This week is a big week in the modified racing world. On Wednesday, the RoC Dirt Tour will be at Utica Rome Speedway for the Richie Evans Memorial which pays $6,161.61 to win for 61 laps. Also on Wednesday, July 23rd, will be the MS Race For a Cure Race at Bridgeport Speedway which is a 40 lap race paying $4,000 to win, which includes a $50 bonus for each lap led, which could result in the race winner taking home as much at $6,000. Then, for the weekend, New Egypt will be holding their annual Friends of Mike show, which will be highlighted by 4-20 lap features for the big block modifieds which pay $2,000 to win the 1st feature, $2,000 to win the 2nd feature, $2,000 to win the 3rd feature, and $5,000 to win the 4th feature. Also on Saturday, the BRP Modified Tour will be heading to West Virginia at the Tyler County Speedway for their 4th race of the season.
Randy Ross, who sold most of his equipment after the 2008 Florida Dirt Tour, is currently in talks with Jimmy Horton about a possible deal for Super Dirt Week. Horton would supply the motor and Ross would supply the car.
Mitch Gibbs will be running the big block portion of Super Dirt Week in the Gary Mann owned #55, which brings the number of confirmed drivers for Syracuse this year in the big block division to Mitch Gibbs, Frankie Caprara, Ronnie Johnson, Steve Paine, Matt Sheppard, Rick Laubach, Alan Johnson, Brett Hearn, Danny Johnson, Keith Flach, Dave Rauscher, Billy Dunn, Dale Planck, Gary Tomkins, Billy Decker, Jimmy Phelps, Larry Wight, Ryan Phelps, Wayne Jelley, Mark Forte Jr, Justin Haers, and Duane Howard.
As for the small block portion of Syracuse, the list of confirmed drivers at this point includes Doug Manmiller, Chad Brachmann, Joe Williams, Rick Laubach, Todd Burley, Larry Wight, Frankie Caprara, Wayne Jelley, Lance Willix, and Ronnie Johnson. Obviously, there are other drivers who we'll assume will be there, such as Pat Ward, Pete Bicknell, etc, but we haven't been able to talk with them yet, so we can't confirm them on here.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Doug Hoffman to return?
Looks like Doug Hoffman, who came out of retirement to win 4 features at Bridgeport last year with the DeBruno Racing #0 big block only to lose his ride which has left him without a start thus far into 2008, will make his first start of the year at the Friends of Mike 4-20 lappers at New Egypt Speedway on July 26th driving a 2nd Rich Rutski entry. Along with the talented weekly field which includes Billy Pauch, Keith Hoffman, and Frank Cozze, invaders scheduled to be racing include last year's track points champion Matt Sheppard, Glen Ridge points leader Jeff Brownell, Big Diamond points leader Duane Howard, and Super Dirt Series star Dale Planck, who will more than likely be behind the wheel of a Mark Forte modified. Kenny Brightbill, Doug Hoffman, and Brett Hearn may also be in attendance, more to come later.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Alan Johnson and Mike Romano to team with Jake Spraker/Jimmy Phelps news
Jake Spraker isn't quite done yet. Spraker will field a big block #1J for Alan Johnson at Utica Rome's RoC Richie Evans Memorial this coming Wednesday, July 23rd. It's also worth nothing that Alan Johnson has a special one-of-a-kind brand new Teo from Randy Sherlock's race team that will debut July 31st at Orange County. Sherlock shook the car down this past Saturday.
However, the bigger news out of the Spraker camp is that Mike Romano will be coming out of retirement on August 5th for the Fonda NMX Series race as the fan favorite will strap himself behind the wheel of the Spraker 1J for his last drive ever in a modified.
Jimmy Phelps will run 2 races in Australia this winter driving for an Australian Troyer dealer. Last year Gary Tomkins ran down there and had great success. The races will be in late January.
However, the bigger news out of the Spraker camp is that Mike Romano will be coming out of retirement on August 5th for the Fonda NMX Series race as the fan favorite will strap himself behind the wheel of the Spraker 1J for his last drive ever in a modified.
