7/21/08 – Oh crap! What do you mean we race on Friday? I guess I should have spent more time last week getting the car ready for paint. Now I get to upset Julie by spending every night this week in the shop. But the car should be shiny this week. I’m going to run out of time for letters though.

I thought about this for a while before I decided to post it. Last Sunday I got a call from Eric Connors. It seems he ran into Steve Gioia and Steve asked if we’d be interested in coming back next season for a limited schedule. I guess they’re seeing the car counts at other tracks and are discovering that ours wasn’t so bad. The reason I was unsure about posting is because I’m not sure how viable the idea is. As much as I love running Oswego, their past treatment of our class has left a bad taste in a lot of peoples’ mouths. Added to that is the fact that many of us have found other homes and it would take a lot of changes to get back to Oswego rules. Still, given a chance I’d run there again. But how many others would?

7/7/08 – Time flies when you’re having fun. Or not having fun. Or working yourself to death. Over a month between updates. I guess I need to be reminded more often. Although I seem to be keeping the interval pretty regular…

5 races in, 300 to go… Hopefully now that I have my car mostly done I’ll be able to relax some. If I can get through this weekend with relatively little damage (knock wood) I hope to have it pretty after the week off.

Interesting weekend. I hope everyone gets their cars back together. Regrettably, between tech and having to get my friend home I didn’t get a chance to see how bad the cars looked.

So will we see any more cars? I’ve been hounding the guys down here but the $100 gas bill and the tire rule aren’t helping.

I’m told I’m leading the points. Great. Now I have that to think about… I don’t imagine I’ll have to for long though unless I get my act together. If Ramos and Mooney keep monopolizing Victory Lane none of us have much of a chance DQ’s or not. Still, Jason, Tommy and Dave are looking pretty racy when things stay together. And I don”t think I’m too far off. So maybe we can make this more than a 2 horse race. Let’s hope.

5/25/08 – Wow. Was it just me or was Jason in his own zip code during the heat race Saturday night? If the RF ball joint hadn’t broken he would have been my pick for the night. Regrettably, he was the one to tell me my tires were all up when I came in Saturday night during the feature. So I’m two weeks into the AIS season and I’m doing pretty well. In a car that wouldn’t make the show anywhere else. Where the hell is everybody? Eric, get the 43 here. Hell, bring the 10, I’m sure you’ll get it through tech if you can catch us. Even RJ is going to try to get his car here. Dave Bock, if you’re out there, I’m running top 5 with your pure stock. Seriously, I had 3rd until the exhaust pipe fell off an I had to come back from the back to get 6th. Come up with a motor and I’ll tell you how I did it. I am having a great time up here. Since my talk with the tech guy I’m excited about my own car. Now I just need to finish it.

So I keep hearing about Lancaster. I’m obviously in the dark. Was there a big show this weekend? Do they pay better? I’m pretty sure Jeff Merritt would have mentioned it if there was a good race going on. As far as I know he stayed home Saturday night. Maybe he was tired afer winning at WCIS last weekend. I’m thinking not. I guess it’s good thing that it’s too long a drive or he’d be abusing us. I’m looking forward to the weekend he and Dave both get a bonus check. Hopefully I’ll have a car to race them with.

4/18/08 – “I write the rules and establish the purse for the guy who is 15th in points. We try to keep the cars as close as possible in order to make the driver earn every position and every win, which in turn puts on a better show for the fans. If you do that, there is better action and teams win with their effort, and driver effort, rather than their checkbook.” – Chuck Deery – General Manager, LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway West Salem, WI

Words a track should live by. LFS has had packed stands and pits for almost all of the 51 years it’s been open. Average attendance is 2700 and car count is 81 for three divisons. I can think of at least one CNY track that could take lessons from Chuck.

I’ve actually done some work to my car. It sort of has fenders and doors to go with the bumpers I picked up a couple weeks ago. I’ll be putting in some more time over the next few weeks and hope to make it to the second Test & Tune.

The nice weather would normally get me all pumped up to work on the car but I talked myself into getting a bike last week so I’ll probably end up being distracted if it’s too sunny out.

3/11/08 – So people do still look at this site. I certainly haven’t forgotten anyone and no my hands aren’t broken. Just not much has happened recently involving racing. Or my little part of it anyway.

I was in Las Vegas for the Cup race a couple of weeks ago. I went out with a bunch of people from LaCrosse Speedway where I started. It was pretty good to talk about old times and brag about what we’ve done since. The races were good until Tony put it in the the fence. I have a complaint about fans. Earnhardt fans specifically. As they were pulling Tony out of the car (after the cheers about him wrecking…), an Earnhardt fan behind me yells out “Suck it up Tony!”. Having been helped out of a car, I took particular exception to that. No one knew how bad he was hurt at the time and it could have been much more serious. That kind of comment was completely uncalled for. Now I’m not and have never been an Earnhardt fan. But if Jr. had needed help out of the car, I wouldn’t be cheering and can’t imagine voicing a comment like that. Sometimes people scare me…

I went to the Motorsports Expo Sunday and ran into Dave and Bobbie and a few other folks. Unfortunately, I brought my son and he’s a little hard on long conversations. I literally ran past the AIS booth a couple of times chasing him and didn’t really get a chance to stop in. I did notice there weren’t any True Stocks in attendance. What up with that? Not that I can talk really. I haven’t touched my car in almost three months. Between the snow and being sick and vacation and being short of cash and general laziness, I haven’t managed to get farther than replacing the front clip and hanging a roof and quarters on it. I’ll try to track down a nose and tail this week and maybe I’ll get some semblance of a body on it. Then I just need to figure out a firewall and floor and dashboard and rear deck. And rebuild the suspension. And re-run the brakes with a stock master. And buy new wheels. And tires. And paint and letter it. Why am I doing this again?

12/28/07 – It’s been over a month. I guess I should post something. The off season has been pretty slow. I’ve been talking on and off with Billy trying to find out how much I’ll have to do to get legal and I think I’ll be OK. I’ve got a lot of work to do but I needed a clip and a new body anyway. If Julie lets me spend enough time in the shop I’ll have it at the Motorsports Expo in March.

I had lunch with Jeff Merritt a couple of weeks ago. He’s putting a stock body on his car but it sounds like AIS will be too much of a tow for him. Maybe Dave and I can talk him into a couple of trips anyway.

My brother Kelly is moving and needed to borrow some wheels for the stock car chassis he had in his garage so we talked about it for a bit. Since he’s going to have a short season in the Super he’s thinking about putting it together and running a few shows.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and got lots of racing stuff. Have a happy New Year.

11/19/07 – Did anyone go to the racer’s auction? I missed it for the first time in 10 years. C’est la vie.

The rules are out. And it’s the shortest set I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, I’m nowhere close to them. The stock floor pan rule pretty much puts me out of it. And what’s the deal with the OEM type shock rule? Instead of a $40 welded bearing shock I have to buy an $80 OEM appearing shock? Does Jason have to put on another body? Does Mooney? The way I read the rules I’ll need to replace my floor, body, front suspension, brakes, wheels and maybe even fuel cell (Does mandatory maximum 22 gallon cell mean it can’t be less than that?). I have a lot of thinking to do.

10/4/07 – This weekend I start getting the car ready for next season. I’ll be getting the garage sorted out and my parts car into the shop. I’m hoping to have the clip on the car by the time the rules come out so I can decide to go with the stock body or new fenders and bumpers. I’m going to do a little research while I’m working on the car. I’m going to weigh the stock body and the aftermarket body and see how much difference there is in weight. I’ll post what I find out.

Speaking of rules. I had a chat with Billy Gibson yesterday. He says they’re looking at the rules and listening to any suggestions and hope to have the changes in place by early November. Give him a call or drop him a line with your thoughts.

Anyone else going to Thompson? Mike is going to be there. I’m going to try to make it out to give him a hand but it’s looking doubtful. Jason and Jake are talking about bringing the 34 out. I’ve always wanted to bring a stock car but I’m just not set up for it this season. Maybe next year. It’s a great race weekend. There are something like 10 classes of cars there between Thursday and Sunday. The ISMA cars will be there, my brother and possibly Jason among them.

If I can’t make that I’ll definitely make the AIS show on the 27th. I know Tommy’s running the chain race and Jason says he’ll be in it too. If anyone’s looking for a driver, I’d love to give it a shot. We used to do this kind of thing at LaCrosse Speedway in Wisconsin. It was a blast.

9/24/07 – I like RoC. I should have run it. And if Jeff had called me a few days earlier I probably would have. It’s interesting seeing what other tracks consider Street Stocks and Super Stocks. There was a petition circulated to ban aftermarket bodied cars. Fortunately it didn’t work. Otherwise Nichols would have only had to pass Mudra and whoever was in the blue number 6 Camaro. Reakes put on a heck of a show making every pass on the outside. Newman got impatient and took himself out early. Jeff was pretty quick put couldn’t get off the corners. I guess the tires were a little tough to set up with. I wandered through the pits during qualifying looking at all the cars. I saw aftermarket brakes, sway bars, steering linkage, trailing arms and lots of other little toys on these “stock” cars. I was talking to Zip before the heats and some kid came over and said Jeff’s car was basically a stock frame Late Model. Right. And Nichols and Mudra are basically running Factory Stocks. A body and a cockpit do not a Late Model make. Let me drop 700 pounds, add 4% left side weight, put in a real motor, a panhard bar and coilovers. Then I’ll concede it’s a Late Model. If a slow one. Pull the bodies off my car and Mudra’s and you’ll see the same thing. A stock frame with a cage on it. It’s 2007. They haven’t built a 2 door with a full frame in almost 20 years. Where the hell are we supposed to find usable sheet metal for all of our cars? Of course after all that whining a stock bodied car won the race. As usual. And check this out AIS people, the weight penalty for the aftermarket body was 50#. There were 8 aftermarket bodied cars in the race. 2 finished in the top 5. Both of which were regular competitors at Oswego.

OK I admit it. I pulled the 50 HP disadvantage to the Fords out of my ass. Dave and Tommy gave me a lot of good natured abuse about this over the weekend. My point is still valid however. The rules need looking at.

I talked to Frank Reakes and his guys for quite a while Saturday. They renewed the invitation to come to Mountain. And told me about a new track opening up in Tioga that may run us. I’ll keep an eye on that.

9/17/07 – Another season in the books. Not my favorite season ever but considering I had mechanical problems and had to shoehorn my car into a different set of rules, I suppose I couldn’t have expected any better. At least I didn’t get hurt this year.

Dave, Bobbie, Jason, Steve, sorry to lose and run. I would have liked to hang out after the show Saturday but I was in a borrowed truck and my help was pretty set on getting home. Anyone who knows Julie and I know we’re happy to have a few cold ones after the races. I’m disappointed that we couldn’t do that more often this season. I’ll be working on a plan to make it possible more often next season.

Speaking of next season, now that I know a little about the track I’m looking forward to getting the car apart and getting it ready for next year. As long as the rules are close to reasonable I’m there for the duration next season. I’ve heard rumors that screwjacks were in and out already. And the the penalty For aftermarket bodies might change. I hope they make the decisions soon. I have a lot of work to do. Expect a much prettier and faster 9 next season.

9/10/07 – Racing is frustrating…

The starts at AIS suck. This is the first place I’ve ever seen the cars slow down after the pace car pulls in. This is why people aren’t staying in line. Of course the fact that the tower is doing nothing about it isn’t helping. Yelling at these guys isn’t going to stop them. Actully penalizing them is. If I’d ignored the tower like the guy behind me did, I would have gotten at least two more spots. Instead, I got passed at the flag and held down behind a slower car. If you’re going to make rules, enforce them.

I’m not sure why we’re bothering with tech. No one knows anything about crate motors. I could put a set of vortecs and aluminum intake on and if it was clean enough I could call it a crate and get through tech. Or I could switch to a Ford and do pretty much anything I want. Not to say the Ford guys are cheating. It’s just that they’re allowed to run nicer equipment if they can find or afford it. I’m running at a 50 HP disadantage to the Ford guys and I’m being twitted about how my screw jacks are welded up. This place needs to sit back and take a good look at the rules and do a major rewrite during the off season. These are no longer the cheap stocks. The trucks have filled that niche. There’s no need to have two Pure Stock classes. This class is supposed to lead people into the Late Models. How about letting them see a little of the technology?

