Hudson’s Own Joey “Pole” goes to GSPSS Victory Lane At Hudson Speedway

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Home town hot shoe Joey Polewarcyk lead the majority of the 2019 Gate City Classic to take down the win. Cory Casagrande returned to the series and established the track record and the point leader continued his string of consistency in 2019.

   It was a picture perfect day for racing as the Granite State Pro Stock Series took to the family fun track for an awesome night of racing. Ben Bosowski and his team had the facility fixed up and ready to go with a brand new back stretch wall, new track lighting and a newly paved pit area. On track just before the feature Bosowski was thanked for his efforts and responded “I always love it when the Granite State Pro Stock series comes here. The racing is always great and the fans love it.” After a little prodding Bosowski added “I’d love to have the series here again this year… maybe we can make that happen”.

   The night kicked off with the Crazy Horse Racing race for the pole and It was Cory Casagrande establishing the track record with a time of 13.267 seconds. Being that electronic scoring was just added this spring there was no record to beat so Casagrande is the “Original” track record holder in the pro stock division. After time trials Casagrande was asked about the lap. “I didn’t think that was a pole lap” said the driver if the Chalew Performance number seven. “It felt good but not that good. Now we just need to stay up there all night long”.

   Heat races where up next and they became the Joey and Joey show. Heat one went to Joey Doiron in a battle that was hotly contested to the end, while Joey “Pole” won the second heat with relative ease.

   After the GSPSS redraw Joey Doiron would find himself on the pole with a shot at the NHSTRA back of the pack challenge. Doiron, Who had earned the extra $1000 for starting at the back at Claremont Motorsports Park earlier in the year, chose to keep his pole position. When asked about the decision during driver intros Doiron said “no way… not at this track. We’re going to stay right here”.

   As the 100 lap main event went green it was a tale of two races for the eventual race winner. The redraw saw Polewarcyk on the outside of row four with some work to do if he was to go three for three with the GSPSS. For the first forty laps the Hudson Hero slowly, methodically and patiently worked his way to the front, finally taking the lead on a restart and from there he would never look back. “Pole” never got to more than an eight or ten car length lead but also was never seriously challenged. “The car was really really good all day” said “Pole” in victory lane “My guys busted their butts all day to give me the feel I needed and it paid off.”

   Devin O’Connell fought hard for everything he got on the track but in the end the defending series champion could only muster enough for second. “I really wanted to go back to back” said the driver of the 43 car in victory lane. “It’s an honor to race against someone like Joey and second is nothing to be bummed about but I really wanted to beat him”.

   Joe Doiron fought hard to stay within sight of the leaders all day and when asked what he needed to beat them he said “my other car”. He went on to say “I didn’t expect such a clean race so I brought my older car and it just isn’t as good”.

   Jimmy Renfrew JR fought hard for a fourth place finish at one of his home race tracks while Mike O’Sullivan came back from missing a race due to a concussion to complete the top five.

   Cory Casagrande came back from an early pit stop to finish sixth ahead of Jacob Dore in seventh, Mike Mitchell in eighth, Todd Stone in ninth and Angelo Belsito who rounded out the top ten.

   Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond GSPSS control, the event scheduled for August third at The New London - Waterford Speedbowl has had to be removed from the schedule. The next event for the series will be the JBH 150 at Monadnock Speedway on Sat. Aug. 17^th. This will be the first time the series has gone 150 laps at the high banked quarter mile bull ring and should be a wild affair that honors one of the series founders, John “Boy” Hoyt.

