Racin'
& Internet Stuff:
10/6/2011
First:
Maybe I’m wrong with this thinking about why auto racing isn’t, and
will never be, the # 1 sport here in
And, from what I can see, football fans are a complete different breed
of fans – they seem to enjoy sitting in stands during rain/sleet & snow,
whereas once it gets cold out, race fans stay inside and watch on TV – in most
cases.
Second:
Geez! When ya win, ya lose? Case in point: The loss of a
Dollar General to Sarah Fisher Racing.
That’s who was
sponsoring the Sarah Fisher race team – Dollar Genereal. This past Sunday, Ed Carpenter won the
IndyCar race in
In a post race radio interview Sarah said that Dollar General had "much bigger plans for next year but unfortunately we are not part of them."
Thread on this over on the Track Forum can be found if you go here:
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?155965-The-loss-of-a-Dollar-General
And, more on Dollar General from Jayski’s website:
Dollar General
leaves Turner Motorsports; headed to JGR?
Turner Motorsports
announced Tuesday that Reed Sorenson, who is currently third in the Nationwide
Series standings, is out as driver of the #32 Dollar General Chevy. Brian
Vickers will assume driving duties from Sorenson beginning this weekend at
Kansas Speedway. Turner offered no reason why Sorenson has been sidelined despite
the driver currently sitting third in the Nationwide Series points
standings. "I'm pretty confused right now," Sorenson said. "I
really don't know what's going on right now. I'm trying to figure some stuff
out and get through this weekend. It's hard on me,
it's hard on the guys that work on this car and where we finish in points. So
it's a bad deal." The announcement comes on the same day that Turner
Motorsports acknowledged that Dollar General was leaving at the end of the
year. Dollar General is expected to be a limited sponsor on one of Joe Gibbs
Racing's Sprint Cup cars and as a primary sponsor in the Nationwide Series.
Calls to J.D. Gibbs were not returned.(FoxSports)(10-5-2011)
And this too – from the Frontstretch:
http://www.frontstretch.com/bkeith/35805/
Third:
With
the Orange County Fair Speedway’s 50th Annual Eastern States Weekend
coming up, later in October, and with a Dash for Cash race listed for the top
six qualifiers for the 200, I thought I’d send an e-mail to the track to see if
maybe we could get a little extra excitement in that Dash for Cash race. I sent this on October 1st:
“Might it be
possible to have that race for 10 laps and throw in a pit stop to change a LR
tire to make it more exciting for the fans?
It was done years ago, when I suggested it to Jay Castimore, but it got
messed up when Doug Hoffman stopped on the second turn to bring out the
yellow. Today, you have transponders and
that should/could eliminate any problems when holding this Dash for Cash with a
pit stop thrown in.
If you recall, the place went nuts when they
were pitting to change tires since there is no speed limit on pit road. Just have them pit between certain laps, like
lap 4 to lap 7?
Maybe hold it just prior to the Sportsman race
on Friday, so more fans might be in attendance, rather than prior to the Street
Stock feature? Should be no problem with
that slight schedule change, I'd say.
Sincerely,
Tom Avenengo”
Their
response: Nothing as of 11:45 PM on
Wednesday, 10/5/2011.
Fourth:
How fast can a
Sprint Car go on a half-mile track? I
guess that would depend on a few things – like whether it was using a wing,
engine size, track surface and how the track might be banked, if at all.
How about
150 MPH @
A little from the article:
“Brian Gerster set a new track record when he posted a lap
of 12.742 seconds. The new
More on it can be seen here, too:
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?155239-Xtreme-Sprint-Cars-at-Bristol
And a video of that lap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kbuv18bLMw&sns=fb
Fifth:
I imagine you’ve seen some of the “Electric Car” commercials on TV, by now? What I have failed to see, anywhere, are electric outlets for charging these electric cars. Have you seen any? How many can be charged at a time – one only?
Sixth:
I was watching some of the Indy Car race from
Seventh:
Do you watch the NFL on TV? If so, isn’t it rather odd that most reviews of plays do not over rule the calls that were made? And now, to make a one hour game last more than three hours, they’ve gone to reviewing touchdowns? What I get a kick out of is when a TD is scored when the player manages to get the ball over the goal line, where the pylon is, with his body, in the air, completely out of bounds, yet it’s ruled a TD. Meanwhile a receiver makes a catch in the end zone, one foot in and then one foot out, and it’s not a TD. Geez, at least he made some kind of bodily contact with the end zone, whereas the player who just passes the ball over the goal line is scoring?
Eighth:
Pocono
Getting Repaved
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?156009-Pocono-Getting-Repaved
Some of the comments:
“So Pocono
announced today that they were repaving the entire track... do you guys think
that will this open up chances for an IndyCar date there?
I sure do hope so because after the change making NASCAR races 400 miles, I am
considering not going and need a replacement race”
“Make it
happen”
“I'd definitely be there for an Indycar race.
I can be there in under 3 hours.
