By Craig Revelle – March 25, 2013 - What a difference a year makes.  Just one year ago, we were all jacked up for racing season, warm temperatures and not a sign of snow on the ground.  This year, we are under snow, and the last major snowstorm of the year is hopefully behind us.  Although racing season for some is less than a week away, it just doesn’t feel like it when you step outside.  Nonetheless, hopefully all tracks will open on time, and the warm weather will soon be here.

A sure sign of racing season is the annual car shows.  It was the Gater Racing News show a couple weeks ago, and this past week is the annual Frontenac Mall car show in Kingston.  I love seeing the new cars, and catching up with everyone from the racing community.  Although the racing season doesn’t start up here for several weeks, many teams enjoy showing off their hard work at these events.  Just one more car show remains, as Chapman’s Can Am Motorsports Park hosts their annual racecar exhibit at the Salmon Run Mall in Watertown, New York beginning Sunday, March 31^st and will last throughout the week.

The next order of business is the annual banquets to close out 2012.  Brockville Speedway will honor their 2012 top finishers on Saturday night, with Cornwall Speedway hosting their awards banquet on Saturday, April 6^th and Mohawk International Raceway honors their champions on Saturday, April 13^th.

Tentatively, my first race of 2013 will be at Canandaigua Motorsports Park, depending on the weather.  They open on April 5^th and 6^th with a Sportsman event on the Friday night, and the annual Jan Corcoran Memorial Race on the Saturday night.  If the weather does not co-operate I will be at the Cornwall Speedway awards banquet on that Saturday night.

Another big event that I am looking forward to is the 2^nd annual Brockville Speedway Fan Fair.  It will be held at Walmart in Brockville on Saturday, April 13^th from 10am to 1pm.  This will start off a very busy day, as Chapman’s Can Am Motorsports Park also opens that day for practice, and Mohawk Raceway Awards banquet that night.  Can Am also has practice the following day, leading up to their 2013 season opener on Friday, April 19^th.

Fulton Speedway also opens up on April 13^th with their Methanol Meltdown event.  Brewerton Speedway opens on Friday, April 19^th as well.  Evans Mills Speedway opens for the 2013 season on Saturday, April 20^th.  Brighton Speedway opens up on Saturday, May 4^th, and Brockville Speedway opens for practice on May 4^th as well, and will kick off their season on May 11^th.  Mohawk Raceway opens on May 17^th and Cornwall Speedway will open with a 100 lap Mr. DIRTcar 358 Modified/Canadian National Series event on Sunday, May 19^th.

It wont be much longer now, and we will be back at the track on a regular basis, doing what we love to do.  Even with a little snow on the ground, I for one cant wait to see what the 2013 has in store.

As always, any comments or suggestions can be sent to crevelle@ripnet.com. You can also visit me online at www.finishlinewebdesign.ca, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/crevelle, and on twitter at www.twitter.com/finishlineweb17.

By Anthony Leek – Ever since my fiancée purchased the G27 Logitech racing wheel for a Christmas gift, I have been racing almost every day on iracing.com. The simulator has been great at allowing me to forget that it is -40C outside and three feet of snow. After several weeks of the end of season 4 2012, I have been running for points in the B Class Impala fixed class. After the first week of the season, I was 14^th of 75 drivers in my division (Division 6) after the first week at Homestead. I ran 18 races with 1 win, 8 top 5s and a couple did not finish from wrecking. Not bad for a first week!

The realism in terms of graphics is amazing (could be better, but remember the wide range of computers out there), and the sound is currently being upgraded on many car models. The realism of the track when steering while racing is top notch and improvements are always being made. I would have to admit very quickly that I am addicted to racing due to iracing.

But that doesn’t mean it is cheap to run on the simulator. It costs money to buy the cars, tracks, and you have to have a membership as well. Luckily, they have membership deals all the time to help you decide. When I purchased my membership in December, it was half price for a year! It is a pretty good price for an amazing product.

Not only that, but you have to earn your way up to the higher classes by racing clean and increasing your safety score to get a better license. It took me about 35 races to get to the A rating (the highest most will get to), and even that can be hard to maintain. A couple bad races can see it plummet. If it gets too low for more than a week, you can be demoted to the next class down. The system has some flaws, but overall it keeps everyone honest and trying their best not to wreck.

If you are an oval fan or a road racing fan, there is a separate safety rating license card for each. I personally run three times as many oval races as road course, so I have an A Oval License and still a Rookie Road license. Whichever you choose, there is a whole other set of cars waiting for you!

One of the coolest newer features for iracing is the ability to spot for your friends. You can really build friendships in this way and your iracing colleagues may be nice enough to return the favour. I find it makes the simulator a lot more engaging and the race goes by a lot quicker. Having two minds is better than one when on the track and if things get tense or you have problems on the track, the spotter can really help you calm down and focus on getting those laps back, or coming back up from the back. While the spotting program needs improvement and enhancements to allow the spotter more perspective in the race, it is definitely a positive addition to the simulator.

The biggest downside with the program is that it can take some getting used to, and patience and practice can eat up a lot of your time. As with any real life simulator, wouldn’t you want to practice? Otherwise, being on top is nearly impossible.

All in all, iracing provides entertainment and learning, friendships and even the odd rivalry. After spending the last few months on it, I don’t know if I could play any other type of racing outside of the real thing.

By Craig Revelle – February 24, 2013 - Here we are at the end of February, another season of racing is fast approaching.  To many area race team’s, the countdown to the new season begins with the Daytona 500, which gets people back in the racing groove, and puts them in hurry up mode to get their own cars completed for the coming season.  I will have more on the Daytona 500 and the races at Daytona a little further down in this column.

My allegiance is with dirt track racing, and our Dirt Northeast style Modifieds.  They were on hand in Florida at Volusia Motorsports Park this past week with four action packed nights of racing.  A strong field of 38 cars were on hand this year.  Danny Johnson got the best of long time rival Brett Hearn, and went on to win the first feature event of the week for the Big Block Modifieds.  Mario Clair finished in third, with Australian racer Peter Britten in fourth and Jimmy Horton completing the top five.  Thursday night’s battle at Volusia was won by Stewart Friesen from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario Canada.  Justin Haers finished with a strong second place finish ahead of Peter Britten, Matt Sheppard and Danny Johnson.  It was a surprise winner on Friday night as Rich Laubach of Quakertown, Pennsylvania took home the win over Danny Johnson, Peter Britten, H.J. Bunting and Stewart Friesen.  Saturday night’s winner was the legendary Brett Hearn taking the 50 lap main event over Mario Clair, Justin Haers, Stewart Friesen and Matt Sheppard.  Johnson was the overall Big Block Modified champion, by 12 points over Friesen.  Peter Britten, Justin Haers and Rick Laubach were the top five overall for the four nights of racing.

There was plenty of other racing events held on area short tracks in Florida over the past couple weeks.  World of Outlaw Sprint Cars and Late Models, Lucas Oil Late Models, 360 Sprint cars and much more shared the spotlight.  Tim McCreadie of Watertown, New York was a winner at Volusia earlier in the week in his Late Model and had several other strong performances to start the year.  Steve Poirier and Michel Parent, both from Quebec finished 1^st and 2^nd in the same event at East Bay Speedway near Tampa, Florida as well.