   For more information on the Granite State Pro Stock Series go to www.gspss.net of check them out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Granite State Pro Stock Series contingency awards:

AR Bodies Hard Luck Award $100 : 93 Ray Christian

O’Reilly Auto Parts last car on the lead lap $75: 17 Kevin Folan

O’Reilly Auto Parts 7^th place finisher $75: 05 Jacob Dore

American Racer N.E Hard Charger One free tire: 97 Joey Polewarczyk

Sunoco Heat Race Winners 5 Gallons fuel: #1 73Joey Doiron, #2 97 Joey Polewarczyk

VDL 5th Place $100: 08 Mike O’Sullivan

Crazy Horse Racing Fast Time$125: 7 Cory Casagrande, 2^nd 27 Wayne Helliwell $75.00 3^rd 73 Joey Doiron $50.00

Gate City Classic Official Finish

  

1- 97 Joey Polewarczyk

2- 43 Devin O’Connell

3- 73 Joey Doiron

4- Jimmy Renfrew JR

5- 08 Mike O’Sullivan

6- 7 Cory Casagrande

7- 05 Jacob Dore

8- 40 Mike Mitchell

9- 1x Todd Stone

10- 8 Angelo Belsito

11- 27 Wayne Helliwell

12- 16 Tommy Rosati

13- 12 Bobby Pelland

14- 17 Kevin Folan

15- 21 Josh King

16- 14 Matt Frahm

17- 93 Ray Christian III

It's been 26 years since the racing world lost a Great One !

Posted by Wayne G.Barber

Would Jeff Gordon have been so dominant with Davey Allison, Allen Kulwicki and Adam Petty in the same field for 36 races a year ?

David Carl Alexander Allison (February 25, 1961 – July 13, 1993) was a NASCAR driver. He was best known for driving the No. 28 Texaco-Havoline Ford for Robert Yates Racing in the Winston Cup Series (Now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series). Born in Hollywood, Florida, he was the eldest of four children born to Bobby Allison and wife Judy. The family moved to Hueytown, Alabama, and along with Bobby's brother Donnie Allison, family friend Red Farmer, and Neil Bonnett, became known in racing circles as the Alabama Gang. 
Three days after Kulwicki's death in an airplane crash, Davey Allison finished fifth in an emotional race at Bristol. He followed that finish with a fourth at North Wilkesboro, second at Martinsville, seventh at Talladega, and 15th at Sears Point. He finished a 30th in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, but rebounded at Dover, finishing third. He was sixth at Pocono, but finished 35th at Michigan and 31st at Daytona. Halfway through the 1993 season, Davey was fifth in the point standings, but was 323 points behind leader Dale Earnhardt. Still, Davey and the Robert Yates team were confident that they could put their early season struggles and inconsistency behind them and could make a run for the championship in the second half. The inaugural race at New Hampshire International Speedway proved the team's optimism was not unfounded. Davey led 38 laps of the event and finished third behind Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin. 

On July 12, 1993, Allison boarded his newly acquired Hughes 369HS helicopter to fly to Talladega Superspeedway to watch family friend Neil Bonnett and his son David test a car for David's Busch Series debut. He picked up another family friend, racer Red Farmer, en route to the track. Allison was attempting to land the helicopter inside a fenced-in area of the track infield when the craft nosed up suddenly, then crashed. The National Transportation Safety Board^[8] (NTSB) blamed the crash on Allison's inexperience in helicopters, coupled with the decision to attempt a landing. Neil Bonnett freed the semi-conscious Farmer from the wreckage, but Allison was unresponsive and could not be freed until paramedics arrived. Farmer went on to a lengthy but successful recovery, but Allison never regained consciousness after sustaining a critical head injury. He was pronounced dead at 7:00 a.m. the next morning by a neurosurgeon at Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham after a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain proved unsuccessful.^[9]

Thousands packed the auditorium at St. Aloysious Church in Bessemer, Alabama, to pay their respects at his funeral. He is buried near his brother, Clifford, in Bessemer's Highland Memorial Gardens. His organs except his corneas were donated.^[10]

After the final race of the season, series champion Dale Earnhardt and race winner Rusty Wallace drove a side-by-side Polish Victory Lap carrying flags for fallen drivers Alan Kulwicki and Allison. In his short NASCAR Winston Cup career, Allison posted 19 wins, 66 top-five finishes, and 92 top-ten finishes. He also won 14 poles and earned $6,724,174. He is survived by his wife, Liz, and two children: daughter Krista Marie and son Robert "Robbie" Grey. Source: Wikipedia Facts

Race Chatter Line-Up for 7-8-19

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

News, Race Results, Schedules and Driver Interviews too !