I don’t know if this will work – link to their Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/poconoraceway
Ninth:
Glenn Donnelly’s new venture –
two mile road course, drag strip and ½ mile synthetic surfaced dirt track.
Thread, as of 1:30 PM on Wednesday, 10/5 is up to
three pages, already, with comments.
http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/DTD/index.php?/topic/41356-central-new-york-raceway-park/
Tenth:
I have to
figure that it is mostly males that read my columns. So, just a little hint fellas – If you’re
wondering what the little lady is doing with the grocery money, it’s going into
the cash registers at the grocery store where she shops. I do our shopping. Yes, I also “coupon” shop, where, due to
coporate greed, anymore, some coupons require multiple purchases of some items,
to get the monies off. No, I don’t use
those ones 99% of the time. But I can
say one thing – the damn prices are getting pretty ridiculous anymore, and, no,
they – the grocery stores really can’t blame it on high fuel prices. I can’t see why beef, imported from
Eleventh:
How many more
like this will we be seeing in the near future?
In
part:
“Friendly's To close 63 weaker restaurants
424 restaurants to
stay open for business
Friendly's, an ice cream parlor chain
known for its Happy Ending sundaes, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday as the
sluggish economy and slow consumer spending claimed
another casual dining operator.
Friendly's Ice
Cream Corp blamed rising prices for cream and high rents for its problems. The
company, which operates or franchises restaurants in the eastern
More on this can be
seen here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/friendlys-idUSL3E7L51GD20111005
Twelfth:
In part:
“Apple Inc
co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, counted among the greatest American CEOs
of his generation, died on Wednesday at the age of 56, after a years-long and highly
public battle with cancer and other health issues.
Jobs' death was
announced by Apple in a statement late on Wednesday.”
A little more can
be found here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/us-apple-jobs-idUSTRE79472K20111005
Thirteenth:
Just passing this
info out to ya:
From an e-mail I
received on Wednesday evening:
358-Modifieds – Wednesday, Oct. 5th
@ Weedsport Speedway
Super DIRT Week XL
Comprehensive Coverage - Thursday, Oct. 6th
@ NYSF
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
& 358 -Modifieds – Thursday,
Oct. 6th @ Rolling Wheels
Super DIRT Week XL Comprehensive Coverage – Friday, Oct. 7th @ NYSF
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series
– Friday, Oct. 7th @ Williams Grove SpeedwaySuper DIRT Week XL Comprehensive Coverage – Saturday, Oct. 8th @ NYSF
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series & “Win and You’re In” Modifieds
– Saturday, Oct. 8th @ Rolling Wheels
Super DIRTcar Big Block Modified Series
SEF 200 – Sunday, Oct. 9th
@ NYSF
CONCORD, N.C. – October 5, 2011 – Tonight, DIRTVision.com kicks off the highly anticipated Super DIRT Week XL. As the New York
State Fairgrounds in
For just $19.99, you can watch live video from the mile on Thursday,
Friday and Saturday. We bring you time trials, practice, Twin 20s, Triple 20s
and we finish it all off with the Nationwide 150, the Safety-Kleen Shootout and
the Sportsman Championship on Saturday. Tickets for these three days of
jam-packed racing action price at just over $100, and you can see it all for only
a fraction of that cost! Click here to see a schedule of all the events!
Sunday’s SEF 200
presented by Ferris and Snapper will be featured as an audio broadcast only on
the site, and on October 29th, the video broadcast will be aired on
the SPEED Channel at 8:00 p.m.
As the modified
drivers gear up for the biggest event of their season, the World of Outlaws
Sprint Cars and Late Models are also throwing their hat into the event as well.
The Late Model series will be featured Thursday evening at
Free live audio
will be available for all four days of racing at the New York State Fairgrounds,
as well as the events at Weedsport, Rolling Wheels and Williams Grove. We’ve
got you covered for the whole weekend! Johnny Gibson, Rick Eshelman and Shane
Andrews will have live audio from the Grove, and we’ll have it all exclusively
at DIRTVision.com.
Looking ahead, the
next DIRTVision video Cybercast will be the World of Outlaws
Late Model Series at the Dirt Track at Charlotte on October 12th
For the full Cybercast schedule, click the 2011 Cybercast Schedule at
DIRTVision.com.
Fans can follow
DIRTVision on Twitter by clicking http://twitter.com/dirtvision.
For technical
questions about DIRTVision, please e-mail DIRTVision@dirtcar.com.
DIRTVision.com
is brought to fans around the world by several important sponsors and partners,
including ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems and Aggressive Hydraulics.
Note: As I said above, just passing the info out to
ya. In the past I’ve seen a lot of
negative things posted about how it does or does not work.
