Around the Track with Jalopy Jack
As most of you know, this past Saturday at Wall Stadium was the Garden State Classic. And guess what? We’ll have it there next year again! Wall Stadium’s good to go for 2010! Now this doesn’t mean you’ll take it for granted. The place still needs your support and it’ll not be forever. The racing’s as good as ever and the shows are being put on in a good professional manner. So now’s the time.
I was kept wondering what 150 laps was going to be like for the Modifieds. For the most part they behaved themselves. Twenty-two cars showed up with the usual time trial format, which means that the top 8 redraw. Stevie Reed set fast time with “Showtime” Jimmy Blewett just about 5 ticks off. Stevie Reed drew third position and Blewett drew 8th. To fill out the front 2 rows we had Shaun Carrig in the #91 on the pole with the #77 Anthony Sesely outside pole and the #81 Tim Arre, outside of Reed. The format was 2 tires to be declared before time trials. Cars were doing time trials and starting the race without changing tires or adding fuel. It was to be double file restarts for the first 125 laps, with a warning that unacceptable behavior would warrant single file restarts at any time. Also the first 100 laps, the caution laps would be counted and the final 50 laps all green.
Well good behavior or not, the crowd sat stunned on what happened the very first lap. There were all wheel to wheel and going thru Turn 4, Tim Arre started to spin. He tried to save it. The tail went to the inside, he tried to save that and the tail went to the outside and hit the wall, probably faster then he would have originally. He came off the wall and right into Jimmy Blewett! The red flag was thrown and before an original restart, the #81 and #5 were hauled off on flat bed trucks. The race resumed with Carrig leading and soon challenged by Reed. Reed soon got by and nobody but nobody, was able to pass Reed from then on. And that’s the best I can give you officially.
You can do what you want with the official finish. The way I got it was there were only 5 cars that finished 150 laps. I got Shaun Carrig second, the #97 Robert Geibel third, the #77 Anthony Sesely fourth and #27 Adam LaCicero fifth. It appeared to me that at least 4 cars made pit stops with caution laps counting and they were given a free pass. I know for sure that the #99 Chas Okerson lost at least 1 lap on the first restart and on the next restart, I’ve seen him appearing seventh. Sure enough, he was announced as seventh. I’m using #99 as a model because he appeared to be the fastest of those that pitted. He never pitted again but as far as I’m concerned, the damage was done as far as losing a lap. The only car that didn’t pit at all was #55.
I know he had Blewett out of the way but regardless, Reed drove a really good race. There happened to be a restart right on Lap 101. Just about everybody pitted at that time as with 50 green flag laps left, it seemed the thing to do. The only other car besides Reed that didn’t pit by then was #77. He pitted the next restart. Now I got some arguments here. Has to be somebody besides me who knew what was going on. I say the #77 waited to pit because he knew there weren’t that many cars on the lead lap. After the restart in which the #77 pitted, Reed had a strong challenge in the way of Will Farrell. Farrell would close in and Reed would pull away.
Everybody knew who had the fresh tires. I’m sure a lot of people had confidence that Farrell would get by. Well, there was a restart with about 15 to go. Farrell stopped on the finish line and was shown the black flag. He was leaking and there wasn’t any time to do anything about it…he was done for the night. From that point on, the #91 appeared to be fourth. I say he was really second. The #99 was on the tail of the leader and the #7 was right behind him. I’d say that the last 10 laps, especially in lapped traffic, things were looking a bit scary for Mr. Reed. But the #99 never even pulled a long side. The point is though, that #91 would’ve had to get by a fast #7 and #99 to challenge Reed.
Now here’s my final argument as to whatever reason all these cars were scored on the lead lap, compared to my simple figures. In Victory Lane, Reed said that #99 was watching his back. Why didn’t he say the #99 was challenging? Reed had to know that #99 was a lap down. One other thing I want to say about this race. That’d be #98 John McCormack, John drove a good steady alert race. For some reason he started to fade in the 90’s and got lapped. He pitted with most of the field on 101 and looked good the rest of the way. He never got lapped again.
My concern’s that John got cheated out of a top 10 finish, because of all these cars that for some reason, were given their lap back. Other divisions had good racing also. It was to my surprise that the Sportsmen were on hand and some guy took that from the pole in which the only surprise was that Kevin Eyres spun to the infield on a restart. But the other races are more worthy of your reading then that one. In the past few years there’s been a talented youngster that makes it to Wall to race in the Legends division. He has bought a #15 coupe and usually wins when he comes. This time, he came without that #15 and picked up a ride in the #11 coach.