On a lighter note, I added a picture gallery. It’s not much but I’ll put some more in soon.

9/4/07 – Another Classic Weekend in the books. Kelly had an awesome run going on Friday until the power steering went away. He still held on for 7th. A pretty good finish considering the competition.

On Saturday I went up to AIS and ran 6th. It was due as much to attrition as anything else but I’m happy with it. I need to work on running the top.

Sunday’s race was disappointing. I’ll never understand how so many people can miscalculate on fuel. The party afterwards was pretty fun as usual. I got to meet some new people. The guys from Coon/France racing are nice guys that really love racing. I also met some very charming wiggers that told Eric he couldn’t go to the Third Turn Inn. Fortunately Eric’s an easygoing guy and things didn’t get ugly. If Griffin acts like that when he grows up I’ll disown him…

8/24/07 – Well I got through last weekend mostly unscathed. That’s not to say it wasn’t without it’s trials. I got on the road later than I should have (my own damn fault) and got about half a lap of practice before Art dumped oil all over the track. Then I went out in the heat and my motor shut off as soon as they dropped the green. I did FINALLY get the ignition problem fixed for the feature. It turned out to be the wire to my kill switch. I was having great time running through the field and was passing for 6th when I got in a little over my head and spun it. Unfortunately, I made a bad call on the stagger and the car got so loose I couldn’t get back. Hopefully I’ll get that problem sorted out for next time.

It’s looking a lot like rain tomorrow. I’m not in a points race so I’m going to try to keep the peace at home and hang out with my wife. I’ll be back up next Saturday and hopefully for the rest of the season.

RoC. Who’s going? I’m planning on it but I’ve yet to see the rules. If Jeff shows up with his new car my money’s on him again.

AIS took their Message Board down. I guess there was too much crap going on on it. Feel free to use mine. You should register though. It looks weird when everyone is a guest.

8/6/07 – Maybe last week was a fluke… I’ve been having a problem with the motor shutting down since the end of ’06 and it came back to bite me Saturday night. Only this time instead of a few positions, it cost me the front body, roof, oil cooler, 2 tires and a spindle (so far). I haven’t seen a video so I’m at a loss to explain how something like that could happen. I was very slow and just getting ready to bring it in and someone drove up the left side of the car and across the front. I’m fairly new there but I thought I was down fairly low and two cars passed me high just before it happened. Anyway, I’m out for at least a week while I try to chase down parts.

Maybe I should have taken the hint when I blew a trailer tire on the way up (it did make it home. Thanks George).

I was told Saturday the links pane isn’t working. If you’re not seeing it please drop me an email at jmiller3@twcny.rr.com.

7/28/07 – I guess the third time’s the charm. I was worried it might be yet another rainout but despite a long delay, I finally managed to get some laps in at AIS. Man it felt good to be driving again. I feel pretty good about qualifying through the heat and overcoming a spin to come out in the top 10. Knowing I passed the eventual winner in the heat gives me some hope I’ll be able to pick up some good finishes. I have to say, AIS is an interesting track. I don’t think I ran two laps the same or passed two cars in the same place all night. There’s a lot more room out there than it seems and my car seems to work all over. I’m told I was getting smoked on starts so I may go to a different gear but other than that, even with the extra weight the car feels good.

7/10/07 – So as with a lot of things, it’s a better idea to check on something than expect it to just happen.

I sent a note to Steve Gioia asking about our payout and was surprised to learn that 8 guys have been paid. I wasn’t surprised that they got paid. Oswego has never in my memory failed to pay a purse. I was surprised that the people that did get paid didn’t clue in those of us that didn’t. All you need to do is call the track and give them your current address. They can’t just send the check to the address they have on file since (as in my case) you may not live there anymore. So if you haven’t been paid, make the call. 342-0646.

On a related note, I’d like to mention that Steve has been nothing but supportive of us the entire time he’s been an owner at the track. He’s worked with us for years to help us try to make the class work. In fact even in our last conversation he had good things to say about us. He even intimated that a return wasn’t out of the question. His one criticism was that we needed to be more organized. Considering how things worked out with the payout I’d say he’s got a point. We’re not making the track any money (I don’t think we’re losing them any either but we need to add value to get the track time). I think it’s amazing that they tried to help us for as long as they did.

Over the years the track has taken a lot of heat for things that we could or should have fixed ourselves. Regrettably, we didn’t figure out some of the problems until it was too late. If someone had stepped up earlier to get us organized or done a better job of it maybe we’d be racing this weekend. What does the track know about stock cars? We complained about the rules for years and blamed the terrible car count on them but we brought most of the problems on ourselves. If we were smart we would have come back in 2000 with our own set of rules and stuck with them. Instead, Louie came out with the aftermarket body. And Bill and I put on aftermarket uppers. And Tony and Robbie put on crossovers. The track’s only mistake was to let the changes stand. It took us getting dropped from the schedule to convince someone that we needed to get organized. Kelly was willing to take up the torch then and got me started until he made running the Super a priority. Unfortunately, I can’t keep bias out of my decisions and I’m not a people guy, so I could only get about half of you to stay focused. And even then it was like herding cats.

We’ve got some great people and some great cars. There are more than enough of us to make a solid class. All we need is someone to step up and commit to getting everyone on the same page and do the legwork. I’d hate to see the class die out because noone cared enough to fix it. I tried and I thank those of you that supported me but I can’t keep a job, raise a family, field a car and manage a class all at the same time.

7/8/07 – Another trip to AIS another rain out. I’d feel much worse about it if I hadn’t seen Billy Coyle on 177 as I was driving home. Now that’s a long commute to do twice for nothing. Hopefully the rain date will be on a weekend I can come back. Dave (Bobbie?), you can have two of the passes. Once they announce the date get a hold of me.

I haven’t gotten to talk to Gioia again since the MSA race. I’ll try to get a hold of him again to see what’s going on.

7/6/07 – I have thre extra pit passes to AIS for tomorrow. Who wants to go with me? Give me a call or email me.

6/23/07 – I should really take more time to work on this site…

I fixed the Message Board. It’s going to take an Act of God to bring back the old posts so I’m leaving it empty. You guys can fill it back up now.

So what did everyone think of the 6/2 show? I had a great time despite the mechanical problems I was having. It was good to see everyone again and I hope that wasn’t the last time. Considering the fact that we were only promised one show and AIS was running that night, I thought we had a pretty good showing.

Did anyone get paid? I talked to Steve Gioia and he said we would but I haven’t seen anything yet. But then again, I haven’t changed my address at the track either.

I’m going to AIS next Saturday. I’ve finally managed to scrape up 300# of lead so I’ll be legal. I’m still finishing up the changes to fix the problem I was having at Oswego. Now I just have to hope the truck makes it that far. I talked to Jason Dinzler and he plans on being there too. Come on up and hang out with us.

So I’m thinking about next season. I’ve been talking to Steve Reynolds from NORA and I’m wondering if we could come up with enough support to join up with them and get a series together. We coud try for something like 3 shows at Oswego (plus possibly RoC), three at AIS and three at Spencer. We wouldn’t need to change anything to run all three tracks. I’m still trying to find out what it would take to pull this off but I think if we worked at it, we could do it. Drop me a line or call me if you have any thoughts.

5/6/07 – I went to practice at AIS yesterday to see how the Oswego cars would run. I got lost twice. Next time I bring a map… They run pretty well. I’m guessing too well. I was disappointed to see so few cars there. If they don’t out and out ban us I’ll bolt on the extra 300# and bring my car up. Race Ready was selling new 880s so I”m guessing the move to 890s will either not happen or will wait until late in the season. Dave Arbes blew a motor but he was the only casualty. I hope he decides to put it back together.

I’ve talked to a fair number of drivers over the last few weeks and the numbers for the 6/2 show at Oswego look pretty good. We have a fair chance of getting 20 cars. If you’re considering coming drop me a line. I’m thinking we’ll keep the same rules as we ran last year but we’ll be flexible considering people are running other tracks. We’ll stay on the same tires.

4/2/07 – Well, I have a plan. It may not be a good plan (actually according to my wife it’s a terrible plan), but it’s a plan. I’m racing at 4 tracks this season. Possibly in 5 classes. I’m going to start the season on the 15th at Mountain Speedway in PA. I have to make a few changes but I think I can squeeze my car into their rules. If it works out I’ll run another three there this season. Next I’m going to try to head up to AIS for practice and see how that goes. I’m debating whether to take my car or the 15. Next I’m off to Thompson to help out Mike Scorzelli. It’s a Thursday night show and if I like it I’ll bring my car out there for 2 or three shows. Then, of course, there’s the show at Oswego. If I can find enough parts I’m going to try running as a Late Model at AIS and possibly RoC. Anybody got a floater and a set of brakes laying around that I can use?

So my tentative scedule looks like this:

4/15 – Mountain
5/5 – AIS- Practice
5/12 – Mountain
5/24 – Thompson – Crew for Mike
6/2 – Oswego!
6/14 – Thompson – Thursday night show
6/16 – AIS
6/30 – AIS
7/14 – Thompson
7/21 – Mountain
8/11 – AIS
8/25 – AIS
9/9 – Mountain
9/29 – Mountain
10/6? – RoC
10/12-14 – Thompson

That’s pretty busy and some of those dates are still up in the air but it looks like a season to me. Anyone want to tag along? I’ll be changing exhaust systems and front suspensions a few times and lots of weights but I think it’s doable. And of course there’s the three sets of tires I need to buy, beg, borrow or steal.

3/15/07 – I read a couple days ago that AIS tacked another 200# onto our weight penalty. It seems a little extreme. We already have to raise the ride heights and lose 2% left side weight. Not to mention the 300# weight penalty we expected. I’m guessing this is going to keep away anyone from Oswego that was on the fence.

I went down to the Motorsports Expo last weekend and checked out Chuck Lacey’s 16. It’s the old Bruce Stanton 93. It looks good. I talked to him a while about his plans and the future of our cars. One of the guys on his team tells me that he’s been talking to the management at Oswego and we’re not completely without hope. But it’s going to take a lot to get us back there. All we need is lots of good cars. Making a good showing at the June 2 show would be a good start. I figure there’s around 12 cars I can count on. Think we can scrape up another 8 or 10?

2/26/07 – Well we’re on the schedule for Oswego. Who’s up for it? I’m sure I’ll be there. I expect that Jason, Mike and Jeff will make it. There’s no ISMA show so Kelly might be there. Who else wants to come out an play? Unfortunately AIS wouldn’t drop the date so I’m guessing a few people will run there.

Chemung is going to allow aftermarket bodies. They’re taking some heat about it from the diehards but I think they’re doing the right thing. I don’t know if they’ll let us run yet but I’m looking into it.

Mike is looking at running Thompson this season. They run on Thursdays. I think I’ll try to make a couple of shows and the World Series.

12/31/06 – Oops. It seems the server I had my site hosted on got upgraded and I wasn’t told. Thanks to Kelly for letting me know. I’ve got it moved and almost everything working now. The new Message Board doesn’t have any post or users but everything else seems to be OK. Register and post on it. I’ll try to get the old data back but I’m not sure it’s worth the effort.

So I’ve heard from Steve Gioia and I’ve heard from Billy Gibson (AIS’ promoter). Steve gave me two dates. We’ll be the third class and purse will be dependent on car count. Through the grapevine I’m hearing that if the first date doesn’t pull enough cars, there won’t be a second date. AIS is tentatively scheduled to run those two nights. I’ve asked Billy if he could see his way clear to opening them up but it doesn’t sound promising. I’d like to see a good showing so we can keep our foot in the door. I know a lot of you would prefer to run Oswego if you can. I know a few of us plan on running AIS for points. I’d like to be able to do both but I need you guys to speak up and let AIS know how you feel so we can make it happen.

As far as legality at AIS, I think they’re going to look at the cars on a case by case basis. Other than the weight and screw jacks I think I’m OK. Most of the rest of you should be in the same boat.

I heard a rumor that the 6 will be running next season at AIS as a Late Model. I’m curious to see how it goes.

Well I’m off to celebrate New Years’. I hope all of you have a safe and happy holiday and you stick to those resolutions.

