Wing Side Up
By Bob Gangwer
(Reprinted from MARC Times Racing News)
8/20/01, Goshen, IN…The ISMA troops invaded New England for the second time this year and in keeping with the theme, two natives took home the cash. Russ Wood was the victor in the 75 lapper at Lee and Mike Ordway in the Booth 61 took home the cash in the first annual Maine Classic 100 at Oxford Plains.
The car counts were bolstered by as they usually are by New England supers and ISMA had 30 at both shows.
Oswego ran their popular Twin 30s and the fans gave a rousing cheer for first time winner Otto Sitterly in the first one, while fan favorite Todd Stowell pulled to within 81 points of point leader Greg Furlong by taking the second. It’s almost a given that Furlong will win the Championship this year again as pretty much all he has to do is show up. The O had 25 supers in the pits.
The SRL ran is Washington with Mike Baisch taking the win at Tri-Cities in his sprint car and Troy Regier winning at the Super Oval at Wenatchee. From all reports we hear the car count hovered around 10.
SuperShorts: The Classic cauldron has begun to boil concerning what drivers will be in what cars on that coveted weekend. So far this is what we’re hearing: Johnny Payne will be in the second Joey Hawksby “Deuce” for Classic while he will run his PMS #67 for the SuperNationals. We talked to “Jerky” just after he had come back from Oswego where he had run the car for the first time on “Nostalgia Night”. “I enjoyed it,” started Payne. “It’s a lot different driving a non-wing car. You can’t just get into the corner and dump it you have to be smooth and go easy on the throttle.” We asked how this deal came about and Johnny replied, “Well, we started talking about it when I had my benefit up there, (held in Oswego to race money for the season), and we’ve just stayed in touch and this is what happened.” Johnny made the feature by the skin of his Jersey teeth but fell out of the race at the start with a sticking throttle. Even so, he feels that the mission was accomplished, “I felt real comfortable in the car and I think that if we keep it clean, we have a top 5 car. Joe, Sr. and I talked before the feature and we both felt that this was just a test and we were there to get me comfortable and ready for Classic, so with the throttle sticking, I figured I better pull it in instead of stuffing it in the wall.” Prudence like that may prove to be Johnny’s best virtue if he keeps it by his side for 200 laps.
As is so common in the waning weeks of the short Oswego season, many out of town teams have been making the tow to the Port City to prepare for Classic Weekend. Eric Lewis in his former Dunigan owned #28 made an appearance on the 11th, and Tom Gonczi, (who has been conspicuously absent from his normal Ohio stomping grounds this year), has been up to the O twice this year including last weekend for the Twins. If our ever increasingly lax memory serves us, we remember Tom telling us either last year or the year before that he purchased a Mike Muldoon car with the idea of racing at Oswego for the big shows. Seems Tom is finally in the position to put this plan in place and we look forward to seeing him in action again.
Dave Shullick, Jr also has made a couple appearances in the Kovacs #38. This last weekend didn’t prove to be as successful as hoped for the young driver as he crashed the car at the end of warm ups and although the very capable crew got the car put back together for the features, he didn’t fare too well. His learning curve has been slightly more steep than that of his famed father at this track, but we don’t doubt that his sheer ability coupled with a winner’s attitude will help him come Labor Day weekend.
Another Buckeye making his presence known once more at the O is Gene Lee Gibson. For many year’s Gibson was a name that was synonymous with victory at Oswego but in the last decade, the track that was once called “home” by the Richwood, Ohio family, has become less of a Saturday night destination and even less of one where victory lane is frequented. This may all change Classic Weekend. After coming so close to winning his third Sandusky Nationals in July, Gene Lee seems to be filled with new fervor whenever he straps into the Kovacs #7. Running 12th and 6th respectively in the Twin 30s, Gibson is pleased with some of the changes made by Dave May after Sandusky. “After Sandusky, as good as we did, and then with some changes we made, I think we’re going to do ok,” stated Gene Lee. Gibson has possibly his best chance yet to win since sitting behind the wheel of the Graves house car in 1987. Following in the Gibson tradition infamously and unfortunately set down by his father Todd; Gene’s luck is not always the best on the big weekend. Many years he was the innocent victim of lapped traffic or unavoidable crashes that took him out while running in contention for a top 5 finish. If ever there was a driver who wanted to win the Classic, it has to be Gibson. This year his desire is fueled by the knowledge that one of his long time supporters and very close friends, engine builder Bill Port is very sick with cancer and won’t be able to attend. Gene simply said this; “I’m going to do everything I can to win Classic for Bill.”
On the opposite end of the spectrum is a couple of drivers that one would easily pick for top 5 finishes when playing the online racing pool, Virtual Thunder. Dunigan drivers Joe Gosek and Russ Wood will find themselves in unfamiliar territory after Saturday nights SuperNationals. Team patriarch Paul Dunigan has decided that, after coming within 1 lap last year of winning the Classic and tying Jimmy Shampine’s record of lap lead, he will be keeping the Brian Allegreso wrenched supers in the trailer. Gosek has secured a ride in a super with a proven pedigree. Jeff Holbrook will loan out one of his cars and it just happens to be the one that Davey Hamilton won the 1997 Classic in when it was owned by Mike Muldoon. For his part, Gosek will be using one of his own engines. This still leaves Russ Wood in the woods searching for a ride. All may not be lost though as the rumor mill is abuzz as it slices through the forest looking at possible eligible cars suitable to Wood’s talent, and we hear he just may have a very good one.
As much as Russ in the woods searching for a ride, Joey Payne is trudging through “toxic waste land” hoping to dig something up. The “Jersey Jet” will not run the Boisvert #66 for the 200 because of some conflicts over body style and has nearly exhausted the pool of possibilities out there. One may think that he would turn to the guy that fielded cars for him last year, George Brothers. He has, but George has sold one of the cars and the other is in pieces on the garage floor as George concentrates his energy on his contracting service and his family. We have to believe though that the “Jet” will turn something up as tenacious as he is.
Hey that’s it we gotta run. Catch us online at http://wingsideup.com, email us at wingsideup@yahoo.com, or be old fashioned and send a nice letter to us.
Back to the grind this week as we’re slingin hash for the co-eds and trying to help them understand what it means to “Keep It Wing Side Up and Wheels to the Ground.”
The End
Popularity: 1% [?]