At the beginning of the week, there were some exciting short track events covered live on SPEED TV.  They had the UNOH (University of Northern Ohio) Battle at the Beach, where they turned the backstretch and part of the infield into a short track for a few days early last week.  They had the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, NASCAR Whelen Modifieds and the K&N Pro Series in action.  All three main events produced caution filled races, but most people will remember the controversial finishes of all three events.  Kyle Larson, arguably the most talented up and coming star in this sport made an aggressive move to bump the leader C.E. Falk in the final corner of the final lap, and when the bump wasn’t quite enough to get the win, he pushed a little further and spun out Falk coming to the checkered flag.  Larson, of course went on to take the win, but the after effects had the social media world talking for the next 24 hours.  The next night had plenty of controversy again, as former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Steve Park used the front bumper to move multi-time Whelen Modified champion Mike Stefanik out of the way on the final lap to score the $20000 top prize and the prestige of winning at a place like Daytona, Park was also getting the bumper from the third place car at the same time, which ultimately caused the chain reaction spin of the race leader.  Cameron Haley of Calgary, Alberta won the final event of the Battle at the Beach, taking the checkered flag in the K&N Pro Series after becoming a benefactor of a bump and run gone bad by 15 year old racing phenomenon Gray Gaulding.  The racing on the makeshift track was tough, there were plenty of fireworks with the controversial finishes, and in my opinion, it couldn’t have gone any better for NASCAR.

Speaking of NASCAR, there has been so much hype behind Danica Patrick leading up to the Daytona 500.  That hype was ramped up into ridiculous proportions after she won the pole position for the Great America Race.  As a true race fan, that really loves the sport, gender shouldn’t even be an issue when a team owner is selecting a driver for their car.  It should be about getting the best available driver to help your team win.  NASCAR is….or used to be for the most elite of drivers, much like other sports.    I would welcome any female racer to step up and challenge to be a star in this sport, but I would hope they would do so by earning the spot coming up through the ranks.  Today, making NASCAR means you brought the most money to the table, and because of that I have a hard time accepting Danica as a racecar driver.  She is extremely marketable, with the deep pockets of GoDaddy.com along for the ride, among others, and has landed in a premier NASCAR ride with Stewart-Haas Racing.  She had a top ten finish at Daytona, but lets see how well she does when they tackle other tracks that require more skill.  By the way, it was Jimmie Johnson picking up the Daytona 500 win over Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Newman.

Saturday’s Nationwide Series race was won by Tony Stewart, but a wild finish at the end overshadowed the final results.  Kyle Larson’s car got airborne during a big crash coming to the checkered flag and the front end of the car was completely sheared off upon impact with the catch fence, sending debris, including a tire and the motor through the fence and into the grandstand area.  It was reported that 28 people were injured, with 14 of those being transported to area hospitals.  There were a couple of serious injuries that occurred, but both have since been upgraded to stable condition.  That was a disaster that could have been a whole lot worse.  I have never been a big fan of racing at these big tracks with restrictor plates slowing the cars down and keeping them in big groups, and its certainly not much fun for the drivers to be a part of the big wrecks.  It was very unfortunate that the fans were involved, and NASCAR can be thankful that the situation didn’t end up worse than it was.

Much like other columns over this off-season, I have to end it with sad news.  Ryan Baye, a former Sportsman and Modified competitor, lost his life in a tragic snowmobile accident over the weekend.  Baye was married to the daughter of Future DIRTcar Hall of Fame racer Alan Johnson, and had two young boys, aged four and six.  I send my deepest condolences to Ryan’s family and friends.  He was just 34 years old.

As always, any comments or suggestions can be sent to crevelle@ripnet.com. You can also visit me online at www.finishlinewebdesign.ca, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/crevelle, and on twitter at www.twitter.com/finishlineweb17.

By Craig Revelle – February 10, 2013 - After digging out from the latest snowstorm and hopefully the last one of the winter, the 2013 racing season still feels like it is a long ways away, but with the calendar showing mid February local race teams are working hard in their race shop getting ready for a new season.  For some, that season will start later this month as a few DIRTcar teams will flock south to Florida for the annual UNOH (University of Northern Ohio) DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia County Speedway.  Other teams are getting ready for other events, such as car shows that take place in just a few weeks time before the season gets underway.

My first pre-season car show took place this past weekend at the Canadian Motorsports Expo in Toronto.  I always look forward to this event, and was fortunate enough to take part in a media conference with NASCAR driver and car owner Michael Waltrip.  It was nice to see some racecars, and visit with some racing friends, and certainly makes me even more anxious for the start of a new season.  Meeting Mr. Waltrip was a highlight of the weekend, and was very candid in describing his newfound love for our Tim Horton’s Restaurants.  He also discussed his views on his team’s chances in 2013 and the excellent season that his drivers Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex had in 2012.  The CME is a great event, and a must see for any race fan to break up the racing withdrawals of the winter months.

There are a few other pre-season events that I am looking forward too.  The annual Gater Racing News Motorsports Expo will take place on March 9^th and 10^th at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse.  Finish Line Web Design will have a booth setup once again this year, and will have a car on display.  Who that will be has yet to be determined.  The Frontenac Mall car show in Kingston will take place March 21^st to March 23^rd as well.  The 2^nd annual Brockville Speedway Fan Fair will take place on April 13^th at Walmart in Brockville.  The Texas Tuxedos band will be playing, and a charity BBQ will also take place in addition to the car show/autograph session of the 2012 Brockville Speedway Modified and Sportsman top five drivers.

Before we get into the 2013 season, all local tracks will honor their champions and top finishers at the 2012 awards banquets.  Chapman’s Can Am Motorsports Park will have their banquet on March 16^th.  Brockville Speedway banquet is tentatively set for March 30^th, while Cornwall Speedway will host their annual banquet on April 6^th.  Mohawk Raceway Banquet date has not been announced as of yet.

When the new season does get underway, there are several marquee events that are circled on my calendar.  Cornwall Speedway has the World of Outlaw Late Models on Sunday, June 23^rd, and the World of Outlaw Sprints taking center stage at Cornwall on Sunday, July 28^th.  Cornwall has not yet released their full 2013 schedule, but the three-race Canadian Nationals Series is expected to return bigger and better then ever.  I am also looking forward to the second annual St. Lawrence Seaway Sportsman Series, which will have one race each at Cornwall, Brockville, Mohawk, Autodrome Granby and Autodrome Drummond.

Brockville Speedway will host their own three-race series for both the 358 Modifieds and Sportsman cars with series sponsorship from Ogilvie’s Auto & Fleet Service.  The 4-cylinder Rookie division will also have a two race series of their own. The annual 1000 Islands RV DIRTcar Northeast Fall Nationals is also planned for October 18^th to 20^th.  Brockville will be bringing in a Novice Sportsman division in 2013 with the anticipated increase in cars for this class in this year.

Chapman’s Can Am Motorsports Park also has some huge events planned in 2013, as they headline their weekly shows with the Sportsman division.  They will compete for a weekly prize of $750 to win, and will have several $1000 to win events, and a few $2000 to win shows and will end the season with a $2500 to win race on September 6^th and a $3000 to win Sportsman race on September 13^th.  The Street Stocks, Late Models and Thunder Cars will also race weekly at Can Am, as well as their own Novice Sportsman division for new Sportsman teams.

Mohawk International Raceway has not released their full schedule yet, but the Frenchie’s 358 Modified and Sportsman series events are expected to return in 2013.  Mohawk will close out their 2013 with the annual Mohawk Nationals on September 13^th and 14^th featuring all four major DIRTcar Series races.

