11/18/04 - Well the schedule is out. 19 Super Stock shows. 5 Open Practices. 1 Sunday show. 1 Friday night short track show. We open the season ourselves. We're back Classic Weekend. The Mow for Dough is back. The last race is on my birthday (guess what I want for a present). Is this season going to be cool or what?

11/15/04 - The National Parts Peddler racer's auction is this weekend. Time to pick up some necessities, look at stuff I can't afford, and hang out and swap stories. I'll be around most of Saturday provided everything goes Ok with Griffin's surgery. I hope to see some of you down there. Outdoor Power has stepped up again and will be hooking me up with a body. Thanks Jason and Eddie.

The new schedule will be out and from the little I've heard about it, it should be a surprise. Will we be back Classic Weekend? I think so. And better than ever. Races after Classic? I'm guessing yes. I even heard a rumor that there will be more practices. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy.

The rule changes are supposed to be out this weekend too. I have no idea what to expect. I did send in what was posted on the Message Board. I have no idea if it was in time or whether the rules are set in stone. I guess we can ask Steve this weekend.

11/2/04 - It's Election Day. Go vote. It's your right and responsibility.

One more off-season milestone down. The banquet was Saturday night. Important safety tip: Don't go to a Halloween party the night before the banquet. I was so tired I couldn't even carry on a conversation so I have no news. I do have a rumor. Bruce in a Super? It could happen. For his sake I hope it does. For mine I hope it doesn't. Bruce is a great guy to race against and I'd hate to lose him. I'm disappointed that he wasn't allowed to make his speech Saturday night. I'll see if I can get what he had to say and post it here.

Some pertinent info for a few competitors: A driver shall be allowed to compete in only one class per race meet, except that a driver registered in the limited super or super stock division will be allowed to compete in that division and the supermodified division at the same meet no more than three(3) during the season. Any driver who has competed in four or more supermodified events will not be eligible to compete in the Classic Weekend Limited Super Nationals and Super Stock Championship. This rule has been pretty much ignored for the last few years. Several drivers have driven in the Super Stock and Limited classes. However, now that a few guys want to try being the first to run all three classes it looks like they'll be cracking down on it.

I talked to the track yesterday. They're planning on having the rules out by the Racer's Auction. I asked about having a meeting to discuss the rules but haven't gotten an answer yet. When I talked to Jim a couple weeks ago I told him what the major concerns were so they should at least have that information. I suggested that Jim check out the message boards so if we can get all the arguments for and against changes out there maybe they'll be able to make an informed decision from that.

Speaking of the Racer's Auction. My favorite off season racing event is coming up the 19th through the 21st. It's the only time of the year I actually like shopping. Fortunately this season I'll have a pretty small shopping list because my son will be having surgery the 19th. Hopefully things will go well and I'll be free to spend Saturday ogling racecar parts.

I was planning on trying to set up a trip to Northgate Saturday night of the show but with Griffin's surgery I'll have to pass or work on another night. Any suggestions?

10/5/04 - "Under The Gun Sucks!". That is a direct quote. I won't say from who because they might get lynched. Their reason for saying it was Fuzzy Bunny Slippers. We saw them at the night club in Seacrets in Ocean City last week during our trip to Dover. These guys were good. They did everything from "Play that Funky Music White Boy" to "I Wanna Be Sedated" to The Atari's version of "Boys of Summer". They even played half a country song. If I could have afforded them I would have brought them back to play my wedding. If you get a chance, check them out. The rest of the trip was pretty cool. We checked out a few new bars and restaurants, lay in the sun, and watched dolphins. The race was kind of boring but I enjoyed it because it was the last one I'll see this year.

I'm now an old married guy. Julie and I tied the knot Saturday in front of about 100 of our friends and relatives. I didn't know I knew that many people. Thanks to everyone that came out. My best friend Rob was here from Wisconsin to act as Best Man. Unfortunately, despite some very compelling arguments by me and several of my friends, he won't be moving out here any time soon. I am hoping to get him back here for Classic.

I'm getting a lot of messages from people interested in building or buying Super Stocks. I'll be on the phone with Jim Gray this week trying to find out what's going on with the rules. Hopefully there won't be any big changes and the rules will be enforced.

We need to start using the Message Board. It worries me that because Pinners is the most active one around, people might start believing they're seeing the general consensus of the fans on there. There's been a long discussion about the format of Classic Weekend and so far no mention of the Super Stocks has been made. We support the speedway all year and toward the end of the season brought in almost as much back gate as the Supers. We deserve to run in the spotlight as much as either of the other classes.

9/21/04 - Racing season is officially over for us. Running RoC as a Late Model was pretty cool. Especially the part where we were faster than several of them. If the brakes hadn't quit I think we could have pulled off a decent finish. Thanks to JJ Courcy for the loan of the motor, Tim for all the help, and Doug for the welding sponsorship. I'm amazed that we were as quick as we were. Unfortunately, we had a few problems early and didn't get enough practice. The car is pretty bent up but it'll fix. And we didn't finish last. I think we'll try it again next season.

2 regular and 2 part time(this season) Oswego cars ran the Street Stock race. Jeff Merritt would have had a great run but had to pit under green. He ended up 17th but was about 9th in the running order. Jason Dinzler ran all 75 laps but somehow ended up 24th while Bruce(driving Mike Fowler's 60) ran 73 laps and ended up 21st. Lou LeVea got caught up in a crash on the first laps and ended up 33rd. I'm not real confident in the scorers for this race.

Jeff Merritt says he's going to run the whole season next year. JJ Courcy is thinking about coming back. Jason's brother will be picking up the 60 as Mike Fowler will be putting together his new car. Kelly's car is for sale. $2500 less motor (talk real nice to him and he might let you borrow the motor for a season). Dwayne's is for sale for $4500. Dave Bock's will go with the trailer for $5500. Bruce is building a second car. Provided we don't mess them up with the new rules, all the Adirondack guys will be back. So far, things are looking pretty decent.

Well, I'm off to Dover for my honeymoon. That's right, Julie's going to keep me. In keeping with the mixed up way we do things, we'll be married when we get back.

9/7/04 - Why do I practice this kind of self abuse? Classic was fun again. And I'm poor and tired again. It's kind of weird not racing this weekend. I'm told we'll probably be back on the bill next season.

I'm going to have Eddie Horne drive my car for RoC. I'm not going to have the time to get it ready and he says he will. Chip says he'll let me borrow a motor and Doug says he can hook me up with tires.

Someone please buy my trailer. I really need the money.

So what are everyone's thoughts on rules for next season? Since Steve announced that we'll definitely be back next season, Jim tells me he wants to get going on the new rulebook. Honestly, I'm pretty happy with the rules we have now. I think some of the Adirondack cars should have their chassis' grandfathered but I don't see any real need to change anything other than typos and conflicting rules. I'm more interested in seeing the rules enforced. Many of the guys I've talked to from other tracks say that one of the things that they like about the track is that we actually stick to our rules. In too many places, cars are given leeway in the hopes of keeping the car count up. I submit that eventually that will hurt the car count. Eventually, the exception becomes the rule and they end up with a class of cars that no one can afford to be competitive in. This is what has happened at Evans Mills, Adirondack, and Spencer and Lancaster to a point. If there's a rule that will help the cars work better without it costing an arm and a leg, allow it. If there's someone in the class running outrageously expensive parts or systems that are giving him an advantage, put a stop to it. Not by fining them or giving them a ticket, but by taking their points and making it known. I've never run an illegal car. I've run questionable parts and done things the rulebook didn't address, but I've never outright broken a rule. When someone does that they should be given a reason not to. If we lose one or two cars because they get DQ'd and throw a tantrum, I'm pretty sure we'll gain a few more because they see we're tough but fair. I'm perfectly happy to be beat by a better car or a better driver. I don't want to be beaten by someone's checkbook.

8/30/04 - It's over. Not exactly the way I wanted to see it end but I'm not going to complain. Congrats to Bruce on a much deserved Championship. I did manage to pull off Crew of the Year(thanks to Eric, Michael and all the other people that have pitched in) and the Eagles Championship. I think Dwayne got Most Popular Driver(I was distracted when they gave him his award). He deserves it.

Not a bad turnout huh? 26. A new record. One of these days we'll have more Super Stocks than Supers. Jeff Merritt made his second appearance, and despite a crash in the heat was having a good run until he ran out of fuel in the feature. Frank Reakes made his only show of the season and just fell short of helping me take back the Championship. Also on hand were a few cars from Spencer warming up for RoC.

Speaking of RoC. Who's going? I'm thinking about it. Jason is thinking about putting Louie in his car for it. We'll both be running as Late Models. Anyone else? I got a note from someone asking if there was a car for rent for that weekend. If you want to rent yours drop me a line and I'll hook you up. In case anyone is running as a Street Stock, Scott Dinzler has a pair of tires with one night on them for $80. Again, let me know if you want them and I'll hook you up.

I wonder where Bobby Geiger was. I'm sure we'll see him in September.

Well, I've already heard from people that are getting excited about next season. The Dinzlers will be back and think they may bring a few more cars with them. The Denners were interested but they had a rough night Saturday. Hopefully they'll still want to do it. I know at least one Limited driver is planning on putting a car together. Bruce is putting together a second car. I think he'll be taking up the house car idea and actually finishing it. Please help him out any way you can(Bruce, I'll be donating the roof and quarter windows). One of my sponsors says he knows a couple of people that are building cars. And supposedly there are some more dirt guys making the change. Jeff Merritt says he plans on running the whole season next year. I know everyone is still pumped up and has big plans and many of them will fall through. But we haven't had confirmation that the class will run this early...well, ever. So all you fencesitters have no excuse now. Get 'er done!

