Post by mario428 on Jul 26, 2011 8:51:59 GMT -4
What a great weekend, we had weather, every kind you can think of we had it. From brutal heat and humidity to a short lived hurricane (that hurricane word again ;D) but 2 great days for racing. Both days started very slowly with rain threatening but when it cleared it was beautiful. Sunday was as good a day for racing as I have ever seen, warm, blue sky, good air and a great track for me anyway.
40th anniversary deal was great, good to see some of the guys who have been at it for a while getting some recognition. Bruce Howatt gave Kevin Power an award on behalf of the racers thanking him for giving us a place to race thru thick and thin, there has been lots of thin thru the years but Raceway Park is still going strong thanks to Kevin, his family and his crew at the track.
The Guardian even did a big front page spread about the weekend, a lot of it about the jet dragster but the Green's and the Boyd's are also mentioned
www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Local/2011-07-24/article-2672684/Still-cool-after-40-years/1
The Guardian has historically been very poor on drag racing coverage but kudo's to them for getting a reporter and photographer out, then putting it all on the front page. I see the sports page had a front page article on stock car racing with a pic of one wrecking but exposure is good however it comes.
Jet dragster did make one pass the wowed a lot of people but can't beleive they packed up after that messed up 2nd pass. Obviously not to worried about return business.
List of winners has some old names and some new names getting it done for the first time.
Congrats to John Aiten on the S/P win, came back to racing after a long time away and seeing some success, overcame what he said was a lot of nerves to win the final. Congrats to Guy Leblanc on the runnerup finish, took a car that would barely make the field to the final.
Congrats to Mike Stone on the Pro win, no surprise there, definitely a hitter in Pro this year. Mike Batog runnerup is good to see very loyal Raceway Park racer seeing some success, congrats Mike.
2 of the hitters in street went at it in the final with Carl Leeman taking it over Pug Smith. Pug getting Dirty Harry really dialed it, street car that does not vary more than .02 over a weekend is really dialed in. Carl and his wife have not missed a meet yet even with the long drive from Pennfield area, good to see them do well. Look for more battles between these 2 guys before the year is out.
Blast from the past in Bike/Sled final, Congrats to Shane Bolger coming out of retirement after many years away and winning the final. Congrats to Andy Embree on the runnerup, Andy has not been at it long and dialing in anew bike so good on him getting to the final.
Congrats to Steve Campbell on the Box Gamblers win. Steve had engine issues early in the year and has been running Sun only up to now to protect the pcs. Decided to do some testing on Sat, next thing he knew he was in the 3rd round of the gamblers and kept going to win it all.
Congrats to Michelle Smith on the Box Gamblers runnerup and 3rd place in S/P on Sunday. Went so many rounds Vince was scouring the pits for fuel so they could keep racing. Seems Vince was not ready for her to go so many rounds.
;D ;D ;D
Congrats to Ray Bourque on the Duck race win, he is pretty darn good at this Duck race deal, wonder if he is up for Travis's Duck race points deal. Just kidding Ray. ;D ;D ;D Don't know the guy in the jeep who runneruped but he took out some hitters with that slow car.
I had a decent weekend, gave it up to a footbrake car first round Sat. I hate it when Bruce Howatt is all apolegetic about beating you. Makes it hard to hate him but I didn't give in and still dislike him a bit.
;D ;D
3rd round on Sun, lost a close one to Jimmy Rankin, I went under to get the finish line. Finish line skills are completely shot though, what I think is giving it away turns out to be a huge margin when I get the slip.
;D ;D
Me after finally getting thru 2 rounds
Should have had a camera moment of the weekend. Standing watching the Duck race when Ray Bourque and Jim Green raced. Ray's wife and grandson were in the golf cart in front of me. Ray wins the race and the grandson is pumped so I start booing Ray so the grandson can hear me. Ray's wife turned to see who it was and laughed when she saw it was me. The look on the Grandson's face though was priceless. I dropped by to congratulate Ray after the win and the grandson was still glaring at me. ;D ;D ;D
John MacKinnon finally did some racing, new 540 short block was in the car seemed to like the extra HP, best numbers ever at Raceway Park, 8.92 @ 152. Big change was the wheelstands which is not common for a low tube chassis car. John was really enjoying them, big grin on his face after all the passes. Car was alot higher than this pic a few times, woohoo
Sympathies to Janet Axworthy, hurt the engine last weekend out, needed a piston and a freshening everywhere. Carl Toombs thrashed hard to get it to the track for her on the weekend. Turns out the tranny is hurt also and the transbrake will not hold. DOHHHHHH 2 runner ups at the stock car track had her good humour restored though.
Just saying because I have to
Well Mario...I guess I am never going to live that one down. ;D ;D ;D. So I will be on the job Saturday AND SUNDAY this weekend. I guess I will have to stay away from the bad influences Friday and Saturday night. (yeah right)
Peter
Yes Peter did catch up on his sleep again.
He has more trouble keeping his mouth shut than I do. ;D ;D
Lots of help on Sun morning, Jim Green, Richard Boyd, Gary Pozzebon and Bud Murphy among the notables pitching in to help. Me without the camera to capture it for posterity. ;D ;D Must have been Richard's expertise with the torch warming the track that made the right lane so good for me all day. ;D ;D ;D
Did hear a funny one, evidently in Moncton the story is we prep the track specifically for the PEI racers?