Other races that I look forward to this season include the Applefest Weekend at Brighton Speedway in September, the Outlaw 200 at Fulton Speedway in October, Super DIRT Week in Syracuse in October, and the first ever Asphalt Assault at Evans Mills Speedway for the Empire Super Sprints in June, as they race on a paved track for the first time in the 30 year history of the club.

It may still be cold outside, and the snow is knee deep, but the 2013 racing season will be underway before long, and I can’t wait to get back to the regular summer routine of racing four nights a week or more.

As always, any comments or suggestions can be sent to crevelle@ripnet.com. You can also visit me online at www.finishlinewebdesign.ca, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/crevelle, and on twitter at www.twitter.com/finishlineweb17.

Photos by Rick Young / www.RickAtTheRaces.com

By Randy Spencer / OntarioOval.com – Known as the Fireball 5 through the 1960′s and especially in the 70′s Earl Stroh was one of the most dominant racers in the sport in Southern Ontario. The great Don Biederman would drop everything and run up to the fence to watch Earl race. “We knew who was going to win, just wanted to see how long it would take for him to get there,” Biederman once said.

It wasn’t always that way however. When Earl turned 16, he got his license and wanted to race at Bridgeport but he couldn’t get his mom to sign him in. Earl got smart. His mom loved parades so he convinced his mother that if he took her to the parade that day, on the way home she would sign him into race. And the rest as they say is history. His first race car was a 1938 Dodge Coupe and it had a crude roll cage complete with a snow fence stake. In his first race at Bridgeport, Earl started at the back and as he came around to the start he drifted to the open space and almost took out flagman Bobby Anderson. Stroh received the black flag and was almost thrown out for good but Gene Karly and Ken Fisher saved his skin that day. After a few lean years of learning the ropes,  Earl won his first trophy at the 1961 Pinecrest Winter Woolies. In a fast car with a Buick V8 and big slicks, Earl lapped the entire field with that rocket but he and the rest of the field never got paid. During that time Earl’s wife Maryann was welcoming new daughter Janet into the world and she almost missed Earl’s first trophy win. This was Earl’s greatest moment, wiping guys that beat him everywhere else

Earl race for over 30 years all the while working part time at a garage, at Electrohome for 9 years and Canox Welding for 38-1/2 years. Earl even managed to find time to be a volunteer firefighter for 15 years in there somewhere while racing several nights a week while raising three kids (Janet, Michael & Le-ann) with wife Maryann. He raced in the Jalopy division at Bridgeport for a few years and when Flamboro opened in 1962 he race the hobby division until about 1973. That was back in the days when car counts were up to 125 and wasn’t uncommon to have 80 or 90 cars in the pits on any one night. His wife Maryann was terrified at the large car counts and refused to go to watch. Then along with guys like Joe Clayton, Pete Bennett and Ron Porter they started a Limited Sportsman division and that is when Earl’s career really took off. Teaming up with Ken Stenhouse Sr. his entire career proved to be a huge plus for Stroh. Ken never shared too much information with Earl but always built a competitive car. “He never told me what he was thinking. He was ahead of his time and knew how to make a car handle. ” Stroh said. The were turning 15.3 second laps and the 119″ wheel base, it was longer and more stable and soon proved to be the most dominant car on the circuit. Everyone thought they had big power but “Handling was the key,” Earl continued. Stroh showed how dominant he could be winning the Flamboro championship three consecutive years from 1973 to 1975, he won the crown at Grand River Speedway every year but one and at one point won an incredible 21 races in a row. One story Earl told me was back in the day when the Limited Sportsman and Late Models warmed up together and one night Andy Brown “stuffed” Stroh into the wall as he tried to pass. A grudge race was called, but later called off and the cars no longer practiced together.

By 1978, the Limited Sportsman club started running independent suspensions and guys were sinking too much money into their cars and it eventually ran the division to extinction. That year Stroh, who had already started racing a Late Model for Bruce Bennett Sr. did so for a couple of years and eventually ran in the Street Stock division until the early 1990′s when he decided to retire from active racing. He did split a season with John Karley in the Hobby division (Canadian Vintage Modifieds) in 1999 but that was it for Earl’s racing career. However from 1978 until 1982, Stroh not only raced he co-owned Sauble Speedway with partner Bruce Bennett Sr. The Stroh’s enjoyed it but the long drive every week, the financial tole and a track that was starting to need lots of work eventually made the decision of selling their share of the track to Bruce Bennett a good one. It also got to be too much for wife Maryann who one time was followed out of the track and for quite a while thereafter by a car. This wouldn’t have been so bad but Maryann had a box full of money from the night’s gate receipts in her possession. Just another reason that helped to make their decision a little easier. Today the Stroh’s still live in Maryhill and are enjoying their retirement, still enjoying the odd stock car race, their family, baseball in the summer and hockey in the winter. My thanks to the Stroh’s (as well as John Karley for the introduction) for their hospitality on my two visits and for their donations of programs, trophies and other items for the Flamboro Stadium and Speedway Hall of Fame and Museum. Congratulations to Earl on being being inducted to the inaugural class of drivers/builders for the 2012 Flamboro Speedway Hall of Fame.

Photos from the Earl Stroh Collection.

By Peter Turford – I really believe with the lack of respect shown to the Southern Ontario Sprints by some teams and several speedways that they are the Rodney Dangerfield of Ontario motorsports. Here is why I love the Southern Ontario Sprints so much.

As far as being an open wheel racing fan goes, I grew up in the best of times and worst of times. When I was 6 years old there where 3 speedways running supermodifieds within an hour’s drive of my home in Stratford ON. When I was 9 there were none. There was a bounceback for almost 3 years when Jack Greedy first promoted Delaware. Unfortunately, by the time I was a teenager, supermodifieds were all but dead and buried in Ontario. There would be the odd “special” and even attempts to go weekly at Speedway Park and Delaware but it never “took’. In general if I wanted to see full size open wheel racing I had to travel to Oswego, NY or Sandusky, OH. The Late Models that replaced the supers locally, would turn the track at speeds closer to that of a hobby car than a supermodified. By a late model I mean a late 60′s early 70′s Camaro or Chevelle with more dents and bangs in it than you would see on a street stock today. They just never did it for me – I realize I am the exception and many people loved the Earl Ross, Norm Leliott, Biederman and Junior Hanley era – but I was and remain an open wheel guy. As I grew older I would drive by several late model tracks to get to Sandusky Ohio, or Oswego New York. I spent more hours and more dollars traveling to those tracks than I care or want to admit. Most times I felt I saw a good show and I believed that the time and money were worth it. I figured my race watching and participation was forever limited to this until 1996…….

That was when I first heard rumours about a new racing series being started by Jon Banas and others in Ontario. It was to be 360 sprint cars run on the dirt tracks in Ontario, two of which were to be new facilities allegedly being built, one on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford and one was to be part of the new Grand Bend Motoplex being built on the site of the old Grand Bend Dragway (never happened). The other track that was to be involved was South Buxton Raceway near Chatham (which up until that time I had never heard of). The thinking was to match the rules of the other nearby racing series in Michigan (SOD) and New York (ESS). The cars(chassis) would be available for minimal cost as used chassis and parts could be picked up at the Fremont (Ohio) and Silver Springs (PA) flea markets for pennies on the dollar. Another important key to success is that the series for all intents and purposes would be built around the small block Chevrolet (like all other sprint car series). In short a guy could go hard core racing with less than 10 grand in his car. We’re talking full up, fuel injected, open wheel racing where the motors were loud and the cars were fast. The very things that I loved about the supermodifieds and drew me into the sport all those years ago.