Anyone have a 4.86 or 2.73 gear for a 8.5" GM rear?

8/27/04 - At long last, here's the payout for the 30 lap feature:


1. $600 and a new Impact helmet!
2. $400
3. $200
4. $130
5. $120
6. $110
7. $100
8. $95
9. $90
10. $85
11. $80
12. $75
13. $70
14. $65
15. $60
16-19. $55
20+. $50

Winner is a guaranteed starter for RoC.

8/23/04 - Well, I can't say that was the weekend I was hoping for. From now on, I'll be the last car into the pits. Hopefully because of the miscommunication in the heat they'll start using the radios for more than green and yellow flags.

My car is a mess. Anyone have a 77 or 78 shock I could use? I'll be putting in some late nights this week getting ready for Saturday night. I'm looking forward to it. I still have a chance to catch Bruce and no chance of losing a spot to Carl so I'm going to be trying as hard as I can to catch the guys from Jersey. The race for fourth, fifth and sixth is still up in the air so that will make an exciting race too. I'm waiting for a reply from the track with the purse structure and I'll post it as soon as I get it.

I have to say. I think having the guys from Adirondack is going to make racing at Oswego a lot more exciting. For the first time ever, people are running three wide and making it work. Watching them run has given me a completely different outlook on racing here.

So how about Kelly in a Super? I don't think he did too bad for his first time. As it turns out, he missed the feature by one car. We'll see how things go next weekend. Hopefully he'll manage to make the show.

8/18/04 - It seems Classic will be a points race. Am I really the only one that wasn't expecting this. The track says "it would be unfair at this point to not have the Classic a points race since "the competitors" were under the assumption it would be." Classic has never been a points race. Why should it be one now? But it gets better. Even though it's a point race, we'll be drawing for heat positions and the feature invert. For a non-point event that would be a great idea. For a points race it's a terrible idea. (Yes, I do understand that I could draw myself onto the pole. That should be enough of a reason not to do it.) No word yet on whether awards will be presented on the 28th. This should be a no-brainer. If they don't do it then, our sponsors and fans don't get to see it. I believe leaving us out of Classic Weekend was a mistake. I think I can understand their reasoning but the way things ended up we would have been better off running Saturday with the Limiteds as usual. But as the schedule is already set, give us our moment in the sun. This is the culmination of a season's hard work. It's our defining moment. It shouldn't be "just another race".

8/17/04 - We rock! Great job guys. Our feature went flag to flag again Saturday night. With 19 cars. According to Jason's video camera, it took just over 7 minutes to run our feature. And not only that, Bruce, Dwayne and Dave put on a great show for most of the race.

The season's coming to an end and cars are starting to go up for sale. Dave Bock has his on the market. $5500 for a car, trailer and a pile of spares. Not a bad deal especially considering this is the car that Louie drove to 2 championships. Dave's decided to focus on some other things. While we're on the subject, my car is for sale too. If the car sells I'll take a season off, maybe try to help out at the track and build a new car. $14,000 takes the truck, trailer and car. I'll split it up if someone's interested. I just want to make it clear that regardless, I am not quitting. I will still do anything I can to help out the guys in our class and I will be putting together a new car. I'm told the 8 is for sale too. I think Kelly said $2500 less motor but don't hold me to that.

Two races to go. Two point races? It's possible. For some reason the track is considering making Classic a points race. I called up to get a definitive answer and they're still discussing it. I'll post the answer when I get it.

This weekend I'm told the first Super Stock graduate will compete in a Super. Kelly tells me he'll be coming out and trying to make the show this weekend in his 81. Let's give him some support.

8/10/04 - Have I ever mentioned how much I love double points night? In the 4 years we've had double points this weekend, I've had the car not start, lost fuel pressure, blown an engine, and gotten a flat. I was having a pretty good race up to that point. After I finally got past Smeidy, I was running down the leaders. I'm pretty impressed at how the car was working with 4 week old tires. Jason had a great night. He's still thanking me for pulling off.

Another good car count. Not quite 20 but considering the forecast, and the fact that a couple of regulars didn't show, I think we did alright. Next weekend should be better.

Any one have a set of 2.73 gears that we could use for a week? Joe Vessoze needs them and I won't have my set back until Saturday. Please let me know if you can help out.

8/4/04 - Need a helmet? Outdoor Power has them. SNELL M2000 helmets $70. I'll have them at the track Saturday night. Email me with your size if you're interested. They look like this and come in green and blue.

8/2/04 - What a long night. But I'm glad they got it in. If I'd had to go back Sunday I never would have gotten my lawn mowed.

I was going to rant today but I've decided not to. I'm going to try to keep things positive. I'll just make a few short comments. Guys, we still have a rulebook. I'm sure you can all read. Follow it. In the interest of drawing cars from other tracks, we've allowed some temporary leeway to visiting cars. Mr. Zeigler was fast Saturday. Next weekend he'll still be fast but he'll weigh 3200# and meet most of the other rules. Nothing's changed for the regulars. I still run a completely legal car. As do Bruce and Dwayne. There is absolutely no excuse for a regular Oswego car to ignore the rules. If you're not fast enough to win within the rules, get smarter or learn to drive. If you don't like a rule, lobby to get it changed. Don't just ignore it. The problem with our class is car count, not competition. How about we work at that instead of trying to drive off the regular runners. Let's worry about changing our rules next year.

Speaking of car count, we had three new cars this week. Jeff Merritt was the 2002 Street Stock Champion at Lancaster. He's out here getting ready for RoC. From the way he looked on Saturday, he's going to be a contender. He says he had a good time and he'll be back. Also new this week were Rick Zeigler amd JR Mooney. Rick has campaigned at Evans Mills and Adirondack for the last few years. And as Dave Fetterly predicted, he whooped up on us. He was asked to change a few things in tech but plans on coming back. Hopefully I can stay in front of him next time. Larry Muroski made his comeback this week in Joe Skilinski's #4. Not a stellar night for him but he'll be back in it next week and possibly permanently. Expect a HUGE car count next week.

During the rain delay we got to put a lot of different drivers in different cars. It was kind of fun to see Joe and Chip Wood out there in my car(Joe REALLY likes my car). Jason's brother Mike tried to run all the gas out of the 34 and I gave it a shot too. Louie LeVea's fiance was out in the 95(I hear she told Louie she wants one now) and she came down and scolded Eric for getting a little close with the 60(Eric - "I wasn't going to get beaten by a girl!"). It's too bad gas is so expensive or I'm sure we would have seen quite a few more "guest" drivers drying the track.

7/26/04 - Joe Skilinski's got his own version of the 24-hour test drive going on. For $100 you can run his car for the night. Drop me a line and I'll put you in touch with him.

7/22/04 - I talked to Jim Gray last night. For those of you that don't know him, Jim is the head tech guy at Oswego. He was pretty happy with the turnout we had and the race we put on. I asked him what he thought about the out of town cars and how they'll fit in the rules. His first concern was of course safety. Adirondack and some of the other tracks around don't require a radio or some of the safety equipment we do. We've got a week off so coming up with a radio before the next race shouldn't be a problem. He'd also like to see current helmets and belts in the next two or three weeks. Other than that, anyone finishing in the top 5 with Hoosiers on should weigh 3200 pounds and have 56% left side and if Ed doesn't like your carburetor, you'll be DQ'd (box stock 4412).

The feedback I've gotten from the out of town guys has been pretty good. I've talked to Art Newman and all the Adirondack guys and they all sound interested in coming back.

7/19/04 - Wow! Can you believe it? 23 cars. Want to know what's scary? There are more coming. We may actually have too many cars by the end of the season. I don't expect everyone to come back every week for the rest of the season but from the sounds of things, enough will to keep the count pretty high.

Well, I have to hand it to Dwayne. He does seems to be doing all the right things and all the right things seem to be happening to him. Dave owned that race. He was the fastest he's ever been. In fact he was pushing the track record. Having the rear lock up was a real heartbreaker. He'll probably get the next one. I would have liked to have been able to have taken a shot at the win but the scuffle with Joe knocked the toe in and for some reason the motor started breaking up toward the end. To be honest, I'm amazed I finished, much less got second.

Dave Fetterly was back and seemingly to his surprise got a warm welcome from all of us. Dave is a great guy and a hell of a racer. It's good to have him back. His car took a beating so he'll be off for a week or so but he says he'll be bringing someone from Fulton back with him.

Some of the new faces this week were Scott and Jason Dinzler and Bill and Steve Denner from Adirondack. Scott and Jason had some troubles and didn't finish. Hopefully they'll give it another shot. Steve and Bill were running very well and they sound like they're having fun. I expect to see them back and will probably have to race them pretty hard. Don Pringle made his first appearance this week and brought Jeff Polaski with him. Don broke but Jeff brought home a 6th. If I'm not mistaken, that car is for sale. With a few small changes and a set of tires, that car could be a winner. Art Newman made his asphalt debut and says he had a blast. He plans on being back. Jim Seigel also returned but had his usual bad luck and didn't start the feature. On the plus side, he didn't wreck or blow the engine so hopefully he'll be back on the 31st. I'm told these two guys' appearance should shame Randy Storms into coming back out. The 28 was back from Wall Stadium with a different driver. I love the new paint scheme guys. Way nicer than the old one. Don't hit me going across the stripe again though. I knew you were there. I could hear you. I don't know why you didn't pass me. My car was junk.

