07/08/14
July 8, 2014 |
The fourth of July weekend began on a wet note as heavy rains
from Hurricane Arthur forced officials of the Stafford Motor Speedway to
cancel their holiday special. The Inaugural NAPA SK 5k was postponed last
Thursday to Friday July 25th due to the impending threat of Hurricane
Arthur. The SK 5k, dubbed the biggest race in SK Modified history, will take
place in three weeks on July 25th under what will hopefully be beautiful
clear skies. Close to three inches of rain was recorded in Connecticut from
the storm.
The Valenti Modified Racing Series took on the Monadnock Speedway in
Winchester, NH on Saturday night. Richard Savory, who won the series race at
Lee NH recently made it two in a row and three for the year. With 28 cars
strong, three qualifying heats were run. Savory started 14th and at the half
way 50 lap mark was running sixth behind leader Chris Pasteryak. Savory
waited until the closing moments as he took the lead with only three laps to
go. Pasteryak settled for second with Justin Bonsignore, third. Rowan
Pennink who qualified thru the consi came from the rear to finish fourth.
Russ Hersey rounded out the top five.
At the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island, One week ago Bill Park and his
team were thrashing on the orange no. 20 in the Riverhead Raceway pit area
following a crash in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Hoosier Tire 200 with
Todd Szegedy behind the wheel. Seven days later that same orange no. 20 car,
albeit with a new white nose, was in Riverhead’s victory lane with Ryan
Preece celebrating his second win of the season.
While Preece put down the fastest lap in time-trials earlier in the
evening it was clear that he didn’t have the fastest car during the Cromarty
Cup 50-lap feature. But as Preece said at the end of the night, sometimes
you get lucky, and he ended up winning this race for the second year in a
row even with only leading just the last three laps.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour takes a weekend off before heading to the
New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The tour's top drivers will race Friday, July
11 in the non-points Whelen All-Star Shootout; the championship season will
resume Saturday, July 12 with the New Hampshire 100.
In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action at the Waterford Speedbowl
the shoreline oval's l’s mid-season championship Overdrive Radio 300 event
hit the asphalt Saturday night with extra distance racing by the track’s
regular six divisions. The big winner was Keith Rocco scoring top honors in
the night’s 100-lap SK Modified® main event. Bruce Thomas Jr. won an
entertaining 50-lap Valenti Auto Mall Late Model race, while Jeff Smith was
a first-time winner in the SK Light Modifieds after an impressive
performance. Josh Galvin was back in Victory Lane in the 50-lap Street Stock
race and Garrett Denton won his second consecutive race in the night’s
50-lap Mini Stock event. Mike Christopher Jr. won his third straight INEX
Legend Cars race to round out the winners.
Rocco, the class of the field, as he methodically picked his way through
the top ten until he landed in the lead on lap-34. He was in control the
rest of the way to pick up his seventh win of the year in the division. Rob
Janovic put forth a strong effort to wind up runner-up. Jeff Rocco had a
solid outing to run among the top-three all race and finish third with
limited appearances in the division in 2014. Tyler Chadwick and Kyle James
completed the top-five.
A big spike was driven into the heart of the speedbowl early in the
evening when an official with his mouth drove Sid DiMaggio and his crew out
of the track which they have done so much for no pay. A Waterford Speedbowl
rule states "No crew member could touch a car after it crossed the
inspection pad for time trials". Evidently an official got his jockey shorts
twisted when an adjustment was made to an in-car camera. Fans were sad to
learn that the Sids Vault team has left the Bowl. With all the free
advertisement and promotion the track has received it would be a smart move
on the part of track operator Terry Eames to mend the fences that this over
zealous official has torn down.
In Modified racing in the Southland, Andy Seuss continues to roll in
NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour events at Caraway Speedway. The
27-year-old from Hampstead, New Hampshire, completed the sweep on the day's
on-track events at the .455-mile banked asphalt oval. Seuss was fastest in
practice, won his eighth pole Coors Light Pole Award at the track and led
every lap en route to winning the Daggett Shuler Attorneys At Law 150 at
Caraway. It was his fourth consecutive victory at the track and 10th of his
career. Following Seuss was George Brunnhoelzl III, J.R. Bertuccio, Danny
Bohn and Kyle Ebersole.
