November 19, Brockton, MA--- Ken Coolbeth, who won both the AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Twins and Singles Championships this year, now adds his first AMA Pro Racing SPEED Athlete of the Year nomination. The 30-year-old factory Harley-Davidson rider from Morris, Conn., defended his AMA GNC Twins title of 2006 and scored his first title in the AMA GNC Singles Championship, becoming the first rider to win both titles in a single year.  Ken is sponsored by Bettencourt Honda/Suzuki of W. Bridgewater.

     Coolbeth won six races this season and now has 15-career AMA Grand National wins. That moved him from 33rd to 19th on the all-time AMA Grand National wins list. 2007 was his 14th year on the Grand National circuit. “It’s a nice to be nominated for Athlete of the Year,” Coolbeth said. “This is my first nomination and it feels great to get that honor. It’s nice that people recognize the type of season I had in 2007.”

      Coolbeth was expected to be the leading contender in the Twins championship, but he surprised a lot of people with his performance in the Singles class. He rode a Bettencourt Honda-backed CRF450-based machine in that series. “People never thought of me as much of a Singles rider,” Coolbeth said. “That was a real goal of mine to win both championships and to prove I was versatile enough of a rider to win both.”

     Coolbeth showed remarkable consistency in GNC Singles with four podium finishes in the seven rounds. He never finished worse than sixth. He is proud to become the first to win both the Twins and Singles Championships in the same season. “It’s sort of old school in a way that there’s just one champion,” he said. “That way there’s no question of who was the top rider this season. It’s a real honor and something I couldn’t have done without the help of Harley-Davidson, Bettencourt Honda  and my crew and all the smaller sponsors who don’t get much recognition.”

       Ken Bouchard's Drive To Victory Lane Racing School using Tour Modified cars at the 5/8 mile Thompson Speedway in CT. Sessions are scheduled weekly from April until November. With prices ranging from one lap qualifying run for $50 with two laps for $90.  A Rookie Test Drive is $375 for 15 laps with Extended Test Drive consisting of two 16 lap sessions for $375. Other programs such as Saturday Night Feature, three 15 lap sessions, Competitive Drive, six 15 lap sessions and Victory Lane Drive, 50 laps are among the more advance programs. All are priced accordingly. Ken Bouchard was the 1988 Nextel Cup Rookie of the Year and has taken over 200 career victories. Also, eleven NASCAR Modified wins in one season and voted one of NASCAR Modified's 50 Greatest Drivers of All times. He also competed in 100 Nextel, Busch and Craftsman Truck events.   Give him a call at 1-877-Race-4-Fun(722-3438) or visit his website at www.DriveToVictoryLane.com on the internet. Any of those programs would make a great holiday gift.

     Speedway Motorsports Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bruton Smith has promoted Jerry Gappens to the position of Executive Vice President and General Manager at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

     On Nov. 2, Smith announced Speedway Motorsports Inc. (NYSE: TRK) had reached an agreement to purchase New Hampshire International Speedway from Bob and Gary Bahre. The $340 million transaction should close early in the first quarter of 2008, and the name of the facility will become New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

     Gappens, 46, has worked in the motorsports industry for 25 years and brings a successful 15-year track record of promoting SMI events to Loudon, N.H.  Most recently, Gappens served as senior vice president of events and marketing for Lowe’s Motor Speedway, SMI’s flagship facility located near Charlotte, N.C. Gappens was responsible for promoting a wide array of annual events hosted at the multi-use motorsports complex, including three NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race weekends and three major car shows.

            “Jerry brings a wealth of industry experience, passion and excitement to his new job with our company,” said Smith. “He is well-respected in our industry and has an excellent understanding of how we promote and market our events. Jerry will work hard to grow and expand our business through this acquisition of New Hampshire International Speedway.”

            A Windfall, Ind., native, Gappens joined LMS in 1993 as publicity director.  He was promoted to director of communications in 1995 and named vice president of promotions and public relations in 1996. In 2002, Gappens was honored as NASCAR’s Most Valuable Public Relations Representative. He was promoted to senior vice president of events and marketing at LMS in 2005.

            “Bruton has given me a wonderful opportunity and I am sincerely grateful for his trust and confidence in appointing me to this new role,” Gappens said. “After flying up last week to tour the facility and meet the staff, I am truly excited about building on the success they already enjoy.”

