"2005: A Racing Odyssey"
First, after looking at the massive list of possibles I’ve compiled, “odyssey” really is the operative term here; Second, I could attend a race pretty much every night of the week if I wanted to; Third, I gotta get me a better camper; Fourth, the world isn’t as small as we sometimes think it is, and; and lastly, I really wish racetracks would build better camping facilities - a small bathroom/shower area, and a few sites with electrical hookups would be a good start. In my opinion, if done right, many tracks could even make some money by doing a bit more in the fan amenities area, and perhaps organizing occasional tailgate parties/barbeques. Perhaps I’ll go into detail on that idea a bit later, or in a future column. Ya gotta spend money to make money, as they say…
Right now there are about 50 race nights on my schedule, and those are just the ones within 4-5 hours of home here in London, to say nothing of possible trips further away. Half of the 50 are pretty much definite and a good portion of the other half are very likely. On many of the dates, we’ll have more than one venue to choose from. I have a suspicion that Mother Nature may not let me see 50+ races without interfering in some way or another, and my work schedule (yeah that pesky stuff) may also cause a few problems, but I’m going to give it a shot nonetheless.
Among those 50+ races are a lot of our traditional stops, and quite a few new (to me) venues. A few of the more notable new ones which I may get a chance to see this year are: The Sharon Speedway on the Ohio/Pennsylvania border; the 54 year old Fremont Speedway on the Sandusky County Fairgrounds in Ohio; the Mansfield Speedway in Ohio; the Rolling Wheels Raceway just west of Syracuse, NY; the Black Rock Speedway, located just North of Watkins Glen, NY; the Fulton Speedway, just a stone’s throw South of Oswego, NY; the Cayuga County Fair Speedway on the fairgrounds at Weedsport, NY (and home to the Empire DIRT Series for big block Modifieds); the Owosso Speedway West of Flint, MI; and the I-96 Speedway, which is located halfway between Lansing and Grand Rapids in Michigan. Sharon is now owned and operated by the Blaney family (including NASCAR Nextel Cup racer Dave), and has received a massive renovation and remodeling over the past few years which has, according to those who have been there, made it one of the best dirt tracks anywhere.
Closer to home, believe it or not there are still some tracks in Ontario which yours truly has not yet visited, the “new” Humberstone Speedway at Port Colbourne, Kawartha Speedway near Peterborough, and Brighton Speedway Park located an hour west of Kingston on the North shore of Lake Ontario, among them. I’m not yet sure if I’ll get to Kawartha at all this year, but Humberstone and Brighton are both on my hopeful list. Humberstone has actually been around for about 50 years, but lay dormant last season before new owners took over, gave it back its traditional name, and performed an extensive facelift on the facility this winter. Included in the many improvements is a revamped VIP/Press tower complete with a bar/lounge, which celebrated its grand opening on the Sunday of the Daytona 500, and will be open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays during the track’s season, and on NASCAR Nextel Cup race days during our off season.
The Race Chasers 2005 schedule is up on our website, so be sure to say hi to us if you see us at the races this summer!
In other news, you can add another to the list of teenaged drivers from Ontario who are racing in major US-based series this season. Mike Lichty, the 2004 ISMA Supermodified rookie of the year, will compete in all the rest of the USAC Silver Crown series events on pavement this season, starting June 24/25 at the Richmond International Raceway in Virginia. It will be a big weekend of racing at the unique ¾ mile oval, headlined by the Indy Racing League event under the lights on the Saturday night, preceded by the Silver Crown event, and a USAC National Sprint Car series event on the Friday night in which yet another Ontario teenager, Ryan Litt, will be competing.
The Silver Crown car is a new venture not just for Mike, but also the PATCO-Lucas Oil team owned and operated by Mike’s father Brad. The team has fielded Supermodifieds on the ISMA circuit for many years, with Brad and 2001 ISMA Champion Dave McKnight doing the driving up until last season, when Brad stepped aside and Mike took over in the #84. The team will continue to field Supers full time on the ISMA circuit, and Mike has his sights set squarely on winning the championship this year, after a strong 6th place finish in points last season. The other pavement Silver Crown events on the schedule this year are at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado, and the venerable Milwaukee Mile.
