy that the deal is finally done. Conrad
and Stan Clement have worked their butts off to make this happen, and I'm
excited to get to work."
Wallace said the new ownership group "will be in constant pursuit of a
(NASCAR Sprint) Cup race. We want one, but also know we can't be too greedy. We
started with a K&N Pro Series race a few years ago, and eventually got
dates on the Nationwide, Truck and IndyCar Seriesschedules. This track has been
so successful, and the fans are wearing us out saying, `When can we get a Cup
race?' We want one, for sure, but there are no opportunities out there at the
moment to get one. We'll have to have some conversations and shake a few trees
to see what's possible? We're not having any conversations at present, and I
don't want to mislead people into thinking we are. But things change every day,
and we're going to be aggressive about seeing what's possible."
AND:
Five years ago,
Conrad Clement waved the green flag to start a NASCAR East-West Series race at
the newly opened Iowa Speedway. He waved some more green at the track last
week. Clement, the former president and CEO of Cresco's Featherlite trailer
company, was introduced as the key figure in the new primary ownership group of
the speedway at a Tuesday news conference. His brother, Stan, and sons, Tracy
and Eric, joined him to buy U.S. Motorsports Corp. the holding company
that owns the speedway effective June 30. Rusty Wallace, the track's
designer, remains as a minority partner.The track had been owned by the Manatt
family of
Clement said the speedway's staff will remain intact, and that the fans should
see no difference in their raceday experiences. The next event at the speedway
is a NASCAR Camping World Trucks race on July 16. Terms of the sale were not
released. Built on 226 acres of farmland, the track had an assessed value of
$44 million as of June 2009. The original estimate of the track's
worth when it was built was $70 million. The speedway was lauded as a needed
financial shot in the arm for Newton, a city of about 15,000 then dealing with
the loss of manufacturer Maytag.(more at the Des
Moines Register)(7-6-2011)
Former
Billy VanInwegen
got back into a Tobias SpeedSTR at Williams Grove, last Friday, and finished 2nd
in the feature.
Kolby Schroder won
the Sportsman feature at
Roger Coss won the
Modified feature at Wall Stadium.
Nick Pecko was 4th
in the Modified feature at Mountain Speedway.
Mike Mammana won
the Sportsman feature at Big Diamond.
Corey Ziegler was
18th in the Sportsman feature at 5 Mile, while Danny Creeden was a
DNQ for the Modified feature.
On Friday, at
Borgers, Tiffany Wambold was 9th in the 270 Micro Sprint feature,
and was 10th on Saturday in the wingless 600 Micro Sprint feature.
Bobby Hackel, IV,
was 2nd at Devil’s Bowl in the Modified feature.
Bobby Hackel, IV
was 3rd, Alex Bell 6th and Robert Hackel 7th
in the Modified feature at Albany/Saratoga.
At Five Mile, in
the CRSA 305 Sprint Car feature, Brittany Tresch was 4th, John
Virgilio 6th,Emily VanInwegen 17th
and Josh Pieniazek 20th.
At Accord, Danny
Creeden was 6th, Michael Storms 12th, Clinton Mills 19th
and Mike Ruggiero 22nd in the Modified feature, with Anthony Perrego
a DNS. Matt Hitchcock won the Spec
Sportsman feature, with Kyle Rohner 2nd, Tyler Boniface 4th
and Tyler Dippel 12th. Brad
Szulewski was a DNQ for the Sportsman feature.
Rich Coons won the
Sportsman feature at
At Hamlin, in the
100 lap All Star Slingshot feature, Charlie Lawrence was 2nd, Kyle
Rohner 6th and Tyler Dippel 17th. In the wingless 600 Micro Sprint feature,
Rohner was 9th, Molly Chambers 19th, Joe Kata 21st
and Cait Chambers 23rd. In
the 270 Micro Sprint feature, Rick Casario was 11th. Jacob Hendershot was 9th in the
600 Rookie Micro Sprint feature.
At OCFS, in the
Modified feature, Tim Hindley was 4th, Billy VanInwegen 14th,
Michael Storms 16th, Mike Ruggiero 17th and Clinton Mills
was a DNQ. Matt Hitchcock made it two
feature wins in two nights when he also won the Sportsman feature at OC, to go
along with his Accord win in the Spec Sportsman class. Brian Krummel was 5th, Matt Janiak
7th, Zack Vavricka 16th, Jason Roe 17th, John
Lodini 20th, Anthony Perrego 22nd, Keith Still 24th
and RJ Smykla 25th in the OCFS Sportsman feature.
