30 | July | 2011 | Rick at the Races

RICK @ the RACES (27 to 31 July )

27 July Capital City Speedway , Ottawa. Ont

28 July Utica-Rome Speedway, Vernon. NY

29 July Brockville Ontario Speedway,

30 July Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh. NY

31 July Cornwall Motor Speedway, Ont

This past week has been a busy one , where in between my work shifts, I attended five events in five days. As usual my racing schedule started on Wednesday night for my weekly visit to the Capital City Speedway at Stittsville near Ottawa.

You may remember in last weeks report I mentioned that a Porsche was the latest addition to the 4 For Fun entry division. At the time I had no idea who the driver was, but I soon found out after this weeks pre race walkabout around the pits.

Actually it turned out to be some one I knew by the name of Kyle Brentnell. I found him in the pits working on his car, so stopped by for a chat. In previous weeks Kyle had joined me in the center to take photos , but he’s now ‘traded in’ the camera for a race car !

This was only his third outing on the track and by the time the Feature came round, he’d made people sit up and notice with a last lap pass on # 33 Brian McCallum to take the checkers. It’s quite an achievement to win a Feature race so soon in your career.

For me it was quite nostalgic too, because the last time I saw a Porsche win an oval race was back in the late 1970’s /early 1980’s on the NACO circuits of the Netherlands. Other Feature winners this week at Capital City were as follows.

Tim Kirby (Late Model)

Chad Windsor (Legends)

Todd Musker (Thunder Car)

Derek Lamouroux (Mini Stock)

I was back at work on Thursday morning and after taking a trailer in to Montreal in the morning ( I’m a truck driver) I was back at my terminal in Cornwall , Ontario by 2-00 pm. To my surprise the ‘End of Day’ message came through on my on-board computer, which quickly got me thinking !

I had booked Friday ( the next day) off as a holiday, so this meant , I was free to take off for some ‘Thursday night racing’. There was a Lucas Oil Late Model show and a ‘big buck’ 50 lap Mod race taking place at the Utica-Rome Speedway at Vernon, NY and it looked possible for me to get there. I quickly dropped in to my home to grab a few things, fueled up the HHR and by 3-00pm I was heading down Hwy 401. I crossed into the USA at Ogdensburg at about 4-00pm and with the minimum of stops, pulled into the Speedway at dead-on 7.00pm just as the time trials (‘yawn ‘) were finishing.

The Utica-Rome track used to be one of my ‘bogey’ tracks where I’d made a couple of wasted journey’s for rain outs before I saw my first ever race there. It’s been over five years since I last visited the place and during that time there’s been a change in the management team. Normally race night is Sunday’s , but this was a mid week summer special.

The Modified race was won by Billy Decker while Tim McCreadie took the checkers in the Lucas Oil Late Models.

I have to mention an amusing moment that happened during the Victory Lane photo shoot. They had some of the sponsors jugs of oil on hand for the presentations, to accompany the trophy girls, and to enhance the picture, some one ordered “ Can the girls please hold your jugs” . Can you imagine the laughter !

The racing was over by about 11-00pm and with no work the next day I slept overnight in the HHR. This time of year I have a bed made up in the back of my car ‘just in case’.

The reason I’d booked Friday off work, was to make sure nothing went wrong and was able to attend, what must be the highest profile oval race ever to be held in Eastern Ontario. The Brockville Ontario Speedway were hosting the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars and I didn’t want to miss it. When I left Cornwall, I’d only thrown a few essentials into the car as I’d thought I’d be returning home first. After giving it more thought, it made more sense to go directly to Brockville. This meant a visit to the Walmart at Central Square near Syracuse, to buy some soap, shampoo and shaving stuff, so I could stop at the Mexico Truck Stop on 181 for a clean up. Once showered , I had breakfast before heading back to Canada.

I crossed back over the border at about 10-30 am and was at the Brockville exit of the Hwy 401 at 11-00am. By now it had turned overcast and a slight drizzle filled the air. Parked out side the Motels that surround the exit were the World of Outlaw race team haulers and the Jason Myers car could be seen in the Food Basics (grocery store) parking lot being worked on by the crew. After getting a few things to snack on, I drove the short distance up to the track, where it was still raining on my arrival. It was 12-00 mid day and the weather men were predicting it would stop by 4-00pm .