Jimmy Phelps will run 2 races in Australia this winter driving for an Australian Troyer dealer. Last year Gary Tomkins ran down there and had great success. The races will be in late January.
Mike Ricci/Kenny Brightbill/Troy Wink/Georgetown news
Mike Ricci has found a ride for the rest of the year at Accord Speedway along with specials with the Mastrocola Racing Team #10 modified. Jerry Curry was driving for them but will no longer be driving for the team, but he will remain affiliated with the team. Ricci will drive for the team at a couple specials near the end of the year along with Accord. Ricci sold his #1R that he picked up a win with at Glen Ridge and Accord this year.
Kenny Brightbill may be returning for the Friends of Mike race at New Egypt, Chad Sinon called about sponsoring him again, but right now Kenny is taking the engine apart making sure nothing is hurt after the belt came off the oil-pump at Georgetown. Props to Kenny for having a solid return!
Troy Wink announced his retirement from racing after a run-in with Bobby Gunther-Walsh, and then Big Diamond co-owner Dave Dissinger who made a rude comment to one of the nice guys of the sport. Troy Wink may make his return, but it may not be at Big Diamond, or Grandview. Look for a possibly Five Mile Point run for Troy Wink. Don't leave Troy, we need guys like you in the sport!
It's also worth noting that both H.J. Bunting and Jamie Mills, who finished 1st and 2nd in the Super Dirt Series race at Georgetown Speedway had motors and side-panels that would be illegal at any of Dirt Series race. Dirt opened up the rules a little bit for the Delaware International drivers to be able to run the race. It paid off for the top 2, congrats to Mills and especially Bunting. It's also worth noting that last week H.J. Bunting also won the Saturday night race at Delaware International and the Camp Barnes race at Delaware, which has netted him well over $10,000 in the past 3 races. Looks like the defending Delaware champion got hot at the right time.
Kenny Brightbill may be returning for the Friends of Mike race at New Egypt, Chad Sinon called about sponsoring him again, but right now Kenny is taking the engine apart making sure nothing is hurt after the belt came off the oil-pump at Georgetown. Props to Kenny for having a solid return!
Troy Wink announced his retirement from racing after a run-in with Bobby Gunther-Walsh, and then Big Diamond co-owner Dave Dissinger who made a rude comment to one of the nice guys of the sport. Troy Wink may make his return, but it may not be at Big Diamond, or Grandview. Look for a possibly Five Mile Point run for Troy Wink. Don't leave Troy, we need guys like you in the sport!
It's also worth noting that both H.J. Bunting and Jamie Mills, who finished 1st and 2nd in the Super Dirt Series race at Georgetown Speedway had motors and side-panels that would be illegal at any of Dirt Series race. Dirt opened up the rules a little bit for the Delaware International drivers to be able to run the race. It paid off for the top 2, congrats to Mills and especially Bunting. It's also worth noting that last week H.J. Bunting also won the Saturday night race at Delaware International and the Camp Barnes race at Delaware, which has netted him well over $10,000 in the past 3 races. Looks like the defending Delaware champion got hot at the right time.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Big Diamond notes from 7/18
Just some notes from the action on the track at the NEW BDR Friday night....It was a SBM/URC 2 divisions show and the fans LOVE these 2 division shows as the place was PACKED with fans....The feature race action for both divisions didn't disappoint....In the URC race, 16yr old David Gavel from Ct. was AWESOME, he just checked out, only to later be DQ'd for a rules infraction....This gave the win to the 2nd car that went under the checkered flag, Jason Clauss in the #08, he also was fast all night....It was Clauss's 2nd career URC win at BDR I believe....Becca Anderson was putting on a show in her black #17, she was rim riding the top of the raceway on her way to 2nd place, the fans LOVED IT....Curt Michael gets the "never quit" award of the night....In his heat, the 5G just wasn't up to snuff, in the consi he breaks, he then uses a provisional to start the feature....Man was he on a mission, charging his way to the front, WITHOUT a front wing, IMPRESSIVE to say the least, bring home a 3rd place finish....31 URC sprints filled the pits, and it was GREAT to see some winged sprint cars back at BDR, hoping they return in '09.
