Track Talk

By Lou Modestino (for Sat. 6/30/18)  Check out Lou Modestino’s Track Talk blog at  http://www.enterprisenews.com/section/blogs01?taxid=1838

The rain-shortened Open Wheel Wednesday $10,000 to win 100-lap Tri Track Open Modified Series event at Seekonk will be concluded on Tuesday night, July 3. All front gate tickets and pit passes that were purchased for the June 27^th event will be honored for admittance on Tuesday.

The feature will begin right where it left off, on lap 22, with Canton’s Richard Savary at the top of the field. Defending Matt Hirschman is second, followed by Keith Rocco, Ron Silk and Rowan Pennick. Twenty-seven of the top modified drivers on the East Coast took the green flag.

For those who don’t have a ticket for the race, you can attend by purchasing a front gate admission pass for just $10. The pit pass for anyone looking to enter the pit area is $20.

We look forward to finishing the event and watching someone take home the $10,000 check. Seekonk and Tri Track officials have come together to put up a $200 bonus per team for all who return to compete.

Before the Modified washout, the track was able to get the companion NEMA Boston Louis Seymour in.   Randy Cabral of Kingston won the NEMA Midget  feature while Marshfield’s Dan Cugni took the NEMA Lite main event.

Seen at Seekonk Speedway was TV race broadcaster Alan Bestwick of Rhode Island, still under contract by ESPN for three more years, and former ABC Network race caster and football announcer Jackie Arute, who also recently departed Stafford Motor Speedway in Conn.

NASCAR pit reporter Dick Berggren, formerly of the Fox Sports Network, has let it be known that he will be resigning from the new Northeast Motorsports Museum on the grounds of the New Hampshire Motor Speedway  in Loudon, NH in December of this year.  The Ipswich resident retired from his TV job some years ago and took on the big project a few years back. Several racers made significant contributions to Berggren in getting the museum up and running.

For the second time, Mother Nature has forced Monadnock Speedway to postpone the highly anticipated event of the year, the Genden Auto Parts ISMA 75 presented by T-Bird Mini Marts.  The event was originally scheduled in May, however the forecast of rain halted the special event and was postponed to June 23^rd.  Last Saturday, rain showers covered the region once again forcing the event to be postponed to tonight, Saturday, June 30^th.

The return of ISMA Super Modifieds will mark a 40-year absence from the ¼ high banked track.  Many competitors from all over East Coast and Ohio region will come into Southern NH with hopes of grabbing the victory.  Time Trials  start at 4 pm with heats to follow.

With all of the pavement Modified races squeezed into 30 weekends, there’s very little wiggle room.  Some of those 46 events may not take place because of weather issues.  Tracks can only schedule mid-week programs around the summer holidays.  We’ve also seen ticket and pit fee prices rise to being very expensive.  It can  work when fans get to see huge entry fields. But drawing just 21 mods for a recent Open leaves fans disappointed. Not enough entries and high entrance fees could lead to the demise of modified racing’s recent surge of popularity.

Things are going well at the Tuesday night cruise at  Cobb’s Corner in Canton.  More and more cars are showing up every week.  We were there this week and saw a turnout of 50 hot rods, classics, specialty vehicles and antiques.  It starts at 4 and ends at dusk.  Also cruise nights in the region take place on the first and third Thursdays at Bass Pro Shops in Patriot Place in Foxborough with Raynham Park hosting the Wheels of Time out of Brockton the second and fourth Thursdays.  In Halifax the Connecting Rods out of Scituate offer a weekly Friday night cruise at Wal-Mart’s on Rt. 106.

Information for this column came from press releases and personal notes