Bowl’s Dailey needs Strong SK-150 effort
Waterford, CT — Does last year’s horrific crash haunt Waterford Speedbowl SK-Modified competitor Wendell Dailey?
“It’s the screen saver on my computer, you know the picture where Jeffrey Paul appears to be going underneath me,” he answers. “I see it every day.”
Dailey will be in the same car in the $20,000 SK-150, the headline event of the Speedbowl’s season-opening 12th annual Budweiser Modified Nationals April 12-13. The 10-division “Nats” also features, in addition to the ‘Bowl’s Late Model, Sportsman, Mini Stock and Legends divisions, the Northeastern Midget Association, the NEMA Lites, the Allison Legacy Cars, Pro4 Modifieds and AllStar Race Trucks.
While he admits “the only time I remember being scared in a race car was right in the middle of that wreck, right after the first hit,” what he “envisions” looking at the pictures is “all the bills that came in putting the car back together. The cost was about what it takes to run a whole season.
“Every time we went to get a part from the pile it was bent so we had to straighten it or buy a new one,” he continues. “The engine had six races on it and we had to send it back out.” Nonetheless, he was back immediately in his “old car.”
Now Dailey, a true low bucker, is determined to start the season out on a “good roll.” It begins in the all-important SK qualifying. Dailey wants to “break the twos,” to post times in the very low 14 seconds bracket. “That’s a little much to bite off,” he says, “but that’s the goal so let’s see if we can do it.”
“We don’t get a chance to time trial that often,” he says, “so to go out there and post a time to brag about is something to shoot at.” He was seventh fastest last year and doing that in the company of guys like Jimmy Blewitt, Frank Ruocco, Ted Christopher and the local hotshots amounted to “pretty good bragging rights for a low buck guy.”
The company will be no less tough this time around. There is a group of competitors who have won Speedbowl polls in the past including current SK record holder Jimmy Horton, Ted Christopher, Rob Summers and “regulars” Jeff Pearl and Dennis Gada. The list also includes ’06 winner Ruocco and reigning NASCAR state champ Woody Pitkat.
SK time trials begin qualifying on Saturday, April 12. Heats and consolations will follow for the other divisions. The Legends, NEMA Lites, Pro4, AllStar Truck and Allison Legacy Car features will be Saturday night.
The SK-150 will share Sunday with extra-distance events for the Late Models (50 laps), Sportsman (30) and Mini Stocks (30) and a 25-lap Midget feature. The annual pit party will kick off the activity.
Sources: Dave Dykes/Waterford Speedbowl PR