12/1/06 – The AIS rules are up. You can see them here: http://www.adirondackspeedway.com/07_TS_rules.html. We’ll have to add some weight, lose some left side, change our master cylinders and weld up our screw jacks. Those of you without aftermarket bodies can pick and choose which penalties you want to take. The only possible issue we’ll have is the rule about cockpitting. There is no way I can put a stock floor back in my car. I’m talking to the track in hopes that they’ll reconsider the rule. Considering the number of Oswego cars without stock floors, it should be a reasonable consession.

No word yet from Oswego…

So how many cars are we talking about for next year? Here are the cars that ran either track last year with a few extras thrown in. If you know what’s going on with some of the unknowns, drop me a line.

0 – RJ Wyman – new shop, new job. Not sure he ready to make the changes for AIS.
6 – Mike Deloff/Jake’s Auto – For sale.
7 – Tommy Markham – 13 shows in at AIS in 06.
9 – Joe Miller – I’ll make the changes and try to run the whole season.
10 – Eric Connors – Says he’ll make the changes. Waiting to see what the schedule looks like before he commits to a full season.
10 – Duane Williamson – 7 features in 06.
11 – Dave Arbes – 12 features in 06.
11 – Steven Sinn – 5 features in 06.
15 – Willie Redmond – 9 features in 06.
15 – Still sitting in a lawn waiting for someone to race it.
17 – Mike Scorzelli – leaning toward AIS. May go to Airborne if the rules don’t work out.
20 – Carl Crawford – For sale.
21 – Dave Fetterly – Now that he’s closer to home will probably run most if not all season.
22 – ? – Randy sold the car and the new driver plans on running the full season.
26 – ? – Still sitting in my lawn. Legal and almost race ready.
28 – Chuck Meyer – 06 AIS Champ. I heard a rumor the car was for sale or sold.
29 – Chris Typhair – 06 runner up.
34 – Jason Spaulding – For sale. Jason will be running supers next season.
40 – Todd Rhoades – Legal as it sits.
41 – Brian Hardy/? – Should run full season.
43 – Chris Miller – Same as Eric Connors.
44 – Rick Zeigler – For sale? I was told it was at Classic.
49 – Jeff Merritt – Part time.
50 – Jim Seigel – For sale.
64 – Scott Dinzler – Should run full season.
690 – Sid Harmer, Sr. – 3 features in 06.
75 – JR Mooney – 9 features in 06.
75x – Rick Trexler – 7 features in 06.
77 – Bobby Newman – Plans on running for the championship.
81 – Jason Dinzler – Should run full season.
86 – Bryan Haynes – Limited?/For sale?/88 Team car?
88 – Ricky mooney – 10 features in 06.
88 – Brad Haynes – Dirt?/AIS?
91 – Dylan Bancroft – 13 features in 06.
93 – ? – Sold and tentatively planning to run AIS on 06.
00 – Randy Storms – Dirt Sportsman. May run partial or full season.

That’s 36 cars not counting the cars that only an one race. I heard a rumor the Denners were thinking of getting back into racing. So that may be another one or two.

11/8/06 – So it seems we’re in at AIS. I received a tentative set of rules and they don’t look too bad. We’ll get a weight penalty and have to weld up the jacking bolts but that’s less than we’d need to do for RoC. I’m curious to see what effect adding 200# to the cars will have but I think we’ll still be pretty competitive. My guess is that if Dave Fetterly can get the monkey off his back (and his car down to 3100#), he’s going to spank us at least to start with. There’s still some work to be done to get the rules right but I think we’ll manage.

Now the question becomes: Who’s going to make the tow? I will as much as I can. Kelly tells me Eric Connors picked up the 43 and he thinks Eric and Chris will be interested. He says he’d like to do it himself but I just saw his Super schedule and I don’t think he’ll have time. I see the Race Ready guys were at the meeting. You guys planning on being there? Mike? You in? Is Zeigler running a Limited/SBS? Jason is running a super so his cars (well, his and Jake’s) are for sale. Brad? Bryan? Dirt? SBS? AIS? I imagine Jason and Scott will be there. And Newman. Jeff has said he won’t pull that far. I hope that’s not entirely true. I don’t know if RJ can tow that far. And the 15 and 26 are complete mysteries. I see that the ex-93 plans to be there.

That pretty well covers our regulars. By my count that’s at least 9 probable additions to the regular field. Hopefully this is the start of something good for the class and something that will help the regulars at AIS.

10/25/06 – So Evans Mills stays dirt. That’s unfortunate. So what are our options? Oswego will give us a shot for 2 or 3 shows if we can drum up the interest. So what else? Dave and Bobbie say we may have a chance at running AIS. We’ll have to wait for the 11/4 rules meeting to see what they’ll want us to change. if we can run, I expect about as many cars that traveled to Oswego will travel to AIS on a weekely basis. Mike tells me he’s looking at Airborne. They have a Limited Late Model type class that’s not too far off from us. But it’s a 5+ hour drive from Oswego. Pretty much everyone else this side of Lancaster is going to want us to put on an ’88 Monte body with a full firewall and floor.

10/12/06 – Well, I called the track today and the answer is….No. Steve says we could probably set up two or three special shows but there won’t be a third class at Oswego. So there you have it. I suppose we could try to contact a few other tracks and see if they would give us a couple shows and try to string a season together that way. What do you guys think? I’m open for suggestions on what to do next season.

10/5/06 – It seems I’ve managed to come through another surgery. It hurts about the same as it did last time. Hopefully I’ll heal up properly this time and won’t have to go through this again.

10/3/06 – I go under the knife again today. If anyone wants to stop in and see me I’ll be at University Hospital for the rest of the week. I’ll give the track a call when I get home.

9/21/06 – Sorry about the delay in updates. I’ve been a little busy.

Classic… Not exactly what we should have done for our last race of the season. Only 16 cars and a slugfest for a feature. Even so, the racing was good. I’m sorry that I couldn’t have made the feature. Some of the new guys are looking pretty racy. If we manage to make it back next season we should have some fast cars.

RoC. I’m curious to find out what changes Bobby made to his car that kept it so fast and still would have gotten through tech. Jeff obviously had no problem with tech and did a great job of driving to pull off the win. I have to admit I was worried a couple of times coming out of 4 but he held on to it and brought it home. It was good to see the Oswego guys doing so well. I wish the rules weren’t so hard on us and we could have had more cars there.

So what’s up for next year? I have no idea. Will Evans Mills go pavement? Will the Modifieds push us out? Will Rick or Jason or Bryan or Dave or Mike be back next year? I keep getting calls and emails from people looking for information about next season. Some of them looking to bring new cars. I wish I had some. According to Jason, Jake is still committed to supporting us. There are still lots of cars out there that could make it every Saturday. I guess I’ll just wait for a couple of the rumors to sort themselves out and decide whether I should go see the track.

8/15/06 – The points and handicapping are up. If Jason has another perfect night and Rick slips just a little Jason can take home the points title.

8/14/06 – We finally did it. We had more Super Stocks than Supers. Regrettably, the unfortunate fact that we ran our feature with the sun in our eyes caused some problems that cost us a lot of finishers. Not that it’s a good thing but the other classes had just as much trouble even without the sun.

Since the Oswego web site is down and I don’t have the official finishing order, I can’t do the points and handicapping yet.

We are definitely NOT racing on 8/19. It’s unfortunate, but true. We have one race left this season. Let’s get every car we can to the track. Call your friends driving dirt. Call the guys that used to run Adirondack. Call some folks in Spencer and Chemung. RoC is coming up. I want to see 25 cars there. I’m going to do what I can to get the 15 and 26 there and able to actually run some laps. Any help I can get doing it would be appreciated.

8/9/06 – It seems I was a little premature in my claim that we would be on the schedule 8/19. Kelly just got off the phone with Steve and it turns out we won’t be running. Steve feels that the week off will give more cars a chance to be ready for our Classic race which will be 8/26. I regret the loss of another points race but considering we didn’t have a schedule at all at the end of the season last year, I find it hard to argue. We have 2 more shows this season. We need to make a strong showing at both of them. We need everyone to be there and to run clean.

Speaking of running clean, nice job Saturday night guys. A flag to flag feature with only one car falling out. And after no heats and just one hot lap session. That’s the kind of runs we need to make. Keep it up!

8/4/06 – Sorry for the delay in updates. I haven’t had much to say. According to the Cyber Eagle we ARE on the schedule for 8/19. I’ve also heard we were in the paper and it was announced over the PA last Wednesday.

Gates open at 11:00 tomorrow. And regrettably, we have to take the haulers out. This is NOT a good reason to miss this show. We need all the cars we can get if we want to ensure the future of the class. We’ll be two short this week before we get started. Dave Fetterly has a family event and AJ Woods found some fairly major problems with the 26 yesterday. Hopefully a couple of the cars that have been absent used the last three weeks to get everything together.

7/17/06 – Lots of people looking racy this week. Unfortunately a few of them had problems. Jason was losing the clutch, Bobby spun a main, I burned up an ignition wire. Randy Storms was looking pretty quick this week too. And how about Eric Connors? I guess he likes the standard better.

Danny Kapuscinski told me that was the most fun he’s ever had. Not bad praise from a guy that’s raced Supers, Limiteds and go-karts.

If I spoke to you about the safety inspection please try to get everything taken care of by next weekend. If I didn’t I’ll try to reach you this week. We had lots of outdated seatbelts. They can only be 2 years old. The track is firm on this. Also, make sure you have ALL your safety equipment on when you go out on the track. You WILL get black flagged if you forget something.

We got to Whistle most of the top 10 and everyone came out OK. We’ll get the ones we missed next weekend.

I’m getting more and more interested people asking about the class and what it takes to run here. We must be doing something right. We need to keep the car count up though. If you’re all set this weekend and you know someone that isn’t, give them a hand. Let’s get those leakers and smokers fixed. If you know someone that’s thinking of heading down give them a nudge. We have four more weeks to drive home the viability of our class. Lets impress some people.

7/11/06 – Another well attended race. And the attrition rate was much lower and very few cars suffered major damage. I can’t begin to tell the competitors how happy I am with their support. I don’t see any reason we won’t get at least 20 cars again next weekend. I am curious as to where Bill Bruce, Carl Burdick and Chris Weber are though.

It sounds like we have a tech inspector. His name is Wayne Milliken. He’ll be there at 1:00 Saturday to check compression and CID. He knows a lot of the guys we race with and used to be a racer himself. And he seems to understand what we’re trying to accomplish. Hopefully he’ll prove to be an asset to the class. I’ll certainly appreciate not having that responsibility.

We’re going to take another shot at doing compression checks. I’m still working out the details but we should be able to get in at 1:00 to do tech. I’m planning on doing the top 10 in points but if you’re concerned that you’re close, come anyway and we’ll do as many as we can.

7/3/06 – Know what your compression ratio is? Want to find out? Jim Gray will be doing compression checks this Saturday before we get started. If you’re there by 1:30, Jim will check your motor and explain the Whistler to anyone who asks.

6/30/06 – I don’t know what happened with the payout. I’ll post something as soon as I find out. You WILL get your money however. There’s a just a question of how it will be dispersed.

6/26/06 – And a good time was had by…most. 21 cars (a new record). 5 finishers. 4 blown engines. 1 DQ. Still, almost everyone went home happy. We all felt pretty good about actually getting to race. No one ended up with any serious damage. We even made the track pretty happy despite the long cautions.

At least 2 of the 4 blown engines should be back. We’re working on the other two. Everyone else had minor problems and should have no trouble getting back.

Stuff to know: Aftermarket body = 100#. 10:1 = 100# and 55% LSW. Where you cross the finish line says whether you get the free $75. You need gas to finish a race. The points and finishing order are up.

6/22/06 – Everyone ready for this weekend? I’m not. Oh, I’ll be there but somehow I managed to not get everything done I should have. The car will be black. Not shiny black. Not flat black. Just black. It might have some letters on it. Or it might have duct tape. It should run OK though.

So here’s the lineup for this weekend:

0 – RJ Wyman
3 – Bill Bruce
6 – Mike Deloff
9 – Joe Miller
10 – Eric Connors
14 – Carl Burdick
15 – Eric Wood
17 – Mike Scorzelli
21 – Dave Fetterly
22 – Jim Lewis
26 – AJ Woods
34 – Jason Spaulding
38 – Chris Weber
40 – Todd Rhoads
41 – Brian Hardy
43 – Brandin Butterfield
44 – Rick Zeigler
49 – Jeff Merritt
64 – Scott Dinzler
81 – Jason Dinzler
86 – Bryan Haynes
88 – Brad Haynes
00 – Randy Storms

For those of you counting, that’s 23. Think we can get three heats?

