RPW Exclusive: Looking Back A Bit: Fourth Week Of May

Column By: PHIL SMITH / RPW – WESTERLY, RI – Seventy five years ago in 1949, Rain soaked the Seekonk Speedway.  Seventy years ago in 1954, Freddie Luchesi in the Sgambato N0.9 was the Wednesday night Sportsman winner at the New London Waterford Speedbowl. Joe McNulty was the Saturday night winner. Non-Ford winners at the shoreline oval were Bob Karns and Charlie Schreiber. Rain again at Seekonk.

Sixty five years ago in 1959 Bob Vaughn was the Friday night winner on the dirt at Stafford. Joe McNulty won the 50 lap Memorial Day weekend Special Sportsman event at the New London Waterford Speedbowl. Rene Charland made it two in a row in non-Ford action and John Arigoni made it two in a row in Bomber action at the shoreline oval. The Lancaster Speedway in upstate New York held their grand opening which was to feature a 50 lap URC Sprint Car event. The feature was halted after four laps as the track was deemed unsafe. Lancaster was dirt at the time. At the Buffalo Civic Stadium Roy Campbell took top honors over Bill Rafter. At the Seekonk Speedway, Dave Humphrey took the A division Main event.

Sixty years ago in 1964 the New York invasion was evident at Stafford Springs as Bill Wimble was the top dog on dirt. Don Wayman finished second with George Janoski, third. Wild Bill Slater was the Saturday night feature winner at the Norwood Arena in Norwood, Mass. Other weekend winners were Al DeAngelo at Islip, Joe Rosenfield at Seekonk, Lou Lazzaro at Fonda and Victoria and Elton Hildreth at Old Bridge. Hank Stevens won a 50 lap Memorial Day weekend Special Modified event at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl.

On a sad note, NASCAR Grandnational Star Glen “Fireball” Roberts was severely burned after a fuel tank explosion at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Tickets went on sale for the Annual Trenton 200 for Modifieds which was to be held in August. General admission was $4.00!

Fifty five years ago in 1969, the Stafford Motor Speedway started the Memorial Day weekend off with a 100 lap event. Charlie Jarzombek, in one of his first off-island trips made the one to Stafford a successful one as he won the 100 lapper in his radical off-set coupe. Fred DeSarro finished second and was followed by Bobby Santos, Jerry Cook, Bob Karvonen, Ed Yerrington Frank Faria, Moe Gherzi and Wild Bill Slater. Lou Lazzaro won at Malta and repeated at Fonda and also in the first of twin features at Utica-Rome. Rene Charland finished second to Lazzaro at both Malta and at Fonda. George Summers was the big winner at Seekonk. Thompson ran on Sunday afternoon and it was Bugsy Stevens taking the win over DeSarro Lou Austin, Fred Harbach, Smokey Boutwell and Slater. Stevens hot footed it up the Mass Pike and made it to Utica in time to run the consi. Stevens finished third in the first feature behind Lazzaro and Jerry Cook. Bernie Miller won the Utica nite cap and Stevens ended up seventh. Dick Dunn was the Modified winner at the Waterford Speedbowl.

Fifty years ago in 1974, Stafford ran twice on the holiday weekend. On Friday night, Bugsy Stevens put the Koszela Woodchopper in victory lane ahead of Dick Caso, Ron Bouchard and Gene Bergin. Stevens made it a two-fer as he returned on Monday to win the Holiday 100 lapper. Freddie Schulz finished second and was followed by Jerry Cook, Geoff Bodine and Lou Austin. At Utica-Rome on Friday, local favorite Dick Fowler took the 30 lap win over Cook, Andy Romano and Richie Evans. Jim Tyler beat out Artie Tappen at Islip on Saturday and at Shangri-La it was Maynard Troyer over Bodine and Evans. Evans got the jump on Troyer at Fulton on Sunday night as he took the win there. Dick Dunn was the winner at Waterford and Tex Barry was the winner at Seekonk.

Forty five years ago in 1979, a 100 lapper scheduled for Stafford, rained out. Spencer also rained out. Saturday night at Seekonk, Mr. Leo Cleary was not to be denied as he took the top spot despite constant pressure from Bugsy Stevens who finished second. George Summers ended up third with Brian Ross, fourth. At Waterford, Joe Tiezzi won out over Dale Holdredge and Moose Hewitt. At Islip,Greg Sacks beat Tom McCann and George Wagner. Other weekend winners were Richie Evans at Shangri-La Jeff Fuller at Westboro, Stan Gregger at Riverside, Ron Bouchard at Thompson and Bugsy Stevens at Monadnock.

Forty years ago in 1984, Stafford started the weekend off with a 100 lapper. Brian Ross was on a tear as his home built No. 73 handled to perfection as he sprinted to victory over George Brunnhoelzl, George Kent, Richie Evans and Charlie Jarzombek. Waterford had a 100 lapper scheduled for Saturday night but it rained after twenty laps. At Riverside twin events were on tap with John Rosati and Reggie Ruggiero taking the wins. Oswego ran their Port City 150 on Sunday Brett Bodine won the modified 75 lapper over Brian Ross and Bentley Warren won the Supermodified portion. In Winston Cup action at Charlotte, Harry Gant was the polesitter and Bobby Allison the winner. Ron Bouchard qualified 18th and finished third. Other weekend winners were Doug Hewitt at Spencer, George Kent at Shangri-La, Wayne Anderson at New Egypt and Tony Siscone, also at New Egypt.

Thirty five years ago in 1989, Stafford’s holiday program rained out as did Waterford. For the ninth time, Seekonk also fell victim to rain. At Riverside Park, Bob Polverari took the victory and at Riverhead, Steve Park and Mike Ewanitsko finished one-two. In SK modified action at Thompson on Sunday, the Christopher’s, Ted and Mike ran one-two to beat out Bob Potter and at Oswego; the Modified Tour series winner was Tony Hirschman. Reggie Ruggiero finished second with Tony Jankowiac, third.