I'll be talking to Steve Gioia and Jim Gray about an official set of rules regarding out of town cars. Hopefully we can have something that has their seal of approval by the end of the week. I'm not pushing for anything drastic but we do need to come up with some guidelines.

7/16/04 - Some corrections. Louie LeVea was actually the first one to win three in a row. He did it in 2001. So I still have to win 4. Also, Lou Jr. will be in the 96(?) Super Stock this weekend. Louie will get in it when the other car is done.

7/13/04 - Anyone want some stuff? I want to get rid of some. Mac Tools Plasma cutter - $300. 1988 G20 van, decent body, 350 runs like a top, $500. 1978 GM(Rockway?) camper, needs a motor, 1 ton chassis, $350. 1993 Olds Bravada $1500. First person to buy one gets all my racing magazines. Help, I need tires and stuff.

7/12/04 - What an absolutely gorgeous weekend. Too bad we didn't race. I did get to spend some quality time with Julie and Griffin though.

I'm looking forward to next weekend. From what I'm hearing we may have the best turnout we've ever had. The weather looks a little iffy now but if they can get the show in you know they'll do it. 13 cars last week. All of which should return. A good chance of 5 from Adirondack. Supposedly one from Utica-Rome. Between 2 and 5 new local cars. Possibly 4 or 5 Spencer cars. Maybe even one from New Jersey. It's actually possible that we'll fill a field. I'm making a conservative guess at 18 though.

Louie LeVea will be joining us again this weekend. He's acquired Bob Munger's other car and should have it ready for Saturday. If things go well, Louie Jr. will also have his car there. Terry Vezzose has picked up Larry Muroski's car and is working on getting Lonnie's car. He and his brother will be piloting them. We should see at least one of them this weekend. Cha Spataro was supposedly mere hours from having his car done last Saturday. Hopefully he's found the time in the last week to finish up the car.

Ignore my handicapping page. I forgot this race was handicapped by finishes for the whole season. I'm pretty sure the points are right though.

Kelly will be the first Super Stock driver to field a Super. He was practicing Friday morning and from all accounts did a pretty decent job with the car. He did have a radius rod break but escaped any major damage. Expect to see him in it for the last three points races and Classic. It's possible he may have someone shake it down for him as early as this weekend.

7/7/04 - Well Dwayne finally did it. Three in a row. Great. Now I have to win 4 in a row... Nice job though Dwayne. Still planning on taking that vacation?

I'm a little disappointed with the turnout again. We did get 13 but Eric and Travis showed up late so we missed out on having two heats. Next race we should see at least two more cars as Louie should have the new 96 done and Cha Spataro should be there. I'm not sure what's going on at Adirondack. I've been told three times the class was finished but they keep running. They had 4 cars in the feature Saturday night. I can't imagine they'll keep it up for too much longer.

I keep hearing from more people interested in running here. I talked to a guy that runs dirt in Canada and he'd like to come down and give it a try. I also got a note from a guy in Watertown that saw the show Saturday night and would like to bring a car out. If half of the people I've talked to actually showed up, we'd have no problem with car count.

Our next race is $500 to win. You guys from out of town should come out and try to take it.

6/30/04 - So is everyone rested up and ready for Saturday night? I know of 4 cars that aren't. Jason and Fowler are still working on their cars. Lou LeVea Jr. came by the other night and got some gears and says they'll be there but there's still a lot of work to do. Kelly is putting Royal's car back together and plans to have it there this weekend with a new driver. In case anyone's counting, that's three new cars.

I got a note from Steve Denner this weekend. He raced at Adirondack and Evans Mills. When Kelly ran up there he was very helpful and from the few conversations I've had with him, he seems like a decent guy (he also has excellent taste in numbers). He says Adirondack's dropped the Super Stock class and he was wondering if he could come try out Oswego. I told him yes and gave him a few suggestions. Hopefully we'll see him and his brother soon. Chances are we'll also see Newman back this week. I also got a note from a Utica-Rome Pure Stock driver that's thinking of trying us out. If some of Bruce's campaigning at Spencer bears fruit, we have a shot at 17-18 cars this weekend. Wouldn't that be sweet?

Joe Skilinski's car is up for sale again. I talked to him last night and as much as he hates the idea, he really needs the money. If there's anyone out there thinking of getting into a Super Stock, there is not a better deal to be had anywhere. $3500 buys the car, trailer, and all the spares. This car has what might be the best motor in the class in it and the chassis is just starting to work. Put a set of tires on it and win.

6/21/04 - Saturday was interesting. Not that I'm complaining about starting on the pole for the heat, but if it happens that we get less than 12 cars again, we really should draw for position. Was anyone else as impressed as I was with Eric Connors Saturday night? I've thought for years that if given a decent setup, he could do well. We spent about 4 hours in my shop Saturday morning and look at the results. When I saw him go to the outside of Dwayne I was cheering as loud as anyone in the stands. Regrettably, old tires and then an overheating problem relegated him to a disappointing finish. Another good run turned sour was had by Jason Spaulding. He had passed Carl Carwford and was making a move on Dave Bock when he made a mistake and ended up putting both ends of the car into the wall. Looking at the rest of the field, I can see some pretty exciting racing coming up in our class.

The house car is gone. I'm still working out the details but Mike Fowler will have it at the track on the 3rd. Someone came over Sunday to look at what started out as the house car and hopefully will put something together with it by the end of the season. Lou LeVea Jr. Should be out for the next race in what used to be the John Parkhurst 72. From what I've seen so far it'll bear little resemblance to the car we saw last season. Bruce went to Spencer and campaigned Friday night. I guess he got a lot of positive response. I'm not sure if it's because of it but I've gotten two emails with questions about the rules and setups. Hopefully we'll see some of these guys after the break. We have a week off. Maybe I can track Bob Munger down and see what he plans to do with his car. And maybe I can help Lonnie raise the funds to get his car to the track.

I was told I'm running a lightweight crank this week. Why does this rumor start every time I start to run well? This is my crank. This is the top of my engine. If anyone has any other questions, bring me a set of gaskets, a case of Castrol, a Wix filter and $50 and I'll take it apart again and show it to you.

6/18/04 - Well, I'm done. Someone else can pick up the torch. I've spent so much time trying to help other people and put this damn house car together that I'm alienating my fiance. I'm going to keep racing until they drop the class and I'll still do what I can to help out the other guys but I'm not going to keep killing myself. If someone wants the house car, come take it. It'll need a motor and a transmission(Dwayne would probably sell it). If someone wants to follow through on my original plan I'll even offer a little help and some more parts. But I'm finished with it. I'm getting almost no support from the track and not much from the people that I race with. I can't do this alone and I'm becoming sorry I tried. Somewhere along the line this stopped being fun and became work.

We're not going to get cars from other tracks. It's too far to haul for $20. We're changing rules out of desperation in the hope that we can pull the dregs from other tracks. The only thing that will save the class is a committment from the track. Period. There are enough people in the local area to fill the field every week but no one's going to invest several thousand dollars into something that has a fair chance of being completely useless in 8 months. Oh sure, we could probably go to Adirondack and clean up like Bobby Newman is but for the same reasons we can't get cars from Spencer, no one wants to go there. The cars we could have here this season seem to be owned by people that just couldn't care less if they race or not. There are at least 5 cars sitting in garages or on trailers because the people that own them can't be bothered to come to the track. I can't even begin to grasp that concept.

I run into people all the time that know who I am from the track. They love us. And without exception they ask why we don't have any more cars. And I don't have an answer. Except for the above reason. Our fate is in Steve and Pat's hands. If they want us there we'll be there. If not, there'll be a lot of empty pit stalls and seats next season.

6/15/04 - Support is nice. JJ Andrews has one again picked up the torch for us and is using his column Limited Access to try to drum us up some competition and support. Here's an excerpt from this weeks column:

---- Back to the subject of new winners. The street stock feature put Dwayne LeMay in victory lane for the first time, and the fans flocked around his car afterward. I’ve known Dwayne for many years, and we park next to each other every week, so it was great to see him get the win. Dwayne works hard on the car, and does his homework, and he deserves it. For those of you who don’t know Dwayne, stop over and say hi. He’s very personable for a tall guy, and it was very fun to do a victory "belly slam" with someone a foot taller than me. And while you’re there, feel free to sign his racecar. That’s right - everybody gets to sign Dwayne’s racecar with a marker, and they have a great time doing it. Congratulations to Dwayne and the guys - you always have fun, and this will not be your last.

---- While on the subject of street stocks, I wonder if any competitors read my comments last week, about street stock car counts. An 11 car field makes me think that nobody did. But that wasn’t the last of my ideas to help rejuvenate this division. This week, I think I really know what it will take to boost this class. The question is whether or not anyone will do it. Here’s my two part plan: Part one - open up the rules to make it easy for other pavement track’s cars to fit in. I understand that some concessions have been made recently. From Joe Miller’s website: "I talked to Steve Gioia. He's understandably concerned about the car count. We talked over some ideas to bring up the car count and came up with these: Leaf spring cars will be allowed, Spencer cars will be allowed provisions for home track rules, and any winning stock-bodied car will be awarded a 'bounty' for beating the aftermarket bodied cars. Hopefully these rule changes will entice some of the Spencer, Adirondack/Evans Mills and Fulton cars into joining us." Which leads me to part two: Does anyone know about these changes? Who is notifying these drivers at these other tracks that they are wanted? If this hasn’t already been done, it should be. Somebody needs to get to Spencer Speedway, in an Oswego Speedway shirt, and go pit to pit in the street stock section. Meet the drivers. Tell them about the changes. Show them your purse. Compliment their racecars. Hand them a flyer. Ask them to come down. And most importantly - give them a free pass. Let the driver in free for a night. Pat ‘em on the back, and make them feel loved. I know from experience, as a longtime former fender car competitor, that street stocks are the most disrespected, neglected, low on the totem pole class at many racetracks. But go to Spencer a few times, and shake some hands. Then sneak over to Fulton, and talk to the pure stock guys. And Evans Mills. And Can-Am. And Tioga. And Chemung. And Lancaster. And Adirondack. And Weedsport. And everywhere else that has cars with doors, dirt or asphalt. The cars are out there, and just a little respect will go a long way. Show some love! I really think this can work, if anyone is willing to go after it.

