RPW Column: Looking Back A Bit: Second Week Of July
Column Compiled By: PHIL SMITH / RPW – WESTERLY, RI – Seventy five years ago in 1947, Lloyd Christopher was the Midget winner at Seekonk. Seventy years ago in 1952 Billy Tibbert was the Wednesday night Sportsman winner at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. Charlie Webster was the Claiming Car winner.
The Sportsman had Saturday night off at the Speedbowl and it was just as well as the Claiming Car feature fell victim to rain after 17 laps with Jack Stansell being declared the winner. Hank Stevens was the Stock Car winner at Seekonk.
Sixty five years ago in 1957, Red Foote made it three in a row in Sportsman action at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl as he won on Wednesday night. Irwin Fox was the non-Ford winner. Don Collins brought a halt to Foote’s win streak as he won the 50 lap Sportsman feature at the shoreline oval on Saturday night. Ted Stack was the non-Ford winner. Over on the Island at Islip Al DeAngelo beat out Johnny Coy. Red Bolduc broke the strangle hold that Hop Harrington previously held on victory lane at Seekonk. Deke Astle was the B division winner. Old Bridge ran twin features over the weekend. Lenny Brown won the first one over Al DeAngelo and Frankie Schneider won out over Parker Bohn on Sunday.
Sixty years ago in 1962, Ron Narducci was the Modified winner on the dirt at the Stafford Springs Speedway. Rain prevailed at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday night. Islip beat the rain as Al DeAngelo took the win over Jim Hendrickson, George Tet and Rene Charland. The NASCAR Grandnationals (Cup cars) invaded the 1/5th mile Islip Speedway on Wednesday night. Richard Petty took the win by three laps over James Hylton. Joe Rosenfield was the Class A winner at Seekonk. At Old Bridge it was Elton Hilldreth over Don Stumph.
Fifty five years ago in 1967, Dick Nephew was the winner over Rene Charland at Catamount on Thursday. Fred Harbach scored his first and only win at Stafford on Friday. Dick Watson finished second with Leo Cleary, Fred DeSarro and Bill Slater rounding out the top five. Harbach, one of the top guns from Long Island, raced at Stafford, Norwood and Thompson throughout 1967.Rene Charland was the winner of a 40 lapper at the Albany Saratoga Speedway. Bill Wimble finished second with Lou Lazzaro, third. Jerry Cook and Ernie Gahan rounded out the top five. Charland made it two for two as he won a 100 lapper at Fonda on Saturday night. Wimble and Gahan followed. Bill Scrivener took the Modified win at Waterford. Gene Bergin was the Saturday night winner at Norwood and Dutch Hoag won again at Fulton. Bobby Sprague won his first of four in a row at Seekonk. Sunday action at Thompson and Utica-Rome rained out
Fifty years ago in 1972, Bugsy Stevens beat out Long Islander Dan MacNamara at Seekonk on Friday night. Many of the big guns were at Malta for a 200 lapper where Eddie Flemke prevailed in the Frank Vigliorlo No.34 (formerly the Bob Judkins 2x) Bob Santos finished second and was followed by Ron Bouchard, Richie Evans, Maynard Forette and Fred DeSarro. Saturday night at Stafford saw Santos score another runner-up with Ronnie Bouchard taking the top spot. Fonda ran a double points event with Ralph Holmes taking the win over Ron Narducci and Andy Romano. Asphalt racer Bernie Miller tried his hand on the dirt and finished 15th. Angie Cerese was the Modified winner at Waterford. At Islip it was Jim Hendrickson over Charlie Jarzombek and George Tet and at Utica-Rome on Sunday night, it rained. Harry Kourafas was the Late Model winner at Norwood.