            Prior to joining Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Gappens worked as an account executive for Sales Consultants, a national contingency search firm in New Jersey. He also worked with National Speed Sport News, a leading weekly motorsports publication, for eight years and served as a pit reporter for ABC Sports’ coverage of the Indianapolis 500; various CART, NASCAR and IROC races; and the Monaco Grand Prix Formula One event.

            Active in various civic and charitable organizations, Gappens has served on several boards in the Charlotte region, including the Charlotte Visitors and Convention Bureau, Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce, UNC-Charlotte Athletic Foundation, Speedway Children’s Charities and the 600 Festival. Gappens, who will relocate from Charlotte to New Hampshire, has two sons, Denny (22) and Wes (21).

            In 2008, New Hampshire Motor Speedway will host two NASCAR Sprint Cup races, the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 on June 29 and the Sylvania 300 on Sept. 14. Ticket information can be obtained by calling (603) 783-4931 or online at www.nhis.com.

      At  the recent NEAR Movie Party in W. Springfield, officials announced three new inductees will join the New England Antique Racers Hall of Fame Class of 2008. The Veterans Comittee selected Johnny Gamell, George Lombardo, and Fred Luchesi as the latest members. Dave Alkas, Dave Darveau, Dick Bathchelder, the late Howie Brown are also part of the class. Car owners Joe Brady of Brockton and the late Mike Scrivani, Sr. along with the multi-talented Dick Berggren and writer Pete Zanardi will also be inducted at the NEAR banquet in January.

     Johnny Gammell, an East St. Johnsbury, Vermont native, was prominent in northern New England circles. He raced stockcars at tracks like Northeastern Speedway and Thunder Road Speedbowl. Among his accomplishments are the 1964 Vermont State Championship and the prestigious Milk Bowl at Thunder Road in 1969.

      George Lombardo’s career includes a pair of track championships at the now shuttered Plainville Stadium In CT in the mid-1960s. A standout at Joe Tinty’s quarter-mile oval, Lombardo won an incredible 11 consecutive races in one season. He was also a winner at the defunct Riverside Park Speedway in Agawam(9 wins between 1953 and 1959), and the Waterford Speedbowl in CT.

       Fred Luchesi of Pawtucket, RI was a multi-track champion in the 1950s including Lonsdale, Norwood, Seekonk, Waterford and Westboro during the Cutdown era which was a forerunner of the very powerful Super-Modified machines in vogue now.  Just  Seekonk and Waterford have survived to the present day from the stock car and track building boom of the post-war era.  The closures were due to high real estate values for land in the early and mid-70's because of the expanding suburban areas around Boston, Worcester and Providence, RI.

       Ben Rowe of Turner, Maine ended up winning the Mason-Dixon Meltdown at the Concord Speedway in NC last weekend after taking the lead on the final lap of that event. Not so lucky was Worcester's Derek Ramstrom who finished a distant 26th place back in the field at the checkered flag.

      Reports in the Boston Herald tell of new GM of NHMS Jerry Gappens  saying that talks could be in the works to bring the Indy Racing League back to NHIS (Loudon, NH) as soon as 2009. Former track owner Bob Bahre dumped the IRL in 1998 due to lack of interest from New England race fans.

      Stafford Motor Speedway welcomed a guest list of over 600 people consisting of teams, drivers, and employees this past Friday night, November 16, 2007 at the La Renaissance Banquet Facility in East Windsor to officially honor Ted Christopher, Corey Hutchings, Chris Matthews, Sean Foster, and Norm Sears as the 2007 Stafford Motor Speedway NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track champions.

      With Stafford Motor Speedway broadcasters Matt Buckler and Tony Sutton serving as the Masters of Ceremony, the 38th annual Stafford Motor Speedway NASCAR Champions Awards Ceremony not only honored the five track champions, it also honored the top-20 points finishers from the SK Modified, Late Model, SK Light, Limited Late Model, and DARE Stock divisions. Other awards that were presented during the evening’s festivities were Most Popular Driver Awards, Most Improved Driver Awards, and the Reliable Welding & Speed Rookie of the Year awards.

The race for the SK Modified track championship came down to a two-man race between Ted Christopher and Woody Pitkat. Pitkat was the season’s big winner with 8 feature wins, but Christopher had 8 second place finishes to go along with his two feature wins in a season that saw Christopher finish sixth or better in 18 of 20 events. Christopher’s consistency was good enough to offset the strength of Pitkat’s eight  feature wins and give him his sixth Stafford Motor Speedway SK Modified track championship by a 34 point margin. Christopher posted two wins, 16 top-5 and 19 top-10 finishes in 20 starts.