Hopefully someone from the track will take this to heart and give it a shot. We've really got a great class and an excellent atmosphere. Let some of the guys at other tracks see it.

6/14/04 - Well this was an up and down weekend. We're still short on cars. 11 won't get us full heats. Supposedly Lonnie was loaded up and ready to go but didn't have the cash to get in. Someone please sponsor that guy. I'm going to try to track down Bob Munger this week. I'm going to try to get JJ Courcy's car to my shop next week and get him here. The house car SHOULD be done this week. I think both of Louie's Limiteds came home in one piece so hopefully he'll get to work on the Super Stock. Will the 21 or the 8 be back? Dave's pretty upset. At me and at the track. We got together on the first lap Saturday night and he spun. Then he checked up to miss the 20 and spun again and the track flagged him in. It seems the 3 spin rule's been tossed in favor of the 2 spin rule. I personally think it was a bad call and it may have cost us one of the best drivers in our class. Dave has been a pleasure to race with and if he decides not to return, he and Bobbie will be sorely missed. Both as competitors and friends. Kelly is considering letting the 8 go. He's decided to focus more on his Super. He talked to Bruce Stanton briefly Saturday night and something may come of that. Or not. I'll talk to Kelly tonight and see what's going on.

It was a rough week for mechanical problems. Jason broke a harmonic balancer. Joe finally got his car to drive the way he liked and it overheated. I cut a tire. Fortunately there were no serious crashes though.

We need to do something with our class as a group. It seems that there's a couple of gaps in communication between us and the track and the tech barn. I'd like to set up something to go over some issues we're having and maybe come up with some ideas for improvement. If you have any stake or plans to have a stake in a Super Stock, please get a hold of me.

6/8/04 - It seems that Joe was a little premature in putting the car up for sale. I'm told his family took exception to the idea. I did too so I'm pretty pleased.

Bobby Newman won at Adirondack Saturday night. And Rick Zeigler got booted for a night or two for dumping the points leader. They had 9 cars too. Curiously, Jim Seigel wasn't there.

I got a note from Tom Thornton. He tells me he'll be here in July. And he reiterated how much he enjoys coming to Oswego. I'm looking forward to having him here. He and his dad seem like very nice people (and his dad is pretty sharp), and I think they'll be a great addition to our class.

6/7/04 - 9 cars. On a night that we were one of only two classes, we can only get 9 cars. I'm flummoxed. Admittedly, things are tough all over. I don't think there's a track within three hours of here that's had 20 cars this season. But we should have most of them. We have the best place to race, one of the highest purses, the closest competition and the most friendly atmosphere of any track I've ever been to and we can't pull more than 12 cars. I've talked to a bunch of people and they rave about how great a show we put on but they always mention the low car count. We had 18 cars for the first three weeks last season. Where the hell is everybody?

Here's my answer as best I can guess. Bobby Newman took his toys and went home. I'm told he ran Adirondack Saturday. Hopefully he doesn't like the carnage up there and comes back. Jim Siegel is up there too. Supposedly the walls at Oswego make him nervous. Randy Storms. I have no idea. Last I heard his new car was done and the old car just needed the motor back. How do you let a racecar just sit in the garage? Bob Munger's car was about a night's work away from being done the last time I saw it. Will it ever make it to the track? Carl Crawford couldn't find a motor last week so he went to the Cup race at Dover. From what I hear they do have a line on a motor for this weekend. Dave Fetterly made his annual trek to Carlisle last weekend. I expect he'll be back Saturday. Royal Roger's car is sitting outside with no body or engine. As far as I know it's still for sale and still does have a motor (it's just being used right now). Toby Bennet's car (72) was sitting in front of Louie LeVea's house this morning. I'm told it will be at the track in a few weeks. Mike is still talking things over with Larry Muroski. Hopefully something will come of it. JJ Courcy is thinking of bringing his car back out. Who knows when or if that will happen. If Lonnie Mills doesn't get his car out soon I'm going to steal it and put someone in it. Don Pringle says he plans on making it out at some point. As does Tom Thornton. If we can actually scrape up all the parts, the house car will be out this weekend.

It pains me to say this, but, due to insufficient funding, Joe Skilinski is putting his car up for sale. $3700 takes it race-ready. It's definitely worth that and then some. It will be at the track until it's sold. Hopefully with him in it. I've had more fun racing Joe than about anyone in the class and I'll be sorry to see him go. If anyone out there has thought about sponsoring a car, this would be a great one.

I drove my first race in a Limited this weekend. It was different. I think I could have made the feature if the hub hadn't broken on the first lap of the consi. How often do you see a LF hub break? Fortunately, I got it stopped pretty quick and there wasn't any more damage. I'm going to give it another shot next weekend. And that will probably be about it for my Limited career. Although Louie mentioned something about driving his so you never know.

6/3/04 - At this very moment there are 3 Super Stocks in my garage. If at all possible, all three will be at the track Saturday night. The former Dave bock 85 showed up on my doorstep last night in need of a motor, transmission, a steering box and a lot of work. With some help I think we can have it there though. I also got a tip that we may see some extra cars from Adirondack as soon as this weekend.

6/2/04 - Finally, some time to make a post. Not a bad weekend all told.

I hate to see that much attrition in a race. Especially when we have so few cars to start. Still, There was some decent racing. Carl, Dwayne and I were going at it pretty hard when Carl lost the motor. And that thing at the end with me and Bobby was pretty exciting if totally unnecessary. I'm starting to think every win is going to cost me a body panel this season. We'll bang out the dents and be ready for this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend. Expect to see a couple of new cars (to make up for the ones that won't be here). Bob Munger may actually get his car to the track this weekend. It's in my garage now getting the final mechanical touches put on it. It's a good looking car, if a little different. Hopefully he'll have time for paint. If everything goes right, we'll be dragging another car out of the weeds to use as the house car. It should be at the house tonight and if all goes well you'll see Steve Abt in it Saturday night. I'm trying to get Lonnie's car back out with him or without him. We'll see how that goes. We're also working on a plan to get the 2 back to Oswego.

Carl Crawford is looking for a motor. If you know where there's a 9:1 race motor kicking around, get a hold of me and I'll put you in touch with him.

Thanks to everyone who came down to the Front Door Sunday. We made enough to pay some bills and maybe get me a suit. I again have to thank everyone who helped. Paul, Peg, Debbie and Randy, Eric and Trina, Don and Linda for watching Griffin, and as usual most of all Julie, the greatest girl on the planet. Also thanks to the people that hooked us up with door prizes and other loot: Oswego Speedway, Outdoor Power, Precision TaeKwanDo, MAC Tools, Snapon Tools, The Front Door, Sharon and Peg(it was amazing how much the baskets of loot went for).

5/24/04 - Is it ever going to stop raining? I'm starting to think the fates don't want us to play anymore.

I talked to Steve Gioia today. He's understandably concerned about the car count. We talked over some ideas to bring up the car count and came up with these: Leaf spring cars will be allowed, Spencer cars will be allowed provisions for home track rules, and any winning stock-bodied car will be awarded a 'bounty' for beating the aftermarket bodied cars. Hopefully these rule changes will entice some of the Spencer, Adirondack/Evans Mills and FUlton cars into joining us. We're still working on growing the class locally though. Dave Fetterly will be back this weekend. Lonnie should at least have his car here. Larry Muroski's car may show up if a deal can be made. The house car is being put off another week because I need to do some work on my motor. I'm told Irv Kastler(sp?) may be showing up soon, supposedly so will Gerry Newman. Still no word from Randy Storms, Jim Seigel or Fred Siebert. I'm told Don Pringle has practiced at Lancaster so who knows if he'll make it out here.

5/17/04 - Woohoo! What an opening night. I crash twice and still win. Thanks to Dad and Eric and Jason and Michael for getting the car there and making sure it was ready to race. In case you missed it, I was sprinting across the track as they were lining up for the heats. I just managed to get into the car and on to the track before they threw the white. Which probably had a little to do with Jason and I getting together. I feel terrible about the crash. Jason has worked so hard to get the car ready and he really didn't need that to happen. Fortunately, the damage was mostly cosmetic on both cars. Jason just didn't have the parts or time to put his back together. He'll be back next week ready to race. I'd like to thank everyone that offered up parts to get us going again too. Chip Wood(and whoever he got the spindle from), Dwayne LeMay, Bruce Stanton, and Dave Bock, thanks.

As I was sitting backwards between turn one and two watching Lonnie heading toward me, I thought to myself; "Well, at least I got the showup points.". I was amazed when the car started back up and seemed to drive OK. When I pulled into the pits Eric looked at me like I was crazy so I had him tape the hood down (Fun Fact about Eric: Duct tape is his favorite tool). When I got back out and took a few laps at speed and nothing fell off I figured I might as well try to pass some cars. So I did. Much to a lot of people's surprise I think. Dave Fetterly, Eric, Dad, Julie, Doug and about everyone else I know has been telling me for a year and a half to use the outside. Obviously they were right.

