By Lou Modestino<\/p>\n
Redemption will be on the mind of top Three Quarter (TQ) Midget driver Erick Rudolph at the New Year\u2019s Eve Indoor races in Providence, R.I.\u2019s Dunkin\u2019 Donuts Center. Rudolph slammed into the concrete barrier at the end of the straightaway on December 8 at 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, Md.
\nFans who missed the crash heard the concussion. That\u2019s how terrifying the crash was that heavily damaged one of the fastest Indoor TQ Midgets. The Ransomville, N.Y, driver was bruised and confused – but not hurt.<\/p>\n
The Dunkin\u2019 Donuts Center Coffee Cup race is the second of three events that make up the Fatheadz Eyewear Indoor Racing Series.
\n The Indoor auto racing events are produced by Len Sammons Motorsports Productions. Rudolph\u2019s car owner and constructor Mike Lafler, also of Ransomville, subsequently diagnosed the problem as a stuck throttle cable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat will not happen again,\u201d Lafler has assured his driver. Rudolph finished second in both Dunkin\u2019 Donuts Center races in March of 2012 and was a winner in Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City in 2012 as well.<\/p>\n
Over forty TQ drivers have entered the Dunkin\u2019 Donuts Center
\nProvidence Indoor race. Notables, in addition to the out-for-redemption Rudolph are NASCAR Modified past champion Ted Christopher, Plainville, Ct.; Modified Touring Series star and late season Seekonk Speedway race winner Rowan Pennick, New Egypt, N.J.; Modifed Tour and Wall Stadium sensation Jimmy Blewett, Howell, N.J.; SK Modified racer Glen Reen, Wilbraham, Ma.; Chris Allen., Jr., Old Bridge, N.J.; 2012 ARDC Midget driving champion Tim Buckwalter, Pottstown, Pa.; NASCAR Modified past Rookie Of The Year Patrick Emerling; and second and third place Baltimore TQ finishers Matt Janisch, Nazareth, Pa. and Ryan Smith, Kunkletown, Pa.<\/p>\n
The TQ Midgets will be joined in Dunkin\u2019 Donuts Center by Champ Karts – caged go-karts that are slightly less fast, but much more
\nnimble – than the TQs. Among the top entries is Frank Duquette. Duquette. 28, of Fall River, Mass., races stock cars each Saturday night during race season at Seekonk, Mass. Speedway.
\n \u201cI enjoy racing wherever I can,\u2019 said Duquette, who owns ten career feature victories over the years at Seekonk. \u201cWhen my friend Jay Dimond asked me if I wanted to try Indoor racing last March with his kart, I said, \u2018why not?\u201d \u201cWe ran pretty well in March but have a long way to go to be in contention to win,\u201d admitted Duquette. \u201cBut I think we learned
\nenough in the spring race to move up this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another top Kart entry is D.J. Shaw of Center Conway. N.H. Shaw will be looking to repeat his December 8 win in Baltmore\u2019s 1st Mariner Arena. It was Shaw\u2019s first career Indoor victory. Duquette and Shaw will be challenged in their quests by past Champ
\nKart Dunkin\u2019 Donuts Center winner Glen Meisenhelder, Feeding Hills, Mass.; Brandon Rusczek of Wallingford, Ct.; Daniel Gamache Jr., of Woonsocket, R.I.; Mike Perry of Dighton, Mass.
