Well, the Finale has come and gone… seriously, this year freakin’ flew by on my end. Webisodes totally kicked my a$$ this year, but they’re were definitely worth it… more on that stuff later, but I am glad the grind is over. I’m sure we all are in a way, right…
The Finale was pretty different this year. Not sure I liked the new structure, and maybe if the last race wasn’t that freakin’ good, I’d be more cranky about it. It wasn’t the worst Finale… but it wasn’t the best either. One thing that I hope they change is the Minis back to a 50-lapper on Sunday. Sorry to the Legend guys, but even with Flannery MIA they could only get 12 or 13 and I just don’t see what the Legends did this year that warrants them being moved to Sunday and bumping the Minis back to Saturday with a shorter race than usual for the season ender. The Minis had the best car count other than the SK’s this season – that amount of collective support of the joint on a weekly basis should have warranted them staying on Sunday’s main card. Even more simply – the Minis put on a better show than the Legends, and have for years… not the end of the world, but I felt bad for the MS teams – I think they got the shaft
ACT Tour hmmm… I’ll admit, most of my interest in these events lies in the success of our hometown teams. With Big Country out, Bruce battlin’ issues all weekend (props for the hussle though), Timmy pulling off early and the rest (Stask, Curious Joe, Palmer, Diesel) not going backwards necessarily but they weren’t going forward either. Joey Pole was on rails like he was last time they were at the ‘bowl…. just glad it wasn’t a wreck-fest so it went by relatively quick for a 150 lapper.
Street Stock race?? Eh… woulda been better if Puleo, Oldham and Moran were there? And if Animal Barrett wasn’t on IR from knee surgery still. It was fun watching Shawn and Corey battle in the Street Stocks – like a 10-year time wrap or sumptin Can’t blame Shawn for refusing tech if it’s true they were pullin’ heads… wasn’t this an open comp race?? I dunno… didn’t read the rules whateva, don’t get me started, but I think it’s apparent the track aren’t big Shawn Monahan fans… and this was one of a few incidents this year that leads me to this assumption.
As for the SK race… I mean, what’s there to say…. it was just freakin’ awesome. One of the best I’ve seen in a long time at the ‘bowl. Of course, now there’s all this chatter that Teddy will be around the bowl more frequently next year…. Blah, blah, blah. I’ve heard that enough of the last few years to not get too excited about it, but obviously if he does and the SK 150 was any indication, it would be great for the bowl for sure. Back to the race – how about Jeff Rocco droppin’ a tranny-load on the initial start. The entire outside row behind him got skeee-rude, but it was a long enough race. I was impressed with Tyler and Diego, but never thought they had the steam to mess with Teddy or Keith. Ceravolo was a-coming but then crashed down the backstretch…. Kinda fitting considering his season. As great as a show Keith and Teddy put on, I wasn’t shocked Ronnie U scored the win. He timed a pit stop for tires perfectly and has a tremendous track record in long-distant events. Finale as a whole wasn’t the best, but the SK race at the end more than made up for it.
So Finale was different for the Vault Crew this year… no traditional multi-camera shoot or off-track interviews. Our apologizes to Jason Palmer, Ernie Bertrand, Ed Puleo, Ken Cassidy and Phil Evans – all of whom were tentatively scheduled to be interviewed when we made a rough outline of what we’d do this season… Botticello and Jeffrey Paul too, but by Finale time they weren’t racing anyway. Just goes to show how things can change over the course of the year. Plus, those Finale shoots are expensive to execute, and we kinda liked the low-budget, yet entertaining webisode thing we had going on so we just kept filming that way. We did add a handheld in the pits for the SK and SS Finale races, which we filmed, and there are more webisodes still on the way… just taking a break from rushing to crank ’em out now that the season’s over and it won’t become old news in 7 days like during the season…
We did sell off some Vault stuff during the Finale – dvd’s, aparrel, programs – and all that will help with some multi-camera interview shoots will be conducting during the off-season. Also think we’ll be back with a banquet presentation – more of a year-in-review type deal than what we’ve done the last couple of seasons. It’ll be sweet… trust me!
RANDOM NUGGET AWARDS
I know I only did a few jp.com recaps this year, but there’s no way I wasn’t gonna throw out the annual season-ending awards for this season, so here we go:
SUCKS TO BE YOU AWARDS
- Various poop-outs by Ceravolo during the SK season… I think a couple while leading
- Sean Caron breaking on a late MS restart while in second, then leader Ian Brew breaking on the next lap giving Cassidy the lead and eventually the win
- Kyle James breakin while in second and seemingly reelin’ in Todd Ceravolo late in an SK race
- Walt Hovey’s championship hopes disintegrating around turns 3 and 4 during the last Sat night SS race
MELTDOWNS… LOVE THE MELTDOWNS
- Danny Field losing his cool and chuckin’ Kenny into the turn 3 wall late in a mid-September race… essentially destroying his chance at the MS title.
- Sean Caron snappin’ on Louie Bellisle after both were collected in the wall… then walking down the frontstretch towards turn 1 before hooking back across the infield towards the turn 3 pit entrance
- Vinny Esposito purposely junkin’ Jason Palmer after one of their many battles… and his subsequent “wanna race with kids, go back to the Legends” quote on a Blogger Boy clip
- Justin Gaydosh chasing down Rocco after a heat race and running over an innocent Tom Abele instead.
