Story By: CAMDEN PROUD / OSWEGO SPEEDWAY – OSWEGO, NY – The field for the Jim Shampine Memorial Twin 50’s on Oswego Speedway’s 68th Opening Day next Saturday, May 26 just keeps on growing.
Epping, NH’s Dan Bowes has been a regular campaigner on the ISMA trail for the past several seasons and this year the driver of the Northeast Metals Technologies No. 25 will try his hand at a new experience when he goes non-wing racing at the ‘Steel Palace’ for Opening Day next weekend.
“I’ve always wanted to at least some point try the whole non-wing experience at Oswego,” Bowes said. “With the old Belfab car we knew there was no chance that was going to happen because we really couldn’t even get it going with the wing on. It was never even really thought about.”
It was last season when the Bowes team debuted a brand new Allegresso chassis that discussion really took off about possibly bringing the No. 25 to Oswego for a few runs in non-wing competition.
“Last year we came out with the new car and that’s when some of the discussion started about possibly running Oswego,” offered Bowes. “Brian Allegresso who built it had the car in his shop this winter changing some stuff and that was when he asked us what we thought about putting a Hawk tail on it and trying some non-wing stuff at Oswego on the side. Nothing that’s currently running non-wing is quite like his design, so we want to give it a try.”
Bowes says that when Allegresso offered to provide help in this endeavor, he jumped at the chance. In fact, a Hawk tail section and several other of the pieces need to convert an otherwise ISMA car to an Oswego Supermodified were already in place.
“I jumped right at it and we got right to work,’ Bowes said. “He already had a Hawksby tail ready to go and lots of things built so it’s pretty much full steam ahead. We won’t be ready for practice on Saturday or next week’s Fast Friday, but will bring it out at the Twin 50’s.”
The Bowes Racing team will be busy at work this weekend, but felt that the 100-laps of feature action scheduled for May 26 would be the perfect shakedown for Oswego Speedway.
“With the Twin 50’s, I figured they would be a pretty good opportunity to get some seat time and throw a bunch of stuff at it. It’s a long race and a good practice for me to get used to something I’ve never even done before. I’m just going into it with an open mind.”
Fans certainly will want to know if Bowes plans on coming back for more shows later this season and of course the 62nd running of the Budweiser International Classic 200. The exciting news is that Dan says both of these things are a big possibility.
“If we aren’t way out to lunch we definitely wanted to plan on running the Classic this September,” Bowes stated. “We still want to run as many ISMA shows as we can, but when it falls into place we will go to Oswego on the off nights and have some fun when time permits and everyone on our crew is available.”
With a car that turned sub-15 second laps in winged action last September, Bowes understands the very large contrast between wing and non-wing racing; especially at Oswego Speedway. .
‘I’ve had that car down under 15 seconds at Oswego last Classic Weekend with the big top on helping us, but the driving style between winged and non-wing is just so different,” Bowes noted. “I’m confident, but I have no idea driving wise what to expect. It’s a ton different. I’m gonna be really cautious, I’m not trying to go out and look like a superhero and realize I will probably be pretty slow right off the bat.”
As far as Classic Weekend goes, the schedule will see the Bud Light ISMA Supernationals 60 take place on on Saturday, September 1 with the Budweiser International Classic 200 getting the green flag the following day. There’s no question that the Bowes machine can be competitive in both events, but whether or not that will happen isn’t something the team has decided on just yet.
“Double duty has been brought up for Classic Weekend, but at this point I don’t really know if I want to try it,” Bowes mentioned. “With the current crew situation we really only have one full-time guy so that makes things tough. If we do go into that weekend planning on running both, we will just come up with some sort of system to have more help. I’d just want to make sure I was competitive on both sides.”
Being at Oswego for the Classic multiple times, Bowes knows the importance, the history, and the legacy that the 200 carries in Supermodified racing. Being a part of Oswego’s ‘crown jewel’ is certainly something Danny is looking forward to.
“The International Classic is definitely the biggest race in Supermodfifieds for sure,” Bowes said. “The excitement level is definitely high. We were never at a point where we didn’t want to be a part of non-wing racing, ISMA is just closer to home for the most part, but it still requires a lot of traveling. We’re looking forward to trying something new this season.”
Oswego Speedway’s 68th season opens tomorrow, May 20 with the track’s annual open practice session set from 12-4pm. Grandstand admission will be FREE to the public.
Racing action at Oswego Speedway begins on Saturday, May 26 with Holiday Inn Express ‘Opening Day’ highlighted by the Jim Shampine Memorial Twin 50’s for the Novelis Supermodifieds along with the Tony White Memorial 35 for the Pathfinder Bank SBS. To purchase tickets, please call the box office at (315)-342-0646.
