“Wolverine Invasion”
It is unfortunate in many ways that they’re running head to head against each other in the same area on the same weekend, but it does provide some choice for the open wheel fans of Southern Ontario, which is something that doesn’t happen very often. At one time, a weekend like this never would have been possible for a number of reasons. Chief among those reasons is the fact that the two touring groups were, until about 10 years ago, together as just one series. It used a 410ci engine formula and, at certain times during its existence, raced on both dirt and paved ovals. The tour itself began as the Sprints On Dirt in 1980, and survived some eventful and tumultuous times until the late 90’s when some stability was finally found. In 1996 the AVSS tour broke away as a 410ci pavement-only series and SOD became a 360ci dirt-only series, although the first few years after the split were tough for both, especially SOD.
Unlike most series which go their separate ways, this split has actually created two good, relatively healthy touring sprint car groups in the state of Michigan. There are a handful of drivers who compete on a part time basis with both tours, but in large part the two groups operate independently of one another, and all but ignore the other’s existence in fact.
So, now that we’ve had a short history lesson, let’s have a look at our options for this weekend…
Friday, August, 26:
The AVSS tour has been to Ontario before, but never to Peterborough’s Kawartha Speedway. In years past the track has played host to the ISMA Supermodified tour, but this year they’ve decided to go with the AVSS as their open wheel fare. Kawartha is probably the furthest East the tour has ever traveled, and it will be interesting to see how many teams and cars make the trip. There was some groaning and grumbling early on, but there will be increased tow money for the Canadian events, and the Saturday night show at Flamboro should help to make the trip over the border worthwhile. Having never seen the Kawartha Speedway, except on TV, I’m perhaps not as qualified to offer a preview for the night, but I have been told that it’s a nice little 3/8’s mile track with a good bit of room to race. The fan amenities are some of the best of any auto racing venue in Ontario because of the fact that the track is situated on the inside of the Kawartha Downs horse racing track, which features a restaurant, bar, and all those other goodies.
As far as on track action, nobody can hold a candle to teenage phenom Cameron Dodson this season. Not far removed from his 17th birthday, Dodson is well on his way to winning not only the rookie of the year title, but also the AVSS championship as well. Out of 13 AVSS features contested this season, the Indiana driver has won 9 of them, and set a ton of track records as well. Even if Cameron weren’t there, I would expect a new track record at Kawartha, but with him there, there’s a pretty good chance a track record will be set that nobody will touch for a long, long time. I’m not sure what kinds of lap times the ISMA supers have run at Kawartha, but for those who have seen ISMA there, the sprint cars will be just as fast, if not faster due to their softer tires and lighter cars.
Two “local” favourites will be in the field, both from the London area. Mike Ling from Mount Brydges is a veteran of the AVSS tour, while Ryan Litt from Lyons is a rookie, and has run only selected events this season in order to keep his rookie status intact for a run at the rookie of the year title next season. Ling is coming off a 3rd place finish at the Kalamazoo Speedway this past weekend and has had a consistent season, though not spectacular, which has him positioned 5th in the points going into this weekend.
Litt, meanwhile, is coming off 3 bad outings in which a crash and some mechanical problems have plagued the team. With a freshened engine they’re looking to turn things around this weekend, and could be a car to watch. In only his 3rd start with a wing on, Ryan finished 2nd at the Berlin Raceway back in June.
Tommy Fedewa (Tim’s cousin), Jason Blonde, Dorman Snyder, and a host of other strong cars could also be found up front. Some may remember that Dorman Snyder won a wild feature back in May at the Delaware Speedway, the last time the AVSS was in Ontario.
SOD hasn’t been in Ontario since June when only 2 of the tour regulars were in the field at the South Buxton Raceway for the Southern Ontario Sprints half of the SOS/SOD Can-Am Challenge events. Before that, an SOD sanctioned event at South Buxton in May was rained out. Friday night at Ohsweken is going to be an interesting and significant show for a variety of reasons. It is the second (SOD) half of the SOS/SOD Can-Am Challenge, part of the “Canadian Wilderness Tour” point fund, and the final qualifier for the Ohsweken Shootout in September.
It’s also the last sprint car event scheduled at Ohsweken before the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals, and therefore one last chance for teams and drivers to feel out the Speedway before the big show. With all of the area sprint car clubs - ESS, SOS, and PSG - off for the weekend, and a relatively open format which doesn’t penalize those who don’t follow the whole tour, a large field could and should be there – my guess is somewhere between 30 and 40 cars. Michigan’s Dustin Daggett has to be considered a favourite if he shows up, as he has won the feature both times he’s been to Ohsweken before. However, any number of drivers are capable of winning at the Brantford-area oval, which has a bit of a history of producing unpredictable results and first time winners.
Rumour has it 2004 SOS champ Cody Geldart may be in the field at Ohsweken this weekend. The All Star Circuit of Champions series which Cody has graduated to this season has the weekend off and it may be Cody’s only chance to race at what is essentially his home track this season as the All Stars are scheduled to compete in their annual events at Lawrenceburg, Indiana on the weekend of the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals at Ohsweken.