I attended that first ever SOS race at South Buxton as an official with the series – worked as the cone man (in those days the cone was on the backstretch) did safety tech and even wrote up a race report – which was never published and was lost long ago. But I do remember John Naida and Jerry Whitney putting on a spirited deal which I believe Whitney eventually won. The car count was 11 and the club was on its way. Over the years the club grew in fits and starts, but usually with the right trajectory. Like all racing organizations there were complaints about inadequate purse, handicapping rules/tech enforcement etc. But eventually the club was performing with full fields and in front of full houses.

As it grew, the club was seen by many as anochronistic, pay spread through the field, last to adopt cockpit adjustable wing sliders, last to allow titanium brake rotors, banning piggyback shocks, never getting off the very hard and unracy American Racer MC-3 (that would last forever). Most saw this as regressive – my belief is that these rules took some of the “money” factor out of racing. The thinking being if you can’t hook up the power , you don’t need the power. I will also believe that as the years went on, the teams that would most benefit from those rules, with few exceptions, never fully supported the club.

I will say this, 10 years ago when my son expressed a desire to go racing – I could not find a more viable nor cost effective option. I still believe that to this day. Like in all racing you will never make any money, but you will go broke later racing with the SOS than in any other form of racing. There where many nights when something dumb happened and we had a craptacular night – BUT – the SOS pay structure spread through the field like it is, allowed us to keep our show on the road. I believe that even today, SOS tow money pays better than 10th spot in a World of Outlaws B Main.

The last few years have been tough for the SOS and yet SOS President Mike Ferrell and his team keep plugging along. Tracks continue to do well by the series, but for some reason the SOS is still on a bit of slippery ground. My personal belief is that the SOS does not have and has never really had a strong sales type guy pushing things along. At one time I tried to be that guy and it just wasn’t me – and I think Mike would say the say about himself. The club has always tried to be upfront and work with integrity with the teams and promoters and while I feel this is the right way to do things it is probably not the most advantageous. I believe the majority of promoters still would rather be sold a line of crap when booking a show than have someone undersell and over deliver. I can’t remember how many times the SOS would go in put on a solid show, the promoter would be pleased “promise” to book us for next year and by November have amnesia, or that promoter would be out, a new one in place and having to start all over again.

My final thought is this, right now we are overwhelmed with sprint car racing in Ontario – and that is all well and good. But don’t take it for granted – we used to be overwhelmed with supermodified racing and later super late models – things can change in a hurry. Support what we’ve got.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of OntarioOval.com. Please direct comments or concerns to Peter Turford at peterturford@yahoo.ca.

By Craig Revelle – January 13, 2013

Now that we are into the new year, everyone is anxious to get going with plans for the 2013 season. There are a lot of exciting things to look forward to at all my local tracks. None of the area track’s have released their schedule as of yet, but some have put out hints of what we will see once the new season gets underway.

Cornwall Speedway has an exciting schedule in store with the return of the World of Outlaw Late Models on Sunday, June 23rd, and the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars on Sunday, July 28th. It is expected that Cornwall will once again host Mr. DIRTcar series events for the Big Blocks, 358 Modifieds, Sportsman and Pro Stocks once again, as well as the three Canadian National Series events that we have seen in recent years.

Brockville Speedway has released some of their 2013 schedule, which will feature a new three race series of their own for the 358 Modifieds and Sportsman, as well as a two race series for the Rookie division. The 358 Modified series will have 50 lap features on Saturday, July 6th, Saturday August 10th and Saturday, August 31st. The Sportsman three race series will do battle on the same dates. The Rookie series will battle on June 15th and August 3rd.

Chapman’s Can Am Motorsports Park has not announced their plans for the upcoming season as of yet, but a switch from Saturday night back to Friday night will take place. I did attend the Hangover Enduro at Can Am this past Weekend with a field of 18 cars doing battle in twin 40 lap races. It was great to get back to the track, and a nice way to break up the winter with a little racing action.

Mohawk Raceway has been fairly quiet over the off-season. They had intentions to drop the Pro Stock class, but an overwhelming turnout of racers from that division changed the minds of track officials when they held a meeting late in 2012. Their schedule is not out yet, but more information should be out in the next couple months.

Evans Mills Speedway has also made a change in their program for 2013, dropping the collective “Open Wheel” class in favor of the more traditional Northeast Style Modified division. The class will be open for Big Block/358 Modified/Crate Sportsman with different weight classifications that can be found on the Evans Mills Website.

December was a tough month for the racing community with the loss of several people that have helped make what dirt racing in this area has become today. Just before Christmas, Stan Friesen passed away. Stan was the grandfather of Modified star Stewart Friesen and was a big part of Ransomville Speedway. Just days later DIRTcar Hall of Fame racer Doug Hoffman passed away on Christmas eve. Hoffman was a legend in Dirt Modified racing, winning hundreds of races throughout the Northeast. Milton Johnson, father of Danny and Alan Johnson, and great racer back in the day himself also passed away just after Christmas. The loss of these three guys will have a huge impact of the racing community and will be missed by everyone.

With the racing season still a few months away, the next thing we can look forward to is the start of the NASCAR season. I make no secret that I am not a fan of Daytona and restrictor plate racing in general. However, I am looking forward to seeing how the new style car will effect the racing, and will be following how well my favorite driver Matt Kenseth does making the transition from a Roush Racing Ford to a Joe Gibbs Toyota. My prediction is that he will repeat as champion the 500, and over the course of the season will provide some much needed leadership to the entire Joe Gibbs operation.

It wont be long now and we will be back racing. There are some Pennsylvania area tracks that open in March, and as we get into April, tracks in New York begin to open up. As usual, Brockville, Cornwall, and Mohawk will begin their season in May. In the meantime, I look forward to the Canadian Motorsports Expo in Toronto on February 8th to 10th, the Gater News Motorsports Expo in Syracuse on March 9th and 10th and the annual Frontenac Mall Car Show in Kingston on March 21st to March 23rd. The car shows tend to get everyone ready for the upcoming season, as they mark the unofficial kickoff to the new racing season. Also, the banquets for all of my local tracks are coming up soon as well.

As always, any comments or suggestions can be sent to crevelle@ripnet.com. You can also visit me online at www.finishlinewebdesign.ca , on Facebook at www.facebook.com/crevelle, and on twitter at www.twitter.com/finishlineweb17.

By Craig Revelle – December 9, 2012

Although the 2012 racing season is now just a memory, there are still plenty of off-season news and information trickling in from area racetracks. We will discuss that throughout this column, as well as the sudden surge in the Sportsman division that will have car counts on the rise when the green flag waves to start the 2013 racing season.

Lets start off with Cornwall Motor Speedway who just announced this past week that the World of Outlaw Late Models and World of Outlaw Sprint Cars will both be back on the schedule in 2013. The Late Models will return to Cornwall Motor Speedway on Sunday, June 23rd and the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars will hit the track on Sunday, July 28th. The Canadian Nationals Series will return for another season at Cornwall with dates on May 19th, August 4th and September 1st, and the Big Block Modified Super DIRTcar Series will take centre stage on Sunday, June 30th. Other dates will be announced after the new year.