The sbm feature had some INCREDIBLE racing once again....Ray Swinehart seemed to have them all covered in hisyellow #33, but with about 5 laps to go, from the grandstands, yo could see there was something wrong with the rear in the #33, about 2 laps later, it broke, ending Swinehart's run for his first win of the season at BDR, the #33 was plenty fast enough to get the job done....Jeff Strunk took the checkered flag and brought home win #2 for the #126 team at BDR....Folks, one of the most INCREDIBLE races I've seen all year took place last night....There was a 3 car battle going on for 2nd place last night that showed what dirt track is all about, the players were Mike Nicholas, Craig Von Dohren and Duane Howard....There 3 guys put a show on that had the crowd on their feet....I'm talking side by side racing, spots being shuffled EVERY LAP, sprint car style slide jobs being thrown, it was AWESOME, all of it clean, NO CONTACT....Mike Nicholas finally took the spot, with CVD 3rd, Howard 4th, and Pauch Jr took 5th....It was fan pleasing to say the least....Jordan Umbenhauer made his first start in a 358 sbm last night, driving his dad's red #19 (the spts were off, they'll be running at BDR tomorrow night, along with the rr's and lmtd late models)....Jordan won the consi and brought home a very respectable 13th place finsih, GOOD JOB by Jordan....A new entrant was at BDR making his first start of the year, it was the red #20 of Eric Kocher, he looked decent in warm ups, but then was a scratch for the rest of the night with mechanical problems....Two guys missing last night from the sbm field that have been at every show up until last nights, Terry Meitzler and Sean Merkel....Word has it Meitzler blew the motor the previous week and could be out of action at BDR till around Coal Cracker time....As for the #118, no "official" word as to why the MIA, but a bad crash at Gview last week and some mid week racing this week, COULD have been a factor the #118 wasn't in the pits.
Right now at BDR there is an issue going on with the race track surface, mostly, for the heat race action....As the new clay in turn 1 and going into 2, just doesn't want to knit properly, as it seems to just peel up every week and make it pretty rough and tumble for heat race action....Come feature time though, the track, it seems, to be VERY GOOD, as the racing has been OUTSTANDING come feature time....Even last night winner Jeff Strunk in VL commented that the surface was AWESOME for the feature, gave some props to the track crew for making it that way, but he also mentioned that it was rough at the start (heats) but widened out and was AWESOME for the feature....It's the tale of 2 tracks every week it seems at BDR, the bad one for the heats, the great one for the feature....Hopefully help will be sought out and it will be better for the heats, and remain AWESOME for the feature, only time will tell.
The sbm feature had some INCREDIBLE racing once again....Ray Swinehart seemed to have them all covered in hisyellow #33, but with about 5 laps to go, from the grandstands, yo could see there was something wrong with the rear in the #33, about 2 laps later, it broke, ending Swinehart's run for his first win of the season at BDR, the #33 was plenty fast enough to get the job done....Jeff Strunk took the checkered flag and brought home win #2 for the #126 team at BDR....Folks, one of the most INCREDIBLE races I've seen all year took place last night....There was a 3 car battle going on for 2nd place last night that showed what dirt track is all about, the players were Mike Nicholas, Craig Von Dohren and Duane Howard....There 3 guys put a show on that had the crowd on their feet....I'm talking side by side racing, spots being shuffled EVERY LAP, sprint car style slide jobs being thrown, it was AWESOME, all of it clean, NO CONTACT....Mike Nicholas finally took the spot, with CVD 3rd, Howard 4th, and Pauch Jr took 5th....It was fan pleasing to say the least....Jordan Umbenhauer made his first start in a 358 sbm last night, driving his dad's red #19 (the spts were off, they'll be running at BDR tomorrow night, along with the rr's and lmtd late models)....Jordan won the consi and brought home a very respectable 13th place finsih, GOOD JOB by Jordan....A new entrant was at BDR making his first start of the year, it was the red #20 of Eric Kocher, he looked decent in warm ups, but then was a scratch for the rest of the night with mechanical problems....Two guys missing last night from the sbm field that have been at every show up until last nights, Terry Meitzler and Sean Merkel....Word has it Meitzler blew the motor the previous week and could be out of action at BDR till around Coal Cracker time....As for the #118, no "official" word as to why the MIA, but a bad crash at Gview last week and some mid week racing this week, COULD have been a factor the #118 wasn't in the pits.