- Oldham/Meyer shananigans in a late season SS race
- Todd Ceravolo throwing haymakers at Janovic after a nasty SK wreck on the backstretch
MEMORABLE FAMILY SECTION MOMENTS
- Booing the snot out of Doug Coby… which has become a tradition whenever he’s in da house for on-track introductions
- Teachin’ my friend’s kid Nick how to use his fishing pole to “reel in” the driver in front of the one he’s rooting for
- Taunting the Tyler Chadwick fans in my section with my best Eddie-Murphy-Raw-Italians-after-seeing-a-Rocky-movie rooting for the 5-7 “C’mon Rock-O!”
- Sitting in between Dick Brooks and Mike Pane a week or so after Brooksie enforced a tire rule that basically ended the Pane/Rocco season at TIS
WICKED WRECKS
- Abele T-bonin’ Coby at a dead-stop on the frontstretch
- Greg Moran driving over the right rear of Papa Nick’s Mini Stock
- Josh Galvin’s flat tire chuckin’ Walt Hovey into the wall
- Jason Palmer sending Brian Andronaco’s #07 into the wall outta turn 3
BEST ON-TRACK RIVALRIES
- Bruce vs. Timmy (not as intense as previous years, but still awesome rivalry)
- Danny vs Kenny in the MS’s
- Walt Hovey vs Josh Galvin in the SS’s
- Ed Puleo vs Al Stone in the SS’s
- Coates vs Rocco vs Payne in the Trucks
- Rocco vs JP… and Ronnie… and Todd… and Tyler… and Rob… and Gaydosh… (add your team here! )
FEEL GOOD MOMENTS
- Christina Kellerman’s career-best podium MS finish the first race after her wedding
- Chris Meyer’s first career SS feature win
- Brian Andronaco Jr’s first career LM feature win
- Allen Coates excitement after his son Corey’s first TK win
- Rocco’s NWAAS Nat’l Title celebration on the frontstretch
- Kyle James’ first career SK win in his rookie season
- Ronnie Oldham Jr’s proposal in front of the fans
THE WELCOME BACK KOTTERS
- Tucker Reynolds Jr
- Todd Ceravolo
- Doug Coby
- Phil Evans in a Mini
- Shawn Monahan in a Street Stock
DISAPPEARING ACTS
- Shaun Buffington… uh-gen!
- Jimmy Pro-C
- Mark Bakaj
- The Big Kahuna
- Steve “The Animal” Barrett behind the wheel
- Giovanni Giarrantana
- Ray Christian III
COOL UPGRADES
- New concrete walls on the straight-aways
- Quasi-paving all around the facility
- Freshly painted bleachers before opening day (instead of in-progress during the season)
- Better food… and service!
PROGRAM SCREW-UPS!
- Hyping up incorrect SS Career Wins
- Forgetting the ALNS roster in the last program
- Not getting the story straight on Rocco’s final Saturday night struggles before the feature
SWEETEST LOOKIN’ RIDES
- SK – I pretty much like all the Mods, but my top 3 were: Pearl, Abele and Rocco
- LM (pre-battle scars): Andronaco Jr’s #07
- LM (post-battle scars): Still love the black-and-red 4-7
- SS – Puleo’s #7
- MS: Kenny’s scheme is always pretty sweet, and I actually liked Ian Brew’s #8 that Bill Leonard drove the last half of the year, but I’m going with Canfield’s #25 car this year. Phil’s #’s on the 12 machine gets best #’s.
- LG: Blandina’s #13
- TK: Hurricane’s #0
AWESOME FINISHES
- Rocco grabbin’ the win from Ceravolo and Janovic from 3rd on a GR-WH-CH finish
- Louie Bellisle beating Mark Panaroni after 11 laps of side-by-side battling for the win
- Coates driving over Payne out of turn 4 towards the checkereds
- Stone, Puleo and Hovey crashing to the checkereds in the very next race
RACE OF THE YEAR
The very last race held (which is how it should be in a perfect world
MOST UNEXPECTED WEBISODE MOMENT
Diego Monahan kissing my forehead during post-race SK interview after his first podium finish in a couple years
MY PERSONAL TOP 10 FAVORITE WEBISODES
- Episode 2 – The Baked Ziti Incident
- Episode 9 – Documentary Nuggets
- Episode 15 – Murph & My Man Zoom
- Episode 26 – Talkin’ Some Serious Smack
- Episode 27 – Puttin’ on a Show
- Episode 28 – Reelin’ Em In!
- Episode 31 – The Bowl’s Nat’l Champ
- Episode 33 – The Meltdown Special
- Episode 42 – Called It!
- Episode 48 – The Good, Bad & Ugly
I’ll keep ya posted on new webisodes – hope to have Finale ones done before TIS World Series weekend.
Thanks for everyone who support our Vault endeavors this year! We appreciate everyone’s contributions and we couldn’t do it without ya…. And sincere thanks to the Speedbowl for basically leaving us alone and letting us do what we wanted without interfering – even when the webisodes had controversial footage or R-rated language. Thanks to my Man Zoom Jesse Gleason for all his tireless work luggin’ the camera around during our shoots. Also thanks to my girl Tiesha, Brent & Eric Gleason, Jen Pearl and Zee Rocco for helping us gather footage along the way too! And to Ronnie who took care of all the program duties on race day and sold more than I ever did once again!
All-in-All, I thought this was the best season the Speedbowl’s had in since around 2006 or so. Nothing’s ever perfect, but things are better than they’ve been in the last few years, and that’s a good thing. I was rockin’ the Danko-phone last night on SLR radio – check out more of my thoughts on the Finale and Speedbowl season as a whole if ya haven’t already: http://garydanko.speedwaylinereport.com
Peace Out Fools!
Sid