I’m pleased to say they were correct and at 3-00pm the rain was over, and gradually as the clouds disappeared the sun started to peep through.

The haulers started to arrive at the gate and things started looking up. Everyone who was anyone on the WoO tour was there plus some of our locals. Sprint Car legends Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell were there as well as the current top dogs ,

Donny Schatz and of course 2010 Champion Jason Myers. I’d met Sammy Swindell last November when I was visited, BMRS open house during the Dirt track World Finals at Charlotte NC. While walking the pits I met up with the ‘darling of the BOS’ Jessica Zemken , who is no stranger to Victory Lane at this track. Back in 2004, I took my first Victory shots of her at the ‘BOS’ after she’d won a Dirt Series Sportsman race . Since then she’s had three Feature wins in the Lasalle Motorsports 358 Modified before going on to win in Sprint Cars. She is now at the highest level of Sprint Car Racing and drives for, Tony Stewart Racing. Actually Tony , who was absent from the ‘BOS’ due to his NASCAR commitments at Indianopolis made history two days earlier at the Oshweken Speedway (near Hamilton , Ont) by winning his first ever WoO race .

Joining the Outlaws as ‘back up’ division were Brockville’s own vintage Mods, which are rapidly becoming a favorite with the fans . Denzil Billings Jr was the Feature winner.

The WoO Feature ( or A Main, as some people prefer to call it) was a great race with Swindell holding a commanding lead until an inside rear tire blew to pieces in the closing stages. This handed the lead to team mate Craig Dollansky, who’s fortune turned out to be short lived. His front wing had become dislodged and the resulting poor handling allowed Paul McMahan to get past and claim the checkers.

Following him across the line was Jason Meyers while Dollansky held on to get third. Eastern Ontario’s first foray into oval racings ‘Big Time’ was a great success and I can’t wait to see if we get a return visit in 2012.

The show was over at a respectable 10-30 pm and I was home before midnight, and ready for an early morning shift back at work on Saturday.

As arranged with my bosses, I only work until 2-00pm on Saturdays and after a trip to Repentigny, Quebec in the morning, I was heading for home at 1-45 pm. My usual Saturday night base is the ‘BOS’ , but with the WoO show being staged on Friday, they were taking the Saturday night off. This meant I was able to make a long over due visit to another of my local tracks.

The Airborne Speedway at Plattsburgh is about a 1 hour and forty five minutes drive from my place in Cornwall and bearing in mind I was getting quite fatigued , it turned out to be a wise decision. I arrived at 6-00pm and was able to get straight out on the center to join track photographer Andy Watts, the son of my late friend Mike Watts. The Airborne track has to be one of the success stories for paved track racing in the North East.

Since Mike Perrotte took control a few years back and introduced ‘Dirt Style’ Modifieds the place has been booming. ( They regularly get about 30 Mods each week)

The other divisions have good rosters too, and when ever I pay a visit, the pits and grandstands are always packed.. Tonight there was also the added bonus of the Vintage Mods.

I really struck it lucky as the two headline divisions of the Mods and Sportsman ( full fender Late Models) were the first divisions on the program to run their features.

Local hero , Bucko Branham took the Sportsman race while Quebec’s Martin Roy took the Mod feature.

Both races were in the books by 9-00pm so I made my exit, and was home long before mid night.

Sunday morning should of been a time to relax and take it easy, but with a back log of photos to edit from four days of racing, I was busy behind the keyboard of my computer. I was up to date by lunch time and was able to put my feet up and laze around for a couple of hours before heading out to my local Cornwall Motor Speedway.

It was a big day and the headline event was a 100 lap Canadian Nationals/358 Modified Super Dirt Series race. The pits were full with over 45 Mods, that included top runners Brett Hearn and Danny Johnson. The other divisions of Pro Stock, Semi Pro and Mini Stocks were also well represented.

During the intermission, Brett Hearn was interviewed on the home stretch by Tim Baltz, before giving Junior Fan Club members a ride on the fun bus.

When the big race started it was Danny Johnson who made the early running with Danny O’Brien in hot pursuit. Meanwhile Dale Planck had been working his way through the pack and as the race moved in to the final stages he’d edged past the ‘Doctor’. As Planck increased his lead Johnson began to slip further back as Hearn and Stephane Lafrance moved in to the picture.