With racing now complete for 2009 its time to look foreword to 2010. As of this Friday, January 8 it will be four weeks before the drop of the green for opening night of the annual World Series of Speed at the New Smyrna Speedway in New Smyrna Beach, Florida and the official beginning of the NASCAR season at the Daytona International Speedway.
 
The Thompson International Speedway has released its 2010 race schedule. In what has to be considered a bold move, Speedway owner Don Hoenig will bring back the tour type Modifieds and incorporate them into the Thursday Night Thunder programs on June 3rd, July 1st, August 5th and September 2nd. The Tour type Modifieds will run 35 lap sprints which were popular during what was considered the Golden Era of Modified Racing in New England, 1965 through 1985. It is hoped that Whelen Modified Tour teams support this endeavor.

The 2010 racing schedule opens the New England racing season with the traditional Icebreaker on the weekend of April 10th and 11th. The season will close with the traditional World Series of Speedway Racing slated for the 15th through the 17th of October. As previously announced, the NACAR Whelen Modified Tour Series will be part of the IceBreaker, The World Series plus will make a Thursday night appearance on August 12. The popular Thursday Night Thompson Thunder series will get underway on May 20th and will run through September 16th.

Two stops for the Modified Racing Series (formerly the True Value Series), June 17th and August 26th, will make for some exciting changes from previous years. The PASS Super Late Models will make a return appearance on July 22nd as well.

 Four new and exciting events have been added to traditional fan favorites thus creating one of the most talked about racing schedules in all of New England.
 
Competitors are reminded that it’s time to renew their car numbers for next year. As in previous years, any racer who secured track points with a registered car number in 2009 has until January 15, 2010 to renew that number. If the car number is not renewed by the deadline, it will then be assigned to the first person requesting that number. Thompson Speedway does not charge competitors to register a race car. However, if a car number is assigned but not used by the end of June 2010, that number will then become available to another competitor. Race teams are reminded that Thompson will accept requests for one and two digit numbers only. Letters or symbols of any kind will not be accepted as part of the car’s official number.
 
In TV land this weeks viewing on the Speed Channel begins on Tuesday at noon with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series North Carolina Education Lottery 200 that was run at the Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC on May 15. On Wednesday viewing begins at 3:00am with the Sept 26 NASCAR Camping World Touring Series West Toyota/Copart 150 that was run at the All American Speedway in Roseville, CA. Following at 4:00am is the August 19 NASCAR Whelen Modified Series UNOH Perfect Storm 150 that was run at the Bristol Motor Speedway. At noon Speed presents the May 16th NASCAR Sprint Cup Sprint All-Star Race that was run at the Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC. Thursday’s action starts at 2:30am with the Sept 19th NASCAR Whelen Modified Series New Hampshire 100 that was run at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. At noon its back to Charlotte for the May 24th  NASCAR Sprint Cup Coca-Cola 600 that was run at the Lowes Motor Speedway. The only race viewing on Friday will be the May 31 NASCAR Sprint Cup Autism Speaks 400 that was run at Dover, DE.  The only action on Saturday will be two Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model events, which will air between 2:00 and 4:00pm on the Speed Channel. The Speed Report will wrap up the week at 7:00pm on Sunday night.

A new racing series program on the History Channel has its debut on Sunday night, Jan 10th at 10:00pm. Titled “Madhouse”, the program follows the racing and rivalries at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC.
 
On the Speedway Stock Market Scene last week two of the three speedway stocks ended the week on a positive note. Speedway Motorsports went up 0.13 to 17.62 and Dover Motorsports went up 0.09 to 2.09. The International Speedway Corporation dropped 0.51 to 28.45. NASCAR Cup sponsor Sprint dropped 0.07 to 3.66. For the year Sprint did quite well as they started the year at 1.80. NASCAR fuel supplier Sun Oil went up 0.27 to 26.10. For the year they dropped 17.65. Tire supplier Goodyeardropped 0.48 to 14.10. Goodyear had a super year as they gained 8.23, almost triple of their Jan 1 start of 5.87. All three car makers were down for the week. Ford dropped 0.13 to 10.00 while General Motors dropped 0.02 to 0.47 and Toyota dropped 0.75 to 84 16. Ford started the year at 2.23 and in 52 weeks, gained 7.77. GM started the year at 3.64 and finished up at 0.47. Toyota had a huge gain of 18.72 for the year. Last week they dropped 0.75 to 84.16. Race team sponsors had an off week at years end. Dupont went up 0.25 to 33.67 while Coca-Cola dropped 0.93 to 54.02. Target Department Stored dropped 0.28 to 48.37 and Aarons Rentals dropped 1.08 to 27.73. In the home improvement sector, Home Depot dropped 0.24 to 28.93 and Lowes dropped 0.26 to 23.39.

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