Dad had a good time running hot laps. He had some nice things to say about how it handled, which makes me pretty proud. He was getting pretty comfortable by the end so I'm hoping to get him in the house car by the end of the season.

Speaking of the house car. I was planning on having it ready by this weekend but with the damage to mine and Jason's cars and the fact that things didn't go as well as I'd hoped last week it will probably be next weekend. I do have some other ideas brewing so stay tuned. look for the first driver in the 6 to be Steve Abt, former Limited 85 owner/driver. And Kelly has called dibs on Mr. Super Stock.

Joe Skilinski says he's definitely going to be ready this weekend. He watched the show Saturday night and is all fired up. Hopefully, the weather will be better this weekend and we'll see some of the Spencer and Utica guys. The car count is looking pretty grim. I'm planning on chasing down Bob Munger and finding out once and for all whether he plans on getting his cars out.

Did anyone else notice how fast the show went? Yes, I know it finally ended at 1:15, but if you consider the 4 hour rain delay and the 2 red flags, it was a short night. If rain hadn't been a factor we probably would have been out of there by 9:00. And that's with the red flags. The only thing I saw that looked like it didn't go off the way it should have was scaling the cars before they go to Victory lane. Doing to that way would be more official, but it just takes too long sometimes to line up the scales and get an accurate reading. I do like the idea that the top three all go to Victory lane. The interviews do take a little longer but it gives the drivers more exposure for their cars and sponsors. Overall I say Huzzah! for the new management for making the best of a bad situation and still giving the fans a good, albeit late, show.

5/14/04 - Some news. Larry Muroski emailed me and asked me to post this: The 17 is for sale. Complete car (with blown engine), $2000. He says it's got new tires and lots of other new stuff and spares. If you've got a short block, this could be your new ride.

I'll be missing the heats this weekend as I'll be joining my friend Dave Will in celebrating his nuptuals. Congratulations to him and Heather. So warming up the car and possibly running the heat (gotta get those Eagles Owner Points) will be special guest driver Steve Miller. That's right, Stevie Straight Arrow will be coming out of retirement for a one heat race deal after 21 years.

I just looked at the handicapping on the Oswego site and it's different than mine. I'll have to check into that.

5/10/04 - I managed to delete the last two updates so I'll cover a little old ground.

Practice. Well, it didn't go as well as I'd have liked. The car felt good in slow laps but was really loose in hot laps. Probably because I scaled it before I changed the tires. Doh! Unfortunately, before I had a chance to adjust on it, it overheated and I had to park it. I should have all the bugs worked out now.

I got a call early last week from a guy named Carl Crawford. He and his sons used to race Dwarf cars. He was thinking about getting back into racing and was interested in our class. So I told him about the cars I knew were for sale. Well, imagine my surprise when he shows up to practice with Doug Reaume's old car. Imagine my even greater surprise when he tells me he bought Chris Lupa's 46 too. His sons Carl and Randy will be driving the cars. I've talked to both of them and they seem like very nice people. They've got good equipment and some experience behind the wheel so expect to see them up front all season.

6 cars turned out for practice. Bruce Stanton, Dave Bock, and Dwayne LeMay all looked racy. They'll be tough to beat this season. Eric Connors was out in Kelly's old car and had some minor mechanical problems. I'm curious to see what Eric can do with a decent car under him.

Opening Night. It rained. As Usual. I never even got to unload my car. Hopefully next weekend's weather will be better. 10 cars were there. 10. How are we supposed to keep the class going with a turnout like that? I understand it was raining. That might have kept 5 cars away. But even then it's only 15 cars. We need 20. This is a great class. We run clean. We get along. Our cars aren't outrageously expensive. Why can't we get a full field? I know I'll be doing my part. I may not be able to finish the house car by this weekend, but it WILL be there the 22nd. Come on folks. Are you thinking about putting a car together? Think fast! Go see Royal. He's got a rolling chassis(it would be race ready if his motor wasn't in Kelly's car). Track down Bob Munger. He's got 2 race ready cars. Come see me. I have a rolling chassis in my back yard that needs a body and drivetrain. Know a disgruntled Fulton Pure/Street Stock driver? Tell him about Oswego. Motors and tires are cheap here. And you only have to put a body on once. And you never have to wash your car. Are you running Spencer/Tioga/Chemung/Adirondack and you're being out-spent? Come on down. Some of us break even over the season. I think Chris Lupa actually made money last year. Worried about getting home at a reasonable hour? One of the most important goals the new management has this season is getting the show in by 10:30. And we run first. You can have your car loaded up and ready to take off as soon as the Super feature is over and be home in time to hit your favorite pub.

4/29/04 - It's a boy! Welcome to Griffin Joseph Miller, newest member of 9racing.com Motorsports. He was born at 11:32 last night and weighed 9 pounds 5 ounces. He and Julie are doing fine.

Since the boy was nice enough to be born on Wednesday, I should be able to make practice. I just have a bumper to make and the setup to put in. Kelly and Eric should be there with the 8 and Dwayne LeMay says he'll be there with his car. Lonnie MIlls says his car is all set and he'll be out too. Jason got a little behind the 8-ball and probably won't be there until the opener. The house car may be a couple of weeks. I needed to spend some time on my car so Eric has been working on it when he has time. Hopefully once my car is finished and the boy is settled in I'll have some time to finish it up.

4/18/04 - Well, we're down to two weeks until practice. I need help. Really. Not for my car. It'll be done in plenty of time. The house car has a ton of things that need to be done though. The big things are the interior tin and hanging the body. Eric, Fowler and Lonnie were a huge help last Wednesday but it's going to take more to have it done for practice. Please come by and help me out. The shop will be open pretty much every night until practice. Try to drop me a line or give me a call before you stop out. I could still use a radiator and a steering hub. And some wheel studs would be nice.

I went down to the track Saturday and helped out with the cleanup. The place is starting to look awesome. It's amazing what picking up the trash and putting on some paint can do. I spent over an hour raking up stuff under the first turn grandstands. Please don't drop stuff down there again.

4/12/04 - Less than 3 weeks until practice. Only 2 weekends. Where did the winter go? Even I'm starting to worry about being ready and I'm quite a ways ahead of a few folks. If you're thinking about going racing, now is the time to get going. Cars up for sale for those of you that are interested: JJ Courcy's 20 - $3000 - complete less motor and wheels, Royal Roger's 38 - 1 feature win, 2 heat wins - $4000 - turnkey, needs paint, Chris Lupa's 46 - 2 feature wins, 6 heat wins - $4700 - turnkey, needs some sheet metal, Jeff Jones 20(Reaume 99) - 5 feature wins, 8 heat wins - $9500 - turnkey, new body and vinyl, and for the Ford fans out there, Bobbie Foster's 2 - $3500 race ready, $1500 less drivetrain.

Stuff I need for the house car: wheel studs & lug nuts, wheels, a loaner distributor, a decent radiator, and various motor parts. We have a loaner motor but it won't sell with the car if someone decides they like it. Just as a clarification; The house car is going to be out there to give people who want to try out a Super Stock a chance to do it without spending all the cash to buy a car first. A weekend's racing will cost $100 (fuel, oil, towing expenses, and help with the tire bill), and the car will be for sale at a VERY reasonable price. Any proceeds from the sale of the car will go toward the point fund. I've already got a few takers so if you want to give it a shot, let me know soon.

Cars in limbo: Larry Muroski's 17, Steve Sixberry's 20, Kelly's old 80/88 that Chauncey Carvey has, Cha Spataro's 08, Chris Smiedy's 71, Toby Bennett's 72. Anyone with an idea what these guy's are doing, let me know.

4/5/04 - I hate popups as much as the next guy. Possibly more. So I got rid of mine. Pretty tricky way to get around all those popup stoppers, eh?

Did you catch my car in the commercials this weekend? I'm pretty psyched about it. It's just a cameo but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye. I think it's the first Oswego Super Stock to ever be on broadcast TV. Hopefully when Steve and Pat make new commercials they'll get a few more on.

I have front suspension on the house car. Hopefully we'll be putting the last of the bracing in and we can get started on the interior tin. Dave Fetterly has been a great help so far. I'm planning on having my car back in the garage this weekend to finish up the stuff I had to skip so it would be ready for the show. Now that I've finished the baby's room I get to go back out to the garage.

3/26/04 - It's about that time again. Fundraisers are starting. Jason's is May 2nd at the Dead End Tavern. Tickets are $7 an dinner includes all the usual accoutrements. Mine, as you may have noticed, is May 30th at the Front Door. I had to have it later in the season as my son is due the weekend I normally have it.

3/22/04 - Well it was a good plan anyway. I ran out of parts so we didn't get as much done as I wanted to. I'm expecting the running gear and the rest of the stuff for the screw jacks and control arm mounts in the next day or two so the plan is to get a lot done on Wednesday. That's a hint for those of you that offered help.

Super Stock people are just plain cool. Jason and his wife were nice enough to go out of their way to get me to and from Monte Carlo night Saturday. And I woke up this morning and Joe Skilinski had plowed my driveway unasked. You guys rock.

Monte Carlo night was fun. Jason wussed on the Craps table but Keith Gilliam and I had a great time at the Roulette wheel. I haven't heard yet how we made out but everyone seemed to be having good time. Hopefully we sold a bunch of stuff for a lot of money.