Forty five years ago in 1977, Thompson ran a mid-week open competition event. Richie Evans took the top spot over Geoff Bodine and Eddie Flemke. At Stafford on Friday night, Bodine held off Bugsy Stevens and Dick Caso. Local favorite Bob Polverari took the top spot at Riverside over Bodine while at Seekonk; Corky Cookman took top honors with Jim Wilkins, Bugsy Stevens and Eddie StAngelo, following. Veteran Joe Tiezzi was the main man at Waterford. Jerry Pearl finished second with Moose Hewitt, Dick Ceravolo and Gene Bergin, following. Richie Evans invaded Islip for a 150 lapper and walked away a winner over Greg Sacks, Wayne Anderson and Fred Harbach. At Westboro, Mike Weeden won out over George Savory and Joe Howard. Thompson closed out the weekend with Fred DeSarro taking the win over Bodine and Bouchard.
Forty years ago in 1982, Stafford had scheduled Modified Madness for Tuesday but rain prevailed. On Wednesday night, Thompson ran the Thompson 300 outside pole qualifier. George Summers in the Art Barry no.21 took the 40 lap win over Greg Sacks, George Kent and Kenny Bouchard. Sacks made it two in a row at Stafford on Friday night. Kenny Bouchard, in the Ted Marsh No.55 ran a strong second with Bob Polverari, Reggie Ruggiero and Mike McLaughlin rounding out the top five. At Waterford on Saturday night, Don Fowler held off Don LaJoie and Joe Tiezzi. Promoter Dick Williams announced that Randy LaJoie would be in competition in the upcoming Busch North Series event that was coming up at the Speedbowl. Riverside Park ran a 200 lapper that saw Richie Evans in a class by himself as he won the event over George Kent, SJ Evonsion and Bob Polverari. Evans made it two in a row as he won at Thompson on Sunday. George Summers finished second with George Kent, third. Other weekend winners were George Kent at Spencer, Tony Siscone at New Egypt, George Brunnhoelzl at Riverhead, Gomer Taylor at Seekonk, Doug Hewitt at Shangri-La, John Blewett Jr. at Islip and Roger Treichler at Perry. In Winston Cup action at Pocono, Bobby Allison took the win. Ron Bouchard finished fourth.
Thirty five years ago in 1987, the weekend was marred by the death of Corky Cookman at the Thompson Speedway on Sunday night. Cookman, a quiet but well liked driver, hit the turn three wall a ton on lap 5 of the 75 lap event and was killed almost instantly. Cookman was transported to a local hospital as the race resumed. Reggie Ruggiero ended up with the win with Jim Spencer, second. In Late Model action, Ricky Shawn made it two in a row and in SK Modified action, Bo Gunning took the win. A few days after the death of Cookman, NASCAR announced that the 390 carburetor with unaltered boosters would be the only one allowed in the division. Bo Gunning was the Friday night winner at Stafford. Richie Gallup finished second. Waterford ran twin features on Saturday night with Ricky Young and Harry Rice taking the wins. Bob Potter finished second to Young with Dickie Doo Ceravolo, Ed Flemke Jr. and Bob Gada following. Following Rice were Dale Holdredge, Gada and John Anderson. Wayne Anderson ruled the roost at Riverhead despite pressure from Don Howe and Tom Baldwin in the closing laps. At Riverside Park, Wade Cole got a surprise win over Mike McLaughlin and Reggie Ruggiero. In Winston Cup action at Pocono, Tim Richmond was the pole sitter but the race belonged to Dale Earnhardt Sr.
Thirty years ago in 1992, the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour was at Stafford for a 150 lap event. Reggie Ruggiero in the Ed Cloce No.69 took the win over Doug Hevron in the Boehler No.3 and Jeff Fuller. Tom Tagg was the SK-Modified winner. At Monadnock, Marty Radwick scored a win over Jerry Marquis and Rusty Ball. Marquis, in the Bobby Judkins 2x, scored his seventh win of the season at Riverside Park on Saturday night. At Waterford and Riverhead, it was a night for the rookies. At Waterford, Scott Poirier scored his first ever win as he held off Mike Christopher and Bob Potter and at Riverhead, John Fortin beat out Tom Tillotson and Mike Ewanitsko.