Right now at BDR there is an issue going on with the race track surface, mostly, for the heat race action....As the new clay in turn 1 and going into 2, just doesn't want to knit properly, as it seems to just peel up every week and make it pretty rough and tumble for heat race action....Come feature time though, the track, it seems, to be VERY GOOD, as the racing has been OUTSTANDING come feature time....Even last night winner Jeff Strunk in VL commented that the surface was AWESOME for the feature, gave some props to the track crew for making it that way, but he also mentioned that it was rough at the start (heats) but widened out and was AWESOME for the feature....It's the tale of 2 tracks every week it seems at BDR, the bad one for the heats, the great one for the feature....Hopefully help will be sought out and it will be better for the heats, and remain AWESOME for the feature, only time will tell.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Specials This Week...
Well, this week we've got two big Super Dirt Series races for the southern states. Tonight, Grandview Speedway has their 100 lapper paying $6,000 to win, and tomorrow Georgetown has their 75 lapper paying $6,000 to win. The only other special show for modifieds this week is at Accord Speedway, as they have the Joe Winne Memorial which pays $2,500 to win for 55 laps. Be sure to support racing somewhere! Have a great week of racing.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Updated Chad Miller Memorial info
Bob Greene from PPB has just took it "up a notch"....Anyone going to Grandview on Wednesday for the TOTH DIRT BB show, LISTEN UP....The BDR pace truck will be at this event, and as it has been mentioned before, the pace truck is being raffled off at the end of the year at the Diamond Nationals, with all of $$$ raised going to the Chad Miller Scholarship Fund....Mr. Greene has put up 2 more tickets to the Kenny Chesney concert at Lincoln Financial Field on July 19th for ONLY those who buy a raffle ticket at the TOTH show this Wednesday at Grandview Speedway....We are talking about one of the biggest performing stars in the world right now, as it seems everything Chesney does goes right to the top of the charts....Now you'll have your chance to buy a ticket to win the truck and also win these INCREDIBLE concert tickets, FOLKS, GET IN LINE.
Would also like to say THANKS to Albert's Body Shop in Lebanon Pa for coming on board to becoming a heat race sponsor for this special event, as each heat race winner will earn $100.
And I have to give a HUGE, GIGANTIC, "SHOUT OUT" to my boy Danny Serrano, aka "The PIMP" and Bill Miscoski for stepping up and helping out by sponsoring the 1st, 2nd, and 6th place finishing spots (#126) in the sbm feature, THANKS GUYS, you guys are really class acts and many of us really do appreciate everything you all do for the sport we all love so much....I'm going to make it back down there this year, I loved my first trip last year, and I can't wait to get back.
People are coming on board daily to make the Chad Miller Memorial Race a "MUST SEE" event....If you want to help out, BIG or SMALL, contact Brad Reinhert @ (717) 278-1036, HE'S THE MAN, and he'll HOOK YOU UP!
Would also like to say THANKS to Albert's Body Shop in Lebanon Pa for coming on board to becoming a heat race sponsor for this special event, as each heat race winner will earn $100.
And I have to give a HUGE, GIGANTIC, "SHOUT OUT" to my boy Danny Serrano, aka "The PIMP" and Bill Miscoski for stepping up and helping out by sponsoring the 1st, 2nd, and 6th place finishing spots (#126) in the sbm feature, THANKS GUYS, you guys are really class acts and many of us really do appreciate everything you all do for the sport we all love so much....I'm going to make it back down there this year, I loved my first trip last year, and I can't wait to get back.
