April 8, Brockton, MA--- Howie Lane of Essex, MA, the head of the ISMA Super Modified Tour, plans to take his touring series to 13 point events in in six different states plus Canada. Scratched from the ISMA schedule this year are events at M40 Speedway in Michigan and a Friday event at Mansfield, OH. Also a Saturday night date at the Oxford Plains Speedway in July. Lane feels that with the current economic situation that it's going to be a difficult season. "We had to cut out some of the long distance shows because of travel expenses and everything involved," he said.

Lane was successful, though, at booking an event at the famed Oswego Speedway on Lake Ontario in central NY State. Usually, ISMA would double up with another event to make it a full weekend. But, this time an event up at Cayuga, Ont. was scratched. Lane was busy all winter working on a flexible set of rules that would not rule out any team. On drivers he boasts Bobby Santos, III of Franklin, MA is the Soule entry, Robby Summers of Conn. in the Lane car, Chris Perley of Amesbury, MA, Mike Ordway, Jr. of NH. "And Russ Wood (Tyngsboro, MA) is coming back and he's got a lot of fans everywhere especially in NH. It's going to be a tough year for the tracks plus the fans have to cut back and will probably do things to entertain themselves that don't cost much money," Lane said.

We can agree with Howie's strategy. We expected that the regional tours would be impacted in New England and elsewhere. Tracks across the country, as well as the six state New England area, are sticking pretty much with inexpensive programs in order to keep a cap on ticket prices.

GRASSROOTS MOTORSPORTS recently featured the New England Hill Climbing Assn. (NEHA) and their event at Mt. Washington in Gorham, NH. NEHA doesn't get much in the way of exposure from the media and the rank and file couldn't be more pleased. We do, however, list them in our New England Motorsports Schedule and give the club some space when we find out about their events at the various timed events up the mountains of NH and Vermont. Hill climbing is a cult sport with events held around the northeast and southeast in the spring, summer and fall.

Fadden Racing of N. Haverhill, NH and Max Dumarey have not been sitting idle during the offseason. After competing in the ARCA season opener at Daytona International Speedway earlier this year, the Gent, Belgium native has been aggressively testing in preparation for the 2008 season. His schedule includes the full NASCAR Camping World Series East division, five ARCA RE/MAX Series events, and two NASCAR Camping World Series West races – including this week’s event at Phoenix International Raceway. Dumarey is hoping all the extra seat time will pay off big.

“We’ve tested at Phoenix, South Boston, Greenville, and Kansas in the last month,” Dumarey explained. “We were at Phoenix Monday and Tuesday and we were really pleased with the results. The track has a lot of grip and we were running extremely competitive times.” The Jimmie Johnson Foundation 150 will mark Dumarey’s debut in the NASCAR Camping World Series West, and the 19-year-old driver is looking forward to the challenge.

“We’re optimistic that we’ll run well at Phoenix. As always you have to hope that you’ll keep out of trouble and that we can keep the car consistent throughout the race. Our test session earlier this week was promising and gives us a lot of confidence going into the race,” he said.

Dumarey will be drawing on his experience in the NASCAR Camping World Series East to maneuver around Phoenix’s characteristic flat surface.

“We have some experience on flat one mile’s – particularly NHMS – but that’s where the similarity really ends. It’ll be important that I get a feel for the car and find a good line. Turns one and two are very different from three and four, and I think it’ll be key to find a rhythm to maneuver this track. Our goal is to go there, start up front, and stay up front.” The Jimmie Johnson 150 at Phoenix International Raceway will take the green flag on Thursday, April 10th at approximately 7 p.m. It will be broadcast live on HDNet.

We ran into Bob Watson, Marketing Manager for the Lee USA Speedway at the recent Icebreaker event in Thompson, Conn. Watson is very busy with a number of promotions. "We're selling rickets to churches for fund raisers. Last year we worked with veterans organizations and it also worked out well. We have also dropped out ticket prices by $1 for non-special events. Our upcoming Governors Cup event later this month, with the ACT and True Value Modified Tours is going to be a bargain event for $20. Our biggest ticket price of the season will be $25 for the ISMA Super-Modifieds. Our concession prices are the same as last year. We are also absorbing the price increases for tires and fuel that we sell for the competitors," revealed Watson.

My sources in northern New England tell me that a lot of tracks in the three state area may not be able to open up on schedule dates this month due to the heavy snowfall this winter.

Let's check to see what's happening in the north-country with the 2008 racing season about to start. Way up in Presque Isle, Maine at the Aroostook Center there's a Racing Preview from Friday though Sunday. At Lee USA in southern NH it's Test and Tune for all race cars with a Sunday rain date. Beech Ridge in Scarborough, Maine has a practice session all day 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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