Thirty years ago in 1994 the Modified Tour Series was at Stafford for a 150 lap event. On the start, the sparks flew as pole sitter Ted Christopher found himself in the fence after being hit by Ed Flemke Jr. It didn’t end there as Flemke later tangled with Tom Baldwin. Baldwin felt that it was deliberate and retaliated by ramming Flemke. The end result was that Baldwin was fined $2,000 and suspended for three events. Ricky Fuller was the eventual winner over brother Jeff, Wayne Anderson and Jan Leaty. At Waterford, Ricky Young took the top spot over Todd Ceravolo and Moose Hewitt. Chuck Stuer scored his first win at Riverhead and Stan Gregger beat out Doug Meservy and Steve Park at Riverside. Ed Kennedy made a surprise visit to Flemington on Sunday and walked off with the main event there over John Blewett.

Twenty five years ago in 1999 Fifty-one NASCAR Modifieds were on hand at Stafford for the Memorial Day weekend 150. Tim Connolly, driving the Mystic Missile of Bob Garbarino took the lead from Ed Flemke Jr on lap 127 when he suffered a flat tire and was forced to pit. Connolly led the rest of the 150 lap distance as he went on to record the win. Carl Pasteryak finished second with Mike Ewanitsko, third. Rick Fuller and Charlie Pasteryak rounded out the top five. Sixth through tenth were Ted Christopher, Reggie Ruggiero, Jack Bateman, Tony Hirschman and George Kent. Jerry Marquis was the SK Modified winner. At the Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday night Dennis Gada made it four in a row in Modified competition as he beat out Mike Gada and Tucker Reynolds for the win. Jeff Karns was the Late Model winner. At Riverside Park Chris Wenzel beat out Ed Spiers and Eddie Flemke Jr for the win and at the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island Dan Jivenelli took the win. At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Kenny Brack, driving for AJ Foyt, took the win in the Indy 500 after Robbie Gordon ran out of gas while leading the last lap. Tony Stewart finished ninth, flew to Charlotte and finished fourth in the Cup event behind Jeff Burton, Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin. Steve Park led twice for 84 laps before crashing while trying to avoid a slowing Kyle Petty.

Twenty years ago in 2004 the Thompson Speedway began their regular Thursday night Thunder Series. Second generation driver Kerry Malone staged a heated battle with Bo Gunning and came out the winner. Todd Ceravolo finished third. Ted Christopher was also in the mix until his engine began belching smoke, forcing him to drop out. Christopher was credited with 19th place. Defending Sunoco Modified champion Eric Berndt finished fourth with Richard Savory rounding out the top five. Other Thursday night Thunder winners were Chuck Docherty in the Pro Stocks, Corey Hutchings in the Late Models, Keith DeSantis in the Limited Sportsman and Eric Bourgeois in the Mini Stocks.

The NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Series was at the Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday night for the Haynes 150. The event drew 43 Modifieds and produced a surprise finish with a lot of excitement. Ted Christopher, who was the Busch Pole sitter once again, saw his hopes of a win disappear in the closing moments. Christopher, who led the first 67 laps, took the lead from Reggie Ruggiero on lap 123. Shortly after taking the two to go signal Todd Szegedy attempted a move made famous by Christopher, the bonsai bottom shot in turn one. With his left side tires in the grass and dirt Szegedy slid up into Christopher as he moved down to block. The contact caused Christopher to spin. Tony Hirschman was in the catbird seat as he jumped at the opportunity to take the lead. Szegedy managed to keep going and fell in behind Hirschman when the field returned to green on lap 161. Szegedy had the misfortune of breaking an axle on the restart, which allowed Reggie Ruggiero to move into second spot. Hirschman romped his way to the checkered flag and the win. Ruggiero finished second. Tom Cravenho ended up third. Tom Cloce and Jamie Tomaino rounded out the top five. Current point leader Eddie Flemke ended up 11th after brushing the wall. Sixth through tenth were Jerry Marquis, Jeff Malave, Dick Houlihan, Ted Christopher and Tony Papale. Szegedy was last on the lead lap in 15th spot. A total of 11 caution periods for 58 laps kept the average speed at 59.389 mph. Once the dust settled the fingers were pointing. Christopher felt that Szegedy over drove and intended in taking him out. Szegedy claimed that Hirschman hit him, forcing him into Christopher. Hirschman stated that he did hit Szegedy but it was under the starters stand and not in the first turn where he made contact with Christopher. The NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Series continues to provide the best in competition and excitement of any NASCAR division. The Stafford Motor Speedway management announced that the Haynes 150 would be televised as part of their NASCAR New England weekly production. NASCAR had been unable to secure TV coverage for the Featherlite Modifieds so far for this year. Thanks to the Stafford management, competitors were getting some exposure on the tube. In SK Modified competition at Stafford on Friday night it was high-speed carnage and destruction of equipment. It was survival of the fittest and the lucky. Jim Civale, who won the Nationals at Waterford survived to take the win in the 40-lap feature. It took 63 minutes to run 40 laps. Steve Chowanski finished a distant second.

The Waterford Speedbowl gave its SK-Modified division the week off. Double features for the Late Models were run with Corey Hutchings and Phil Rondeau recording wins. John Puglisi won the 20 lap Sportsman feature and Glen Colvin was the Mini-Stock winner. Vin Esposito topped the Legend field and Jeff Walsh captured the X Car feature.

It looked like the proposed speedway in North Stonington, CT. was a dead issue. Connecticut developer Gene Arganese shifted his intentions at land in Plainfield, CT. for his $400 million domed ¾ mile speedway. The proposed site was next to the Plainfield Greyhound track. Located mid-way between the Waterford Speedbowl to the south and the Thompson Speedway to the north, the proposed speedway would host various touring series events, NASCAR and non- NASCAR events. In addition to the dog track the town is also hosts a Lowes distribution center. The Lowes building is equivalent to four football fields in area. Since the very beginning NASCAR had stated that there are no additional Nextel Cup dates available and even went so far as to send Arganese a letter from their legal department telling him that he should not suggest that there are available dates that could be had. In a somewhat related development New York City news radio station WINS reported that NASCAR would be coming to a Naval-Military base on Staten Island. While the Featherlite Modifieds were at Stafford the Busch North Series was at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. Brad Leighton took the win over Dale Quarterly.

