Video of May 6

I was going to fling something up today, in vlog form. Circumstances have popped up this week that have prohibited me from doing that. (Pretty sure if I do this tonight, I won't be in the mood to say anything other than a few obsenities.)

So enjoy the video put together by the track this week. I apologize for anything that might have come up.



What is neglected to be said here is that Zach Aszklar was disqualifed for not meeting the minimum ground clearance requirement. Your link to this penalty is here.

Spring Sizzler Sunday Vlog

I'm back with another vlog. This time, from Sunday's action.



The penalty in question is found this one.

Spring Sizzler Saturday Vlog

This season, I will be doing vlogs instead of full on articles.

I'll be doing the Sunday edition when I get up. For now, however, enjoy the vlog on Saturday's action.



The penalty in question would be this one.

...In Which I Give Cliff Notes

Okay, so after some personal issues arose, I could not make it to the track for the final Friday night race of the season. They were issues out of my control. I should be good to go for the Fall Final.

What I will do, however, is give you some results - I need to catch up myself on what I missed.

And here's the video recap of the events. Pretty nice finish in the Limited Late Models; not the way you want to work a post-race interview in Victory Lane, however...

And Now, for Something Completely Different.

I said I was going to get this out on Thursday, but an early Friday morning post must be a lot better. As most of you know, last Saturday was the first Whelen Modified Tour/K&N Pro Series race at Lime Rock Park. I was there and took a few photos and videos for you. First up, here's the video in three parts.







And for the pictures, here are a few of them for the time being. All of them can be found on my Webshots account.




The event will be seen on Speed channel on the 24th of July. (Of course, this will be edited if I forgot the date and it's wrong.)

Extreme Tuesday Results

On a Wednesday. Yes, sorry, but this is what happens when it's a hot and busy week here in New England. When is that cooler weather coming, by the way?

Anyway, here are the results of the CARQuest Extreme Tuesday. I didn't go, so you're getting them in press release and YouTube form. Both link and video are courtesy of the track. Neither are mine.

The press release (includes full finish results)

The video


Stay tuned for tomorrow. I've got something special I want to show you.

Blast From Last Year

In my attempts to get stuff done over the course of the winter, I desperately tried to upload a particular three videos to YouTube. I had failed at getting them up in a grand total of three attempts until a couple of weeks ago.

I was also planning on sharing this video with you at some point in time before the season actually began - I figure now's a perfect time to do just that.

Here is a trip down memory lane for you. On the rainy Saturday of the Fall Final last season, I had recorded three separate videos of the Whelen Modified Tour in a few practice sessions. Enjoy the following YouTube clip, courtesy of my own page.

VFT1 vlog: SK Modified Points Match

Well, I've decided to do a little something different in discussing what I wanted to discuss. I made a video instead of writing this down.

Hear me talk about the SK Modified points situation going into tonight's event:

CARQuest Extreme Tuesday Results

I didn't show up last night (those kinds of events just aren't my style), but I'm here to give you the feature finishes and YouTube.

ISMA SUPERMODIFIED (50)
1) Chris Perley, Rowley, MA
2) Bentley Warren, Kennebunkport, ME
3) Russ Wood, Pelham, NH
4) Mark Sammut, London, Ontario
5) Mike Ordway, Jr., Fremont, NH
6) Eric Lewis, Solvay, NY
7) Otto Sitterly, St. Johnsville, NY
8) Craig Rayvals, Brockville, Ontario
9) Jamie Timmons, N. Andover, MA
10) Dave Trytek, Oswego, NY
11) Ben Seitz, Bourne, MA
12) Jeff Abold, Pennellville, NY
13) Jerry Dinnen, Danbury
14) Dave McKnight, Brampton, Ontario
15) Vern Romanoski, Strong, ME
16) Dave Duggan, Milford, NH
17) Dan Lane, Essex, MA
18) Jeff Locke, Raymond, NH
19) Dave Sanborn, Tilton, NH
20) Gene Lee Gibson, Sandusky, OH
21) Mike Lichty, Innerkip, Ontario
22) Mike Keeler, Danbury, CT
23) Rob Summers, Vernon
24) Robert Timmons, Jr.
25) Bobby Haynes, Jr., Riverton, CT
26) Lou Cicconi, Aston, PA
27) Eric Emhoff, Union
28) Larry Lenhert, New London, OH

