Man, seeems like old times settling in to the keyboard to rant on jp.com… just too much going on with programs & webisodes during the season to write as much as I used to, but now that the season’s over and the schedule’s less hectic, it’s time for a 2011 recap!
This year, we once again produced our weekly webisodes from my perch in the Family Section. We trimmed back from last year when we did 60 episodes… this year, once I get the Finale ones done, will be around 45 – a 25% drop, but that had to be done for our no-budget productions. Our project was funded primarily by the people who bought DVD’s and apparell throughout the year and the select few who bought ad space in the Vault Report, so all of us at the Vault Crew thank you for your support. Additionally, the webisodes are not possible without the dedication of Jesse & Brent Gleason. They were there following me around all but 1 Saturday this year as volunteers. Without their contributions, there would be NO Sid’s View videos… it’s that simple. With Ronnie selling the programs on race day and my girl Tiesha taking the pics for the Vault Facebook page, we got a pretty well-oiled machine cranking out different types of media each week and we always have alotta fun hanging out with the race teams and fans… it all makes the Speedbowl experience that much better for me.
As for the track itself this past year I’d say things went pretty well. Crowds were good in the summer, not that great towards the end of the year (especially the Finale). I know on my end, the program sales were down from last year – even lost $$ a couple weeks… which blows, especially when I feel this year’s Vault Report was the best looking, best formatted volume I’ve published since I started that gig in 2007. But even on nights when the crowd was good, our sales were down from previous seasons. Just goes to show the economy still isn’t great and spending $$ is limited across the board. But more than any other year, I enjoyed working with the track. Terry, Scott, Mark Caise, Brian Darling, Matt Buckler & the announcing team, Gino from G2 Radios… I interact with all of them about different things and everything was positive from our end. Always a good thing… we couldn’t do our thing without the track’s blessing and we’re fortunate enough to have their trust to pretty much go about our business on raceday
Car counts… All divisions were slightly down 3-4 cars from last year on average I’m guessing, but still pretty good… just compare to the issues that Thompson had this year with car counts and it really wasn’t that bad.
SK Modifieds were great as always. Keith was pretty dominate, yet most of his wins had him putting on a show to get the lead. Tyler Chadwick continues to improve, Jeff Pearl with another multi-win season and Glenn Pressel & Tom Abele scoring wins plus Rob Janovic Jr returning to Victory Lane were all good things to see. The one difference from last year was that Yuhas, Ceravolo (who both ran weekly last year) and Doug Coby (who ran 10 straight weeks last summer) – all of whom can compete for the win on any given night – were all MIA for a majority of the season. That was the biggest negative I felt for the SK’s this year.
Late Models were pretty competitive too. I thought the loss of Timmy Jordan to the VMRS was going to hurt, but Big Country, Bruce Jr and Staskowski battled down to the final weeks for the title and they’re were more winners in the divisions than I don’t know when. It’ll be interesting to see how the driver roster in this division changes for 2012. As has been the case for over a decade, the LM is the one division with the worst weekly car count, but the competition amongst those who were there was pretty good.
Street Stocks had their car count issues in the first half of the year. Some weeks in the 9-11 range… never good… but they were more around 16 or higher towards the end of the year with 27 for the Finale 50. Stone and Puleo moving out of the division will hurt next year, but that just opens the door for others to step up!
Mini Stocks had solid counts between 18-20 for most of the year and were led by the consistent & crafty Glenn Colvin every week. I believe the last time Colvin ran weekly in the division was 2004… which was also the last time he won the MS title. In the past 8 years, only 3 people have won MS titles: Colvin, Cassidy and Danny Field. It was good to see Phil Evans back in the Minis on a regular basis… and I mean, what can i say – the Mini Stocks just rule!! Side-by-side racing all over the place… freakin’ love ’em!
Legends Cars were much more competitive as compared to the previous two seasons when they were dominated by one car. Dana DiMatteo won both Sat & Wed titles, but Dave Garbo won more races. I just wish I didn’t hear all these crazy stories about the Legend teams in the pits… way too many of those throughout the year But otherwise, the on the track action was much better than it had been
SK Lights were OK – car counts not great, but I’ll take this division over the previous X-Modified incarnation and hope it continues to grow. Paul French winning 4 out of 7 races to win the title. I have to admit I was somewhat surprised former 2-time XM Champ Bubby Brouwer went winless and was rarely a factor in the SKL races.
I didn’t really miss the ACT Tour, but wouldn’t mind if they came back.
I don’t get the NEMA Lites… but am pretty sure they’ll be around again next year.
