For August 21, 2003

There hasn’t been much discussion about a water shortage this summer around the New England area. Rain, and more rain, has been plentiful. Most of the liquid has, seemingly, poured down on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays; creating havoc within the auto racing fraternity. Just about every NASCAR track in the region has been forced to run makeup races or double features to ensure they get in the minimum requirement of 18 shows for their competitors to qualify for the national Winston Racing Series (WRS) championship. Even the non-NASCAR sanctioned facilities are trying desperately to add programs in order to stave off financial ruin.

   The lone exception to this theme appears to be Thompson International Speedway. While most tracks have endured as many as five or six rainouts, Thompson has had only one date lost to the weather. A couple of race nights had to be called earl, but features were continued at the next meet. The northeast Connecticut 5/8-miler has seen threatening weather for their Thompson Thursday Night Thunder shows, but they’ve somehow managed to get them in. The Hoenig family must have an IN with the “Weather Gods”.

   This past Thursday, with the NASCAR Featherlite Modifieds (NFM) headlining the evening’s festivities, the weatherman cooperated fully. It dawned a beautiful, warm, and sunny day. The fans responded and the grandstands were full to capacity. The Pits were swarming with competitors and there was promise of a great afternoon/evening of racing ahead.

   The NFM time trials were first on the docket. Bob Polverari went out early and set fast time of 19.076 seconds. Car after car tried to knock Polverari’s #71 off the Pole, but each fell short. I envisioned my headline for this column as I put a twist on Bob’s surname, calling him Bob “Pole”verari. Ah, it was not to be. The forty-third, and final, car to take time was John Blewitt III. He put together a fantastic lap and bumped “Pole”verari from the perch. My headline was gone, and it was Blewitt who blew it for me with his superb run of 19.021. I guess now I’ll have to refer to the driver of the #71 NFM machine as Bob “Outside” Polverari. Just as a note of interest, Blewitt finished sixth in the 150-lapper and Polverari copped tenth.

  The 150-lapper was run at near-record pace with only two cautions marring the event; the first came on the opening lap and the second on the 39^th circuit. For the first time in my recent memory, there was very little battling up front for the win. There were only two lead changes among three drivers. Jimmy Kuhn, Jr led the first six trips around. Todd Szegedy took over the top spot on lap seven and held it until Mike Stefanik took control on lap 43. Stefanik then took command for the final 107 markers and put his mount in Victory Lane. I know there are those mod “Fanatics” that will say it was a great race, but I thought it was a tad boring; kinda like “Freight Train” racing.

   It was action galore in the Thompson weekly divisions as they put on a whale of a show for the assembled masses. The Mini Stocks were first out with their 15-lap main and only two yellows slowed the race. Bill Schoeler, who has suffered more than his share of misfortune this year, led from green to checker to notch his initial win of the 2003 season. It was nice to see a deserving candidate come out on top. Let’s hope there’s more in store before the campaign winds down.

   Scott Cook, former Limited Sportsman champ, took the lead from Bill Davis on lap-8 and held off determined charges from Keith DeSanctis and Scott Sundeen before prevailing. It was Cook’s first victory of 2003 and he was a happy camper in Victory Lane.

  Eric Berndt bested Todd Ceravolo in the Sunoco Mod ranks with Ron Yuhas, Kerry Malone and Bobby Santos III rounding out the top five finishers. Scott Bronczyk held off a determined Rick Gentes for win in the Late Model 25-lap feature. In the Pro Stock division, Jeff Connors and GeGe Gravel waged a torrid fight at the front before Connor’s was able to nip Gravel at the stripe. Top “Rookie” contender in the Pro class, Ryan Vanesse, had another great run as he came across sixth at the checker. Vanesse is ever so close and this corner predicts a win for the youngster before the season ends.