Fifteen years ago in 2009, The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, after the completion of the first two, of 14 events, had been on “Spring Break” since the Spring Sizzler at Stafford on April 26. Friday it was back to Stafford for the TSI HARLEY-DAVIDSON CONNECTICUT CLASSIC 100. Thirty-three Modifieds were on hand for the event. During a somewhat heated drivers meeting NASCAR did its best to alienate two of its top drivers when they questioned a restart policy. They, Mike Stefanik and Ed Flemke, were told to take it “off line”. George Silbermann, managing director of NASCAR’s racing series was at Stafford for all of the action and one must wonder why he wasn’t at the driver’s meeting to get the first hand knowledge of what dialog is missing between the officials and competitors A year or two from now NASCAR will wonder where the cars and loyalty went. In other words the Whelen Modified Tours outspoken drivers were told in so many words if you don’t like the way the races are run that’s just tough!

Jimmy Blewett was able to slow down Ted Christopher’s dominant start to the 2009 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season when he took home the checkered flag in the TSI Harley-Davidson Classic Friday night at Stafford Motor Speedway. Blewett went pole to pole.

Christopher had won the first two races of the season, and earned his third-consecutive Coors Light Pole Award earlier on Friday, but Blewett started on the front row on the redraw and led flag-to-flag for his fifth career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory. Blewett survived six restarts during the race, including a green-white-checker finish, but would not be denied his second career win at the Connecticut half-mile. Todd Szegedy (No. 2 Wisk/Snuggle Ford) ran up front the majority of the race with Blewett, and tried once to go around on the outside late in the race, but Blewett never relinquished the lead. Szegedy settled for a third place finish when Christopher got past him on the white flag lap.

Mike Stefanik and Reggie Ruggiero rounded out the top five finishers in the 100-lap event. Chris Pasteryak, Rowan Pennink, Woody Pitkat, Doug Coby and Ryan Preece brought home the top 10.

The Stafford Motor Speedway weekly feature winners were Ted Christopher in the 40-lap SK Modified® feature, Michael Bennett in the 30-lap Late Model feature, Tommy Membrino, Jr. in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, Kevin Gambacorta in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Tony Membrino, Jr. in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.

The 40-lap SK Modified® feature took the green flag with Curt Brainard taking the early lead. Brainard had Matt Gallo all over his back bumper looking to move to the front. After several laps of trying both the high and low grooves, Gallo was able to make a move into the lead on lap-6. Gallo’s pass brought Frank Ruocco past Brainard and Ruocco moved by Gallo on lap-9 to move to the front.

Ted Christopher was behind Ruocco and the middle stages of the race saw some great racing between the top-2 as Christopher was searching for a way around Ruocco. Christopher was finally able to make a move to the inside of Ruocco on lap-28 and take the lead for the first time. The field was slowed by the caution with 30 laps complete.

On the lap-30 restart, the cars of Chris Jones and Ruocco came together in turn 1 while battling for second place, with Ruocco spinning and collecting the cars of Brad Hietala and Dave Salzarulo. Jones was sent to the rear of the field for rough riding by NASCAR officials. This put Brainard back alongside Christopher for the restart. Several late cautions kept the field in close contact, but Christopher was up to the task on each restart and he held off Brainard at the checkered flag for his first SK Modified® feature victory of the 2009 season. Rounding out the top-5 behind Christopher and Brainard was Gallo, Wade Mattesen, and Mark Bakaj.

After being penalized the previous week for allegedly jumping a restart Christopher swore up and down that he would not return to Stafford. Evidently someone gave him an attitude adjustment as he knuckled under and was back in the SK Modified lineup like nothing ever happened.

From the way it sounded, the Race of Champions Series event run at the Oswego Speedway in upstate New York was far better than the Whelen Modified Tour Series at Stafford. Ted Christopher took advantage of Bill Putney’s locked up wheel with only three laps remaining of the 75 lap Richie Evans Memorial Port City 150. Christopher driving a car prepared and owned by Terry Zacharias of Candor, NY knew the last three laps were going to be tough. As defending RoC Champion Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa. was now in second and Matt who was undefeated at Oswego in 2008 was looking to keep his streak intact. Following another yellow on lap 72 a three-lap shootout was set and everyone in attendance knew it was going to be an exciting finish. Christopher, a multi time NASCAR National Modified Champion used plenty of different driving strategies to keep Hirschman at bay. However entering turn three on the final lap Hirschman got on the outside of Christopher and the two exited turn four side by side with the crowd standing on their feet. Christopher moved up the track just a hair but left Hirschman enough room to stay alongside of him. As the two drivers drag raced to the start finish line Christopher in his Ron Hutter powered Troyer chassis car had just enough to hold off Hirschman by inches for the $2,800 win. Jan Leaty of Williamson, NY who started 11th ended up in third with Eric Beers of Northampton, Pa. in fourth after starting 21st and Erick Rudolph of Ransomville, NY finishing fifth after starting 16th.

The Waterford Speedbowl managed to avoid the numerous showers that hit Connecticut on Saturday night. Groton native Ron Yuhas Jr. nearly won the Waterford Speedbowl’s opening Saturday night event in April before Keith Rocco stole the win by mere inches, but on Saturday night Yuhas would not be denied going on to win the 35-lap SK Modified main event. Ohio native Dave Shullick Jr. won the 50-lap ISMA SuperModified special in a caution filled event, Bruce Thomas Jr. the Late Model event, Josh Galvin in the Street Stocks, and Bill Leonard was the Mini Stock winner.

The SK Modifieds were first up with their 35-lap main event. Corey Hutchings jumped to the lead over Jeff Pearl on the initial green, and the field would stretch out over an extended period of green flag racing. Hutchings would pull a straightaway lead over the competition as laps clicked away. By halfway, Ron Yuhas Jr. and Keith Rocco were asserting themselves working through traffic. Yuhas jumped to the outside lane to move his way through the top five and into the top three. The event’s first caution flew on lap 28 when Jeff Paul, running second, went up in smoke in turn three ending his strong run to that point. Paul turned in the event’s fastest lap. On the restart the action heated up with Yuhas looking outside Hutchings. Meanwhile, Rocco applied pressure to both Hutchings and Yuhas from third place. The entertaining action would be interrupted by caution when Justin Gaydosh spun on the backstretch with four laps to go. Yuhas battled his way into the lead in the outside lane on the restart, overcoming Hutchings with three laps remaining. The event’s final caution waved with two laps remaining setting up a green-white-checkered finish and a restart rematch with Hutchings outside Yuhas. Hutchings could not muster the steam from the outside, and would tuck into second behind Yuhas who would go on to win by a car length. Rocco took an impressive third, Tyler Chadwick ran a good race for fourth, and Rob Janovic Jr. rallied to finish fifth at the stripe.