I really like the Super Mods, but they sure do put on some sucky shows at the ‘bowl
RANDOM NUGGET AWARDS
Alright, that’s enough overview jibberish, let’s get to the good stuff… some Superlatives if ya will… recounting some of the more interesting moments from the past season at the ol’ shoreline oval:
BEST IN SHOW
- Ray Parent’s surprise win over Bruce Thomas Jr during LM 50
- Tom Abele Jr beating Mark Bakaj after several side-by-side / lead swapping laps for his first career SK Modified win
- Kid Roc taking the lead (and the win) for 2nd year in a row from 3rd position on a late race restart
- Jeff Pearl using that same move on Keith (although a caution negated it) during the Twin SK’s night
- Ed Puleo using the outside groove to pass Josh Galvin and Chris Meyer with 2 to go to score SS win
- Keith Rocco passing leader Glenn Pressel on the inside, with Tyler Chadwick on the outside, coming out of Turn 4 to take the lead, moving Pressel to the outside lane and Chadwick back to 5th by the time they are down the backstretch
BEST ON-TRACK RIVALRIES
- Kid Roc vs Hot Rod Todd (limited viewings this year, but drama nonetheless)
- Kid Roc vs Tyler (although they seemed to be more respectfull to each other towards the end of the year, this one was pretty intense both on and off the track during the summer months)
- The Technician vs Stone Cold in the SS (not as suspenseful since the influx of TIS cars came, but still a good show between 2 crafty veterans)
- Dave Garbo Jr vs Dana DiMatteo in the Legends
FEEL GOOD MOMENTS
- Glenn Pressel III’s first career SK feature win
- Tom Abele Jr’s long awaited first career SK win
- 14-year-old Garrett Denton becoming youngest Mini Stock feature winner
- Jeff Cembruch & CJ Canfield’s first Mini Stock wins
- Jason Palmer’s first career LM win
- Paul French becoming the first SK Light Champion at the Speedbowl
- Nichole Morgillo’s 1st career podium finish in the SK’s
- Jerry Marquis getting back behind the wheel and scoring MRS win during Wings N’ Wheels
NO… FREAKIN’… WAY!
- Ed Puleo’s car demolished on opening weekend during qualifying after a wreck with Ray Downing Jr
- After a season worth of bad luck in 2010, Todd Ceravolo returns for the Bud Nats 150 and was the dominate car… until he ran out of gas while leading with 17 to go.
- Tucker Reynolds Jr passing Rob Janovic Jr for the lead and going for team #25’s first career SK win, until contact from Janovic sent him spinning just seconds later
- Christina Cunliffe spins after contact with Ray Christian after leading most of the MS race going for her first career win
- Rich Staskowski involved in 3 wrecks during last Saturday night LM event and essentially ending his Championship hopes
- Anthony Flannery’s car catches on fire under caution while leading the Finale LM 50
WICKED WRECKS
- Tyler Chadwick’s flip onto his roof after contact with Tucker Reynolds Jr
- Tyler’s 360* spin after contact with Rocco sending them both into the wall
- Cory DiMatteo’s wild flip in a Bandolero WNWW race
- Tyler Jackson’s SK Light hitting the wall and then bouncing on top of Bo Gunning’s car in Turn 1
- Legends Car pile up on frontstretch which resulted in Dana DiMatteo breaking his arm and flagman Billy Roberts being hit by a piece of his car
- Massive ISMA wreck during Wings N’ Wheels
- John Materas and Mike Sweeney wreck in Turn 3 during late season LM race
MELTDOWNS… LOVE THE MELTDOWNS
- Giovanni Giarratana and Dylan Izzo exchanged WTF arm-signals after wreck in mid-season Legends race on the backstretch
- Ron Yuhas Jr uncharacteristically walking towards Keith Rocco’s car under caution after wreck in Blast Off SK 61
- Tyler Chadwick out of his car and on his giddy-up to confront Keith Rocco after they wreck in first feature on the night of Twin SK mains.
- Victoria Bergenty chasing David Webb around track under caution after an SK Light wreck
- Ray Christian ramming into Glenn Colvin after the 2 swapped paint down the frontstretch
- Ray Downing Jr… take your pick
OFFICIAL-LY ANNOYED
- Running the Bandoleros anywhere other than 1st on the schedule whenever they were part of a Saturday Show
- Spotters shouldn’t be Race Directors…. and vice-versa… I’ll just leave it at that.
- In case there’s anyone who didn’t get the memo: Single file restarts suck! There’s no point… they don’t stop the cautions from coming… trust me, I have the footage to back it up. They just rob us fans of more side-by-side action… which is why I go to the ‘bowl instead of other tracks in the first place…. Stop screwing us fans with that crap!! (10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… OK, I’m better now)
- Speaking of restarts… I still don’t get all the rules because I don’t attend the drivers meetings but there were definitely some head-scratching moments when restarts were called back that I still don’t understand. All I can say is a fan shouldn’t have to attend a drivers meeting to understand what’s going on… just saying.
Just for the record, there’s nothing I mentioned above that I haven’t talked to Scott Tapley about personally sometime during the year.
DISAPPEARING ACTS
- Ron Yuhas Jr
- Brent Sweet
- Bill Leonard
- Glen Thomas Jr
- Ernie Bertrand
- Tucker Reynolds Jr
- Alessandro Vitelli
- Giovanni Giarratana
- Chris Kovaka
- Ernie LaRose
- Jeffrey Gallup
- The Diesel Vin Esposito
DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE!
