Racin' & Internet Stuff:
By Tom Avenengo
Volume # 28
9/02/2010
First:
In most places, SCHOOL IS NOW OPEN! That means that kids will be running around, not
thinking, and who knows when they’ll dart out onto a street – especially
around school busses. Be careful,
please!
Next:
At most tracks in the area, point racing ends
on the Labor Day Holiday weekend.
Let’s all hope that Hurricane Earl doesn’t screw up this coming
weekend! I’d hate to see championships
end due to weather.
Some
of my thoughts:
At
OCFS on Saturday – no idea as to what happened to the track. I talked four others into going, and the
racing wasn’t all that good. Passing was
at a premium, for sure. Might the rain
earlier in the week have something to do with the “freight train” type of
racing? No dust, which is good. Someone had posted that the soft ice cream
stand wasn’t open. True? There’s been no pizza all season long,
either. Any idea if all the photos are
still under the main grandstand where the Funnel cakes and good French Fries
were?
I’ve
seen the WoO Sprint Cars at OC. It has gotten to be like
Going back, in time:
Note: Most of the following
information was found here:
http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/history.html
Covering
the days of August 27th to September 2nd..
AUGUST 27
1910
Johnny Ritter was born in
1947
Joie Chitwood , driving
the Nyquist #8, won the AAA Eastern Sprint Car race
at the Williams Grove
1960
Tony Bettenhausen
won the 100 lap USAC Midget race at the
Note: When is the last time there was a 100-mile
midget race?
1961
Jim Hurtubise
won both of the Twin 50's USAC Sprint Car races at the Langhorne Speedway (1.0d) ,
Note: When was the last time there was a 50-mile
Sprint car race? Oh, and no pit stops,
either!
AUGUST 28
1924
Jimmy Daywalt
... Born ... Jimmy drove AAA sprint cars and in the AAA and USAC
Championship Car series, racing in the 1950, 1953-1957, 1959, and 1961-1962
seasons with 20 starts. He finished in the top ten 3 times. His best finish was
in the 1953
1961
Art Malone drove the 'Mad
Dog IV' to a world record speed of 181.561 mph at Daytona International
AUGUST 29
1993
Roger McCluskey...
Died ... McCluskey was one of the most successful
drivers in USAC history. McCluskey won the USAC
sprint-car championship in 1963 and 1966 and won the USAC stock-car crown in
1969 and 1970. A fifth USAC title came in the Champ Car (Indy car) division in
1972. McCluskey owns 23 victories in both the USAC
sprint-car and stock-car divisions, and his five Indy car and four midget
triumphs give him 55-all time USAC victories. McCluskey
made 18 Indy 500 starts with a best finish of third. He is a member of the
National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of
Fame. Roger McCluskey lost his battle with cancer
just five days before his 63rd birthday on Aug. 29, 1993.
AUGUST 30
1937
Bruce McLaren ... Born ...
He was a race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor. His name lives on in
Team McLaren which has been one of the most successful in Formula One
championship history, with McLaren cars and drivers winning a total of 19 world
championships. McLaren cars totally dominated CanAm
sports car racing with 56 wins, a considerable number of them with him behind
the wheel, between 1967 and 1972 (and five constructors’ championships), and
have won three Indianapolis 500 races, as well as 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12
Hours of Sebring.
1959
Ed Elisian
... Died ... Ed was an American racing driver, mainly competing in the National
Championship. He died in a crash at the
Jiggs Peters won the 250 mile USAC/ARDC Midget race at the
Trenton International Speedway, Trenton,NJ.
Note:
Yes, that’s right a 250-mile midget race. Would you believe there have been midget
races that were even longer in distance? Like 500 miles?
SEPTEMBER 1
1957
Van Johnson and Ralph Ligouri won the 50
Mile USAC sanctioned Sprint Car races on the 1-mile dirt oval at the Langhorne
Speedway,
Note:
Yep, a couple more 50 milers for Sprint cars.
SEPTEMBER 2
1946
George Robson... Died ... AAA driver 1938 to 1946. Had 3 Indy 500 starts with
a win in 1946. Robson died with George Barringer in
an accident at the Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta, Georgia.
George Barringer
... Died ... AAA driver from the 1930's and 40's. He ran the Indy 500 six times
with a best finish of 6th in 1939. He and George Robson were killed in same
multi-car pile-up at the
1955
Bert Brooks won the NASCAR
Sprint Car race at the Morristown Speedway,
Note: If you recall, I made references to NASCAR
Midget races and “Big Car” races in past columns, but I’m being honest here –
this is the first time I’ve seen a winner listed for a NASCAR SPRINT CAR race. Very interesting, to say the least! And, through some questioning, I did get some
responses that did say that, yes; NASCAR did sanction Sprint Car races.
