The Good, Bad and the Ugly...WHAT A DIFFERENCE A WEEK CAN MAKE…HORTON MADE IT LOOK LIKE A PIECE OF CAKE…HAMILTON HAD IN THE BAG…WHO'S THAT WAVING THE GREEN FLAG

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A WEEK CAN MAKE

HORTON MADE IT LOOK LIKE A PIECE OF CAKE

HAMILTON HAD IN THE BAG

WHO'S THAT WAVING THE GREEN FLAG - 11/23/2005

It's been three weeks since my last article and there's good reason for that. Well, my friend (sometimes), John Romano got married to his new bride Kristine two weeks ago. I did not attend any races that weekend, as I not only had John's wedding to go to, but I was in another wedding the previous day. That weekend was actually a busy one.there was John's wedding, the Eckerd 200 up at Syracuse, Delaware International's Championship Weekend, and New Egypt's Banquet. It's funny because Romano knew that he was going up against Delaware.but he took his chances..then earlier in the year, he found out that the NES Banquet was moved from January to November..he nearly lost it then because many of his friends had a choice to make between the two..THEN, the rain date for Syracuse was named and he almost had a heart attack! Don't worry John, we had a great time and I saw you and Jim Brown do some things that I've never seen people do in my life!

I did attend Bridgeport's ACC Weekend last week but decided not to write about it for several reasons. 1) I just didn't feel like writing anything.lol. 2) I don't like Danny Johnson and really didn't wanna talk about him winning the race. 3) The racing conditions were not good.at least not the ones on Sunday. I don't think, I KNOW that Bridgeport is trying.trying very hard as a matter of fact to build a better place. I don't think that it was fair to come down harsh on the staff since this was their second full year at the helm and they went on to host a major D.I.R.T. event. The modified car count was good with 62 cars signing up for time trials. Notably missing were some of D.I.R.T.'s own drivers..even The Elite ones! Steve Paine, Chad Brachman, and Vic Coffey in particular. Other drivers not coming down to Bridgeport that one might have thought would have shown were Jack Johnson, David Van Horn, Bob McCreadie, and Kenny Tremont for the NY guys. On the local front, guys such as Bucky Kell, Steve Bottcher, Ryan Godown, Kevin Hirthler, Ricky Elliott, H.J. Bunting, Craig Mullins, Doug Hoffman (not that he has a ride) and Craig Von Dohren were missing. The missings didn't hurt the talent of the field but if anyone knows me.I'm always wanting EVERYONE to show up..lol. Now I'm told from a good source that D.I.R.T. did not want Jay James to touch the track before the 200 lapper..which would be typical, since they like dried up slick tracks like the ones up in NY. I can't confirm it but nonetheless it wouldn't surprise me. The track on Saturday was not too bad as there was a decent amount of passing in the 100-lap affair. I thought it was really neat that Richie Pratt beat the big boys on his home turf.I really did. He passed Brett Hearn for the lead and never looked back even though he had an ill-handling car.which, I believe he said worked out for the best. After winning the race, Richie got on his roof and then jumped off of his roof.then darted off the three-foot high stage going into a half-assed round off or cart wheel or something.and then he laid there on his back doing snow (really dirt) angels on the ground on the front stretch..I think it was pretty cool. I took Hearn in a bet as I gave Russ the entire field..I guess Russ won that one. The small block count was low as was the sportsman.but almost everyone knew that that was going to be the case on this weekend. NJ, DE and PA do not have D.I.R.T. legal small blocks or Sportsman to draw from. It was up to NY and they didn't provide that well. Only 27 small blocks and 23 Sportsman entered the weekend. New Yorker Russ Hefti won the Sportsman 50-lapper. Jim Dallett was the first "regular" across the line coming home in 3rd. Gene Stravinsky had a fine run by finishing 5th and Jack Swain was your 9th place finisher. Mike Lyons finished 3rd but was disqualified for a rev limiter infraction. Back to the small blocks.Dale Planck, who I've always been a fan of, had a great run and was only getting stronger as he finished runner-up to Pratt. Rounding out the top 5 were Jeff Strunk, Billy Decker, and Jimmy Chester.

The modified race was really dusty and really one lane. Danny Johnson was the man to beat and no one could do it. He led almost the whole race once he passed Toby Tobias on an early double file restart. Billy Pauch Jr. led the opening laps before his #1K finally let go.he had been smoking for the first 12 laps. I'm sure everyone has read the recap by now so I'll just skip it and talk about this past weekend..but before I do that, I'd like to say a couple of things about last weekend. I think that the all you can eat breakfast was a great idea for everyone to take part in.I also was impressed with all of the modified drivers bringing their cars behind the grandstand for quite a while before the races took place. There were at least 25 cars back there and all the drivers right along side of them. Like I said, I think The Port is definitely trying their best.it's just a shame that they had to be affiliated with D.I.R.T. I don't think D.I.R.T. cares about anyone but themselves and always have.they just "pimp" out tracks, drivers, and fans as much as they can. .

