Forty years ago in 1967, the All Star
League visited the tight 1/5th mile oval at Islip on Long Island. Eddie
Flemke, a master of the bullrings, lived up to his reputation as he won
the 100-lap event over Jerry Cook, Bill Wimble and Fred Harbach. Rain
prevailed on the East Coast for the entire weekend, wiping out all
racing.
Thirty five years ago in 1972, Fred DeSarro went two
for two as he won at Seekonk on Friday night and at Stafford on Saturday
night. At Seekonk, Billy Clarke finished second and at Stafford, Leo
Cleary, Ernie Gahan, George Summers and Hop Harrington, rounded out the
top five. Bob Santos took the Friday night win at Malta. Ron Bouchard
finished second with Richie Evans, third. At Fonda, on Saturday night,
Maynard Forrette beat out Harry Peek and Al Castrucci for top honors.
Modifieds from all over the East Coast converged on the Pocono Raceway
for the Flight 216 modified event on the ¾ mile oval. Ninety-eight
modifieds were on hand. Richie Evans won the event over Maynard Troyer
and Ray Hendrick but the real story was the effort put in by Fred
DeSarro and Art Barry who teamed up, just for the day. During practice,
the engine in the Len Boehler No.3 spun a bearing. Without a spare
engine, Boehler loaded the car and headed home. Santos, who had won
Malta on Friday night, offered his ride to DeSarro. DeSarro made
numerous chassis changes and even change the steering wheel. The Barry
modified went and handled like it never did before and was a potential
winner until slowed by a broken water pump. Sunday night action at
Utica-Rome, rained out.
Thirty Years ago in 1977, Bugsy Stevens was the winner of the
Tuesday night Modified Madness. The 50-lap event drew 44 modifieds.
Geoff Bodine finished second with Charlie Jarzombek, third. When the
mods returned to Stafford on Friday night, Ronnie Bouchard had it all
figured out as he won, hands down. John Rosati finished second. with Ed
Flemke, third. Rosati took it up a notch as he won at Seekonk on
Saturday night over Ray Lee and Leo Cleary. Joe Howard ruled Westboro
despite extreme pressure exerted by George Savory and Freddie Schulz in
the closing stages of the 35 lap main event. At Riverside, Geoff Bodine
won a 100 lapper over Reggie Ruggiero and Bob Polverari and at Thompson
on Sunday night; Fred DeSarro beat out Ronnie Bouchard and Eddie Flemke.
Twenty five years ago in 1982, Kenny Bouchard
was awarded the Friday night win at Stafford after apparent winner Greg
Sacks was disqualified with an illegal carburetor. Ray Miller finished
third but he too, ran amuck with the tech inspector, and was also
disqualified with an illegal carburetor. Bob Polverari ended up second
with Bugsy Stevens, third. At Spencer, also on Friday, Richie Evans led
Maynard Troyer, Jerry Cook and George Kent across the stripe and at New
Egypt, John Blewett Jr. was the 100-lap winner. At Waterford, on
Saturday night, Lightning Larry Lanphear took the win from his up front
starting spot. Bob Potter finished second with Randy Lajoie, third. At
Riverside, Reggie Ruggerio won a 100 lap Race of Champions qualifier.
Marty Radwick finished second with Ray Miller, third. Racing on Long
Island took a weekend off. The Riverhead program was cancelled because
of the lack of cars and Islip was cancelled because of a fatality. Doug
Hewitt beat out Jerry Cook at Shangri-La and at Seekonk, it rained. The
Bouchard brothers, Ronnie and Kenny, finished one-two at Thompson on
Sunday night. Reggie Ruggiero finished third with Mike McLaughlin,
fourth. In Winston Cup action at Bristol, Tim Richmond was the Busch
Pole sitter. Darrell Waltrip took the win.
Twenty years ago in 1987, Jerry Pearl was the
Friday night winner at Stafford. Leading the Tri-Track point series,
Pearl beat out Bo Gunning and Mike Christopher. Waterford rained out on
Saturday night. Evidently it was a coastal Connecticut storm as
Riverside and Riverhead got their events in. At Riverside, Mike Stefanik
swept a 200 lapper, which also guaranteed him a spot in the Thompson
300. Reggie Ruggerio finished second with Mike McLaughlin, third. At
Riverhead, Tony Ferrante JR took the win over Wayne Anderson and Fred
Harbach. Jimmy Spencer ruled the roost at Shangri-La as he took the
checker over Tony Hirschman, and George Kent. In Sunday night
SK-Modified action at Thompson, Mike Christopher held off brother Ted
along with Bo Gunning, Bob Potter and Kerry Malone. In Winston Cup
action at Bristol, Dale Earnhardt SR took the win.