Note: Here is one of the responses I got back about NASCAR and them sanctioning Sprint Car races:
“Yes,
San Jose Speedway ran full fledged Sprint Cars
under NASCAR sanction up until the end of the 1990s. Super Modifieds evolved into Sprint Cars over time.
Many of the San Jose Cars also ran with the NARC
and GSC (Golden State Challenge series. NASCAR in
Daytona refused to call them Sprint Cars and instead still called them Super Modifieds. I was even told not to call them NASCAR Sprint
Cars in my writings. You can read more about this in my book "History of
San Jose Auto Racing 1903 - 2007."
Dennis Mattish
1968
Bert Brooks... Died ...
Eastern midget and sprint car driver from the 1940's, 50's and 60's. He was the
United Racing Club (URC) Sprint car champion in 1954, 1956, 1957 and 1958. He
died in an ARDC midget race at the Hershey Stadium in
Track
news – (for tracks in my area):
Accord: http://www.accordspeedway.com/
This coming Friday:
B.
Millen & Son Recycling &
$2000 to win 30 Lap
Modified Race - Eastern
States 200 Qualifier
Plus Sportsman – Spec Sportsman - Pro
Stocks – Pure Stocks-Lightning Sprints
OCFS: http://www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net/
This coming Saturday:
September
4th WLR Construction | Old Erie
Restaurant - Labor Day Weekend - Championship Night - Kids
Club – Powder Puff Race - M/SP/PRO/PS - End of Points
This coming Saturday:
Dirt
Sportsman, Pro Stock, BMS Modified, Street Stock, 4 Cylinder, Legends and Bandoleros
OVRP
– the dirt track: http://www.oaklandvalleyspeedway.com/
OVRP is closed this coming weekend.
And,
a pretty big race has been scheduled for the Oakland Valley Speedway (the Dirt
Oval) for Saturday, September 11th
More info can be found if you go here: http://www.oaklandvalleyspeedway.com/2010/08/salute-fallen-heros-september-11th/
Hamlin: http://www.hamlinspeedway.com/
Labor Day Wingless 270cc Special!
Regular Show Plus 270cc Wingless Race
The
History of the Sport:
Something a little different this week – something
about one particular car –
an Indy car named
“Basement Bessie”. Believe it or not,
“Bessie” had a 15-year career. Yes, I’ve
seen her in action on quite a few occasions!
From what I’ve read, she is in the Museum at the Indianapolis Speedway.
I found
quite an interesting article about the car some time back. A few things of what were said have been
copied and are pasted, below.
“Paul Russo and Ray Nichels constructed
this car in the basement of Russo's Hammond,
“In 1952,
Russo did not enter Bessie at the 500 and missed the show in Lutes Truck Parts
Kurtis 4000 Dirt Offy.The car was sold to H. A. Chapman and was known as the
Chapman Special at Milwaukee with his driver, one legged Midget star Bill
Schindler driving Bessie to 3rd ,finishing behind
winner Mike Nazaruk and Russo in the Lutes car in second after Bill started
18th out of 18 cars that started. There were 18 cars also missing the show
including the previous race's winner, Troy Ruttman in the 500 winning car”
“In 1953
East Coast veteran Midget racer, Ernie McCoy put Bessie in her second 500 and
the finished the "hottest 500" ever in 8th finishing all 500 miles at
123.404MPH.”
“Now for
1954 bring in another East Coast star, Johnny Thomson and Johnny put Bessie in
the inside of row two at the Greatest Spectacle but had the steering freeze up
on lap 165 and was credited with 24th place in the low attrition race.”
“Where is
she? I do not know but very few cars have scored as many points as she did in
15 seasons or over 354 points average per season.”
More
about this outstanding car, how it did, over the years, can be seen if you go
to the link, below. Also, there are
comments made which can be read.
They
are at the bottom of the article.
http://www.midgetmadness.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14909
Note: If you’re reading this on the New England
Tractor website, here is a Walt Imlay photo of “Basement Bessie” with Bill
Schindler at the wheel.
If reading
on DTD, then please go to this link, then to my column, to view the photo: http://newenglandtractor.com/racereport/
Former
Dirt Oval (
Davie
Franek was 4th in the 358 Sprint Car feature at Selinsgrove.