Twenty five years ago in 1997, it was a big week for Reggie Ruggiero at Riverside Park as he recorded his 90th career win at the amusement park oval when he beat out Dan Avery and Mike Stefanik to win the Wednesday night NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Series 150.Ruggiero backed it up with his 91st career victory on Saturday night over Richie Gallup and Ted Riggott. At Stafford on Friday night, Ted Christopher garnered his 46th career victory. Jim Broderick, Bo Gunning and Bob Potter followed. Broderick settled for second again on Saturday night at Waterford as Scott Spaulding took the win. Todd Ceravolo finished third. Spaulding took the lead from Broderick with five laps to go. In Winston Cup action at Pocono, Dale Jarrett took the win. In other news, the International Speedway Corporation added Phoenix International Raceway to its war chest of speedways.
Twenty years ago in 2002, the scheduled NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour event at Chemung was cancelled. At Thompson on Thursday night the fans came out in droves as the 5/8 mile speedway was almost packed as Bert Marvin won his fourth feature of the season. Bo Gunning finished second followed by Ron Yuhas Jr. and Ted Christopher. The Busch North Series visited Stafford on Friday night. Andy Santerre was leading the 150 lap event with two to go when he found himself planted in the wall after Dale Shaw hit Dale Quarterly who was running second who in turn hit Santerre. Shaw was not penalized for his actions and went on to take the win over Matt Kobyluck and Tracy Gordon. Billy Anderson won the 50 lap SK-Modified feature over Kerry Malone, Ron Silk and Lloyd Agor. Rob Janovic was the Saturday night winner at Waterford but it was one of the Rocco twins who stole the show when he borrowed one of Joey Chitwood’s stunt cars and put on a smoke show for the crowd. JR Bertuccio took his sixth win at Riverhead over Tom Cravenho who was in the Eddie Partridge modified. Peter Daniels made it seven in a row at Claremont and at Wall Township, Tom Farrell took the win. In Winston Cup action at Pocono, Bill Elliott won out over Kurt Busch and Hank Parker Jr. won the Busch Series event at Pikes Peak in Colorado. On a sad note, Booker T. Washington Jones passed away after a battle with cancer
Fifteen years ago in 2007, the Waterford Speedbowl, thanks to the non payments of property owner Terry Eames, was scheduled to go up for foreclosure on Saturday, July 28. A sign posted on the property frontage indicated that the sale would take place at high noon. Anyone interested would need a $300,000 bank or certified check to participate. In 2006 the Washington Mutual Bank filed a lawsuit claiming that the track’s owner, Terry Eames, had failed to make payments on a $1.7 million loan held by the Seattle-based savings bank. The lawsuit, Washington Mutual vs. 1080 Hartford et al., continued through this year, with several legal motions occurring during April and May. Eames had also failed to pay the town of Waterford more than $185,000 in taxes owed dating back to 2003. Eames was smart as he had shielded himself by an LLC titled 1080 Hartford Road LLC, a reference to its street address. In other words if he did lose the property he could walk away and thumb his nose at those he owes.
Eames, who bought the race track in 2000 had all but run the facility into the ground when he leased the track to a new company called The New Waterford Speedbowl LLC, which ran the day-to-day operations. Bill Roth served as its general manager and Jerry Robinson was its president. Both Roth and Robinson had made an honest attempt to bring the track back as they had made numerous improvements. They still faced the stigma created by Eames as they had had problems securing any credit for their business venture.
Eames claimed he was about to sell eight acres in the northwest corner of the property to Harvey Industries, a Massachusetts-based window manufacturer that also distributes other building products.. Eames insisted that he had the necessary finances in place, which would lead one to ask how come he had not made any payments in the previous 18 months.
The Seekonk Speedway, located just over the Mass. Line on the way to Cape Cod had Open Wheel Wednesday Modified Madness $10,000 to win scheduled for last Wednesday but heavy rain forced a cancellation to September 22.
The 2007 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour continued on their summer break.
The True Value Modified Racing Series traveled to the Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine. Kirk Alexander started 15th in the 100-lap feature and took the lead for the eventual win with only five laps remaining. Les Hinkley, who started dead last in the 24 car-starting field, finished second. Dwight Jarvis, Pete Jarvis and Lisbon, Ct’s Chris Pasteryak rounded out the top five.
