Virginia Motor Speedway, Williams Grove, and Can Am. (3/4/5 May 2007)

036_36 (Medium)RICK @ the RACES ( 3 / 4 / 5 May 2007)

Thurs 3 May   Virginia Motor Speedway , Jamaica, Va.

Fri 4 May        Williams Grove Speedway, Mechanicsburg, PA

Sat  5 May       Can Am Speedway, Lafargeville, NY.

When it was announced that the Virginia Motor Speedway was to be included on the 2007 schedule for the Big Block Modified SUPER DIRT SERIES , I just knew I wanted to be there, so a  ‘mini-tour’ was arranged.

I was joined by my buddy, Roger Aubin,  A DIRT racing fan of many years, and a relative to DIRT ‘Hall of Famer’ , Marcel Lafrance. ( brother in law).

DAY ONE

We decided to use Roger’s Ford Escape, and because the Virginia race was a twelve hour drive from Eastern Ontario, and scheduled for Thursday May 3, we set off on the Wednesday.

We left Maxville. Ontario ,  mid morning and by by about 8-00pm we had booked in to a Motel at Shippensburg PA. ( there`s a track at Shippensburg but unfortunately nothing was running that night).

We took this route ( I 81 to Winchester Va. and Hwy 17) in favor of going , Baltimore and Washington DC, so we’d avoid the busy Beltway and the usual early evening traffic snarl ups. It’s a handy by-pass I remembered from the days when I was trucking down that way.

We settled in at the Motel in good time to watch the Ottawa Senators beat the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup (NHL) playoffs on TV .

GO SENS GO !

DAY TWO

From Shippensburg we traveled a bit further down I 81 until we picked up Hwy 17 that took us via Fredricksburg, and on to Jamaica Va. where the speedway is located. 12299116_1020069808032877_8339034897570199782_n

The weather had been fine on the journey down, but as we got within 30 minutes of the track it started to rain. On our arrival , soon after mid day, it was still drizzling, and the large puddles on the ground indicated, they’d had a good downpour before we got there. I must admit, this was very worrying and I had visions of another ‘rain out’ and a long wasted journey. 062_62 (Medium) 064_64 (Medium)

We were there early enough to drive the Rogers Escape,  around the pits, where already a few haulers were parked. The first people we came across were regular Lebanon Valley racer, Wayne Jelley and DIRT official Gary Spaid, who jokingly remarked that it was ‘us’ that had brought the wet weather down from Canada ! 074_74 (Medium)072_72 (Medium) 068_68 (Medium) 065_65 (Medium) 067_67 (Medium)We took a wander around the facility, and it soon became obvious we were at one of the best appointed dirt racing speedways I’d ever seen. The track was immaculately groomed red clay, and the buildings , fencing and aluminum grandstands were all new. The track is now owned by Bill Sawyer, who after recently selling his Richmond International Speedway to NASCAR , now concentrates his promoting activities on the nearby dirt track.

Me and Boris Rudzinski
Me and Boris Rudzinski

Our early arrival left plenty of time to socialize and gave me a good chance to chat with another traveling photographer, Boris Rudzinski , from the Middletown area of New York.

Luckily the drizzle stopped and with things starting to look good for the evenings racing, my tent was erected in the camping area, and a cold beer came out of the cooler .

Prior to the nights racing I joined Tom Skibinski, head of DIRT NE. Media on another tour of the pits, where we chatted to various drivers , including, NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Kenny Wallace who was guest driving one of the H & H Motorsports Troyers # 98 in the SUPER DIRT Modified race. 082_82 (Medium) 081_81 (Medium) 078_78 (Medium) 080_80 (Medium) 026_26 (Medium)As Tom talked, I took the ‘head and shoulders’ mug shots of the drivers wearing the sponsors ball cap. There is a great interview with Tom and Ken on the Super Dirt Series Website.086_86 (Medium)085_85 (Medium)

He, along with fellow Nextel Cup driver Kenny Schrader were driving in the Late Model division, that was complimenting the big SDS race. 083_83 (Medium) 093_93 (Medium) 094_94 (Medium) 095_95 (Medium)Wallace wasn’t the only one doing double duty, others included, Tim Mc Cready, Billy Decker, Tim Fuller and Vic Coffey.