Lichty apparently would also like to get together with versatile Burlington, Ontario driver Ryan Coniam to run a dirt 360 sprint car at the end of this season. This is pure speculation on my part, but I wouldn’t rule out seeing Mike, and possibly Coniam himself, competing in the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals in September, especially Mike since there are no ISMA or Silver Crown events scheduled that weekend, and the Ohsweken Speedway is virtually in his own backyard. Coniam of course is a former SOS competitor who has won at Ohsweken, and has three SOS wins on his resume, as well as four more from his time with the Empire Super Sprints series.
“Odds and Ends”
…2004 SOS Rookie of the Year Jack Pillon announced informally a couple of weeks ago on the Dual Airbags talk show that plans are in place for the Belle River, Ontario teenager to run for the 2006 World of Outlaws rookie of the year title. This year Jack will not follow any particular tour, instead hitting as many sprint shows in his area as possible, both in the 360 and the 410 divisions. Jack made his World of Outlaws debut in February at the Volusia Speedway Park in Florida. Look for him to be racing at the famed Eldora Speedway when the World of Outlaws make their first stop of the year there this weekend…
…Ryan Litt’s “outdoor” racing season gets going this coming Sunday afternoon at the Anderson Speedway, Anderson, Indiana, in what is now the USAC National Sprint Car series season opener, due to the rainout of the scheduled season opener this past weekend at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Ohio. Ryan won his first ever USAC-sanctioned feature at the high-banked paved ¼ mile at Anderson last season in a Ford Focus Midget car. Three out of Ryan’s first four scheduled pavement sprint car starts take place at the Anderson Speedway this season, with another 50 lapper scheduled for the Wednesday night during the week leading up to the Indianapolis 500, as well as the world-famous Little 500, which has taken place on the Saturday night before the Indy 500 every year since 1949. Ryan will also be competing in his #07 Beast chassis Sprint Car on the wicked fast and treacherous high banks of Winchester Speedway on April 24…
…The AVSS Sprint Car event at Flamboro Speedway now has a name attached to it. The night has been dubbed “Lucas Oil Fenderless Fury” and will feature an all-open wheel four division program. Along with the headlining AVSS 410 winged sprints will be the Can-Am TQ Midgets, (which are really more like miniature Supermodifieds than traditional Midgets), the Canadian Vintage Modifieds (aka Hobby Cars), and a class that is unfamiliar to me – “F4 Modifieds”. Both Can-Am and CVM have new title sponsorship deals with Lucas Oil, a company which has pumped a lot of sponsorship money into grass roots racing in Ontario as of late, mostly on the pavement side of things, including the year old title sponsorship deal at Flamboro, which is officially known as Lucas Oil Flamboro Speedway…
…The Cayuga Smallblock SuperModifieds rule book was released recently and is posted for all to see on the Cayuga Speedway website. “Demonstration” events will be run this season at all Cayuga events, and possibly at some other area racetracks. Track/series owner Garry Evans said in an interview recently on the Dual Airbags show that a well known track in Ohio may be interested in running the same class and rules next season. Obviously he cannot name the track yet, but rumour is the Mansfield Speedway is the track in question…
Well, that’s all I’ve got this time. My next column will be the second annual installment of “Canadians on the Move” – a look at noteworthy Canadian open wheel racers both here at home, and abroad. As always, I can be contacted via the e-mail link on www.TheRaceChasers.com, or on the Togo’s Corner message forum on www.InsideCanadianRacing.com. There is officially less than a month until Sprint Car season begins in Southern Ontario, with the Patriot Sprint Group invading Ohsweken Speedway on May 6, and the long off-season will finally come to an end at long last. I can hardly wait…