6/11/06 – The 9 is for sale. I don’t really want to sell it but the doctors tell me I need another surgery and I’m not going to be able to run it the whole season. I’ll take $3500 as a rolling chassis, $5000 with a motor, $7000 with a spare motor. Buy it this week and pick the color. If it doesn’t sell I’ll run it until the surgery but I can’t afford to put someone else in it for the rest of the season. If it does sell I’ll do tech for the class as long as I can get around.

6/6/06 – I got a call from Jason Spaulding last night. For the 6/10 ASA race he’ll have the 34 and the 6 out front of the track with a big sign promoting the class. Come on down, meet some people and help spread the word.

6/4/06 – Another Super Stock race another rainout. I’m starting to wonder if we did something to offend Mother Nature. We do get to give it another shot on the 24th however. There should be no reason for anyone to not have their car done for that show.

New additons for the next race are AJ Woods in Kelly’s #26 Nova, Todd Rhoads in Royal Roger’s #40 Monte Carlo (previosly the Vezosse 17), and Carl Burdick in the #14 Malibu. I talked to Jim Seigel this week. He won’t be running this season and his car is for sale.

Should we call up other tracks and try to get a couple more races? Drop me a line with your thoughts.

5/18/06 – Drive a Super Stock and win free stuff.

Starting June 3rd, the feature winner will be making the Ken Tibbles Roofing Lucky Draw, which will award a random finisher $75, provided they’re displaying the sponsor decal. Also, the Parts Plus and Jake’s Automotive Up and Comer, the highest finishing competitor with no previous wins, will receive a case of oil and a filter.

5/16/06 – Well that was interesting. Despite the weather and the fact that 5 or so cars are still not done, we managed to pull 14 cars. Not quite what we were hoping for but certainly a good start.

There were quite a few questions raised with the rainout Saturday. Here are a few answers. Your ticket stub and wristband from Saturday night WILL get you in on 6/3. The possibility of running Memorial Day weekend was discussed but too many people had already made plans and wouldn’t be able to make it. If you register with me or Kelly you’re considered registered and covered under the usual policies of the track. We will have registration forms available at practice on 5/20 and at the race on 6/3 or you could call and make arrangements to get one during the week. I’m told Oswego gave all the cars that showed up Saturday night show up points. If that is the case we will follow suit. It seems a fitting reward for braving the weather. Also, the heat lineups will come from Saturday’s drawing with additional cars drawing for starting order behind the existing lineups.

So beyond the 14 cars that showed up, here are the cars we expect on 6/3:

1 – Mike Deloff
? – ?(Royal Rogers)
8 – ?(Kelly Miller)
18 – ?(Kelly Miller)
38 – Chris Weber
43 – Brandin Butterfield
50 – Jim Siegel
88 – Brad Haynes
00 – Randy Storms

For those of you that are counting, that’s 23 cars. I also got a note from Dave Fetterly saying he’d probably be out.

Kelly is looking for two drivers. The cars will be ready. Just get them there and race. He’s decided to concentrate on driving the Super but still plans on supporting our class. So his seat is open. Eric Wood will be in the 60 making his full size car debut. Royal bought the Vezzose car and is putting an enduro driver in it.

5/12/06 – It’s looking messy but it looks like we’ll get it in. Here’s the forecast:

Considerable cloudiness and breezy with a little rain. Winds from the ENE at 11 mph. High: 60° F RealFeel: 58° F
Saturday Night: Cloudy and breezy with a stray shower. Winds from the E at 10 mph. Low: 49° F RealFeel: 43° F

The car count for tomorrow looks like this:

0 – RJ Wyman
1 – Mike Deloff
9 – Joe Miller
10 – Eric Connors
17 – Mike Scorszelli
22 – Randy Storms
34 – Jason Spaulding
38 – Chris Weber
41 – ? (Jason Dinzler)
43 – Brandin Butterfield
44 – Rick Zeigler
49 – Jeff Merritt
50 – Jim Siegel
60 – Joe Skilinski
64 – Scott Dinzler
81 – Jason Dinzler
86 – Bryan Haynes
88 – Brad Haynes

Kelly’s car is looking a little iffy and the Nova in front of my house just got going a little too late. Possiblilties still include Dave Fetterly and Carl Crawford and some guys from Adirondack and Mountain. For the next race we should see at least four more cars.

5/8/06 – 5 days and counting…

From what I can tell we should have between 16 and 22 cars Saturday. As long as most of the people I’ve spoken to hold up their end we should be fine. Since we’ll be running our heats before the regular show we need to be there as early as possible. Gates open at 2:00 so please be there as early as you can. This weekend will make or break the class. If you can have your car there finished or not, please get it there.

I need a Powerglide or a TH350 by this weekend. Please get a hold of me if you can help me out. One of the cars I’m trying to get finished needs a transmission.

Practice was not well attended. Between cars not being done and the bad weather, we only had 3 Oswego Super Stocks make a showing. There was also a Spencer car getting in some laps before their season opens. I didn’t get much time on my car and I think I broke something in the last session. Eric Connors had some transmission problems but he thinks they’re repairable. The Haynes brothers broguht the old 02 but only got one session in. They seemed happy with the car.

Well, Kelly and I made our ISMA Supermodified debuts this weekend. It didn’t turn out the way either of us would have liked. We got 17th and 22nd respectively. Kelly hade a motor problem late in the race while running 15th or so. I got caught up in a crash about mid-way through. These cars are amazingly fast. Even with my meager experience I was turning 16.6 second laps. Kelly will be back in the 16 without the wing next weekend. I expect he’ll finish much better.

4/11/06 – Thought I’d update the site.

Kelly’s picked up drivers for two of his cars. Brad and Bryan Haynes will be driving the 86 and 88. That would be the old LeVea/Bock/Crawford 02 and one of the Daytonas Kelly fielded a few years ago. I was at the shop Saturday and both cars are coming along nicely as is Kelly’s, Lou LeVea’s 96 from last season. You won’t recognize it when it shows up at the track.

Jake of Jakes Auto has purchased the Courcy 1 and he and Jason will be putting it together for the season. No driver has been named but Mike Deloff is a possibility.

Jim Lavalla of Utica will be piloting Ralph Parson’s 60 for the season. Ralph had to take the season off for personal reasons and has graciously allowed us to run the car.

Royal Rogers is reportedly buying the Vesozze 17. Royal previously owned the 38 which I’m told was delivered to the new driver this weekend.

And I’m busily working on my car and the new (well, new to me) 19. The old Dan Butterfiled 50 will look and run very differently this season. At the moment I’m planning on putting Joe Skilinski in it.

I posted handicapping for opening day. This is the official handicapping from the track so don’t yell at me about it.

3/25/06 – Well here’s some good news. Jake’s Automotive has agreed to bring up tow money to $30 back to 20th place. So on most nights everyone should cover their pit pass. We’re still talking to someone about sponsorship so we may be able to bring it up a little more. We’ve also gotten some offers for additional awards like Hard Charger and some others. Oswego has changed their site around and our schedule is easier to find. And it has times on it. All but the practices and the 8/5 show are 6:00 start times. Our heats will be a little before that.

3/15/06 – We’re somebody! It’s kind of hard to find but our schedule is on the Oswego web site. Now we need to start getting cars registered. I’m told we’ll have registration cards in the next week or so. Kelly and I will find a way to get them to the people we’ve talked to.

Thanks to Randy for bringing his cars out to the show. They looked great and we got a lot of interest. I would have liked to have gotten a stock bodied car there but no one had one finished. We got a lot of rule books out and I talked to a few more people that are interested in coming out this season. So not a bad weekend for us.

3/9/06 – The Motorsports Expo is this weekend at the Fairgrounds. Randy Storms has agreed to bring both of his cars down to give us a presence. There will be rulebooks and schedules available at his cars. I’ll be down Friday night and maybe a while Sunday morning. Kelly will be there Saturday during the day. If you come by and you have some questions Randy or possibly someone from the Oswego booth may know where to find us.

Two months to go and lots of stuff to do. Kelly needs some help to get some of the cars he’s helping with done. If you have some time and feel like turning a wrench, give Kelly a call or drop me a line. I’m kind of looking for a driver. I have this second car and no solid commitment to drive it. All you need is a truck, trailer and some ambition. If you have an unfinished car in your lawn, please don’t apply.

We did some research. The carb rule will go to $250. There may be some other minor rule changes depending on the feedback I get this weekend and at the first practice. We won’t make any more changes without trying to get a majority buyin.

Register your car. Forms should be available at the Expo this weekend. Registration is $25.

2/23/06 – And another one bites the dust. We’ve beeen told to drop yet another show. Opening day is now May 13. This time I’ve added the first remaining regular night in the schedule to keep the number of races up to 8. This will have us running three shows in a row but I figure it’s better than 8 in a row and we’re still not running any holiday shows.

Randy Storms has volunteered to bring his car to the Motorsports Expo to represent us. Stop in and say hello. We should have some more rule books there.

If you have a car and aren’t sure whether it will fit our rules or not and you’d like to make a case for running it, bring it to practice on the 20th. I’d also suggest that anyone that plans on running this season be there whether you have your car or not. We’ll have a meeting at the end of practice and decide which cars will be allowed to run and/or what changes will be required to allow cars that can’t meet the rules.

2/13/06 – It seems we need to drop or move one of our races. According to an email I got from the track, with the changes they’ve made to the schedule, there will be too much going on on June 17 to add the Super Stocks. So we can try moving it up a week (4th of July weekend), or back a week (ASA), or drop it leaving us with 8 races. Any thoughts?

2/8/06 – Well here’s a question. I got an email from a guy that runs two cars at Mountain Speedway. He’d like to come up and run with us but their rules are not quite the same as ours. For the most part they run a pretty stock car (stock steel body, full floor and firewall, motor in stock position) and they have to run 9:1 motors. The problem is they’re allowed to run a Performer 2116 or 2101 intake. So what do we do? Tell them they can’t run? Allow them to run home track rules? Make them strap on some lead or drop some LSW? Allow everyone to run the intake? My suggestion is allow the home track rules but make him meet our minimum weight rule. What do you think? Here are the rules.

1/26/06 – Well a few things have happened during the last couple of weeks. I’ve finalized my edits of the rules and they’re posted. Unless I get some feedback we’re going to consider them official. I sent off a copy to be printed and we’ll mail them out to anyone who has expressed interest and has given us their address.

Kelly talked to Gioia again. He says we will be on the schedule when it’s printed. We gave him a 9 race schedule to look over. He hasn’t given us a comment yet. He also said he can’t waive the registration fee so we’re working on another way to pay the tech. He did say the tech would get in free. Speaking of which, I’m still waiting for some suggestions for a tech inspector.

We need some cars for the Motorsports Expo. I’m going to try to have mine there but I have a few obstacles so I can’t say I’ll be there for sure. We need to have some sort of presence there.

In case anyone missed it, there was an article in the paper this week about us. Check it out here. It’s just an interview with me but it is press.

1/11/06 – The rules are up. Let the abuse begin.

1/10/06 – It seems I can’t count. There are seven races on the proposed schedule. Which weekend do we make the 8th race? The options are 5/7(Sunday), 5/27(Sunday Memorial Day Weekend) , 6/10(ASA race – 3 consecutive weeks), 7/1(Independence Day Weekend), 7/15, 8/5 or 8/19. My picks are 5/7, because there would only be two consecutive shows and we’ll have a practice the day before, or 8/5 because it also has only two consecutive races. If we don’t get any feedback this week, we’ll just pick one or both.

1/9/06 – We had the meeting. There were a fair number of teams represented including: Connors(10), Storms(22,00), Dinzler(64,81,91?), Zeigler(44), Newman(77), Spaulding(34), Seigel(50), Stanton(93), Me(9), and Kelly(8). RJ Wyman, Al Parsons and some others attended as possible new competitors. I am a little disappointed that more didn’t make it but I’m sure it’s partially my own doing as I didn’t contact everyone. However, some of the conversation after the meeting gives me a lot of confidence in a reasonably full field.

