Archive for October 15th, 2010

NEAR Hall of Fame Class of 2011 Announced

Published at October 15, 2010 in Monadnock, NEAR, Nostalgia, Oswego, Oxford Plains, Stafford, Thompson and Twin State. 0 Comments

Literally hundreds of victories and dozens of championships are represented in the New England Auto Racer’s Hall of Fame “Class of 2011.”

Drivers Punky Caron, Dan Meservey, Russ Nutting and Jerry Dolliver, car owners Rich & Ray Garuti, Stanley “Skip” Matczak, Vic Kangas, and Speedway Scene publisher Val Lesieur will be inducted at the 14th annual induction ceremony slated to take place on January 30th at the LaRenaissance Banquet Hall in East Windsor, CT.

Still to be announced are the inductees from the Veterans Committee and the Jack Ratta Memorial (media) winner.

Additional information and ticket forms will be on the New England Antique Racers website www.near1.com in the near future.

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Stafford Motor Speedway to Honor its Track Champions at 41st Annual Champions Award Ceremony on November 19th

Published at October 15, 2010 in Stafford. 0 Comments

Stafford Springs, CT — With the 2010 Stafford Motor Speedway season concluded, the speedway will honor its track champions at the 41st Annual Stafford Motor Speedway Champions Awards Ceremony on Friday, November 19 at the La Renaissance Banquet Facility in East Windsor. A crowd of over 500 guests is expected to be on hand as the Connecticut half-mile hands out its post-season awards.

In addition to recognizing the 2010 track champions, other prestigious awards, including Most Improved Driver, Most Popular Driver, and the Reliable Welding & Speed Rookie of the Year awards will also be presented. Stafford Motor Speedway will also recognize the top-20 finishers from the 2010 SK Modified®, Late Model, SK Light, Limited Late Model, and DARE Stock points standings.

Headlining the night’s festivities, Keith Rocco will be recognized as the 2010 SK Modified® Champion, which is Rocco’s second career track championship. Ryan Posocco will be honored as the 2010 Late Model track champion, his record fifth career championship in Stafford’s Late Model division. Matt Galko became the second consecutive rookie driver to win the SK Light Modified championship, following last year’s championship effort of Michael Gervais, Jr. After being in position to win the championship last year, only to have a flat tire eliminate those hopes, Dan Flannery climbed his way to the top of the mountain and will be crowned the 2010 Limited Late Model track champion. Tony Membrino, Jr. will be honored as the third consecutive driver to win the DARE Stock championship after winning the season opening Tech-Net Spring Sizzler feature event.
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Tony Membrino, Jr. Captures 2010 DARE Stock Championship at Stafford Speedway

Published at October 15, 2010 in Stafford. 0 Comments

Stafford Springs, CT — -In what is becoming a DARE Stock tradition at Stafford Motor Speedway, Tony Membrino, Jr. won the DARE Stock championship after winning the season opening Tech-Net Spring Sizzler feature event. Membrino is the third consecutive DARE Stock driver to accomplish the feat, following Norm Sears in 2008 and Don Wood in 2009.

“It’s pretty exciting to pull off the championship,” said Membrino. “It’s still sinking in, but it’s a real good feeling. For only our second season, it’s pretty awesome to have the year we did. I think our worst finish all season long was seventh and there’s not a lot of drivers at Stafford who can say that. To put my name into the Stafford record books is a pretty awesome accomplishment.”

Membrino placed in the top-10 in all 21 races this season and he finished in the top-5 in 16 of the 21 races with his lone victory of the year coming in the season opening Tech-Net Spring Sizzler.

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Dan Flannery Takes 2010 Limited Late Model Championship at Stafford Speedway

Published at October 15, 2010 in Stafford. 0 Comments

Stafford Springs, CT — After being in position to win the Limited Late Model championship a season ago only to have a flat tire shatter his championship hopes, Dan Flannery came into the 2010 season as one of the championship favorites. After leading the championship standings for much of the year, Flannery and the #41 TSI Columbia Harley-Davidson/LaRosa Earth Group team punctuated their championship season with a thrilling victory in the season ending CARQUEST Fall Final feature.

“That’s the way to do it, it’s hard to lose the championship if you win,” said Flannery.

Flannery and the #41 TSI Columbia Harley-Davidson/LaRosa Earth Group team showed that they were once again going to be contenders for the championship with a strong showing in the season opening CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler practice sessions and heat races. But a spin in the Sizzler race left Flannery with a 13th place finish and the team spent the next month digging out of that hole, not taking the points lead until the conclusion of the May 28th feature event. After 10 consecutive top-5 finishes following his disappointing Sizzler finish, Flannery finished 8th or worse in 4 of the next 5 events, which allowed Dave Yardley, III and defending Limited Late Model track champion Andrew Durand, to claw their way back into championship contention. But Flannery made sure he was going to take the championship with a thrilling 3-wide pass on green white checkered restart to win the final race of the season.

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Matt Galko Overcomes Adversity to Capture SK Light Championship in his Rookie Season at Stafford Speedway

Published at October 15, 2010 in Stafford. 0 Comments

Stafford Springs, CT — For the second consecutive season, Stafford Motor Speedway’s SK Light Modified division has shown that a driver doesn’t necessarily need experience in order to become a track champion. Following in the footsteps of Michael Gervais, Jr., Matt Galko, who had never driven an open wheeled modified before the 2010 season, piloted the #20 Davidson Company Chevrolet to the 2010 SK Light championship.

Not only did Galko win the championship as a rookie, but he had to outduel two fellow rookie competitors, Tommy Barrett, Jr. and Joey Cipriano, III, in order to claim the championship. Galko’s path to the championship was anything but a smooth ride for himself and the Davidson team. Galko took over the points lead for the first time following the June 4th event, and with 6 podium finishes in the next 9 events, he looked like a certainty to win the track championship. But a stretch of bad luck over the final month of the season, combined with Barrett winning 8 of the 9 races leading up to the season ending CARQUEST Fall Final, had Galko sitting 6 points behind Barrett for the final race. But a flat tire sidelined Barrett early in the race and Galko went on to win the race, claiming the championship with an exclamation point.

“I told my parents I would be happy with winning either the championship or the race, I never thought I could do both, its an unbelievable feeling,” said Galko. “It feels absolutely amazing, I have no words at all. I don’t know what to say, I feel bad for Tommy, I wish he could have finished the race. I’m excited because I know my crew deserves this. I want to thank Tim Rowe from the Davidson Company because without them I wouldn’t be here at all, my Dad, Tony from T/A Engines, Mike from Magnus, Jeff Malave’s crew, everyone who helped me through the year, I couldn’t have done it without you guys. This was our goal, but I had no idea I could do it. I’m so happy we did it because everyone on this crew deserves it.”
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What’s in There

Published at October 15, 2010 in RWJM. 0 Comments

They say beauty is only skin deep. What you see on the outside is not always what you get. I have seen some good-looking racecars that don’t have what it takes to be competitive on the track. How do we know what’s in there. There is an easy way to find out if what you see is what you get. Greetings in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Tech inspection exists for the purpose of making sure the seen and unseen components conform to the rules. The necessity of having to check gives us an indication of our human nature, we tend to try and manipulate things so that we have an advantage. Is it cheating if no one catches you? I can think of many sayings we have, in and out of racing, which help us rationalize bending the rules.

“We get paid to cheat and they get paid to catch us”

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