Delaware Speedway... A Season in Review

[Shadowracer]

Howdy all!

I'm currently getting ready to write a post meant simply for hashing out the past year of racing at Delaware. Unfortunately, Its Thanksgiving weekend, and have commitments keeping me away from spending an hour at the computer right now. But its coming.  

For the time being, I thought I'd throw it out to the board in general. What were the high points of the year for you? What were the lows? (keep it constructive, if you please.)

What was good, bad, or ugly in 2006?

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=5554.msg20658#msg20658

[Mobil1fan]

To take a page from the Flamboro message board, here are my cheers and jeers:

Cheers:
1) The resurgence of the modified class. To go from 9-10 cars a night to 17-20 over the course of one winter saved that class.
2) The late model special events. It was good to see more drivers from other tracks than the past few years, and the formats (for the most part) worked well.
3) The competitiveness of the late model division. Almost everyone out there this year had a chance to win.
4) The return (albeit shortened) of Steve Robblee. Hopefully he'll come back next year.
5) The locking of the Street Stock rules for the next couple of years. It should help bring that class back to 22-24 cars a night, or more.

Jeers:
1) Mother Nature, for raining when it wasn't needed.
2) The low late model count on regular nights. I expected it, and I fully expect to see at least 20 cars next season, but it was still disappointing.
3) The lack of travelling between tracks. Most of the Delaware guys stayed home, and most of the Kawartha and Flamboro guys stayed home, which sort of puts a damper on things.
4) The low car count for the APC 300.
5) The lack of an outside groove at times.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=5554.msg20702#msg20702

[John]

I like to keep positive, so I’ll keep to the cheers!

Cheers:

1) Kendall Street Stock class – a tough year from the outset, but everyone kept at it.  The number of drivers went down for a bit after some damages, but came back up.  Some of my favourite racing of the year was in the SS class.
2) Modifieds – Love the new body style.  More drivers, great racing, what’s not to cheer?
3) Trucks – Barrie field trip was fun to watch, and I think it was a first.  From what I’ve read on the fan mail section of Barrie’s website the fans up there loved it.
4) Late Models – Car count is not the be-all-end-all of racing, but there were a few races this year where I had never seen that many Late Models in one place before, which was great! (Twin 75s & APC 300 come to mind).  Lots of fun meeting the drivers from other tracks.
5) Enduro – Lots of safety improvements and great races this year.  I had a chance to talk to a driver from Ottawa at the nationals who declared it was the best Enduro around.  It is a very unique division.
6) Krown Junior Racing League – largest number of rookies (nine).  New growth up in the grandstands too!
7) 2006 Souvenir Program – It was cool.  I think I need to go get more of them.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=5554.msg20732#msg20732

[Shadowracer]

The 2006 Delaware Season in Review

OK, so here we go.

I was thinking about the whole "what was good, what was bad, what was ugly" thing and came to the conclusion that, in all honesty, there WAS no ugly. It was actually a damned fine season at Delaware. In keeping completely neutral, there were some down sides...not many, but a couple. "Points to grow on" as we say.

So, without further adeiu...The season in review:

High Points.

A Nod to the Past:
The season started off excellent, with Delaware honoring its past by having Harv Lennox as a sort of Grand Marshal on opening day. (I'm still tickled that he autographed an old race program of mine with him on the cover.) His racing career was before my time, but he was my Dad's hero and I heard so many stories growing up that it was almost like I was there. Awesome call to have him there.

In the same vein, it was great to see Al Patrick up top with his old restored cars. There were others, but forgive me if I forgot their names. I hope the nostalgia angle wasn't just for this year. In years gone by, especially the CASCAR years, it use to irk me that track personnel/announcers seemed to carry on as though history began when CASCAR was invented. Really great to see a bit of turnaround there. Nice job!

Partsource 139
What a show that was. With a strong contingent of ALSTAR drivers on hand, 27 drivers battles each other, and the rain, for what was one of the most exciting races of the season. Kennington passes Hathway on lap 103 to take the win. Heartbreaker for Pearn who hit the wall hard early on and had to retire. It was Ok though, Pearn made restitution on Labor Day.

This was also the night the Vintage Modifieds came to town, both the Canadian guys and the American Club...bringing the field in at close to 30 cars. Amazing show. Phil Shaw dodged some bad wrecks to take the feature in the most entertaining Vintage Mod show in a long time.

APC 300 -
28 Cars showed up to do battle in the 2006 version of the Great Canadain Race. It was triple 100s. Race 1 was the Delaware Fri nite Late Model final points/championship race, and was won by handily by Cole Pearn. Race 2 was the WWS Open for visiting drivers, including Kirk Hooker, Jeff Hanley, Stompin Tom Walters, Quick Vic Parsons (long time since Vic's been here) and the Elliotts. Hooker looks good to win but is passed by Hanley at about the halfway point. Hanley takes the checkered with Pete Vanderwyst right on his tail. Race 3 is for all the marbles and was open to all participants. Rough race, lots of sheetmetal damage, but no serious wrecks. Cole Pearn scores the victory, managing to fend off hard charges by Jeff Hanley and Pete Vanderwyst.

