RICK @ the RACES ( 25/26 October 2008)

Mother Nature returned with vengeance this past weekend and drowned out what was to be the Finale of the 358 Modified and SPORTSMAN DIRTCAR season.

Following a rain-out at the Can Am Speedway ( Lafargeville NY) during SUPERDIRT WEEK, the event was rescheduled for 25 Oct. This also fell victim of wet weather when the organizers were forced to pull the plug early Saturday morning. There’s no re-make date so the SUPER DIRT SERIES champions in all divisions have now been decided.

Pete Bicknell (St Catherines ,Ont). clinched the Small Block Series

 

Chris Raabe (Napanee ,Ont) took the SPORTSMAN title.

Billy Decker of Unadilla NY  was the Big Block Modified winner

 

and Wheatfield NY’s Pete Stefanski  was winner in the Pro Stocks to complete this years DIRT CAR CHAMPIONS.

I was lucky enough to catch them all in Victory Lane during the past few months,

With my racing plans literally ‘gone down the drain’ and nothing definite planned for the rest of the year, this past weekend will probably be the first of many, spent sitting at home. As things turned out, it was a good weekend to be marooned behind the TV set. Not only was the RITE AID 200 from SUPER DIRT WEEK ( Syracuse NY) transmitted on the SPEED channel , but also CTV’s ‘Hockey Night In Canada’ was featuring the Sen’s versus the Leafs game. So, on Saturday night I found myself with ‘remote’ in hand switching between the two. By the way , webmaster Craig, is a Maple Leafs fan but I wont hold that against him !

I must mention the excellent commentary of the Syracuse event by Shane Andrews and Tim ‘T MAC’ McCreadie. They make a great team

The NASCAR race from Atlanta was my choice of Sunday’s viewing and what a race that turned out to be ! Although Carl Edwards took the checkers all eyes were on the late charge on ‘fresh tires’ by Jimmy Johnson.

As usual, watching the Ottawa Senators and visiting the occasional ice racing event will get me through the winter but I also have plans to get the RETRO section of the website up dated.

It was during a winter weekend two years ago that I decided to start the RETRO Reports. They were memoirs from my life and times around the racetracks and were sent out to the recipients of my RICK @ the RACES mailing list. I’d got as far as the end of 1986 when Craig and I launched the website mid way through 2008 . They have all been ‘saved’ and my winter project is to edit and tidy them up so they can be included on the site. Episode One dealing with the late 1950’s to 1966 has just had more photos added and Episode Two (1967 and 1968) should be ready shortly.