The World of Outlaw Late Models will also visit the Rinaldi Family owned Brighton Speedway on Thursday, June 20th for their inaugural appearance. This will be an event unlike any other at Brighton Speedway and will certainly be on my schedule in 2013.

Chapman’s Can Am Motorsports Park is in the news lately as well, announcing their plan to return to Friday night racing next season. What divisions will be racing weekly has yet to be determined. The track will open on Sunday, January 6th for the 2013 Hangover Enduro featuring a pair of 40 lap events paying $500 to win each.

Brockville Speedway has announced their date for the annual 1000 Islands RV DIRTcar Northeast Fall Nationals for 2013. It will take place on October 18th – 20th. They are currently working on their full schedule for the upcoming season, and may have some interesting changes in store in the New Year.

Throughout the years I have been a big proponent of the Sportsman division. The GM Crate Engine program may have some issues abroad, but since they have made that motor mandatory, the car counts have been on the rise. In 2013, the class will continue to have strong support with several new drivers coming into the division. Joey Ladouceur will move up from the Pro Stock division to Sportsman, Bill “Moon” Mulling will come out of racing retirement to compete with the newly formed Merpaw-Mullin Motorsports team. There are a couple graduates from the Brockville Karting that will move to Sportsman as well, plus several other racers from the area that will all be competing in this popular class.

This will be my last column for the 2012 season. I hope you have all enjoyed reading it, and I look forward to writing again in the New Year. Have a safe and Happy Holiday season and will see you in 2013.

As always, any comments or suggestions can be sent to crevelle@ripnet.com. You can also visit me online at www.finishlinewebdesign.ca, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/crevelle, and on twitter at www.twitter.com/finishlineweb17.

By Anthony Leek - It has been a while since I have written a column on ontariooval.com and I felt it appropriate to do something for the end of the year season. 2012 was another year of interesting developments in racing and of course, plenty of fun to be had.

There were two repeat champions in the WISSOTA classes. The first one being #17 Christopher Leek in the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, claiming it over #14C Cody Ossachuk. In the WISSOTA Modifieds, #16 Gavin Paull dominated the majority of the season in wins and took home his fourth championship overall. In the Emo Street Stocks, a young #500 Libby Wilson claimed her first victory in 2012 and claimed her first track championship! She was quite elated at the Awards Banquet, taking home Best Appearing Car.

Only two rainouts this year, with the dates being back to back in June. After June 23rd however, the track never missed a night, although there were several close calls. August 4th comes to mind the most as myself and a couple others spent the majority of the afternoon packing the track in as it drizzled off and on. But we got the show on, and there was some very good racing.

The Emo Fall Fair weekend was an action packed affair with many different winners. International Falls, MN native and class rookie Don Scholler put on an amazing show with Devlin local, Jeff Davis for the feature win on Day 2 (Saturday). Coming to the last lap, Scholler made a last dive around Davis for the lead. It was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend. The WISSOTA Modified features for both nights were also great with very only two quick cautions on Friday and a few quick ones on Saturday. There was also a first time winner in the Street Stocks as Kyle Godin of Rainy River, ON bested eleven other drivers for a feature win on Friday.

Another notable event was the WISSOTA Super Stock special presented by SBA Engineering out of Orangville, ON. A total of thirteen Super Stocks attended from Manitoba, Thunder Bay, and Minnesota. The heat races had some great battles as well as the feature which was claimed by #70K Rick Simpsons from Thunder Bay. The win was his third in four appearances at the track in that class. The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds had nineteen cars that night which was won by Winnipeg driver #88 Paul Veert, over local driver #17 Christopher Leek. The WISSOTA Modifieds was won by #16 Gavin Paull.

The new washrooms were installed this summer, and the new frontstretch lighting as also been installed. Just need to get the bulbs up in the spring time and take down the old poles. It should be exciting the first time they light up. Thank you to all the hard working volunteers for making that successful.

As we look ahead, there is some potentially exciting news that could be coming forward before the new year. There are some great ideas for 2013 and a discussion with the Association in the near future will give us a preview of what might be in store.

Be sure to check out www.borderlandracing.com or @emospeedway on twitter, or even the facebook page (emospeedway) for upcoming news and information!

I want to wish everyone a safe and happy holidays!

By Rob Hosking – If you are a racer, you’ve probably had to make the decision of what fuel to run. Depending on your class you may have a few options, but what makes the most sense from a performance, and most importantly, a financial standpoint.

We’ll start from the top.

Pump gas. 87-94 Octane
For most classes, pump gas is adequate. Its cheap, convenient to buy, and you can only buy what you need.

It lacks a number of things from a performance standpoint. Its fairly volatile, because of its intended use in street cars with low compression there is little chance of preignition, but it has a hard time not preigniting when over timed or overheated. It is inconsistent because of (to name a few) Water content of the in ground tank, when the tank was refilled, when the tank was last flushed, and on what date is was made.

Even though there is some dispute over this, there is winter and summer mixes of pump gas. Winter gas is reformulated to ignite easier because of the lower temps. Depending on how busy your gas station is, you could have winter gas in the tanks come springtime and the first few races of the year.

Another real problem with pump gas, is the blending agents used in all pump gas, and the alcohol content used at some stations, namely Petro Canada and Esso.

In your street car you have a sealed evaporative emissions system, so no additives or alcohols can evaporate, in your race car that vents to open air, you are losing most of your octane throughout the week. The problem is with alcohol blended fuel, if they have used the alcohol to increase the octane 2 or 3 points, and most of it evaporates during the week, what octane is your fuel at come race day?

“AV” Gas. Generally 100 octane
Airplane fuel should be used in airplanes, and that’s about it. Almost everyone i know who uses av gas is constantly chasing jets and fuel related problems. This stems from the fact that the fuel and additives package is formulated for high altitude use. It is extremely humid above the ground, that’s why there are clouds up there, from Wikipedia: a cloud is a visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals made of water or various chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planetary body.

So the packages are developed with very low burn rates because of the lack of oxygen (engine needs more time to burn the fuel), medium volatility because of the low effective compression up there, and very little top end lubricants because of the moistness of the air. Av gas is a reasonable alternative to some racers, but not if you run manifolds. AV gas tends to continue to burn as it exits the exhaust port, and does a awesome job of melting off plug boots and turning manifolds red.

Its difficult to explain fully in a reasonable sized paragraph, but av gas burns slow, and cool. It is not an effective “power adder” it will stave of SOME preigniton, but is not a fuel for serious competition. And because of little additives, and no top end lube, the only way to use is “properly” is to add 1/4 pint per 5 gallons of non synthetic 2 stroke oil, 1; to get some lube for your top rings 2; to add some color and get a read on your plugs.

On a side note it work really well in (racing) snowmobiles during the winter, as 2 stokes benefit from the slow burn rate, the air is cold and moist like high altitude, low heat created by the slow burn (keeps pistons cool), and already have the 2 stroke oil in the mix anyways.

Conventional race fuel. 95 to 114 leaded or unleaded.
“Real” race fuel is not made for driving to Zellers, or delivering supplies to the Arctic circle.

The “myth” is that race fuel doesn’t add any more power, so why run it? That myth is true, and false. If you run a 9 to 1 engine and don’t change anything, it will make very little difference. But if you jet, adjust the mixture on the carb, recurve the distributor and retime the engine, there will be a definite increase in power. With race fuel you have the CAPACITY to make more power. Race fuel is blended to prevent preignition, burn hotter, run the engine cooler, cool the pistons rings and exhaust valves, and it smells wicked cool.