There were 20 Modifieds on hand. Tough luck reared its ugly head when Todd Ceravolo and Keith Rocco made contact which ended up with Ceravolo’s car sustaining severe damage. Car owner Dickie Doo Ceravolo said it will be a few weeks before the car returns to action.

The True Value Modified Series was at the Thunder Road Speedway in Barre, Vermont. Steve Masse won his first ever True Value event. Rowan Pennick finished second with Kirk Alexander, third. Ed Dachenhausen and Jack Bateman rounded out the top five. Chris Pasteryak led from the start until lap 87 when he had issues and began to fade. The race, plagued by 12 caution periods and one red flag to clear the track from damaged cars, slowed the pace of the feature race, the third event of a 15 race schedule. Nine of those caution periods came between laps 70 and 80.

The Thompson Speedway came alive on Thursday night with what had to be some of the best open wheeled Modified racing seen in quite a while. Keith Rocco of Wallingford, CT, scored the feature win in a dramatic finish for the Speedway’s premier division. It was the second win for Rocco at Thompson after his victory back in April on Icebreaker Saturday. In the early going Kerry Malone got the edge on pole sitter Ted Christopher before the caution flew for a pile-up exiting turn two. Danny Cates was sent spinning from the fifth position and several drivers took evasive action. Only the #36 of Tim Sullivan headed down pit road for service. He was able to rejoin the field. On the restart it was Malone moving out to a five-car length advantage over Jimmy Blewett. It was action-packed for the third spot as Josh Sylvester had his hands full with Christopher and Woody Pitkat. Keith Rocco, who was involved in the lap three caution, had worked his way back inside the top-ten by lap eight. With 10-laps down, Blewett and company had caught Malone. Blewett made a power move exiting turn two to take over the lead. Sylvester and Christopher followed through. Christopher made quick work of Sylvester to move into second. A single-lap later the caution flew for a spin by Dana Young. Under the caution, Malone gave up the fourth spot to head to pit road for adjustments. An incident that involved Harry Rheaume, Tim Sullivan, Dave LaCroix and Andy Gasper brought out the caution again on lap 16. The cars of Rheaume and Sullivan sustained heavy damage.

Back under green, Christopher was all but pushing leader Blewett while Sylvester, Pitkat and Rocco where locked in a heavy battle for third. Sparks flew when Christopher made a bid for the lead. Contact between the lead duo ended with Christopher stopped on the front stretch with a flat tire; necessitating the caution. Todd Ceravolo pitted from the fifth position under the caution. Ceravolo parked his car after it was determined that his mount had sustained suspension damage that could not be repaired. Pitkat looked like he was shot out of a cannon on the restart giving Blewett a run for the lead. Sylvester stood his ground. Pitkat slipped back to third behind Sylvester. Rocco was now fourth followed by Marvin, who had worked his way back into contention after being involved in the first caution. On lap 23, Rocco muscled his way passed both Pitkat and Sylvester and into the second spot. The young gun had five laps to chase down Blewett. It didn’t even take one as Rocco caught Blewett. In turn three, Rocco made a dive bomb move under Blewett. The car drifted up allowing Blewett to maintain his lead. The cat-and-mouse continued over the final two laps.

On the white flag lap, Rocco ran Blewett up toward the wall in turn one. Coming to the checkers, Rocco drifted high pushing Blewett toward the wall once again in turn three. Sylvester saw a glimmer of light in the middle while Pitkat looked low. All four cars had a shot at the victory. Slight contact with Sylvester slowed Rocco but not enough to derail the run to the victory. Blewett barely edged out Pitkat for second. Sylvester settled for fourth. Marvin completed the top-five.

Norm Wrenn of Nashua, NH, a winner during the Icebreaker in April, continued his winning ways in the Super Late Models while Rick Gentes of Woonsocket, RI edged out fan favorite Jeff Zuidema to earn the Late Model checkers. Scott Sundeen of Douglas, MA, in Limited Sportsman; Brian Sullivan of S. Windsor, CT in the TIS Modifieds; and Tim Taylor of Wauregan, CT in the Mini Stocks also visited victory lane on the opening Thursday night.

Mike Bliss raced to his first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory since 2004, catching a break to claim the rain-shortened event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Bliss, who started from the back of the field, took the lead because he was in the right position when the caution flag came out with 39 laps to go. The caution put Bliss ahead of series points leader Kyle Busch, who clearly had the car to beat most of the night. It looked as if Busch would get lucky when rain halted the race a few laps later and got him back near Bliss’ bumper. But more showers came, and NASCAR officials called the Carquest Auto Parts 300 with 30 laps to go and Bliss still out front. Brendan Gaughan was second, followed by Busch, Brian Vickers and Joey Logano.

Helio Castroneves won the Indianapolis 500. The winner pulled away over the final laps to beat Dan Wheldon and Danica Patrick, who eclipsed her historic fourth-place finish as a rookie in 2005 by crossing the strip of bricks in third – the highest finish ever for a female driver.

NASCAR’s longest race of the season spilled into a second day Sunday night when the Coca-Cola 600 at the Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC was postponed by rain for the first time in 50 years. Bruton Smith, the outspoken, multimillionaire chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc., ripped NASCAR for choosing not to disclose the banned substance involved in driver Jeremy Mayfield’s suspension, for dropping record penalties on underfunded driver Carl Long and for the kind of racing created with the Car of Tomorrow. Smith also criticized two former Kentucky Speedway owners who refused to drop an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR. Their decision has delayed the track from getting a Sprint Cup race.

NASCAR declared David Reutimann the winner when an ominous weather forecast indicated it would be impossible to run the Coca Cola 600 to its conclusion. The drivers had figured that out a day earlier, when the race was postponed and carried over to Memorial Day for the first time in its 50-year history. With intermittent showers spraying the track all day Monday, the race was one of strategy, as every driver simply tried to be in front when the event was finally washed out. Reutimann gave it his best shot when, running 14th, he and crew chief Rodney Childers decided not to join the parade of cars following leader Kyle Busch down pit road during a caution for rain 22 laps past the halfway point.

