A Note From Bobby G.-Each month supermodified driver Bob Bogwicz will be contributing a column dealing with the technical aspects of the supermodified division.  He is also a monthly guest on Wailing with Wing Side Up and you will be able to hear it before you read it.  Please feel free to comment or ask Bob further questions either here or when you Hit the Wailbag.  If there’s anything in particular that you would like to hear him talk about on the show, we encourage you to let us know.

Wing Side Up Tech Talk with The Bogwan 2/15/2010

by Bob Bogwicz

The last time I was on Bobby G’s Wailing With The Wing Side Up the show was called “Gimpfest” as Bobby’s guests were supermodified drivers who suffered serious injuries behind the wheel of a supermodified. Thus, one of the main topic of discussion was how to make supers safer.

Growing up, I was a big fan of Nolan Swift mainly because his cars all looked cool (especially the ’72 version) and he built a new, cool one every year. Swifts most famous quote was “the race is won in the garage”. These words ring true, not only for winning but for safety as well.

With all the devastating injuries to my fellow drivers, I felt I needed to step up my safety program. That program starts right in my shop in the middle of a western NY winter. Continue reading →

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photo by naiadssspring of Flickr Free License Pool

For those of you that know me pretty well, you know how superstitious I can be.  I hate the number 13, I can’t stand the color green, black cats crossing the path, or peanuts in the pits. I hold my breath whenever I drive past a cemetary, I believe in putting my shoes on the same way every time, pictures of race car drivers and racing tee shirts will never be laid, hung, or otherwise displayed upside down. These things and more all come under the category of “How Bobby G. is Superstitious.”

I know a good many supermodified drivers who have their own quirks similar to mine that help keep them confident as they take to the track or give them that extra amount of assurance that everything will work out well once they hit the track.

I would suppose that to some, it’s pure folly to think that a color, a number, or a date can dictate the outcome of any particular matter, and in nearly all cases for me personally, as I do my best to put my faith in God, this mentality comes in direct conflict with what I’ve been taught about none of us being able to dictate the outcomes of our lives.

The last several months have been trying for me personally as I struggle to keep this website and radio show going.  Lack of advertising, constant technical glitches, changing of staff, and the inability to pay for a way to consistently and effectively communicate with the staff, potential guests, and fans has all contributed to me being all the more aware of looking for a good luck charm, but all I keep seeming to see is the number 13 and whole lots of green, and trust me that green is NOT of the kind that this project needs.

Continue reading →

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photo by gesika22 of Flickr Free License Pool

Oswego, NY 01.18.10…..It’s the first post of a new year and the first ‘column’ of 2010.  It’s taken me a while to get the bio rhythms back in sync after my extended Midwestern stay, and frankly, I’ve been enjoying the slacker mentality a little more than I probably should have.

I thought maybe I should pull the bootstraps tight, (hypothetically speaking because quite literally they’ve been pulled tight a whole lot since I got back to the O owing to the fact that the snow machine has kicked in here), and get back at keeping this blog and the website content fresh for all of you folks.

I have to say, even though I’ve been off duty or somewhat behind the curve, the supermodified division has been producing it’s fair share of scuttlebutt and there’s plenty of juicy rumors floating around.  Frankly, I’ve been left out of the loop on a few of them and I’ve been scooped by several other writers.  Continue reading →

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It was only supposed to be a short overnight stop on the way back to Oswego, but it has turned into another extended stay with friends from the world of supermodified racing.

“Hey, we’re going to be rolling through Sandusky around 3pm the day after Christmas and I thought maybe we could hang out for a while on the way home,” was how I began the conversation with Gene Lee Gibson on Christmas Eve.

“Yeah, come on over, I’ll let Cindy know, you can stay as long as you want,” he replied.

And so I left my family in Goshen, IN, one more time and began a leisurely drive across US 20 to Toledo where I planned to pick up RT 2.  I’ve become very familiar with the back routes to a destination, this owed in large part to the fact that it’s a heck of a lot cheaper to stay off of the Turnpike, Throughway, Toll Road or any of the other main thoroughfares that you have to pay to use.  It maybe a little risky this time of the year to attempt taking a two lane highway but I don’t often shy away from adventure and I figure that at the very least that I may very well find some interesting things to see. Continue reading →

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I’ve been doing a whole lot of soul searching lately and the things I am finding as I dig deeper, are beginning to push me towards the consumption of larger amounts of PBR . This sort of thing generally happens as I approach my birthday, celebrate it, then come to the realization that I have chalked up another year of debt, missed goals, aches, pains, and irritations, (including those which bring forth the use of Anti-Monkey Butt Powder), only to find myself just as uncertain of my future as I was the year before.

This most recent head first dive into the depths of post birthday depression actually got into full swing on the day of my birth a few weeks back.  I was given the news that, effective immediately, my producer and program director would no longer be interested in continuing their involvement with Wailing with Wing Side Up.  There’s a lot of different reasons for this, some of which are justified on their part, some of which I believe were motivated by the desire for something more than I could give them at this time-namely cash.

Either way, what’s done is done, and even though it wasn’t a very nice way to celebrate, I attempted to do damage control the best way I know how-call Annamarie.  It certainly isn’t the first time we’ve been faced with this issue of having what I would call growing pains.  Several times now, (and many more times in the future I’m sure), there have been some pretty big roadblocks thrown up for which a long, tedious, and treacherous detour was required.  With all the road miles I rack up in a year chasing supermodifieds, I encounter many detours, but let me tell you, this latest one, (and I hate to admit it for fear of giving some people a chance to gloat over my distress), was one of the bumpiest, twisted, and longest yet.

I’ve always prided myself on digging in and getting to the task of ‘fixing’ things.  The more people tell me it can’t be done, or attempt to derail my plans and dreams, the more I set my sites on proving them wrong.  I’m not sure if that’s a  good cause for motivation or not, but at the very least, it moves me to action. Continue reading →

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