Because of the high octane preignition is rare, and because of this you can add more total timing and be more aggressive with the timing curve. Most people add timing until the performance falls off, and back it off a bit. The problem is with any other fuel than race fuel, the performance is falling off because of preignition, and the piston being forced down before it gets to top dead center. Even if you back it off 3 degrees, there is a very good chance there is still detonation going on and you are damaging something. When you time an engine with race fuel, you generally reach the limitations of the combustion chamber design before you get into engine killing detonation. There is a large safety window with race fuel you don’t get with other fuels. You may be off a jet size or two, or the timing isn’t quite right, but the band aid of race fuel tends to leave some wiggle room.

That’s not saying its impossible to burn a piston down with race fuel, you just have to be really bad at tuning engines.

Nowadays leaded fuel really isn’t that important compared to what is used to be. The main function of the lead was to cool the exhaust valves when unleaded seats were common. Unless you are using old heads that have never had seats, or are using copious amounts of nitrous, the difference between leaded and unleaded boils down on what you can get locally.

Fuel additives and oxygenated fuel and special blends;
I firstly believe that ALL tracks should own a fuel sniffer. Go Kart tracks have them, why shouldn’t they? There are some nasty additives out there, and just breathing them or mixing them is dangerous, let alone in the event of a crash and the 30% easier to ignite science project gets on manifolds etc. I don’t use them, because i don’t like what they do inside an engine, and i generally try to follow rules and guidelines set out by racetracks.

Special blends are are 2 way street, they are incredibly expensive, but defiantly add more power than anything legal. VP and ELF make some awesome fuel, but bring the deed to your house. Applications included Late model sportsman blends, crate engine blends, 2 barrel blends etc.

Oxygenated fuel IE VP MS 109, is for the guy that wants that very cutting edge or that last 10th. Its a prick to tune and get setup, but when you hit it, its more power than anything available. It has extra oxygen carrying additives and has the potential to make 8 to 10% HP over regular race fuel. And on a 300 HP engine, that’s alot.

If you are racing circle track, there are very few situations where you would need more than 105 octane. 105 will Carry up to 13 to 1 compression, and with the rules packages these days, we wont see that ever again.

Questions? Comments? Hoskingengines@gmail.com  Ontario Oval and I would like to answer questions from you in an upcoming column, drop me a line and get your engine question answered here.

By Craig Revelle – November 10, 2012 – The off-season is beginning to set in, as much as I don’t like to admit it. I had hopes of getting one last race in as Black Rock Speedway had their 2012 season finale this past Saturday but I was unable to attend. I will have more on the Black Rock race later in this column. There were was another key event taking place on the weekend as well, as DIRTcar honoured their champions and top finishers at their annual awards banquet.

While I haven’t been at a track since Brockville Speedway closed out their season a month ago, I have still been busy with websites, and getting ready for the 33rd annual Parts Peddler Trade Show and Auction this coming weekend. Although in marks the end of the season, it is also the start of a new season in many respects, as manufactures, and suppliers unveil their new equipment and showcase what they have to offer for the 2013 season.

For the first time, Finish Line Web Design will be part of the show that starts on Friday, November 16th and runs through Sunday November 18th. We will have Jessica Power’s DIRTcar Sportsman in our booth and Jessica and the Power team will be on hand throughout the weekend. We will be there to discuss website packages, hero cards, sponsorship proposals, and will also have t-shirts and decals available for purchase of many top drivers from the Brockville Speedway area. We will also be promoting our association with Arizona Sports Shirts. We will be offering a 10% discount on all of our services throughout the weekend, (excluding t-shirts).

The National Parts Peddler Trade Show will have plenty to offer for everyone in the racing community. If you are a driver, crewmember, work at a racetrack, involved with the technical side of this sport, or just a fan with an interest of learning more about these cars, attending this show is a must. The Parts Peddler show opens up on Friday at noon. A special Johnny Cash tribute concert will set the tone with Terry Lee Goffey giving the ultimate Johnny Cash performance beginning at 6:30pm. Friday night’s show will end at 9pm before opening back up at 10am on Saturday morning until 8pm and back on Sunday from 10am to 3pm. For more information on the Parts Peddler show, please visit their website, www.partspeddler.us. Admission prices for the show are $15.00 for one day, $25 for 2 days, or $30 for all three days.

As mentioned earlier, Black Rock Speedway held their final race of the 2012 season. DIRTcar points champion Matt Sheppard completed his great season by winning the $6000 to win 77 lap Empire Finale. Stewart Friesen finished second with Eldon Payne Jr., Tyler Siri and Alan Johnson rounding out the top five.

It was a big night for all the champions on Saturday as they attended the annual DIRTcar Awards Banquet. Big Block Modified Champion Matt Sheppard, 358 Modified Champion Dale Planck, Sportsman Champion Cody McPherson and Pro Stock Champion Joey Ladouceur were all recognized for their accomplishments along with other top finishers from each division.

For the rest of the off-season, this column will be done on a monthly basis. We thank everyone for reading. For everyone that is going to the Parts Peddler show this weekend, stop by the Finish Line Web Design booth. We will see you at the show.

I hope you continue to enjoy my weekly column, as always, any comments or suggestions can be sent to crevelle@ripnet.com.

By Peter Turford – Disclosure – the following applies mainly to sprint car racing – I believe there are truths buried within that apply to all aspects of the sport – but pleased be warned it is biased towards sprint cars.

I know that I must sound arrogant when I rant on about how foolish those that “run” our sport can be, but when it comes to tires, our sport’s leaders bring short sightedness, greed and stupidity to a whole new level. Let me start by saying I am the world’s biggest believer in a spec tire. I have no desire to see a race won by the guy that picked out the one “special” tire that no one thought of using or that he had stored in his shop for the last 3 years. I prefer to see a race won by preperation, set up and great driving. I don’t care who has the most tires in their trailer. The leaders are correct about 1 thing we NEED a spec tire to keep our sport alive.

In today’s sprint car world, chassis prices and availability are still relatively “sane”, a decent chassis, new or used is pretty much within everyone’s price range. Motor costs are high and unless they get a killer deal on a used motor, the cost of high horsepower and driveability is beyond the range of most working stiffs. While motor costs have done their best to kill the sport – the finishing move or “1-2″ punch is tire costs. This is not news and was recognized many years ago. I know that almost 30 years ago, in 1984 the Northeastern pavement modified world was in an uproar when a spec tire was introduced by 3 speedways that had gotten together and introduced the tire – a law suit was instigated – and subsequently settled in the tracks’ favor. I’m going from memory but I believe the crux of the lawsuit was that a tire rule restricted fair and open competition – the tracks argued succesfully that the initial process was open to all companies to bid on becoming the spec tire. This opened the door fully to the idea of spec tires across North America.

To my mind, a good spec tire has several characteristics, they are, the tire has great wear, its grip does not deteriorate after a few heat cycles, the initial cost is relatively low, and is not easily blistered. In addition to the above, a spec tire does NOT have to be a revenue generator for the track or sanctioning body, does not have to be free to a few “chosen ones”, and does not have to provide enough grip to compensate for a team’s inability to set up the car well enough to win, nor should it provide adequate grip to allow teams to really hook up the car to make use of the aforementioned high dollar motors.