The race for the Late Model track championship came down to a two-man race between Stafford rookie Corey Hutchings and veteran Jim Peterson. Hutchings made his Stafford debut in grand style by winning the season opening CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler event and took the early season points lead. Peterson and Tom Butler would each take turns at the top of the points standings, but Hutchings moved back to the points lead at the midway point of the season and his consistent finishes over the second half of the season was enough to give him the championship by 28 points over Peterson. Hutchings posted two wins, 14 top-5 and 19 top-10 finishes in 20 starts. After Chris Matthews missed an opportunity to race for the inaugural SK Light championship last season because he was on his honeymoon, he came back even stronger in the second year of the division and laid the competition to waste. Matthews was the epitome of dominant this season, securing the track championship with two races left in the season. Matthews drove to six  feature wins this season, including three of the final four events. With 17 top-5 and 18 top-10 finishes to go along with his six  victories in 20 starts, Matthews took the championship by a whopping 152 point margin over Josh Sylvester.

Although Sean Foster wasn’t the winningest driver in the Limited Late Model division this season, he avoided the troubles that plagued his championship contenders and secured his first track title. Foster’s four wins ranked behind Rick Lanagan’s eight wins and Andrew Durand’s 5 wins, but as both drivers ran into trouble down the stretch, Foster remained consistent, posting eight consecutive top-4 finishes down the stretch to wrap the championship up with one race remaining in the season. For the season, Foster posted four wins, 16 top-5 and 17 top-10 finishes in 20 starts to win the championship by 50 points over Rick Lanagan.

Norm Sears drove to his second consecutive DARE Stock track championship while driving for a new team and car owner. Driving for Barry Fluckiger, Sears began the season with two wins in the first six races, but a cold streak at the outset of the summer run virtually dropped him from championship contention. But over the final eight  races of the season, Sears posted seven podium finishes to put himself into the thick of the championship battle and with a second place finish at the season ending CARQUEST Fall Final, he secured his second consecutive championship by 28 points over Dan Flannery. For the season, Sears posted two wins, 13 top-5 and 16 top-10 finishes in 20 starts.

Receiving awards for Most Improved Driver were Brad Hietala in the SK Modified division, Dave Wray in the Late Model division, Raymond Grassetti in the SK Light division, and Joey Ferrigno in the Limited Late Model division. The Most Improved Driver award is given to a driver who exhibits the greatest degree of improvement in on-track performance over the past season. Nominees are selected and voted upon by a committee of select Stafford Motor Speedway management and track officials.

The Reliable Welding & Speed Rookie of the Year awards were presented by Brad and Linda Hietala of Reliable Welding and Speed to Wade Mattesen from the SK Modified division, Corey Hutchings from the Late Model division, Josh Sylvester from the SK Light division, and David Capriati from the Limited Late Model division. The awards will be worth a $700.00 bonus to Mattsen, and $500 bonus to Hutchings, Sylvester, and Capriati from Reliable Welding and Speed. Each Rookie of the Year bonus will be paid out in $100 weekly increments to each driver as they attend events during the 2008 season. The winners of the Most Popular Driver Awards were Woody Pitkat in both the SK Modified and Late Model divisions, Chris Matthews from the SK Light division, Sean Foster from the Limited Late Model division, and Dan Flannery from the DARE Stock division. The Most Popular Driver Awards are voted on by the fans who attend Stafford Motor Speedway race events and fill out the ballots found weekly in the track’s Pit Stopper Magazine.

      Mototown Speedway, the indoor dirt track in Windsor, CT, just had the long awaited first practice last weekend for Mini Sprints. The dirt oval track is getting broken-in for the upcoming car races practice dates: November 29, and 30. The Bud Light 12-pack Race Series will kick off with a cash race on December 16. January has three races on the 6th, 13th and 27th. February 3rd, 17th and 24th will host racing as well. March 2nd, 9th and 16th have also been added. The series closes out on April 6th and 20th. Also, the venue  will host a trio of flat track motocycle on a monthly basis with one race each in January, February and March, after Daytona Bike Week. Year round indoor motoX events are also held there.

    Lou Modestino is a long-time columnist and Public Relations person, working for numerous tracks in the northeast, and now writes for The Enterprise in Brockton, MA.  He may be reached at lmodestino@hotmail.com. 

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