In regular Thursday Night Thunder action at the Thompson Speedway the rains prevailed.
In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action at the Stafford Motor Speedway Woody Pitkat scored a one-two punch, cleaning house as he won the Coors Light SK Modified 100 and the 30 lap Late Model feature. Alan Provost scored a first career victory in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, Sean Foster took down the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Matt Chiarizio scored his first career win in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.In the 100 lap SK Modified feature Pitkat battled back after changing tires with 22 laps to go. Pitkat outdueled Ted Christopher in the closing stages. Willie Hardie took the lead from the pole, and he led the first 34 laps before contact with Keith Rocco sent him spinning from the lead. Rocco was black flagged for rough riding, which handed the lead of the race to Christopher. Pitkat took the lead from Christopher on the restart, and held the lead until lap-52, when Christopher moved back out front. Pitkat slowly began to lose positions as Christopher began to build a large lead over Eric Berndt, who was now running second. A caution with 79 laps complete erased Christopher’s large lead and brought Pitkat to pit road for fresh tires. Pitkat then worked his way back through traffic and avoided several wrecks to find himself in third place behind Christopher for a lap-95 restart. Pitkat moved past Christopher on the restart and then drove away to score the win. Christopher finished second, with Frank Ruocco, Kerry Malone, and Curt Brainard rounding out the top-5.
In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action at the Waterford Speedbowl Shawn Monahan passed his brother Diego with 9-laps to go in the 35 lap SK Modified feature. The Monahans then set up a moving wall, which shut out Zach Sylvester and Dennis Gada in the closing laps. Other feature winners were Ed Reed Jr. (Late Model), Dwayne Dorr (Sportsman), Danny Field (Mini Stocks), and Steven Intravaia (USAC Ford Focus Midgets).
The Nextel Cup competitors had the weekend off. Reed Sorenson earned his first victory in two years, avoiding the pitfalls of a cautioned-filled Busch Gateway 250 Saturday night in Madison, Ill.
Sorenson, who hadn’t led any part of a race this season, passed David Reutimann on lap 159 moments after the eighth yellow flag was lifted. He survived the ninth and final caution with a strong restart to distance himself from Reutimann, who was third.
Scott Wimmer earned his first pole position in 136 races and led the first 53 laps before a right flat tire forced him into the pits. He stayed near the front of the pack most of the race and finished second. Jason Leffler and David Ragan rounded out the top five.The cautions were five off the track’s record of 14. Of 44 cars that started, 26 finished. The yellow flag was out for 43 of 200 laps. Sorenson, who had the second-fastest qualifying time, led 93 laps. The victory marked his third overall.
Ten years ago in 2012, Internet news site RaceDayCt reported that the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series took a big hit when car owner Ed Whelen decided to shut down his operation and sell his equipment and long time car owner Bob Garbarino indicated that he was fed up with the way NASCAR treats the Modifieds and hinted that he may also be packing it in in the not so distant future. Whelen owned the cars driven by Ted Christopher. Whelen didn’t like the way NASCAR was heading as far as lack of television support, sub standard purses and the fact that the sanctioning body’s attempt to “save the car owners money” is nothing more than a sham to get competitors to use the same “spec” engine. The NASCAR rule makers had all but ruined the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series divisions with their IROC type Cars of Tomorrow. Next will be the Modifieds or what’s left of them. Long time car owner Bob Garbarino also voiced his displeasure with the way NASCAR has treated the division.
Chad Little, the Whelen Modified Tour Series director continued to paint a pretty picture that NASCAR was doing everything it can to make it better and more affordable for the car owner. Former New England Speedway official Tony Leckey said it best when after reading Little’s statement said the way it came across was “The door is open and I’ll listen to their comments all the time but at the end of the day we’re going to make a decision and sometimes they like it and sometimes they don’t.” That tells you everything you need to know about how much NASCAR values your input. All Chad did was validate what Bob Garbarino said. The promoters and local officials bear the wrath for this but at the end of the day, NASCAR could care less.