\n The Providence race in the Dunkin\u2018 Donuts Center is the fifth Indoor race meet at that venue promoted by Sammons. The December 31 scheduling – on New Years Eve – has provided race teams and their followers with a rare opportunity to compete against one another, then party the night away and herald the coming of the New Year.<\/p>\n
A two-race weekend finale is scheduled for February 1-2, 2013 in Atlantic City\u2019s Boardwalk Hall. Tickets are available in advance at Tickemaster.com or on the day of the race at the Dunkin\u2019 Donuts Center box office. Information is available by calling 609-888-3618 or by visiting the comprehensive website at aarn.com.<\/p>\n
When Randy Cabral won at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway this summer, he became the 21st Northeastern Midget Association driver to post victories at at-least eight different speedways. <\/p>\n
Considering schedules are much slimmer than they were 25 years ago, it is a laudable achievement for the five-time champion whose 35 career wins have come at Lee, Monadnock, Seekonk, Star, Twin State Thompson and Waterford in addition to \u201cThe Ridge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russ Stoehr is the leader among active drivers with wins at 14 tracks \u2013 Beech Ridge, Flemington, Fonda, Hudson, Lee, Monadnock, Oswego, Oxford, Seekonk, Stafford, Star, Thompson, Thunder Road and Waterford. Stoehr is tied for fourth on the all-time list with Nokie Fornoro.<\/p>\n
The top-three in the \u201ctracks won at\u201d category are Dave Humphrey (20), Drew Fornoro (19) and Billy Eldridge (16). After Stoehr and Fornoro, comes Joe Csiki (12). Johnny and Joey Coy join Johnny Mann in the 10 bracket while Bobby and Mike Seymour, Dick Brown and Len Thrall have won at nine tracks.<\/p>\n
Joining Cabral with eight are current competitors Jeff Horn, Joey Payne Jr. and Bobby Santos III along with Al Pillion, Lee Smith, Jerry Wall and Bobby White.<\/p>\n
When Jim Miller won at Oswego Speedway this summer, he not only joined a list of Northeastern Midget Association competitors to win in three different decades, he ended one of the longest waits between victories in club history.<\/p>\n
Prior to Oswego, Miller\u2019s previous victory came at Oxford Plains Speedway on Aug. 18, 2001 \u2013 six days short of 11 years. The longest time between victories belongs to Greg Stoehr \u2013 13 years (1994-2007) although in all fairness Stoehr spent much of those years voluntarily inactive. Keith Botelho waited a dozen years between a 1998 win at Seekonk and a checkered at Seekonk in 2010. Infrequent NEMA competitor Lou Ciccioni Jr. also waited 11 years between wins at Flemington in 1996 and at Waterford in 2007. <\/p>\n
Over sixty years, NEMA has operated in seven decades. Russ Stoehr is by himself in the \u201cfour-decade\u201d category.<\/p>\n
Despite those long waits, Cicconi and Greg Stoehr join Miller in the \u201cthree decade club.\u201d Howie Bumpus, Joey and Johnny Coy, Bill Eldridge, Ronnie Evans, Drew and Nokie Fornoro, Jeff Horn, Dave Humphrey, Bobby Seymour, Lee Smith and Len Thrall are other three decade winners.<\/p>\n
After 21 years of exemplary service, Ben Dodge Jr has left the Thompson International Speedway. Track management confirmed today that Dodge, a long-time leader in race track innovation, first worked at Thompson in the 1970s and returned in the late 1990s after nearly thirty years of running Riverside Park Speedway. During his tenure, Dodge led the track in a new direction and is credited with much of the success of the historic speedway during the last decade.<\/p>\n
Dodge worked as a Special Advisor to track owner, Don Hoenig. In making today\u2019s announcement, Hoenig said, \u201cI personally want to thank Ben for his many years of dedicated service and for all of the positive contributions he made to this track. Ben and I have had a great working relationship for well over 30 years and I know that he will be missed by our staff, sponsors, competitors and the entire racing fraternity. I want to wish only the best for Ben in his future endeavors,\u201d Hoenig concluded.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Hoenig who is leading the next generation management at Thompson said.\u201dWe are looking to enhance and expand the facilities and over all motorsports operations here at Thompson Speedway. With these programs, we are all looking forward to many new changes, advancements in the operations and product offerings to the motorsports community.<\/p>\n
Hoenig also said that the Thompson Speedway will be racing on a weekly basis in 2013 and that the complete schedule will be released in the next week to ten days. We will also be releasing our future plans for the expansion and operation of the facility in the very near future. The 2013 rules for racing competition are also just about ready for release.<\/p>\n
Stafford Motor Speedway’s Limited Late Model division has added its newest member of the 2013 driver roster with Manchester native R.J. Surdell. Surdell has worked for the past 10 years in Stafford’s paddock area and he is now ready to move from the pits onto the racetrack. Surdell has teamed up with Joey Ferrigno to campaign Ferrigno’s former #87 Limited Late Model car with some updates.<\/p>\n
For Palmer, MA native David Comeau, the urge to race in stock car competition has been a lifelong dream. Comeau was unable to fulfill that dream due to his travel commitments for work. But that has all changed for the 2013 season and Comeau will finally be able to realize his dream as he will join the DARE Stock ranks at Stafford Motor Speedway for the 2013 season.(END)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Lou Modestino Redemption will be on the mind of top Three Quarter (TQ) Midget driver Erick Rudolph at the New Year\u2019s Eve Indoor races in Providence, R.I.\u2019s Dunkin\u2019 Donuts Center. Rudolph slammed into the concrete barrier at the end of the straightaway on December 8 at 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, Md. Fans who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15173],"tags":[15183],"class_list":["post-11282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-england-motorsports-south","tag-new-england-motorsports-south-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}