The race had reached the point where if it was stopped again for rain, it was official, and the Michael Waltrip Racing team prayed the end was soon. Reutimann claimed the lead, with pole-sitter Ryan Newman and Robby Gordon following him to the front as the rest of the field went to pit road for fuel and fresh tires. He didn’t lead a single lap under green-flag racing, but was out front for five laps under caution before NASCAR called the cars back to pit road for the third rain stoppage. Most drivers headed to their motorhomes to wait out the rain. Not Reutimann. He was joined at his car by his 68-year-old father, Buzzie, a racer with one career NASCAR start who still tears it up in dirt track events at East Bay Raceway near Tampa, Fla. The two didn’t bother with an umbrella as they stood in a steady drizzle for just over 2 hours. Newman finished second and Gordon was third. Gordon might have a problem, though. NASCAR confiscated his real axle housing following post-race inspection for further evaluation. Carl Edwards, who had changed into street clothes by the time the race was called, finished fourth, followed by Brian Vickers and Busch.

Ten years ago in 2014 The Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park fought through scattered rain showers to get in an almost full schedule of racing for the Food Bank Night & Late Model 20/20 Sprint. In Late Model action, Rick Gentes fought back in the third of three segments to derail a clean sweep by Keith Rocco, who won two 20-lap Late Model segments. Gentes’ third segment win was not enough to stop Rocco from winning the overall finish, however.

In other NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action, Robert Palmer earned his first career win in the Lite Modified division while Corey Hutchings checkered the Xtra Mart Limited Sportsman division and Chad Baxter won the Monster Mini Stock feature.

The Sunoco Modified division ran 13 laps of their 30-lap feature before rain forced them to reschedule the remainder of the event until May 29. Woody Pitkat, Keith Rocco, and Ryan Preece made up the top-three when it was postponed.

All in all, the racing at Thompson provided a high level of competition. In the Limited Sportsman event Corey Hutchings and Larry Barnett put on a brilliant display of driving as they ran lap after lap, side by side, for the lead. Hutchings prevailed to take the win as Barnett settled for second. Chris Moose Douton finished third. The Late Model 20/20 Sprint was also highly competitive. The first 20 lapper for the Late Models saw Rick Gentes coming off the fourth turn on the final lap with the checkered flag in sight when a slight nudge from Rocco caused him to lose just a bit of momentum to allow Rocco by and take the win. In the second 20 for the Late Models the lead lap cars were inverted for the start. Rocco got the break as Gentes brushed the wall, losing valuable distance he would never make up. Rocco took the lead in the second 20 on lap 11 and never looked back. Rocco started on the pole for the final 10 laps but his worn tires were not up to the task. Gentes took the lead on lap 7. A strong performance was turned in by Glen Boss who turned in a third, second and a third for the night.

The re-configure of the Thompson Speedway is just about complete. Great pains were taken to make it a fully functional oval and road course facility. With the road course looping through the parking lot which is now fenced off it will be interesting to see where spectators cars are parked. The only major complaint from competitors is the way the divisions are spread out from what used to be the old pit. Some of the older mechanics and car owners feel there is way too much walking involved especially to the gas pumps and parts truck. Hopefully the Thompson management will address these issues which would make the facility more competitor friendly.

The Stafford Speedway fell victim to rain on Friday.

Racing action at the Waterford Speedbowl saw Joe Gada take his first win of the year in the SK Modifieds. Joining Gada as new faces in Victory Lane for 2014 were Bruce Thomas Jr., picking up the checkered flag in Valenti Auto Mall Late Model race, and Ray Christian III, winner in the Mini Stocks. Josh Galvin of Franklin won his third Street Stock feature in a row and Corey Barry won his second SK Light Modified race on the year. Mike Christopher Jr. of Wolcott claimed another INEX Legend Cars feature to round out the Saturday night winners. The SK Modified and Late Model features went non-stop.

Gada started the race from the pole position and left Nichole Morgillo behind exiting turn two. Excitement picked up on the opening lap when several cars made contact down the back chute, sending Shawn Thibeault through the infield but continuing on without a caution flag. Gada was out to a blistering pace while Ed Puleo quickly moved to second position. Ted Christopher was already up to third and Keith Rocco was charging through the top-ten and was hot on Christopher’s tail in fourth just four laps in. Rocco was not content and immediately looked for racing room on Christopher, making an inside move to jump to third on lap-5. Ahead, Gada stretched his lead on Puleo as Rocco closed in. The battle for second picked up on lap-10 with Rocco all over Puleo. After several laps trying, Rocco could not unseat Puleo for the spot. Christopher was all alone in fourth with Tim Jordan rounding out the top five as the race reached halfway all under the green flag.

Over the second half of the race, Puleo began to slowly reel in Gada as Rocco started to fade in third. Christopher was closing the gap back to Rocco and Jordan continued in fifth. By lap-25 Puleo was two car lengths back of Gada and three laps later he was on his rear bumper. Puleo looked to the inside of Gada more than once, but Gada was quick off the corners running his groove. Puleo tested Gada’s rear bumper on a couple occasions, including lap-32 when both cars briefly got sideways entering turn one.

Gada withstood Puleo’s efforts to win by a car length at the checkered flag in a clean but well contested event. The win marked Gada’s second in the division. His first victory came in 2013. Gada’s father Dennis is one of the all-time best open-wheeled drivers in track history, claiming seven division titles. The caution free race took 9 minutes and 33 seconds from start to finish. Puleo rebounded from a hard wreck last Saturday to finish second and Rocco held back Ted Christopher for third. Tim Jordan rounded out the top five.

In the Late Models, Thomas won for the first time on the year to halt Rocco’s stranglehold in the Valenti Auto Mall sponsored division. Rocco won the final five races in 2013 and the first five features to begin 2014. Thomas, one of the division’s all-time best, finally found the answer to best Rocco in the 30-lap race. Rocco finished second. Christopher won for the fourth consecutive time in the INEX Legend Cars.

Howie Brode held off Ryan Preece and Timmy Solomito to take the Modified win at the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island. Tom Rogers and Ron Silk rounded out the top five.

In Modified racing in the southland, Chris Fleming was the 100 lap NASCAR Modified feature winner at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC. Burt Myers finished second with Kyle Ebersole, third.

Jamie McMurray, a 40-1 long shot, had a $1 million payday with an upset victory in the Sprint All-Star Race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. McMurray was second on the restart for the 10-lap sprint to the checkered flag. Lined up outside of pole-sitter Carl Edwards, McMurray waged a door-to-door battle with the leader for a lap around Charlotte Motor Speedway, with McMurray surging slightly ahead several times. The two cars appeared to touch more than once, and McMurray finally cleared Edwards for the lead two laps into the fifth segment.