At
Lebanon Vally, last Thursday, Michael Storms was 4th
in the Modifed 100 lapper while Bobby Hackel, IV, won the Budget Sportsman feature.
Tiffany
Wambold was 2nd in the Rookie 270 Micro
feature at Borgers.
At
Utica/Rome, AJ Filbeck was 7th in the
Sportsman feature.
At
Michael
Storms was 8th in the Modified feature at Brewerton.
At
New Egypt, Johnny Guarino was 2nd in the
Modified feature.
Roger
Coss had a 7th and a 6th in the
Modified features at Wall Stadium.
At
Rich
Coons was 2nd in the Sportsman feature at
At
Wyalusing, Jacob Hendershot finished 2nd
in the 270 Micro Sprint feature.
BK
Rizzo was 12th in the 270 Micro Sprint feature and Cori Tufano 3rd in the 750 Sportsman Micro Sprint
feature at
At
The
CRSA 305 Sprint Cars were at OCFS and Josh Pieniazek
was 4th, Billy VanInwegen 9th,
Chuck Alessi 10th and Brittany Tresch 16th.
Also,
at OCFS, in the Modified feature, Billy was 3rd, Mike Ruggiero 17th,
Tim Hindley 24th ,
while Corey Ziegler (358 Small block) and Clinton Mills were DNQ’s.
In
the Sportsman feature, Zack Vavricka was 6th,
Brian Krummel 8th, Joe Conklin 11th,
Keith Still 13th, Matt Janiak 14th,
Anthony Perrego 15th, Jason Roe 17th,
Matt Hitchcock 20th and Doc Young 22nd.
At
Accord, in the Spec Sportsman feature, Kyle Rohner
was 9th.
In
the Sportsman feature, Mike Ruggiero was 2nd, Brian Krummel 5th, Brad Szulewski
13th and Anthony Perrego 20th.
In
the Modified feature, Danny Creeden was 4th,
Clinton Mills 16th, Jamie Yannone 23rd,
Jimmy Johnson 24th, while Greg Hastie was a DNQ.
Kenney
Johnson was 7th in the Tobias SpeedSTR feature at
Charlie
Lawrence was 15th and 14th in the two Slingshot features
at Hamlin. Rick Casario
was 20th in the 270 Micro Sprint feature. Luke Schostkewitz
was 15th in the first Wingless 600 Micro Sprint feature, and was the
winner in the second feature. Wyatt
Clark had a 10th place finish n the Rookie 270 Micros, and Joe Kata was 4th in the Rookie 600’s.
Hope
I didn’t miss anyone!
More racin’
stuff:
From last week:
Coming up:
Just a reminder about the Racing Expo show
coming up at Hnchliffe Stadium in Paterson, NJ on
Sunday, September 5th.
There
was some information about this show and photos from “Back in the day” sent out
via Facebook a few weeks ago. Here’s a link to that:
Information
about the Expo is in one of the first photos.
I see there has been a change or two.
Directions
to Hinchliffe Stadium – with thanks to Ronny Dennis:
Directions from Rt.80:
Coming from
Take Rt. 80 West to exit 55B Union Blvd./Totowa
go 2 and 4/10 miles on
to Redwood Ave. (there is an Autozone
on left) make a RIGHT onto
Redwood Ave. (you will see the stadium in front of you) go
1/10 of a mile to Totowa Ave., make a RIGHT onto Totowa Ave.,
go 1/10 of a mile to Maple Ave. make a LEFT onto Maple Ave.
Hinchliffe Stadium will be on your left.
Coming from Delaware Water Gap area:
Take Rt. 80 East to Exit 54 Minnisink
Rd./Little Falls/Totowa
Make a LEFT towards Totowa, go 7/10 of a mile to Totowa Rd.
Make a RIGHT onto Totowa Rd., go 3/10 of a mile to Union
Blvd.
make a LEFT onto Union Blvd., go approximately 1 mile to
Redwood Ave.
(there is an Autozone on left) make
a RIGHT onto Redwood Ave.
(you will see the stadium in front of you) go 1/10 of a mile
to Totowa
Ave. make a RIGHT onto Totowa Ave., go 1/10 of a mile to
Maple Ave.
Make a LEFT onto Maple Ave. Hinchliffe
Stadium will be on the left
Other forums/message boards and websites:
You might find some interesting reading if you go to the links below.