I didn't mention it last week but I talked to Dave Fetterly, Randy Storms and Don Pringle last weekend. All of them intend to run at least part time. Dave is still unsure about his schedule but it sounds like he'll make at least a few shows. Randy plans on having his new car done for practice but isn't sure about the engine. He plans on running the whole season and will be bringing the old car out several times too. Don tells me he'd like to make a few shows and sounded interested when I told him one of Steve's goals is to get the show done earlier and that we probably wouldn't run last this season. He says Fred Siebert has some plans to set his car up for Oswego only. Bobby Newman says he may have a Late Model ride or something but he might go to Oswego anyway. I heard a rumor some dirt guy was buying his old car to race with us. Overall things sound pretty good for this season.

3/17/04 - We got the chassis for the house car into the shop the other night. It's not in as good shape as I remember. Someone ran into it with a snowplow so we'll have a framehorn to straighten. I should have it on the suspension and the motor mounts in it by the weekend. Stuff we're missing: Steering wheel and hub, lead, a decent radiator, some sheet steel and aluminum, and a bunch of help. Joe, if you're listening, we can use the body whenever you can get it here. And Jason, I want that rear axle (at least temporarily) and the dummy block.

Matt, you better get a hold of me soon. My weekend is getting busy.

I heard a rumor that Jim Seigal was going to run AIS. I'm not sure why. There was nothing wrong at Oswego that more wedge and some seat time wouldn't take care of.

3/16/04 - That was a long weekend. The car looked good. So did Bruce's. So did the Limiteds. I talked to a bunch of people, looked at a bunch of racecars, drank some beer. The usual stuff.

Look for my car in Outdoor Power commercials soon to air. Sweet, huh?

There are still a few tickets left for Monte Carlo Night. Pick one up and come check it out. I've been going for years and it's a blast. I'll be running the roulette wheel and Jason will be running the craps table (at least for part of the night). Even if you want to miss dinner, come on out and play and check out the auctions afterward.

3/11/04 - It's there. And it runs. Come by and see it. Or look here.

3/7/04 - Well now that everything is back to normal, here's a few updates. The Eagles meeting wasn't very well attanded. But get this: there were more Super Stock drivers there than any other class. However, that's not saying much as Bruce and I were the only ones there. Come on folks. Being involved with the Eagles can only help us. Steve Gioia and Chuck Handley were there and had a lot of information about the upcoming season to share and it looks like some cool stuff will be happening. Here's the thing though. The Eagles need support. You don't necessarily need to give them money, although attending the fundraisers is a good idea, but becoming a member and offering some help raising money would also be a huge help. Larry has some big plans for the Eagles and some people put out some good ideas to make this a great year for us. But we're going to need your help. Become a member. Come to the meetings. Anyone can come. Bring your wife. Bring your kids. Bring your dog. Just get involved. Some good reasons for joining? How about a discount on grandstand admission every week? How about automatically being entered in a weekly drawing for tickets and prizes? It's only $10. Become a member.

OK. Stop calling Royal and asking to drive his car. It seems I was mistaken in thinking he'd consider letting someone drive it. He does want to sell it. It's obviously a stout car, having won two races in the last two seasons. $4000 isn't a bad pricetag.

Kelly is still planning on putting Eric Connors in the 8. They were over yesterday to help me with my car. Kelly says he may make a run or two in the house car if it's available. Jason's car is coming along. He tells me he's got the drivetrain mounts all in and is starting on the interior tin. My car has got the body hanging on it and runs. It's going back to the shop today to get all shiny and it's going to get lettered tomorrow. I should be in good shape for the show.

2/29/04 - If you're reading this, I've moved the web site. The message board may not work until everything gets finished but the rest of the site should be good to go. Drop me a line if anything isn't working right.

2/17/04 - Less than a month until the Motorsports Expo. It's going be tight but I'm pretty sure I'll have everything together. Eric should be over tonight to help me finish up the body and I'm going to try to get it to the paint shop tomorrow night. If I can make it black by Sunday I should be in good shape. I talked to Dave and the motor is still on schedule to be back next week. That will save me from having to push it halfway across the fairgrounds this year.

Some notes from all over. Chris Lupa is still trying to sell his car. As far as I know $5000 takes the car and all the spare parts. Drag it off, start it up and go racing. Act now and I'll throw in the support that got him second in points. Despite rumors to the contrary, it's a pretty nice car. It's never been bent (not counting a lot of sheetmetal, wheels and steering parts), and it's got a pretty stout motor. The cage was originally put on by Kelly and I made some modifications to suit my standards. He says he'll also consider trades.

I have every issue of Circle Track, Speedway Illustrated, and Stock Car since 1999. Some one take these away from me. I'd like to actually get a couple of bucks for them but they really need to go even if I don't. There's an incredible amount of information in these books. I'm making room in my house for the baby.

Rumor has it Ed Costello and Tom Hughes will be back as Tech Inspectors for the Limiteds and Super Stocks. I've been told that they're looking to open up the rules a little to get some cars from other tracks. Let's hear your thoughts about them.

The Eagles Fan Meeting has been rescheduled. This is from Larry:

The Eagles Fan Club will be having it`s first meeting of the new year coming up on Feb.28th at the Ancient Order Of Hibernians located at 1 Munn St. in Oswego. This meeting will be something new to the Eagles as it`s going to be a meeting for all members to attend. We want all interested fans, owners, drivers, crewmen, kids to be in attendance if possible to give ideas, suggestions and to hear about the upcoming 2004 season. New membership forms for the 2004 season will also be available at the meeting. The meeting will take place at 3:00 pm on Febuary 28th, so mark your calanders now as we get set for a very exciting new year!

2/5/04 - Just an update to remind everyone I'm still here. I actually did an update last weekend to tell everyone the Eagles meeting was postponed but I managed to put it on the wrong site (Sorry Larry).

The car is starting to go back together. I have the rear clip mocked up and the body mounts going back on. I need to go get some sheet metal to rebuild the rear deck and I need to see Louie about getting some bumpers. Hopefully I'll have everything this weekend and the panels will go on without too much trouble.

Royal tells me the 38 car is for sale. He wants $4000 ready to race. I think he needs to get in it and drive it himself but he says he doesn't have the cash to support it. If someone's looking for a ride and has a couple of bucks to throw his way for tires and such, I'm sure he'd be happy to put someone in it. 1/31/04 - Due to the overwhelming amount of snow we've gotten over the last few days and the traffic ban in effect in Oswego, the Eagles open membership meeting has been postponed. Check back in a couple days to get the new date.

1/22/04 - This weather is killing me. I haven't touched my car in two weeks. I hope to have it back on the ground and ready to hang the body this weekend.

Larry Lee, the new president of the Eagles, dropped me a line and asked me to post this:

The Eagles Fan Club will be having it's first meeting of the new year coming up on Jan. 31st at the Ancient Order Of Hibernians located at 1 Munn St. in Oswego. This meeting will be something new to the Eagles as it`s going to be a meeting for all members to attend. We want all interested fans, owners, drivers, crewmen, kids to be in attendance if possible to give ideas, suggestions and to hear about the upcoming 2004 season. New membership forms for the 2004 season will also be available at the meeting. The meeting will take place at 1:00 pm on January 31st, so mark your calendars now as we get set for a very exciting new year!

For the first time, the Eagles will be including the Super Stocks in their point fund. The Eagles are a fan club dedicated to supporting racing at Oswego Speedway. For years they've been trying to draw in new fans and raising money to supplement the point funds. Now's our chance to be a part of the action. Come on out and show your support for the speedway and the drivers in all classes. I've been talking to Mr. Lee and a few of the other drivers and we have some ideas that will be of particular interest to us. Come to the meeting. If you can't make it, give Larry a call at 343-9099 and get your membership and tickets to Monte Carlo Night.

1/6/04 - Well, the holidays are over and the new year has begun. According to my counter there are only 115 days until practice. Just under 4 months. How close is your car? Mine is waiting for some more room in the shop so I can get to work on the body. Joe Skilinski is a little farther along. He brought the car over this weekend and we made some changes so he could put a new body on. Jason's car is coming along. He should have it home this weekend to start the cockpit and suspension changes. I took the link for the pictures off the site because I kept forgetting to take pictures. Maybe we'll manage one before he takes it home. The house car will come in as soon as I get a body on my car. There's been lots of support so far. Dwayne Lemay ponied up a transmission, Doug tossed in a couple of shocks, Joe donated his old body. George at Race Ready has offered a few pieces too. About all we really lack is a seat and a lot of help putting it together. Anyone who wants to chip in parts or labor please get a hold of me. The house car is going to be at the track and available to anyone that wants to try out a Super Stock before making the investment. For some help with upkeep you can run a race or two. Hopefully someone will get the bug and buy it or another car and come out and race regularly. If the car sells, proceeds will go toward building another one or the point fund.

The numbers are looking good for this season. I think we've got a good chance of hitting the 20 car mark every night. Hopefully some of the Spencer guys will make the trek once they find out we won't be running last and that the shows should be over earlier. With the Eagles' support and some of the things we're planning in the coming months there should be all kinds of reasons for more cars to come out and play.

Kelly tells me he's decided not to build a new car and will just be fielding a car for Eric Connors this season.

12/23/03 - Happy Holidays. I hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas and gets lots of racecar parts.

12/16/03 - Thanks to everyone that gave to the Salvation Army Saturday while we were out ringing the bell. It was nice to see some of the guys from the speedway. I talked to Chris Lupa. He still has his car for sale. If you're considering going racing next season give him a call. I know he'll deal. I think he'll even consider trades.

