March 23, Brockton, MA--- The start of the 2008 racing season is almost here. With high fuel and heating oil prices it's going to be a real challenge for the various New England tracks to draw profit making crowds. Especially vulnerable are special touring events with a big ticket price. Venues that have adjusted their admission prices, perceived by fans to be a bargain, will do well provided the weather is good. Because fans and potential fans will be sticking close to home and looking for some cheap entertainment.

Concession stands should have excellent quality food reasonably priced. It's been said that 80 percent of the attendees at a given track come from a 20 mile circumference of the venue. With that in mind, tracks should be promoting, right now, their entertainment programs using newspapers, cable TV, radio and even direct mail. The tracks should also make serious efforts to get the fans home at a decent hour. The events should be three hours tops. Tracks starting at 7 p.m. should be emptying out their parking lots no later than 10 p.m. Enough said.

According to Stockcargazette.com Maine native, Richard “Slugger” Labbe, who was the NASCAR Sprint Cup crew chief of the No. 27 Bill Davis Racing car, has parted ways with the team. The team, which had Jacques Villeneuve penciled in to drive before sponsorship fell through, skipped the race last week at Bristol. Labbe has been a crew chief at several race teams, including Dale Earnhardt Inc., MB2 Motorsports/Ginn Racing, Robert Yates Racing and Evernham Motorsports. He was the Daytona 500 winning crew chief in 2003 with driver Michael Waltrip.

The True Value Modified Racing Series will make its first appearance at Barre, VT’s Thunder Road International Speedbowl on Sunday, May 25, at the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic. It has been forty-three years since a fire-breathing, open-wheeled modified stock car last roared around the high banks at the “Nation’s Site of Excitement.” Forty-three years ago, those same cars created quite a bit of controversy.

The 46th Annual Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic is expected to bring an entirely new group of race drivers and teams from across the region; drivers like three-time TVMRS Champion Kirk Alexander of West Swanzey, NH, Connecticut hard-chargers Les Hinckley and Eddie Dachenhausen, Massachusetts stars Louie Mechalides of Tyngsboro and Vinnie Annarummo of Swansea, Maine’s Tony Ricci and David Pinkham, and New Yorkers Johnny Bush and Kenny Vogel. Included on that list is a pair of Vermonters, Ascutney brothers Dwight and Peter Jarvis.

Dwight is an 18-time Track Champion at New Hampshire’s Twin State and Monadnock Speedways, and won the 2006 True Value Modified Championship. Peter has main event victories spanning more than two decades, and was a special event winner at Thunder Road some twenty years ago against the old Flying Tiger division. Upon entering the full-fendered territory that is present-day Thunder Road, the duo will inherit the burden of carrying the “home” torch and avenging the losses of Tony Colicchio, Mike Osborne, Harold Hanaford, and so many more.

Moreover, the brothers Jarvis have the opportunity to immortalize themselves in Central Vermont stock car racing history by beating the invaders. “Having always been connected to open-wheel racing, I’ve never seen Thunder Road. I’ve only heard how fast it is,” says Dwight Jarvis. “People say it’s a little like Monadnock, which is a good track for me, except Thunder Road has that big wall in Turn 4. It’s one of those tracks that everyone talks about no matter where you go. It would be pretty special to win there, and there are a lot of (Modified) guys looking forward to it. I hope to do well for the Vermont fans. I guess the pressure is on Peter and I to perform.” Post time for the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic is 1:30 pm, Sunday, May 25.

In a change that further cements the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown as the ‘Daytona 500 of short-track racing,’ NASCAR announced today that the sixth edition of the postseason special event will be held Jan. 23-24, 2009 at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, CA.

In its five-year history, the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown – held at one of NASCAR’s premier racing facilities – has quickly become a showcase of top short-track racing.

The race includes protected starting spots for the champions of each of the NASCAR Developmental Series. The move of the race from the Fall to January allows for increased preparation and provides greater exposure for the teams and drivers.

“This is the weekend that launches major U.S. motor sports each year,” said George Silbermann, NASCAR Managing Director of Racing Operations. “This move represents a tremendous opportunity to build upon the successes of past NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdowns, broaden the scope of potential participants, and allow competitors additional time to gear up for this huge event.”

In addition, the all-star weekend will include a pair of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series races: The 150-lap Super Late Model race and, new this year, a 75-lap Late Model race that will be run under common West Coast rules.

Last season’s NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown featured Joey Logano of Middleton, Conn., a rising star for Joe Gibbs Racing, holding off the challenge of another top young driver, Peyton Sellers, in a green-white-checkered finish.

Logano’s victory added to a growing legacy of the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown that started with Austin Cameron’s emotional win in the inaugural event in 2003 that capped a season in which he missed four races while undergoing cancer treatments.

In 2004, eventual race winner Mike Johnson of Salisbury, MA drove from 24th starting spot to the front. David Gilliland’s victory in 2005 started him on a road that has led to a seat with Robert Yates Racing’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team. In the 2006 classic, two-time Showdown runner-up Matt Kobyluck of Uncasville, Conn. emerged the victor of a spirited duel over the final laps with young driver Sean Caisse and West champion Eric Holmes.

Former NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion Greg Pursley added to the legacy last year when he went door-to-door with Irwindale track champion Rip Michels en route to winning the Super Late Model race.

“We’re not only honored to host the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown but we are extremely excited that the event will be held in January,” said Bob DeFazio, Toyota Speedway at Irwindale track operator. “It’s a prestigious event. It’s important to us, and we know it’s important to NASCAR, and we can’t think of a better way for race fans and NASCAR short track racing’s elite to spend their winter.”

The exciting competition on the fast half-mile has become a staple of the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown. The graduated banking — between six and 12 degrees — at the Toyota Speedway in Irwindale produces multiple racing grooves that make for thrilling side-by-side racing.

The NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown weekend features two nights of live coverage on SPEED, which has broadcast the event in each of its first five years. It will be part of a packed weekend on SPEED that includes the Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car event.

The NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown main event — contested in NASCAR Camping World Series cars — is open to any driver approved to drive on a half-mile or longer tracks in the NASCAR Camping World Series.

Current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers such as Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., and Gilliland launched their careers in the NASCAR Camping World Series. The series is the top development step for drivers looking to make the jump to one of NASCAR’s national series.

Each race winner during the 2008 NASCAR Camping World Series season will become eligible for a protected starting spot in the sixth running of the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown. The 2008 series champions of NASCAR’s regional touring series — the NASCAR Camping World Series East, NASCAR Camping World Series West, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour, NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, and NASCAR Mexico Series — and the 2008 national champion for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series are also eligible for protected starting spots.

Last year’s expanded eligibility format drew a record entry of 106 cars for the two races. It also drew drivers from across North America, including 2007 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series champion Andrew Ranger and 2006 NASCAR Mexico Series Rookie of the Year Antonio Perez.

In addition to eligible 2008 race winners and series champions, the starting lineup will be determined through time trials, limited provisionals for NASCAR Camping World Series regulars, and the last-chance “Open” race that provides drivers one final chance to make the final starting grid for the ‘Daytona 500 of short-track racing.’


It's getting to be car show time in the north country. From March 24-30 the Auburn (ME) Mall will host one of those for tracks in Maine. On March 28 and 29 the Gorham (ME) Sports Center will host the PASS Pro Stock Series. The Lilac Mall in Rochester, NH goes with the Lee USA Speedway show. Up in northern Maine Speed Speedway in Caribou offers Vintage Sled Racing on Saturday and Sunday.

    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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