   During the afternoon practice sessions, yours truly went strolling (actually riding in a golf cart) through the pits and chatted with many of the drivers/owners/crewmen. It was the Pro Stock division that wanted to talk the most, and loudest. The previous Thursday night’s Pro feature had an incident develop that seems to have caused some controversy and consternation, among race teams, track management, and even some race fans. I wasn’t at that particular race, so what you read here will be hearsay and innuendo. You can sort through it and form your own opinions.

   Here’s the situation: The race was extra-distance, a 75-lapper, with an added purse on the line. The weather at the start of the main was overcast and threatening, to say the least. With 25-laps into the books, an accident slowed the field and set up a double-file restart.

   Now comes the controversy! Some say it was misting slightly, others claim it was raining fairly hard, and a third segment vows that nothing was falling form the sky. The green flag waved. As the field thundered into turn one, a massive pile-up ensued involving most of the top 10 or 12 cars. By now, it was raining heavily. Owners and drivers were screaming, many fans were howling their disapproval, and it was all being directed toward the Thompson officials, mostly the flagman and the race director. Racecars had to be pried apart from the carnage and, in some cases, shoveled onto their haulers. Some were so badly damaged that they couldn’t be repaired in time for this weeks show. Much has been said and written about the incident since.

   Rollie Lindblad, who owns the #48 Pro Stock driven by Chuck Docherty, was the most vocal of those I spoke with. “There was no need of that race being restarted under those conditions,” said Lindblad. He went on to state, “It was unsafe. They just wanted to get to halfway (38 laps) and have the race officially declared complete. It cost me over three grand, and 65 man-hours of labor to get here today. I’m in the hole even if we win.”

   In talking to Jeff Connors, the pole sitter when the restart went green, he wasn’t quite so vocal, but he was no less upset. “I didn’t think the track was safe. I really thought we were going to take a few more laps under caution before they made a decision. It’s cost me over $2,000 to fix this thing (racecar), not to mention all the hours we put in during the week.”

   Joe Lemay, driver of the #8 Pro Stock, had his version of events. “I think it was an iffy call to go green. And to me, if it’s iffy, then we should have waited. I spent $2,200 and burnt an awful lot of midnight oil to make it back tonight. I’m not overly happy with the situation.”

   Jeff Zuidema, one of the drivers who had restarted mid-pack and was able to avoid the wreck, chimed in with his opinion. Before I relate that to you, let me say that Jeff is a competitor that I’ve known for many a year, and I respect his opinions greatly; not that I don’t respect and believe everyone else I spoke with. It’s just that I have relied on Zuidema in the past to be forthright with me and have never been led astray by him. Also, in no way do my feelings on this issue side with management or racers. I’m trying to be neutral, but honest in the matter. Remember, I wasn’t there.

   Anyway, Zuidema’s quote was, “When the flagman dropped the green, I thought the track was safe enough to give it a go. However, as soon as he threw the green, it was like the Heaven’s opened. The rains came pouring down. If I was on the box, I would have tried to run it (the race).”

   Other drivers I chatted with had varying views on what happened, covering all sides of the spectrum; some positive, some negative, and some who had no comments.

   Next, I went to Brooksie (race director Dick Brooks) who had the final say in whether to go racing or hold up for a few minutes. This was Brooksie’s side. “I got on the horn (radio) with the track crew down in turn 3 at the time and they told me the track looked good. None of the drivers were saying anything bad about track conditions, and the spotters weren’t complaining. I figured it was safe to go. If anyone had said it looked bad, we would have waited a while.”

   Tony Leckey, the Thompson flagman, basically said the same thing. “It looked okay as we prepared to let them go, but as my arm started waving the flag, it seemed like someone just started pouring buckets of water from above. I was devastated by the end result. He went on to say, “I felt horrible. Then, as I was leaving the speedway, Jeff Zuidema came up to me and told me that he would have done the same thing if he were in my shoes at the time. That made me feel a little better, but I took so much heat from some others that I still feel bad about what happened. Not quite as guilty, but still I wonder.”

