Marvuglio Repeats Shane Hammond Memorial Victory
Hammond’s Brother Scores Second Consecutive SHM Win
Anthony Marvuglio of East Bridgewater, MA, won his first career NEMA race at Waterford Speedbowl in 2012. The annual Shane Hammond Memorial race honors Marvuglio’s older brother, who lost his life in a crash at Thompson Speedway in 2008.
However, the defending race winner had missed two races and was without a ride until the day before the race. Enter Betrand Motorsports, whose #74 was driven to victory lane at Seekonk by Doug Coby. “Its awesome; was more emotional than last year because I didn’t have a ride till Friday night (when) I got a call,” Marvuglio said. “Time to just try and keep them coming.”
Marvuglio, who started fourth, capitalized on the opportunity Saturday night; he passed Phil DiMario with 11 laps to go and led the rest of the way. “(I was) just saving my stuff. I knew I had a winning car, just waited to show what I had up my sleeve later in the race. … (It) was awesome; very smooth everything. Just had to be very fluent on the gas and steering.”
“We have finally got our ‘mojo’ back at Waterford,” car owner Tim Bertand said. “The #74 is a great little car – it is one of the least expensive cars I have ever built; it’s built with all used parts and a used engine. It’s just a very well thought out car.
“It is a one of a kind Drinan/Bertrand chassis – we built the original and we hacked it all up and changed it, and it is a 15 year old VW Autocraft engine.”
Marvuglio called it a ‘huge honor’ to drive the latest Bertrand machine. “Thanks for everyone who has supported and stuck by me-John and Sons Barber Shop, Good Morning Restaurant, Mom, Pa, Ryan, (and) the whole Bertrand family.”
Bertrand Motorsports set a new NEMA record with Marvuglio’s victory. Marvuglio was the fourth driver to win for Bertrand this season. Todd Bertrand, Doug Coby and Randy Cabral also won earlier this year. This bests the old record of 3, set by NEAR Hall of Famer Ed Stone in 1959 with Bill Randall, Dick Brown and Red Marlowe. Multi-time NEMA owner champion Smokey Secondo matched it in 1966 with Walter Gale, Dave Humphrey and King Carpenter.
“Very cool,” Bertand said. “We race NEMA to have fun – the fact that we break records and win races comes from a ton of homework in the garage. We never stop thinking about the cars.”
Bertrand said that the driver lineup is not finalized for the #74 going forward. In the short term, Marvuglio will return for this weekend’s race at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, New York. Joey Mucciacciaro, who drove the car at Stafford, may pilot it at Waterford. He hopes to have Doug Coby drive it again as well.
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com