E-Mail the show with Congratulation or Questions ! at waynewnri@yahoo.com


Tonight fresh out of the Ancients & Horrible Parade Float is driver Cory Fanning talking about his drive for a NASCAR Sportsman Weekly Points Championship at Seekonk Speedway

ACT Announces $50,000+ in Awards for Midsummer 250

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Waterbury, VT – The longest and richest event of the ACT Late Model Tour season is now on the horizon. American-Canadian Tour (ACT) officials have announced more than $50,000 in posted awards for the Midsummer 250 at N. Woodstock, NH’s White Mountain Motorsports Park (WMMP) on Saturday, August 3.

The purse includes $10,000 to the winner of this battle of speed, wits, and endurance. It is the largest top prize of the ACT Late Model Tour season and doubles that of the victor’s spoils in the recent Summer Kickoff Series.

The increased purse goes beyond just the winner’s take. Second place will pay $5,000, the same as first place received in each Summer Kickoff Series event. The third-place finisher is set to receive $3,000, which is more than a regular Tour event pays to win.

Everyone who qualifies for the main event will take home a minimum of $800, double that of a regular ACT Late Model Tour event. The posted purse also includes more than $4,000 in contingency awards and “Last Chance Race” money along with a portion of the ACT point fund.

“When Pat (Malone) and I took over ACT, we made it a goal to put on more big-money events,” ACT managing partner Cris Michaud said. “Adding the Midsummer 250 to the schedule is part of that. It attracted some of the top Late Model names in the region when White Mountain hosted it as an open event last year. We expect it to be even bigger this time around.”

The Midsummer 250 is the first of three $10,000-to-win events that ACT is sanctioning in 2019. It will be followed by the Bacon Bowl 200 at Quebec’s Autodrome Chaudiere on Saturday, August 17 and the Vermont Milk Bowl at Thunder Road on Sunday, September 29. However, it is the only event of the three that counts towards the ACT Late Model Tour championship, meaning more than money will be on the line at WMMP.

As such, fans can plan on seeing the best Tour runners at the Midsummer 250. Point leader Rich Dubeau of Plainfield, NH has gotten to the top by being fast at every event. He certainly should be in the running again. Williamstown, VT’s Jimmy Hebert and Colchester, VT’s Scott Payea are the last two ACT winners at WMMP and will be going even harder with $10,000 up for grabs.

E. Bridgewater, MA’s Ryan Kuhn has been getting better by the event while Blainville, QC’s Jonathan Bouvrette has dug himself out of a deep early-season hole. Dylan Payea, Christopher Pelkey, Mathieu Kingsbury and many others will be at WMMP to chase both the victory and the season-long championship. The best of WMMP, along with nearby tracks such as Thunder Road that run ACT rules, will likely also see a contingent headed to the White Mountains.

Teams can download the Midsummer 250 entry form at www.acttour.com/rules. The early-entry deadline for the event is Monday, July 22.

Qualifying for the Midsummer 250 begins at 6:00pm on Saturday, August 3. The ACT Late Model Tour will be joined by WMMP’s Wells River Chevrolet Flying Tigers, Woodsville Guaranty Savings Bank Strictly Stock Mini’s, and 7-Eleven Dwarf Cars. The pits open at 11:00am and the front gates open at 2:00pm. Admission is $25 for adults, $5 for kids ages 6-12, and $25 for a family of four (2 adults, 2 kids).

For more information, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com or www.whitemountainmotorsports.com.

Drivers Line-Up for 7-1-19

Posted by Wayne G. Barber & Photo from Wayne G. Barber Library

News, Results, Schedules Standings and Driver Interviews too !

E-Mail the program at waynenwri@yahoo.com

Tonight young Ryan Locke will discuss his impressive victory at Seekonk Speedway

Other drivers are pending from their day employment..