- TC is gonna run the ‘bowl weekly for NWAAS points (OK, so this year he showed up once in Bear’s #14, once in his red #13 and then in the Greer #19, but those appearances don’t come close to matching the hype beforehand about running weekly the rest of the year)
- Scott Cook is gonna run full season in the Street Stocks (what’d that last… 3 weeks??)
- Ron Yuhas Jr is really leaving to compete on WMT full time…. how’d that work out?
- Ray Downing Jr could make it through a whole season without suspension
LOVE ME SOME SOUND-BITES
- Joe Curioso telling Buckler “Bruce Thomas just can’t not f**king win” after crazy LM finish early in the year
- Dana DiMatteo calling out Nick Ladyga “I knew the kid was gonna get DQ’ed… you can’t race like that“
- Dave Garbo calling out Dana DiMatteo “I guess Dana didn’t like it, but I don’t like when he brake-checks me“
- Rob Janovic Jr calling Jeff Pearl the “Burger King Car” after JP used 3-wide move to take the lead
- Jeff Pearl calling Keith Rocco “a weapon“
- Glenn Colvin telling Buckler Chris Williams blocking him for a win is “getting old“… Williams then stating “he’s obviously a cry-baby for not winning“
- Tyler Chadwick calling out Rocco about possibly holding back while leading “I dunno (if we could have caught him)… he likes to toy with people“
- Rich Staskowski calling out Jeffrey Paul for incident that sent Rich spinning during in-race interview with Buckler
HEAD-SCRATCHIN’ MOMENTS
- Letting the ISMA Supers continue to race in the fog during their May visit
- Not having the SK’s go 100 (or even 75) laps for Finale
- Getting rid of time trials for the BMN 150 (not that I’m a fan of time trials, but if you’ve studied The Vault, you already know that when the Bud Nats was conceived time-trials for SK’s was rare and was part of the uniqueness of the event)… SK 150 should also be a non-points race IMO
- Mark Panaroni saying over the PA after his MS Finale 50 win that he didn’t change his NEMST car at all prior to the race…
SWEETEST LOOKIN’ RIDES
- SK: As I state every year, I pretty much like all the Mods. Pearl, Rocco and Abele’s cars still 3 of my favorites, but Tyler Chadwick primary car was pretty bad-a$$ looking this year, so I’ll give it to him by virtue of the new-color-scheme tie-breaker (yeah, I just made that rule up, so what?)
- LM: Anthony Flannery’s #25
- SS: Ed Puleo’s #7
- MS: Ken Cassidy Jr’s #11
- LG: I was diggin’ Joey Mooch’s #45
- SKL: Bob Charland’s #1
MY PERSONAL FAVORITE BEASTIE BOY PARODY MOMENTS:
- Rockin’ the Sure Shot:
Jags Palmer, Charlie Andrade & Tyler Chadwick
- So What…:
Nichole Morgillo, Jeff Smith & Joe Perry
SAVE OF THE YEAR
Big Country Jeff Smith saving his car after contact with Rich Staskowski in turn 4, down the frontstretch all squirrelly before gathering it back together by Turn 1 and never losing his 2nd place position on the track.
BANQUET AWARD LOCK
Glenn Pressel III – Most Improved SK Modified
BAKER’S DOZEN WORTH OF NUGGETS
13 – full seasons in between Ken Cassidy Sr’s Super-X win this year and his last Street Stock win back in 1997
12 – overall Legends Car wins for Dave Garbo Jr between Sat & Wed divisions
11 – car # of Late Model that got sold and robbed me of the best trailer cuisine in the pits
10 – different feature winners in both the LM and MS divisions this year
9 – number of in-car camera failures we had this year… including the last 3 weeks on Tyler Chadwick’s car… using 3 different cams
8 – rainouts this season between Saturday and Wednesday series
7 – different touring sanctions that visited the bowl in 2011 (VMRS, ISMA, NEMA, PRO4, NETS, ALNS, NEMST)
6 – TIS Ltd Sportsmen drivers who later showed up at the bowl (D Monahan, S Monahan, Silva, McNeil, Arena, Dorr)
5 – Friday nights when I went to bed thinking there’d be no racing only to wake up Saturday without a cancellation
4 – drivers who’ve hinted at going SK racing next year (Bruce, Esposito, Puleo & Stone)
3 – different shoes to get behind the wheel of Steve Greer’s #19 SK (Doug Coby, Ted Christopher, Ryan Preece)
2 – times Keith Rocco declined to be in the Beastie Boy parodies
1 – Career Wins position Al Stone (SS) and Ken Cassidy Jr (MS) now hold in their respective divisions.
So that’s a wrap on 2011 – at least for programs & weekly webisodes. Next up for the Vault Crew this off-season: Updating www.sids-vault.com with all the 2011 updates (extra thanks to Rocco, Stone & Cassidy for the extra work… LOL!), then conducting more interviews with people from previous eras at the Speedbowl to continue our documentary film project, and of course start putting together the best moments we caught on tape for the banquet video.
Be sure to become a fan of Sid’s Vault Productions on Facebook to get first dibs on all the latest news concerning our videos, Speedbowl history projects, the track program and more.
Have a great off-season
Peace Out Fools!
Sid