Thirty years ago in 1977, the Turkey Derby at Wall Stadium in New
Jersey was a 150-lap open competition modified event that drew modifieds
from all over the northeast. Local favorite Gil Hearne showed his home
court advantage as he took the top spot. Ronnie Bouchard finished
second. Jim Hendrickson, Tom Baldwin, and Fred Harbach rounded out the
top five. Blistering cold and wind greeted spectators and competitors
alike. Following Harbach were Charlie Jarzombek, Jim Hoffman, Gene
Bergin, John Rosati, Richie Evans, Sonny Seamon, Robert Hendrickson,
Ollie Silva, Geoff Bodine and Maynard Troyer.
Twenty-five years ago, in 1982, at the Turkey
Derby, Lenny Boyd took the win over Tony Hirschman, John Rosati, Gil
Hearne and Jim Tyler.
Twenty years ago, in 1987, Tom Mauser survived
to win the Turkey Derby. Reggie Ruggerio finished second with Tony
Siscone, Tony Ferrante Jr. and Tom Baldwin in hot pursuit. In a surprise
announcement, the Stafford Speedway announced that they would drop the
Tour Modifieds completely from their schedule for the 1988 season. This
would prove to be a mistake as the SK Modifieds had not developed into a
big fan draw and the front gate would suffer.
Fifteen years ago, in 1992, local favorite
Eddie Bohn would go pole to pole to win the Turkey Derby. Tony Siscone
finished second and was followed by Jerry Cranmer, Martin Truex and John
Blewett III. Rick Fuller, in the Mario Fiore 44 was the highest
finishing New Englander as he crossed the finish line in ninth spot. The
Martinsville Speedway dropped a bomb when they announced they were
dropping the modifieds in favor of raising their Busch Grand National
purse. Also announced was the fact that the Oxford Plains Speedway in
Maine had dropped their NASCAR sanction and signed up with Tom Curley’s
ACT group.
Ten years ago, in 1997, the racing world was
shocked with the news that NASCAR President Bill France Jr. had suffered
from a heart attack while in Japan for an exhibition race.
Five years ago in 2002, The Wall Township Speedway in
southern New Jersey closed out the 2002 Northeast racing season last
weekend with the running of Turkey Derby XXVIIII. The event consisted of
twin 150 lap events, one for tour type modifieds run last Friday and a
150 lap Wall Modified and SK Type Modified event on Saturday plus
support divisions. It was mighty cold and blustery at the south Jersey
shore oval last Friday. There were 28 tour type modifieds on hand
including Ted Christopher and Jeff Malave. Ken Wooley Jr., a Wall
regular won the event that took on the look of a demolition derby as
only six cars were running at the finish. It was a combination of a cold
track and numerous amounts of liquids dumped on the racing surface that
made for less than ideal racing conditions. Jamie Tomaino, a veteran of
the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series survived to finish second. Wall
Township Track Champion Jimmy Blewett finished third.
Christopher’s day
ended after hitting the wall while running in the top ten and Malave ran
out of gas in the late going while running third. What began as a great
weekend for the new management of the New Jersey oval turned into a
major fiasco, thanks to the weather on Saturday. Wall regular Harry Reed
drew the pole starting position and jumped out to an early lead with
NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour regular John Blewett III hot on his
tail. The field was slowed at lap 39 of the 150-lap finale because of a
caution being displayed. A few laps later rain began to fall. It had
been stated prior to the event that the field would stop for fuel at the
half way mark. Much to the dislike of those on hand, the field circled
the 1/3rd mile oval until they completed 75 laps. All cars pitted to
refuel and while a re-start was being determined the rain intensified
and the race was ultimately deemed official with Reed declared the
winner with Blewett III, second and Friday’s winner Ken Wooley Jr,
third. Rounding out the top ten were Wall regulars Marc Rogers, Curtis
Truex Jr., Track Champion Jimmie Blewett, Frank Polimeda, Kevin
Flockhart, Dave Michael and Plainville Connecticut’s Ted Christopher.
Making matters worse was the threat of a driver’s boycott over the race
purse. As a gesture of good will, the speedway management gave all fans
that stayed to the bitter end a free guest ticket for any one event at
the Wall Township Speedway during the 2003 season.