Fourteenth:
Sad news:
Found this on
the ARDC’s message board Wednesday evening:
“
Fifteenth:
Here’s wishing for safe racing for all the
competitors during Super Dirt Week up in the
Coming up:
Accord:
10/15/11
Wreckage
in the Catskills
4
cyl & 6 cyl Enduro $1000 to win – based on 25 entrants
4
cyl & 6 cyl Demo Derby $1000 to win – based on 25 entrants
Pure
Stocks $400 to win - based on 20 entrants
Pro
Stocks $400.00 to win – based on 20 entrants
Junior
Slingshot National Race - $400.00 to win – based on 20 entrants
Held
over 50 lap Sportsman feature from 9/30/11
Pit Gate opens at 11 AM - Spectator Gate
opens at 12 - Racing at 2
Note: This is what is on the Accord Speedway
website in the race report from last Friday’s King of the Catskill event:
“The postponed Sportsman 50 lap main event will be showcased at
a remaining event on the Accord calendar.”
As of Monday, there’s no mention of the rained out Saturday
show, and if it will be run, or not, but looking at the revised schedule, the
whole Saturday show has been scrapped, except for the Slingshots and Pro
Stocks. The CRSA 305 Sprint Cars have a
race previously scheduled for the 15th, at Penn Can Speedway. No mention of the “Spec” Sportsman race,
though, that was scheduled for Saturday, 10/1/2011 – That got scrapped, too,
I’d say.
OCFS:
All the
info for Eastern States Weekend should come up if you go here:
http://www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net/
Here’s a PR release about Eastern States from John Snyder:
NEWS FROM
Orange
County Fair
CONTACT
Mike Gurda 845-342-2573
50TH
ANNIVERSARY EASTERN STATES WEEKEND TICKET INFORMATION AND SCHEDULE AVAILABLE
ONLINE!
MIDDLETOWN, NY (September 30)……..In just three weeks
the sound of race cars will echo across the historic Orange County Fairgrounds
in Middletown, New York as Arkel Motors
presents the 50th Annual Eastern States Weekend, the oldest
consecutively-run championship event for dirt track Modified stock cars in the
country. On October 21-23, 2011, get ready for three action-packed days of high
speed racing excitement that culminates with the Eastern States 200, the “granddaddy” of all fall championship
races.
Sunday’s Eastern States 200 is also a key race in
the Super DIRTcar Modified Series and the point race to determine this year’s
Mr. DIRTcar Modified champion, one of the sport’s most prestigious awards.
For a complete schedule of events, plus ticket,
camping permit, and parking permit information, check the official
MEDIA MEMBERS: Credentials requests for Eastern
States Weekend should be made to Bobby Armbruster at 201-323-2913, or BArmbr6493@aol.com. Deadline is October 10, 2011.
Their Novemberfest
races are scheduled for November 4th, 5th and 6th.
For more info,
please go here: http://www.oaklandvalleyspeedway.com/schedules-fees/
Lobitz
Movie Party/Auction:
Sunday, November
13, 2011. Lots of fun, plenty to
eat/drink, racing movies are shown, and an auction to raise money for the
Eastern Museum of Motor Racing. You’d be
surprised as to what gets put up for auction!
One never knows
who might show up.
Things get started
around 9:00 in the morning, with a swap meet, followed by most anything
else. Quite a few vendors selling race
related items, too.
Sit down dinner at
around 5:30 in the afternoon.
Lobitz Catering
Hall
Rt 940
(Located directly
behind the Fairway Chevrolet dealership on Rt 309 North)
Note: One can usually visit the barn, out back, to
see a ton of old racecars, too.
Found
on Jayski’s website:
Court orders NHMS
to pay ISC over radio fee:
A jury in
Daytona testing
dates set for January:
NASCAR Preseason
Thunder, the annual three-day NASCAR Sprint Cup Series test session at Daytona
International Speedway in advance of the prestigious season-opening 54th annual
Daytona 500, will be held on Jan. 12-14. All NASCAR Preseason Thunder test
sessions begin at 9 am and end at 5 pm, weather permitting. Each includes a
lunch break from noon until 1 pm. Race fans can also rev up their new year at
the NASCAR Preseason Thunder Fan Fest the companion event to the January
test sessions. Along with watching NASCAR Preseason Thunder track activity from
the Sprint FANZONE, fans can enjoy two Fan Fest driver sessions from 5-9
p.m., on Thursday, Jan. 12 and from 5-7 p.m., on Friday, Jan. 13.
The schedule of driver question-and-answer and autograph sessions will be finalized
closer to the event. Tickets for the NASCAR Preseason Thunder Fan Fest, which
include autograph session wristbands, will be available for purchase at a later
date. For fans who would like to be contacted regarding NASCAR Preseason
Thunder Fan Fest ticket information can sign up online at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/thunder.
