NASCAR’s elite head
for New York City this week where Jimmie
Johnson will be crowned the 2008 Sprint
Cup Champion. Johnson, who drives for
Hendrick Motorsports is now a three time
series champion. While Johnson and team
celebrate many of those, anywhere
between 200 to 1,000 are getting their
pink slips. We all know the economy is
bad and auto racing has not been
excluded from the general downturn this
country is presently having.
Down on the New Jersey shore the Wall
Township Speedway reopened for the
annual Turkey Derby. Wall Township,
modeled after the famed Lonsdale Arena
Speedway in Rhode Island was silent
throughout the 2008 season. The historic
speedway received a good shot in the arm
and had a successful event which
hopefully leads to a grand reopening in
2009.
According to reports, Jimmy Blewett
roughed up Matt Hirschman on lap 89 to
take the lead which led to the 100 lap
Tour Type Modified win. Hirschman, who
was extremely unhappy with Blewett,
finished second. Hirschman had attempted
to run the 100 lap contest non-stop
while Blewett elected to pit for fresh
tires during the event. Steven Reed
finished third and was followed by Earl
Paules and Tom Rogers.
Blewett attempted to go two for two but
ran out of time following a pit stop and
a late race spin in the SK type 100
lapper. Blewett led from the drop of the
initial green and was in control of the
race until lap 69 when he pitted for
fresh rubber. Restarting from the rear,
Blewett worked his way up to second spot
with nine laps to go when he spun out.
Rowan Pennick took the win with Woody
Pitkat, second and Bob Schultz, third.
Blewett recovered to finish fourth.
Deemed a rousing success, the Turkey
Derby was run with temperatures in the
low 40’s. The grandstands, parking lot
and pits were jammed. Cars were actually
parked at the Monmouth Airport and fans
were bussed to the track.
The Waterford Speedbowl will host a meet
and greet this coming Monday, December 1
at the Groton Motor Inn in Groton, CT.
Property owner Terry Eames and Modified
Competitor Shawn Monahan have partnered
up for a new corporation that will
operate the shoreline oval in 2009.
Hopefully former track operator Jerry
Robinson will pay the competitors what
he owes them.
In TV land this week viewing will be
sparse with mostly re-runs from years
past presented on the tube. The NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series Awards Banquet which
will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel in New York City will be shown on
ESPN Classic from 9:00PM-12:00m on
Friday night. The Speed Channel wraps up
the weekend on Sunday night with The
Speed Report at 7:00pm.
On the Speedway Stock Market Scene last
week it was a time of recovery. All
three speedway stocks had good gains for
the week. Leading the pack was the
International Speedway Corporation which
went up 4.02 to 25.95. Speedway
Motorsports went up 2.55 to 13.83 and
Dover Downs went up 0.34 to 1.50. NASCAR
Cup series sponsor Sprint went up 1.08
to 2.79. Nationwide which sponsors
NASCAR’s second tier jumped 1.93 to
50.80. Fuel supplier Sun Oil took a huge
jump as they went up 5.87 to 39.74.
Goodyear also had a positive week as
they went up 1.42 to 6.43. Team
Sponsor’s stocks also had a positive
week. Dupont went up 2.03 to 25.06,
Coca-Cola went up 3.74 to 42.56, Target
Department Stores went up 5.68 to 33.76
and Aaron’s Rentals went up 3.33 to
26.43. In the home improvement sector
Home Depot went up 3.82 to 23.11 and
Lowes jumped 3.51 to 20.66. The parcel
carriers had a real good week. Fedex
went up 9.74 to 70.65 and UPS went up
5.29 to 57.60. On the
down side was World Racing (DIRT) which
dropped 0.01 to 0.02.
That’s it for this week from 11 Gardner
Drive, Westerly RI 02891. Ring my chimes
at 401-596-5467. E-Mail is
smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com
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