Thursday night Thunder at Thompson saw Keith Rocco earn his second victory of the season after taking the lead from Kerry Malone on a restart at lap five. Malone took the early lead with Rocco and Dennis Perry on his bumper. Malone had just pulled away when the first caution of the night flew for Perry, who lost the right front on his machine. Malone and Rocco brought the field back to green on the restart with Rocco taking the lead out of turn one. Malone, Ryan Preece, and Ted Christopher rounded out the top-four as they all pulled away from the rest of the field. On lap eight, Preece dove to the bottom groove heading into turn one and drove by Malone, who was left to fend with the challenges of Christopher. Preece set his sights on Rocco, who had pulled ahead to a comfortable five-car length lead as Christopher drove by Malone for the third spot. Rocco greeted lapped traffic at the halfway mark with Preece closing up some of Rocco’s lead, but it was still all Rocco up front. The race went caution-free as Rocco drove to the checkers unchallenged. Following Rocco and Preece were Ted Christopher, Kerry Malone and Richie Gallup.
Other winners in NASCAR Whelen All American Series action included Jason Chicolas who added his name to this season’s win column in the Limited Sportsman division, Tommy O’Sullivan in the Late Models, and Mike O’Sullivan in a special 50-lap Super Late Model race. Jay Sundeen won an exciting contest with John Lowinski-Loh, Jr. that resulted in both drivers coming across the finish line sideways in the Thompson Modified feature. Cam McDermott and Dave Trudeau were winners in their divisions.
There were nine Sunoco (SK) Modifieds on hand for the event.
At the Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday night rain prevailed and wiped out the SK Modified twin 75’s until this Friday night, July 27.
In Saturday night action at the Waterford Speedbowl Shawn Monahan picked up his first win of 2012 by getting the best of Keith Rocco in a spirited duel over the final 15 laps. Monahan started from the pole and led all but one lap. Tyler Chadwick was able to get by Rocco to finish second. Rocco came home third and was followed by Diego Monahan and Tom Abele. Corey Hutchings won his third Street Stock feature on the year while Wayne Burroughs picked up an exciting first-ever win in the Mini Stock division. Corey Barry won his second consecutive SK Light Modified race, Dana Dimatteo won his second Saturday Series Legend Cars event of 2012 and Chris Garside took a hometown win in the Saturday Series for the X-Car division.
In NASCAR Southern Modified action at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem NC points leader Tim Brown edged Burt Myers in the first 25-lap Modified race, and Austin Pack bumped leader Chris Fleming around Turn 2 of the last lap in the second race and went on to a victory.
In NASCAR Modified action at the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island Ryan Preece won the Tom Baldwin, Richie Evans, Charlie Jarzombek Memorial 77 lapper. NASCAR’s Jerry Cook presented the trophy.
American-Canadian Tour late-model star Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. dominated the 39th annual TD Bank Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway Sunday. The ACT veteran wheeled his Ford-powered Pole’s Automotive machine to one of the biggest paydays in Oxford 250 history, earning $45,500 after leading more than 200 laps
Elliott Sadler held off a charge by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on a green-white-checker finish to win the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway. The NASCAR Sprint Cup division had the weekend off.
Five years ago in 2017, The Stafford Speedway returned to NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing action on Friday, July 21st with the Exit Realty Modified Touring Series making their second visit of the 2017 season to Stafford for the Lincoln Tech 100 with Stafford’s five NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions joining them in feature action. Taking down weekly feature wins on the night were Ted Christopher, who drove with a broken right hand, in the SK Modified® division, Tom Fearn in the Late Model division, David Arute in the SK Light division, Ryan Fearn in the Limited Late Model division, and Zack Robinson in the DARE Stock feature.
The Exit Realty Modified Touring Series made its second visit of the 2017 season to Stafford for the Lincoln Tech 100. Taking the checkered flag was Jon McKennedy, who in the process took a clean sweep of the two Modified Touring Series events at Stafford this season. ) Woody Pitkat finished in the runner-up spot with Richard Savory, third. Tommy Barrett, Jr and Mike Holdridge rounded out the top five.