Like the title says.."What a difference a week can make" I thought that the track this weekend was 10 times better than last weekend. The three heats for the small blocks on Saturday were very good races with 3 and 4 wide action all over the track. The three preliminaries were won by Mike Iles, Darren McCaughey, and Frank Cozze..the consi was captured by Gary Hager. There were 36 small blocks in the pits on Saturday along with 5 All Star Trucks, 12 Super Stocks, and 14 Crate Sportsman. I decided to go into the pits and take the opportunity to talk to some people.therefore, I didn't get to see the three other features.they were won by Gary Bruckler (Trucks), Chad James (Crates), and Mike Williams (SS). Jimmy Horton was set to drive the John Stangle #6 for the day but mechanical problems sidelined the machine leaving Horton ride-less. After not qualifying in his heat race, Mario Page offered Horton his #10. Horton jumped at the opportunity and qualified 3rd coming from the last spot in the field. This put Horton in the 21st starting position which didn't look too promising. BUT.this is Jimmy Horton we're talking about. " The King of Bridgeport". Anyway, Jimmy made his presence known early by passing cars with ease. The only problem for Jimmy was that once the race got going there were no cautions to help his efforts. It appeared that Jimmy's son, Jimmy IV, was on his way to his first ever small block victory. Another Jimmy in the mix.Jimmy Chester was hounding Little Horton the entire race and wasn't afraid to let him know he was there.lol. On a lap 17 or 18 restart the elder Horton went from his 4th starting position into the lead by the time the cars hit the first turn. I knew he'd be fast but not that fast. And that was all she wrote as Jimmy simply checked out on the field leaving his son to fend off the likes of Chester. Well, Little Horton did just that until the very last lap when the #44 slipped underneath the #43. When exiting turn 4 it seemed that Little Horton slowed up or something which caused Billy Pauch Jr., Rick Laubach, G.R. Smith, and Mike Iles to all bottle up..then all hell broke loose with Iles getting airborne and Pauch Jr. and Smith spinning around coming across the finish line. So the final rundown was Big Horton, Chester, Little Horton, Tommy Beamer, Laubach, Smith, Pauch Jr., Shawn Reimert, Mark Forte Jr, and Don Norris Jr. Two drivers that were probably favored to do well in the race dropped out..Cozze dropped out pretty early with problems under the hood.meanwhile, McCaughey was running 4th with 7 laps remaining when the spindle broke off his car which sent his right front tire sailing over the turn 2 fence into the pits. Darren probably woulda finished 4th but wound up 19th. There was also a non-winners big block race on Saturday. By the time these guys hit the track the surface was really hard to pass on but there was passing.Mario Page provided that evidence. He started last in the race and wound up finishing 2nd. Billy Pauch Jr. won his first big block race ever in the 20-lap main. Pauch held off Kyle Strickler the whole 20 laps as Kyle never let Jr. out of his sight. It wasn't until the final turn that Page snuck by Strickler for the runner-up spot. Rounding out the top 5 were Brian Kressley and Drew Ricco..McCaughey finished 6th and Gary Hager was 7th.

The track remained in good shape for Sunday's races for the big blocks and the sportsman. There were 37 modifieds on hand with Jimmy Horton, Jimmy Chester, and Billy Pauch winning the three heats and Wade Hendrickson won the consi. Some notables that didn't qualify for the feature were Craig VonDohren in the Doug Rose #1, Mario Page, and Shawn Reimert in the #91...Shawn might have had a chance in his heat race when he made a nice outside move to pass several cars but that move was cancelled out when Jeff Strunk got into Shawn a lap later.

There were 36 sportsman in the pits for the their final race of the season.The three heats were taken by Bill Klingmeyer, Mike Lyons, and Jason Hamilton.that's pretty spread out.a B-port guy, NES guy, and a Diamond guy.the consolation was grabbed by Eric Kormann. Jason Hamilton drew the pole for the feature and once that happened, I knew the race was over. Indeed, Jason went on to lead every lap but not without being challenged. Drew Ricco gave Hamilton all he could handle and might have had the faster car on this day. However, Drew couldn't pull the pass off and had to settle for second place. Hey Jason.it should be interesting to see you run on the asphalt at Chemung should that R.O.C. race really take place next year.I told you to get your practice in at Mahoning. Mike Lyons drove to his second consecutive 3rd place finish in back to back weekends.only this time Mike got to keep his podium finish.last week Mike was deemed illegal by D.I.R.T. officials. Ricky Beavers finished 4th.note that Ricky also won the non-winners sportsman event on this day. John Stangle was your 5th place finisher. Bridgeport regulars stole the next three positions.Bill Klingmeyer, Kormann, and Billy Harris.Little Horton was involved in an accident and finished 19th. The NES boys finished 9th.Rich Scagliotta, 13th.Sean Gunther, who looked pretty good out there on the big 5/8ths. Billy Tanner IV was 20th and Gene Stravinsky was 21st.sorry about jinxing you Mean Gene.See, I had picked Gene to win the feature a couple of days before hand.

