Racin'
& Internet Stuff:
09/22/2011
First:
I’m starting this column on Sunday, September 18th. I’m hoping that by this time (Thursday) I’m
off of Jury Duty, but if not, I may have to still be in court on Friday, then I
sure hope to get out early enough to get up to the Accord Speedway and not have
to park out in the woods, so to say, and be able to get my normal seat – or
seats, since other family members will be there, too.
Update: On Tuesday, we never did
get to hear anything, but were told to return on Wednesday at 9:00 AM – guess
it’s time for closing arguments and then we’ll get the case to deliberate on.
Update: On Wednesday afternoon,
we finally got to hear the particulars and how the law will work on the case
I’ve been on. We got to deliberate a
little over half an hour, and will return to the courthouse at 9:00 AM on
Thursday.
Second:
If you read last weeks column fairly close,
you might have noticed that as of today, I’m now 74 years old. It’s unbelievable how fast the time goes by,
especially as we get older.
Also on today, the 22nd, a grand daughter, Samantha Avenengo
was born, back in 1988. Wow! She’s now 23!
Third:
Oh, as for Accord this coming weekend – no, you really don’t want to
see the “long range” weather forecast, as of Sunday, anyway. Monday the forecast was about the same. Tuesday, it was this, which is worse:
Thursday: Rain showers in
the morning then thundershowers in the afternoon. High 72F.
Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Friday: Thundershowers.
Highs in the low 70s and lows in the mid 60s.
Saturday: Rain. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the mid 60s. Potential
for heavy rainfall
The forecast from Wednesday – not much different. As of now I think we might have to wait
another week.
The forecast as of 11:15 PM on Wednesday night:
Tomorrow: Rain showers in
the morning then thundershowers in the afternoon. High 71F.
Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Tomorrow night: Scattered
thunderstorms during the evening followed by a few showers overnight. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Friday: Showers and
thundershowers likely. High 67F. Winds
light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Saturday: Showers, maybe
a rumble of thunder. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the
low 60s.
Fourth:
The “Freedom 76” race at the Grandview Speedway was held this past Saturday, and it was announced that for next year the winner of this race will get $50,000.00. That is a lot of dollars, my friends. So the question will be – will DIRTcar or The RoC schedule a race against it? I don’t see the RoC doing it, but I can see DIRTcar going against it.
Fifth:
Langhorne – the big oiled dirt circle racetrack – prior to it getting
paved in the late 60’s - a “killer” track if there ever was one. I witnessed some fatalities there. But back on September 1, 1957, Charlie
Musselman had one of the worst racing accidents I’ve ever witnessed. At Langhorne, I usually sat in what could be
said was the fourth turn area, where the stands were about even with the track
surface. Down into the first turn and
the “Puke Hollow” area, the track was quite a bit lower than the stands, mainly
for drainage, with the stands being level.
And, I usually sat pretty high in those stands, too. On this day, Musselman happened to run over a
wheel of the Joe Barzda stretched midget, in this fourth turn area, and got
launched into a series of end over end flips.
On the very first flip, he was thrown out of the car. Two photographers caught the action and every
photo basically showed the car flipping and Musselman flying high in the air
over it. Had Musselman remained in the
car, I would have witnessed another fatality, since the cockpit basically got
closed up when the car landed on its tail on one of the flips and the cockpit
closed up. Back then, the Sprint Cars
were turning the track at about an average of 109 MPH – and those speeds were
basically like that around the whole track.
God must have been watching over Musselman on that day because, believe
it or not, he didn’t even break any bones.
Here’s a link to those photos:
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/showthread.php?p=849
Kinda
lucky, huh?
Sixth:
From last weeks column:
“SEPTEMBER 20
1952
Bill Schindler... Died ...
East Coast midget, sprint and Indy car driver. Raced with only one leg after a
crash in 1936, but died in an AAA sprint car race at
I sent out a short note to
some, about it being the anniversary of Schindlers death, on Monday night. By Tuesday morning, I had quite a few
responses. One of those that got back to
me was from Sarah “Sally” Strickland, the daughter of George Rice. She had this to say:
“Did you know my dad pulled
him out of that car in
Seventh:
A few questions:
Should auto racing
be considered a sport?