I have news. Sort of. Kelly tells me he'll be running again this season with a new car provided his Daytona is welcome back at the speedway. It seems one of the tech guys took exception to it last winter and Kelly's been upset about having to use an aftermarket body. Anyway, he says if the old body is OK, he and Eric Connors will be sporting them this season. In other rumors, Mike Barnes will NOT be in the 72. No word yet on who may be in Toby's car. I've also heard Lou Jr. won't be in the 38. No news on who will be in that either.

Jason's car is coming along nicely. He's got a few more support tubes to put in and the seat and motor mounts to do yet but otherwise it's going pretty well. Mike Fowler says his cage is all done and is waiting on a body. He still needs to tin the cockpit and put in the motor mounts though. As soon as Jason get his far enough along to go to work in the interior tin, Joe Skilinski is bringing his car over to have some work done. We're making Doug's 2002 body fit his car. From then on we'll have several cars in and out of the shop including Lonnie's, our house car, Mike's and probably Jason's brother's if he ever gets around to buying one. I've been doing some work to mine and it should be almost race-ready for the Motorsports Expo.

12/2/03 - Danny Kapuscinski asked me to post a message about his benefit. It's Tuesday, December 23rd at Lighthouse Lanes. $20 will get you 3 hours of Cosmic Bowling from 10-1 and free pizza and wings. He'll have all the usual benefit stuff: 50/50's, door prizes, and the like. For tickets email Danny at drk2149@sjfc.edu and he'll get you hooked up. Tickets will also be available at the door.

11/26/03 - I made it through the auction without spending my kid's inheritance. I did buy a body and some small hardware but nothing too expensive otherwise.

I talked to Steve Gioia and Pat Furlong several times this weekend. Understandably, they seem very interested in making things better at the track. They both stressed that they want to get as much information as possible before making any changes. We spoke a little about rules and tech inspections. According to Steve we won't have any major rule changes this season. It looks like back and side windows will be back in but nothing else should change. Things are still up in the air as far as tech but some pretty good ideas were passed around. All in all, except for one disturbing rumor I was happy with what I heard from them. I think things will go nicely this season. Let's hope Mother nature is good to us and we all have a great season. Oh, by the way, I posted the tentative 2004 schedule. It's going to be a busy season.

In other news, it looks like two former Limited drivers will be in the Super Stocks this season. Joining Mike Barnes, who is rumored to be in the Toby Bennett 72, will be Jeff Jones. Jeff has traded his Limited to Doug Reaume for the 99. Chris Lupa will be in J.J. Andrews' car this season (J.J. is getting a new one), so the 46 is very available. I'm thinking you could pick it up for a song as Chris is going to need tire money. I spoke to Randy Storms for a while. His new car is coming along nicely. His girlfriend is definitely looking forward to driving the old car. I met Jim Lewis Saturday. He seems like a nice guy and should make a good addition to the class. Doug Newman again says that Gerry will be in a car for next season. Their old car is for sale. I have no idea what they want for it. I talked to another guy (whose name escapes me) that intends to run a car this season. He and his friend plan on running a Ford team. And I did talk to a couple of Fulton guys that may turn to the dark side. Eventually some of those guys will find out that Oswego is cheaper to run and easier on equipment.

I've heard there are a lot of people worried about the future of our class. Regrettably some of them are drivers. I don't believe things are as bad as some people would like us to think. Yes, we may get dropped if we can't pull enough cars this season. But think about it. Last season we averaged 16 cars a night. 4 years ago we averaged 7. And we got the same story every off season. The class is growing. We're within 4 cars of the track's target number. Something else to consider: We actually have a higher average car count than many street stock classes in the northeast. Spencer only out did us by 2. The tentative roster for this season has 28 cars on it. Admittedly, some of those cars won't make it. And not all of them will be there every week. But even that list isn't complete and a large majority will make it. I've been told that the track would like to see 20 cars every week at the track. I don't think that's unreasonable. If they do manage to keep the nights shorter and if we end up going before the Supers we may keep some of the guys from Spencer. I'm planning on setting up a house car in the hopes that some people that don't want to lay out the cash just to try it out will go for a ride and decide it's worth it (I'm looking for any parts or other support that might help with this by the way).

On a personal note, Julie and I would like to wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving. We hope you have a wonderful day with friends or family.

11/18/03 - OK, OK, I'm updating already.

There really hasn't been much going on in the Super Stock world lately. I did pick up a few things over the past few days though. I spoke to the new president of the Eagles fan club Sunday night and he says they will be including us in their fundraisers and point fund. The details still need to be worked out but this should work out well for all of us. The Eagles have done a lot for the Supers and Limiteds over the years and are always looking for ways to bring in new fans. Please become a member, go to the fundraisers and help support all the classes.

I got an email from George Kiskiel at Race Ready and he tells me there's another car coming from out their way. Jim Lewis of Taberg has purchased a chassis and plans on bringing it out next season. Now if I could just find enough support for Jim Cieri to make it back out...

Speaking of support, Jason and Eddie Horne of Outdoor Power have stepped up their sponsorship of the 9racing.com Monte Carlo for 2004. They'll be picking up the tab for the new body and hopefully some other expenses during the season. If the rest of my sponsors come back things are looking pretty good for this season.

I guess we're having our own version of Silly Season. Who will be in the 38? For a while it looked like Mike Barnes, but now I'm told he'll be in the 72. Will Lou Levea Jr. be in a Limited or the 38 or something Chauncey puts together? Will Bob Munger actually finish his car this season? Will Eric Connors bring out the 8? What is Chris Lupa doing? Eric is working on something resembling a T-Bird. Will it make it out? Who will drive it? I've heard rumors that a fairly big name Street Stock guy from Fulton may be coming over. I heard another one that another former Limited driver may be stepping into our class.

10/31/03 - Busy week.

Nice to see everyone at the banquet. It seems I underestimated the number of people that would be needing seats at our table. I apologize to those of you that had to fend for yourselves. Doug looked very dapper in that suit. I appreciate his remarks in his acceptance speech. I'm pretty sure he didn't mean the comment about the Limited guys the way it sounded. I checked out the pictures on the Swivel Rockers web page. Dave and Bobbie, Eric and Trina, and Joe and his friend did pretty well representing us. I wish I could remember half of the stuff I talked about Saturday night but most of it seems to have faded off. High points I do recall were Trina's puzzlement over the "mirrors" and Eric's silly string beer. I don't recall hearing anything new about the track or next season's schedule though.

I was forwarded a note from Herb Thomas, the guy that owns the 28 that showed up for Classic and RoC, asking about rule changes. I'm going to refrain from comment about it except for suggesting they actually look at the current rules before they start worrying about rule changes.

10/20/03 - Joe builds another Super Stock. Actually Jason is building it but I'm technical advisor and we're using my shop to put the cage in. I'll be doing another weekly rundown on our progress. I'll probably throw in a few notes on Mike Fowlers car too. He'll be roughly paralleling our efforts on his own.

I got a note from George Kiskiel at Race Ready. He says Randy Storms will have a new car for next season and his girlfriend will be in his old car at least part time. George says he may even hop in a couple of times. I talked to Kelly and he says George Knight will not be in the 38 next season. I guess he moved south. Kelly says he may drive it. That leaves the seat of the 8 open. Hopefully Eric Connors will get into it. Lonnie Mills called me Sunday and says he plans on putting a good motor together and having the 43 back out next season.

10/8/03 - It's my birthday again. Thanks Jason for the good wishes. I guess it's good that I keep having them. It's Bill Elliot's too. Yet another proof that driving ability doesn't have anything to do with your birthday.

I had a short conversation with Steve Gioia about our class the other day. He says he'd like to keep us around but we're going to need to bring the car count up to around 20. We talked a little about rules and scheduling and I think there may be some positive changes in the works. From what I gather not many of them will be in the rules. I did reiterate that most of us would like to see some more enforcement of the rules and offered any support I can give. I'm keeping in touch with as many of the drivers as I can and things look pretty good for the car count next season. Last night I heard a rumor that there will be another LeVea in the class. George Kiskiel of Race Ready is building another car for Oswego. No idea if it has an owner yet. We should be bringing in the chassis for Jason's car this weekend.

9/23/03 - I'm back. I need a vacation to get over my vacation. The hurricane only slowed us down a little. The race was good. We had Newman in our pool and Tony was running well so I was happy with it overall. Our find for the weekend was Harrison's Harbor View in Ocean City. They had the best Oyster Stew I've ever had.

My car didn't make it to the ROC. When they rescheduled the race to Sunday, Louie had a conflict with Evans Mills. So I offered the ride to Bill Moore. Unfortunately, Bill is a lot bigger than I am and just didn't fit in the car. By the time we figured it out, it was too late to change anything. Not that it would have mattered much. From what I've been told, the guys from Jersey had everyone covered anyway. Obviously not a lot of teching got done. Next year I'm bringing a Late Model and seeing if I can get it in...

Regrettably, Doug crashed out early when someone blew up in front of him. And Dave blew a rear end. Newman got third.

I keep reading about Gioia and Furlong being the new owners of the track and hearing about changes they'll make. I see a lot of people suggesting that they drop our class. Why? Here are the facts. We take 30 minutes to run our entire program. Our average car count is 16 (low but I still think we can improve on it). Given an average of 3 guys on the crew and 3 fans for those cars (an estimate I think is low), that makes $1872 a night that we pull in. On that night, the track will pay out $1,040. Meaning they made $832 for a half an hour of putting up with us. Now that isn't a lot of money in the overall scheme of things. But every car we bring in after that 16 adds another $97. 25 cars makes the grand total $1695. Of profit. Add that to the Super purse.

