NEMA Challenge at Airborne
Brockton, MA — Although the Northeastern Midget Association has been there before (42 years ago), Saturday night’s host Airborne Speedway is brand new territory. Both NEMA and the NEMA Lites will challenge the Plattsburgh, NY half mile.
NEMA’s last visit to Airborne was 1971 when Jerry Wall drove the iconic yellow jacket to victory. It will be the third visit over all, Dave Humphrey winning in 1968.
Even Greg Stoehr, who ran Late Models at Airborne two decades ago, sees it as a new challenge.
Last week’s winner Anthony Marvuglio, back in the Bertrand 74, leads the assault on Airborne. His teammates Randy Cabral and Todd Bertrand, point leader John Zych Jr., Seth Carlson, Paul Scally and rookies Jim Chambers and Ian Cumens are all contenders.
Point leader Carl Medeiros Jr. and last week’s winner Avery Stoehr are among the Lites threats.
“Those who figure it out first have a decided advantage,” says Mike Seymour, pointing out the family has fielded many questions this week regarding the track. The challenge is, however, hardly unique for the Stoehr or Seymour families or for Dumo’s Desire crew chief Joe Fiori. “All of the tracks were new at some point,” says Stoehr, who, like the Seymours and Fiori has been setting up race cars for decades.
Cumens is part of a long list of Seymour drivers that includes both brothers.
“Back with the sprint cars we used to do it all the time,” say Seymour, who followed his dad, the legendary Boston Louie, and brother Bobby around the country with the USAC sprinters. “Everybody’s guessing,” he continues and the game is making the guessing as educated as possible.
Fiori, another who has logged many miles running sprints and midgets, will “google the layout of the track, print it on real thin paper and lay it over a photo of a similar track and gage it from there.” The key is to discover how a new track, in this case Airborne, compares to a familiar track.” The Russ Stohr-driven 45 will attack Airborne “with a baseline set up (probably Stafford) and go from there.”
Stoehr, the son and the father of a racer as is brother Russ, has “called everybody I know trying to get some information,” to help himself, daughter Bethany and nephew Avery, the latter a Lites competitor. He’s been on the computer and pictures show a layout “similar to his Late Model days.”
Stoehr suggests “those guys with longer experience with a particular chassis may figure it out sooner.”
Airborne, Stoehr reasons, “is somewhere between Stafford and Lee or Waterford.”
Seymour also believes “talking to people who run there” is the best approach and the ideal situation is talking to somebody who has also raced recently at a familiar track. “You want to compare it with someplace you know about,” he explains.
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEMA PR
Event Information:
Airborne Speedway-70 Broderick Road, Plattsburgh, NY 12901
Saturday August 3 – 6 PM
Culligan Water, Della Auto Group, Jeffords Steel, and Plattsburgh Ford present NEMA Midgets, NEMA LITES, plus Airborne Sportsman Modifieds, Limited Late Models, Renegades and Mini Mods (Modifieds – week off)
Gates Open @ 4 PM and Racing begins @ 6 PM
Adult Admission $15/Kids 12 and Under Free