Boy, What a Week

If you're a die hard race fan, you'd probably enjoy going to four events in four days. And at four tracks, too. But not all was scheduled on the appropriate day when threats of wet stuff came crashing down on Friday. This cancelled any plans of going to Stafford and therefore no regular entry for you this week. But no fear. Read on, faithful followers.

We'll start with Wednesday night and the second annual Seekonk (MA) Speedway Open Wheel Wednesday program. It was $10,000 to win and a grand total of 40 Modifieds tried their luck on the track. Of course, there happened to be a hint of controversy as I read that the Whelen Tour drivers got stuck racing in a heat together. Now what's up with that I don't know, but that really cheesed off a few people including last year's winner Donny Lia. He was in that eventful second heat along with a pack of Tour drivers including Chuck Hossfeld, Ted Christopher, Matt Hirschman, and even our Stafford representitive Frank Ruocco.

Before you say anything, let me tell you that I've read numerous opinions on this subject and I can't deny any and all words spoken. What I can tell you is this: When Hossfeld spun in the heat, Lia attempted to check up to avoid being a part of what was destined to be a wreck. When I say "destined to be", however, is when things really get going. Once Lia tried to check up, he got "run over" (using terminology from an article from Speed 51) by Ruocco. This was literally all that she wrote for Lia as he wasn't going to be around to defend his title from the previous year.

Of course, this is after running a consi with a field that was also packed with Whelen Tour drivers. How can you blame the luck of the draw? When you think it's fixed, of course. And people were really pointing fingers when True Value Modified Series driver Kirk Alexander won the race and the ten grand at the end of the night. Two more of the TVMS gang finished second and third, shaking the rattles of the WMS boys some more. Yet they calmed down some when Hossfeld became the only member of the crew to finish in the top-five, finishing fourth in a night deemed as controversial.

Another night that was in my mind was Friday and what little was run at Stafford. That night got rained out and was called off for good when a nice line of thunderstorms came across the state at around the four o'clock hour (Eastern Standard Time) and didn't wear off until about six o'clock. I was positive that the management was going to call the race earlier on in the day, but why push your luck when you've already got guys signed in and practicing? God only knows, and he won't tell answers. So we'll push this aside. We know now that another night has been called due to rain.

But things cleared up for Saturday when it was a Waterford night. And because of the previous night's rainout, Mom and I decided to go. Once again, prepare for a quick entry of "The View From Turn Four", the companion to "The View From Turn One". Now, this'll be a bit different than what I usually do for Stafford because I've used up all of my brain energy with going over Seekonk. But I can give you some winners. Sound good to you? Good! Here they are--the winners of the Bowl event of July 29th.

• SK Modifieds: Jeff Pearl
• Late Model: Tim Jordan
• Sportsman: Ron Oldham, Jr
• Mini Stock: Ken Cassidy
• Legends: Mark Bakaj (National Qualifier)

And who could forget all of the information regarding the night in question?

Other than that, I have nothing else to report on. Until Friday, can we all keep dry for a change? Thank you, and have a sweet rest of the weekend.