Sam Hornish Jr. beat Ryan Blaney off a restart with 21 laps to go and hung on to win the NASCAR Nationwide Series race Sunday at Iowa Speedway. Pole-sitter Ryan Blaney was second, followed by Regan Smith, Chase Elliott and Elliott Sadler in the first stand-alone event of the season. Hornish, in the No. 54 car usually driven by Kyle Busch, led 167 of 250 laps

In Pole position qualifying for the Indy 500, Ed Carpenter took back-to-back pole victories, posting a four-lap average of 231.067 mph to take the top spot in the 500 for the second straight year.

On a sad note, former Waterford Speedbowl announcer Dave Shippee passed away last week. Dave had a lifelong love of auto racing and was at one time, during the early 70’s, the track announcer at Waterford Speedbowl. No one who was there will forget the night the recording of the National Anthem broke and he gave a stirring solo rendition. David was a gifted writer. He had his own column in several now defunct publications including, “Dave’s Stockpile” and “Tiques and Fleas”, an ode to antiquing.

Five years ago in 2019, The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series was getting ready to head to the Seekonk Speedway in Seekonk, Mass. In operation since 1946 and under the direction of the Venditti family since day one. Dubbed the Cement Palace, the Speedway sits at the gate of the Cape Cod National seashore.

With five events in the books Doug Coby sat atop the point standings with a 19 point lead over Ron Silk. Sitting third was Jimmy Blewett. Patrick Emerling and Woody Pitkat rounded out the top five. Eric Goodale sits in sixth spot with defending series champion Justin Bonsignore, seventh. Despite how bad it looks Bonsignore is only 37 points behind the leader. Eighth is third generation racer Blake Barney. Barney has shown flashes of brilliance of late as he has injected new blood into the division. Ninth in the standings is second generation driver Chris Pasteryak. Pasteryak, son of Charlie and nephew of Carl Pasteryak is an even 50 points out of the lead. Rounding out the top ten was a new up and comer, Craig Lutz. Its just a matter of time before Lutz lands sin victory lane.

It looked like Dave Sapienza, who was currently 15th in the standings would step out of competition in order for his back to heal after being involved in a vicious crash at the recent event at Wall Stadium, Sapienza’s car will set idle for week but will be driven by Burt Myers at the up-coming mid-week event at Thompson. Beyond that an announcement is forth coming. At 44, Sapienza is one of the oldest on the tour. Wade Cole, at 66 is the oldest.

Friday night was a busy one at the Stafford Motor Speedway. Dunleavy’s Truck and Trailer Repair Modifiedz Night returned to Stafford Speedway for the 3rd consecutive year. Due to the early season rainouts, Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night became a packed card of Modified Racing with 160 laps of Modified action including 40 laps for the SK Light Modified division and 80 laps for the Open [tour-type] Modified division. A total of six divisions of racing were on tap.

In the Open Modified 80 with tour style modifieds, Keith Rocco took the lead just before halfway in the 80-lap race and he dominated the second half of the race to win the race and lead Stafford SK Modified® regulars Todd Owen and Matt Galko. Goodale nearly took the lead from Rocco in turn 4 on lap-48 but Rocco was able to hold him off. Owen then pulled to the outside of Goodale on lap-59 and he moved into second place. Owen was hounding Rocco for the lead but Rocco was able to fend off Owen’s challenges and remain in the lead.

Rocco and Owen began to slowly pull away from Goodale in third, who in turn had Dowling, Galko, Etheridge, and McDermott lined up behind him. This was the order with 10 laps to go.

Rocco led Owen to the checkered flag to win the Open Mod 80. Galko finished third with Goodale and Chase Dowling rounding out the top-5. The win also took Rocco over the top to a career overall total of 272 wins which also include 150 victories at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl, 60 at Thompson and 62 at Stafford Speedway.

Stafford’s SK Lights took center stage with a 40-lap feature that paid over $10,000 in total posted awards. Noah Korner picked the perfect night to nail down his first career SK Light win at Stafford as he won the 40-lap Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night SK Light feature to take home $2,025 in total posted awards. Korner made a power move on the final lap to the inside of Teddy Hodgdon and made the pass stick. Korner and Hodgdon drag raced to the checkered flag with Korner beating him to the line by a nose. Jonathan Puleo finished third. Pre-race favorite Bryan Narducci fell victim to a flat tire early on and finished last. SK Lite rules at Stafford do not allow pitting.

I In the SK Modified 40 lapper, Ron Williams led the field to the checkered flag to pick up his first win of the 2019 season at Stafford. Joey Cipriano came home in second with Nick Salva, Eric Berndt, and Michael Gervais rounding out the top-5.

Other winners on Friday night were Kevin Gambacorta in the Late Model feature, Matt Clement in the Limited Late Model feature, and George Bessette, Jr. in the Street Stock feature.

At the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island, Kyle Soper took the top spot in the Wayne Anderson #15. Tom Rogers finished second. Soper has now won three out of the four events run at the eastern Long Island track.

Down in the southland at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC Brandon Ward took the NASCAR Modified feature over Jason Myers, Danny Bohn, Burt Myers and James Civali.

> Matt Hirschman was the winner of the opening round of the Tri Track Series Ron Bouchard Auto Sales 100 held at the Claremont Speedway in New Hampshire. Les Hinkley finished second with Ron Williams, third. Hirschman took the lead just past halfway. Under picture-perfect conditions Hirschman bested a full-field that included runner-up Les Hinckley and emerging hot-shoe Ronnie Williams. Hirschman had stretched his lead over the final few laps and cruised to the victory over Hinckley, Williams, Andy Jankowiak and Russ Hersey. Matt Swanson, Anthony Sesely, Tommy Barrett, Calvin Carroll of Andover, NJ, and Robie completed the top-ten.

Tyler Reddick won the Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday after taking the lead for good on a restart with 15 laps to go.The defending Xfinity champion led 110 of 200 laps to win for the second time this season and the second time in three races. He finished more than two seconds ahead of Justin Allgaier. Jeffrey Earnhardt was third, followed by Noah Gragson and Justin Haley.

