The positive response to the first installment of our
Offseason News and Notes piece has been so overwhelming that the
thought actually crossed my mind to make it a bi-weekly feature,
rather than monthly. As we all know, though, news gets
sparse as the offseason goes on, so the decision was made to
keep it a monthly piece.
Some of the big news going around lately revolves around the
meeting of individual divisions to allow competitors, owners and
crew chiefs to collaborate and brainstorm about issues facing
their respective divisions, and to come up with ideas to help
make racing better in general. So far, both the
Blunderbust and Late Model divisions have held meetings, and
several others are in the works. The Blunderbust division
has already set a date for their second meeting, and it has been
announced that the Late Models will have another meeting as
well, with the specifics of that meeting still to be determined.
All Enduro divisions are scheduled to have a meeting on December
14th, with the Super Pro Truck division scheduled to meet on
January 3rd. Full details for all meetings are available
on LongIslandJam.com.
In other news, we have learned that Roger Oxee and his #39
Late Model team have taken possession of their new 2008 Howe car
for the upcoming season. It is my understanding that the
trip was an adventure in itself, with Steve and Mark Tooker
making a 14 hour trip to Michigan and an 18 hour trip back
through a snow storm to bring the car home. According to
Roger, the car that he started the 2007 season in gave him 10
years of racing and 26 wins. It should be interesting to
see what the talented driver can do in new equipment.
It has been announced that Jamie Lee Meyer will be running a
full season in the Grand Enduro division in 2008, as well as
running in the 6-cylinder Enduro class. Jamie recently
married Wayne Meyer, driver of the #41 Super Pro Truck.
Jamie's Grand Enduro car will be the #41. In 2007, Jamie
finished 9th in points in the 6-cylinder class, running 5 of the
division's 6 races. With all of the racing knowledge and
support from her family, Jamie should be one to watch in 2008.
Paul Dodorico is among the Legend car drivers looking forward
to the division's return to Riverhead in the coming season.
Paul has spent the last 4 years running at White Lake, a 3+ hour
trip for the driver. He won the Legends championship at
White Lake the last 3 years before the track closed for the 2007
season, and should be a force to be reckoned with as the
division makes its return to Long Island. The same can be
said for Tom Sherman, who had an impressive 2nd place finish in
his Legends car on the first day of racing at the Turkey Derby.
Both of these drivers brought their cars for the exhibition held
at Riverhead in August, and both had their cars in the spectator
area of the raceway, where the fan response was very positive.
It seems that several Blunderbust drivers are exploring other
racing options as the offseason progresses, as there are several
potent cars available for sale. Rob Bader, in fact, is
selling both the #19x and the #5x. His plans for 2008 are
uncertain at this point, but he may end up fielding both cars
again (with a teammate yet to be determined) if they are not
sold prior to the start of the season. Bader started the
season in the #19x before purchasing the former #67 of Wayne
Okula, which he numbered the #5x. In spite of virtually
beginning the learning curve all over again in a different car
in the month of June, Bader pulled off a 2nd place finish in the
Rookie of the Year contest sponsored by JTL Enterprises.
Also for sale are the #1 of Artie Pedersen, Jr. and the #27 of
his brother, Scott Pedersen. Both of these drivers are
reportedly exploring the possibility of racing in other
divisions at Riverhead, as is "Krazy" Eddie Mistretta, who has
his #32 for sale.
Artie Pedersen, Jr. has been keeping busy this offseason.
In November, he was elected to the position of Track Director
for the Long Island Karting Association (LIKA). In 2007,
Pedersen had served as an Assistant Track Director for the
organization. Both of Artie's sons raced in go-karts in
2007, with Allan finishing 7th for the season in the Junior
Novice class and Artie III ending the season with a 4th place
finish in the Junior I division.
By now, it's no longer a secret that Jessica Larsen is
expected to slide behind the wheel of a Figure 8 car in 2008,
while also continuing to run her Blunderbust car. The
Figure 8 car, which will be the #37, is owned by J & J Salvage &
Towing. Jessica finished 3rd in the Blunderbust Rookie of
the Year contest in 2007.