NEMA MIDGET (30)
1) Nokie Fornoro, Stoundsburg, PA
2) Randy Cabral, Plymouth, MA
3) Adam Cantor, Dix Hills, NY
4) Greg Stoehr, Lakeville, MA
5) Jeff Horn, Ashland, MA
6) Russ Stoehr, Bridgewater, MA
7) Michael Barnes
8) Paul Scally, Raynham, MA
9) Chris Leonard, Pelham, NH
10) Erica Santos, Franklin, MA
11) Chris DeRitis, PA
12) Abby Martino, Norfolk, MA
13) Andy Schlatz, Enfield
14) Lee Bundy, Kennebunkport, ME
15) Paul Luggelle, Holbrook, MA
16) Mike Roselli

PRO-4 MODIFIED (25)
1) Norm Wrenn, Nashua, NH
2) Brian Vincent, Coventry, RI
3) Matt Sagar, Seekonk, MA
4) Rob Richardi, Jr., N. Easton, MA
5) Phil Lausier, Hudson, NH
6) Frank Perry, Holbrook, MA
7) Robin Berghman, E. Providence, RI
8) Mark Giordano, West Haven
9) Tim D’Amico, West Haven
10) Stan Mertz, Whitinsville, MA
11) Bill Joerres, Somerset, MA
12) Cory Cleary, Plymouth, MA
13) George Sherman, Framingham, MA
14) Dave Richardi, N. Easton, MA

Fall Final Promo Video

Credit for the following promotional video goes to the Stafford Speedway YouTube page.

Only the SK Modifieds get the spotlight in the video, which is less than a minute, but it's a teaser video nonetheless.

A Kaleidoscope of Information

Here is your one and only entry for the month of December, as things have taken over my holiday rush. (And I just installed a new computer monitor as the previous one in my room had blacked out for the final time.)

We start with the rules meetings that took place over the course of last month. For the most part, there were no major changes, but minor ones were implimented. To begin with, the SKs now have a 56 percent weight distribution for the left side of the car, moved up a percent from last season. Also, teams are allowed to make changes to the dog-ring and slider (high gear) on Richmond transmissions only. For the SK Lights, they will be using the same tires the SKs are using. Limited Late Models have an option this season: They can use the crate motor that the SK Lights use, or they can use a traditional non-crate engine. No matter what, a rev limiter is required.

The DARE Stocks have the most rule changes out of any division this year. From the track site:

Stafford's DARE Stock competitors will be required to race with a fuel cell bladder that is in line with the track's other four weekly divisions. Other changes to the DARE Stock rules: tourque converters less than 11 inches are not permitted; OEM brakes can be changed across different year, make, and model with stock components; a single adjustable proportioning valve is permitted in a location that is inaccessible from the driver's compartment; stock steering pumps and boxes may be interchanged from different years, makes and models; aftermarket steering pumps are permitted, aluminum steering pumps are not permitted, remote reservoirs are permitted. Also, the DARE Stock firewall rule has been revised to come into line with Stafford's Late Model and Limited Late Model firewall rule.

And that was what went down in the rules meetings. Now then, onto some fun business. NASCAR: New England will continue to run on the New England Sports Network (NESN) next esason. Time slots have not been set by NESN as of yet. When they come up with a time, I will tell you all about it. No need to fear.

Finally, YouTube user MarcandBryon have posted some more videos for you. There's seven of them on their page: The five champions' videos, a cute little interview session with numerous drivers, and a short commercial for 2007 season ticket sales. These are the same videos that are on the track's site, so if you don't usually check out the site, I encourage you to check out the videos that they've uploaded onto YouTube.