Also not to be forgotten was the final Street Stock feature of 06. Ouelette takes the win. Ray Morneau takes third, and the 06 Championship. The street stocks were a last minute add on to this event as they's been rained out the night before. I say keep em on for Sunday if they plan on doing the triple 100 format again. They put on a good show, and served to keep the show moving while everyone got ready for that third LM race.

Auto Value Super Sprints
Ryan Litt wins in front of the hometown crowd. The sprints rival the SuperModifieds for pure speed, power and volume. Always a great show...and you can't go wrong when the Street Stocks and the Modifieds are sharing the stage.

ISMA Supermodifieds
One of the best shows all year. The fans came through in spades to tell us in no uncertain terms, that yes, they WILL come to the races in late September. Hope management took note. (pretty sure they did) Chris Perley wins what turned out to be a race of attrition...the Supers did not seem to have an easy time negotiating Delaware's "iffy" track surface.

Also that night was the Twin 25 Modified Final. Rob Starr takes race 1 and Jamie Cox takes race 2. And Newman takes the Championship.

Jeff Coward also goes from back to front to take a fun 25 lap Enduro All Star race.

Late Model Twin 75s (sorry, forgot the sponsor and didn't write it down...I'm thinking it was TSC)
Once again, a strong ALSTAR contingent came to do battle with our boys. Final score is Delaware Gang : 2 / ALSTAR-Flamboro Gang : 0 as both Kennington and Pearn best a 27 car field. Challenger Trucks round out the evening with Porter winning the feature.

The Modifieds.
Modified numbers were up this year, and the new look is dynamite. Barry Newman was the man to finally knock Jamie Cox off the top of Mount Modified. But you just KNOW Jamie's going to have something to say about that next year. In my opinion, the mods had their best year ever, and it looks like its only going to get better for next. These guys deserve main event status.

Street Stocks:
It was a sad year for all of us with the loss of Dave Lawrence back in June. Nonetheless, the Street Stock gang paid tribute to him all year with some great racing. The Streets definitely solidified themselves a bit this year coming off a somewhat shaky 05 season. Love the new look, and the division seems to be making some inroads as far as getting all those Novas some decent competition. Looking forward to their next season too.  

Dave Lawrence Tribute
While the loss of Dave can't in any way be called a high point of the year, the way Kevin Bulmer, Delaware staff, and the Street Stock Gang handled it was pretty classy. Kudos for them for bringing some grace to a rotten situation.

Trucks:
What can I say. They were exciting to watch as always. Congrats to Todd Powell on the 06 championship.

The Support divisions as a whole
I'm beginning to believe that you could run with just these three divisions. There was one, maybe two, nights where these three divisions were the show, and at no point did I feel the show was lacking or missing anything. Kudos to management for trying to give each division a night to be the stars.

The Announce Team - John, Jared and Chris.
These guys just do a helluva job. They love racing and you can tell they're excited about what they're doing. Never underestimate a good announcer's effect on the show. I find these guys to fall at a real happy meduim between the old time announcers like Sandy Harrisson and Dave Longfield, and the super slick Ron Sinclair "don't worry about the cars and stars...as long as you get the sponsors" style of announcing.

The new souvenir program.
Very nice, with lots of "blast from the past" pictures. I didn't remember all that stuff, but by golly I still remember the sound it made when Paul Gilgan (number 7 super late model) and Ron Pearn baptized the new concrete walls by piling into turn 1 after Gilgan's throttle stuck open on the opening lap. (Sounded a lot like "Kee-RUNCH!") Great pic of Biederman too. Thanks for the memories. Great to have current pics of the rosters too. Very big job nicely done.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Not So High points (Points to grow on)

All truck night.
I wasn't there, but I understood the ARCA Truck turnout was a big dissapointment.

LM weekly shows.
Not really bad, but the car counts were nothing to write home about either. (No its not everything...but it does matter) On the plus side, it is still a pretty new division (in its current state) and thats often the way it goes when its new. I've no doubt more folks will jump on board as used chassis/cars come available. In the meantime, maybe they could institute some kind of "visiting driver" enticement, where X amount of dollars goes to the top place visiting driver that doesn't actually win the race? Just an idea.

Street Stock Showdown AKA: A Lotta Bent Metal
If there was a low point for me, this was it. I saw a lot of guys get bent up, cars that probably shouldn't have been there, and a horribly wrong call from an official made this an event to forget. There are other ways to give the Street Stock division their "highlight night" without resorting to event formats that are designed to create lots of damaged race cars. These guys are not Winston Cup teams...they have to hammer the dents out themselves.