On Monday, at
Rolling Wheels, in the Sportsman feature, Tyler Boniface was 22nd.
On Tuesday, July 5th,
in the RoC Sportsman race at Five Mile Point, Brad Szulewski was 13th
and Anthony Perrego 16th in the 40-lap feature.
Missed this one
from June 26th, at the New Egypt Speedway: Anthony Perrego finished 3rd in
the Tobias SpeedSTR feature.
Note: There’s a possibility that I might have
missed some, so if I did, I’m sorry!
Going back, in time – in
racing history:
Note: Most of the following information was found
here:
http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/history.html
Covering the days from July
8th to the 14th:
JULY 8
1951
Jack Hewitt... Born ... A former driver and two-time champion in the USAC Silver
Crown Series. He raced in the 1998
1984
Danny Sullivan captured his
first career CART win by coming home first in the 'Cleveland Grand Prix' on the
JULY 9
2000
Joe Sostilio ... Died ...
Sostilio raced both sprint cars and midgets. He won the New England Dirt
Championship in 1935, 1936 and 1938. He also won the Bay State Midget Racing
Association Championship in 1947 and Eastern Sprint Car Championship in 1953.
In 1949, he turned to Stock Car racing but still continued in open wheel
racing. Between 1948 and 1950 Joe won seven races in AAA competition as
teammate to Johnnie Parsons. Joe was 5th in the AAA Eastern Sprint Car
Championship in 1952, he beat Tommy Hinnershitz to the title in 1953 and
finished 6th in 1954. His best finishes on the Champ Car circuit were a 7th at
Langhorne Speedway and another 7th at Darlington Speedway in 1954.
JULY 10
1955
Jerry Hoyt... Died ... AAA driver. Killed in a crash
during a sprint car race at
1962
Tommy Milton ... Died ...
1980
Adam Petty ... Born ... The
son of Kyle Petty, he was widely expected to become the next great Petty,
following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather
Richard, and great-grandfather Lee. He was the first fourth generation athlete
in all of of sports to participate in the chosen profession of his generations.
On May 12, 2000, Petty was practicing his Busch Series car at New Hampshire
International Speedway in
JULY 11
1911
Mel Hansen ... Born ... AAA
driver . In 11 starts between 1939 and 1949, he won
twice (1948 Atlanta in Ray Carter's '39 Wetteroth/Offenhauser, the 1941
Speedway winner, and 1949 Springfield in the '49 Bowes Lesovsky/Offenhauser),
was second once (1949 Trenton) and fourth once (1947 Milwaukee). His best
championship position was 9th in 1940. He was also a noted midget driver, and
won the important Turkey Night Grand Prix in 1939 and the URA (blue circuit)
Midget Championship in 1945. His career ended in 1949 after a bad midget crash
in
1971
Pedro Rodriguez died when
his Ferrari 512M crashed while leading the Interseries race at the Norisring in
JULY 12
1949
Rick Hendrick... Born ... NASCAR team owner. Rick Hendrick drove in the 1987
and 1988 Winston Cup races at Riverside International Raceway, finishing 33rd
(out with transmission problems after racing to the Top 10) and 15th. He also
had a single start in the Busch Series and the Craftsman Truck Series. He had
been a pit crew member for Flying 11 that Ray Hendrick drove in the 1960s. Rick
Hendrick is an owner of several NASCAR stock cars and teams, as well as
Hendrick Automotive Group, one of the largest automotive chains in the
JULY 13
1914
Sam Hanks ... Born ... 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 Los
Angeles Coliseum Motordome. Hanks reportedly won the first two board track
races at Soldier Field in 1939. Hanks won the 1940 VFW Motor City Speedway
championship. After World War II, he captured the 1946 URA Blue Circuit
Championship. He won the 1947 Night before the 500 midget car race. He was the 1949 AAA National Midget champion. He won
the 1956
1968
Al Unser Sr won his first
USAC National Championship race, a 100 mile night race on the 1.12 mile dirt
track in
1993
Davey Allison ... Died ...
A NASCAR race car driver, best known as the driver of the Robert Yates Racing
#28 Texaco-Havoline Ford. Born in
JULY 14
1946
Joie Chitwood won the
Inaugural Nunis Sweepstakes on the half mile Dirt Oval Reading Fairgrounds
Speedway in
News
from the AARN:
From their June 28th
issue:
In Ernie Saxton’s
column, he was making mention of how many oval racetracks there were in the
Note: I’m not sure if a track has more than one
track, like
Jerry Reigle notes
that Dale Blaney has 80 wins with the All Star Circuit of Champions. Todd Shaffer has 39.
