NEMA Midgets Make An Appearance At Monadnock
Winchester, NH — The NEMA Midgets made their first appearance of the season at Monadnock Speedway during the Memorial Day Weekend Holiday. It was the first of three appearances. On Saturday night, Joey “The Jersey Jet” Payne took down the win after a caution filled race. Randy Cabral who was going for three in a row came home with a 2nd place finish and Lou Cicconi came home in 3rd. Most of the drivers ran out of fuel during the race. A driver that took a hit in the championship standings was Nokie Fornoro. Nokie hit the wall during the qualifier and did not make it back out for the 25 lap race.
During the day teams were preparing their cars and most drivers would tell you that this is a driver’s track. A veteran who was there to race the high banks was none other then Nokie Fornoro. Nokie who is in his 34th racing season began his racing career back in 1974. He started out with the ATQMRA (American Three Quarter Midget Racing Association). His goal back then was to run USAC with the Indy Cars. The way to move up the ladder was you started in a three quarter midget. With the cost of gas rising across the country, Nokie remembers having a 1969 Camaro Super Sport with a 396 rat motor. Nokie remembered back in 1976 that he could get Sunoco 260 for 79 cents a gallon. Nokie brought a new car with him to the track and was shaking the bugs out of it. Last year, Nokie’s old car was name Lulu. The car was named after Nokie’s car owner’s wife Lucille.
Another championship contender to watch is 21 year old Jeremy Frankowski out of New York. Jeremy who is driving for John Seaman this year tested at Waterford last Friday but was ready to race at Monadnock on Saturday. Frankowski believes Monadnock is the most challenging track that NEMA comes to. “It’s very challenging. Make sure your hitting your marks every lap,” Frankowski said.
Jeremy believes that turn 3 and 4 is the most challenging. Frankowski, who got his first win at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway last July. Beech Ridge is not on the schedule this year for the midgets. Frankowski would love to win either at Thompson or Stafford. “Those are great tracks to win and race at. I need to redeem myself at Waterford. Waterford has been a struggle for me,” Frankowski said.
To help him prepare for the midget race last year at Monadnock, Jeremy ran in the 25 lap Monadnock Speedway Super Stock race. “It was a big difference. It definitely does not have as much down force as it does. You have to be easy on the throttle. I had a lot of fun.
Tim Bertrand who owns the # 47 Midget driven by Randy Cabral was on hand working on the midget. This season a NEMA Light division will be started. Tim’s brother Todd will be running in the NEMA light series. A total of 15 drivers have registered for the Light series. The way it works with a NEMA lights is the cars are the same as a NEMA midget. The Lights have to run a Ford Focus engine or a quad 4 engine that must follow Whip City Speedway rules. “The NEMA Lights was a good deal. My dad and I have gone partners on the engine program. The car I already had. It wasn’t really a big investment for us to move to that series. I like the idea of this series.” Bertrand Said.
Randy Cabral out of Plymouth, MA was on hand. Cabral who was raced in the Pro 4 Modified. Cabral was a little nervous about getting that third win a row. “Trying to get used things. Hopefully we will be alright. Last year we weren’t that great here,” Cabral Said.
Cabral might have to miss one race because he took a new job. He took a new job as a janitor at Plymouth High School. He hopes to get time off for that race. Cabral came home with a 2nd place finish on Saturday night.
Adam Cantor hales out of Dix Hills, NY. Cantor believes that this is a driver track. “I don’t think you need a ton of horsepower here. It’s all about corner entry and corner exit and how you position yourself to go into these corners. By the time you get into that corner it is so tight and everyone is stacked up,” Cantor said.
For the first two races of the year, Cantor ran at Waterford and came out with a 4th and 6th place finish. Cantor is running a new car this season with the club. Last season, Cantor was involved in an accident at Seekonk Speedway in practice and the car was destroyed.
Cantor was friends with the late Tom Baldwin. Baldwin who was tragically killed in a crash at the Thompson Speedway back in August 2004. Adam’s father Alan worked on Baldwin’s race cars. One thing that Baldwin thought to Adam was stand up for yourself on the race track. “He was a hard nose old school racer. He didn’t take any bs from anybody. He was a real genuine person.” Cantor said.
Cantor works for Baldwin Automotive down in Long Island.
One driver to look out for during the 2008 season is Joey Payne. Many fans who know him as the jersey jet. Before the race last Saturday at Monadnock Speedway. Payne went and tested at Waterford. The test went well for Payne and believes that the rest of the 2008 season will be strong. Payne believes that the speeds are up but that Monadnock is a tight bull ring. “You gotta be on the wheel. There are 24 midgets out there for the feature. It gets tight and that’s what I like about midget racing. I enjoy short track racing,” Payne said.
One goal for the 2008 season for Payne is to win the NEMA championship. Payne went into the season finale at Thompson leading the points last season. He had some engine troubles. “Now there are 10 to 12 cars that could win any day. The competition has gotten so much tougher. One bad day and it puts you out,” Payne said.
One thing Payne would love to do before he calls it a career is drive a modified. Payne believes it’s a must. He was interviewed with some top notch rides. “The one thing that always has not been in my favor is I wasn’t born a rich boy. I know damn well I have the talent to drive a modified and compete with the tour guys. I just don’t have a pocketful of money that I could go to a team and say hey here is my $100,000 you want let’s go racing. It just doesn’t work that way with me,” Payne said.
Payne who is good friends with Jimmy Blewett let him drive his SK Modified last year at the North South Shootout down in Concord, NC. Blewett’s car blew up and Joey had to get out of the ride. They have a couple of cars and hopefully Eddie (Partridge Blewett’s car owner) will let me drive one of his tour cars. It’s Jimmy ride and Jimmy and I are good friends and maybe one day they can bring a back up car to fulfill my dream,” Payne said.
Last August, Payne lost a good friend. John Blewett, III was tragically killed at Thompson Speedway after racing with his brother for the lead at lap 107 of the scheduled 150 laps in the NASCAR Whelen Tour Modified Event. “John and I had gotten real close over the last 5 to 6 years. We used to talk maybe once or twice a week. The day that John died. I had called and left him a message on his phone saying I just wanted to wish him good luck and be safe. I never got to talk to him that day. It was a rough day and to this day I love racing but I lost a good friend and it still hurts,” Payne said.
Payne’s son Joey III is working his way up the racing ladder. This season Joey, III will be racing in three quarter midgets. Joey will be racing at Mountain Speedway, Chemung Speedrome and the Waterford Speedbowl. People also refer to him as the little jet. Joey feels that his dad has taught him everything about race cars. Joey hopes one day to follow into his father’s footsteps.
Sources: Matt Wiernasz