   I didn’t stop there. It was off to the grandstands to get the views of the race fans. I must have talked to thirty people and got forty-five different stories; some had more than one tale to tell. Isn’t that always the way? Some told me it was raining on one end of the track and not the other; some said it was on both ends. A few said it was pouring, some claimed misting, and a few said it wasn’t doing anything. Who, and what, to listen to? I’m sure that everyone who voiced their opinions believed wholeheartedly in what they were telling me.

   I reported the facts as they were relayed to me. I have drawn my own conclusions, and that is that I may never know for sure what actually transpired last Thursday. I now leave it up to you, the reader, to decide for yourself what took place.

   I do know that even more controversy has developed since the incident occurred. We all know that when a racecar is involved in an accident, he has to go to the rear of the field to restart the race; or does he? Not necessarily, according to Thompson officials. As in most cases, there is always an exception to the rule.

   When the 25^th lap restart took place, it was deemed the pole sitter jumped the start. Even if the melee hadn’t developed in turn 1, the yellow was going to come out and another attempt was going to be made to get a proper start. What that means, I think, is that the race never actually got an official restart green flag. If it didn’t get a green, then there couldn’t have been an official accident; could there?

   Huh!!! I’m confused. Yet, I guess there is some sort of rationalization to that decision, if you think long enough about it. For what it’s worth, I agree with that ruling, not that my agreeing or disagreeing makes a diddlers damn one way or another.

    All the cars involved in that fracas will now be allowed to go back to their original starting slot before the rains interrupted the proceedings. This should mollify the victims of the crash somewhat, but it doesn’t make those who avoided the crash overly happy, and you really can’t blame them for that. Oh well, we’ll just have to wait until next Thursday (Aug 28) to see the final outcome of the Pro Stock 75-lapper.

   Stafford finally had a decent day last Friday and saw a good field of cars and packed grandstands for a weekly show. Stafford has probably suffered more than most facilities by the inclement weather. Jeff Baril grabbed honors in the 50-lap SK mod race, his first ever career win at the ˝-mile track. Ryan Posocco took laurels in the first of two 35-lap Late Model features, while Jay Stuart took the checker in the second LM main. Stacey Botticello won her first feature of 2003 in the DARE Stock ranks.

   At Waterford, Dennis Gada made it two straight in the SK division, while Bruce Thomas, Jr also won his second consecutive feature in the Late Models. Jonathan Avery went green to checker in the Sportsman class, and the Mini Stock race was put off until the opening of this week’s card due to imposed time limit constrictions.

   The American/Canadian Tour (ACT) was at Seekonk last Saturday and the rains came before they could complete the 100-lap grind. The remaining 58 circuits will be run at a date to be named in the near future. The track did manage to get in some feature racing and young Todd “Who”Annarummo bested the best as the Rookie contender garnered his initial victory in the Pro Stock ranks. His dad, Vinnie “Who”, came home third with Billy Manchester sandwiched between the family duo.

   Ben Rowe romped to his sixth Pro All Star Series (PASS) win of the season at Scotia Speedway, just outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Rowe has been the class of the PASS field of late and he seems headed for the series’ crown at the pace he is setting. PASS will be at Speedway 95 in Hermon, ME (on the outskirts of Bangor) on Aug 28. Speedway 95 is my old stomping grounds of my days of youth and methinks I’ll try to make it up there for that show. Hopefully, I’ll see some of you there.

   That’s a wrap. My thought to leave you with is, “Those who live by the sword, get shot by those who don’t.” My “Move Across America” (all 18 miles of it) is complete. I have a new address and telephone number. As of today, any news/notes/comments/suggestions can reach me at a 15 Carue Dr, No. Scituate, RI 02857-1012. The phone rings at (401) 764-0075 and my e-mail remains onthyme60@aol.com.

Until next we meet, think racing and remember to support those who support the sport.

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