There are over 40
entrants, so far, for the July 13th 358/360 Sprint Car Challenge at
the Lincoln Speedway.
Ray Evernham got
his first Virginia Sprint Car Series win of 2011 at Eastside Speedway.
Don and Jo Ann
Davies, in their column, made mention of the crew for Brett Hearn changing the
entire front axle assembly in six green flag laps, at Lebanon Valley, after
Brett had his right front taken off his car in an accident.
JR Kennerup had
quite a lot in his column – mostly about the problems with the asphalt
modifieds.
First, RoC Asphalt
Modified Tour Administrative Director, Andrew Harpell had a meeting with all 18
drivers at their last RoC race, at Spencer Speedway. If big changes are not made, there could very
well be no RoC races on asphalt next year.
Motor expenses are
the number one problem. Next, are tires. He feels that
Hoosier, Good Year and American Racer tires should all be in the RoC Series,
making it more competitive. He feels
that it would bring about lower prices and, with the increased technology, the
tires would wear better.
The third problem
is all the rules.
Note: It seems to me that all of the above could
very well apply to dirt tack racing, too.
In Bill Utters
column, he says that Tommy Meier is thankful that Hoosier added more rubber to
their tires. Now, in some cases, the
modified drivers can sell their used tires to the Sportsman drivers.
When Jeremy Markle
went for 14th to 3rd at OCFS, a week ago, he was somewhat
at a disadvantage. It seems he burned
himself at work, and one of his contacts was fused to his eye. Ouch!
Note: Keep in mind; Hoosier only added the rubber
because they’ve gone to a lot less rubber on their tires this season. Greed on their part? Id’ say so. But the tire wear at OCFS, prior to the “Big
Show III’, event forced Hoosier to add more rubber. And even with that, there were a bunch of
flats towards the end of the 100 laps.
Even Meier, had one, as his car sat on the track after the race. And it seems it’s only the right rear
tire? Yeah, maybe Hoosier should have
competition from others, like Good Year, Firestone and American Racer on the dirt
tracks, too. Same goes for those tracks
that run American Racer tires, too – some competition.
When we raced
Karts, we used both a 4 Cycle engine and a 2 Cycle engine on our Karts. The 2 Cycle was so much easier with a lot
less up-keep. So why are there hardly
any 2 Cycles in oval Kart racing today?
Looking at the Kart results in the AARN, at Shellhammers there were two
classes with two Karts in each class, and only two drivers. At Hunterstown, there were 3 Yamahas in one
class and at least five in a second.
(Five is all the AARN will allow, results wise, so there could have been
more). They also had 3 Yamaha Champ
Karts. The Oreville Kart Club had a
Yamaha Light and a Yamaha Heavy class, with 4 Karts, and only 3 drivers, one
doing double duty. Where are all the 2
Cycles?
Tom Aieger, in his
column was making mention of the new ¾ scale Late Models that made a debut at
Linda’s
Note: Come on, do we really need another class here
in the northeast? Again, it would be a
“Spec” class, since you can’t race ‘em against anything else. Remember from last week when I made comment
about the Tobias SpeedSTR’s not really showing an increase of cars, per
show? I see they did get 18 SpeedSTR’s
at Williams Grove this past Friday night, though. That has to be about the most that they’ve
drawn for a show?
Tony Stewart, Kasey
Kahne and Dave Blaney are all scheduled to run a Sprint Car at the Sharon
Speedway on July 12th.
The rained out from
June 22nd
RoC race at Big Diamond has new been re-scheduled for July 26th.
In 2012, at
At
More
racin’ stuff:
From the Frontstretch:
MPM2Nite: The list of problems more short track races
could solve.
By:
Kurt Smith · Thursday June 30, 2011
In Part:
“Greetings
race fans, and let me say that I once again have the honor of filling in for
the inimitable and cantankerous wiseacre Matt McLaughlin this week. But since
this still falls under the header of MPM2Nite, you can send all the complaints
to him.
Anyway, I was scanning through several NASCAR articles on Jayski this week, and the impression that
I’m getting is that NASCAR is still attempting to make
fixes to a sport that I think even they would admit by now has veered off
course in the past decade.”