Fans can also watch each day's testing at no cost from a section of the
Oldfield Grandstands. Information on tickets for both the NASCAR Preseason
Thunder and the Roar Before The Rolex 24 will be available online at daytonainternationalspeedway.com
or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP.(DIS)(9-29-2011)
Hamlin seeing
sports psychologist:
#11-Denny Hamlin
said Tuesday he's been working with a well-known sports psychologist in an
attempt to improve his attitude and outlook. Hamlin has been in a miserable
slump since the penultimate race of last season, when poor fuel mileage at
Wallace willing to
shut down RWI:
Rusty Wallace is
willing to put his race organization, RWI, "into mothballs" for a
couple of seasons until the sponsorship landscape in NASCAR improves. RWI is
losing backing from 5-hour Energy at the end of the season and has yet to
secure full sponsorship for the teams for next year. 5-hour Energy is expected
to sponsor Clint Bowyer at Michael Waltrip Racing in 2012. An announcement is
scheduled for Friday in
UPDATE:
Rusty Wallace
Racing, which will lose sponsor 5-Hour Energy after this season, is working
with potential sponsors on a deal for Steven Wallace, Rusty's son, to continue
racing in the Nationwide Series. RWR also will field a car next year for
Michael Annett, who has brought sponsorship to the organization. 5-Hour Energy
is leaving the team to sponsor Clint Bowyer at Michael Waltrip Racing, a deal
expected to be announced this week. Team owner Rusty Wallace said Monday that
he has no plans to shut down his team and is looking for new sponsors. Wallace
said if he can't run a full Nationwide season with
Steven, he would run a partial schedule. He didn't want to name the sponsors he
has commitments from until the formal announcements. "We've got about five
of our sponsors under contract," Wallace said in a phone interview Monday.
"I don't plan on shutting my team down at all. & I might have to slow
down a little bit. I can't put any of my personal money into this thing. I've
already put personal money into this thing, more than I'm feeling comfortable
with to keep it going. With that said, I'm not sitting here feeling sorry for
myself because 90% of the garage area has this problem and my situation is no
different." While moving to the Sprint Cup Series is the eventual goal for
his team, making the move with 5-Hour Energy was not an option, Wallace said.(SceneDaily)(10-4-2011)
MWR likely to
announce Bowyer as driver on Friday:
#33-Clint Bowyer is
expected to be introduced as the new driver for Michael Waltrip Racing on
Friday at Kansas Speedway. Team owner Michael Waltrip confirmed there is a
press conference scheduled at the track on Friday afternoon to discuss
"the future of Michael Waltrip Racing'' and that everything was looking
good for Bowyer, a native of
Goodyear and NASCAR
Extend Agreement:
The Goodyear Tire
& Rubber Company and NASCAR today jointly announced they have signed an
extended agreement for Goodyear to continue as the exclusive tire used in NASCAR's
top three racing series for the next five years. The agreement, which extends
through the 2017 season, renews Goodyear as the "Exclusive Tire
Supplier" of NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series, the NASCAR Nationwide Series and
the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Goodyear has had an uninterrupted
commitment to NASCAR since becoming a race tire supplier in the 1950s, making
it one of the longest-running supply programs in any sport. In addition,
Goodyear has been the exclusive tire supplier for all three of the circuit's
top series since 1997.
"This extension is the continuation of a relationship between
experts," said Pierre Jambon, vice president of Goodyear's off-highway
business. "NASCAR is clearly the expert in stock car racing, and it has
chosen Goodyear because of our expertise in delivering outstanding performance.
Our tire performance on the track validates our brand, inspires confidence for
drivers and helps create exciting racing for fans. We are proud to continue to
be an integral part of NASCAR."
"Our longtime relationship with Goodyear is a testament to the company's
consistent high-quality tire it supplies the race teams," said Jim
O'Connell, NASCAR's chief sales officer. "Not only are they experts in
tire performance, but they are also a brand that understands how to effectively
engage and connect with our fans through creative activation."(Goodyear),
see more quotes about this agreement, plus notes about past and future tire
tests and news on tirs on my Tire
Sponsor and Test news page.(10-3-2011)
Red Bull to sponsor
a car in 2012?:
Red Bull will no
longer own a NASCAR team at the end of 2011, but X Games legend and Red Bull
athlete Travis Pastrana expressed confidence Sunday that the energy drink
company will sponsor a car in the Sprint Cup Series next season. Pastrana, who
was going to make his Nationwide debut for Pastrana-Waltrip Racing in July before
suffering a severe ankle injury after crashing in the X Games Moto-X best trick
competition, said Red Bull is "working out the details" of divesting
its interest of the team. "[Red Bull] wants to sponsor a team, as opposed
to the Formula 1 setup where they do own the team," Pastrana said
following a press conference in the
The state of
Delaware didn't pass on the opportunity to cash in on race weekend [for the
races at Dover International Speedway] by raising the tolls on Highway 1, the
main road to the speedway from Philadelphia and Wilmington, Del. Tolls usually
are $1, but raised to $2 on race weekend.(Augusta
Chronicle), note: looking at Delaware DOT
and EzPass
info, tolls on Highway 1 for passenger vehicle are raised every weekend by
$1.00 from 7:00pm/et Fridays to 11:00pm/et on Sundays since Oct 2007 and not
just raised for the race weekend.(10-3-2011)
Former
Every week this sections is getting smaller and smaller, what with the
season slowly coming to an end. For me
to get results, I go to the various track websites, and in some cases, have to
rely on the AARN for results, which are a week late. And I know that I’ve missed some drivers and
their results over this past season – not knowing just where they all race, or
who might have advanced up the racing ladder after I left as the race reporter
for the Dirt Oval. Sorry ‘bout that!