So here’s what we came up with:

We’re going to go with the proposed schedule of 8 races. There was some talk of adding one or two more but there didn’t seem to be enough support for it. If we make it through this season we’ll look at trying a couple more.

We’re looking for a tech guy. Anyone that has a suggestion please contact me or Kelly and we’ll compile the list and get everyone’s input we can. Since we’ll be supplying our own tech, there may be a one time charge to cover his expenses.

The 100# weight break for stock bodied cars was approved. Stock bodied was defined as a car with the original roof, sail panels, floor and firewall.

Approved unibody allowed.

3rd generation Camaros/Firebirds not allowed.

Stock front clip with fabricated rear clip allowed with 100# penalty.

Vortec heads were approved with no penalty. You MUST run a stock standard GM 2-bbl intake. No aluminum, truck or marine intakes. Heads may be redrilled to accommodate the intake.

Compression rules were approved as follows:
9:1 allowed with no penalty
9.1:1 – 9.5:1 allowed with 1% LSW penalty.
9.6:1 – 10:1 allowed with 1% LSW and 100# total weight penalty.
Over 10:1 not allowed.

OEM spoiler allowed on Stock body only. No spoiler allowed on aftermarket body.

Minimum height 3″ measured anywhere on car. Reasonable exceptions (i.e. exhaust) will be allowed.

H-Pipe allowed in exhaust.

Any wheel offset allowed.

$200 Carb claim was approved.

Stock spindle with stock type hub required. No wide 5 hubs.

OEM panhard bar allowed if original equipment on base model. Panhard bar MUST remain in stock location and use stock mounts.

I will be putting together a rough draft of the rulebook and posting it this week. If there are no objections, we will send out a printed copy to anyone interested at the end of the month.

1/6/06 – Just to avoid any confusion, the meeting will be at 3PM tomorrow (1/7) at Arena’s Eis House on Watson Ave and rt.16 in Mexico. Please show up if you can. I’d like to get as many details worked out this weekend as possible.

1/3/06 – Happy New Year. So let’s start it out by doing something. Meet us at The Eis House in Mexico at 3 on Saturday to iron out the rules and talk about the schedule. If you don’t know where it is, call me at 532-6809 or Kelly at 963-7382 for directions. If you can’t make it, at least email or post your suggestions or comments by then so we can discuss them.

12/27/05 – Here’s my suggestion for a schedule. The races with an X are races we should definitely run. There’s at least a week off between them. I’d like to see us run at least one other show but there are reasons we might not in the comments column. Keep in mind, we’re plannign on running for owners points so even if you can’t make a show, you could have someone else make the tow and get your points. Let’s hear your comments.

Race?	Date	Event	Comments
	05/06 Sat	Open Practice
?	05/07 Sun	ISMA 50 / RoC Modifieds	High Admission, Track support, Sunday show
X	05/13 Sat	Super 45 / Limited 25 / USAC Focus
?	05/20 Sat	Open Practice	Track support?, 2 consecutive weeks
	05/26 Fri	Open Practice
?	05/27 Sat	Jim Shampine 75 / Tony White 35 / Richie Evans RoC 75	Memorial Day Weekend – Admission, Competition form other tracks
X	06/03 Sat	Family Night Admission  Super 45 / Limited 25 / June Enduro
?	06/10 Sat	ASA 200 / Super 45	Stock Cars!
X	06/17 Sat	Super 45 / Limited 25 / TQ’s / Slingshots / Demo Derby
?	07/01 Sat	Super 75 / Limited 35 / Fireworks	4th of July – higher admission, long show, other tracks
X	07/08 Sat	Super 45 / Limited 25 / Focus
	07/15 Sat	Super 45 / Limited 25 / TQs
X	07/22 Sat	20th Annual Mr. Supermodified 50 / Mr. Limited 50	Mr Super Stock? Can we get the purse?
	08/05 Sat	Super 45 / Limited 25 / RoC 75
X	08/12 Sat	Family Night Admission Super 45 / Limited 25 / August Enduro
	08/19 Sat	Super Twin 30’s / Limited 25 / Slingshots
X	08/26 Sat	Super 45 / Limited 25	Super Stock Classic 30?, Can we get a higher purse?
	08/31 Thur	Practice 1-5
	09/01 Fri	RoC Modified 100 / Super time trials	Classic is too expensive…
	09/02 Sat	ISMA 50 / TQ’s / Limited heats
	09/03 Sun	50th Annual Classic 200 / Limited 50 / USAC Focus 25
	09/TBA	56th RoC Modified 200

12/22/05 – According to Kelly, Steve sent us a mailing list for the Super Stock drivers that have run at Oswego. There is also a message on the Oswego web site telling interested SUper Stock drivers to contact us. Over the next week we’ll be putting together a letter to each of the drivers outlining our plan and including the tentative rules and schedule. We think it would be a good idea to get as many of the drivers as we can together to discuss them so we can get all the cars we can under the rules without giving anyone too much of an advantage.

And in case I don’t post again before the weekend, I’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

12/15/05 – Well, if we did run this season, what would you think of these rule changes? This is a rough draft. I’d like to hear some of your input on what I’ve come up with. I’ve tried to make things as open and as fair as I can. However, no matter what we decide on the rules, one thing needs to be remembered. If this goes through, we WILL enforce the rules.

Chassis:

3100# minimum weight 3400# maximum weight.

56% Left Side Weight(LSW) max.
51% rear weight max.

Spencer Track Rules – 56% LSW and 100# weight break.

Home track rules from other tracks will be considered.

Aftermarket body – 100# penalty.

Must run stock stub – Fabricated rear frame 100# penalty.

Approved unibody allowed.

Motor:

Pump gas only – 94 octane max

9:1 allowed with no penalty
9.1:1 – 9.5:1 allowed with 1% LSW penalty.
9.6:1 – 10:1 allowed with 1% LSW and 100# total weight penalty.
Over 10:1 not allowed.

Vortec allowed with .5% LSW penalty

No aluminum intakes*

GM 88958602 Crate motor allowed with 1% LSW penalty (includes Vortec penalty)* aluminum intake allowed on sealed crate motor only

Body:

Minimum roof height 47″

5″ spoiler allowed. May not extend beyond outside of quarter panels.

Area between A and B pillar may not be enclosed.

Air boxes allowed. May not be ducted from nose.

Chassis:

Spindles must be stock. No drop spindles. No Corvette spindles.

No panhard bars. No rear sway bar.

Maximum track width TBD.

Fuel cell height 10″ minimum.

Minimum frame height 4″. Minimum overall height 3″.

Drivetrain:

OEM rearend required. No floaters. No lockers.

Wheels may be any offset.

Tech Procedures:

Numbers will be drawn on entry to determine three competitors to be teched. Pills will be put back and each selected competitor will draw a random rule to be checked on all cars. Rule checking requiring signifiacant teardown (i.e. compression check) will be checked after the event. All other rules will be tested before the start of competition. Any violations found while checking the selected item will be subject to disqualification.

Cars racing for the first time that finish out of the top 3 will be given a 2 week grace period to adhere to the rules. New cars finishing in the top 3 will not be given this grace period and must meet all rules.

Severity of penalties for rule violations will be decided by an elected rules committee. Obvious competitve advantages will result in loss of points and money. Other penalties may include loss of laps or fines or warnings.

Protests will be addressed to the rules committee which may or may not ask for a general concensus.

A tear down may be requested by any owner finishing in the top 5 against any other owner finishing in the top 5. A $200 teardown fee will be required. If a violation os found the requesting driver keeps the fee minus $50 for the tech. If no violations are found, the fee is forfeited to the recipient, again minus the $50 for tech.

Points will be awarded to the car owner.

12/14/05 – So if Oswego was going to let us run, who could we count on? I’ve been talking to some folks and if we can get enough support we’ll start working on putting something together. We’re considering an 8-10 show series running every other week, using our own rules and our own tech. We have a tentative buy-in from Steve Gioia. Email me or put something on the message board if you’re interested. We need to have some commitments up front before we get too far into this.

11/21/05 – About 375 years ago a bunch of displaced Puritans managed to survive a voyage across the Atlantic, a New England winter and a long wait for a harvest. So they called up some of the locals, shot some deer and turkeys and threw a party. The fact that most of us don’t have it as bad as they did shouldn’t keep us from being thankful also. I’d like to say thanks for a healthy family, a decent job and the fact that I live in a place that I don’t take my life into my own hands every time I walk out the door.

I could also throw in that I got to drive a Super Stock at Oswego for 6 years. Will I be able to again? I’m not holding my breath. No one from the track has talked to me about it but it seems I’ve been given out as a point of contact. Randy Storms called me last week because the track told him to. Sorry folks but I’m not that guy this time. I’ve been killing myself to get cars here for years and it’s got me nowhere. I don’t have the patience for it anymore. Someone else is going to have to put it together. I want to go back to being able to just show up and race and let someone else worry about whether we’ll come back next week. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll still support the class. I’ll help whomever needs it. I’ll rewrite the rules. I’ll even tech if I have to. I’ll have my car there. If someone else does step up I’ll be happy to offer whatever help I can. I’m just not going to be the cheerleader or the leader.

11/13/05 – Have I mentioned that my wife is the best woman on the planet? Last night on the pretext of making me do something that sounded incredibly boring, she threw me the surprise party to end all surprise parties. Thanks to everyone that came. Especially my best friend Rob all the way from Wisconsin. And Paul for once again making The Front Door the best bar anywhere.

So we’ve got an offer to save ourselves. Well that’s good. I think policing ourselves will go a long way towards making things work. So what do we do about costs? Will we still be paying $35 a night whether we race or not? Where is the line drawn as far as purse and points? Will we be allowed to institute a tire rule? If enough of the drivers think it’s a good idea, I’m willing to hang up my suit (or what’s left of it) and take care of the rules and tech. Someone else is going to have to step up and deal with the track and be our cheerleader. I’ll be happy to keep providing a public forum.

10/7/05 – So is this the end? Word from the track makes it sound like it may be. Jake from Jakes Automotive is giving it the old college try though. If the people I’ve talked to actually make it we may have the best field of the season. Then again, with the weather looking iffy and SDW going on it could be just as disappointing as the rest of the season. Barring any serious setbacks my car will be there. Any help someone might like to offer tonight would be helpful though. Lou LeVea will be my pilot this week. I have every expectation he’ll make me proud.

Tomorrow is my birthday. Come on out and help me celebrate.

9/13/05 – Sorry for the delay between updates. I think most of you would agree I have an excuse. Thanks to everyone that called and visited and sent cards and stuff. I’m back at work this week and muddling through with mostly bearable pain in my leg. I don’t suppose anyone wants to come out and help with some of the stuff around the house I’ve been neglecting? My lawn looks like my house is abandoned and I can’t get the wheelchair around my racecar.

Ever heard of the Spalding Foundation? Look into it and make a donation. I certainly will be. Actually I’ll be making several. This wreck happened at a pretty bad time. I spent the first week home wondering how I was going to cover all my bills after being out of work. Imagine my surprise when out of the blue I get a check from the Spalding Foundation to help cover my expenses. I can’t begin to express how much I appreciated the help. Needless to say I’ll be giving back once I get back on my feet (no pun intended). I urge you to do the same. Who knows, next time it could be you. Check out their web site at www.spaldingfoundation.org or look for them at the Carquest Motorsports Expo.

I’m going to miss my first points race ever. I’m kind of sad. My car will be there though. It’s going to the frame shop to get the door bars replaced tomorrow. I expect it to win. Also appearing will be the 60 with Ralph Parsons in it (provided it survives RoC), and the 1 with Alan Parsons in it (no relation as far as I know). The 96 is still sitting in my lawn. I’m hoping someone does something with it before the next show. Kyle Clark still needs to get his motor out of hock and I’ve been told Terry has pulled the motor out of the 17 and put it into a Limited.

