RICK @ the RACES (8/9/10 June 2007)

Fri Jun 8      Autodrome Edelweiss (Que)

Sat Jun 9      Fulton Speedway (NY)

Sun Jun 10      Cornwall Motor Speedway (Ont)

Once again my weekend started with a trip into Quebec to visit the Autodrome Edelweiss. I’d thought about going to Autodrome Granby for a change, but double features postponed from the previous weeks rain out, swung me towards Edelweiss.

As I was traveling towards the track, the local radio station warned of violent thunderstorms in the area, but at this stage it was still warm and dry. With a few miles left to drive, I saw race car haulers coming towards me in the opposite direction. This is never a good sign, so after a quick phone call to the track, I learned that the racing was off.

To make things worse, I had a little mishap on my way to the track. I pulled into an unfamiliar gas station, on the outskirts of Ottawa, to fill up, which I caught at a busy time. I joined the line (queue) and waited for a pump to become available. As I proceeded , I discovered the first pump was diesel, so waited a bit more to move up to the next one. When I got on to it, I found it was one of those new fangled types which make you pay by bank or credit cards only. I’ve never used one before, I’ve always managed to avoid them, but I’d been waiting long enough , so thought I’d give it a try.

Well, to make a long story short, I had problems, and ended up getting no gas and a debit for 75 bucks. I went into the cashier to find out what went wrong ,and he tried explaining to me. (I had a hard time understanding his heavy overseas accent).

At this time one of the regular self service pumps became available so I said to him, “don’t worry I’ll use that”. I jumped into my car and moved forward…. Can you figure out what happened next  ? … Oh yes ! …. I hadn’t removed the trigger/nozzle from my cars filler. So, there I was with my car sitting on the forecourt with a hose trailing from it, now disconnected from the pump.

Oh Dear ! This definitely wasn’t my day… Maybe I should of gone to Granby !

On Saturday, there were a lot of things going on locally, and I had plenty of tracks to choose from , but decided to head further South to the Fulton Speedway (NY) for their staging of the ‘SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES’ .

As you can see, for this year, the historic and catchy titled ‘SUPER DIRT SERIES’ has been renamed by the powers that be,  and the word ‘CAR’ has been added . I have no idea why , as I think the old name sounded much better…. and most fans I’ve spoken to agree !  As the old saying goes “If it ain’t broke etc etc etc”.

My visit to Fulton turned out to be another of my camping trips, where I preferred staying overnight at the track to returning straight home.

Forty-two Big Block DIRT Modifieds contested the event on a warm and sunny night. The track was in great shape, and provided at least three good racing grooves. The 100 lap feature was won by Alan ‘AJ Slideways’ Johnson # 14 J who fought off challenges from Brett Hearn # 20 and Pat Ward # 42p throughout. Johnson the defending SDS Champion has been struggling for results this year since his Jeff Rudalavage/Native Poker Team disbanded, so I’m sure it was a great relief to capture this one. He was driving the Bullys TruckStop, Wallace Stacey owned car from Kahnawake, Quebec.

On Sunday morning I left the Fulton Speedway at 6-30am and after stopping for Breakfast in Watertown NY I was back home in Maxville, Ontario, before 11-00am. I had time to relax and un-wind for a few hours before setting off for the evening races at the Cornwall Motor Speedway (Ont).

After three weeks in which rain had decimated the scheduled ‘ season openers’ , Mother Nature was at last,  kind to us , with a warm and sunny evening. 114 race cars crammed the pits , and the stands were full , to witness some great racing.

The hi-lite of the night was the second of the two, 25 lap 358 Modified Features. For most of the race it was a battle between Pierre Dagenais and Brian McDonald, with Clement Therrien also a threat behind them. As they got nearer to the checkers Dagenais edged past McDonald. In the meantime, Danny ‘the Doctor’ Johnson who had started twentieth on the grid had worked his way through the pack. As the white flag came out, Johnson was on Dagenais back bumper, and in the last few yards of the last lap he spectacularly powered past. It  was a great start to the season at Cornwall, and as ‘the Doctor’ did a victory dance on the roof of his car, the crowd cheered with delight. The first 25 lap Mod Feature went to Quebec’s Yan Bussiere # 21.Pro Stock winner was Clayton Benedict