Holy Moly… what a week! Vault Crew was in full force gettin’ it done for the documentary. Saturday the pits were jammed up like a mutha although the stands were a lil’ light. Big pre-race news was that Bruce wasn’t running his #35 car, instead Tommy Metcalf would be behind the wheel. Mark Bakaj was once again behind Vin’s #11. No Brian Andronaco Jr or Tony Macrino and I don’t remember seeing Larry Goss’ LM there either. No Tyler in the SK’s… nor a glimpse of Teddy via the ridiculous rumor that he was coming down to wreck Keith Jimmy Pro-C back in the SS, same with Norm Root and Diego…. I think Shawn was in the #44 SS too… and the #78 SK. Coates did triple duty with the Truck, LM and behind the wheel of JPaul’s back-up SK machine. Donny Fowler was back in his #29 SK, Phil Evans returned in the Godbout #37 mini stock… there were just people everywhere…
We started our day doing rapid fire interviews with the dirt pit guys we profiled for this year’s documentary. Brandon, Al, Walt, Oldhman in the SS and Danny, Kyle and Louie in the MS. These guys were really good too! I learned a lil’ more about them myself watching the footage back last night… most were pretty candid about the speedbowl, their racing career with many of them talkin’ about rivalries and who they enjoy racing with the most, their family traditions… it was good stuff, some were nervous but they all told really good stories…
… well, except for Louie…. he just laughed alot
We only had half the crew we had on Sunday, so we were husslin’, but all the drivers were really cooperative I think we did the right thing covering all the Sat divisions this year. The DVD edit should be pretty sweet!!
I have to give a shout to Allen Coates, who I wanted to try and squeeze in an interview on the fly about his NEATV season and how he’s climbing up the track’s all-time wins list…. but we had a pretty chaotic schedule to keep up with on Saturday and the only time we had a chance to get it in was while Allen coming back from SK practice and had to get back in his truck for his heat I believe. He was doing triple duty, so it was tough to sync up a time when we both had a free 15-20 minutes. I hoped to reschedule during the pit party on Sunday, but the Most Popular Driver presentations along with the camera crew had me scurrying around too much… unfortunately, we were never able to get a quick interview with him… but hopefully they’ll be a next time!!
With that said, I didn’t really have much time to watch races on Saturday… other than the Outlaw Race!! This is just an awesome event for the Finale… all kinds of cars out there: Streets, Trucks, Late Models, Super X-cars It was awesome… former Speedbowl regular Wayne Coury took home the victory trophies in his familiar #10. I overheard that Ryan Morgan won the Legends event, and that Lisa V and Kathy split the WOW events. Unfortunately, I didn’t see or hear about much else My bad…
What I did do was alotta cool behind the scenes stuff. Lots of cameras capturing the off-the-track stuff… out in the stands, in the pits, on the midway… and even at the Racers Appreciation Party thrown by the track after Saturday racing concluded. So even though I didn’t see alotta racing up to this point, I was having a blast. I think my co-producer Gayle was really getting a good sense of the positive vibe that the Speedbowl can have on any given weekend.
Sunday we get rollin’ with the Pit Party at 10am. So glad we were able to shoot this as last year the rain reduced the event to a consolidated autograph session. This time we got tons of footage of the drivers interacting with the fans… just great stuff … and then we had the Most Popular Drivers Awards, and after some long recounts with Heidi on Saturday night, the winners were verified with a few upset specials:
JOE PERRY won the SK Modified award after a large rush of votes to overtake Keith by a single vote!
TIMMY JORDAN’s fans handed in a truckload to overtake Bruce by 5 votes
AL STONE, who I believe came in second by less than 10 votes each of the last 2 seasons, finally took home the Street Stock honors
DANNY FIELD held off a late rush from Ken Cassidy Jr’s fans to beat him by 8 or 9 votes
… and RYAN MORGAN once again overtook Jason Palmer in the Legends to win the award for the second straight year.
Again – huge thanks go out to Race Dog Photography and Critical Signs for helping us extend the ballot submission period and still present hardware before the Sunday features.
So onto the features, and the Vault crew was all over the place. We had cams in each tower again, Jesse Gleason was able to return last minute and roam the pits for us on Sunday, Mark ‘MG’ Geer hanging with the track crew during cautions all paparazzi style. Tommy Fox even offered to run out to the infield before each feature, jump in a pick-up and let MG hang out the tailgate with the cam to get the pre-race shots of the cars lined up double-file ready to go racing More on the documentary stuff later, but let’s get to the racing!!
Actually, the racing wasn’t that great this time around. At least not as good as I was hoping. The mini race was just dreadful cautions freakin’ everywhere… cars in the back spinning, then a massive wreck right in front of us when Magic Man Greg Moran hit at a ton in the turn 4 wall, he definitely got his bell rung, but that dude’s a tough cat and I believe he even returned later, although several laps down, to finish the race. Props to Soup and the 93 team for working hard to get the car back out!