Nick Pecko was 5th in the SpeedSTR feature race at
AJ Filbeck won the Sportsman feature at
At Accord last Friday, in the Modified feature, Michael Storms was 12th
and Danny Creeden 17th. Mike
Ruggiero was a DNQ. In the Sportsman
action, with their feature postponed until October 15th, Anthony
Perrego had a 2nd in his heat, Mike Traver an 8th and a
DNS in the consy, Brad Szulewski a 6th in his heat and a win in the
consy, Tyler Dippel a 7th in his heat and a 3rd in the
Consy. Looking at the “My Laps” from the
Sportsman part of the night, it shows Brian Krummel with a 7th in
his heat and an 11th in the consy.
However, his father was sitting with me in the stands, and as far as he
knew, Brian was in
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
October 7th to October 13th:
OCTOBER 7
1916
Buzz Barton... Born ...
Raced in AAA/IMCA & USAC Sprints and Indy Cars
1990
Grandson, Brett Avenengo
was born – funny, but he was born on the day that Brett Hearn won at
1995
Louis Meyer... Died ... American Hall of Fame racecar driver best known as the
first three-time winner of the
OCTOBER 8
1890
Eddie Rickenbacker ... Born
... An American fighter ace in World War I and Medal of Honor recipient. He was
also a racecar driver and automotive designer, a government consultant in
military matters and a pioneer in air transportation. Rickenbacker raced in the
1912, 1914, 1915 and 1916
1910
Travis "Spider"
Webb... Born ... AAA driver, ran 6 Indy 500's
1919
Jack McGrath... Born ...
AAA driver from the 1940's & 50's, ran 8 Indy
500's. He was killed in the final race of the 1955 season in
1955
Bill Elliott... Born ... A former champion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Elliott was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of
OCTOBER 9
1928
Pat O'Connor... Born ... AAA / USAC driver from the 1950's. He was killed in
the 1958 INDY 500.
1971
Jan Opperman won the
Western World Sprint Car race at the Manzanita Speedway ,
OCTOBER 10
1926
Ralph Liguori... Born ... NASCAR Grand National, USAC Midget, Sprint, Silver Crown
& Indy Car Driver from the 1950's, 60's & 70's. He competed in
the USAC Championship Car series from 1957 to 1971 making 61 starts. His best
finish was 2nd place at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Speedway in 1970. 1966
was his most active year, when he made 7 starts and finished 28th in the
National Championship. He attempted the
1930
Arnie Knepper... Born ... USAC driver 1950's to 1983. He drove Midgets,
Sprints and the USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1963-1972 seasons,
with 75 career starts, including the 1965-1969 Indianapolis 500 races. He
finished in the top ten 21 times, with his best finish in 3rd position twice in
1966.
1948
Ted Horn... Died ... AAA driver from the 1930's and 40's. Ted Horn has
the best 9-year streak of finishes in
OCTOBER 11
1936
Cy Fairchild ... Born ...
Supermodified and USAC Sprint Car Driver from the 1960's.
1937
Jerry
Weld ... Born ... Supermodified, Sprint and USAC Indy Car Driver from the
1960's. Brother of drivers Greg
and Kenny.
1975
Don Garlits ran the
1/4-mile in 5.636 seconds at 250.69 mph in his T/F dragster. This elapse time
record would stand for another six years and the top speed record for 9 years.
1993
Joe Barzda ... Died
...ARDC/AAA / USAC driver in the 1940’s & 1950's. Quit after Van Johnson's
fatal crash in 1959, in which Joe was involved in. With brother
Jim, he ran the Californian Speed and Sport Shop in
OCTOBER 12
1928
Fred Comer... Died ... AAA driver 1923 to 1928. Killed
in a crash at the Rockingham Board Track.
1941
Tony Willman ... Died ...
AAA driver 1926 to 1941, died in a midget race at
1948
Johnny Ritter was fatally
injured while changing a tire on the 20th lap during a 100 lap Midget race at
the Medford Bowl. He was born in
Note: He was, and always has been, this writer’s
favorite driver even after all these years, even more so than the late Bill
Vukovich, who ranks second on my list.
I’m planning on coming out with a photo article about Ritter in the near
future.
1950
Drew Fornoro... Born ... 9-time NEMA midget champion, son of Nick Fornoro Sr &
older brother of Nick Jr.
1956
Mark Dismore ... Born ...
IRL driver from the 1990's and 2000's.
1985
Duke Dinsmore... Died ...
AAA / USAC driver from 1946 to 1960
OCTOBER 13
1946
Howard Wilcox ... Died ...