With so many
youngsters now in “bigger” forms of racing, like Sportsman cars, and with some
of the drivers being 14 – 15 & 16, and still in school, can they compete in
school athletics since they could, in a way, be considered as “professionals”
since they win monies while racing?
Back some years,
there was a race driver – Ray Bateman, who raced modifieds here in the
Northeast. Naturally, when he raced, he
got prize monies, so technically, he was a “professional” or “professional
athlete” if racing is to be considered as a sport. Now I don’t know if the Olympic committee
back in those years when Bateman raced, considered racing as a “sport”, but he
did compete in the Olympics in the Luge competition, which is, in a way, a
“racing event”.
Eighth:
Looking at the
entry list for the races at Loudon this coming weekend, I see there are 46
entrants for the Cup race and only 33 for the 36-car field in the truck
race. That’s as of Tuesday - I should
ad.
Ninth:
Do you think that
NASCAR drivers are not being kept busy?
Check out some schedules, here – from Jayski’s website:
http://www.jayski.com/pages/appear.htm
Ninth:
I was tempted to
put this as another “is this true?”, but figured I’d throw it in here:
Again, via an
e-mail
Who says stimulus
money is not working??
How Lovely
THE STIMULUS AT
WORK!
Some have said
that the stimulus hasn't saved any jobs,
but here is a case where at least one job was
saved.
Take for instance
Oregon State University Athletic Director
Bob DeCarolis.
Now Mr. DeCarolis
was considering firing their
Basketball
Coach....... Craig Robinson after an
8 -11 start (2-5)
in the Pac 10 conference).
When word reached
Martha Kanter was
dispatched to
in stimulus money for the university.
Thankfully,Craig Robinson's job is safe for another year
Now comes the
interesting part of our story....
For those of you
unfamiliar with Coach Robinson,. he
just so happens to be the brother in law of none other than our country's
beloved President.
NOW YOU'RE
CATCHING ON......
that's right he is the brother of Michelle Obama!
But hey, can't we
all come to the conclusion that Coach Robinson's job security was all just a
coincidence?
I'm sure of it ..... Aren't You?
Thank Goodness For
The Stimulus!!!
But
$17 million for one job? I wonder what mine is worth?
If this doesn't
anger you, nothing will... remember to
vote next fall !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Coming up:
Accord:
Friday September 23rd
Roc Modifieds
$7000 to win* 100 laps
Sportsman 50 laps
Lightning Sprints 25 laps
4 cylinders 20 laps
ENTRY FORMS-GO TO “FILE” SECTION
Adult admission $23 Kids $5 Family 4 Pack $66** Indoor $30
Reserved $25
Pit gates open 3:30 Warm ups 6:30 Spectator gate opens at
5pm
For Tickets call the speedway:
845-626-3478
Saturday September 24th
Spec Sportsman 50 laps
Pro Stock 25 laps
Pure Stock 25 laps
Jr Slingshots 20 laps
305 Sprints 20 laps
ENTRY FORMS-GO TO “FILE” SECTION
Adult admission $20 Kids $4 Family 4 Pack $58** Indoor $25
Reserved $22
Pit gates open 3:30 Warm ups 6:30 Spectator gate opens at
5pm
*Modified payout is based on 40 entries
** Family 4 Pack is admission for 2 adults, 2 kids and $20 in
food vouchers
ROCKET SPEED
AMERICAN RACER TIRES -PARTS & FUEL DEALER
TIRES-PARTS-FUEL AVAILABLE AT THE
Dave & Joanne Rocket
845-778-3839
OCFS:
All the
info for Eastern States Weekend should come up if you go here:
http://www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net/
September 24th:
Sportsman, Pro Stock, Legends,
Bandoleros,
BMS Modified, Street Stock, 4 Cylinder
Empire Sport
Trucks
Their Novemberfest
races are scheduled for November 4th, 5th and 6th.