Gary Putnam was sixth, followed by Jason Myers, Bryan Dauzat, Spencer
Davis and David Calabrese. The wire-to-wire win was the fifth of Seuss'
career and fourth at Caraway. He won the 2014 season opener in similar
fashion. There were 19 cars on hand. Among those who had problems was Burt
Myers who completed 72 laps before retiring with electrical problems which
placed him 17th.
The Bowman Gray Stadium was quiet for the holiday. Racing resumes there
this week.
On Saturday night 20 southern Modifieds ventured to the Hickory Speedway
in North Carolina for the KOMA Unwind American Freedom 125. Zach Brewer took
the win over Burt Myers, Bobby Sheffield, Mike Speeney and Jason Myers.
Anyone on vacation and traveling through upstate New York should put the
Saratoga Automobile Museum on their "Must See" list. A pair of radically
different Modifieds wheeled by star drivers Brian Ross and Wes Moody who
grew up together in, of all places, the tiny Adirondack mountain village of
Saranac Lake, NY are now on display.
On loan from Brian and Sharon Ross of Ballston Spa, NY is a rare
homebuilt car in a division populated by cars from the Troyer, Chassis
Dynamics and Raceworks chassis factories, Brian Ross’ modified was a
consistent winner and spawned a pair of successors built by Ross for owner
Ed Cloce and wheeled by Ross and NASCAR Sprint Cup star Kenny Schrader.
Originally fabricated in the summer of 1982 by Ross and his son Chris,
this car went on to win at Stafford Springs and Thompson, CT, Riverside Park
in Agawam, MA, Monadnock, NH and the Shangri-La Speedway in Owego, NY. The
car was especially suited to the super-fast Stafford Motor Speedway, where
Ross claimed the 1984 NASCAR modified division title and the 1986 Spring
Sizzler, the iconic half-mile’s premier event, against the best in the
business.
The Cavalier bodied car was raced from New York to Virginia and was the
first to sport a “head protector bar” next to the driver’s helmet, a safety
improvement immediately mandated by NASCAR for all cars. Sold by Ross in
1990, the car went on to win 38 of 42 dirt track races in Vermont and New
Hampshire wearing late model sheet metal. It then rusted away in a New
Hampshire pasture until Ross tracked it down in 2012 and restored it to
original condition.
One of the car’s secrets for success was an extremely low center of
gravity, with the 364 cubic inch Chevrolet small block built by Ed Lanier at
Ed's Auto Machine in Mystic, CT and mounted so low in the chassis that Ross
had to cut the curved bottom off the Muncie transmission and weld a flat
plate over the hole to keep the transmission, which has first and second
gear removed to save weight, from dragging on the track. The car’s other
major secret was a set of front spindles that Ross designed and built. Their
geometry keeps both front tires flat on the track through the entire corner,
improving grip and cornering speed, while allowing ample suspension travel
without unwanted camber changes.
According to Ross, “When a hole opened up or the car in front of me slid
up a little off the inside, I could turn sharp left anywhere in the corner
to get under him and the car would stick. That’s why we were so successful
with it!” Other features of the car include an extremely low fuel cell
location that keeps the fuel load in the center of the car, huge Wilwood
disc brakes and a Mustang rack and pinion steering gear. The 2475 pound
racer has a 50/50 front to rear weight bias while the left side carries 58%
of the weight compared to 42% on the right.
Also on loan to the museum is a 1936 Chevrolet Modified owned by Wes
Moody. Moody, who in 1970 became the first to turn a lap averaging over 100
mph at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. Sporting roll bars bent
in the crook of a tree, the #63 has a ’36 Chevy coupe body on ’54 Chevy
frame rails, the standard of the 1960’s and early 1970’s in the Northeast.
The car has a period correct “Flemke” frontend, a pair of semi-elliptical
springs with individual “wedge” bolts controlling a Ford straight axle in a
set-up made famous by asphalt master Eddie Flemke. The leaf springs in the
rear are also original, along with the fuel cell, Frankland quick-change
rear and the molded fiberglass seat.
Powered by a fuel-injected big block Chevrolet from B and M Speed Shop in
Rochester, the #1 engine builder of the day for both NASCAR and open
competition events, this iteration of the #63 featured an extra-long
wheelbase for asphalt tracks, where Moody was every bit as good as he was on
dirt.