The last several years has seen both Goodyear and Hoosier dominate the top levels of the sport. I never understood why Goodyear jumped into Sprint Car racing the way it did. It basically promised huge dollars to tracks and sanctioning bodies to become the spec tire of choice. To me this was unwise, because, in terms of total national sales, I don’t believe there are that many sprint car tires sold on a given weekend to impact the bottom line of a company the size of Goodyear – and when you are “buying” the business with track and point fund subsidies I just don’t see how it would be truly profitable for Goodyear. Please, please don’t tell me this was a marketing tool, because all that this did was provide the company with continued humiliation and embarassment whenever a tire failed – and in some cases a whole field of them would fail. This is not limited to sprint car races, Goodyear has often seen itself badmouthed by NASCAR teams and drivers in the past, and I believe the F-1 fiasco at Indianapolis several years ago (unrelated to Goodyear) would be a warning shot to any tire company considering a high profile racing endeavour. In terms of marketing tires, when it comes to motorsports there is minimal upside and pretty much all downside. When your tire works well and causes no problems, no one notices, when you have a failure with the whole world watching EVERYONE notices. After Sammy Swindell losing a Knoxville Nationals and later a Kings Royal to exploding Goodyears do you think many Swindell fans buy Goodyears??? What’s even worse in the 80′s and early 90′s Goodyear was one of Sammy’s biggest backers to the point they were strong arming Indy car teams to give Sammy a shot. The sad part about Goodyear leaving is, while they had wear and blistering issues – the tire seemed to provide good racing and lots of passing.

It is not argued that Goodyear bought their way into the sport, pretty much at the expense of Hoosier. Speaking for myself, I did not shead many tears for Hoosier. Hoosier were essentially the ones that perfected the art of buying their way into a track or series usually via the track or series’ point fund. To their credit, Hoosier usually brought along a good, well performing tire that most competitors were happy with. My feeling was they did their job a little too well, in most cases the Hoosier was usually a GREAT one night tire, but I am not aware of many race wins on a used Hoosier – I know someone somewhere will tell me about multiple race wins on used Hoosiers – but it ceratianly was not the “norm”.

For the above reason(s) my all time favorite spec. racing tire was the American Racer MC-3. Most racers HATED it – it is harder than a hockey puck, it does not hook up easily, the cost is low and the tire lasts forever. In some cases teams change MC-3′s after YEARS not races. They never contributed to a points’ fund that I am aware of – they just sold the tire at a fair price, teams ran them forever and never went out of business because of tire bills, crashes and blown motors maybe – but not tire costs.

Based on all of this – you would think I would be thrilled at the idea of American Racer potentially becoming the World of Outlaws spec tire. Actually I am scared to death for the sport. My honest belief is that the WoO has never done anything based on long term sustainability or for the overall good of the sport. If they do something and it works out well for everyone that is great – but most every move they make is based on short sightedness and squeezing the teams for their own benefit – look no further than the World Finals at Charlotte, the teams get to race for 3 nights and get paid for 2 – nice eh? I predict the following, the American Racer tire will perform at or about the level of the Goodyear, the cost will be ridiculous to help subsidize the points fund – so that puts us back where we were with Goodyear – but here comes the worst part – American Racer has not bribed, cajoled or conned every other series or track across the US to switch to them so far JUST the Outlaws – this is going to get messy as Knoxville and Pennsylvania have all announced they are going back to Hoosier!! It is going to get ugly folks.

The only hope I see is this, as I type this, the WoO have NOT OFFICIALLY announced a switch to American Racer – so maybe they are really giving this a good think. IF they do switch to American Racer maybe they will keep the cost low and forgo worring about points fund contributions – especially with STP now on board as title sponsor. Let’s hope that for once they do the right thing………

Totally unrelated – Once more I got my ass handed to me on a platter during the Ontario Oval 250 at the Hamilton Indoor Kartway – but fortunately, go kart racing is a lot like sex – You don’t have top be good at it to have fun. Thanks again to Greg Calnan and to my fellow competitors please accept my apologies in advance for the next time we get together.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of OntarioOval.com. Please direct comments or concerns to Peter Turford at peterturford@yahoo.ca.

By Craig Revelle – October 29, 2012 - There isn’t much racing news to report this week, as the off-season is beginning to set in for most race teams.  The Big Block Modified Super DIRTcar Series will head south for their final race of the 2012 season at the World Finals at the DIRT Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina this coming weekend.

Just a couple of tracks were in operation this past weekend, as Five Mile Point Speedway near Binghamton, New York hosted their season finale RoC event.  Danny Johnson was the race winner and series champion finishing ahead of Jimmy Phelps, Stewart Friesen, Rick Laubach and Pat Ward.  The other track that was in action was Hagerstown Speedway in Maryland, and after a day of qualifying on Saturday, their features were rained out on Sunday and postponed until November 11^th.

As mentioned earlier, there will be people traveling to Charlotte, North Carolina this week for the World Finals.  This three-day event hosts the final points races for the Big Block Modifieds, World of Outlaw Late Models and World of Outlaw Sprint Cars.  With the big storm that is approaching, I wish everyone safe travels, and the best of luck once they reach their destination.  I was able to attend this event back in 2010, and which I was going again this year.

I may attend Black Rock Speedway on Saturday for their final race of 2012.  They host the annual Empire Finale $6,000 to win event for the Modifieds.  I haven’t been to Black Rock in quite a few years, so if the weather co-operates I may make the four hour trip to the Finger Lakes area of New York State.

The final racing event of my season will take place on November 16^th to 18^th in Syracuse for the 33^rd annual National Parts Peddler Trade Show and Auction at the New York State Fairgrounds.  Although this show marks the end of a season for some, it also begins a brand new season for many of the vendors as they display their 2013 cars and equipment.  The event will kick off on Friday November 16^th as they open the show to the public at noon.  Friday night, everyone will be treated to the sounds of Johnny Cash as Terry Lee Goffey performs live on stage.  Goffey is a nationally known and is the ultimate Johnny Cash tribute artist.  The show will resume at 10am on Saturday morning for another day of buying and selling and will close out on Sunday for the final day from 10am to 3pm.  Finish Line Web Design will have a booth setup in this year’s National Parts Peddler show with Jessica Power’s DIRTcar Sportsman on hand.  Finish Line Web Design will offer a Parts Peddler Trade Show Special for this weekend only, with a 10% discount on all services (except t-shirts).  This offer will be open for new clients, as well as all current clients wishing to renew early.  We will also have t-shirts for sale during the event, featuring Danny O’Brien, Matt Billings, Tim O’Brien, Dylan Evoy, Chris Herbison as well as a few remaining Finish Line Web Design t-shirts.  For more information on the National Parts Peddler Trade Show, please visit their website, www.partspeddler.us.

I did attend the Funeral Service for our friend Glen Gould that passed away last Saturday.  Glen was an ambassador of our sport, a friend to many, and a great family man, and will be missed by everyone that was fortunate enough to cross paths with him.

I hope you continue to enjoy my weekly column, as always, any comments or suggestions can be sent to crevelle@ripnet.com.

By Craig Revelle – October 22, 2012 - With the 2012 racing season pretty much over, my weekends now have a much different level of excitement.  From going virtually non stop since March with racing events, leading up to the start of the season right up to last weekend’s season finale at Brockville Speedway I have been traveling every weekend.  During that time, I went to a total of 95 races.  I am still hoping to make it to the World Finals in Charlotte on November 1^st to 3^rd, but even that is becoming less likely as the event is approaching very quickly.