For more info,
please go here: http://www.oaklandvalleyspeedway.com/schedules-fees/
The Lobitz
Movie Party/EMMR Auction
It’s just around
the corner, folks! Sunday,
November 13th, at the Catering Hall near
Found
on Jayski’s website:
More attendance
woes for NASCAR Hall of Fame:
Attendance at the
NASCAR Hall of Fame fell by 35% in July from a year earlier, continuing a trend
of declining results. The Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, operator of
the $200 million publicly funded stock-car museum, reported the figures at its
board meeting Wednesday. In July 2010, 33,452 people visited the hall of fame.
Attendance declined to 21,910 in July 2011, the first month of the new fiscal
year. July marked the third month of attendance slips of 30 percent or more in
year-over-year comparisons. Those figures offer a barometer of interest in the
hall of fame, which opened in May 2010. For May 2011, attendance was 30 percent
below the previous year (25,034 visitors compared with 35,090 in May 2010). In
June 2011, crowds dropped by 39 percent to 17,604 visitors for the month. Visitors authority board members didn't discuss the hall of
fame results during their meeting. A recent update to City Council included
questions and discussion of whether ticket prices could be hurting attendance (Charlotte
Business Journal). Past info, links, announcements on the NASCAR Hall of Fame page.(9-15-2011)
Note: I find it quite difficult why this
Diet
Four years after
making waves in NASCAR by signing on as the primary sponsor of Dale Earnhardt
Jr., Amp Energy is phasing its brand off the car of the sport's most popular
driver. PepsiCo is expected to announce this week that Diet Mountain Dew will
replace its Amp Energy brand as Earnhardt's primary sponsor for 16 races in
2012. The company has the primary sponsorship rights for 20 total races on the
#88 car, and Amp will serve as an associate sponsor while also appearing on the
hood for the other four races. The shift is a major downsizing in the
sponsorship between Amp, an upstart energy drink, and Earnhardt, the sport's
biggest driver. Pepsi, which owns Amp and Mountain Dew, has one year left on
its contract with Earnhardt and Hendrick Motorsports, and the company's
executives believe that Diet Mountain Dew, which is one of the fastest-growing
soft drinks, stands to benefit more from Earnhardt than Amp. Pepsi and Hendrick
Motorsports are expected this week to unveil a new paint scheme for the #88 car
for next year's Daytona 500.(Sports
Business Journal)(9-19-2011)
Stenhouse could
drive for Woods in 2012:
Wood Brothers
Racing co-owner Led Wood says a decision will be made in the next few weeks
about whether Trevor Bayne will return to the legendary #21 Sprint Cup Series
Ford next season, or be replaced by current Nationwide Series point leader
Ricky Stenhouse. "If I had to say right now, I would say it would be that
guy," said Wood, pointing to Bayne's name on the roof of the
Note: Wow, I thought that Bayne has done good
enough to warrant a return in 2012 to the # 21 car.
Gordon questions
Menard's spin at
UPDATES: #24-Jeff
Gordon says there is something "fishy'' about Saturday night's final
caution at Richmond International Raceway that opened the door for #29-Kevin
Harvick to win. Gordon implied after the race that #27-Paul Menard, Harvick's
teammate at Richard Childress Racing, spun out intentionally with 16 laps to go
to bring out the caution. Harvick then beat Gordon off pit road and maintained
the lead after the final restart with 12 laps remaining. Gordon said from what
he's been told of the radio communications between Menard, crew chief Slugger
Labbe and RCR executive Mike Dillon there is reason to believe the spinout was
orchestrated on a second channel. NASCAR released a statement Thursday saying
officials did not see any wrongdoing during the race. "We haven't seen or
heard anything that would indicate the #27 did anything inappropriate in
AND: Statement
from Richard Childress: "There were no team orders despite all the
speculation in the media. I know Paul Menard well enough that he wouldn't have
spun out on purpose even if he had been asked. We are at Chicagoland Speedway
to win the race and get a great start toward the
championship."(RCR)(9-16-2011)
UPDATE: NASCAR
President Mike Helton said Friday morning at Chicagoland Speedway that series
officials are investigating Paul Menard's spin late in the Richmond race that
played a role in helping teammate Kevin Harvick win that race. Helton said he