Kyle James had the toughest go ’round, as he was involved in a couple incidents that crushed his championship hopes, although he did give us some sweet footage as he had the MS in-car cam while he was spinnin’ around out there. I think he did pull off a top-5 by race end, but it was Louie out in front with Danny Boy and C-Will behind him that was the battle of the race… coulda been better if they didn’t race for 5 laps, then go to caution over-and-over again Congrats to Louie on the MS 50 win and to Danny Field on the Championship. The Wildman is the only driver to win 3 Mini Stock Track Championships since the division moved to Saturday night in 1995.
Late Models up next, and I gotta tell ya… I was not happy that Bruce chose not to run the race He opted to let his longtime friend, sponsor and supporter… and part-time competitor, Tommy Metcalf drive the #35 machine since Bruce had the title clinched…. and while I like that style of giving back to the sponsors and supporters who give the race teams so much, I just couldn’t get past the fact that the best LM moments for me this season were when the 35 and 47 were doing battle…. and whether either want to admit it with us fans, there’s a rivalry there. They’re the only 2 drivers who’ve won a LM title at the ‘bowl in an ACT car, they’re the only 2 drivers from the Speedbowl who were invited to the NHMS race and in the last 3 seasons (including 2009) Bruce won the most LM races and Timmy won the second most…. they are inevitably linked together in recent LM history, and I think the fans got somewhat screwed to not have them see them race on the track for 100 laps…
That being said, the LM 100 was a better race than the MS, but it was somewhat ho-hum too… Timmy took the lead early and was never really challenged as he went on to win his first 100 lap feature ever at the Speedbowl. I was busy trying to coordinate in-car cam swaps towards the end, so didn’t see much of the finish, but I believe Ernie took second and Buckshot Buck-EYE! took 3rd. Botticello was up front early, but wreck pretty bad at point. Other than that incident, the race was pretty spread out. So, like I said, better than the Minis, but no enough of the trademark side-by-side action I was hoping to catch with all the cameras there…
Sweets next with the 4-team battle for the crown between Brandon, Oldham, Hovey and Stone. First out of contention was Al Stone… his car was just off and was not one of the front-runners in this race. He told me later he was battling transmission issues. So not a great end to season for Stone Cold, but he did lead division with 5 wins… well, co-led with Walt Hovey who also had 5, but he was not the same dominant #16 who won the last 2 races. I think he finished 6th or 7th. The 50 lapper was all Ronnie Oldham, which was all he could do to have any championship hopes, but what he didn’t need was point leader Brandon Plemons to finish right behind him Brandon battled with The Animal Steve Barrett (who finished 3rd) to take home second place in the race and become the first driver in Speedbowl history to win both a Street Stock (2009) and Mini Stock (2002) Championship.
So the Finale’s finale – the SK 100 – was up next. Time to run out to the frontstretch and get that awesome shot of the SK’s taking off from pavement level. And of course, the drivers think they’re freakin’ hilarious swervin’ near me. Last year it was JP and Kid Roc, this year it was Janovic… the Godfather threw his tire right up in my camera’s lens that he literally made me flinch (unlike last year when I was more solid and steady) and that basically ruined the damn shot Thanks alot VoJan Boy DVD will cost you double now sucka
So let’s get to the point… and let’s head on down the road… there’s somewhere I got to go… and you don’t know how it feels… you don’t know how it feels… to be me You Don’t Know How it Feels – Tom Petty (1994)
So race gets going and Rocco takes the lead. Hi Def Jeff in second with Abele and Rob battlin’ for 3rd. They came together down the frontstretch with Abele’s #32 getting the worst of the damage…. or I should say, all of it. He got out of his car which was junked in the turn 1 wall, gave Rob the arms and slammed his roof as he went by. Track officials even wanted us to rewind the cam footage to have a lil’ look-see at the incident. After further review, Rob remained in the top 3, Abele frustrated with a DNF
SK’s weren’t the smoothest in the beginning… was fearing it was gonna be a disaster like the MS’s in terms of cautions, but things got better… well, at least in that respect On a restart, Hi-Def got the better of Rocco and took the lead… then he checked out to a decent lead while Rocco looked to be holdin’ on to a car he was losing… tire going down sumptin, but Gada and Ronnie U were all over him as Paul checked out in front of him…
and then a caution….
