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Four Decades Later, Modifieds
Return to Thunder Road:
Vermont’s Jarvis
brothers will try to win for the “home” crowd
BARRE, VT – The True Value Modified Racing Series will
make its first appearance at Barre, VT’s Thunder Road
International Speedbowl on Sunday, May 25, at the
Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic.
It has been forty-three years since a fire-breathing,
open-wheeled modified stock car last roared around the
high banks at the “Nation’s Site of Excitement.”
Forty-three years ago, those same cars created quite a bit
of controversy.
May 30, 1965: The annual 30-lap Memorial Day Classic has
come to Thunder Road. For the first time in the track’s
six-year history, powerful overhead V8 Modifieds are
allowed to race weekly against the older flathead-powered
coupes of Thunder Road. Outsiders Ernie Reid and André
Manny have captured the first two events of the year,
dominating over Thunder Road favorites Harold “Hard Luck”
Hanaford, Chester T. Woods, Tony Colicchio, Ronnie Marvin,
and the famous Ingerson brothers of North Haverhill, NH.
Legendary hometown driver Colicchio has led every step of
the way, and is on the verge of becoming the first local
to beat the Modifieds. Four thousand Thunder Road faithful
are on their feet as Colicchio takes the white flag from
Chief Starter Bob Quinn, signifying the final circuit
around the tricky quarter-mile. French-speaking Jean-Paul
Cabana, the Canadian National Champion with racing
experience at places including the 2.5-mile Daytona Int’l
Speedway, pulls his #5A Modified up on Colicchio at the
start/finish line. The two begin a drag race around the
intimidating oval, and as Quinn stands on top of the
“Widowmaker” wall, checkered flag waving, Cabana squeezes
by to complete the pass. Just then, a huge pileup scatters
the rest of the field. Wrecked and out of options,
Hanaford jams his purple #30 into reverse gear, backing
across the finish line in third place.
Track officials consider reverting back to the last
complete lap run under green flag conditions to determine
the finishing order, meaning Colicchio would have been
declared the winner. However, a controversial call by
NASCAR, Thunder Road’s sanctioning body at the time, ruled
that since the two leaders had already taken the checkers,
the finish would be the running order on lap 30. Cabana
received the winner’s trophy in Victory Lane while
Colicchio and his disappointed hometown fans looked on as
the runners-up.
Cabana would win the next two events as well, one of them
another hometown heartbreaker as Barre’s Mike Osborne blew
an engine while leading on the final lap. Former National
Champion Dick Nephew took the final Modified
championship-points race on June 24 after Hanaford spun
again, this time finishing second backwards. Thunder Road
officials deemed that the Modified cars were too much for
the shut-out locals to keep up with, and banned them from
competition for the remainder of the year, save for an
additional event after the championship points became
final in September. Cabana, of course, won the race.
“Those Modifieds had so much power they’d blow right by us
on the straightaways, but they were heavier and couldn’t
make it through the corners like the flatheads,” recalls
Hanaford. “I never cared for ‘em back then. Those guys
used to use us flatheads as a brake going into the
corners. They’d never hit you hard, just enough to make
you move up the track so they could pass you. Nephew hit
me and drove through the infield to get by (to win the
final race in June). Nobody really minded when they
outlawed those cars at Thunder Road. Modifieds have
changed a lot since then, though, and I enjoy watching
them now. It really ought to be something to see ‘em fly
around Thunder Road.”
That 1965 season is more than four decades gone, and the
Modified scene has parted ways with most of the Vermont
fans that have continued to support their local heroes.
Those fans now have the chance to create new memories as
the ground-pounding machines of the True Value Modified
Racing Series roll into Thunder Road for a 100-lap
showdown on Sunday, May 25.
The 46th Annual Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic is
expected to bring an entirely new group of race drivers
and teams from across the region; drivers like three-time
TVMRS Champion Kirk Alexander of West Swanzey, NH,
Connecticut hard-chargers Les Hinckley and Eddie
Dachenhausen, Massachusetts stars Louie Mechalides and
Vinnie Annarummo, Maine’s Tony Ricci and David Pinkham,
and New Yorkers Johnny Bush and Kenny Vogel.
Included on that list is a pair of Vermonters, Ascutney
brothers Dwight and Peter Jarvis. Dwight is an 18-time
Track Champion at New Hampshire’s Twin State and Monadnock
Speedways, and won the 2006 True Value Modified
Championship. Peter has main event victories spanning more
than two decades, and was a special event winner at
Thunder Road some twenty years ago against the old Flying
Tiger division. Upon entering the full-fendered territory
that is present-day Thunder Road, the duo will inherit the
burden of carrying the “home” torch and avenging the
losses of Tony Colicchio, Mike Osborne, Harold Hanaford,
and so many more.
Moreover, the brothers Jarvis have the opportunity to
immortalize themselves in Central Vermont stock car racing
history by beating the invaders.
“Having always been connected to open-wheel racing, I’ve
never seen Thunder Road. I’ve only heard how fast it is,”
says Dwight Jarvis. “People say it’s a little like
Monadnock, which is a good track for me, except Thunder
Road has that big wall in Turn 4. It’s one of those tracks
that everyone talks about no matter where you go. It would
be pretty special to win there, and there are a lot of
(Modified) guys looking forward to it. I hope to do well
for the Vermont fans. I guess the pressure is on Peter and
I to perform.”
Post time for the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic is
1:30 pm, Sunday, May 25. The American-Canadian Tour
Championship Late Models return to the Barre high banks
for their own 100-lap contest, creating an unprecedented
doubleheader likely to go down in the annals of New
England racing lore. For more information, call (802)
244-6963 or visit
www.thunderroadspeedbowl.com.
Contact: Justin St. Louis Phone: (802) 244-6963
Email:
media@acttour.com Fax:
(802) 244-1616 |
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