8/11/05 – So why aren’t we getting cars? Is it the $35 pit pass that isn’t covered by tow money? Is it the long tow from Watertown, Binghamton, Rochester, Rome, or wherever else we’re getting cars from? Is it because we keep changing rules? Or we’re not changing enough rules? Are the guys with cars broke? Or lazy? Or both? Are people just beat from the longest season in years? I’m guessing it’s all of these and probably more. I’m guessing that except for Zeigler, who’s pretty much got to finish the season, we won’t see many more out of town cars. With the price of gas, race fuel and pit passes and the less than overwhelming purse, very few people are going to tow two and three hours. Chris Smeidy bought a dirt car. Larry Muroski’s car is going to Fulton too. Billy Coyle’s garage burned down. Tom Thornton got sick. Randy Storms is either broke or doesn’t feel like racing or is afraid he’ll get beat (the last email I got from George was a little confusing). JJ Courcy bought an IMCA modified. I have no idea why Terry Vezzose hasn’t shown up. Cha only makes it when he has the money. Kyle Clark keeps saying he’s coming but I still have his radiator. Eric will supposedly have his car there next week. Fowler may or may not have his back together. I imagine Carl will have the motor back in his car but who knows if it will come out of the 02 or not. This is the way things have gone all season. So here’s my list of cars and where they are:

1 – JJ Courcy – sitting
02 – CJ/Randy Crawford – usually a given
3 – Bill Bruce – Florida
8 – Larry Muroski – bought a Limited – stock car is going to Fulton
08 – Cha Spataro/Ralph Parsons – part time
9 – Joe Miller – still hanging in there
10 – Eric Connors – wrecked
11 – Bill Denner – 2 hour drive – 10 minutes to Evans Mills
12 – Rick Zeigler – Almost insurmountable lead – call him a given
13 – Jim Steffenhagen – hasn’t been back. 2 hour drive
14 – Frank Reakes – Part time – 4 hour drive
17 – Joe Vezzose – sitting
20 – Carl Crawford – I assume he’s still planning on winning the Championship
21 – Dave Fetterly – part time. Hopefully he won’t just get fed up and decide not to come back
22 – Randy Storms – sitting
24 – Rob Whipple – Fulton (although that is his home track)
26 – Scott Meakes – 4 hour drive
33 – Andy Fisk – Spencer – 2 hour drive
34 – Jason Spaulding – Still going
35 – Tom Thornton – Done for the season
38 – Kyle Clark – blown motor
41 – Mike Fowler – blown motor
43 – Lonnie Mills – sold to Kingsley – supposedly here next week
50 – Jim Seigel – part-time – 2 hour drive
51 – Mike Odwazny – 4 hour drive
60 – Alan Parsons – should be out in a couple of weeks
64 – Scott Dinzler – Started a new business – may make it down eventually – same drive as Bill Denner
72 – Nathan Hutsinger – Iraq
77 – Bobby Newman – another regular
81 – Jason Dinzler – Same drive as Bill Denner
91 – Steve Denner – two blown engines – same drive as Bill Denner
93 – Bruce Stanton – another regular. But he’s as tired as I am.
94 – Billy Coyle – cars burned up
96 – Lou LeVea Jr. – Sitting
00 – Randy Storms – sitting

Add to this list all the Spencer cars and you get around 40. We’re having trouble with a quarter of that. Admittedly, numbers for Street Stocks in general are down. Spencer has 15 cars in their point standings. Fulton has about that in the Pro Stock division and just enough to fill the field in the Pure Stocks.

So how do we fix it? What will get cars here and keep them here? Offer more money? Maybe. But that doesn’t really help the track so they won’t go for it. Offer a bounty to out of town cars? A little better but it doesn’t help the local guys. Offer a free pit pass with tow money? I like this one. It gives a car owner a reason to come back. Enforce the current rulebook? I’ve always agreed with this one. We discovered a long time ago that we can’t count on out of town cars. We need to grow the class locally. Have the people that want to get into racing just follow the rulebook we have. Once upon a time you could build a car pretty cheaply. All the rule changes are making it more expensive all the time. Do something about the rumor that a Limited is as cheap as a Super Stock. IT’S NOT TRUE! Yeah you can buy a used Limited chassis for about the same price as a new Super Stock. But it will cost you a lot less to win with a SS than to win with a Limited. We use half the tires, fuel, and engine. And the repair bill when you crash is a LOT lower (as are the number of crashes). Some of the lower buck Limited guys are starting to figure that out but it may be too late to do anything about it.

I hope we find a way to bring the numbers up. This is a great class which unfortunately some people seem to take for granted. We’re the most cost-effective class for the competitors and the track. I’m open for suggestions on how to improve the situation.

8/9/05 – Just so no one can say they didn’t know. The rule regarding aluminum intakes has changed. Again. You can still run one but you have to subtract 1.5% left side weight. Sorry Dave. If it matters to anyone, I won’t be putting mine back on.

7/28/05 – And The Season from Hell continues… That race hates me. I was as ready as I’ll ever be to win it and I didn’t even make the heat in my own car. I really appreciate Lou letting me run the 96. Thanks also go out to Joe, Alan, Michael, Chris, and Jake and his guys for all the help. And to “Daddy” for covering the fuel bill. With another hour and a couple more hot lap sessions I probably could have run a little better in the feature but I can’t complain about the results considering. Kudos to Jason for picking up his first win in the biggest race of the season. That brings him within 1 point of Bruce.

Amazing that we have the best turnout we’ve had all season and only 6 cars finish the race. The 10 and 41 both had new car blues. Steve Denner’s bad luck is giving mine a run for it’s money. Carl will need that new motor now. Bruce also is having his share of bad luck.

The guys from Mountain looked like they were having fun and seemed competitive. I’m sorry I was too wrapped up in my worries to get a chance to talk to them. I’m curious to see if they be back. JJ Courcy was supposed ot be there Saturday but had problems with his clutch. Terry Vezzose was supposed to be there too. I’m still waiting on the reason he wasn’t. Joe drove the car out of my garage and into his trailer just before I left. Eric may have his 10 back for the next race. And Kyle Clark has again told me he’ll be there next time(I still have the radiator…).

7/18/05 – Ahh. How nice to finally get a week off. It’s Monday and my car is loaded up and ready to head to the track. I’m so happy and relaxed I’m going to try to get some more cars to the track. Terry Vezzose is supposed to have his car over here tomorrow night so I can finish it up. I talked to Kelly and he’s working on getting Eric back on track. He also tells me Kyle should be back this weekend (I still have his radiator though so I’ll believe that when it’s gone). Louie LeVea said something about doing some work on the 96 and bring it out. The 43 was supposed to make it’s return Saturday with Eric behind the wheel. Cha’s car was at the track when I went in. I saw Jim Seigel driving past the track so I’m hopng he’ll be back next week. And Dave Fetterly said he planned on being here this weekend. We could get our best showing of the season.

If the track handicaps by the whole season like they normally do then it’s up.

7/10/05 – I seem to be adept at coming back from certain doom. After 6 weeks of either crashing or having motor problems I’ve managed to crawl back to second in the points. Here’s the top 10. For some reason Bill Denner didn’t show up in the finishing order so this may not be perfectly accurate:

1 – Rick Zeigler – 973
2 – Joe Miller – 962
3 – Carl Crawford – 958
4 – Bruce Stanton – 956
5 – Jason Spaulding – 904
6 – Steve Denner – 884
7 – Bobby Newman – 860
8 – Bill Denner – ?
9 – Jason Dinzler – 531
10 – CJ Crawford – 493

6/30/05 – I got a note from the Speedway asking to post this:

Time is running out to sign up for this week’s initial Redneck r.c. pit crew tire toss to win a free speedway pit pass

The Redneck R.C. remote control car club in Fulton, New York has signed on to be the sponsor of a new pit crew competition. The contest will take place starting this Saturday night during a break in the action. The Redneck R.C. “Tire Toss” will match one pit crew member from each of the three divisions at the Speedway in a contest to see who can throw a Hoosier tire the farthest. All competitors will get one toss and will stand at the finish line when they make their attempt. The measured distance will be where the tire first lands on the track and will not include any additional distance gained by rolling. The crew member who tosses their tire the farthest will win a Pit Pass for the following week’s race and come back as defending champion the next week. The winner of the contest on August 27th will win a Classic Weekend Pit Pass.

All crew members who wish to enter the contest can do so by e-mailing their name and crew to contact@oswegospeedway.com. Names will randomly be selected for the contest and pit crew members will be notified in advance and on the Oswego Speedway website of their participation for the up-coming week’s event.

The Oswego Speedway thanks the Redneck R.C. Club for sponsoring this event and invites fans to see the Redneck R.C. demonstrations at the Friday night “Party in the Pits” starting this week.

6/26/05 – Well that was an interesting weekend. Friday night we had 12 cars. Only 11 started because CJ Crawford continues to have rear axle problems. I think that’s something like 8 sets of gears that car’s been through since Louie owned it. If it makes anyone feel any better, Spencer only had 11 cars. Most of the people that didn’t survive the melee this weekend will probably be back (if only to extract some vengeance). I know there will be 4 new radiators in the pits. This will be my third this season…

I spoke to Jim Gray at length Saturday night. He continues to assure me that the rules will be fine tuned and enforced. I’m seeing some effects from the changes but I wonder if it’s too little too late. I guess all I can do is hope everything works itself out in the end.

It was nice to see a Fulton car at the track. Unfortunately, Mr. Whipple didn’t find out the race was on the big track until too late and missed the gearing. He did say he enjoyed the race and would like to come back. I’m told there was another car expected but they didn’t recieve their gears in time (Fowler?).

The track didn’t give us heat race results again so I can only guess at the points. The top 5 look something like this:

1. Rick Zeigler – 811
2. Bruce Stanton – 773
3. Joe Miller – 770
4. Carl Crawford – 765
5. Jason Spaulding – 727

I guessed at some heat finishes so I might be a few off.

Saturday was interesting. I normally don’t write about Supers but since I drove one I almost have to. Regrettably, Dad’s Oswego car with the extended body panels ran into troubles (and the first turn wall) in hot laps and Mr. Hoag decided they shouldn’t continue. Since Dad brought both cars he offered to let me take the ISMA car out. Considering I’d never been in a car and I wasn’t expected to run more than a couple of laps, they allowed us to leave the wing on. I got a chance to start the car before the heat to see how it was done and started dead last in my heat. I’m pretty sure I never got under 20 seconds in the heat. In the Semi I got a little more adventurous. The car bogged down on the start and I ended up about half a lap behind. After a few laps I started to get more comfortable and started using more throttle earlier. Somewhere near the 7th lap I came out of 4 and could see the pack again and I started reeling them in. I got to within a few car lengths before the race ended and I came in to a bunch of smiles and applause. I was told during the trip through the stands to collect money for the Tony White fund that I’d turned a 17.4. Wow. The Feature started out about the same. I hung back to let anyone that wanted to go by past and the field pulled away from me. I started pushing the car again after about 5 laps and by lap 22 I had cought Kelly and Brandon Bellinger. I guess about that time the track decided I wasn’t ready to try passing and Black flagged me. Still, I was credited with 16th and I actually had a faster lap time than all but 4 cars in the field (only 17.5). Now I’m not going to try to convince anyone that I’m that good. I know how much of a crutch a wing is. But considering the tires were old and the wing had 80# in it, I’m pretty proud of turning those times. And I’m sure I could have gotten more out of it with some more track time.

Having raced all three classes now (whoulda thunk I’d be the first to do it?), I think I have to agree that driving a Super is easier than driving a Limited. Driving that Super felt a lot like driving my car at Adirondack. I could steer it and it would go where I wanted it to. Again, it’s probably mostly the wing. Anyway, it was fun and I’m glad I got the chance to do it. Thanks Dad. Unfortunately, unless someone wants to put up the $20K I’d need for tires, that will probably be the extent of my Supermodified career.

6/22/05 – So what can I complain about this week? Car count? 12 cars. And three of them were non-regulars. I went around and counted up all the cars that have and could run at Oswego and came up with 33. And we got 9 Saturday night. No wonder the track has issues with us.

Rules? So we have new rules. How many people will be putting on Performer intakes in the next few weeks? Count me in. I’ll give even odds that there will be at least 2 new ones this week. If I had the money I’d have one on. These rules are a good start but they need some work.

My race program? Ugh! I really hope nothing goes wrong this week. I can’t afford to keep up like this…

Anyway, we should have a couple of visiting drivers this weekend. Let’s make them welcome. And let’s get some more cars there. See you all Friday nght.

6/13/05 – Some guys won some races Saturday night. They even got points. Who were they? Does it matter?