Last year, 2006, The Thanksgiving weekend
officially wrapped up the 2006 Modified Racing season. The traditional
Turkey Derby was run at the Wall Township Speedway in New Jersey and the
Mason-Dixon Meltdown at the South Boston Speedway in Virginia. Wall drew
32 Modifieds while South Boston drew 24.
At the New Jersey oval Jimmy Blewett and Steve Reed split the Wall
Township Speedway Turkey Derby XXXIII twin 100-lap modified mains on
Saturday night. Blewett, took the lead from Donnie Lia with five laps to
go and held off Les Hinckley's last-lap pass by 1.527 sec. to win the
open modified main. Blewett came from 13th starting spot to shadow front
row starter Ken Wooley, Jr., and inherited the lead when the pair banged
wheels on lap 71, breaking the latter's steering rack. Hinckley, Lia,
John Blewett III and Rowan Pennink rounded out the top five of 12
finishers. Lia set a 12.036 sec., 99.601 mph fast time among 33 Whelen
and Race of Champions tour modified men Saturday afternoon. There were
more boos than cheers when Blewett, who proudly carries the nickname
"Showtime," won perhaps the most exciting race in Turkey Derby history.
Blewett squeezed hard-charging Hinckley, who came off the fourth turn of
the final lap on a mission to win the race. Brief contact was made
between the leaders and Blewett held his position, as sparks flew, and
tires and fenders rubbed as the 100-lap Tour-type modified feature hit
the finish line.
"What don't they understand," Blewett said, "I came here to win this
race." And win it he did, in typical Jimmy Blewett fashion. He raced
everyone hard, raced everyone including his brother, John, as tough as
can be. Ken Wooley Jr. was the leader for the first 71 laps, driving
Dick Barney's tour modified flawlessly. As Wooley and Jimmy Blewett were
approaching the start/finish line of the next lap, the two came together
and Wooley's modified suffered a broken rack, then he was hit from
behind by John Blewett III as he sat helplessly on the track. "He didn't
hit me that hard," Wooley said. "I couldn't steer. I had to get out of
the throttle. I said, "Hang on.' " Wooley end up crashing into the
concrete barriers in the infield, as track crew members and photographs
ran for safety. Jimmy Blewett was the leader off the restart with Rowan
Pennink, driving a modified he bought from the Blewetts, and John
Blewett II in third place. At lap 85 it was Blewett and Blewett in front
before Jimmy made contact with John coming out of the fourth turn. With
four laps to go, Hinckley was flying and passed John Blewett III and
began his run at the leader, setting the stage for the unpopular finish.
Winning Turkey Derby "feels great," said Blewett, who won $5,853 with
bonuses and contingencies yet to be counted.
Reed, was the only one of the 27 starters who did not pit, let alone
change tires, in the 100-lap race for WTS/True Value/B mods. The RTS
Transmission Repair RTS-Chevy No. 55 driver held off John Blewett III by
.696 sec. for his third WTS feature victory of the season. WTS Modifieds
are very similar to the New England SK Modifieds. Tim Arre took third
and Mike Carpenter rounded out the top five of 11 finishers.
Matt Hirschman, who won the recent North-South Shootout in North
Carolina continued his post season streak as he won the Mason-Dixon
Meltdown. Hirschman and Eric Beers battled over the final laps, but the
young Hirschman was able to get the best of the veteran Beers to become
the first-ever Mason-Dixon Meltdown Tour-Type Modified champion. James
Civali crossed beneath the checkered flag third, while Burt Myers and
Rusty Smith rounded out the top-five. On the lap 104 restart Hirschman
took the lead from Myers. Among those who encountered problems was Chris
Pasteryak who lost a left rear tire and hit the turn two wall on lap 96.
Among the missing from both events was Ted Christopher who tied the
knot.
Jim Hunter, NASCAR's vice president of corporate communications said at
the recent Nextel Cup event at the Homestead Speedway in Florida that he
anticipated a 14 race schedule for the Modifieds. Waterford was not on
the current schedule and Thompson and Stafford, which accounted for nine
races in 2006 would have six or seven combined in 2007. "Stafford and
Thompson have been the backbone of the Modified Division for a long time
and will continue" Hunter said. Two major new dates for Whelen teams are
at Mansfield OH and Irwindale Speedway in California. The mods will be
part of the Showdown program in November at Irwindale that includes
Busch East and West competitors. According to Hunter the Modified purse
will be in the $200,000 range. He also said $1,500 in tow money will be
provided teams traveling from the Northeast to California. It is a long
ride to Irwindale. One fan calculated the distance at 2778 miles and 41
hours from New York City.
This week here are some vintage racing
photos from
vintagemodifieds.com
Spence Racing Photos
.
Gary Winters
Jim Shampine
Roger Hill
Note:
This is the final Looking Back for 2007.
Looking Back returns during Speedweeks in Florida
Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467 E-mail:
smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com
The Chrome Horn
'Looking Back with Phil Smith' Archive
THE END
Source:
Phil Smith/Courtesy of Tom Ormsby and
thespeedwaylinereport.com
Posted:
November 30, 2007 |