Saturday, August 27:
Saturday will find the AVSS tour further West, at the Flamboro Speedway near Hamilton. The Sprint Cars made their one and only appearance at the historic 1/3 mile back in 2002, with Bill Tyler (Brian’s Dad) taking the feature win. Flamboro is one of the most historic and important open wheel racing venues in Ontario and perhaps the rest of Canada as well. Its origins date back to the 60’s when Supermodified legends like Harvey Lennox, Jack Greedy, Norm Mackereth, and Warren Coniam went wheel to wheel every week.
The track is a tight, paperclip-shaped track where drivers will be working hard for every inch of real estate available. Time trials and especially the inversion will be very important – This is one place even Cameron Dodson will probably have trouble working his way up from midfield. The fastest driver in time trials draws for inversion and can end up starting as far back as 10th if the luck doesn’t go his/her way. On the other hand, Dodson has been known to invent new grooves nobody else seems to run at a lot of tracks, so it’ll be fun to watch him try things out at Flamboro if he does end up mid-pack.
Indiana’s Rick Baker owns the AVSS track record at Flamboro for now at 13.89 seconds, but I won’t be surprised at all if Dodson, and perhaps a couple of others, take that down at least a few notches. In fact, I’m pretty much expecting that to happen, and having seen what he’s done at a few other places this year, it wouldn’t surprise me if Dodson runs a lap in the low 13 second or high 12 second bracket.
One especially neat aspect of this event is that it’s sort of an all open wheel racing card. Joining the AVSS on the bill are the very fast and very competitive Can-Am Midgets, the Canadian Vintage Modifieds (also known as Hobby Cars, depending on how old you are), and F4 Modifieds, which are interesting looking 4 cylinder powered cars. For $15, it’s a pretty good bang for your racing buck.
The SOD tour, meanwhile, heads even further West and South on Saturday night to the South Buxton Raceway near Chatham. The track crew and owners continue to improve the facility and track conditions slowly and steadily, and their efforts have not gone unnoticed. It was interesting to hear an ad for the Raceway on a local radio station here in London recently as promotion of short tracks in mainstream media has always been severely lacking around here. Quite a few sprint car teams are from the surrounding area of South Buxton, and they generally seem to have a bit of a home track advantage at this unique D-shaped oval, although Jim Porter from Grand Island, NY did take home feature win honours the last time the Southern Ontario Sprints visited Buxton in July.
Kyle Patrick from nearby Tilbury could be a favourite to win, as the 2003 SOS Rookie of the Year sits 4th in SOD points this season and is coming off a strong run at the I-96 Speedway this past weekend. Another possible favourite is Ridgetown’s Adam West, who is leading the SOS points standings and has finally broken through with the first two feature wins of his career this season. John Reigling, whose shop is just a scant few miles from the track, could also be strong, but he hurt an engine earlier this season and hasn’t run very well since.
It’s tough to pick any favourites out of the traveling drivers from Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana at either Ohsweken or South Buxton because we don’t really know which ones will and won’t be coming over the border for the weekend. The final two events of the season for the NRA Sprint Invaders are coming up this weekend in Ohio, and some drivers may decide to attend those instead, depending on their points position. Rest assured there will be good car counts and competition at both events regardless.
“Odds n’ Ends”
…Cody Geldart became the second SOS graduate this year to win an All Star Circuit of Champions feature at the Thunder Hill Speedway in Kansas last week, joining Ryan Coniam, who won at Lernerville, Pennsylvania in June. It was Cody’s first ever win in a 410 sprint car. This past weekend Cody made an impressive charge from 11th to 2nd during the A feature of the Full Throttle Nationals at I-96 Speedway in Michigan, which was perhaps the biggest 360 sprint car event ever in the state of Michigan, and featured one of the most competitive 360 fields ever assembled in Michigan as well…
…The number of pre-entries for the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals is at a healthy 57 and climbing, easily making it one of the biggest sprint car events ever held in Ontario, if not all of Canada. Believe it or not there are quite a few teams which won’t pre-enter and will simply show up the day of the race. I thought I was being slightly optimistic with my prediction of 60-80 cars come race day, but apparently I was pretty much bang-on…
…A couple of big sprint car events in the Canadian West this week (and last):
Victoria, BC’s Western Speedway held its 43rd annual Daffodil Cup event last Saturday, with 3 time WILROC Sprint Car champ Jeff Montgomery taking the feature win. The event was sanctioned by the ASA Northwest Sprint Car Series, formerly known as the Northwest Sprintcar Racing Association (NSRA). The WILROC series is Canada’s only pavement sprint car series…
Meanwhile a bit further East in Edmonton, the 52nd running of the Gold Cup will go this weekend, with an Alberta Sprint Tour event on Friday and the big $5,000 to win show on Saturday at the Budweiser Motorsports Park. The event has its roots at another now defunct pavement venue and originally began as a Supermodified race, but it is still rich in tradition and history and generally pulls in cars from some pretty distant places like Washington State and Montana…
Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. I must apologize for taking as long as I have to sit back down in front of the computer to write something. A few of you have sent e-mails asking what happened to me and I’d like to thank those who did for their kind words and interest. See you at the races!