I remember the first time I ever met Tony White. I thought he was an arrogant braggart. I didn’t understand until years later that he was actually a good guy. Once I looked past the bravado and gruffness, I found that he was a decent, caring man. He was a fierce competitor. A man full of life and ready to live it to it’s fullest. Someone willing to go out and make things happen. Not everyone agreed with him. Not everyone even liked him. I did. I will always remember the way he strutted through life daring it to throw something in his way. Regrettably, it finally did. Tony was a presence. A fixture. He will be missed.

6/5/05 – Never say die. I was ready to pack it in after the wreck in the first feature last night. I told the safety crew I was OK but I’d had enough and I wasn’t coming back. Fortunately, Eric and Kelly didn’t agree and immediately went to work on putting the car back together. Between them, Alan, and Dave Fox, we got the car back out for the last 15 laps of the feature which was enough to get ninth place. With a radiator from Kyle Clark and Travis Bartlett, and some welding by Larry Muroski we got the car in good enough shape to finish second in the second feature. Thanks to everyone for their help. I’ll be trying to get the car to the frame shop this week and get it straightened out.

What will happen next week? Will Bruce be back? He was pretty upset last night. Will Zeigler win? He’s going to have a pretty good handicap spot. Will Jason improve on his two 4th place finishes? Will we see any new cars?

I have a very unofficial top 5 in points. Mostly because I don’t know where everyone finished in their heats.

1. Joe Miller – 493
2. Bruce Stanton – 490
3. Carl Crawford – 485
4. Rick Zeigler – 477
5. Jason Spaulding – 457

Still a pretty close race. I’ll post the rest of the points when I get the official order of finish for all the races.

5/31/05 – So much for the point lead. Maybe I should just start settling for second or third…

It was good to see Frank Reakes again. He always puts on a good show. And he’s a decent guy to talk to too. Also good to see Dave Fetterly. As usual he ran the wheels off that Lincoln. Tom Thornton looked much better this week. By mid-season he should running in the top 5. Jason is coming along nicely too. If it weren’t for a couple of miscues, he’d have had another top 5. It’s good to see these guys putting the work into a car to get it competitive. New arrivals for this week were Kyle Clark and Cha Spataro. The 38 is looking good again. It’s a fast car and hopefully he’ll get it going well. Cha is still working the bugs out of the car. If he and his crew chief listen to the advice the’re getting they’ll start getting some solid finishes. Lou LeVea and the Denners are still fighting some demons. I hope they get the bugs worked out and their season improves.

I want to take a moment and talk about how amazing the guys in our class can be. Saturday afternoon, through a string of unfortunate circumstances Eric Connors hit me in the LF tire and seriously damaged my car. The frame was pushed into the engine and the whole LF suspension was junk. Now I’m not a guy who gives up easily but I would have been hard pressed to put that car back together for Sunday if it hadn’t been for the other guys in our class. After my pit guy Alan took me to go get a lower control arm, Jason Spaulding, Larry Muroski, Mike Fowler and Jason’s brother Mike not only helped me unbolt the motor at the track, they went and got a rollback, loaded up the car, went back to my shop and helped me pull the motor, straighten the frame, and put the motor back in. When we got back to the track on Sunday, Tom Thornton and his dad were in my pit as soon as I showed up, followed not much later by Bruce Stanton and his crew. With all their help, despite not having any practice, I managed a 4th place finish. What a testament to the camaraderie and good sportsmanship of my fellow racers. I can’t say enough about how much I appreciate your help guys. It is a pleasure and an honor to race with you.

New cars we should/may see soon: Mike Fowler – He’ll have his engine back this week. If he can get the rest of the parts together he’ll be out in the next two weeks. Lonnie Mills – I talked to him Sunday and he says he’s going to try to have his out the week after next. RJ Wyman – So close and yet so far. Could be any time. Keith Gilliam/JJ Courcy – Eddie will be working on the car this week. Depending on how it goes, it could be there next weekend. Joe Vessozze – watching us for the last few weeks must have lit a fire under Joe and Terry. Joe Skilinski – That’s right, the return of Smokin’ Joe. He’ll be fielding a reworked 85/20/60. Look for the new 4 to get him back up front. Scott Dinzler – If he can get a favorable answer on one of the rules he may make a few appearances. Jeff Merritt – I talked to him Saturday night. He’s got his car almost back together but he’s waiting to see how our rules start to work out.

Speaking of rules. We had a meeting about them Sunday. According to Jim Gray, they will start enforcing them in two weeks. He says they will do what they can to allow cars that deviate from the rules by handicapping them with weight penalties. The motor rules are a good start. I’m hoping they will find a way to address the glaring differences in some of the cars. We don’t want to lose any of our competitors. But we don’t want to keep any away either. Jim wants to know what you think. Post something on the Message Board. I’ll make sure he sees it. Also, how about some more feedback on the Friday night show? Steve asked for it. What do you think? Points or no points?

Also, correction on the compression rules:

9.1-10.0:1 – subtract 1% left weight
10.1-11.0:1 – subtract 2% left weight
11.1-12.0:1 – subtract 3% left weight
12.1:1+ – 50% left weight.

5/27/05 – Well this weekend should be interesting. I’m told that there were 4 or 5 Super Stocks at practice. Among them were Jason Spaulding and Bobby Newman and, rumor has it, a new 96. If what I’m hearing is right, we’ll see the 08(?) of Cha Spataro and the 38 of Kyle Clark tomorrow. We usually get a few Spencer cars this weekend but the two day show may scare them off. Tom Thornton will be here and hopefully most of the usual suspects. We should have a decent field this week.

5/24/05 – Greetings from Charlotte. It’s nice down here but I think I’d rather be home with my wife, son and racecar.

It seem I was being a little optimistic about the car count. While we did see Bobby Newman back, the 10 and the 02 were conspicuously absent. Eric discovered on Saturday morning that his “new” transmission didn’t work. He assures me he’ll be back next weekend. The 02 broke the rearend last week and wasn’t back together. I’m told that Tom Thornton will be back next week and that Scott Dinzler may make a few appearances later this season. Dave Fetterly says he plans to be out in the next few weeks. And Kyle Clark should be here this weekend. So with any luck, things will be looking up.

The rules for compression over 9:1 came out this week. I didn’t get a copy yet but here’s a shot at posting them from memory:

9.0-9.5:1 – subtract 1% left weight
9.5-10:1 – subtract 2% left weight
10.0-11:1 – subtract 3% left weight
11.0-12:1 – subtract 4% left weight
12:1+ – 50% left weight.

Keep in mind that’s from memory so it may be off a little but you get the gist of it.

5/20/05 – Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is I have the points, handicapping and results up and hopefully will have them every Monday from now on. The bad news is Billy Coyle, driver of the 94, had a fire in his shop this week and will be away for quite a while. I’ve been talking to Billy for most of the off-season and finally got to meet him last weekend. He seems like a good guy and should make an excellent addition to our class. Unfortunately, his season will be much shorter than anticipated. Let’s keep him and his family in our thoughts and wish them a quick recovery.

On that note, the car count looks pretty bad this week. I talked to Chris Smeidy last weekend and he has no plans to bring out his car this season. Dwayne LeMay says the same thing. Tom Thornton will miss this weekend due to a family matter. Keith Gilliam’s car will not be ready. Mike Fowler’s motor is still in pieces. So here’s my guess as to who will be there: 02,9,10,11,20,34,38,44,81,81,91,93. I’m hoping we’ll see the 33 and 72 but I’m not counting on it. That’s 12 cars. Not near enough. We need to get back into the 20s again. I’ve been told that RJ Wyman, Cha Spataro, Joe Vessozze, Randy Storms, and Kyle Clark will eventually be here and Dave Fetterly, Randy Storms and Scott Dinzler will make a few appearances but we’re already off on the wrong foot. This is our 6th year at the track and we can’t get a full field. What are we doing wrong? We don’t have the excuse that our cars are too expensive. Super Stocks are the most cost-effective class at the track. There should be 50 of us. Instead, we’re barely getting enough cars to get two heats. I hope the terrible car count is just a result of many teams not being ready and things turn around in the next few weeks. I would love nothing more than to see us run a consi. I’d even be happy to be in it.

5/16/05 – My bad. I guess I wasn’t really thinking the Newman thing through myself. Bobby was in the second row. If he jumps the start he gets black flagged. End of story. If he’d been in the front row it would have been a different story. Seems pretty cut and dried. I should have known better myself having been the recipient of that flag. My apologies to the track for any perceived malignment.

5/15/05 – Two in a row. That’s twice in two years. I’m hoping this doesn’t mean I can’t win anymore this season. I seem to max out at two every year. The car is pretty good right now and I figured out what the noise in the motor was today (and it wasn’t terminal!). If I can just get the brakes a touch better and keep the motor in tune I don’t see why I can’t pick up another one or two this year.

Racing in the rain is not my favorite thing. I was getting around pretty well but I wasn’t giving it all I could because I was never sure if the car would stick going in. If Rick had shown me a fender I probably would have stepped it up some but I’m glad I didn’t have to. I’m sure we’ll replay that scene when it’s dryer out.

Bobby Newman quit last night. Again. It really bothers me when he does this. He was wrong and should suck it up. Admittedly, the track should have thrown the yellow and given it another shot but they were trying to beat the weather and didn’t really have the time for it. The black flag cost him something like 8 points and maybe 6 spots. There was no reason to quit. Hopefully he’ll calm down and come back soon.

Billy Coyle and Tom Thornton made it out this week. It’s good to see Tom back. He and his dad are nice people. They had a few problems with cooling and set up. Hopefully they’ll get those sorted out for next week. Billy Coyle looked pretty good for a guy with supposedly inferior hardware. I imagine with a little time to work on the setup he’ll be a contender.

5/9/05 – Now that’s how you start off a season. 3 opening days in 4 years. Not too shabby. I just hope I can keep it going for the rest of the season. I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised that things worked out the way they did. Before the heats I had terrible brake and motor problems. Thanks to my crew and Dave Killian for bringing the car back to life. I’m hoping to take care of the rest of the brake issues this week and see if I can improve the cooling slightly. And get some letters on it.

I wanted to post the results, points and handicapping but it seems no one puts them up anywhere this year. Hopefully once the regular season starts they’ll start putting the finishing order at least on the web site Saturday night. Otherwise I’ll have to get Alan to write that down too so I can post it myself.

I’m not sure what to think about the car count. 15 isn’t bad for opening day but I was expecting to see some other cars. Fortunately, we got a couple of surprises. On the no-show list were Cha Spataro (no surprise), Tom Thornton, and Billy Coyle. Tom was working and actually hadn’t planned on making it. My bad. He says he’ll be here next week. Billy Coyle ran into some troubles before heading to Oswego and decided to practice at Chemung. He plans on coming up for the rest of the season. It was good to see Andy Fisk back (especially since he lent us a rotor). He plans on being back but wasn’t sure how regularly. Another newcomer is Major Matt Hutsinger all the way from Fort Drum. Both Andy and Matt have beautiful cars but were off a but on the setups. I hope to see them many times this season.

So who will we see next week? I plan on doing what I can to get Keith Gilliam there. The plan at the moment is to get the 60 from last season put back together if we can’t find anything else. The guys at Kelly’s shop seem all fired up to get the old 38 out now. Hopefully we’ll see them. Mike Fowler is working on getting the old 46 back together but may still be a week or so off. It’s rumored that Gerry Newman will be giving it another shot but Doug was concerned about the car being legal. Joe Vezzose wants to get his car there but he’s having trouble finding time during the week to get going on it. I’m hoping Terry gets the springs out to me so we can get him going in the right direction. RJ Wyman also says he’s close but I’m not sure when he’ll be there.

So cars MIA at the moment: Jeff Merritt, JJ Courcy, Lonnie Mills, Dwayne LeMay (someone buy this car!)

5/7/05(just) – It’s 12:30 and I just got done working on my car. Provided I don’t have any trouble getting it on the trailer I should be at the track on time. I still have a couple of little things to do but the car will be ready for slow laps.

I went by the track today and checked it out. They were just finishing touching up the finish line. We’ll definitely be able to see it this year. I took a look at the “short track” while I was there. It’s not near as bad as I was expecting. I’d still rather not run it without some practice and I think I would change gears but other than being a little narrow in 3 and there being a hole outside of 4, it’s not too bad. I’m kind of looking forward to the Friday night show now. I’d still MUCH rather run the full track though.