Fifteen years ago in 1992, Bob Potter lost the
point lead at Stafford on Friday night after he wrecked on the first
lap. Bo Gunning took the win over Richie Gallup, Lloyd Agor and Mike
Christopher. The NASCAR Featherlite Modified tour was at Riverhead for a
200-lap event. Mike Ewanitsko took the win over Jeff Fuller, Steve Park
and Satch Worley. At Waterford, Ted Christopher in the North End Auto
Parts No.54 took the modified win. Twin features were run for the late
models. Phil Rondeau won his 9th of the season and Jerry Young won the
nite-cap.
Ten Years ago in 1997, Bo Gunning was the
Friday night winner at Stafford. Ted Riggott got his fifth of the year
at Riverside. The Busch North Series was also at Riverside and it was
Dave Dion taking the win over Mike Stefanik and Jerry Marquis. Tucker
Reynolds got his fifth win at Waterford. Jim Broderick finished third
behind Todd Ceravolo but was disqualified when it was discovered using
an illegal carburetor. Eddie Brunnhoelzl jr. won the Fred Harbach
Memorial at Riverhead. The Featherlite Modified Tour Series was at
Watkins Glen with the Trucks. Mike Stefanik took the lead from Rick
Fuller on lap 33 and led the final eight laps to take the win. Fuller
finished second and was followed by Jan Leaty, Mike Ewanitsko, Tim Arre
and Tim Connolly. Ron Fellows won the truck race. Ted Christopher
finished seventh and Mike Ewanitsko finished 21st.At Bristol, Jim
Spencer won the Grand National event. Steve Park finished second and
sewed up the Rookie of the Year title. In the on going confrontation
between Randy LaJoie and Buckshot Jones, NASCAR fined Jones $5000 for
trying to ram LaJoie after the two made contact during the event. Jones
missed. In the Winston Cup portion, Dale Jarrett passed Mark Martin in
the closing stages of the event and took the win. Evidently there was a
little confusion in a recent article concerning the date that the late
Corky Cookman and Mike Hornat went out of the track and into the fourth
turn grandstand at Stafford. It was August 5, 1983 on the eighth lap of
a scheduled 100 lapper that John Falconi got loose as he exited turn
four. Both Cookman and Hornat rode over Falconi's wheel and sailed out
of the track.
Five years ago in 2002, The NASCAR Featherlite
Modified Tour was at Stafford on Friday night. NASCAR, because of
numerous complaints, changed the qualifying procedure in hopes of
leveling the playing field. In the past, those who went out early to
qualify had a distinct disadvantage because of the lack of rubber and
debris on the track. In order to make it fair for one and all NASCAR
made the following change. Each car would take its first time trial lap
and then pull in. When the entire field had their lap, the process would
begin again. One must give NASCAR credit with this change. There were 43
Modifieds on hand and the jury was still out as far as the change in
format for qualifying. Jerry Marquis’ pole speed held but six cars did
improve their times, the second time around. Among those who didn’t make
the cut were Kenny Bouchard, Wade Cole, Carl Pasteryak, Jimmy Kuhn, Jake
Marosz and Tom Baldwin.