In the SK Modified 40 lapper, Christopher took the lead on a late restart with Todd Owen all over his back bumper. Keith Rocco was third with Dan Avery and Mike Christopher, Jr. side by side for fourth with Ronnie Williams in sixth. Owen and Christopher touched wheels going into turn 1 on lap-38 with Christopher maintaining the lead. Owen made one last ditch effort on the outside coming to the checkered flag but Christopher was able to beat him to the checkered flag in a wild finish. Rocco finished third with Avery and Christopher, Jr. rounding out the top-5.
The Valenti Modified Racing Series traveled to the Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire for twin 50 lap events. Dan Meservey Jr, of Brewster Massachusetts, and 22-year old Troy Talman of Oxford, Massachusetts, were the victors in the 14th annual summer race at the 3/8th mile racetrack.
In the opening 50-lap event, pole-sitter Dylan Rock took command for 46-laps and appeared to be on his way to his first career victory but a late race caution flag on lap-45 brought Rock back to the rest of 23-car field for creating an exciting finish.
When the race restarted, Meservey Jr, worked the outside of the 17-year old Rock, slipping by on the re-start of the 47th circuit to go on to notch his first win. Rock settled for a well deserved second, team car and Donnie Lashua was third, with current point leader Anthony Nocella fourth, and Jeff Gallup fifth.
In the second race, like the first, the pole sitter took command the only difference being Talman wired the field. The 22-year old driver fought off everything thrown his way including six caution flags. Geoff Gernhard, Carl Medeiros, Jr, Lashua, and Gallup chased Talman to the finish.
There were 23 cars on hand.
As he has done many times in the past Keith Rocco went two for two at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday night. The Berlin, CT driver captured his third SK Modified feature of the year in four starts. Rocco made it look easy as on a restart. Rocco was battling Plainville, CT’s Ted Christopher. Rocco simply out muscled Christopher on the outside and cruised to the win in the 35-lap main. Christopher settled in for second on his debut at The Bowl in 2017. Rounding out the top five were Kyle James, Todd Owens and Rob Janovic Jr. The win put Rocco’s win total to 140 at the shoreline oval. The wins also took Rocco over the top to a career overall total of 240 wins which also include victories at Thompson and 43 at Stafford Speedway.
In the Late Model feature it was a little bit easier for the Berlin, CT resident. After the Late Models held group qualifying, with the top five being inverted. When the field lined up for the 30-lap event it was Rocco sitting on the pole. Once the green waved it was all Rocco as he led every lap and took down his second Late Model event of the year.
Other Saturday night winners were Ken Cassidy Jr in the Mini Stock event, Joey Ternullo in the legends, In the 25-lap SK Lite feature it was Andrew Molleur taking his first career Lite win and Adrien Paradis taking the 25-lap Limited Sportsman event.
Out on the east end of Long Island at the Riverhead Raceway 15-year old Dillon Steuer of Bohemia won the longest NASCAR Modified race on the 2017 Riverhead Raceway schedule topping the Islip 300. Saturday night the soft spoken teenager very well could have won the shortest race of the year when he was leading on lap 27 when the rains came putting halt to the scheduled 40-lap NASCAR Modified event. Steuer at the time of the rain and 45-time career winner Tom Rogers Jr. of Riverhead were entangled in a torrid race for the lead with the youngster collecting his second career triumph.
Down in the south land, at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem NC on Saturday night, a 100 lapper was on tap for the Modifieds. Jason Myers qualified fifth and Burt Myers was sixth in time trials, but after each driver redrew for spots Jason Myers drew the pole and Burt Myers drew second. There were 10 cautions during the Modified race, including one on the second lap. Burt Myers overtook Jason Myers on the restart on lap 7, but after the third caution on lap 11, Jason Myers regained the lead on the restart three laps later and never looked back.