Speaking of jinxing.don't feel bad Gene! I picked Darren McCaughey to win the small block show and Steve Bottcher to win the Big Block show.ummmm, you saw what happened to them right? The two guys I pick to win both shows are the two guys to flip this weekend.damn, now that's bad luck. Sunday's 40-lapper provided some pretty decent competition for the fans. Bucky Kell made a rare Bridgeport appearance but didn't last very long.I didn't see what happened but something to do with Mike Iles I'm told.His brother G.R. Smith was collected in the incident as well. Bucky was done for the day and finished 24th.G.R. went on to finish 14th. Steve Bottcher spun out on the first lap in turn 1. If he thought that was bad, he was sorely mistaken. On a lap 4 restart Darren McCaughey tried to move to the low side and then ALL hell broke loose. Iles and McCaughey made contact sending Darren's #28 sideways into the concrete inside turn 1 barrier. The thing about this wall is that it's built with an incline to it...therefore making a launching ramp for a high speed machine. Don't get me wrong.the ensuing accident was bad.I've seen far worse but this one was different. The way it happened first of all made it different. To see a car sliding sideways into a "ramp" then vaulting into the air in front of 12 or more cars was pretty wicked. Once I saw Darren turn sideways, I knew it wasn't going to be good at all. And when I seen him go high in the air I almost dropped my video camera. Then to see Steve's #27 possibly even higher.land on top of Darren.I was in shock. Most accidents (not all) today, that I witness, are sprints or sportsman.I rarely see modified "flips" anymore..thank God. This accident was also different because of who was in it.not that I don't care about anyone else's safety..believe me I do.but, this was Darren.my buddy, my possible future brother-in-law...lol. I was very scared, angry, nervous, worried, you name it. The cars can always be replaced.it's the drivers that can't. Well, thankfully everyone involved in this wreck was o.k..especially Darren, Steve, and Sammy Wescott. Meme DeSantis made the trip to The Port, but his luck did not fair well either.Meme was involved in an incident and finished 19th. Billy Pauch (Sr.) was involved in quite a few skirmishes.He and Jeff Strunk got together coming outta turn 2, he was part of the McCaughey/Bottcher flip, and then it looked like something broke on his front end of the #86..Billy wound up 17th. Tom Hager started on the pole but fell back pretty quick and finished 16th. Kyle Strickler dropped out while running in the top 5...Kyle had a prime starting spot (2nd) but was really no match for Jimmy Horton.Strickler finished 13th. Mike Iles would wind up 12th. Wade Hendrickson and Danny Johnson got together and by that I mean got stuck together for quite a while. Wade would finish 8th while Danny would finish in 5th. Jimmy Chester finished 7th after running in the top 5 for quite a while. It seemed that Chester had a major problem with Rick Laubach after the race.I don't know what his problem was but he was pretty heated. Jeff Strunk rebounded from his earlier incident with Pauch to finish 6th. The feel good story about this race was probably Billy Pauch Jr. After a heart breaking drop out in last week's 200 while leading, and winning the non-winner's race the previous night, Little Billy went out and proved he can run with the big dawgs on a big track. Billy Jr. finished an impressive 4th in the 40-lapper. I was hoping that D.J. never got close to him or else Jr. might have felt the wrath of the Doctor. Frank Cozze was using a different lane than most drivers, as he chose the extreme top side and rode around near the outside fence in the early going of the race. He wasn't really losing any ground but he also wasn't really gaining any ground.Cozze finished his year with a 3rd place run. Scooby Doo Laubach completed a successful weekend.actually, a fairly successful year down at Bridgeport, on Sunday with his 2nd place finish. I think Rick had 5 wins and finished 3rd in points (1 point outta 2nd). I think Scoob and Dieter make a good team and look forward to seeing them race again next year. That only leaves one more position.and your winner is AGAIN.Jimmy Horton. For the second straight day Horton found his way to victory lane in an unfamiliar ride. This time Jimmy was behind the wheel of the Grosso #24. Not only did Horton win the race.he won it in dominating fashion. If this is a sign of things to come.Pauch, Cozze, Godown, and Hoffman better watch out next year at NES. Supposedly, Horton will be driving for Rick Grosso in 2006.

Well, there's only 1 more race (2 days) left in the racing season.that being the Turkey Derby at Wall. I'm looking forward to it and hopefully my boy John Blewett III will be sitting in victory lane on Saturday.hopefully more than once as Wall has Triple 50s for the small blocks and a 100-lapper for the full blown mods. John's coming off of an impressive win in the North vs. South Shootout down in North Carolina. I gotta thank Keith Hoffman for the hospitality on Sunday as he gave my Grandmother and I tickets to the V.I.P. booth. Gram had a great time and stayed warm! As the sponsor of the race, Keith wanted me to wave the green flag for the modified feature. I've been going to races for 30 years..I know how loud they are, I know how fast they are.I've been in the infield right up along the guardrail at Lincoln, Port Royal, Lebanon Valley, Orange County, you name it.But, I have never felt that rumble or the speed as I did from atop the starter's stand. So, my first green flag was given to "Big" Tom Hager who was racing before I was born and Kyle Strickler who was 7 when Flemington was paved.talk about a discrepancy of ages!

See ya guys