Simon Pagenaud survived a late-race duel with Alexander Rossi to win the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.Pagenaud and Rossi were engaged in a late-race war, with the pair exchanging the lead half a five times in the last 13 laps before Pagenaud made the race-winning pass entering turn three with two laps left.

Martin Truex Jr. overcame an early flat tire after hitting the wall, then survived a wild restart five laps from the end Sunday night to win the Coca-Cola 600 for the second time in four seasons.Truex slid into the Turn 4 wall during the first stage of NASCAR’s longest event, damaging his tire and seemingly putting his chances in serious jeopardy. But crew chief Cole Pearn radioed his driver that things were not that bad and to stay calm and remain focused. Joey Logano finished second. Ryan Preece suffered with suspension problems and finished 31st.

NASCAR announced on Wednesday,May 22 that it had reached a $2 billion merger agreement with the International Speedway Corporation, granting the organization control of key racetracks such as the Daytona International Speedway. The agreement gives NASCAR control over a total of 12 ISC tracks that host events on its schedule, including Daytona, Talladega Superspeedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. ISC shareholders will receive $45 per share.The deal, which is set to close later this year, pending the approval of non-controlling shareholders.

The merger comes as NASCAR contends with a downturn in its business. The stock car racing organization’s television ratings and event attendance had plummeted in recent years. NASCAR is said to be considering changes to its rigorous race schedule in a bid to jumpstart fan interest. The France family, which has controlled NASCAR for decades, will maintain control of the combined entity.

Last year, 2023, The regular Friday night racing series at Stafford never fails to excite. the SK Lights were the main attraction with their first of two 40-lap Double Down extra distance feature events for the 2023 season. Brian Sullivan was the big winner of the night taking down his second win of the 2023 season in the 40-lap SK Light feature event. Stephen Kopcik scored his first win of the season in the SK Modified® feature, Adam Gray was a first-time 2023 winner in the Late Model feature, Matt Clement notched win #2 of the season in the Limited Late Model feature, and Travis Hydar won the Street Stock feature after finishing first in the first two races of the season.

The SK Modifieds went non-stop in their 40 lapper. Kopcik started fourth and wasted little time as he took the lead from Marcello Rufrano on lap 8. Keith Rocco followed Kopcik and appeared to have a potential winning car until shortly after half way when his car began to fall off. Rocco ended his night in sixth spot. While Kopcik and Rufrano slugged it out for the lead, Jimmy Blewett, who was mired in traffic for the first half of the event finally broke out from his 10th starting spot. On lap 32 Blewett made a bonsai move down low in the dirt going into turn three, taking third from Corey DiMatteo. Blewett had nothing left for the leaders. Rounding out the top five was Dylan Kopec. Sixth thru tenth included Rocco, Todd Owen, Teddy Hodgdon, David Arute and Tyler Hines.

In the Double Down 40 lapper for the SK Lights George Bessette closed in on Brian Sullivan’s back bumper and he gave Sullivan a shot going into turn 3 on the final lap but Sullivan was able to hold on and take the checkered flag for his second win of the 2023 season. Jason Chapman finished third with Alexander Pearl and Nick Anglace rounding out the top-5.

The Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina cancelled their racing program due to impending rain. The SMART tour ran at the Franklin County Speedway in Virginia on Friday night with Burt Myers ending a long dry spell with a win.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series traveled to New Hampshire for Granite State Derby at Lee USA Speedway on Saturday with a somewhat light field of cars, 21 were on hand. Matt Hirschman cleaned house as he took a Sunday drive on a Saturday night. Taking the lead on lap three of the event from Doug Coby, Hirschman ran away and hid. Jon McKennedy finished second with Austin Beers, third. Sam Rameau and Ronnie Silk rounded out the top five. One caution slowed the event, that coming on lap 69 when Max Zachem spun. With a slipping clutch over the final half of the race, Coby fell to the bottom of the top-10 and worked his way back up in the final laps to score a sixth-place finish.

Among the missing was Eric Goodale who has announced that he is cutting back to racing on a part time status. Goodale who, with his family owns and operates Riverhead Building Supplies has been a regular on the Whelen Modified Tour Series since 2008 and has competed in 207 events.

The Whelen Modified Tour Series heads to the Seekonk Speedway on Saturday, June 10. Justin Bonsignore leads the current standings with a one point edge over Ron Silk. Austin Beers sits third, 19 points back.

The Memorial Day weekend continued for racers on Sunday for the season opening Tri-Track event at the Thunder Road Speedbowl in Barre Vermont. The 23 cars on hand drew for starting spots. Austin Beers drew the pole with Anthony Noscella on the outside and Doug Coby, third. Pre-race favorite Matt Hirschman drew sixth while Ronnie Williams drew 12th.

At the drop of the green Beers took the point as Coby moved into second. The first caution flew on lap eight when Les Hinkley and Chris Pasteryak got together on the front chute. After an extended yellow-red the field restarted. Pasteryak was able to drive away. Before one lap was completed a mass tangle ensued in turn three. A left rear tire blew on the Hirschman mount which caused the field to scatter. Hirschman would rejoin the field but would never be a factor. Coby took the lead on the restart with Chace Dowling, second and Ron Williams, third as Beers began to backslide. By lap 32 Williams had closed in on the bumper of the Cody machine and on lap 35 executed the move to take the lead which he never gave up. Coby finished second with Woody Pitkat, third. Chris Pasteryak made a remarkable recovery from his lap 8 crash to finish fourth with Matt Swanson, fifth. David Arute drove a strong hesds up race to finish sixth with Hirschman, seventh. Rounding out the top ten was Dowling, Ron Silk and Mike Christopher Jr.

Down on the Connecticut shoreline at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl Eric Berndt became the third different winner in SK Modified competition. Timmy Jordan finished second withJon Puleo, third. Ray Christian III won the 60-lap Late Model feature.Andrew Molleur and Matt Lowinski-Loh followed. Jake Hines won the 25-lap SK Light Modified feature. Tom Abele Jr. was second and Tyler Chapman, third.

Congratulations to Matt Buckler on his return to announcing at the Speedbowl. Despite losing a foot Buckler kept a positive attitude and returned to being the man behind the mic.