In Friday night racing at the Caraway Speedway Burt Myers won both ends of the scheduled twin 50’s. While the results were the same for the driver from Walnut Cove, NC the races were drastically different. Myers started the evening by winning the Precision Built Spindle pole position, which earned him the front starting spot in the first feature. While he was challenged early by Tim Brown and survived a couple of late-race restarts, it was a flawless run for Myers as he led every lap to victory. Rounding out the top five was Danny Bohn, Jeremy Gerstner, Tim Brown and Gary Putnam followed Myers across the line.
In a blind draw in victory lane, Myers drew an inversion of six cars putting him on the outside of the third row for the start of the second 50-lap feature. Bobby Measmer Jr. started on the pole and led the first eight laps before yielding the top spot to Gerstner, closely followed to the front by Myers. By the mid-point in the race Gerstner opened a margin and appeared to be enroute to his second-career series win; that was until Myers charged late. With 10 laps remaining Myers was all over Gerstner and with four laps to go he charged to the outside into turn three. Off turn four Myers was in the top spot and never looked back. Gerstner settled for second, Measmer was third with Brown and Brandon Ward completing the top five.
Kasey Kahne survived a crash-marred Brickyard 400 on Sunday for his first NASCAR Cup victory in nearly three years. The Hendrick Motorsports driver won under caution in the race that took more than six hours to complete, finally finishing in fading light after 167 laps and double overtime.
Brad Keselowski was second. Afterward, Kahne went to Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s infield medical center. Series officials didn’t say what he was being treated for but other drivers said the temperatures inside the cars topped 130 degrees. A very sparse crowd witnessed the event.
William Byron’s first trip to Indianapolis Motor Speedway ended with an unforgettable finish.
After taking the lead with 15 laps left, the teenage rookie used some savvy moves and a little luck Saturday to hold off the hard-charging Paul Menard for his third NASCAR Xfinity Series win in less than a month. The margin of 0.108 seconds was the narrowest in race history, and he did it by successfully blocking the 2011 Brickyard 400 winner for the final two laps while dealing with a troublesome tire for the final 20.
Last year, 2021, A severe rainstorm shortly after qualifying began forced the cancellation of the Samuel Adams Wicked Hazy IPA Spirit of 76 at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Wednesday, July 7. The event will not be rescheduled due to a lack of open dates. It’s just as well as a somewhat lean field of cars in competition was lean. There were 13 Modifieds, 14 Late Models, 15 Limited Sportsman, 15 Mini Stocks, 8 SK Lights and 5 Street Stocks.
Stafford Speedway postponed its Bud Light Open 80 event scheduled for Friday, July 9 due to forecasted rain as a result of Tropical Storm Elsa.
At the New London-Waterford Speedbowl track crews were unsuccessful in removing water left by the heavy rains
The Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina returned to action. Tim Brown picked up his 93rd career win in the modified 100 lapper over Brandon Ward, Lee Jefferys and Burt Myers.
Riverhead Raceway on Long Island avoided the rains. Taking the Modified win was Michael Rutkoski over Jack Handley, Chris Young, John Fortin Sr and John Baker.
Marco Andretti scored his first career Camping World SRX Series win Saturday night at Slinger Super Speedway before a sellout crowd.. However, most of the race was spent with three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart battling side-by-side with 17-year-old Luke Fenhaus for the lead.
Luke Fenhaus drew rave reviews from Tony Stewart and Marco Andretti following the Camping World SRX Series event at Slinger Super Speedway. Fenhaus earned his spot in the SRX lineup by virtue of winning the Slinger Nationals on Tuesday, topping a stout field of Super Late Model competitors for the “golden ticket.” Fenhaus started the night with a pair of third-place finishes in heat races, earning a front-row starting spot for the 150-lap feature.
Throughout the race, Fenhaus had several extended battles with both Andretti and Stewart, ultimately finishing second to Andretti and ahead of Stewart.
Kurt Busch outdueled his younger brother Kyle Busch in the pair’s fourth career 1-2 finish to secure his 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs position and take his 33rd career victory in Sunday’s Quaker State 400 Presented by Walmart.
Busch, 42, has been particularly good at the 1.5-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway. Sunday’s win was his fourth there, most among the current field, and the last trophy given before the historic NASCAR track is repaved and reconfigured going forward.