On the speedway stock market scene last week two of the three speedway
stocks were down as the stock market closed for the fourth. Dover
Entertainment dropped 0.10 to 2.70 and Speedway Motorsports dropped 0.02 to
to 18.32 while the International Speedway Corporation went up 0.62 to 34.03.
NASCAR cup sponsor Sprint went up 0.09 to 8.60 while NASCAR fuel supplier
Sunoco (Energy Transfer) went up 0.19 to 57.80 and NASCAR tire supplier
Goodyear went up 0.16 to 27.91. The car manufacturers had a positive week.
Toyota went up 2.89 to 121.73 while General Motors went up 1.12 to 37.74 and
Ford went up 0.04 to 17.32. In the home improvement sector, Home Depot went
up 0.92 to 82.05 and Lowes went up 0.81 to 48.23. For the most part, the big
team sponsors were in the green. Dupont went up 0.36 to 65.80 while
Coca-Cola went up 1.05 to 75.61 and Target Department Stores went up 1.39 to
59.61. Aarons Rentals dropped 0.11 to 35.50 while FedEx went up 2.20 to
153.61.
On the tube this week:
Wednesday, July 9
6:00 AM, NASCAR America - Scan All 43 Special, NBC Sports Net
2:30 PM, NASCAR's The List - Greatest Finishes, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
5:30 PM, NASCAR's The List - Rookie Seasons, NBCSN
6:30 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 2
Thursday, July 10
2:30 PM, NASCAR America - Scan All 43 Special, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR's The List - Legendary Drivers, NBCSN
6:30 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS2
Friday, July 11
12:00 AM, NASCAR Race Hub Special, FS2
11:00 AM, NASCAR Live, FS1
11:30 AM, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series New Hampshire practice, FS1
1:00 PM, NASCAR Nationwide Series New Hampshire practice, FS1
2:00 PM, NASCAR Live, FS1
3:00 PM, NNS New Hampshire final practice, FS1
4:30 PM, NSCS New Hampshire qualifying, FS1
7:00 PM, NCWTS Iowa qualifying, FS1
8:00 PM, NCWTS SetUp, FS1
8:30 PM, NCWTS Iowa race, FS1
Saturday, July 12
3:00 AM, NSCS New Hampshire practice re-air, FS1
4:30 AM, NSCS New Hampshire qualifying re-air, FS1
6:00 AM, Empty Cup - Quest for the 1992 NASCAR Championship, FS2
6:30 AM, NNS New Hampshire practice re-air, FS2 7:30 AM, NNS New Hampshire
final practice re-air, FS2
9:00 AM, NSCS New Hampshire practice, FS1
10:00 AM, NNS New Hampshire qualifying, FS1
11:30 AM, NSCS New Hampshire final practice, FS1
12:30 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
2:30 PM, NASCAR America - Scan All 43 Special, NBCSN
3:00 PM, NASCAR Countdown, ESPN2
3:30 PM, NNS New Hampshire race, ESPN2
6:30 PM, NASCAR's The List - Fights & Feuds, NBCSN
8:00 PM, NCWTS Iowa race re-air, FS2
10:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub Special, FS2
Sunday, July 13
3:00 AM, NSCS New Hampshire practice re-air, FS1
4:00 AM, NSCS New Hampshire practice re-air, FS1
5:00 AM, NNS New Hampshire race re-air, ESPN2
5:00 AM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6:00 AM, 100,000 Cameras - NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, FS2
6:30 AM, NSCS New Hampshire qualifying re-air, FS2
8:00 AM, NSCS New Hampshire final practice re-air, FS2
9:00 AM, 100,000 Cameras - NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, FS1
9:30 AM, NSCS New Hampshire qualifying re-air, FS1
11:00 AM, NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
12:00 PM, Countdown To Green, TNT
1:00 PM, NSCS New Hampshire race, TNT
2:30 PM, NASCAR's The List - Greatest Finishes, NBCSN
5:30 PM, NASCAR America, Scan All 43 Special, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR America, Scan All 43 Special, NBCSN
8:00 PM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
10:00 PM, Mega Countdown - Epic NASCAR RV, Travel
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: July
8, 2014 |
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