Friday’s NASCAR Modified Tour Series event at Stafford served
as a monument to both Ted Christopher and Bugsy Stevens. Christopher
took the win, his 73rd, and broke Stevens’ all time win record. Stevens,
who hadn’t turned a wheel for quite some time, was on hand for the debut
of his new book, The Life and Times of Bugsy Stevens. Even though he had
been retired as a driver for quite a while, he is still as popular as
ever. Those who followed him during the 60’s. 70’s and 80’s still follow
and speak well of him. The Bug was still the Bug, very friendly and
talked to everybody and most of all; he had not forgotten where he came
from. Any way, Christopher didn’t qualify all that well as he started
15th. Eddie Flemke Jr. qualified fourth and by the luck of the draw,
started on the pole with the Hill Enterprises No.79. Chuck Hossfeld in
the Garbarino Mystic Missile started on the outside pole and jumped out
to an early lead with Flemke in tow. Flemke, who in the past has made it
a point of going non-stop without a stop for tires, took the lead on lap
9 and held it thru lap 63.In the mean time, Christopher, who had
previously gone the 150 lap distance at Stafford had conservatively
worked his way into second spot. The opportunity to lead presented it
self on lap 64 and he took it. Flemke then turned up the wick a bit and
he re-took the point on lap 70. Evidently, Christopher’s set-up wasn’t
exact as he began to slip a little. A caution on lap 106 presented a way
out for the defending National Champion as it allowed him to pit for new
rubber. Maybe it was the chill in the air or maybe not as Flemke was
only able to hold the lead for 43 laps when Jerry Marquis took over the
top spot on lap 114. His lead was short lived as Flemke took it back on
lap 121. All the while, Christopher on fresh rubber was coming to the
front. With 18 laps to go, Christopher powered by and went on to make it
four for four in Tour Series action at Stafford. Flemke held on for
second and was followed by Marquis, Hossfeld and Rookie sensation Todd
Szegedy. All tolled sixteen cars finished on the lead lap. For the
second race in a row, defending Tour Series Champion Mike Stefanik had
problems and was an early out. After losing an engine at Thompson,
Stefanik came to Stafford where he qualified sixth. Starting third, he
was never a factor and his night ended on lap 70 when he dropped out
with ignition problems.
The regular weekly racing also started last Thursday at
Thompson where rain prevailed and washed out the regularly scheduled
SK-Modified event. The Pro Stocks had a scheduled 75 lapper but the
event was red-checkered after 39 laps when the clouds opened up. Norm
Wrenn took the win. According to NASCAR Chief Steward Richard Brooks,
145 cars were on hand. In SK-Modified action at Stafford on Friday
night, Brad Hietala ended a long dry spell. Hietala previously won at
Stafford in 1983. Since then it’s been a rough road. In 1985 he almost
paid the ultimate price when female driver Gilda Berti planted him in
the wall. Hietala suffered severe head injuries, which almost ended his
racing career and his life. What made the win even sweeter is the fact
that he built his car himself in a day where the majority of the cars on
the track in competition come from major chassis builders. Donnie
Travaglin came all the way from the rear to finish second with Jay
Miller recording a third. Series point leader Bo Gunning finished 10th.
At Waterford, Ed Reed Jr. and Dennis Gada kissed and made up and are no
longer mad at each other. Reed beat Gada out for the win. Reed admitted
that he jumped the last three re-starts and was surprised that officials
said nothing. The big story of the night was the fact that third
generation driver, sixteen year old Bobby Santos III won the Boston
Louie Memorial NEMA Midget event.
Last year, 2006, The Whelen Modified Tour Series had
the week off as they prepared for their trip to Martinsville. Current
point leader Mike Stefanik leads the charge into September. In ten
starts, Stefanik has recorded nine top tens including one win. Sitting
in second spot is series money leader Ted Christopher. With three wins
in ten starts Christopher trails Stefanik by 71 points. Defending series
champion Tony Hirschman is 113 points behind the leader. In ten starts
Hirschman has seven top tens including one win. Rounding out the top
five are Ed Flemke JR and James Civali.
The SK Modified, the cheaper alternative to the full-blown
Tour type Modified is the lead division at Stafford, Waterford and
Thompson. Originally conceived as a low cost alternative to the Tour
type Modifieds, the SKs had escalated in price to the point where cars
were being parked because of the costs to be competitive. Engines were
in the $20-25,000 range and its and it was a monkey see, monkey do world
because if one wanted to beat his competition one had to equal his
competition’s equipment. The Waterford Speedbowl Management announced
that the Speedbowl SK Modified Spec Engine was ready for release.
Extensive testing on the track and on a dynamometer had resulted in an
engine package that developed power in parity with the SK “Open” motor.
The objective of the program was to create a lower cost
alternative to the current SK Modified engine. This new motor was not
intended to totally replace the use of open motors. The use of the SK
Spec engine is not going to be mandatory. The package is based on the GM
Performance Circle Track Fast Burn crate engine (88958604). Added to
that is a spec carburetor, complete ignition system and numerous other
accessories. A GM “Hot Cam Kit” is installed to bring the power up to
the level needed for SK competition.