In non-racing news, #32 Super Pro Truck driver and NEETS head
flagger Matt Odwazny tied the knot this past month, marrying his
long-time girlfriend Stephanie. The wedding party included
Matt's crew chief, Pat, as well as 2007 Grand Enduro champion
Bobby Pease. Guests included many members of the NEETS
racing family, who crossed through the toll curtain to attend
the affair. Also attending a wedding last month was
LongIslandJam.com's own photographer, Mike Mercurio, who gave
his daughter away the Saturday after Thanksgiving while many of
us were at the Turkey Derby. LongIslandJam.com has been
informed that Mike received some other exciting news as well, as
he learned that his daughter Lindsay is going to make him a
grandfather. Also expecting is Michele Albasini, wife of
#66 Super Pro Truck driver Mike "King of Queens" Albasini.
Albasini is due to deliver the couple's second child in April.
Congratulations and best wishes to all.
A good time was had by all who attended Groundswell's show at
JC's in Manorville the day before Thanksgiving. The place
was packed, and among
those in attendance were Freddy Kraft, spotter for Jimmy Blewett;
Cindy Johnson, a.k.a. "The Godmother of Enduros"; #08 Late Model
driver "J-Rod" Jarrod Hayes; #81 Charger driver Chris Turbush;
and #41 Blunderbust driver Terry Stiles. As many of you
already know, the lead singer for the band is none other than
"Mortgage Guy" Tim Halpin, and he gets some occasional help with
vocals from his twin, former Riverhead Raceway announcer Stephen
Halpin. The band is scheduled to perform again on December
21 at JC's, located off exit 69 in Manorville. The band
typically goes on around 9:30 p.m. For more
information on the band, visit their website at
www.groundswellli.com.
I also received the following from LongIslandJam.com's own
Walter Johnston: "Dan Turbush, while visiting his son in
Florida, made a surprise visit to my daughter Kathy Veit,
bringing a couple of his championship T-shirts for her and my
son-in-law, Matt. He apologized for not having a child's shirt
for my 11 year old grandson, Kyle, but Kyle surprised him by
quickly putting on the one I had mailed him in September, just
after Dan had given them out at the track. That was a surprise
for Danny! He also left them a video of his 50 lap Late Model
victory that clinched his 2007 Championship at Riverhead, and
spent some time chatting with them all about his racing plans
for 2008."
As we get deeper into the offseason, the opportunities to
race in the Northeast are few and far between. For those
of us who need a racing fix to get through the winter, though,
Mountain Speedway kicks off its 2008 Enduro season on Saturday,
January 5th with the "Frostbite II" event. This is the
first of 7 scheduled races that make up the "Mountain Madness"
Enduro series, and will include 100 lap races for both the 4
cylinder and 6/8 cylinder classes. There will also be a
4/6 cylinder "Trophy Truck" race, with the number of laps to be
prorated based on the number of entries. Complete
information can be obtained from Mountain Speedway's web site (www.mountainspeedway.com).
We have received quite a few profile updates here at
LongIslandJam.com in recent weeks. JA Ackley has handled
the majority of them, while also allowing me to familiarize
myself with that aspect of the system by entering some of them
myself. As a result, some of you have had to wait longer
than others, since the process is still a slow one for me.
For this, I do apologize, and I thank you for your patience.
Right now, 2008 rosters can be viewed by clicking on the desired
division and then manually changing the year in the drop-down
box to 2008. In the coming weeks, we hope to have enough
profiles entered to make 2008 the default season that comes up
automatically when you click on the roster for any given
division. The more profiles we have, the better...and
there's no better free way to promote yourself and your sponsors
than by submitting your information. If you haven't
already done so, you can update your profile using the following
link:
http://www.longislandjam.com/Information/teamform.htm.
Even if you haven't ironed out all of the specifics for 2008,
you can submit whatever information you do have, as it can be
updated at any time during the offseason or the regular season,
if need be.
With that, I'll wrap up this month's column. The next
installment is planned for the first week in the new year, so
don't forget to submit any news of interest by emailing me at
tchirico@longislandjam.com. I'm sure I speak for all
of us at LongIslandJam.com in wishing everyone a happy, healthy
and safe holiday season!
Source: Tracy
Chirico/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
December 2, 2007