AAA driver 1932 & 1933
1989
Fred Agabashian... Died ...
Born in
2005
Wayne Weiler ... Died ...
Weiler started as a dirt track driver in
News
from the AARN:
From
their September 27th issue:
DriverReggie
Ruggiero and car owner Mario Fiore, along with driver Joey Kourafas and car
owner/mechanic Jim Jorgenson and track owners Irene Venditti and Donald Hoenig,
plus three choices from the Veterans Committee, will be inducted into the New
England Auto Racing Hall of Fame at the NEAR’s 15th annual banquet,
Sunday, January 29th, at the La Renaissance Hall in East Windsor,
Ct. The Veterans Committee will meet in
October.
Lenny
Sammons makes mention of “Labor Issues” with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour,
with the car owners having a difficult time getting volunteer help, especially
for events not on weekends. There are
some owners, pretty well known, too, that are unsure of their plans for the
2012 season.
Quite
a lot being mentioned about racing on Thursday night during Super Dirt Week,
with two tracks competing – Brewerton and Rolling Wheels, with the Wheels being
a DIRTcar race and Brewerton being “Open Competition”. The Wheels using Hoosier
tires and Brewerton opening up their tire rule, allowing both Hoosier and
American Racer.
Ernie Saxton, in his column
asks: Would you buy a ticket to watch
Danica Patrick race?”
Note: I kinda think that Ms Patrick won’t do all
that good in NASCAR, and after a few races, her popularity will dwindle. “Go Daddy” will be spending a lot of money –
with results not worth the expense. How
much time will Danica be on TV when she’s running, at best, mid-pack? Of course, if “Go Daddy” is sponsoring the
telecast, well…………….
Joey Saldana returned to
the WoO Sprint Car wars after his injury at Eldora during the Kings Royal race,
and won at the Hartford Motor Speedway, in Hartford, Michigan and then at
Eldora.
With the passing of Jerry
Riegle, Todd Heintzelman has more or less taken over the reporting on the
Kasey Kahne will be
promoting a “Talladega Sage Fruit Showdown” WoO Sprint Car race at the
There will be an on-track
demonstration run for the Vintage TQ’s when the races are held in
Ron Mentus had an
interesting topic in his column – extra distance Midget races – like 100
lappers. It seems that those NEMA
drivers that he mentioned it to were in favor of it. One of the main things would be tires. Most think they’d have enough fuel to go 100
laps – depending on the track size, of course.
It’s being said that they’d have to go to a harder compound tire.
Note: A couple of things – first, NEMA has had low car counts during the 2011 season. Would a track or promoter risk a big race
with a small car count? It would be
quite difficult for NEMA to draw from other clubs, since NEMA is strictly a
pavement and winged series. Might they,
if scheduling such a race, allow the NEMA “Lights” to also compete – to get
more cars? With the wings, we all know
how much pressure that puts on drive lines, tires and the engines themselves –
would that effect the racing?
Mentus tells of the race
win by Keith Rocco at the Waterford Speedbowl in the 35-lap feature. With nine laps to go, there were only 13 of
the 24 original starters left, with a lot of yellows during the race. It took 50:18 minutes to complete those 35
laps.
The Tobias SpeedSTR’s were
in action a week ago at
There’s an ad for the
Indoor TQ race at the
The PRI Trade Show will be held
on December 1st through 3rd, at the North/South Building
of the
Brian Danko, in his column,
makes some valid points about how TV is/has hurt the sports scene all
over. He cites the qualifying for the Cup
race at Loudon as an example – with the qualifying actually being held up while
the ESPN “Talking Heads”
spoke about the on-coming wet weather. Their talking took ten minutes, at least, and
qualifying, as you probably remember, had a rain interruption with five cars
left to qualify. A 45-minute delay to
dry the track was the result. He goes on
to say that sports have become a slave to the TV executives and their dollars. If you think back – back to “In the day”, in
baseball, play-off and World Series games were actually played on week day
days, not nights. And. Look at night
time NFL games, and their starting times.
The 32nd annual
Parts Peddler Trade Show and Racers Auction, will be
held on November 18, 19 & 20, at the New York State Fairgrounds.
Gary London has been a
motor sports writer for as long as I can remember. I have to agree, in a way, with him in his
latest column – how Clint Bowyer is a victim of Nepotism. Why, you ask?
Well, look at it this way – car owner Richard Childress has a grandson,
Austin Dillon, who will be moving up to the Nationwide Series in 2012 (driving
car # 3, of course), and just where do you think young Mr. Dillon will be the
following year? Uh huh
– in Cup. NASCAR limits teams to
only four cars. “Sponsor” problems for
Mr. Bowyer, is being said as to why he’s being let go. Uh huh. It’s kind of hard to sign a driver for just
ONE year, now. Mr. London goes on to say
that theother drivers that are signed under Mr. Childress, Carl Edwards, Greg
Biffle and Matt Kenseth could very well be on shaky ground, too. Why, you ask?