has yet to hear the audio from Menard's
radio chatter. "We're going to look into it and see if there's
anything,'' Helton said. "A lot of it is going to
be interpretation. Certainly, it's on us to understand exactly what all we can
find as far as facts are concerned. It's on all of our shoulders to get the
facts right and if there's something there, we should find out about it and be
sure that we've got it right.'' Helton said that series officials will look at
video of the caution itself to determine "if it appears that there &
it was done on purpose.'' He also said series officials will get access to the
audio.(Virginian-Pilot)(9-16-2011)
UPDATE 2:
NASCAR officials
said on Saturday there is no evidence to support allegations that Paul Menard
spun out intentionally to bring out a caution and affect the finish of last
weekend's Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway. Spokesman Kerry
Tharp said officials listened to audio of Menard's radio transmission before he
spun out with 16 laps remaining and found nothing to indicate he did anything
deliberately.(ESPN)(9-17-2011)
Note # 1: I found this while checking out Yahoo! News
on Tuesday:
Sam Bradford(notes) and the St. Louis Rams offense were
running the no-huddle offense on a depleted New York Giants defense on
Monday night and doing it with great success. Unable to stop the Rams through
traditional means like tackling and pass deflecting, the Giants tried a
different strategy: faking injuries.
Following an 8-yard
run on first down, two Giants players, Deon Grant(notes) and Jacquian
Williams(notes),
simultaneously fell to the ground as the Rams came to the line without a
huddle. The phoniness of both injuries was so obvious it was called out in the
booth by the usually uncritical ESPN announcing team.
Trainers attended
to Grant (Williams got up once he realized there was another possum on the
field), play was stopped, the Giants caught their breath while waiting for the
game to resume and then held on the next two plays to force a Rams field goal.
Philadelphia Eagles tight end
Brent
Celek(notes)
appeared to do the same thing Sunday night in an attempt to give Michael
Vick(notes)
some time to shake off a big hit. Celek was limping off the field, looked
toward the Eagles sideline and then conveniently fell to the ground to wait for
trainers to attend to him. He was back in the game two plays later.
Redskins safety Laron Landry(notes)
pulled a
similar move last season (is it an NFC East thing?) and I'm sure it happens
a handful of times per season. I don't want to get all "back in my
day" on you, but you know this type of nonsense wasn't happening when Sam
Huff and Lawrence Taylor were patrolling the field for the Giants. Football is
a different game now, what with all the rule changes and overbearing protection
of the quarterbacks, but it's still the milieu of tough guys. Don't invite
comparisons to soccer by diving every time the situation becomes difficult.
Stamp out this
practice before it becomes a trend, Roger Goodell. Since you can't expect
officials to determine which injuries are legitimate and which aren't, don't
leave it open for interpretation: If play has to be stopped because of an
injury, that player can't return until the next series.
Note # 2: Really not much difference that I can see
between Menard helping out his teammate and the football players helping
theirs. Oh, as for Menard – of course he
did that – intentionally spinning out.
At least I’m convinced he did, after hearing the crew to Menard on the
radio and then seeing what some had to say while waiting out the rain delay at
NASCAR increasing
restrictor plate size at
NASCAR will
implement two rule changes for next month's running of the Good Sam Club 500
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. The size of the
restrictor plate that teams will use to prepare and practice for the race will
increase by 1/64 inch and is now going to be 57/64 inch diameter. This will
provide the teams with an additional 7-10 horsepower. Additionally, the
pressure relief valve on the cars' cooling system will be recalibrated to
reduce the pressure by approximately eight pounds per square inch from last
April's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at
Former
At OCFS, on
September 10th, in the Modified feature, Tim Hindley was 6th,
Mike Ruggiero 12th, Billy VanInwegen 16th and Danny Creeden
17th. In the Sportsman
feature, Brian Krummel was 2nd, Anthony Perrego 3rd, RJ
Smykla 9th and Jason Roe 10th.