Across the big pond at the Riverhead Raceway on the east end of Long Island, Tom Rogers Jr. made a triumphant return to victory lane Saturday when he topped a caution free 50-lap NASCAR Modified feature. The win was the 62nd of Tom’s NASCAR Modified career leaving him just one shy of “Charging” Charlie Jarzombek’s all-time mark of 63. What maybe more concerning for Tom’s competition came in a quick comment the five-time champion made post-race, “we made an adjustment, it’s good, but we can make it better”. Dillon Steuer finished second with JR Bertuccio, third. Dylan Slepian and John Beatty Jr.rounded out the top five.

In NASCAR Cup racing at Charlotte rain delayed the running of the event until Monday. Breaking a 59-race drought in Monday’s rain-delayed Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Ryan Blaney gave team owner Roger Penske his first same-year sweep of IndyCar’s biggest race and NASCAR’s longest race.

With a dominant No. 12 Team Penske Ford that gained long-run speed as the race progressed, Blaney led a race-high and career-best 163 of 400 laps and held off polesitter William Byron for his first victory on the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval and the eighth of his career. Ryan Preece finished 13th on the lead lap. Chase Elliott was suspended for one race by NASCAR on Tuesday after intentionally wrecking Denny Hamlin in Monday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

A day after Josef Newgarden delivered Penske’s 19th Indianapolis 500 victory with a last-lap pass, Blaney won for the first time since taking the checkered flag at Daytona on Aug. 28, 2021.

Area Auto Racing News reported that while much of the attention at Mahoning Valley on May 21 focused on race winner Matt Hirschman following his win in the Tom Wanick Jr. Memorial 150 on Sunday, May 21, a number of people were watching what went on in the pit area. The focus was centered around the trailer of Jimmy Blewett after a pair of on track incidents, one of which sent Austin Kochenash to the hospital.

During the early stages of the race, while racing inside the top five, Blewett and Blake Barney touched wheels. Blewett stormed through the infield grass before running into the back of Barney under the next caution. “We were running side-by-side and he was trying to get down. I was running myself down into the infield trying to keep the car off of him and he ran into me and we locked tires, we have open-wheeled cars. Then he runs into the back of me under caution and tries to rip my left front off three times,” said a calm Barney while loading up.

Blewett clearly had fast race car ran inside the top five the whole race before pitting on lap 88 with the rest of the leaders. As Blewett was following Hirschman back to the front, Blewett’s left front touched Earl Paules’ rear bumper resulting in a left front flat, again sending him pit side. Charging back through the field with a handful of laps remaining in the 150-lap feature event, trying to gain as many positions as he could, Blewett and Austin Kochenash made contact in turns three and four which collected a number of cars forcing a green-white-checkered finish.

While under the red flag as officials cleaned up the incident, Kochenash pulled up alongside Blewett. Hand gestures exchanged between the two were clearly unpleasant. Blewett was then put to the rear for over aggressive driving. As the race resumed for its final two lap stint, while Hirschman was taking the checkered flag, Blewett and Kochenash again made contact in turns three and four. Kochenash backed it in and made hard contact with the concrete outside retaining wall collecting Blewett.

Kochenash, who took his time exiting the car following the incident, fell to the pavement when he climbed from his self-built No. 66. After a few tense minutes, Kochenash stood up and took off running towards the pit entrance, clearly in search of Blewett, before he was stopped prior to walking to the ambulance under his own power. “He (Kochenash) wasn’t clear. He thought he was clear and went to clear himself and came down on me and I wasn’t going to give him an inch because he wants to drive me all over the race track every time I’m near him,” asserted Blewett about the first incident while helping his team pack up as team members from Kochenash’s team continued to yell from across the pit area.

“That kid over there is the same way,” said Blewett, while he pointed to Barney’s trailer. “They’re all quick to run into you, but when you pay the piper, they want to cry ‘poor me’ saying ‘someone is going to get hurt’. They know what they’re doing, they’re messing with the wrong guy.” Both Blewett and Kochenash were disqualified from Sunday’s feature event, Blewett for the contact on the race track and Kochenash for the actions of his crew members following the race.

Barney, who was right behind the incident between Blewett and Kochenash on the last lap, described what happened from his point of view. “That was a disgrace what he did at the end to the 66 (Kochenash),” Barney stated. “We’re all racers, we’ve all been around the race track our whole lives. He wasn’t racing him from a car length back, going into three trying to advance his position. He was riding around with his headhunter vibe. “I lifted going down the backstretch because I thought he was coming after me. It seems like when he doesn’t have a good car or a car to win, he’s like a wrecking ball and you just have to avoid it.”

Kochenash was released from the hospital on Sunday night with all tests coming back negative. He had no concussion, but was ‘just really sore’.

With the cooperation of the Arute family a book has been published with pictures and biographies of the 50 Greatest Drivers at Stafford.

The Stafford Motor Speedway had become the epicenter of NASCAR Modified racing in the northeast by the late 1980’s. From its dirt beginnings to its lightning-fast asphalt, Stafford had become the toughest and most gratifying track to score a victory. The Arute family which has owned and guided the destiny of the facility commissioned their thousands of loyal fans to name their favorite drivers. In alphabetical order so as not to offend anyone:

Tom Baldwin, Gene Bergin, Brett Bodine, Geoff Bodine, Ken Bouchard, Ron Bouchard, Mario “Fats” Caruso, Rene Charland, Ted Christopher, Leo Cleary, Tim Connolly, Jerry Cook, Corky Cookman, Pete Corey, Fred DeSarro, Richie Evans, Mike Ewanitsko, Ed Flemke, Sr., Jeff Fuller, Rick Fuller, Ernie Gahan, Bill Greco, Bo Gunning, Ray Hendrick, George “Moose” Hewitt, Tony Hirschman, George Janoski, Charlie Jarzombek, George Kent, Buddy Krebs, Randy LaJoie, Jan Leaty, Jerry Marquis, Mike McLaughlin, Ray Miller, Steve Park, Bob Polverari, Bob Potter, Brian Ross, John “Reggie” Ruggiero, Greg Sacks, Ollie Silva, “Wild” Bill Slater, Jimmy Spencer, Mike Stefanik, Carl “Bugsy” Stevens, George Summers, Jamie “The Jet” Tomaino, Maynard Troyer and Satch Worley.

Books are priced at $17.95 each and be purchased at the track at the Novelty Booth or at the Stafford Motor Speedway on line store. Books are also available at Amazon.com and at Coastal181 (877-907-8181).