Fall Final News: Results and Video

Sorry for doing this entry almost a week after the original Fall Final events took place. Things were just hectic around the house and we've had problems last weekend. But after recovering from the mental craziness, I'm ready to dish the dirt. And of course, your dirt includes the Fall Final Saturday results. There will be more afterwards -- perhaps later today -- but let's get to the top story: The Whelen Modified Tour and their qualifying session. We started the day off strong as Todd Szegedy ran through every sort of obstacle provided and earned himself a pole position. His time was 18.091, breaking the previous track record set by Mike Ewanitsko during the 2001 Fall Final. (His time? 18.102.) When the top ten cars redrew, Szegedy still found himself starting first, although he will be taking the green flag alongside Tony Hirschman. The next four rows are as follows:

Row Two: Ed Flemke and Donny Lia
Row Three: Dick Houlihan and Ted Christopher
Row Four: Mike Stefanik and Reggie Ruggiero
Row Five: Chuck Hossfeld and Jimmy Blewett

Stupid thing won't let me put the rows in a list.)

Next came a barrage of qualifying events for the Stafford divisions. Five of the events ran caution free, including both from the DARE Stocks. The only event that dramatically produced the most carnage was the second Late Model heat. One minor accident (no caution kind of minor) sent Jim Peterson, championship contender, to the Late Model 16 feature. But we'll put the 16 aside for now, as the first actual feature of the afternoon was about to take the green flag. For the final time this season, we've got coverage of the DARE Stocks.

Before the green even flew, however, a few cars dropped off the track like flies. One possiblity (and probably the most logical) might have been the fact that it was colder than usual for a finale weekend, but nonetheless, you had a few people drop out of the race earlier than expected. With that taken care of, the green was finally brought out, signaling the start of the final 15-lap feature and the crowning of a new DARE Stock champion in Norm Sears. (With a full 50 point lead over second place, everyone was certain nothing was going to happen to Sears inbetween the 22nd and the 30th.) Now then, from the opening lap to lap-13, things were pretty smooth. But then, two cautions occured. The first one was on lap-14 when Melissa Blowers and Tim LeDuc spun in turn three. Then on the restart, there was a two car accident and spin in turn two and the beginning of the backstretch. (Those cars were not named, only due to the fact that they left the scene before I could catch numbers. With that all set, the final two laps were smooth sailing for Vince Gambacorta. He picked up the win with Sears in second, Rob Lawrence third, and Dan Flannery fourth. Like previously mentioned, Sears clinched the championship by just starting the feature.

After the SK Lights had an interesting qualifying heat and the two last chance qualifiers were run (Late Model 16 was won by Jay Stuart and the 21 Means 21 was won by Bo Gunning), we came down to the Limited Late Model feature. 20-laps of chaos. Oh, what fun this was! Big time fun started on lap-4 when George Nocera spun in turn two, bringing out the first of five yellow flags in the event. Now if you thought the dramatics from Nocera were done, then... Well, not really. He spun in the exact same spot in turn two on lap-7. Now we fast forward to three laps later, and we see Michael Chaves and Pete Cayer spinning in turn four, bringing out caution flag number three. The lap-10 action didn't end there, however, because there was a false start. The final yellow was on lap-14, when Cayer spun for the second time in the race -- this time, however, he spun in turn one. Now there was a six lap sprint to the finish with Kevin Gambacorta trying to take the championship over Nocera, who had spun twice in the same spot and had raced his way back up into the top-four cars when the checkered flag signaled the end of the race. Corky Hinze took his first win of the season, followed by Bill Davis, Nocera, and Charlie Newman. Two points separated Gambacorta from Nocera, but the two points were in favor of Gambacorta. For the second time that day, it was a celebration in Victory Lane for the family from Ellington. (Well, three. Vince won the Paradiso-Muska DARE Stock Shootout not too long after.)

Sunday's events were rained out, so now the remaining three divisions and Whelen Modified Tour will all crown champions on October 28th. (That's a Saturday. Mark your calendars like I did.) The Stafford website has a video from YouTube -- downloaded by MarcandBryon -- which can be found below.



Other than that, I think I'll see you on the 28th.

Fall Final Television Promo

I just wanted to show you guys a little something I found on the Stafford site last night. I had to search all throughout YouTube to find it. But with succession, I present the television advertisement for the CARQuest Fall Final weekend:



Click the little play button in the middle of the video in order to play it.

More to come this weekend when the final Friday night of racing action rolls into town...