At Accord last
Friday, Tim Hindley was 9th, Danny Creeden 12th and Mike
Ruggiero 15th, in the Modified feature. Brad Szulewski was 8th and Anthony
Perrego 19th in the Sportsman feature. In the Spec Sportsman feature, Kyle Rohner
was 2nd, Kyle Van Duser 3rd and Tyler Dippel 8th.
Roger Coss finished
4th in the 76 lap John Blewett Memorial race at Wall Stadium.
At Penn Can, in the
Crate Sportsman feature, Tyler Dippel was 16th, while in the
Sportsman feature; Anthony Perrego was the race winner while Mike Mammana was
20th.
Brian Pomponio was
24th at New Egypt in the TSRS 305 Sprint Car feature.
At Wyalusing, Jacob
Hendershot was 19th in the 270 Micro Sprint feature and 18th
in the wingless 600 Micro Sprint feature, while Molly Chambers was a DNS in the
600’s.
Rich Coons had a 7th
place finish in the Sportsman feature at
Nick Pecko was 5th
at Mountain Speedway in the Sport Modifieds.
The racing season
is winding down, so I expect that there will be fewer and fewer results in this
section in the weeks to come. If I
missed anyone – sorry!
Going back, in time – in
racing history:
Note# 1: Most of the following information was found
here:
http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/history.html
Note: 2: Yes, most of this info is from Open Wheel
racing from “Back in the day”.
Covering the days from
September 23rd to the 29th:
SEPTEMBER 23
1930
Don Edmunds ... Born ...
Racecar driver and car builder. He had his first start at Indianapolis Motor
Speedway in 1957. He won the 1957
SEPTEMBER 24
1936
Bobby Marshman ... Born ...
Born in
1960
Johnny Thomson... Died ...
AAA / USAC . He won the 1952 AAA Eastern division
Midget championship. He drove in the AAA and USAC Sprint Car and Championship
Car series, racing in the 1953-1960 seasons with 69 starts, including the
Note: Thomson was fatally injured while driving the
same car that Bill Schindler drove when he was fatally injured on September 20,
1952 - also at
1967
Gary Congdon ... Died ...
USAC midget, sprint and Indy car driver. Congdon died in
1999
Kevin Gobrecht... Died ... Pennsylvania Sprintcar driver. Kevin Gobrecht was
30 years old when he was killed in a violent sprint-car crash at I-80 Speedway
in
SEPTEMBER 25
1998
George Tichenor... Died ...
AAA driver that raced in the 1950's
SEPTEMBER 26
1892
Frank
Farmer ... Born ... AAA driver from the 1920's and 30's. Farmer made 10 Championship Car starts in his career
with a best finish of 3rd in the June 1930 race at Altoona Speedway. He was
killed in a crash at Woodbridge Speedway.
1956
Steve Butler ... Born ...
He won six national driving championships in USAC Sprint Car and Silver Crown
open-wheel racing.
SEPTEMBER 27
2007
Nick Fornoro Sr... Died ...
Nick was the American Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) driving champion in 1950, and
he was the first NASCAR Midget driving champion in 1953. After retiring, he
went on to be one of the best starters (flaggers) ever, starting out here in
the Northeast – his first flagging job was the day after he retired and was at
the Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown,NY
- and eventually ending up as the
flagger for two hundred consecutive Championship Auto Racing Teams Indy Car
Series races (CART), serving in that position from 1979 to 1992. In 1993 he was
the honorary starter for the
Note # 1: Do you have any idea as to what was another
“first” at OCFS as far as racing goes?
Yes, there has been some history made at the old girl. Answer at the end of this column.
Note # 2: I was honored, and proud, to have the
opportunity to have read to those in attendance - at his Memorial Service -
what was said on what Nick meant to, and was remembered by, family members and
friends. Later on, I was fortunate to
get the paper work and have it put out in the Internet, and also in an
abbreviated form in the AARN. The
website it was on – www.openwheelracer.com
is no longer in existence. It will now
come out again, on Dirt Track Digest, either as one part or as two, beginning
on the 27th, then 28th, and also on the New England
Tractor website
http://newenglandtractor.com/racereport/
It has also been sent to
the Vintage Racer website, and hopefully will be posted shortly.