Track
Forum: - http://www.trackforum.com/forums/
Frontstretch.com:
http://www.frontstretch.com/
Jayski: - http://www.jayski.com/
Open
Wheel Racers3: http://www.openwheelracers3.com/
Race
Pro Weekly: http://raceproweekly.com/
Racing
on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
Video
time:
I
figured that since it’s been so darn hot, maybe a little “Winter”
video might be appropriate. I, most
definitely, would not want to be the photographer that’s in this video at the 2
minute and 54 second mark! Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VCW0UW_07Q&feature=related
Other
(non racing) news:
In parts:
“An indignant President Obama complained last week, “I
can’t spend all of my time with my birth
certificate plastered on my forehead.” Fine. How
about plastering a
copy of his presidential oath of office there instead? The kowtowing
commander-in-chief is in dire need of a daily reminder that his job is to
“preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the
“The report also includes a section on
“values and immigration,” which essentially singles out
“In response, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer
rightly blasted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration
for succumbing to “internationalism
run amok.” Brewer pointed out in a letter to
More on the above can be seen if you
go here:
http://michellemalkin.com/2010/09/01/arizona-vs-the-u-n-human-rights-police/
In part:
A $40 million prison sits in the desert north of
More can be seen if you go here: http://www.americablog.com/2010/08/report-us-wasted-billions-in-iraq.html
Note: Scroll down a little and read some of the comments!
And:
In part:
For
days, as thousands
of pounds of oil washed up on the Florida coast, BP officials
stuck to an "Oil? What oil?" stance. Despite
howling
by local officials, fishermen and laid-off cleanup workers, BP
officials denied all knowledge of the existence of oil in the area.
You
might want to check the comments below the article.
Is this true?:
Kinda long – from another e-mail
I received just the other day:
LOOK IT UP.
Subject: Fw: Dhimmitude???
VERY INTERESTING READ !!! WORTH THE COUPLE OF MINUTES. MAKES YOUR
BLOOD BOIL !!
|
Closing with these:
Things to do when on an elevator:
Make race car noises when anyone gets on or off.
Blow your nose and offer to show the contents of your Kleenex to other passengers.
Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering: "Shut up, damn it, all of you just shut UP!"
Whistle the first seven notes of "It's a Small World" incessantly.
Sell Girl Scout cookies.
On a long ride, sway side to side at the natural frequency of the elevator.
Shave.
Crack open your briefcase or purse, and while peering inside ask: "Got enough air in there?"
Offer name tags to everyone getting on the elevator. Wear yours upside-down.
Stand silent and motionless in the corner, facing the wall, without getting off.
When at your floor, strain to yank the doors open, then act embarrassed when they open by themselves.
Lean over to another passenger and whisper: "Noogie patrol coming!"
Greet everyone getting on the elevator with a warm handshake and ask them to call you Admiral.
One word: Flatulence!
Stare, grinning, at another passenger for a while, and then announce: "I've got new socks on!"
When at least 8 people have boarded, moan from the back: "Oh, not now, damn motion sickness!"
Meow occasionally.
Bet the other passengers you can fit a quarter in your nose.
Frown and mutter "Gotta go...Gotta go..." then sigh and say "Oops!"
Show other passengers a wound and ask if it looks infected.
Sing "Mary had a little lamb" while continually pushing buttons.
Holler "Chutes away!" whenever the elevator descends.
Walk on with a cooler that says "Human Head" on the side.
Stare at a passenger and announce "You're one of THEM!" and move to the far corner of the elevator.
Burp, and then say "Mmmm... tasty!"
Leave a box between the doors.
Ask each passenger getting on if you can push the button for them.
Wear a puppet on your hand and talk to other passengers "through" it.
Start a sing-along.
When the elevator is silent, look around and ask "Is that your beeper?"
Play the harmonica.
Shadow box.
Say "Ding!" at each floor.
Lean against the button panel.
Say "I wonder what all these do" and push the red buttons.
Listen to the elevator walls with a stethoscope.
Draw a little square on the floor with chalk and inform the other passengers that this is your "personal space."
Bring a chair along.
Take a bite of a sandwich and ask another passenger: "Wanna see wha in muh mouf?"
Blow spit bubbles.
Pull your gum out of your mouth in long strings.
Announce in a demonic voice: "I must find a more suitable host body."
Carry a blanket and clutch it protectively.
Make explosion noises when anyone presses a button.
Wear "X-Ray Specs" and leer suggestively at other passengers.
Stare at your thumb and say "I think it's getting larger."
If anyone brushes against you, recoil and holler "Bad touch!
May “Guardian Angels” sit on the shoulders of all of our race drivers and race fans, and guide them safely around the tracks!
Drive safe!
As usual, you can reach me
at: ygordad@yahoo.com