9/16/03 - I'm off to Dover tomorrow. Provided the hurricane doesn't send our plans awry. If the ROC doesn't get rained out, Louie LeVea will be attempting to put the first Oswego car ever on Victory Lane in the Street Stock race using my car. Doug Reaume and Dave Bock will also be making a bid for it. I'm sure they'll have their work cut out for them running against the likes of Jeff Hamman, Jay Mudra and John Durso, all present and past Spencer and Lancaster champions. I went to practice on Sunday and checked out some of the cars. Dave Bock was the only one from Oswego to show and he put up some good times. A few cars from Spencer showed and also ran some decent times. I'm pretty sure the quickest cars were driven by Mike Florio, Steve Malin and Duke Wolanski. All were within tenths of Dave. I've been regretting not taking my car since I showed up. Oh well. I imagine Louie will manage. The car shouldn't be too far off. If the race gets rained out I'll probably still have Louie in it and will help out Dan or Jason in Lonnie Mills' car. Jason's was just too messed up to fix in time.

The rules meeting we had brought up a few good ideas but I don't think there will be any major changes. A front track width rule may be in the offing and I've heard we may get the rear window back but most of the radical changes suggested were pretty well quashed. There was some discussion about enforcement and flagging that hopefully will be passed on. I guess the biggest thing that came out of it was a concerted effort to convince some of the drivers at neighboring tracks that the racing here is clean and not that expensive in terms of tires and broken parts.

It seems Steve Gioia and the Furlongs may actually end up with the track. According the the paper today, the Caruso's accepted their purchase offer and the city has given it's stamp of approval to the sale. Let's hope some new blood will help to get another 50 years out of the place. And lets hope we'll be part of it.

Cars for sale already:

Chris Lupa - $6500 though he told me the price was coming down Sunday. Kelly put the cage on this car and I did the rest of the chassis. It's got a good strong motor in it and seems to be able to take a hit.
Kelly Miller - $1000 buys the rolling chassis from his 2003 car.
Fred Siebert - $5900 Pretty nice car. Would probably need a few changes to run regularly at Oswego but he's had a few decent runs here.

Who's going to be returning next season and who's going to be new? Doug's keeping his car and having Bill Moore's pit guy Matt run it on at least a limited schedule. Jason Spaulding's brother is looking to buy a car. Jason Horne is thinking about running a few shows. Kelly says Eric Connors will probably be in his new car next season. Chauncey Carvey has Kelly's old 80 and is reportedly looking for a pilot for that. Bob Munger still has the old 88 but who knows if it will ever see the track again. Jim Siegal is ready to come back next season and make a serious run for the rookie points. Randy Storms seemed a little discouraged after the Classic but I'm hoping he'll come around and join us again next season. Joe Skilinski is still making noises about selling his car but I think he'll be back. Dave Fetterly says he'll spend some more time on his show cars next season but I imagine we'll see him and Bobbie a few times. Dwayne LeMay says he'll be back with a reworked (and hopefully painted) 12. George Knight will probably be back if he doesn't move south. I haven't heard yet whether JJ Courcy will stay in the 20 or have his own car next season. Or whether Steve will bring back the old 85. I'll be back. Dave Bock will be back. Jason will be back. I think we'll keep Bruce despite Louie trying to to turn him to the dark side. Newman will probably be back. I think he wants to win a Championship. If Lupa doesn't sell his car he'll be back. And if he does, someone else will be in it. Chris Smiedy has all winter to put his car back to right. Hopefully he'll be back. If Toby and/or John doesn't get their car back here I'm going to repossess their body. Lonnie says he's definitely going to be there every week next season. He says that. If Dan butterfield can chase down a drivetrain, I'll be helping him get a car together. Also Mike Fowler has bought a chassis and plans on having it out next season.

If we can pull a few cars from Fulton and Spencer, and half of these guys show up, we may actually get a full field. And that will hopefully secure our future at Oswego.

9/8/03 - Well that was a pretty pathetic update wasn't it? I updated the results and all-time stats. I've also put up handicapping for opening day.

Street/Pure Stock rules for ROC went up last week. And almost immediately changed. I looked at them Friday afternoon and said there was no way my car would be legal. I checked them again this morning and now I just might be able to slide it through. I'm still debating whether I'll have my car there or not but I'm leaning toward yes. I think I'm going to bring it to practice on Sunday and see what the tech guys say about it. Jason and I are going to try to get his car back together for it. Anyone have a metric front clip I can cut up? It doesn't even need to be straight.

I'm making my last attempt at trying to put together a meeting to discuss the rules for next season. I'd like anyone that wants to make a suggestion or has a point to make to come out to my house at 7 on Thursday night. I'll get a hold of Tom and make sure he can be there. If you need directions or you have a better idea for a venue email me or give me a call at 598-6969. Let's make this happen. It's your class and you know the rules best and what's right and wrong with them. This is your chance to get involved.

9/2/03 - It's over. I'm still not caught up on sleep. Bruce gets his first win ever and what a race to do it in. For about 20 laps we put on the best show of the weekend. Of course then people started spinning out and hitting each other.

8/25/03 - The points race is over. Congratulations to Doug. If I'm not going to win it I can't think of anyone I'd rather see do it. Doug has worked hard and driven well all season. I'm a little disappointed with my finish but it could have been worse. Blowing the motor on double points night pretty much did me in and getting wrecked out of Saturday night's heat was the coup de gras. I feel pretty fortunate that I managed a fifth considering how messed up my car was. Unfortunately, I needed one more spot to catch Chris. Congrats to Bruce on Rookie of the Year and Jason for managing to hold onto that #10 spot. I should have the final rundown this afternoon once they sort out where Bobby ended up.

I'd like to thank everyone who helped get the car back out after the crash. Bruce was running all over the pits looking for parts and later a ride for me. Dan, Joe and Joe's pit guy and Jason and his brothers were under there getting greasy with us. Thanks to Bill Moore and Steve Austin for letting us borrow the tools. Thanks to Doug for offering up his car. I'll have the car back together tonight and hopefully in the same shape as it was for hot laps Saturday.

The guys from Jersey showed up to buy tires and check the place out Saturday. They seem like nice people. I look forward to seeing what they bring. Kelly tells me he'll be back this weekend for what he says is his last race. According to him, next season Eric Connors will be driving the car and he'll be in a support position.

8/22/03 - The last points race of 2003 is upon us. First is pretty well sewn up but second through fifth is anyone's guess. And the rookie race is still fairly tight too. I think you'll see some guys driving like they were being chased this weekend.

Kelly's supposed to be back this weekend. He'll be starting in the trunk but that never seems to stop him from finishing up front. Joe Skilinski has his motor back together and says it sounds better than it did before it broke. I hope I can catch him. We'll both have our cars at the Fulton Farmer's Market Saturday morning. Stop by and say hi.

I got a call from a guy in New Jersey that plans on running Classic. He sounds like he plans on being pretty racy. If he comes up and smokes us, hopefully he'll be as free with information as I have and I'll learn something. If not, hopefully he'll come back and be faster next time.

Classic is next weekend. I'll be setting up our (Mel & Rich's actually) camper Sunday. We'll be somewhere near Luther's site. Come on out and find us.

8/18/03 - Doug's motor works. And a good thing too or Bobby might have kept that one. Unless he pulled in on the last lap anyway. Not sure what was going on with that. Dwayne LeMay got DQ'd for an illegal carb relegating him to a 7th place finish (last on lead lap). That will tighten the Rookie of the Year battle up. Doug's got to take one lap next weekend to win the title. Congrats to him. He ran a great season and definitely deserves it.

Joe Skilinski dropped a valve but it wasn't terminal. With some pieces of my blown up motor and a new distributor, he'll be back this weekend to try to hold onto fifth place or improve one or two.

I'm told that we will be having our driver introductions this week.

8/15/03 - The motor's in. I ended up borrowing Doug's. Hopefully that Killian power will get it done this weekend. I just need to fix a shock mount and the rear bumper and I'll be all ready to go.

Kelly's car may be out with Eric Connors in it tomorrow night.

8/11/03 - Well that wasn't the weekend I was hoping for. I managed to wreck and blow up. Joe Skilinski came over yesterday (thanks Joe) and helped me pull the remains of the motor out and pretty much everything under the heads is junk. The plan at the moment is to take Kelly up on his gracious offer of his motor for next week and either accept Doug's offer for the rest of the season or find out if the one I've got in the shop is legal. Thanks to everyone that offered help and/or engines. I can't tell you how great that was.

I'm going out on a limb and congratulating Doug on the Championship. It's still mathematically possible for anyone in the top five to win it but would take two weeks of dismal luck on Doug's part and phenomenal luck on someone else's. I gave it a good shot but the fates just weren't with me this season. The race for second through seventh should be interesting though. Especially the rookie battle. Bruce and Dwayne are tied and both are running pretty well.

Evans Mills is opening back up and will run the Limiteds starting this Sunday. No word on if the Street Stocks will be back. Last I knew they were discussing a tire rule. Speaking of rules, I almost got the drivers together Saturday night. Unfortunately, with the schedule changes and other confusion it got forgotten. Lets try this: What suggestions would you make to get more cars here? More compression? Less compression? DIRT rules? NASCAR rules? IMCA rules? Email me and I'll put them all together and get them to Tom. I'll try again to get everyone together next weekend.