SEPTEMBER 28
1920
Fred "Jiggs"
Peters ... Born ... Jiggs started racing Midgets in 1948, winning the ARDC
championship in 1951. He then moved into Sprint Cars. In 1955 he unsuccesfully
attempted to qualify for the Indy 500 in a Scopa-Offy. Equally at home on dirt
or asphalt, he tried to qualify for Indy again in the Lee Glessner Offy in
1957. Short on speed on the first weekend, he was fast enough on the second to
qualify but he chose to come home to NJ to run locally to make money as opposed
to sitting in Indy for the whole month of May without an income. He was very
good in long distance races and won numerous times at long tracks like
1924
Russ Congdon ... Born ...
USAC midget and sprint racer from the 1950's and 60's
1958
Jimmy Reece... Died ...
Reece was Midget, Sprint driver and a 6 time veteran of the
Note: He was fatally
injured while going for second place as they entered the first turn on the last
lap of the race, with his car leaving the speedway and ending up outside the
high banked first turn.
SEPTEMBER 29
1923
Joie Ray ... Born ... He
was one of the nation's pioneer open wheel and Stock car race drivers. His
racing career spanned 17 seasons (1947-1963) as a Sprint, Midget, and Stock car
driver. Ray was the first Black AAA license holder and ran in the Central
States Racing Association (CRSA), The International Motor Contest Association
(IMCA), United States Auto Club (USAC) and the Midwest Dirt Track Racing
Association
2001
Mickey Stavola... Died ...
Along with his brother Billy co-owned Stavola Brothers Racing. The Stavola
Brothers formed their NASCAR Winston Cup team in 1983 with veteran crew chief
Harry Hyde and rookie driver Bobby Hillin, who was a high school senior at the time.
Before closing the team at the end of the 1998 Winston Cup season when the team
lost
News
from the AARN:
From
their September 13th edition:
For
last weeks column, I was looking for results for the
TSRS 305 Sprint Cars that were supposed to race at the Bridgeport Speedway,
knowing that former OVRP Kart racer Brian Pomponio was supposed to race
there. Nowhere did I find any. Well, this weeks AARN had an article, almost
a full page, about an accident with a Sprint Car at
Lemmy
Sammons, in his column makes mention of Keith Kaufmann, 61, being honored at
Why
do I usually agree with what Ernie Saxton has to say? In his column he’s saying that when there is
down time at a NASCAR race, why to the TV people always go interview the “name”
drivers? Why not interview the lesser
known ones, and give them airtime. Heck,
the lesser known guys are rarely seen on TV during the races!
Back
on September 7th, out near Manheim, Pa., 53 year old Mark Geib, a
Micro Sprint driver and mechanic, lost his life when he drowned in the Chiques
Creek during some flooding in that area.
Brett
Deyo makes mention of Rick Laubach looking to compete at Penn Can in the King
of the Can race, ESW, Octoberfest at
Ron
Mentus, in his column was asking: “Who
cares about the fans”? In a way it was
his way of commenting on the Indycar race on the streets of
At
Kevin
Rice is hinting that there could very well be a NASCAR Modified race at
Rockingham in 2012.
Lou
Long, in his column, is confirming that Brett Hearn will be driving a new TEO
car for his brother, Bobby, at
Brian
Danko had news about the UNOH (University of Northwestern Ohio) “Showdown” a
the Thompson, Ct track, The Whelen Modifieds and the Whelen Southern Modifieds
each had 125 lap races, then the top 15 from each race squared off in a 50-lap
$53,000.00 shoot out with a possible $15,000.00 to the winner.
Joe
Krawiec won the 2011 driving champion for the USAC Dirt Midget Association at
Bear Ridge Speedway. Denny Zimmerman
also raced with that series, and former ARDC driver Hank Rogers ran with them
for some shows, too.
Don
and Jo Ann Davies have said the Brett Hearn will drive the car that he got his
800th win with, at Fonda, at
The
AARN had an ad for it’s “newbie” – e-mail news. Current subscribers can get e-mail alerts and
previews of the up-coming issue. To sign
up, call 609-888-3618 or e-mail at sub@aarn.com
with current name, mailing address and e-mail address.
