"View From The Tower"
June 9, 2007
By: Gary Wilcox
On Saturday evening on the foot of the Tug-Hill, the Adirondack International Speedway's four divisions of race cars put on one of the finest shows to ever take place at the premiere blacktop oval in AIS's six-year history.
In the American Speed Association (ASA) Challenger Late Model 50-lap main, it was a war from the drop of the green flag. Early leader Jason Herrington # 37 from Troy, New York, held the lead for over 35 laps. Banging at the back door of the "Flying Farmer's" hot rod were four of the top (ASA) runners, Lee Gill # 7, Tommy Cloce # 3, Bryant Trim # 59 and AIS's current (ASA) point leader, John Papin # 50. For the lion's share of this event you could have dropped a big blanket over the top five competitors. Lapped traffic played the trump card, with under thirteen laps to go, in moving the Herrington's ride out of the clean air. Papin kept his # 50 machine on the bottom of the race track; Herrington, Cloce, and Gill all went to the top. John pushed the pedal to the floor and moved into the lead, never to be challenged for the remainder of the contest. It almost looked to me like a ballet move that Papin accomplished - poetry in motion to say the least.
But, on the other hand, being positioned in the right place at the right time put the # 50 car in victory lane once again. In my opinion, if Cloce, or Gill, or Trim would have been where Papin was on the race track when the pass was made, the outcome most likely would have been different. The most important piece of real estate became available, and Papin was right there to take advantage of the situation. Look at Jeff Gordon at Pocono last Sunday in the Nascar race. Right place, right time, equals = Checkered Flag!!
I really can't believe that Tommy Cloce still hasn't landed in victory lane at Adirondack Speedway. As I've said many times before, winning races takes good equipment and team, and, of course, a certain amount of luck. Cloce seems to have all the ingredients but one. Well, it's a long season at AIS; and if the boys keep racing as hard as they did on Saturday evening all year, the fans are in for quite a treat.
It was good to see the return to the Speedway of the # 44 race car, driven by Josh Pieneziak from Schenectady, New York. Sorry, Josh, for having such a problem pronouncing your last name. I will work on that, and I hope it's ok to refer to you as the "Polish Prince". You sure ain't Irish with that last name. Good luck to the # 44 and team this year at AIS. No word from my good friends, Jim Southard # 75 from Brewerton, New York, or Bill Bertrand # 5 from Altona, New York. Bill had extensive damage to his race car, ( including the replacement of a rear clip) from a bad wreck a few weeks back. Gentleman Jim put his cruiser up against the first turn wall on June 2nd; and it was reported that Southard hurt his knee in the collision, which may have side-lined the # 75 team. Jim is the man that has a permanent smile on his face. You'd look long and hard to find a better human being on this planet. I sincerely hope to see both of these fine race teams back in competition very soon at the Speedway.
Boy, what a turn around for AIS's True Stock division. Sporting a brand new sponsor for 2007, (Got Good Cheese.com), there were fourteen entries in the 20-lap feature event. The next thing that was very special was seeing Duane Williamson # 38 winning his first feature at the Adirondack International Speedway last Saturday evening. New blood this year in the True Stock division is "The Mad-Man" Mike Ramos #09. Mike seems to spend most of the feature about two groves up and working overtime to get to the front. Chris Typhair # 29 made contact with Ramos on turn one, and that put Chris's Buick Regal on the trailer early. In the video it looks like something may have broke in the front right suspension of the # 29, which may have helped it along into the side of Ramos' # 09 machine. Good runs this week for Dylan Bancroft #91, J.R.Mooney # 83 and the # 11 of Dave Arbes. A big apology goes out to Dave, his family, and team for my mistake in pronouncing his last name. I'm told by the head office that it's pronounced Ar-biss, not Ar-bees.
The D & D Power Sports, "Sport Compact" division also showed a newcomer to the checkered board square down front at AIS. Long time competitor Rudy Widrick # 94 from Lowville, New York kept his Ford Focus in clean air and held off hard charges from "The Veteran" Al Bingham # 4 and Tommy Dubach # 04 for the entire fifteen-lap event. Rudy has worked his heart out for the past few seasons to get to victory lane, and it was a joy for this reporter to see him finally get it done. It kind of reminded me of when Rocky Balboa finally won the Heavy Weight title. It was a true Cinderella story for Widrick and the # 94 team. Congratulations once again Rudy.
The Westward Painting Co.'s Light Truck 15-lapper brought a driver back to victory lane for the first time since July 2, 2005. Keith Delles # 3 from Glenfield, New York started the feature in position # 3. Delles got to the front after the first re-start and never looked back. Long time rival Steve Ellis # 4 had some truck problems and retired early. A large amount of gear oil was deposited on the second turn, which took the AIS track crew several minutes to clean up. When racing resumed, Delles was out front and did lose the lead to Todd Macintyre # 62 for a lap but still ended up the first to see the checkered flag. Twenty Light Truck teams started last week's feature at AIS.
Light Truck semi-rookie Derek Smith # 53, starting his first full year at AIS, should be returning to the Speedway this weekend. Smith was involved in a bad wreck on the back stretch a couple of weeks ago that totaled John Sullivan's # 5 truck. Sullivan had bought this truck from Randy Mooney last season. Randy has been at AIS with his new truck for 2007 for a show or two. I'm told that Sullivan purchased Mooney's 2007 ride when repairs to the old # 316 were too extensive. Maybe Randy Mooney should go into the Light Truck building business? He sure can build a proven winner. Mooney shares the record, with 14 Light Truck feature wins at AIS, with "The Mad-Man" Mike Ramos. Now, them Dogs can Hunt, and that's a fact.
Just a reminder that this weekend at the Speedway it's a Father Day special, with twin 25-lap (ASA) Challenger Late Model feature shows, along with all of AIS's support divisions in competition. Gates will open at 5:00 p.m., with racing underway promptly at 6:30 p.m. AIS's (GM)Billy Gibson tells me he still has some dates open for use of the VIP tower house located on turn one. If you would like to take just the family or an entire organization to the plush VIP house for an evening of racing at AIS, just give Bill a call at 346-RACE for details. My good friends Dave & Linda Evans are hard at work again this year on the "Ride 4 Kids event that helps support the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. The Evan's have raised near $35,000.00 in the past nine years to help support this worthy cause. For further information, or if you would like to send a donation, you can contact Dave and Linda Evans at PO Box 61, Beaver Falls, New York 13305, or hit their web sites at. www.pbtfus.org or www.ride-4kids.com.
Have a great week, and thank you for taking the time to read this week's episode of "View From The Tower".