?? I could only wish we were that good!!!!! The new barrel of traction compound is giving us some fits on the right prep though. The track prep supervisor seems to be the hardest hit though with the Firebird going from deadly last year to brutally inconsistent this year.
Off the MDP this weekend, car show at Walmart Fri afternoon, see if we can get some fans interested, I will be there 4ish, anyone would like to join me until 6 or so it would be great.
40th anniversary deal was great, good to see some of the guys who have been at it for a while getting some recognition. Bruce Howatt gave Kevin Power an award on behalf of the racers thanking him for giving us a place to race thru thick and thin, there has been lots of thin thru the years but Raceway Park is still going strong thanks to Kevin, his family and his crew at the track.
The Guardian even did a big front page spread about the weekend, a lot of it about the jet dragster but the Green's and the Boyd's are also mentioned
www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Local/2011-07-24/article-2672684/Still-cool-after-40-years/1
The Guardian has historically been very poor on drag racing coverage but kudo's to them for getting a reporter and photographer out, then putting it all on the front page. I see the sports page had a front page article on stock car racing with a pic of one wrecking but exposure is good however it comes.
Jet dragster did make one pass the wowed a lot of people but can't beleive they packed up after that messed up 2nd pass. Obviously not to worried about return business.
List of winners has some old names and some new names getting it done for the first time.
Congrats to John Aiten on the S/P win, came back to racing after a long time away and seeing some success, overcame what he said was a lot of nerves to win the final. Congrats to Guy Leblanc on the runnerup finish, took a car that would barely make the field to the final.
Congrats to Mike Stone on the Pro win, no surprise there, definitely a hitter in Pro this year. Mike Batog runnerup is good to see very loyal Raceway Park racer seeing some success, congrats Mike.
2 of the hitters in street went at it in the final with Carl Leeman taking it over Pug Smith. Pug getting Dirty Harry really dialed it, street car that does not vary more than .02 over a weekend is really dialed in. Carl and his wife have not missed a meet yet even with the long drive from Pennfield area, good to see them do well. Look for more battles between these 2 guys before the year is out.
Blast from the past in Bike/Sled final, Congrats to Shane Bolger coming out of retirement after many years away and winning the final. Congrats to Andy Embree on the runnerup, Andy has not been at it long and dialing in anew bike so good on him getting to the final.
Congrats to Steve Campbell on the Box Gamblers win. Steve had engine issues early in the year and has been running Sun only up to now to protect the pcs. Decided to do some testing on Sat, next thing he knew he was in the 3rd round of the gamblers and kept going to win it all.
Congrats to Michelle Smith on the Box Gamblers runnerup and 3rd place in S/P on Sunday. Went so many rounds Vince was scouring the pits for fuel so they could keep racing. Seems Vince was not ready for her to go so many rounds.
;D ;D ;D Congrats to Ray Bourque on the Duck race win, he is pretty darn good at this Duck race deal, wonder if he is up for Travis's Duck race points deal. Just kidding Ray. ;D ;D ;D Don't know the guy in the jeep who runneruped but he took out some hitters with that slow car.
I had a decent weekend, gave it up to a footbrake car first round Sat. I hate it when Bruce Howatt is all apolegetic about beating you. Makes it hard to hate him but I didn't give in and still dislike him a bit.
;D ;D3rd round on Sun, lost a close one to Jimmy Rankin, I went under to get the finish line. Finish line skills are completely shot though, what I think is giving it away turns out to be a huge margin when I get the slip.
;D ;DMe after finally getting thru 2 rounds
Should have had a camera moment of the weekend. Standing watching the Duck race when Ray Bourque and Jim Green raced. Ray's wife and grandson were in the golf cart in front of me. Ray wins the race and the grandson is pumped so I start booing Ray so the grandson can hear me. Ray's wife turned to see who it was and laughed when she saw it was me. The look on the Grandson's face though was priceless. I dropped by to congratulate Ray after the win and the grandson was still glaring at me. ;D ;D ;D
John MacKinnon finally did some racing, new 540 short block was in the car seemed to like the extra HP, best numbers ever at Raceway Park, 8.92 @ 152. Big change was the wheelstands which is not common for a low tube chassis car. John was really enjoying them, big grin on his face after all the passes. Car was alot higher than this pic a few times, woohoo
Sympathies to Janet Axworthy, hurt the engine last weekend out, needed a piston and a freshening everywhere. Carl Toombs thrashed hard to get it to the track for her on the weekend. Turns out the tranny is hurt also and the transbrake will not hold. DOHHHHHH 2 runner ups at the stock car track had her good humour restored though.
Just saying because I have to
Peter
Yes Peter did catch up on his sleep again. He has more trouble keeping his mouth shut than I do. ;D ;D
Lots of help on Sun morning, Jim Green, Richard Boyd, Gary Pozzebon and Bud Murphy among the notables pitching in to help. Me without the camera to capture it for posterity.
;D ;D Must have been Richard's expertise with the torch warming the track that made the right lane so good for me all day. ;D ;D ;DDid hear a funny one, evidently in Moncton the story is we prep the track specifically for the PEI racers?
?? I could only wish we were that good!!!!! The new barrel of traction compound is giving us some fits on the right prep though. The track prep supervisor seems to be the hardest hit though with the Firebird going from deadly last year to brutally inconsistent this year.Off the MDP this weekend, car show at Walmart Fri afternoon, see if we can get some fans interested, I will be there 4ish, anyone would like to join me until 6 or so it would be great.
