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TVMRS Notebook 1:
By John
Spence Sr.
With Speedweeks and winter vacations behind us, the focus
now switches to car shows and the countdown to opening day
which is fast approaching. Racin’ Preview, the Marco
Thomas produced
wintertime
stock car racing showcase, will take
place Friday and Saturday February 22nd & 23rd at the
Portland Expo in Portland Maine.
The TVMRS will be well represented with series officials
on hand along with the modified race cars of both Jack
Bateman and David Pinkham scheduled to be on display.
Bateman will showcase his brand new SPAFCO # 17 racer
while veteran car owner Tom Greeley debuts his new ride
for Pinkham. The # 22 racer is a former Peter Daniels car
driven briefly by Ben Rowe in TVMRS competition. By all
accounts Greeley is a well liked and respected car owner
that will be a nice addition to the TVMRS tour.
The series will visit the state of Maine three times in
2008. Wiscasset Raceway has been added to the schedule
joining Beech Ridge and Oxford Plains.
In other off season developments, new faces will appear
with the series in 2008 not only on the track but in the
pit area as well. Added to the officials roster are Race
Director Mike Chapman, assistant flagman Josh Vanada,
assistant tech man Roger Hunt, and tire program
coordinator John Pettengill.
Chapman, age 55, a truck driver by trade, has been
involved in racing since the early 70’s first as a driver
at Seekonk, a crew chief for modified driver “Gomer”
Taylor, and most recently as a crewman for Jimmy Kuhn.
Vanada joins chief starter John Spence Jr on the flag
stand and will work in race day prep. He has served as
chief starter at Seekonk and as race director for the
Allison Legacy Series.
Hunt, another trucker, has been a driver and car builder
with a strong Waterford background. He has crewed for
several late model and modified teams and is currently a
member of the Thompson fire safety staff. Pettengill, a
retired truck driver, will assist in race day prep and
will be in charge of the series tire program at each
event.
Donnie “Jet” Miller is the new webmaster for the TVMRS
website. Welcome Jet.
Series president Bateman announced this off season that 26
cars will start feature races in 2008.
In addition to Bateman, Marco Turcotte will be putting a
2008 SPAFCO under Lou Mechalides this season. Mike Douglas
Jr’s car has been gone over at the SPAFCO shop.
Long Island
veteran Johnny Bush is building a new car. Ted Christopher
will have a new
mount from the Czarnecki
team. Christopher will again run a selected schedule.
Chatted with Hall of Famer Bob Polverari at the recentHall
of Fame induction dinner.
Filled Bob in on last season and he passes a hello
along to everyone. What a shot in the arm for this series
when Bob chose to run the TVMRS. A real ambassador for
modified racing.
Quite a buzz on the announcement that the TVMRS is Twin
State Speedway bound in September. And they said it
couldn’t happen. Reminds this writer of the mid sixties
fallout at the defunct Pines Speedway in Groveland MA. The
tracks top class was the cut downs that were evolving into
supermodifieds as we know them. A group of drivers/owners,
unhappy over the way things were going, banded together
and formed a travelling series. They too booked in at
tracks around New England and then roughly in the same amount of
time, five years, somebody hugged somebody, or somebody
said lets works this out and the group returned to their
old stomping grounds, both Pines and Hudson Speedways to
packed houses. Hopefully the same will happen for TSS.
While Andy Seuss and old friend Bobby Grigas were pounding
the pavement at New Smyrna, Peter Jarvis headed down
“memory lane” in the Vintage Car series there. Peter also
gave the old coupes a shot at Concord NC a couple years
ago.
Eddie Dachenhausen will pilot
the Nils Linstedt # 10 this
season.
Chief Starter John Spence Jr joins the staff of the
Thompson Speedway in 2008. Spence
worked
a handful of shows last year for Ben Dodge. Thompson will
not affect his commitment to the TVMRS.
See ya in Portland.
TVMRS Trivia: What
current driver was once an assistant flagman at Star
Speedway?? Answer in the next
notebook. Any news or views send along to
john.h.spence@verizon.net. |
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