Uh huh – another grandson of Mr. Childress – Ty, will be on the scene
pretty quickly, too.
I tend to agree with John
Snyder on a lot of issues. In his column
this week, he is, in a way, complaining about the poor newspaper coverage of
racing, down in
Mr. Snyder has come out
with his thoughts on improving the racing here in the northeast. No sail panels, open
up the tire rules, loosen up suspension and body specs for Big Blocks, for
Small Blocks – a single set of engine rules and weight specs. For the Sportsman – sealed crate engines,
two-barrel carbs and steel wheels. All
cars should have newer designed seats, and personal restraint items must be
used by all drivers. He also believes an
on-board Fire Suppression System should be in all race cars, too.
Note: I don’t agree with Mr. Snyder on the “Sail
Panels”. I really thought that DIRTcar
would go with them when they announced that they were going to do some body
changes for the Big Block Modifieds – something that has yet to be done, I
should add. As for “loosening up body
specs” – it seems they’ve done this down in
Don and JoAnn Davies, in
their column, made mention of the problems that the Fulton Speedway seems to be
having, with some neighbors and “noise” from the track. If a new ordnance is
passed, it would be difficult, if not impossible to race at the track. Corey Reed has said that the track, in
existence for 50 years, would likely cease operation.
Note: There is a thread about having people sign a
petition that’s at the
Years ago, a bunch of us
attended such a meeting about “dust” and OCFS.
Enough of us stood up and fought for the track that any action that was
thought of was dropped immediately. I
still have what was said at that meeting in my ‘puter, come to think of it.
The tread:
http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/DTD/index.php?/topic/41294-everyone-sign-the-petition-at-fulton/
There are a couple of
racing people that have left us, recently – car owner Sam Flood, 91, who owned
cars that raced at Bridgeport, Alcyon and Flemington, in New Jersey, backing
the 50’s and 60’s. Also
Mark Bridges, 60, who was the chief mechanic on the 1983 Indy 500 winning car
that was driven by Tom Sneva.
There’s a full page ad for
the Short Track Super Nationals at Five Mile Point on Saturday, October 8th. Some drivers that are listed to compete
are: Stewart Friesen, Billy Pauch, Sr
& Jr, Doug Manmiller, Meme DeSantis and Jeff Strunk.
I noticed in the race
results for the NASCAR Modified race at Loudon, that Ryan Newman finished 28th
out of the 29 starters. Hmmm? He has been
rather unbeatable there lately.
In the column by Dave
Moody, he says that Travis Pastrana is hoping to race at
In the
column by Bill Utter, he makes mention that Ron Quackenbush competed at the
Fonda Speedway when it opened in 1953. He was only 14 years old at the
time, being somewhat under age, and he raced under the name “Kip Allen”. He raced, under age, until he went into the
Marines at 18 years old. He’s a member
of the Fonda Hall of Fame.
On page 63, there are a
bunch of photos. One showed modifieds
stacked three high in one accident at Mercer Speedway in
There are virtually
hundreds of Sprint Car drivers in the US of A.
Some are quite well known, while others are not. Would you say that Sprint Car driver Mike
Larrison is pretty well known?
Personally, I’ve never heard of him.
No, that doesn’t mean he’s not well known, I know, but it seems that he
was injured with back and foot injuries in a Firestone Indy Lights testing
crash earlier in September, at the Kentucky Speedway. He sustained a L2 lumbar spine fracture that
will not require surgery or a brace. A
fractured left heel, however, will require surgery. He was testing for the Andretti Autosport
team, with a debut later this year at
For those Tim McCreadie
fans, it is said that Tim will be back to defend his Eastern States 200 win
from last year, again behind the wheel of the Vinnie Salerno modified.
More
racin’ stuff:
From the Track Forum:
The 2012 IndyCar schedule – only 5 ovals, so far?? Now there are rumors of an IndyCar race at
Loudon in 2012. Time will tell, right?
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?155910-Mller-2012-IndyCar-Schedule-Revealed
And also this thread, too: Why more ovals than street/road races?
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?155960-Why-more-ovals-than-street-road-races
Note: What with Pocono now being
re-paved, might that be another oval for IndyCar?
Racing and
television:
Racing on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
Some non-racing stuff:
From Facebook, last Saturday, 10/1/2011:
No
one has been able to explain to me why young men... and women serve in the U.S.
Military for 20 years, risking their lives protecting freedom, and only get 50%
of their pay. While Politicians hold their political
positions in the safe confines of the capital, protected by these same men and
women, and receiv...e full pay retirement after serving one term. It
just does not make any sense.
On
Fox news they learned that the staffers of Congress family members are exempt
from having to pay back student loans. This will get national attention if
other news networks will broadcast it. When you add this to the below, just
where will all of it stop?
35
States file lawsuit against the Federal Government
Governors
of 35 states have filed suit against the Federal Government for imposing
unlawful burdens upon them. It only takes 38 (of the 50) States to convene a
Constitutional Convention.
