"Heard it Through the Grapevine"
Let’s start with what we know for sure: It appears there may be life in the idea of a limited Supermodified class in Ontario after all. After the POWER series went defunct without holding a single event this spring, I didn’t give the idea much more thought. However, a racer by the name of Gary Brooks, and long time supermodified/sprint car competitor and Cayuga Speedway owner Garry Evans are reviving the idea, albeit with somewhat more sensible rules and specifications. From the original idea, the crate engines will remain, but the big difference is that the new series, called the Cayuga Smallblock SuperModified Series, will feature real, honest to goodness Supermodified chassis and specifications. Brooks recently tested his car, a 1985 Belfiore chassis, at Cayuga with a worn out engine out of his street stock and a fixed sprint car wing. He was able to run laps in the 19-second bracket, over 120mph average on the big 5/8’s mile. He says that with a little tweaking, getting into the 18’s could be possible. By comparison, the CSSM’s “big brother”, a fuel injected big block ISMA Super with a dual or triple element variable aspect ratio wing, is capable of laps around 16.9-17.0 seconds at Cayuga, so these ‘limited’ Supers definitely will not be slow. In fact, these cars will be the fastest division at the track other than the ISMA cars. Right now the plan is to run some exhibition events next season, and then run as a full-fledged division at every event at Cayuga in 2006.
After bleak outlooks around this time last year, this season has brought heartwarming news for short track fans in Ontario, with the announcements back in the spring that South Buxton Raceway was sold, and Kawartha Speedway was re-opening after being shut down by noise bylaws. More recently, Barrie Speedway has undergone a significant renovation project. Now we’ve learned that Gasport Speedway is reopening after what was basically a one-year hiatus. The speedway, located near Port Colborne, Ontario has been sold to DIRT Sportsman racer Dennis Giancola, and Pete and Linda Cosco. The new owners have decided to change the name of the historic speedway back to “Humberstone Speedway”, as it was known from Opening Day 1957, until 1990 when the track was bought by the Wagner family and renamed Gasport. Other plans for the track include bringing in hundreds of truckloads of new dirt to put banking back in the corners, and the mandated use of one-way radios in all divisions next season. Work on the track has already begun in fact, as area residents have reported seeing workers and dump trucks moving about the facility. Photos of the work have also been posted on the New Humberstone Speedway website, www.humberstonespeedway.com . The plan calls for 4 divisions; Mini Stocks, Street Stocks, Outlaw Stocks, and the DIRT Sportsman Modifieds; and the track will remain under the DIRT sanctioning banner. The DIRT Sportsman Tour will return in 2005, along with what are for now being termed as “many surprises”. In 2003, the Southern Ontario Sprints and Patriot Sprint Group both held events at Gasport/Humberstone, so a couple of sprint car shows might not be out of the question when ruminating on what some of the “many surprises” could be.
In other news, there is definite interest in indoor racing during the winter here in London. In recent years, the building which is being considered, commonly known as the London Gardens, has been known as the London Ice House, and is formerly the home of the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights. When the Knights left for their new digs at the John Labatt Centre in downtown London, the building was purchased and converted to an indoor motocross racing facility named the London Motorplex, but the idea didn’t take off and the building has essentially sat unused for the better part of the last two years. Here is a quote from the Can-Am Midget Racing Club’s website regarding the plans for this winter;
“Indoor Racing
There is an opportunity to put an Indoor (TQ Midget) Racing Series together similar to the series that ran in Niagara Falls, NY by Harry Macy. This series is to be based out of the London Gardens in London, Ontario off the 401 at Wellington Rd. The dates, purses and costs etc. will be announced in the near future. Right now we need to find out if there is enough interest from both sides of the border to support the endeavour. If you or anyone you know is interested, please contact your club president and have your club submit a list and count of drivers interested and committed to racing what would likely be a 4 race series. There will likely be regular weekly or biweekly racing for other classes like 600’s, Sr & Jr Micros, go karts and Outlaws to name a few. We hope to have more details available soon and will post them accordingly. If you have any questions, please email us at IndoorRacingLon@aol.com attn: Patrick Wood
Thank you for your support”
Right now the people in charge of this plan are putting the bug in everybody’s ear in order to gauge the interest in and feasibility of the idea, so if any racers are reading this, and I know some of you who run these classes out at Wonderland and Ohsweken and some other places should be interested, get cracking and show your support!
At the ISMA Supermodified awards banquet, a “tentative” 2005 schedule was announced, which confirmed the rumours which have been floating around for awhile now; ISMA will definitely be back at Cayuga Speedway in ‘05. There will probably be an entirely Canadian race weekend, with events likely to take place Friday July 15 at Kawartha Speedway near Peterborough, and Saturday July 16 at Cayuga, so be sure to mark that weekend on your calendars! ISMA had been a staple at Cayuga since the track’s reopening, but was left off the schedule this season, which was a very quiet one at the Speedway. In fact, were it not for Kawartha’s hasty reopening and placement on the ISMA schedule, the world’s fastest short track racing cars would not have held a single event north of the border during this past season.
Moving on to the rumour mill, Delaware Speedway has been a hot topic of discussion. It has already been documented in previous columns that ownership changes have taken place recently and the remaining owners are looking into quote “trying some things that are a little more ambitious than in the recent past”. The results of these efforts have already shown themselves as Delaware has scheduled the ALSTAR Late Model Super Series for a date next summer. While this news may not have any direct effect on us open wheel fans and our plans for next season yet, it does prove Delaware’s willingness to try some new things, and get some other travelling series racing there besides just the ailing CASCAR series. Let’s hope some of those “new things” can include ISMA Supermodified and/or AVSS Sprint Car date(s) next year. There is also a good possibility that the Can-Am TQ Midgets could run at Delaware once or twice next season. The “miniature Supermodifieds” are scary fast on Delaware’s big half mile, and always put on a good show.
Another rumour, which just won’t go away, is the possibility of a big money sprint car race at Ohsweken Speedway. An announcement regarding this matter is expected around the end of this month or the beginning of next month, after the various conferences, meetings and trade shows take place. To draw a good field of cars, Ohsweken would need to run the big race on a different weekend than they did this year, so as not to conflict with Mercer, PA’s “Great Race”, which draws it’s car count from many of the same groups as would a big race at Ohsweken. If it all works out, there will be 3 big sprint car races in the Northeast in 3 consecutive weeks in September – Black Rock, NY’s Bully Hill Nationals, Mercer’s ‘Great Race’, and Ohsweken’s as yet unnamed big race. Stay tuned.
“Odds and Ends”
………. In other news from the ISMA banquet pertaining to us Canucks, London, Ontario’s Mark Sammut received the AJ Michaels Memorial Award, and Innerkip, Ontario’s Mike Lichty received the Randy Witkum Memorial ISMA Rookie of the Year award. Mark drove most of the season with a broken foot, but was rewarded for his perseverance with a fine 7th place finish in the points, while the 18 year old Lichty drove like a seasoned veteran all season and finished 6th in the points standings……..
……… In the CSSM press release, it has come to light that Cayuga intends to run a weekly racing program on Friday nights in ’06, which would put them in direct competition with nearby Ohsweken Speedway. This probably won’t have much of an effect on car counts at either track as one is dirt and the other paved, but fans will be forced to make a choice………
……..In other news on the Can-Am Midget front, it was announced at their annual awards banquet that longtime series sponsor Castrol would no longer be involved with the series. In Castrol’s place, Lucas Oil has come on board with what is termed as “increased support across the board and the security of a 3-year deal”………
Well that’s all for now. As always, I can be reached at www.TheRaceChasers.com . Comments and questions are welcome. See you at the races!