104_104 (Medium)The Late Model Feature took place first, and proved to be very entertaining stuff, with pole sitter and eventual winner, McCready of Watertown NY fending off serious challenges throughout from Rick Eckert, Jeremy Miller and Jason Covert.019_19 (Medium)After the on track re-drawer with Ms Dirt Chelsea Miller , and  driver introductions, the big race I’d come to see was ready to take place.009_9 (Medium) 012_12 (Medium) 011_11 (Medium)
003_3 (Medium) 119_119 (Medium) 120_120 (Medium)032_32 (Medium)Dale Planck led for the first thirteen laps of the Paul Sawyer Memorial SDS race, until passed by the ‘flying doctor’ Danny Johnson of Rochester NY. In the closing stages Mat Shepherd came through to challenge, but once again it was Johnson at the front when the checkers fell, making it a ‘double wammy’ for the New York drivers.034_34 (Medium) 040_40 (Medium)

The racing finished soon after midnight, when it was time for another cold one, and some ‘shut eye’

The Virginia Motor Speedway became my 160th track on my ‘TRACKCHASIN’ totals

DAY THREE

Following the SUPER DIRT SERIES race at the Virginia Motor Speedway on Thursday, and a night under canvas, I woke to a bright and sunny Friday.

The next stop on our ‘TRI STATE TOUR’ was just over 200 miles away, but in a homeward direction. The destination was the historic Williams Grove Speedway at Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

This time we chose to go via Washington DC. and after stopping for a buffet lunch at Thurmont in Maryland, we arrived at the speedway in the middle of the afternoon.

046_46 (Large)Williams Grove is one of those famous speedways, that I’d heard a lot about, and at last I was there. One unusual feature about the place, is that spectating is possible from , not only the outside straights, but the center too. 053_53 (Large) 056_56 (Large)This is made possible, by a bridge across the track on the back straight and a tunnel underneath the beginning of turn one. The event we were attending was just a regular Friday night show for Sprint cars, but it attracted a massive enthusiastic crowd. 069_69 059_59 (Large) 057_57 (Large) 061_61 (Large)05062007cAnyone who knows me, will confirm, I’m not a big fan of Sprint Car racing but, I keep an open mind, and try to see a few events each year. Some of the big names present that I was familiar with, were 048_48 (Large) 049_49 (Large) 051_51 (Large)05062007bFast” Freddy Rahmer, Lance Dewease and Steve Smith, but it was Don Kreitz Jnr that won the feature. The racing was over by around 11-00pm and was followed by another night under canvas.

WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY became my 161st track on my ‘TRACKCHASIN’ totals

DAY FOUR

On Saturday morning it was time to head home towards Canada, and our plans were to drop into a New York track ‘somewhere’ along the way, depending on where we were at ‘start time’. ( possibilities, were Five Mile Point Speedway, Skyline Speedway , Fulton Speedway or the Can Am Speedway ) . As things worked out, we made pretty good time, and reached Can Am which is situated just 20 minutes from the Canadian border around 5-00pm. The out-come proved to be a good one, because although this was just a regular night of racing there was a large turnout of over ninety cars which included thirty DIRT MODIFIEDS. 082_82 (Small) 079_79 (Small) 087_87 (Small)

Of that thirty, there was an abundance of the sports top drivers, nine of which had been at the SUPER DIRT SERIES race in Virginia two nights ago. These were Billy Decker, Pat Ward, Billy Dunn, Ryan Bartlett, Justin Haers, Gary Tomkins, Tim Fuller, Danny Johnson and Vic Coffey. There were two twin twenty features which were both won by Coffey. 102_102 (Small) 05062007fThe last of the two ‘twins’ had to come under the red flags twice, with two separate crashes involving rollovers for Fuller and Kyle Dingwall. 115_115 (Small)116_116 (Small)Luckily no one was hurt but their cars, including the others involved looked very worse for ware. 108_108 (Small)The DIRT SPORTSMAN feature was once again won by Chris Higgins ( he won the opener) and the Street Stox victor was Tiger Chapman.100_100 (Small)

We didn’t stay for the IMCA Modified Feature, as we were on our way back to Maxville and I arrived home just after midnight to end my ‘TRI STATE TOUR’.

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