… and the drama…
Rocco pits and I turn to Gayle and say “Alrighty there chief, now we got some drama” and I proceed to tell him the point scenario, and what it means now with Ronnie up front and Rocco having to come back through the pack to preserve his title. As we stood with our turn 4 camera op Steve, I grab the cam off the tripod and shoot straight down pit road to Rocco’s stall at the back of the paved pits. Zoomed in tight, I could see they were husslin’ around the back of the car tryin’ to get it fixed and back out…. then Steve taps me on the back and says “I need the camera, they’re going green”
I give Steve the camera back and watch as Rocco drives up to the pit gate as the field goes by the starter’s stand with the green flag waving. Then Gayle’s asking me why Rocco’s parked behind us and not on the track Oh man, just couldn’t believe it… I explain the 4-lap rule to Gayle while Scott Tapley takes an earful from Rocco’s crew for not waiting for him to come back out. Rocco eventually drove his car in reverse all the way back to his pit stall… and although I can’t wait to see what the footage in his in-car cam looks like while he did that, I can’t say it was the smartest…. or safest move in the book
But what I will say is this: This conspiracy theory chatter I heard at the track and on other websites about the situation is comical at best. There’s just no way in the world you will ever convince me Fox or the track officials had any alterior motives to ensure Rocco wouldn’t win the title, or that Yuhas would win it, or that other people would have gotten another lap…
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!!
For starters, you can’t compare what calls Fox has made over any that Harraka or Roberts did in previous years as Race Director. At least from what I can remember, they’ve been pretty consisent with that call: 4 laps to get back on the track, I think the dirt pit dudes get 5, and only track clean-up or safety issues will delay the caution any longer… and in this case there wasn’t one. Same call happened to Chadwick earlier in the year and we all battled it out in Forumland that week too… like I said then, I had no problem with the call on Tyler in May if that’s how it was gonna go down consistently under Fox’s watch… and as this call in the Finale shows, it seemed to stay pretty consistent.
Does it suck for Keith and the Pane Family…. absolutely. We later learned it was a panhard bar that broke. A stinkin’, stupid part failure ruined Rocco’s title hopes…. and yeah, when you lead the point standings the entire season from race #1 – that completely blows! I don’t blame the #57 team for being pissed, frustrated and/or dissappointed… cuz that just blows…. there’s no other way to put it…. it just freakin’ blows!! But it wasn’t the track’s fault…
… and of course, we all know if Keith did get a bonus lap, all the Yuhas fans would be going bananas that the track screwed them in a way…. so you can’t win. After spending the race in the turn 4 tower with Tapley and seeing alot of the frustration from the #57 team, I can honestly say I’m glad I’m not a race official I’ll take my lil’ paper route any day, thank you very little….
So the race went on, with Hi-Def taking the win. Ronnie wasn’t just cruising around in second. He applied some pressure to the #91 for the win before taking second with Dennis Gada not too far behind to take 3rd. I think even Ronnie U eluded to the fact that he wish he and Kieth could have race on the track for the title, but I’m sure the Yuhas & Murphy clan aren’t complaining too much these days…. LOL! Congrats to Ronnie, Murph, Steve, Russ and all the guys on the 2009 Championship Team!!!
And with that, the season was a wrap: We have a ton of cool footage, all of which we’ll be transcoding, viewing and editing together. Plan as of now is to once again have the track let us show a short version at the banquet and sell them as DVD’s to help us continue our project. In fact, my all-pro Vault Report hawker Ronnie told me she sold about 10 of last year’s DVD’s at the discounted $10 a piece during the Finale…. just to get a glimpse of how much those DVD sales help us…. we were in danger of running out of tape stock during the event, but when Ronnie told me about the DVD sales, we were able to go out and get s’more and ensure we could film as much as we could til the entire Finale event was over… so thanks to everyone, who not only bought DVD’s, but supporter the Vault Report program each week as well Literally couldn’t do any of my whack-job ideas without your support.
Also want to give a shout to the Video Vault crew who made our project happen this year:
STEVE APPLEBY
JESSE GLEASON
BRENT GLEASON
MARK GEER
ERIC GLEASON
NICK DELIZIO
ANDREW BELL
CAROLINE WHITON
LAUREN DOUGLAS
…. and all the teams that shot footage of their shops for us, people in the stands who ran camcorders. I’ll admit, I missed having the Danko-phone back for a pit-reporting appearance, but we got some great stuff in the pits anyway… and Matt, John and Dave were great working with us to get what we needed to capture. Also big-time props to Terry, Fox and Brian for letting us do pretty much everything we asked to do. It was really a great time, and the DVD should blow away last years if the few hours of footage we already have watched is any indication:
So, as I wrap it up for the final time this year, time to throw down the annual
RANDOM NUGGET AWARDS
ODDEST VICTORY LANE CELEBRATION
Doug Coby’s TVMS mud-boggin’ donuts in the infield
SHOCKING ON-TRACK INCIDENTS
- Bruce punting the Big Kahuna on the last lap to take the lead – although Ernie was granted the win.
