J.A.'S
AND DAN'S MOST EXCELLENT ADVENTURE II: RAIN MAN RETURNS
by J.A. Ackley
After the night before of being convinced (I might say
conned) to go up to Thompson Speedway for
LongIslandJam.com’s Feel the Thrill Day, I got to say the
trip was a welcome surprise.
With Dan Dombal’s sleek Jeff Gordon edition Chevrolet
Monte Carlo pulling into my driveway; it was time to begin the
trek out to our neighbor to the North, Thompson Speedway.
This time, I hope Part 2 was just eventful as Part 1
with our journey to Pocono, except for the stolen girlie
bikes, a trip to the medical center, and a meeting of Jeff
Gordon.
On the way, we
had many diversions along the road along with many ominous
signs of things to come.
The ominous signs began when we made a pit stop down
the road from me at the local 7-Eleven and Dan got a Tylenol
package with no pills in it.
An odd occurrence, as would this predict a day without
the need of medicine for headaches or perhaps of unfulfilled
promises?
After the long
ride through Connecticut, we arrived in Thompson and made a
stop at a local restaurant for breakfast.
We met up with Sal Accardi, Jr. and his whole team who
just finished their breakfast and were heading to the track.
Dan and I sat down and ate breakfast while watching the
NBA brawl on TV. Hopefully
the day events won’t be as messy as the NBA was.
Upon finishing our ok meal, the bill came and
immediately Dan wanted me to pay for it.
This isn’t usually how Dan is and when I picked up
the bill it read $13.13…
Good luck? I
don’t believe in luck, we shape our own, but in the back of
my head, the notion of luck did linger.
After the meal
we headed out, and a sign across the road read Jammin’.
I’m like yeah, that’s a great sign and then we
pulled out of the parking lot onto 193 towards the track,
which for me, anything with a 93 is good luck.
The track is
situated in one of the most beautiful areas of Connecticut and
seemed like a palace to us bullring aficionados on Long
Island. We
checked in with Mark, the director of Racing Reality and then
attended the driver’s meeting.
I checked with Dan about automatics (I never drove a
stick) and he said they had them, but I find out from the lady
doing the presentation that they don’t. At that point I felt disappointed, but the smiles on the
people’s faces helped ease my comfort.
However, at the end of signups, Mark said I could give
it a try in a Pro Stock and he’ll coach me through the
clutch. I was
excited.
We ran down to
the infield pit area to get ready.
We all picked up suits and helmets so we would be ready
for the experience. Some racers and past racers like Sal Accardi, Jr., Dan Dombal,
and John Burns had suits already.
Those of the bigger set, such as myself, had difficulty
finding a suit that fit and had to wait our turn.
All drivers took a mandatory ride around the track in
the pace truck and learned the proper braking and acceleration
points as well as proper car placement.
While riding around the track, I was envisioning all
the greats that graced this oval. Jarzombek, Evans, Steve Park, and the late Tom Baldwin came
to my mind as some of the most talented to turn a lap at the
historic Thompson Speedway.
After a few laps
in the pace truck, they let us off and then the long wait for
our turns started. A
lot of families were on hand enjoying the day.
The Owen family consisted of Truck Enduro driver and
LongIslandJam.com photographer Andy Owen along with his son
Dale and his wife. His
son Dale would have the ride of his life in the Budweiser #8
while Andy Owen was seeking an opportunity to turn some laps.
The Burns family
consisted of former Figure 8 competitor and LIMCA director
John Burns along with his sons Joseph and Johnny.
His sons did the ride along and had some interesting
faces coming out of the car while John Burns really felt
comfortable behind the wheel of a Pro Stock.
The Accardis did
some battle out there, as Sal Accardi Sr. on his birthday
returned to the driver seat after many years while his son
tried out a cup car against his father.
The whole Accardi Modified team seemed to be on hand
and had a ton of fun.
My partner in
crime, Dan Dombal took out a Modified and after 3 laps the
Racing Reality officials took out the rev limiter as Dombal
looked like a natural in a Modified and I’m not just saying
that because he’s a friend, but he looked good.
Too bad I know Dan is thinking this moment of buying a
Modified and I’m thinking when will he raffle it off.
Bob Punzi,
renowned builder of the #x3 of legendary Jim Hendrickson,
drove a Cup car and man he looked good.
After the ride, we talked and he asked me if he looked
pretty good for an old guy.
I told him he looked pretty good for any guy.
Someone put this guy in a ride.
Eric Wartley had
the ride of his life in a Pro Stock.
Eric I know from my SIM Racing experiences and something
occurred as he drove hard into turn one and backed his Pro Stock in the wall. Hey
Eric, don’t fret, the best have done that and now you got
something in common with folks like Ted Christopher, Bo
Gunning and other top-notch talent.
After hours of
waiting, a guy my size finally got his chance and finished his
ride and it was my turn behind the wheel since now I got a
suit. While the
suit was a bit tight for a man of my length of arms and legs,
it would do. I
climbed into the #1 Pro Stock at the end of the line and felt
comfortable from the start. As I sat there, strapped in ready to turn on this monster of
a machine, many memories of working on a Late Model flowed in
my head. From the
times I sat in a Late Model cleaning the interior of the #93
Riverhead Late Model to all the times I would spend hanging in
the right side window, talking with my driver and friend Walt
DeMorris, I must admit I was kind of getting emotional in the
cockpit. However,
Mother Nature would say otherwise as it started hailing on my
parade and the officials called off the rest of the entrants,
which just included Andy Owen and I.
All I can say was that I was heartbroken. I sat in the car for what must have been 15-30 minutes
dejected as some were calling out to me that it was cancelled,
but I just didn’t want to hear the news.
However, with
every cloud there is a silver lining.
When I got out of the car, everyone there had a smile
on his or her face. The event was a success as everyone, young or old, heavily
involved in the sport or just a casual spectator had a great
time and I’m really glad LongIslandJam.com could provide
this experience to them.
My first job is to promote the sport and I achieved
that and even if I didn’t get the ride of my life, those
that were avid readers of the Jam did and that made me really
happy. I’m a
promoter first, and everything else second.
As I left the
track, all Dan could talk about along the ride back was how
much he loved the experience.
And I’m glad he did, as he deserves a lot of credit
as he helped make this happen.
The ride back was long, but included a trip to
Friendly’s where we gave the waitress a hard time while they
helped clog our arteries and the ride went by quicker when we
decided to send some cool songs to LongIslandJam.com’s Photo
Editor, Richie Grodski’s voice mail.
All in all this
was a great experience. I
would like to thank Mark and Racing Reality for helping put
this deal together for our Jam fans.
I would also like to thank Dan Dombal for originating the idea for the 1st annual LongIslandJam.com "Feel The Thrill" field day and coordinating it as well.
Without
Dan this wouldn’t have happened and I wouldn’t have had
the pleasure of being there either.
And lastly, I would like to thank those who
participated. You
guys were great as you behaved and really had a blast.
I’m happy we could have provided this opportunity to
you. This
experience was created as a thank you for our fans and I’m
glad you guys loved it. I
am confident that next year we will even have a better
experience set up and you guys helped us with input to create
a better experience for next year.
Thank you and
next year watch out… I might try out that Pro Stock and
maybe I’ll be good. Hey
I can dream, and that’s what this racing experience was all
about… Making
dreams come true…