The engine was dyno tested before delivery to ensure that it
produces the proper horsepower and to check for any initial running
flaws. The engine came from the factory with GM’s state-of-the-art seal
bolts in place. Additional seals could be installed before delivery. The
sealing of the engines was intended to reduce technical inspection costs
for the racer.
Based on the then current actual trading price of the base
motor, the total price of the Speedbowl SK Modified Spec Engine package
was $7,975.00. Additional savings compared to the open motor would come
from a much lower annual maintenance cost of $2500.00 and the use of
spec headers. Several other exceptions to the SK Modified rules would be
allowed for the Spec engine.
Woody Pitkat scored his third win of the year at the Thompson
Speedway on Thursday night as he took the top spot in the Sunoco
Modified feature. Pitkat held off Todd Ceravolo, Tom Cravenho and Jeff
Malave. Numerous wrecks and spins slowed the progress of the event. In
the end only 10 of the original 27 starters were still running. Pitkats
win put him in a tie for the track championship and NASCAR Regional
standings with Malave. Paul Charette rounded out the top five. Keith
Rocco was clearly the fastest in the early going. Although he ended up
ninth the second generation driver pretty much had his night turn sour
after he lost it on a restart and was ping-ponged by much of the field.
Jimmy Blewett, the previous weeks winner, was also collected in the
Rocco crash.
Norm Wrenn who has had more than his share of bad luck won
the Pro Stock feature. Corey Hutchings rebounded from a bad week to
score the Late Model triumph. Danny Cates scored his third win of the
season in the Limited Sportsman division, Tim Sullivan of scored his
second in the TIS Modifieds, and Ron Rixham claimed win number one on
the season in the Mini Stocks.
The Stafford Springs Motor Speedway came very close to
declaring another rainout on Friday as close to two inches of rain
dumped on central Connecticut around noon. The Arute family remained
patient and the skies cleared for another night of racing. Willie Hardie
took his first SK Modified feature win of the 2006 season, Ryan Posocco
took his second feature win of the season in the Late Model feature, and
Andrew Durand was a winner for the third time this season in the Limited
Late Model feature. There were two first time winners as Matt Gallo took
the SK Light feature and Barry Fluckiger was the DARE Stock feature
winner.
In the 40-lap SK Modified feature, Willie Hardie picked up
his first feature win of the 2006 season with a strong drive. Hardie
took the lead from polesitter Lloyd Agor on a lap-3 restart, and he then
had to hold off multiple strong challenges from Frank Ruocco on several
restarts to take the win. Ruocco finished second, with Agor, Todd Owen,
and Chris Jones rounding out the top-5. In the chase for the SK Modified
championship, Ruocco took over the points lead from Jeff Malave, who
blew a transmission on the opening lap. Malave finished dead last in the
24 car starting field.
Chris Pasteryak redeemed himself of a previous miscue at the
Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday night as he won the 35 lap SK Modified
feature. Pasteryak, a second-generation driver, was in contention to win
at the shoreline oval the previous week when he missed a shift on a
restart. He more than made up for it on Saturday night. Pasteryak held
off Rob Summers over the final 16 laps to take the victory. In doing so,
he moved himself into second in the point race. Summers worked him over
but to no avail as he tried high and low before settling for second.
Point leader Dennis
Gada finished second with Jeffrey Paul and Rob Janovic rounding out the
top five.
Mark Bakaj set a track record with his sixth straight Legends
victory. Bakaj rode the Legends feature win into the record book,
equaling the six straight Saturday night victories of Ed Bunnell, the
latter doing it in 1966 in the Bomber division. Other winners were Tim
Jordan in the regularly scheduled Late Model 30 lapper; Glenn Colvin in
the continuation of the Aug. 19th Late Model feature; Joe Bertholet in
the Sportsman 20 lapper and Dave Sylvia in the Mini Stock 20 lapper.
That’s about it for this week from 40 Clark St, Westerly, and R.I.02891.
Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467 E-mail:
smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com
The Chrome Horn
'Looking Back with Phil Smith' Archive
Source:
Phil Smith/Courtesy of Tom Ormsby and
thespeedwaylinereport.com
Posted:
August 24, 2007 |