People are coming on board daily to make the Chad Miller Memorial Race a "MUST SEE" event....If you want to help out, BIG or SMALL, contact Brad Reinhert @ (717) 278-1036, HE'S THE MAN, and he'll HOOK YOU UP!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Chad Miller Memorial Race....Also,
Penske Racing Shocks will be back for the 2nd year to sponsor the Cash Dash that will pay a cool $1000 to win....Anyone interested in sponsoring this race, big or small, should contact Brad Reinhert @ (717) 278-1036....You can sponsor a lap for $10 on this night, only TEN BUCKS and you too can be a sponsor for this special event being held at the Big Diamond Raceway on August 8th.
Friesen not done with 357, Pat O'Brien news...
Stewart Friesen will return to the Norm Hansell #357 for select races at Grnadview, starting with the Forrest Rogers Memorial which pays $10,000 to win for 50 laps on August 2nd. Rick Schaffer will continue driving the car when Friesen isn't available.
Pat O'Brien is now done following the Super Dirt Series tour. After a slow start he decided that it's not worth following the tour and struggling the way he has been. He'll continue to hit a few Dirt Series shows.
In other news, as you probably know, Brad Brightbill will be driving for Jeremy Banos the rest of the year at Grandview after his owner MICK Enterprises left the sport for personal reasons. Brad's brother Keith drove the car off and on over the past 2 years.
Pat O'Brien is now done following the Super Dirt Series tour. After a slow start he decided that it's not worth following the tour and struggling the way he has been. He'll continue to hit a few Dirt Series shows.
In other news, as you probably know, Brad Brightbill will be driving for Jeremy Banos the rest of the year at Grandview after his owner MICK Enterprises left the sport for personal reasons. Brad's brother Keith drove the car off and on over the past 2 years.
More Chad Miller Memorial Race info...
Time is marching on, the days and hours are passing by, it's getting closer folks....The Chad Miller Memorial Race is drawing near....On August 8th at the Big Diamond Raceway it will be the 2nd running of this VERY SPECIAL race in memory of a VERY SPECIAL person, who is truly missed, Chad Miller.
Sponsors are calling and coming on board every day, here's just a few so far....Reading Kobota, National Earth Sevices Incorporated, Wink Motorsports, Missy's Crafts, 4 Star Lettering, Larry Lombardo Racing Engines, Henry R. Sharman Builder and Developer, these are just a few of the special people signing up to make the Chad Miller Memorial Race one of the most anticipated events of the racing season....Look for more sponsors to be announced daily and THANK YOU to one's that have already committed to this event.
Bob Greene from PPB has put up two Kenny Chesney tickets that will be raffled off....Anyone who purchased a ticket to win the BDR pace truck, which all money collected will go to the Chad Miller Scholarship Fund, last Friday 7/11 or anyone who buys a ticket this Friday 7/18 will be eligible to win the tickets to one of the hottest act's in country music today, the concert will be at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia July 19th.
Word comes today that Stewart Friesen has confirmed he will be in action on this night.
Also, I have to give a "shout out" to "The Dog Pound", everyone in our little group pitched in last Friday and we came up with $200 to donate to the Chad Miller Memorial Race....The driver who FINISHES in the 17th position that night will get the $$$....Chad was 17yrs old and we wanted to give the money to a spot or driver who might not have the best luck for this race....I gotta say thanks to, Doug, Sue, Tony, Joey, Billy, Vince, Vinnie, Alicia, "Buff", Zach, Kevin, Kerry, Guy, and Hawley, THANKS, you guys and gals are the best.
Make your plans now to be at The Chad Miller Memorial Race at the Big Diamond Raceway on August 8th....This show just keeps getting bigger and better by the hour, you are not going to want to miss this one, TRUST ME....It's going to be one of those truly special nights at the race track, a night everyone, if they can, should attend.
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