Champ Trail - January 26, 2016

  The countdown continues as speedweeks in Florida are now only two weeks away when the World Series of Short Track Racing begins at New Smyrna and preliminary events leading up to the Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway begin. For those who can’t make it to Florida the Ice Breaker at Thompson Motorsports Park Speedway is only 11weeks away.

  After being delayed a day because of a huge snow storm that all but shut down the entire mid-Atlantic and northeast regions five of NASCAR’s iconic figures, four drivers and one motorsports entrepreneur, were inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina on Saturday afternoon. Those who added their names to the list of now 35 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees, included: Jerry Cook, Bobby Isaac, Terry Labonte, O. Bruton Smith and Curtis Turner. The group makes up the Hall’s seventh class in its history.
  Among those was Jerry Cook who made his name in the modified division, winning six NASCAR Modified championships, including four consecutively from 1974-77. He joined his rival from his hometown of Rome, New York, Richie Evans, as only the second Hall of Fame driver whose career wasn’t connected to NASCAR’s premier series. Cook won 342 NASCAR Modified races in 1,474 starts. Upon his retirement, Cook stayed with the sport and helped shape the series known today as the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. He served as the series’ director and also served as NASCAR’s competition administrator.
  Mike Stefanik received a great deal of support and has good prospects for joining Richie Evans and Cook in the Hall of Fame in the future.

  USA Today reported that Tony Stewart called on NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France to take a more active role at the racetrack during a blunt interview with Sirius/XM Radio on last Thursday. Stewart told host Dave Moody that drivers "never see Brian France" and don’t feel he’s hearing their concerns about various issues facing the sport. "I want to see Brian France at the track more," Stewart said. "I want to see him walking through the garage more. I want to see him being more active than just showing up and patting the sponsors on the back and going up in the suite. I want to see him down there in the trenches with everybody and understanding what’s truly going on. I think that’s where he needs to be for awhile."
  The ever-reclusive France repeatedly has said he views his role differently than his father and grandfather, who founded NASCAR and ran the sport until the end of their lives. They were often visible at the track and viewed as approachable, whereas France makes infrequent appearances and relies on executives to handle various day-to-day decisions.

  For those of you who can’t make it to New Smyrna for the upcoming World Series for this year’s events, fans will once again be able to catch all the action of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing at the 50th World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing (Twitter hashtag: #NewSmyrnaWS) on FansChoice.tv.
  The web platform, which features free live streaming of NASCAR, AMA Pro and IMSA racing, as well as assorted motorsports events from across the globe, will provide comprehensive coverage of one of the premier short-track events in NASCAR.
  "At a time when the spotlight is on the Daytona area, this is a tremendous opportunity to showcase some of the best short-track racers as the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series gets started in a big way," said George Silbermann, NASCAR vice president of touring and weekly series. "FansChoice.tv will allow fans to check out the coverage in a variety of ways: Supplementing what they’re enjoying from the stands at New Smyrna, as a second screen as they take in all the action at ‘The World Center of Racing,’ Daytona International Speedway, or on their computers, tablets and phones wherever they are in the world."
  Streaming will begin each night at 7:30 p.m. ET. In addition, NASCARHomeTracks.com will again team up with Speed51.com to provide live updates, results and photos throughout the entire event including practice and qualifying through its popular Race Central Live feature.
  Racing will get underway Friday, Feb. 12, headlined by the first of seven Super Late Model races. Coverage will continue Saturday, Feb. 13 and resume on Monday, Feb. 15 as the Modifieds take the track for a 50-lap feature. The Modifieds will run five nights, culminating with the Richie Evans Memorial 100-lap race Friday, Feb. 19. The Super Late Model 100-lap finale will wrap up the week on Saturday, Feb. 20.

  The Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (TSMP) recently announced O’Reilly Auto Parts as the official sponsor of the Triple Crown Championship for the Limited Sportsman and Mini Stock NASCAR Whelen All-American Series (NWAAS) divisions. The Triple Crown Championship debuted in 2015 as a mini-series for these two divisions that consists of three events. Competitors’ finishing positions in these events earns them both TSMP championship points and Triple Crown Series points. The Triple Crown will pay its own point fund and award the top three.
  This year’s events include the Icebreaker on April 8-10, For the Fans Night on July 9, and the Sunoco Modified Twin 25’s race on August 24. The Triple Crown Champions will be crowned at the Annual Awards Banquet in December, along with the regular TSMP division champions.

