We’ve got New England covered
All-Star Speedway currently lists “big-block” supers as part of its weekly schedule for 2008. That could be big, indeed. ISMA certainly did not have enough of a New England presence in 2007. Perhaps there are some ISMA locals who’d prefer to avoid travelling halfway across the country half the season. And it’s said that once you have a BB super it doesn’t take a ton of money to run it.
Still, are there enough cars out there NOT committed to ISMA?
Waddya think?
Ya gotta love the Onion. They take aim at the things that folks most take seriously while poking fun at those who thnk they’re above the rest of us. And they can smell a foul PR move from a mile away.
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NEMA recently announced a new support division. It will cobine cars powered by the Ford Focus developed by USAC and the Old Oldsmobile Quad-4 engine developed by current and former NEMA racers like Mike Luggelle and Shorttrack’s own Walt Scadden.
The Olds engines have been utilized in the last few years at Whip City Speedway. The Quad-4 division grew into a solid class at Whip City in 2007, but they’ve never been able to establish themselves as pavement racecars despite a few runs at Waterford.
This sounds like a great idea, if you ask me (I know, you didn’t). USAC’s Focus series started with great promise but then seemed to become a victim of its own success, with its eyes proving to be too big for its stomach. The engine, though, proved up to the task. The Olds deal has proven to be a great option for low-buck guys who just wanna have fun (“They just wanna – they just wanna – uh-huh”).
The only complication is that the new NEMA class will be winged, while the Focus series was wingless and Whip City’s midgets went wingless last season. That likely won’t prove a big deal, though, as virtualy every car in both series was set up for horizontal-aluminum-billboard installation. Besides, NEMA always was step 2 for the Focus series as well as some younger racers looking to step up or old guys who might want to tilt at the NEMA windmill every once in a while.
More midget racing is always good, in any event. No pun intended.
The corps of inductees into NEAR this year is a strong one. They include Dave Alkas, Dick Batchelder, Dick Berggren, Joe Brady, Howie Brown, Dave Darveaux, Mike Scrivani, and Shorttrack Editor-at-large Pete Zanardi.
Some of these guys plied their trade ages ago, others still are doing so. What do you think? Do you have any memories of seeing the racers in action? Were you aware of Dick’s own racing career? With the Lakeville reunion just happening in September, his career there might be of particular interest.
And, just who were, the three amigos?
There’s no reason to wait until the ’08 season! Not when they’ll be so many things exciting – or irritating – us between now and April.
Check in often to read my un-reasoned reactions to the day’s racing news. Make your own comments, argue, accuse, threaten – no wait, let’s not take it THAT far.
For instance, I was looking at the just-released ’08 True Value Modified schedule. I find it interesting that virtually EVERY track the TV Mods visit next year is a current or former NASCAR Series track. And in the meantime, NASCAR’s Whelen Series brings mods to New England only for appearances at Thompson and Stafford – many, many times, but only to those tracks, nonetheless.
We can talk all we want about NASCAR being the evil empire but it seems they’re more than willing to cede control of shorttracks to regional tours. I’m not ready to give up on the idea the shortracks can experience a rennaisance, and that superspeedway marathons aren’t a lock to always be popular.
What goes around, and all that.
All you subscribers out there, keep an eye out starting in our March/April issue for tips on blog topics we’ll be looking for you to chime in on. In the meantime our January/February issue will be out soon. Look for profiles on all the inductees for both the NEAR and Maine Halls of Fame. Got a great photo-shoot of the remarkable work of model-builder Paul Masse featuring past and new NEAR inductees. Rob Janovic is profiled by ’08 NEAR inductee Pete Zanardi and Chris Romano salutes recently-departed Nick Fornoro.
Look for it after Christmas. Talk to you soon. Or, that should be “Blog at ya…”
It’s a little quiet now, but once the racing season starts, we’ll be able to give you up-to-the minute racing news right here featuring Shorttrack Magazine Editor Thom Ring.
So stay tuned …