Here’s the numbers of cars I’m pretty sure will be there today: 08, 4, 9, 10(8), 11, 20, 34, 35, 44, 71, 77, 81, ?(85), 91, 93, 95. Billy Coyle says he’ll be there too but I don’t know his number. Tioga isn’t running so it’s possible we could get some southern cars too. Regardless, it should be a decent turnout this week and an even better one next week. Let’s go racing!

5/3/05 – I just got an email from Steve Gioia. Due to the fact that last weekend’s practice was rained out, Saturday’s race will be on the big track and it will be a points race. I guess I’d better make sure my car is fast.

5/1/05 – The fundraiser is out of the way. We did pretty well considering the rain and everything. Thanks again to Paul at the Front Door, Oswego Speedway, Outdoor Power, Inkspot, Barry, Mel, Kim, Peg, Debbie, Randy, Eric, Big Bird, and as always, Julie (how did I get lucky enough to find her?). Congratulations to all the raffle winners and thanks to the person that gave us back part of their 50/50 winnings. We made enough to buy some tires and pay some of the bills I ignored to get the car done.

Well, let’s hope Mother Nature has gotten it out of her system. Cancelling practice was sort of a mixed blessing for a lot of us. I could have been there yesterday but I wouldn’t have had everything right. Some of the other guys I’ve talked to this weekend were in the same boat. On the down side, we won’t get a chance to heat cycle our tires before next weekend’s race and we won’t get a lot of practice before the “Short Track” race.

Speaking of the race next weekend. I’ve gotten a of couple phone calls and talked to some people that are less than thrilled with the notion of starting our season on the short track. Especially with the reduced practice time. We’re going to get an extra hour of practice next weekend but will that give us enough time to really prepare for the race? The biggest concerns seem to be the narrowness of the third turn entrance and the “dropoff” entering the frontstretch. I’ve heard all kinds of rumors as to why we’re running the small track. The most common one being the insurance break the speedway is supposedly getting. One would hope that this isn’t the case considering running the small track will probably yield more crashes than the big track. As always, feel free to post your opinion about this on the message board (lets try not to turn it into a conversation about cheating or anyone’s driving skills).

4/30/05 – Practice today? It’s looking a lot like rain but considering there are so many of us that aren’t ready I’m sure it will hold off. Regardless, come on out and have some chicken and beer.

I’m lacking glass, tires, a duct and any kind of setup. Jason is sans body. Lou LeVea didn’t have a cam as of yesterday afternoon. I’m told Bruce is behind the 8-ball too. Mike Fowler’s motor is still in pieces and the body is pretty bare. He picked up Lupa’s old car a couple of weeks ago from Dave Bock. The way I see it, that puts the old 60 up for grabs. Jason Dinzler has most of the body mounted on his car but he’s missing quite a few pieces yet.

4/20/05 – I just looked at the new schedule and it seems the race on 5/7 is also on the short track. I must be delusional for not seeing it coming. Maybe my memory isn’t as good as it could be but I’m not recalling there being a lot of room in the back pit entrance. I can see a lot of trouble happening coming in. I guess I’ll know better once we get some practice on it.

4/18/05 – 11 days. Man, time is flying. I’m still nowhere near ready but the car is black and that always makes me feel like I’m close. If things go according to plan it should be drivable this weekend. I still have a lot of little things to do and several parts to get. I should be 95% for practice on the 30th. I’ll just have to make a few tweaks the next week.

I’m still looking for a pit guy to help me out during the week. Alan has been great help but can’t make it up on weekdays. Drop me a line if you want to get in for free every week.

Al Button still has his chassis for sale. He’s asking $300. It’s a good start for a good car.

4/3/05 – I actually got some work done this weekend. With some help from Alan, my new pit guy, I’ve got the body almost ready for paint. Hopefully I’ll get the bumpers on it and get it over to Steve’s Body Shop to get some black thrown at it this weekend. After that, it’s just a couple of small chassis changes and a lot of cleaning up a bolting together. If I don’t get any big surprises, I should be ready just in time for practice.

I stopped at the track Saturday and talked to Steve Gioia for a bit. The new schedules (with the times) will be out next week. The new website should follow soon after. It’ll have some cool stuff like an online pit stall reservation thing. We talked a bit about the short track night. He’s planning on it being a points race. I had been under the impression that it wouldn’t be. I brought up a few points as to why I thought it shouldn’t be and he suggested I poll the drivers. So tell me what you think. Email me or post something on the message board.

4/1/05 – Less than a month. Is anyone else ready? I’m not even close. I’m going to be in the shop all day tomorrow hoping to get the body ready for paint. Putting a new body on a car is so time consuming. Especially when it doesn’t go well.

I stopped in and talked to Louie and Louie Jr. the other night. They say the 95 will be ready for practice and the 96 will be out a few weeks later.

Kelly tells me that the 38 should be running the whole season but hasn’t mentioned any names. He did say that he and Travis would be meeting to discuss some changes in the team.

Lonnie Mills is out of the stock car business. Or so I’m told. If things go as planned, Eric will be fielding the old 43 as the 87. Keith Gilliam will be in the car for opening day as he attempts to do triple duty. Ed Horne and I will be contributing to Keith (and ultimately Eric’s) effort this season. The rest of the season will see several different drivers in that seat, possibly including Michael Howell, Joe Skilinski, Kelly Miller, and Dan Butterfield.

Doing anything after practice on the 30th? You should be. I’m planning on having my fundraiser immediately following practice. Come on down, have some chicken and a few of your favorite libations, win some prizes and support my favorite Super Stock driver. We’ll be giving away a flat screen TV, a pair of Classic tickets, some sort of lawn care equipment and a bunch of cool door prizes. You’ll be at the Front Door anyway, why not have dinner?

3/19/05 – Wanted – Pit guy. Want to learn about race cars? I need some help one week night or Saturday a week to work on the car. Until the season starts I can only offer knowledge and pizza and beer (or soda) once in a while. During the season I’ll buy your pit pass if you show up during the week and pay for half of it if you just make it on Saturday. Drop me an email or give me a call at 532-6809 if you’re interested.

Well I did manage to make it to the car show. Unfortunately, I only went Friday night so I didn’t see many of the people I was hoping to. I did have a long talk with Art Newman. He says he’ll make it out a couple times this season. He’s trying to get me to give dirt a try. It sounds fun but I’m not sure where I’d get a car.

I was going over the cars we’re expecting for this season and I was surprised to notice that we have a pretty good chance of getting over 20 cars a week. And there are still cars out there to be had. The 38 is still not spoken for. Al Button’s got that rolling chassis. Dwayne’s car is still for sale (though I’m hopong he’ll race it if it doesn’t sell).

I’ll be in thae garage all day today working on the car hopefully by tonight the body will be ready for paint.

3/14/05 – I just got an email from Al Button. He’s moving and needs to sell the chassis that Kelly built him. He wants $650 for the chassis with some extra parts. The cage is set back to work with an aftermarket body. If you’re interested, email him at aracefan1016@yahoo.com.

3/11/05 – 50 days until practice. Time to get moving. I have the frame all fixed and I’m starting to hang the new body. The new 2004 bodies are way different than the 2003 version so I have to rebuild most of my body mounts. Hopefully I can get the heat fixed in my shop so I can make some progress in the next couple of weeks.

The Motorsports Expo is this weekend. For the first time in a few years my car won’t be there. I’m told Carl Carwford’s car will be there. No word on any other Super Stocks. I’ll be wandering around the show most of the day Saturday.

Rumor has it that Bruce will not be running the Super. Hopefully that means he’ll be back in the 93. If so, expect him to make a solid run for the points again.

2/11/05 – I was thinking about following Eric’s suggestion and just saying nothing’s going on but I had a few minutes to kill so I’ll type for a bit.

I have my car apart. Unfortunately, cars in general seem to have it out for me so I haven’t been able to get started on putting it back together. Hopefully I can get caught up some this weekend and get the frame work at least scheduled next week.

I’m told Rick Miller will be in the 93 this season while Bruce gives Supers a shot. Expect to see him continue where Bruce left off. The 60 will be back out with a number of drivers this season including Keith Gilliam, John “Luther” Gray, possibly Michael Howell and/or Dave Will. Mike Fowler will probably cover the rest of the season. It’ll probably have a different number (87?). I was told last week that Bobby Newman won’t be back. Which is too bad. I was just starting to like him.

There’s a thread on the Message Board about predictions for this season. Considering the length of the season and the number of new cars, it’ll be tough to pick a clear top 10. I think the number of cars that will run the whole season will be even smaller than it has been in past seasons. I’ll be lucky if I manage it. Guys I expect to hang in there are Crawford, Rick Miller, Spaulding, Smiedy, and Muroski. I’m hoping Eric Connors and the guys from up north can do it but I know how hard it can be to get every Saturday off.

First time winners this season: Jason Spaulding, Rick Miller, whoever ends up in Dave Bock’s car, Jeff Merritt, Rick Zeigler, and at least 1 Denner. I know I only picked 4 winners for the season. I’m recanting. Me, Carl, Dwayne, and probably Louie will get at least one.

I made some corrections to the rules that I managed to miss last season. Please let me know if I’ve missed anything else.

1/3/05 – OK,OK. I’m updating the site already.

Not much is really going on in the Super Stock world, although I have started getting notes here and there from people.

Cars for sale: Dwayne Lemay’s is still out there. Travis Bartlett has the 38 up for sale. This car has won two races and if memory serves, he wants $2500 for it with a new aftermarket body (I’ll have to check on the price). I’m told Dave Bock’s car was bought by Carl Crawford Sr. and the old 46 is in Dave’s lawn. Not sure what’s going on there.

I talked to Louie LeVea briefly about their cars and he says he’s planning on having both of them there this season. I ran into Cha Spataro and he says he’s not driving his car but someone else should be. JJ Courcy says he’s just waiting on a motor and lettering and he’s got someone else from Fulton talked into coming out. I got a note from Lonnie Mills saying he’ll be there this season. I also got a call from Dave Fetterly and he says he’ll be running a few shows at least this year. Tom Thornton dropped me a line yesterday and says he’s starting on the body this week. And I got a note from a guy from Cortland that’s thinking of coming up and giving us a shot.

It sounds like, if nothing else, there’s at least some more interest in the class this season. I’m hoping most of the people I’ve talked to come through and we get some great car counts.

Now that the holidays are over I’m hoping to get some work done on my car. Eric and I should have it stripped down this weekend and hopefully over to get the frame checked out. It took a little more of a hit at RoC than I thought and I think it’ll need a little pull and some new tubes. Anyone know where I can get some sandblasting done cheap?

11/26/04 – Happy Thanksgiving. I hope everyone had a nice holiday. Griffin got through his surgery fine and looks great. Thanks to everyone who wished him well.

I managed to stop down to the auction Saturday and got the rule changes. The ones that pertain to us are as follows:
Stock clip cars with leaf springs will be allowed.

Stock, unaltered, cast iron 2 barrel intake and heads allowed. Vortec heads will be allowed with assessed weight penalty (1% left side)

Maximum allowed compression will be 9:1. Compression exceeding 9:1 will be assessed a weight penalty.

All events will be awarded single points.

That having been said, Steve says he will work with all of us to find a happy medium. He is open to suggestions and welcomes them. I emailed him a couple weeks ago and got a reply that day. It’s also pretty easy to reach him on the phone.

The season ticket prices also came out this week. $595 for a season pit pass. Ouch. I love having a season pass but that’s going to hurt. I’ll have to wait until the actual ticket prices come out to make a decision but I imagine I’ll find a way to cough it up. It is, after all, for 23 different days.

Some bits of news about cars. Eric Connors officially owns the 8. He plans on being there next season. Joe Skilinski is planning on being back if he can swing it. Carl Crawford has the old 46 up for sale. If I understand correctly, he’ll let it go less motor and body with a trailer for $2000. Dave’s still got the 85 available for $5500 race ready on the trailer with a spare disassembled motor. Dwayne wants $4500 for the 12. Louie Jr. should be back in the 96. Terry Vessoze is looking into buying the old 72 from Louie. I’m told a couple of Fulton guys were asking Steve a lot of questions about the rules. Maybe we’ll see some of them.