In NASCAR Whelen
Modified Tour news Woody Pitkat is
still recovering from the shock of
being dismissed as the driver of the
Hills Enterprises No. 79. It’s a
shame that things didn’t work out
but life goes on, despite some bumps
in the road. The Hills have hired
Ron Silk to fill the empty seat.
Silk had been slated to drive the
Boehler No. 3. Silks former ride
will be occupied by Jimmy Blewett.
Eddie Partridge will provide the
engines. Partridge stated that
Blewett will drive his SK Modifieds
at Thompson on Thursdays and at
Stafford on Fridays. Tentative plans
also look like Blewett and Partridge
will return to the Waterford
Speedbowl for their opener despite a
controversial and bad call last
year. When his schedule permits
Partridge will provide a car for
Blewett to drive at the Riverhead
Raceway.
For the most part it’s all quiet on
the auto racing front. As of this
Friday, Dec 28, its only 42 days
before the green flag drops at the
Annual World Series at the New
Smyrna Speedway in Florida. In the
mean time there will be plenty of
racing related activity. Starting
off 2008 will be the Northeast
Motorsports Expo at the Augusta
Civic Center in Maine on Jan 4
through 6. The auto show circuit
moves to Atlantic City in New Jersey
for Motorsports 2008 on Jan 11, 12
and 13. Also on Jan 12 is the
Waterford Speedbowl Awards Banquet
at the Groton Inn & Suites in
Groton, CT., and the True Value
Modified Racing Series Annual
Owners/Drivers Meeting at the Best
Western Sovereign Hotel, 401
Winchester St. in Keene, NH. The
third weekend in Jan will see the
annual indoor Auto Parts Swap 'n
Sell at the Big E in West
Springfield, MA plus the annual
Seekonk Speedway Awards banquet at
the Venus DiMilo in Swansea, MA. The
Thompson Speedway holds their annual
awards banquets on Jan 25-26.
Rounding out the month will be the
11th Annual New England Antique
Racers (NEAR) Hall of Fame Induction
Ceremony & Dinner at the
LaRenaissance Banquet Hall in E.
Windsor, CT.
In TV land this week, viewing
doesn’t begin until Friday, Dec. 28
when the Speed Channel shows Round
#2 of the Summer Shootout which
includes Legends Car, Bandolero and
Thunder Roadster racing from the
Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord , NC
. That event was originally run on
June 19. At 1:00pm Round #3 that was
run on June 26 follows. At 8:00pm
the Speed Channel has a special
presentation titled GET BACK TO DIRT
which takes a year long look at the
soul of American racing, the World
Class Street Stocks, at the
legendary Devil's Bowl Speedway in
Mesquite , Texas , as the racers
careen on and off the track toward
the season championship. On Saturday
at 7:30pm it’s the Lucas Oil Late
Model Dirt Series from the Virginia
Motor Speedway in Saluda , VA. At
8:00pm it’s the May 16 Nextel Pit
Crew Challenge that was held at the
Charlotte Bobcats Arena on May 16.
On Sunday at 4:00pm Speed presents
the season finale for the World of
Outlaws sprint cars and late models
that was held at the Dirt Track at
the Lowes Motor Speedway in
Charlotte , NC on Nov 3. The Speed
Channel wraps up the weekend with
The Speed Report at 7:00 .
On the Speedway Stock Market Scene
last week two of the three had
positive results. Leading the way
was Speedway Motorsports which went
up 1.06 to 32.66. The International
Speedway Corporation went up 0.08 to
41.75. On the negative side was
Dover Downs which dropped 0.02 to
6.59. Sprint/Nextel showed a 0.45
drop as the NASCAR Cup sponsor
settled out at 13.72. Sun Oil
(Sunoco) which supplies fuel to many
NASCAR divisions went up 3.66 to
71.46. Tire supplier Goodyear also
had a good week as they went up 2.29
to 28.75. DIRT Motorsports dropped
0.04 to 0.32. In the drug sector
Pfizer went up 0.14 to 23.24.
Bristol Meyers-Squib dropped 0.10 to
27.98. In the home improvement
sector Lowes went up 0.63 to 23.35
and Home Depot went up 0.03 to
26.66. The parcel carriers had a
down week despite the Christmas
rush. Fedex dropped 0.63 to 94.29
and UPS dropped 0.21 to 72.40.
Bizjournals.com said last week that
an economic impact analysis
conducted by the Washington
Economics Group Inc. shows the
Daytona Beach-based company pumps
$2.3 billion into the Florida
economy. ISC's Florida operations
include Daytona International
Speedway and Homestead-Miami
Speedway, as well as ISC's
headquarters and those of the Nascar
and Grand American Road Racing
series.
According to the analysis, the
year-round operations at Daytona
International Speedway generate $1.9
billion in the Florida economy.
Among the speedway's impacts are
32,000 direct and indirect jobs with
a payroll of $856 million. The
speedway also produces $155.4
million in local and state taxes.
The Homestead-Miami Speedway has an
economic impact of $248 million,
provides 3,862 direct and indirect
jobs with a payroll of $107 million.
The facility generates $18.1 million
in state and local taxes.
Operations at the ISC, Nascar and
Grand Am headquarters produces $157
million in economic impact,
including 2,540 direct and indirect
jobs with a payroll of $85.7 million
and $11.4 million in local and state
taxes.
That’s it for this week from 40
Clark St. Westerly RI 02891 . Ring
my chimes at 401-596-5467. E-Mail is
smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com
