Back to Central New York (Weekly BLOG 14th Sept 2023)

This weeks Blog begins on Friday the 8th of September.

It was the start of a short racing weekend back in Central New York.

That night , North Country track, the Can Am Speedway at Lafargeville NY were staging DirtCar Series races for both 358’s and Sportsman.

On the weekend , the Weedsport Speedway in central NY had a 358 Series race on the Saturday,  and a Super DirtCar Series race for Big Blocks on Sunday.

A nice little road-trip not too far from home, but one that still warranted  some overnight accommodation.

I left home in Cornwall, Ontario  just after lunch on Friday and headed straight down to Evans Mills NY where I checked into the Royal Inn Hotel.

This was a 20 minute drive passed the Can Am exit on I81 , but the price was right and not too far off the beaten track.

Once my stuff was dumped in the room, I travelled back up the I81 to the track.

The pits were full of Modifieds, Sportsman , Action Sprint Cars and the domestic Thunder Cars (Mini Stocks).

I stationed myself on turn one and two.

The first of the feature races was for the Sportsman.

David Rogers took this one after an early challenge from Xavier Andrews had faded.

Jessica Power managed to pass Andrews in the closing stages to snatch second.

The Modified Feature was up next.

Dave Marcuccilli dominated the first part of this race, while Tim Fuller gradually worked his way up to second.  

Fuller eventually made the pass on Marcuccilli near the end to take the checkers .  

 

Felix Roy Roy had began to challenge Marcuccilli for second, but had to be content with third .

With so many cars in attendance from all the divisions , it meant Consi’s , so by this time , the night was getting late.

After seeing Josh Verne Jr take the Action Sprint feature, I chose to miss the Thunder Cars and made my exit. 

I was back in my room at the Royal Inn before midnight.

There was no rush to be at Weedsport on Saturday, as it was only a couple of hours drive.

I’d arranged with with the Motel Thomas in Camillus NY ,  which was my room for the night , to have entry to my room early, so was I relaxing in  there around 1-00pm . It’s located on route #5 between Syracuse and Weedsport .

With plenty of time to kill , before racing got under way, I went to check out one of my old haunts which I just happened to be passing. .

The Rolling Wheels Raceway at Elbridge.

It’s been closed for a number of years , and still sits there dormant.

So sad , I have a lot of fond memories over the years from that place.

FLASH BACK to 2002 and my first visit.

After this,  I took the short drive down the road to Weedsport.

Already the pits were starting to fill up for the openning  night, that featured the 358 Modified DirtCar Series and the ESS Sprint Cars.

The weather looked a bit iffy and we got a few drops of rain before it was start time, but things carried on.

While waiting for the hot laps to begin, it was a good time to chat with some of my long time CNY ‘tog’ buddies. John Meloning, Mark Ranalletta , and Ken Dippel.

When things got going, I took a few shots of the time trials from the pit gate. 

Then I moved to my usual ‘old spot’ on turn three and four.

The heat races for Modifieds and Sprint Cars were all safely in the books, and it was Feature time. The mini-sprints had their feature before the break .

The feature for the ESS Sprint Cars were up next , and they started to get pushed onto the track.

At the same time as this, a few spots of rain could be felt.

I’d been shooting beside fellow ‘tog’ Quentin Young all night, and he’d been constantly checking the weather on his phone. He told me a big storm was on its way at about 9-00 pm.

He was correct and I’m glad believed him.

Once I felt those few spots of rain, I quickly packed up my camera equipment.

While the Sprint cars were lining up, I thought it best to head for shelter , just in case Quinten was right.

No sooner had I got back to my car, the heavens opened and the rain came down, big time.

My car was beside the pit gate so I stood there  sheltering undercover while chatting to Sarah Salerno in the office.

Her husband Anthony is one of the track officials, and was still out on the track at this time.

It wasn’t long before the inevitable cancelation announcement was made. The plan was for the two lost features to take place the next day prior to the Big Block show.

So I returned to Camillus for the night. 

There was no point in heading back to the track too early, but I had a hunch that the Sunday show might also get called off. There’d been a lot of overnight rain and the forecast for the day was grim. 

Sure enough , I was at the track at 11-00 am just as Sundays show also got cancelled .

Apparently the lost Features will now be run in October on the Tuesday of Super Dirt Week.

So with  my Chev Impala ready to go, I set off back to Cornwall , Ontario.

I had a nice steady drive home and was passing the Cornwall Motor Speedway as the Enduro races were starting

(  I usually take a day off , when it’s Enduro day) 

So with Weedsport cancelled, there was no escape for me this year 🙂

There were quite a few friends there from the ‘regular’ races taking a look. (and even competing ! )

358 Modified driver Chris Ferguson took part in the trailer race, towing a boat behind a Jeep Liberty .

This years Cornwall Motor Speedway Modified Track Champion, Corey Wheeler was there watching. His young son got to go on the flag stand and drop the green, for one of the races.

I left after the trailer race, and was soon back home at my house.

It wasn’t the weekend , I expected, but that’s racing !

With all the racing on my schedule over the past few weeks, my 78 Thunder Bird has got a bit neglected , so on Monday the 11th of Sept , I took her on a joy ride down to Prescott , Ontario to see my buddy , Ralph Murphy. 

I’ve known Ralph for many years and one of his companies, DIRT OUTLAW APPARREL is sponsoring the Fall Nationals at Brockville and the Canadian Super Dirt Week in Cornwall.

Don Simpson was there to take some pics for a promotion article he’s doing, so I joined them.

While we were there we got to see Ralph’s summer toy, his Hell Cat powered Dodge.

On Tuesday , I had a nice surprise , when I checked out the latest issue of Area Auto Racing News.

My picture of Tim Fullers Can Am win had made the ‘front page’

I finished my week with another trip out in the T  BIRD  , and attended the Old Car meet in Alexandria.

 

A lady turned up in a beautiful 1967 Ford Galaxie and parked it next to me . What a lovely original car . That was my favorite .