Champ Trail -
April 5, 2016 |
The hills of northeastern Connecticut come alive this weekend with the
sounds of racing engines as their off on the run back under the sun as the
Men that live by the Grace of God and 600 horsepower, the Nascar Whelen
Modifieds, get it on for the annual IceBreaker at the Thompson Motorsports
Park Speedway.
For those of you who live in southern New England four speedways, three
in Connecticut and one in Massachusetts provide some of the best in
competition and are top-notch facilities. Thompson Motorsports Park in
northeast Ct is a 5/8mile high banked asphalt speedway. Thompson opens up
this weekend with the IceBreaker which features the Whelen Modified Tour
Series. The Stafford Motor Speedway, located in central Ct northeast of
Hartford is a half-mile semi banked asphalt speedway. Stafford opens on
April 24 with the Spring Sizzler featuring the Whelen Modified Tour Series.
The New London-Waterford Speedbowl is a 1/3 mile semi banked speedway
located in south eastern Ct near the Ct shoreline. The Speedbowl which has
received considerable upgrading will open on May 2 with Bud Blastoff
featuring the SK Modifieds. The Seekonk Speedway, owned and operated since
1946 by the Venditti family, is a 1/3 mile semi-banked speedway. The
speedway, located on the gateway to Cape Cod will open on Sunday, May 1
featuring Pro Stocks.
Legendary NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour car owner Bob Garbarino will be
back during the 2016 season with a new driver and national sponsor as he
begins his 56th season and will be teamed with another legendary family name
in modified racing in Jimmy Blewett.
A new sponsor, the L. S. Starrett Company of Athol, Massachusetts, will
be the primary sponsor of the team. Starrett was founded in 1880 and
manufactures more than 5000 precision tools, gages, measuring instruments
and saw blades for industrial, professional and consumer markets worldwide.
It has been announced that Ron Silk has hooked up with Danny Watts for a
full season of Whelen Modified Tour action. Silk hooked up with Watts at New
Smyrna. The Watts team, based on Long Island, to Thompson Speedway
Motorsports Park in Silk’s home state of Connecticut recently to shake down
the car and prepare for the Icebreaker 150 at Thompson this coming weekend.
Silk was calmly confidant that the team will be able to come out fighting
from the get-go when the green flag drops.
The NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour Series converged on the Concord
Motor Sports Park on Saturday with 17 cars including Ted Christopher and
Ryan Preece from the northern tour. NASCAR Hall of Famer Modified driver
Jerry Cook was the Grand Marshal.
Transplanted Long Islander George Brunnhoelzl III saved the best for last
as he walked off with the top spot in the 150 lap contest. In contention
from the start, Brunnhoelzl took the lead from Ted Christopher with three
laps to go and never looked back. Christopher, in the Brady Bunch entry
finished second with Burt Myers, third. Andy Seuss and Jason Myers rounded
out the top five. Early leader Ryan Preece led the first 63 laps before
experiencing problems which ultimately placed him 12th, one lap down at the
finish.
On the speedway stock market scene last week two of the three speedway
stocks were up for the week. Speedway Motorsports went up 1.17 to 19.77 and
the International Speedway Corporation went up 0.52 to 36.87. NASCAR fuel
supplier Sunoco (Energy Transfer) went up 2.70 to 31.60 and NASCAR tire
supplier Goodyear went up 0.31 to 31.49. Two of the three car manufacturers
were down for the week. Ford went up 0.04 to 13.10 while General Motors
dropped 0.49 to 30.47 and Toyota dropped 2.78 to 103.54. In the hoe
improvement sector Home Depot went up 4.39 to 134.85 and Lowes went up 1.73
to 76.50. In big team’s sponsors stocks McDonalds went up 3.73 to 127.02,
Coca-Cola went up 3.44 to 162.69, Target went up 0.72 to 82.76 and Aarons
Rentals went up 1.48 to 25.35.
On the tube this week:
Thursday, April 7
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBC Sports Net
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
5:00 PM, NASCAR Xfinity Series Texas Practice, FS1
5:30 PM, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Texas Practice, FS1
7:00 PM, NXS Final Texas Practice, FS1
8:00 PM, Beyond the Wheel, FS1
Friday, April 8
3:30 AM, NSCS Texas Practice re-air, FS1
5:00 AM, NXS Final Texas Practice re-air, FS1
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
2:30 PM, NSCS Texas Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS1
4:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub - Weekend Edition, FS1
4:30 PM, NXS Texas Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS1
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub - Weekend Edition, FS1
6:30 PM, NSCS Final Texas Practice, FS1
8:00 PM, NASCAR RaceDay: XFINITY, FS1
8:30 PM, NXS: O'Reilly Auto Parts 300, FS1
Saturday, April 9
3:30 AM, NXS: O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 re-air, FS1
6:00 AM, NSCS Texas Coors Light Pole Qualifying re-air, FS1
7:30 AM, NSCS Final Texas Practice re-air, FS1
5:00 PM, One Hot Night: the NASCAR 1992 All-Star Race, FS2
6:00 PM, NASCAR RaceDay, FS2
7:00 PM, NSCS FOX Pre-Race Show, FOX
7:30 PM, NSCS: Duck Commander 500, FOX
That’s about it for this week from 11 Gardner Drive, Westerly, and
R.I.02891. Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467.
E-mail:
smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com.
Phil Smith has been a
columnist for Speedway Scene and various
other publications for over 3 decades.
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Source: Phil
Smith / Champ Trail
Posted: April
5,
2016 |
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