  Word comes from the Arute family that Dunleavy's Truck and Trailer Repair of Brookfield, CT will once again contribute a bonus to the winner of each SK Modified® and SK Light Modified feature at Stafford Speedway during the 2016 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season. Dunleavy's will provide a winners bonus of $150 for each SK Modified® feature winner as well as a $125 bonus for each SK Light feature winner. With 22 races during the 2015 season, Dunleavy's contributed $3,300 to SK Modified® feature winners and $2,750 to SK Light feature winners for a total of $6,050.
  It was also announced that drivers will once again be jockeying for position in order to claim a Call Before You Dig contingency bonus. Call Before You Dig will present a $125 bonus to the second place finisher in the SK Modified® feature events during the 2016, bringing the winnings for a 2nd place finish to $1000. The 2016 season will be the 7th consecutive year that CBYD has offered a contingency bonus for SK Modified® drivers originally joining the contingency program back in 2010.

  Lou Modestino reported that Linda Brady of Stoughton, Mass, the widow of the late Joe Brady, hosted a Memorial dinner at the Thompson Speedway Clubhouse in Connecticut. She chose the location because it was one of her husband favorite places to dine and relax after the races.. Many of the guests that turned out were members of the Brady Bunch Racing Team that spanned five decades of racing a tracks all over New England as well as up-and-down the east coast. The were several guests from the Brockton area and others from all over New England, New York as well as the southern states.

  On the speedway stock market scene last week a mild recovery occurred as the price per barrel of oil went up. It didn’t help the speedways much as two of the three were down for the week. Speedway Motorsports dropped 0.09 to 18.28 and Dover Entertainment dropped 0.07 to 2.11. The International Speedway Corporation had a mild recovery as they went up 0.90 to 31.77. NASCAR fuel supplier Sunoco (Energy Transfer) went up 1.64 to 26.34 and NASCAR tire supplier Goodyear went up 0.94 to 28.49 while NASCAR Cup sponsor Sprint flat lined at 2.87 with a no-change for the week. Two of the three car manufacturers had positive endings. Toyota jumped up 3.35 to 115.95 and Ford went up 0.17 to 12.14 while General Motors dropped 0.29 to 29.28. In the home improvement sector, Home Depot went up 3.51 to 122.76 and Lowes went up 1.51 to 70.50. In the area of big team sponsor’s stocks, McDonalds went up 3.22 to 118.40, Coca-Cola went up 1.88 to 167.88, Aarons Rentals went up 0.81 to 23.20 and Fedex went up 0.64 to 127.56 while Target dropped 0.36 to 69.72.

  On the tube this week:

  Wednesday, January 27
7:00 AM, NASCAR the List - Texas Motor Speedway, NBC Sports Net
7:30 AM, NASCAR America: Top 20 Moments of the 2015 Season, NBCSN
5:00 PM, Stories of NASCAR, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
5:30 PM, Stories of NASCAR, NBCSN

  Thursday, January 28
7:00 AM, NASCAR the List - Memorable Moments, NBCSN
7:30 AM, NASCAR the List - Rookie Seasons, NBCSN
5:00 PM, Stories of NASCAR, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub - Daytona Rishing, FS1
5:30 PM, NASCAR America - Top 20 Moments of the 2015 Season, NBCSN

  Friday, January 29
7:00 AM, NASCAR the List - Iconic Cars, NBCSN
7:30 AM, NASCAR the List - Dale Earnhardt Sr. Moments, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR Scan All 43, NBCSN
5:30 PM, NASCAR Scan All 43, NBCSN

  Saturday, January 30
8:00 PM, Undercover Boss - NASCAR, CNBC

  Monday, February 1
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

   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.
 

Source: Phil Smith / Champ Trail
Posted: January 26, 2016