- Corey spinning himself out while leading during the final laps of an early SK race
ON TRACK DRAMA
- Kenny Jr pretty much junkin’ Danny Boy down the backstretch in a mid-season Mini Stock race
- Tyler and Rocco battlin’ it out in the SK’s
- Gaydosh and Rocco battlin’ in the heats
- Buffington/Palmer battles early in the Legends… at least while it lasted
- Bruce/Timmy battles in the LM’s
MEMORABLE FAMILY SECTION MOMENTS
- Booing the snot out of Doug Coby during the BMN on-track introductions with Fran Lawlor, Chris Burton and Ryan Curran
- Waving the green-flag to start the Mini feature during the Night of Electricity
- Having 30 friends and family come down to the track on an early August event
WICKED WRECKS
- Tom Gray’s violent lick with the armco in an early season Legends race
- Jimmy Rosenfeld and Vin Esposito chest-bumpin’ the frontstretch wall in a mid-season LM race
- Wendell’s wild ride down the backstretch wall into turn 3 in the Finale SK 100
- Corey Hutching’s season-ending SK wreck on the frontstretch.
SWEET ON-TRACK BATTLES
- Rocco edging Ronnie U in the very first SK feature of the season
- JP beating Kid Roc on a Gr-Wh-Ch restart to win SK feature
- Kyle James gettin’ by Danny Boy on the outside to score MS feature win
- Allen Coates with a ridiculous save down the frontstretch during one of the NEATV truck events.
FEEL GOOD MOMENTS
- Mark Panaroni’s first career MS feature win
- Ian Brew’s first career MS feature win
- Justin Gaydosh’s return to SK Victory Lane
- Timmy Jordan’s vacant VL tribute to his mother Debra after his first LM win
- Nick Pappacoda helping Ronnie in the grandstands selling Vault Report issues with his MS win on the cover
- Joe Perry’s upset special win as SK Most Popular Driver
GOOD TO SEE BACK in 2009
- Corey Hutchings
- Ed Puleo
- Dennis Botticello
- Norm Root
- Danny Field
- Joe Perry
- Diego in the Strictlies
DISAPPEARING ACTS
- Shaun Buffington
- Randy Churchill Jr
- Kevin Gambacorta
- Ed Lamb Jr
MOST ENTERTAINING TO WATCH DRIVE THROUGH TRAFFIC
- Greg Moran Sr and Louie Bellisle in the MS’s
- Walt Hovey Jr and Josh Galvin in the SS’s
- Jason Palmer in the LC’s
- Allen Coates in the Trucks
- Keith Rocco in the SK’s
- … and Chris Perley whenever the ISMA dudes pay a visit
RACE OF THE YEAR
Late Model race where Timmy and Bruce raced side-by-side for the last 11 laps, swapping the lead and changing the scoreboard almost everytime they crossed the stripe. Bruce eventually won and I’ll never forget the crowd clappin’ in appreciation of both drivers for the tremendous show they put on. I’ll remember that race for a while…. good stuff!!
MOST LIKELY TO TAKE A NAP IN THE MIDDLE OF READING MY RECAP:
Cliff Nelson
MOST LIKELY TO TAKE A NAP WHILE HIS DADDY WINS SK RACE:
Cameron Pearl
MOST LIKELY TO PAY FOR VAULT REPORT IN QUARTERS:
Bob Gada
BEST T-SHIRT IN THE PITS:
Bruce Thomas Sr wearing a Jeff Pearl 71 SK shirt – circa 1994 (JP’s rookie year)
ODDEST FORM OF TRANSPORT AROUND THE TRACK:
Terry’s Pee-Wee 10 speed (still better than golf carts though )
LEAST COMPELLING DIVISIONS ON A WEEKLY BASIS:
Tie between Coates in the Trucks and Palmer in the Legends
DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE:
Don’t know the official attendance numbers, but it sure felt like there were more peeps in da house for the rescheduled Bud Nats event then the Wings N’ Wheels show
As for the track operations kinda tough for me to critique since I chose to bow out of the BOD prior to the season, but I think it’s safe to say this past year has been a huge upgrade over the prior few under J-Rob. Yes, the foreclosure issue continues to loom, but hopefully that will be taken care of soon and we’ll once again have our beloved ‘bowl back again for 2010 season!!
Congratulations to all the 2009 Saturday Champions:
SK MODIFIEDS – Ron Yuhas Jr
LATE MODELS – Bruce Thomas Jr
STREET STOCKS – Brandon Plemons
MINI STOCKS – Danny Field
LEGEND CARS – Jason Palmer
NEATV TRUCKS – Allen Coates
I’ll keep ya posted on the documentarty project. Email me anytime with questions on our project or about any of the stats in www.sids-vault.com that we’ll be working on updating this off-season.
Have a great off-season!!
Peace Out Fools!
Sid