Story By: CAMDEN PROUD / OSWEGO SPEEDWAY – OSWEGO, NY – The rumors are true! Oswego Speedway hall of famer Doug Didero will return to Supermodified competition for the first time since 2009 in next weekend’s Independence ‘Grand Prix’ 75 presented by Galloway Century 21 and Oswego D Bus.
“I just wanted to let everyone know we will be racing on June 30,” Didero said on Wednesday morning. “For this year, we will run that show and two more races after it including the Classic. I don’t know what other race we are going to run before Classic Weekend but we’ll be doing at least two prior to September.”
For the past year and a half, the rumor mill has been churning as John Colloca has been building a brand new car from top to bottom in his Oswego shop with Didero rumored as the eventual driver. After a long process, the No. 3 is now ready to go for the three time track champ.
“Johnny (Colloca) has done great with the car,” Didero commented. “He’s been just going from drawings and talking on the phone, so for him to actually put the entire car together from scratch he’s done a really, really good job.”
Many fans will recall what happened the last time Didero returned to the ‘Steel Palace’ in 2008. He showed up on Classic Weekend with a brand new Xtreme Chassis and blistered the field to his second career victory in the 200. What made the 33-time Oswego winner decide to come back yet again after nearly another decade?
“John Brush was the instigator of it all,” stated Didero. “It’s cool. The competition looks real stiff. Everyone is close and a lot of guys are real fast. We are trying a bunch of different things with this car that I’ve never done before so we will give it a shot and see what happens. Hopefully we can get it all worked out good but that’s yet to be seen.”
Didero will first hit the speedway next Wednesday and Thursday for private track testing. It will mark the first time since his hall of fame induction in 2012 that the 57 year old from Hamilton, Ontario will be back behind the wheel of a Supermodified.
“We definitely plan to test next week,” Didero confirmed. “We are going to play around a bit, look into the characteristics of the car and see what we can learn with everything before racing on Saturday night.”
The Oswego legend has several sponsors and supporters that have helped allow the return of the No. 3 machine to the fasth ⅝’ths mile.
“I really need to thank Tammy Ten Media, Corr-Pak, Mike and Mary O’Brien, Pawn King and John Costello for all of their support,” mentioned Didero.
Busy with his fabrication business in North Carolina, Didero will fly into Syracuse Airport on Friday to get fitted in his new ride before spending next week to test and work on the car in preparation of the 75-lap ‘Grand Prix’ next weekend.
“It definitely should be interesting,” quipped Didero. “The car will be the number 3 again and it’s going to be white. I’m excited. I guess now we just have to see if the driver is any good at all anymore. I’m flying up Friday to get fitted and work on the car and then we’ll get on the track next week.”