The Match Race.
I wanted to like it. I really did. But the excitement never really transpired. Match races have to be between rivals, as in "that guy wrecked me for the last time...I want a match race to settle the score" That's what a match race is supposed to be. It wasn't the Duel of the Decade...it was a King of the Hill for Late Models.
Kudos for trying it though. I have to admit, watching Lindsay get beat by Elliott was pretty fun.  :twisted:

APC Weekend. (Fri and Sat)
It just seems strange to me that of 4 racing divisions, we can't fill 2 nights racing. Is there some kind of rule that says the Trucks and/or Streets and/or Mods can't do doubleheader weekends once a year? (what the hell, why not a triple header...Thursday too!) Seems we could do better than padding the show with enduros and King of the Hill races. (yes I know it rained on Saturday...its beside the point) Look to New Smyrna's speedweeks line up to see where I'm coming from. I mean, I'm not saying the enduro guys aren't worthy...but we can do better for a showcase weekend. Can Am Midgets? OSCAAR? How about a Thunder Car invitational with an extra 1000 bucks to the visiting driver that can best the Delaware guys and win? How about a 4 cylinder invitational...not real fast, but geez you'd get a million of em.
 
The Street Stock division's name. (OK I know this one's pretty minor)
The real Street Stocks are running 250 lappers on the odd Saturday night. Our guys need a new name. Pro Stock. Sport Stock. Limited Sportsman. Something.

Rain
Nuff said about that. Big Late Model show down the pipe with no rain date. Bummer.

And the biggest, most blatant, most what-in-God's-name-were-they-thinking screw up of 2006:
No Mexicana Shack. Is nothing sacred?
(actually, my cardiologist probably thanks you...but I don't.   :wink: )

Anyway, this is the season as I saw it. If I had to pick a # 1 Race Night of the Year, it'd be a toss up between the Supermodified show, and the Partsource 139 with a side order of Vintage Modifieds. (Think I'd lean towards the Partsource 139. I love the Supers, but the Late Model/Vintage combo rocked.)

In Closing
I'd like to extend my thanks to everyone at the track, from the promoter right down to the guy I see every morning dragging a steel girder around behind the tractor to keep the driveway level. (and the girl with the lovely smile who takes my ticket and checks my cooler bag every week!) Its been a solid season of racing and fun. You all are the current custodians of this great, hallowed place...and you're doing a damned fine job of it. I congratulate you all.

Thanks for a great year.

Trevor Van Leeuwen
AKA Shadowracer

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=5554.msg20774#msg20774

[rusty2]

first off, shadowracer you should work for the london free press,because you do an excellent job at reporting the results after each week`s race!!!
 this is my take of THE GOOD ,THE BAD AND THE UGLY!
 let`s start with my favourite class,the street stocks
 THE GOOD- #98 winning the streetstock title to keep it in that teams hands for the third year in a row!!! (I may be a little biased on that one)
 THE BAD- dave lawrence`s death was hard on everyone in the street stock class,he meant alot to racing at delaware and especially this class!!
 THE UGLY- #33`s wreck going into turn 1 in practice (and in dave lawrence`s way the crew from #28 lent #33 their extra car#50)
 late models
 THE GOOD- nice to see some old faces back racing(kennedy,robblee)
 THE BAD- robblee running the way he did and not finishing out the year (I don`t remember ever seeing robblee get lapped,without the car being tore up)
 THE UGLY- cole pearn`s garage floor gray paint job ( nobody said it had to be beautiful to be fast)
 modifieds
 THE GOOD- car counts were up and those cars look fast just sitting there
 THE BAD- I must say it was disappointing not to see bob merrifield running this year as he has been in this class for some time
 THE UGLY- #98 destroying his car going into 3 WOW
 trucks
 THE GOOD-  this class is just awesome,nobody told these guys and girls not to go 3 wide into turn 3,great point battle as always
 THE BAD- n/a
 THE UGLY- n/a
 
  all in all another great season of racing!!! see you all at the banquet!!

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=5554.msg20816#msg20816

[streetstocker33]

THE UGLY- #33`s wreck going into turn 1 in practice

i'm not sure if you mean ugly as in my car after the hit, or ugly as in the driver after he got out  :lol: I wasn't pretty to begin with so its ok either way  :lol:

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=5554.msg20817#msg20817

[racewoman]

I agree with rusty2 shadowracer you do do an excellant job at reporting the races!! I would like to thank you for that. I use to go to Delaware every Friday night. This year my son was racing Friday nights elsewhere. So the news you provided was awesome! Thanks again!!  

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=5554.msg20821#msg20821