Some of the topics Mr. Smith hits on are: Lack
of Rivalries and Colorful Drivers, Ratings, Attendance, Recognition of Driver Over Engineer Skill, Buschwhackers and The Chase
More can be seen if you go
here:
http://www.frontstretch.com/ksmith/34460/
Racing and
television:
Racing on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
Some non-racing stuff:
In part:
“The city has cut the number of sites serving free school
food this summer by nearly a quarter, the Daily News has learned.
School officials slashed the
number of spots serving free meals for any child by more than 100, from 478
last summer to 372 this year. That's a 22% drop.
The cutback comes as the city
Education Department trims $10.8 million from the overall school food budget.
Hundreds of city kids who depended
on the free meals served at public schools, parks and housing projects in all
five boroughs will have to find food elsewhere.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/07/05/2011-07-05_free_meal_blues_at_schools.html
Note: As usual, I found that some of the comments
posted are right on – in my way of thinking, that is. You have to scroll down some when on the
article, to get to them.
This one is so hard to believe!
NYC rationing toilet paper at
In part:
“Hey
buddy, can you spare a square?
The city
is so hard up for cash that it's rationing toilet paper in women's public
restrooms -- to the point where bathroom attendants are doling out a few measly
squares per patron -- along the world-famous
The
Post witnessed stone-faced Parks Department employees leave toilet-paper
dispensers empty last week and instead force astonished female beachgoers to
form "ration lines" in the bathrooms.”
“Toilet-paper
rationing isn't an issue in the men's rooms -- but only because they apparently
don't have any to ration. The toilet paper was gone whenever a The Post
reporter went to inspect the men's rooms.”
And:
The southwestern
state of
State and local
police have "received credible intelligence from multiple sources that
indicates the Zetas Cartel is planning to target
US citizens who travel to
"According to
the information we have received, the Zetas are planning a possible surge in
criminal activity, such as robberies, extortions, carjackings and vehicle
theft, specifically against US citizens," DPS Director Steven McCraw said
in the statement.
"We urge US
citizens to avoid travel to
The Zetas was
founded by Mexican army Special Forces deserters in the 1990s who were hired as hitmen for the powerful Gulf cartel.
The group later
split from their employers, sparking bloody Mexican turf wars. They are
strongest in eastern
The Zetas were
among the first Mexican crime syndicates to use heavy weaponry and full-scale
military tactics, reportedly amassing an arsenal that has included grenade
launchers and even ground-to-air missiles.
"There is no
indication that these cartel-related criminal activities will occur in
Texas," the Texas statement read, "but the DPS and Webb County
Sheriff?s Office cannot discount the information received that supports
possible crimes against US citizens in Nuevo Laredo and perhaps the surrounding
Mexican suburbs."
The statement adds
that state and local police "are fully prepared to respond to any criminal
activity that occurs within
http://news.yahoo.com/texas-warns-americans-avoid-mexico-border-town-200022618.html
Is
this true?:
Going along with that, above – here’s one of the postings that appeared under the above linked article:
“Hey
everyone!
Looks like Sony Electronics picked a #$%$poor time to move their VAIO Notebook
Computer repair facility out of
Video time # 1:
You might get a kick out of
this one!
http://www.wimp.com/disappearingprank/
And
Video time # 2:
This one is hard
to believe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZboxMsSz5Aw&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Closing with this:
There are 4
questions. Don’t miss one.
1:
How do you put a
giraffe into a refrigerator?
Stop and think about it and decide
on your answer before you scroll down.
The
correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe,
and close the door.
This
question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated
way.
2:
How do you put an
elephant into a refrigerator?
Did
you say, Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the
refrigerator?
Wrong Answer.
Correct
Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and
close the door.
This
tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions..
3:
The Lion King is hosting an animal conference.
All the animals attend .... Except one. Which animal
does not attend?
Correct
Answer : The Elephant. The elephant is in the
refrigerator. You just put him in there.
This
tests your memory.. Okay, even if you did not answer
the first three questions correctly,
you still have one more chance to show your true
abilities.
4:
There is a river
you must cross but it is used by crocodiles, and you do not have a boat. How do you
manage it?
Correct
Answer:? You jump into the river and swim across. Have
you not been listening?
All
the crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting. This tests whether you learn
quickly from your mistakes.
According to Anderson Consulting Worldwide,
around 90% of the Professionals they
tested got all questions wrong, but many preschoolers got several correct
answers. Anderson
Consulting says this conclusively proves the theory that most professionals do
not have the brains of a four-year-old.
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