Entries from August 2007 ↓

On Sunday afternoon, July 29, 2007, I went to Beech Ridge Speedway in Maine for NEMA winged midget race. Although I’d rather see a non-winged midget race on dirt, the NEMA midges put on a good show with their winged cars on the Beech Ridge pavement. The track was pretty much a circle as far as he groove went so the cars went awful fast around the track. The officials also did a great job starting on time and keeping the races going. Joey Payne put on a good show moving through the field but once he got to third he didn’t have anything for the two rookies in front of him. Jeremy Frankoski took the win, followed by Aaron Wall. Some of the top names in NEMA were no shows as many of their drivers also run supermodifieds with ISMA who had a big race out in Ohio. The NEMA race was part of what they called the four cylinder nationals that involved hobby stock type cars and 4 cyl. modifieds. I hope that Beech Ridge does this race again, but hopefully on an ISMA off weekend. Anyway, another state down! Maybe I will make my goal of seeing races in all 50 states before I’m 40 a year or two early!

2007 stats after my first race every in Maine:

Races: 24
Tracks: 17 (12 new) (162 lifetime)
States: 15 (8 new) (43 lifetime)

On June 30, I attended a double admission, double header at Richmond International Raceway. It was supposed be this way, but rains came and canceled Friday evenings race ,so they opened up the track early on Saturday for the USAC Sprint car race, which was dominated by Bobby East. After that race, they cleared the track and I headed with my friend Walt to the BBQ. Once again, good food all things considered. After the BBQ, we went back in, with a separate ticket to see the USAC Silver Crown (won by Bryn Tyler) and IRL (won by Dario Franchitti) races . All-in all, another great weekend for a great price at Richmond. Due to the double admission and the fact the Sprints were supposed to run on Friday, I’m counting this as two races.

2007 totals after the Richmond weekend:

Races: 22 & 23
Tracks: 16 (11 new) (161 lifetime)
States: 14 (7 new) (42 lifetime)

While checking my e-mail in Dakar, I can across some bad news that most short track fans in the Northeast have probably heard. John Blewett III passed away following a crash with his brother on Thursday night at Thompson Speedway in CT. While I always thought John III was a great driver, he was never my favorite even though with him being from New Jersey I did like to see him beet the New England boys. John will always be known as an aggressive racer. No matter how much you like, or don’t like, a race car driver, it is always difficult to hear about a fallen driver, and when it is someone you have meet and talked to on many occasions, it is even harder. I wouldn’t even go so far as to say we were acquaintances, but he was always nice when I did talk to him before or after a race. My condolences to his family and friends. May he rest in peace. BTW: 51sports racing has put up a nice tribute page that you may want to check out.