Although there was no racing on my schedule, we did have our Brockville Speedway Kart Racing Banquet on Saturday afternoon.  My nephew, Brandon Revelle finished his first season of Kart racing in fifth place in points in his division and received a trophy for his accomplishment.  This year’s champions were Braxton Dalessio, Matthew McIntosh, Madison Mulder, Ryan McIntosh, Jarrett Herbison, Jesse Hudson and Logan Rayvals in the karts, while Nick Trotman and Jason Dowdall claimed championships in the Lawn Tractor divisions.

There was a big event in Middletown, New York this weekend as Orange County Speedway hosted their annual Eastern States Weekend.  Brett Hearn was the winner of the 358 Modified race on Saturday night that had to be shortened due to track curfew.  Tim McCreadie finished second with Stewart Friesen, Pat Ward and Billy Decker rounding out the top five.  The Eastern States 200 was held on Sunday afternoon and the winner was Brett Hearn once again, completing the weekend sweep.  Billy Decker finished second, with Tim McCreadie Jimmy Phelps and Justin Haers rounding out the top five.

Black Rock Speedway was also in action this past weekend for their annual Dutch Hoag Memorial Open.  Ryan Susice claimed the win over Alan Johnson, Chris Hile, Brady Fultz and Ray Bliss.  Boyd MacTavish won the Sportsman race over Greg Martin Brad Rouse, George Bosse and Fran Hilton.  Bryce Davis won the BRP Late Model/Crate Late Model Challenge race over AJ Kingsley, Billy VanPelt, Greg Belyea and Shayne Tenace.

The final racing event of my season will take place on November 16^th to 18^th in Syracuse for the 33^rd annual National Parts Peddler Trade Show and Auction at the New York State Fairgrounds.  Although this show marks the end of a season for some, it also begins a brand new season for many of the vendors as they display their 2013 cars and equipment.  The event will kick off on Friday November 16^th as they open the show to the public at noon.  Friday night, everyone will be treated to the sounds of Johnny Cash as Terry Lee Goffey performs live on stage.  Goffey is a nationally known and is the ultimate Johnny Cash tribute artist.  The show will resume at 10am on Saturday morning for another day of buying and selling and will close out on Sunday for the final day from 10am to 3pm.  Finish Line Web Design will have a booth setup in this year’s National Parts Peddler show with Jessica Power’s DIRTcar Sportsman on hand.  Finish Line Web Design will offer some Parts Peddler Trade Show specials, and will be on hand to discuss websites, hero cards, sponsor proposals, t-shirts and much more for your race team.  For more information on the National Parts Peddler Trade Show, please visit their website, www.partspeddler.us.

I regretfully end this week’s column on a very sad note, as the local racing community lost a great friend this past weekend with the passing of Glen Gould, of Alexandria Bay, New York.  Glen was a big part of Dana Aikins Sportsman team, but also sponsored several other racers and was a huge contributor to the Brockville Speedway Kids Club.  Just two weeks ago at Syracuse he watched Billy Dunn drive to a second place finish in the 358 Modified race in a car that he owned.  Mr. Gould will be missed by everyone.

I hope you continue to enjoy my weekly column, as always, any comments or suggestions can be sent to crevelle@ripnet.com.

By Tommy Goudge (October 15, 2012) – The International Supermodified Association championship has been claimed by a Canadian for just the second time in its 37-year history. Mike Lichty of Innerkip, Ontario locked up the title with a 7th place finish in the ISMA Portion of the World Series of Speedway Racing at Thompson (Connecticut) International Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Though just 25 years old, Mike is a Supermodified veteran with 9 seasons under his belt. He has been on the ISMA tour since winning the Rookie of the Year title and finishing 6th in the overall standings in 2004. Mike has finished 6th or better in the ISMA standings each year, and he knows all too well what it’s like to have a championship slip away – He led the ISMA standings heading into the finale at Thompson two years ago, but a blown engine in the heat race and broken wing in the feature allowed Russ Wood to steal that title.

Lichty was running in the third spot on Sunday at Thompson, but he was a bit too eager on a lap 39 restart, prompting ISMA officials to move him to the tail end of the lead lap in the finishing order. It was an anti-climactic end to what had been a close championship chase, as Lichty’s closest challenger Tim Jedrzejek crashed hard in practice on Saturday and scratched for the weekend. In a typical display of Supermodified sportsmanship, Lichty’s Patco Transportation team offered Jedrzejek and the Soule team the use of a spare car to finish the weekend, but they declined. Lou Cicconi also had a mathematical chance to catch Lichty, and did his best to make things interesting with a 2nd place finish, but his effort wasn’t enough to keep Lichty from the taking the championship.

Lichty’s title is the first for a Canadian since former teammate Dave McKnight, Jr. won it in 2001. Mike claimed just one ISMA feature win this season, but ran up front all year, and took the title on consistency. He finished second 4 times, recorded 9 top fives, and finished 26 points ahead of Cicconi in the driver standings, while the Patco team also won the owner championship.

All 4 Canadian entrants in the World Series event finished in the top 10 on Sunday, with Ryan Coniam 4th, Mark Sammut 6th, Lichty 7th, and Craig Rayvals 8th.

ELSWHERE…
- The Ontario Sprint Car season finished on Saturday at Brockville with 31 entries, and a familiar face in victory lane. Steve Poirier has only competed in 10 races this year due to a knee injury, but the Quebec driver led all 25 laps in the Patriot Sprint Tour event to take his third win of the season. His most recent win prior to last weekend came in the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals last month, a race we will cover in more detail later this week. Jamie Collard was the best of the Ontario contingent at Brockville with a 7th place finish, and took 2nd in the PST Canada championship standings behind Justin Barger, who also took the Northern Summer Nationals series championship at South Buxton in August. Ohsweken Speedway Sprint Car champion Chris Steele competed at Brockville in a DIRTcar 358 Modified, and finished 16th in a talented 42 car field.

- Ryan Litt had a shot at the Auto Value/Bumper to Bumper Super Sprints title earlier this month at Sandusky, Ohio, but engine problems, a flat tire, and contact with eventual champion Bill Tyler kept the London, driver from winning his first championship. Litt twice made his way through the field in the final AVSS feature of 2012, but settled for 6th, right behind Tyler. Litt wound up second in the final standings, a more than decent result considering the up and down nature of his season. Mount Brydges driver Mike Ling took a third place finish, while Delaware’s Scott O’Connor was caught up in an early crash.

- The Ontario open wheel community lost a longtime supporter recently when Bob Stanley passed away on October 2. Bob, father-in-law of former SOS champ Warren Mahoney, volunteered his time as a push truck driver and with the Can-Am Midgets and Southern Ontario Sprints for many years.

Tommy Goudge is OntarioOval.com’s Open Wheel Editor. He’s also an announcer and media officer at Ohsweken Speedway, PR Manager for Ryan Litt Racing and The Fenwick Flyer Tom Huppunen, and a contributor to Inside Track Motorsport News.  The Open Wheel Report covers Sprint Car, Midget, and Supermodified events and news from Ontario’s series, tracks, and teams. You can talk to Tommy by e-mail at tommygoudge@ontariooval.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/tommygoudge and friend him on Facebook at facebook.com/tommy.goudge