Listed
as race people that have left us are Billy Cannon, 70, a modified driver from
the
The
Albany/Saratoga Speedway held its last race show for 2011. They drew 11 Modifieds, 5 Pro Late Models, 5
Renegades, 5 INEX Legends and 11 Bomber cars.
Not many, huh?
Bill
Utter reaffirms that the Petruska owned # 66 cars – Big and Small Blocks, will
be at Eastern States. As
of now, no idea as to who will be in the cockpits, though.
Gary
London covered almost all of Jeff Gordons NASCAR history in his column.
Geoff
Yoder was making mention of safety issues at Vintage Race meets. He also made mention, for those that still
have not heard, that the Vintage Race Car meet for
Yoder
also made mention of the passing of Dick Murphy. Dick was the owner of the Geoff Bodine # 99
Valiant, which he ran at various Vintage meets.
Phil
Smith, in his “going back in time” made mention of it now being 30 years since
the
There
were ads for the indoor races at
John
Snyder makes mention that when Brett Hearn won the track championship at
Accord, it was his 76th track or series championship, gong back to
1977 when Brett won his first championships – the Sportsman Championships at
both Nazareth and OCFS.
Karen
Mansfield writes a column for the AARN, and she also push starts Sprint cars at
race tracks. Her column this week
pertained mostly to safety for push starting the cars, with the main thing
being that the drivers must have their seat belts on as well as all of their
safety gear prior to getting pushed off.
Ken
Kuhlman wrote about the late Al Tasnady in his column – how “Tas” set the
standard in racing and in life, itself.
Back when I was talked into writing, one of those responsible for it was
the late John LeVan. He thought enough
of Al Tasnady to have taz70739 as his e-mail addy.
Guy
Smith, the “Race chaser” was down in
More
racin’ stuff:
“Back in the day” or the “Good old days” – what does that mean? Someone was asking this, about Indycar racing, really, on the Track Forum.
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?155394-What-were-these-Good-Old-Days.
Racing and
television:
Racing on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
Some non-racing stuff:
This came out on 9/15/2011:
In
part:
“President Barack
Obama, yielding to pressure from his political base, has backed off a proposal
to reform Social Security retirement benefits in a high-stakes deficits deal
Congress needs to reach this year.
The Democratic
president upset many core supporters in July when he considered changing how
the popular pension funds are linked to inflation during acrimonious
negotiations with Republicans over raising the U.S. debt ceiling.
Obama saw the change
as a way to ensure the federal program remains viable for future generations,
but liberals felt he was giving up too much ground to Republicans.
White House
spokesman Amy Brundage said Obama's suggestions on how Congress can get to a
$1.2 trillion deficit-reduction target, to be unveiled on Monday, "will
not include any changes to Social Security."
A senior
administration official said his proposals to 12-member congressional panel
tasked with finding the savings by November 23, were still being finalized.
But they are
expected to total as much as $3 trillion over 10 years and include tweaks to
Medicare and Medicaid, the government's healthcare programs for the elderly and
for the poor, and tax changes to close more loopholes for wealthy Americans and
companies.”
More
on this can be seen here: http://news.yahoo.com/social-security-not-obama-deficits-plan-white-house-135310933.html
And,
how about this:
$16
muffins, $8 coffee served in Justice audit
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - As the
"We found the
Department (of Justice) spent $16 on each of the 250 muffins served at an
August 2009 legal conference in
The DOJ spent $121
million on conferences in fiscal 2008 and 2009, which exceeded its own spending
limits and appeared to be extravagant and wasteful, according to the report
that examined 10 conferences held during that period.
The review turned
up the expensive muffins, which came from the Capital Hilton Hotel just blocks
from the White House, as well as cookies and brownies that cost almost $10
each.
The department
spent $32 per person on snacks of Cracker Jack, popcorn, and candy bars and
coffee that cost $8.24 per cup at another conference, the report said.
The DOJ also spent
nearly $600,000 for event planning services for five conferences, the document
said.
