‘6 Laps for Jack’: Oswego Speedway’s ISMA Opener Increased to 56 Laps in Honor of “Irish” Jack Murphy
OSWEGO, NY — Oswego Speedway’s staple event has long been the International Classic, and Thursday evening the racing community lost its first Classic champion, “Irish” Jack Murphy.
In honor of Murphy, whose life and legacy will be celebrated this weekend at the ‘Steel Palace,’ Oswego Speedway and ISMA Supermodified officials have come together to declare “6-Laps for Jack”, increasing Saturday night’s Shea Concrete ‘Steel Palace’ ISMA SuperSeries opener from 50 to 56-laps.
“Irish Jack” was known across the racing land as the pilot of the heralded “Shamrock 6”, and he quickly became a popular competitor of the fifties stock car era of racing across New York State and especially Oswego Speedway.
Murphy won the 1952 Oswego Speedway track championship, the 1958 ‘B’ Class Oswego championship, and was the winner of the inaugural International Classic at Oswego in 1957.
Murphy would go down in history as the only driver to win features in two different divisions in a single night of racing at Oswego Speedway.
Overall, Murphy amassed a total of 26 feature victories at Oswego between the dirt and asphalt of the smaller Speedway as well as on the larger fast 5/8 mile.
While Murphy sat behind the wheel for more than 20 years, his involvement in auto racing and in particular Supermodified racing would span over 50 years as a fuel provider and ISMA Supermodified official.
Service information and arrangements will be posted to www.oswegospeedway.com and www.ismasupers.com as soon as they become available.
Saturday’s Gater Racing News/North Country Home Builders Opening Night at Oswego Speedway will see pit gates open at 1pm, with hot laps beginning at 3pm and grandstand gates opening at 3pm. Time trials will begin for the ISMA Supermodifieds and Pathfinder Bank SBS at 5pm, with racing to follow at 6:30pm.
About Oswego Speedway: Oswego Speedway, a sports entertainment company, is a 5/8 mile semi-banked pavement racing oval located off the shores of Lake Ontario in scenic Oswego, NY. Oswego Speedway has been a continuously run weekly racing venue since August, 1951. The premier open-wheel pavement short track cars in the world, Supermodifieds, run weekly at Oswego Speedway making Oswego the only weekly Supermodified racing venue in the world. The Small Block Supermodifieds accompany the full blown Supers on a weekly Saturday night schedule which runs from May through September. Oswego Speedway is mentioned in racing circles as the “Indy of the East,” as no fewer than a dozen past and present competitors have competed at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway including Mario Andretti, arguably the greatest driver of all time, two-time Indy 500 champion Gordon Johncock, along with former International Classic Champions Bentley Warren, Joe Gosek, and Davey Hamilton.