This
will take less than thirty seconds to read. If you agree, please pass it on.
This
is an idea that we should address.
For
too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many
citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay
after only one term, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of
the laws they have passed (such as being exempt from any fear of prosecution
for sexual harassment) while ordinary citizens must live under those laws. The
latest is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform... in all of its
forms. Somehow, that doesn't seem logical. We do not have an
elite that is above the law. I truly don't care if they are Democrat,
Republican, Independent or whatever. The self-serving must stop.
If
each person that receives this will post it on their wall, in three days, most
people in The United States of America will have the message..
This is one proposal that really should be passed around.
Proposed
28th Amendment to the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no
law that applies to the citizens of the
Now,
what are you going to do about it? Read and delete, or work for reform? Share
on the wall of EVERY congressman, representative, governor, the white
house!!!!! Pass it around!!! Make calls, send fax's
and email's...............
Note: As many times as I’ve received similar
messages, usually via e-mails, I seriously doubt there would ever be a 28th
Amendment to our Constitution as it’s worded, above.
Is
this true?:
Extracted from the Patriot Post:
Meanwhile,
right behind Solyndra may be other companies for whom the DoE approved over $1
billion worth of loan guarantees this week for solar-generation projects in
Note: Funny, isn’t it - that we never see this mentioned while watching the evening news? Wonder why?
Video time:
You’re gonna love
this one – in a way, it’s about how we got to where we’re at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUY16CkS-k&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Oh, and this came out on
Tuesday, 10/4/2011 – kinda about what the video is about:
In
part:
“Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the economic
recovery "is close to faltering" and the central bank is prepared to
take further steps to support it.
The economy is
growing more slowly than the Federal Reserve had
expected, Bernanke said Tuesday before the
congressional Joint Economic Committee. He said the biggest factor depressing
consumer confidence is poor job growth.
"We need to
make sure that the recovery continues and doesn't drop back and that the unemployment rate continues to fall downward,"
Bernanke said.
Bernanke offered
his grim assessment after the economy barely grew in the first half of the year
and it created no net jobs in August. Consumer
confidence fell this summer to the lowest point since the recession.
In August, the Fed
said it planned to keep short-term rates at record lows until at least
mid-2013, assuming the economy remained weak.
Both decisions drew
three dissenting votes on the Fed's policy committee. The three dissents, all
from regional Fed bank presidents, were the most dissents in nearly 20 years.
On Tuesday,
Bernanke wasn't shy in offering Congress more advice: He reiterated his warning
that lawmakers should not cut spending sharply while the economy is weak.
In a speech in
In that speech,
Bernanke said there was only so much the Fed's interest rate policies could
achieve. He said that long-term unemployment, budget deficits and the depressed
housing market were three priority areas that Congress should address.
The economy slowed
to an annual growth rate of just 0.9 percent in the first six months of this
year. Forecasters think growth will rebound only slightly in the final half of
this year — to an annual rate of 2 percent to 2.5 percent.
Growth at that pace
would be far too weak to significantly lower the unemployment rate. The rate
remained stuck at 9.1 percent in August, a month when employers didn't add any
jobs at all.
On Friday, the
government will issue the jobs report for September”
More can be seen if
you go here:
http://news.yahoo.com/bernanke-says-economic-recovery-close-faltering-154824804.html
Closing with these:
Things
I Have Learned in the South;
A
possum is a flat animal that sleeps in the middle of the road.
There
are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 of them live in the South.
There
are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 of them live in the South, plus a
couple no one has seen before.
If
it grows, it'll stick ya. If it crawls, it'll bite cha.
Onced
and Twiced are words.
It
is not a shopping cart, it is a buggy!
Jaw-P? means Did y'all go to the
bathroom?
People
actually grow and eat okra.
Fixinto
is one word. It means I'm fixing to do that.
There
is no such thing as lunch. There is only dinner and then there is supper.
Iced
tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it when you're two.
Folks in the south do like a little tea with their sugar.
Backards and forards means I know everything about you.
The
word jeet is actually a phrase meaning, Did you eat?
You
don't have to wear a watch, because it don't matter what time it is, you work
until you're done or it's too dark to see.
You
don't PUSH buttons, you MASH em.
You
measure distance in minutes.
You
switch from heat to A/C multiple times in the same day.
All
the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain,
insect, or animal.
You
know what a DAWG is.
You carry jumper cables in your car - for your OWN car.
You
only own six spices: salt, pepper, Dale Sauce,
The
local papers cover national and international news on one page, but require 6
pages for local high school sports, motor sports, and gossip.
Many
think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.
You
find 100 degrees Fahrenheit a bit warm.
You
know what a hissy fit is.
Going
to Wal-Mart is a favorite pastime known as goin Wal-Martin' or off to Wally
World.
You
describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good chicken stew weather.
Fried
catfish is the other white meat.
We
don't need no dang Driver's Ed. If our mama says we can drive, we can drive.
You
understand these jokes and forward them to your Southern and other
friends.
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