A Justice
Department spokeswoman said most of the gathering were
held when there were no strict limits on food and beverage costs, adding the
DOJ had taken steps since 2009 "to ensure that these problems do not occur
again."
Word of the
agency's extravagant spending drew a swift response from Capitol Hill.
Senator Chuck
Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee which has
oversight of the Justice Department, said the report was a blueprint for the
first cuts that should be made by the "super committee" searching for
at least $1.2 trillion in savings.
"Sixteen
dollar muffins and $600,000 for event planning services are what make Americans
cynical about government and why they are demanding change," Grassley said
in a statement. "People are outraged, and rightly so."
The above was found on
Yahoo! News on Wednesday at: http://news.yahoo.com/16-muffins-8-coffee-served-justice-audit-023623142.html
Is
this true?:
Again,
from an e-mail I've recieved:
Lemons
& Cancer - a must read
Useful
info that may help someone ...
LISTEN
UP FOLKS:
This
is something that we should all take seriously – just had a recent test myself
that sent shivers up my spine – or near by – Even doctors are now saying that
there is value in trying “LEMON”
So, a tablespoon of "real lemon" (the
concentrate in a bottle) in a glass of water every morning.
What
can it hurt?
Subject:
A must-read-The surprising benefits of lemon!
This
is the latest in medicine, effective for cancer!
Read
carefully and you be the judge.
Lemon
(Citrus) is a miraculous product to kill cancer cells.
It
is 10,000 times stronger than chemotherapy.
Why
do we not know about that?
Because there are laboratories interested in making
a synthetic version that will bring them huge profits.
You
can now help a friend in need by letting him/her know that lemon juice is
beneficial in preventing the disease.
Its
taste is pleasant and it does not produce the horrific effects of chemotherapy.
How
many people will die while this closely guarded secret is kept, so as not to
jeopardize the beneficial multimillionaires large corporations? As you know,
the lemon tree is known for its varieties of lemons and limes.
You
can eat the fruit in different ways: you can eat the pulp, juice press, prepare
drinks, sorbets, pastries, etc...
It
is credited with many virtues, but the most interesting is the effect it
produces on cysts and tumours.
This
plant is a proven remedy against cancers of all types.
Some
say it is very useful in all variants of cancer.
It
is considered also as an anti microbial spectrum against bacterial infections
and fungi, effective against internal parasites and worms, it regulates blood
pressure which is too high and an antidepressant,
combats stress and nervous disorders.
The
source of this information is fascinating: it comes from one of the largest
drug manufacturers in the world, says that ,after more
than 20 laboratory tests since 1970, the extracts revealed that:
It
destroys the malignant cells in 12 cancers, including colon breast, prostate,
lung and pancreas ...
The
compounds of this tree showed 10,000 times better than the product Adriamycin,
a drug normally used chemotherapeutic in the world, slowing the growth of
cancer cells.
And
what is even more astonishing: this type of therapy with lemon extract only
destroys malignant cancer cells and it does not affect healthy cells.
SEND
TO EVERYONE ... Please! ! ! ! !
Video time:
USAC Dirt Midget
Association race at Bear Ridge Speedway up in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A2Iv8JirOc&feature=player_embedded#!
Closing with these:
You
think English is easy?? – Continued:
Let's
face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in
hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't
invented in
And
why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and
hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of
booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So
one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a
bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If
teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables,
what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should
be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people
recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?
Have noses that run and feet that smell?
How
can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy
are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which
your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling
it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
English
was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the
human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars
are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
PS.
- Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick' ?
Hey,
don’t forget – If you ever knew Nick Fornoro, Sr. or had heard of him, I’ll
have it out on Tuesday, the 27th, on both websites that my weekly
column comes out on, what his family and friends had to say about him a this
Memorial Service.
Answer
to the question about another first at OCFS:
The first time
ACOT (Atlantic Coast Old timers) members heard the command to start their
veteran engines was on Saturday, May 21, 1983, when 31 ACOT entries signed in for
an exhibition racing program on the hard clay of the venerable Orange County
Fairgrounds Speedway in
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