This particular car has only made recent appearances at Wall without fan fare. This driver took over the car and started outside pole. He held off a very hot #0 Mark Tischler, who’s been there at every show and another hot car, #14 Bryan Gardella who’s been making sporadic appearances this season and I’ve got to tell you, that if anybody else was in that #11, that the #0 and #14 would’ve dropped him like a hot potato. But that didn’t happen because inside the #11 this time was Ryan Flores. Hopefully, Ryan will be back for the 40 lapper on 8/1. He has won that race 2 out of the last 3 runnings. In the Street Stocks in which only 15 cars were taking part, the #09 of Gregg Miranda started on the pole. He’s been there before but it hasn’t worked out. Every week he seems to look better and get faster, but always manages to get in a tangle or get dumped. This time he made the pole work and let all 25 laps. The #14 Elliott Wohl found himself getting spun out of a top 5 position by the #11 Carl Thomas, who could do no better then fourth this time around. I’ve got news that Carl Thomas will be there this Saturday night 7/25 with a TQ Midget. The TQ’s are making their first appearance of the season and it’s a good one as it’ll be the Tony Romit Memorial and it’ll be 30 laps with at least $750 to the winner. Back to this past Saturday, 1 race left to comment on and that’s the Factory Stocks. They came out with 19 cars and they did the 20 laps non-stop. The #61 car with Vinnie Greene led almost the whole way. For every inch he led, it was the same challenger all the way around. That’s the original “People’s Driver”, the #43 Richard Petey. Petey told me before the show that his transmission was in serious trouble. It wound up that he did the entire race in the second year. Lap traffic was a factor numerous times and that was the only times Petey could get a long side the #61. The second gear didn’t allow him what it took to try the outside. Nobody got close to these two. So a good night of racing that was over at 10:20PM and the news that Wall’s back next year, is the icing and sprinkles on top of an already delicious cake.
I have not had the time to dig into the dismissal of Tony George. I know a lot of people were disgusted with him for a long, long time. I hope to find out something as to the meaning of this for either next week or the following column. Meantime, I see that Bobby Santos III has won another USAC race. You know something? I actually hope that this ties in. I hope to meet Bobby Santos at the big races this fall in New England. I’m wondering if his interest in payment racing has him thinking about Indianapolis. Could it be that the Ouster of Tony George could possibly lead to more American drivers going to Indy cars and maybe, just maybe on merit and not so much as the all mighty dollar? I’d like to say that time will tell, but maybe I can get a little more into this and come up with some insight. While on the subject of Indy cars, I may have recently questioned on what would be NASCAR’s next stunt to fill empty seats after the adoption of double file restarts. Could that be the signing of Danica Patrick?
How about the nerve of what Riverhead Raceway did this past weekend. They have the annual Jarzombek/Evans/Blewett Memorial race. For a recent train of thought, they must’ve known that they’re putting Jimmy Blewett in an uncomfortable conflict with the Garden State Classic. But overall, I feel that Riverhead’s being greedy, callous and unfeeling about any other tracks that should host a memorial race. OK, I understand that this is the track that should have a memorial to Charlie Jarzombek.
A John Blewett III Memorial should be held at Wall, or if not at Thompson. Well actually the Blewett Memorial will be at Wall on 8/15. So where does Riverhead get off on that one? And there’re quite a few tracks which could have a Richie Evans Memorial, but Riverhead’s definitely not 1 of them. I’d feel that a track in upstate New York or in New England would be much more appropriate for an Evans Memorial.
While on the subject of Modifieds, I expressed on how happy I am about the appearance at Bristol on 8/18, which will be televised that very same night. But guess what folks? Leave it to NASCAR. There’s a fly in the ointment, you’ve all heard of invitationals I hope? Any invitational that I’ve heard of was public knowledge. While this Bristol Modified race is an invitational and I’m wondering, just how [besides here] the public’s going to find out. If they choose to make this public knowledge, their stance will be that they want the most experienced drivers. This would include the drivers who’ve proven themselves consistently on the Whelen Tours, whether north or south. But when fans find out that their favorite and successful local drivers aren’t going to Bristol, aren’t they going to wonder why? Can every one of those drivers give the proper NASCAR excuse? Now some of us know that a certain amount of Cup drivers are going to be in the field. I wish I knew who and how many. But here’s the thing. If every Modified jockey who thinks they got a chance to make the 36 car starting field go down, wouldn’t that leave the possibility that some Cup drivers would embarrassingly not make the cut? No way, NASCAR and the associated establishment aren’t going to take a chance on national TV. This aspect of chosen drivers goes deeper then Bristol and has been in effect for quite some time. I wish I can promote a race for every Modified driver that wants to be there and won’t have that special plate at the party.
It’s the Brickyard this coming week. It’s a race that I’ll be in front of my TV for. I’ll have confidence that even though it’s NASCAR, that it won’t be a repeat of last year’s bad year 400.
Aside from getting down and dirty, that’ll do it for this week. If you got a race car it belongs in the pits of a speedway this weekend and if it’s just your butt, it belongs in the stands of a speedway this weekend. In your spare time you can hear what else I have to say on WLAR [We Love Auto Racing] at 718-707-1052 and its 24/7. And remember, if they’re too damn fast, just start them last. If you see they’re not doing that, say something. If enough of you say something at the same place at the same time, maybe the races will be that much better. So with the power invested in me from 48 years of going to the races, keeping the fans in the stands and the cars on the track, this has been Jalopy Jack.