Supporting the Sport That He Loves.

Some people go on various chat rooms, comment on Facebook and voice their opinions at the track about the state of the Modifieds. They discuss car counts, the quality of races, the quantity of races, that the races should be on TV and that Nascar modifed races should pay more money.

Well we got the races on TV, even tracks like Riverhead Raceway will be on Versus TV in HD no less!

Plus one person decided to stop discussing and start doing something about the purse at his home track.

That person is know to many as LImodmaniac but his real name is Jim Schaefer , a school teacher from Riverhead NY. Jim is a long time race fan, especially the mighty modified race cars.

Jim has personally sponsored cars and always supports the races by attending up to 50 or more races a year all over the eastern United States.

Jim's quest started last year at the Riverhead Raceway WMT flash race. Jim dug into his own pocket and added $1,400.00 winner Ryan Preece's payout. Last year Jim was able to round up the base winners purse to a cool $4,000.00 to win. Kids from Jim's class got to go on the track and give the start your engine command, quite a thrill for them I am sure.

After the race Jim started thinking that $1,400.00 was good but $10,000.00 would be better. Jim believed with the help of others he could raise the money.

Right now the goal for the 2010 Riverhead Raceway WMT race on July 31st is to add $300.00 to each position plus an extra $2,100.00 to the winners share for a total of $5,000.00 to win. Jim's total goal is to add $10,500.00 to the purse, plus if he goes over that he would also like to add tow money for the cars that do not qualify.

Jim personally spoke to many of the drivers at Stafford and showed them a copy of the enhanced purse, I believe Jim made many friends at Stafford.

Several friends of the Chrome Horn web page have pledged money including Hossfan, Mod11racer, StoningtonModMania, Axel and Liquid bread. Jim is getting close to his goal but still needs a little help. So if you would like to contibute, contact Jim on the Chromehorn.com or speak to him at just about any modified race between now and July 31st.

Jim will be at the May 15th Riverhead Raceway 100 lap Modifed race supporting is favorite race cars, adding a little money to that race and drumming up support for the July 31st WMT race. Come on down and join him, the first feature race starts at 5:00 o'clock sharp.

From the drivers, team owners and fans of the sport, thank you Jim Schaefer.

See you at the track.

Ryan Preece Wins at Riverhead Raceway.

OK , so as one of my friends calls it Christmas is over. Ryan Preece came to Long Island and swept the entire day. The teenage Nascar driver got is first "official" win on the WMT.

That is now 2 races in a row with teenage winners. I not sure if that has ever been done before. There were many younger drivers in the race which bodes well for the future of the tour.

As many people commented Saturday was a beautiful day, sunny and warm with bright blue sky's. Steve Lombardo claimed he brought the weather from his California home. Steve had the honor of driving the Charlie J coupe before the feature.

32 Nascar modified cars filled the pits. Teams from about 5 states converged on the tight 1/4 mile track. Long Island was well represented with 13 of the 28 starters based on Long Island.

Practice was uneventful except a small incident between Wade Cole and Erick Rudolph.

Qualifying was a surprise with the #3 of Ryan Preece taking his first pole at Riverhead. The 25 lap heat was pretty uneventful with most cars finishing where they started. The one surprise was the 59 of Erick Rudolph who could not get the car to handle all day, so the Spencer winner went home early.

The race itself was decent except for the 3 red flags that were thrown for incidents on the track, the lap 2 pile up in turn 2 being the biggest incident involving 6 or 7cars.

Several drivers did not fare well. They included Ted Christopher who got a flat on a restart. TC tried to stay out to draw a caution but touched the 79 of Ronnie Silk and pounded the wall. Ronnie was also in and out of the pits all night finishing 27th. Several cars had engine problems including Donnie Lia, and John Fortin who overheated and dropped out.

Other drivers having a less than enjoyable race were Ken Heagy who dropped out with front end damage, as did Frank Vigliarolo. Kevin Goodale had a top 3 run going and was strong all night. The 51 of Justin Bonsignore touched the 33 when lapping him and spun the 50 of Kevin to the infield. It would have been his best finish on the tour, Kevin finished 13. Kevin's brother Eric got caught up in a lap 2 pile up and finished 17th.

Several drivers had very good runs,Jamie Tomanio started 27th and finished 7th, quite a turn around from the blown engine at Spencer. Glen Reen started 22nd and finished 5th, one of his best runs on the tour. Eric Beers started 26th and finished
6th and Todd Szegedy started 24th and finished 8th. Long Islanders Howie Browdie, Dave Brigati and Justin Bonsignore came home 2,3 and 4.

But in the end it was all Ryan Preece, Ryan had his best day on the tour since his Martnsville win. Ryan, his crew and family could not stop smiling after the win. In a short time Ryan has shown he can run well at any track where the tour visits.

The points have now changed a bit. TC is now second with Todd Szegedy leading and Ryan is now 3rd.

Even with 3 reds, the race was run in a reasonable 52 minutes 49 seconds.

See all the action from Riverhead here: http://jaws17.zenfolio.com/p56556202

Up next Stafford Speedway Friday night August 7th which is the second of 5 races in the busy month of August.

See you there.

Next Up Long Island

Well this week the modified tour hits Long Island. Probably 30-32 teams from all over the northeast will converge on Riverhead Raceway.

After trips to the far reaches of New York State, Connecticut and Pa. it will be nice to make the short trip to Riverhead.

Favorites this week have to include Jimmy Blewett, Ted Christopher, Todd Szegedy and Donny Lia plus locals Bill Park and Chuck Steuer should give the tour drivers a run for their money.

The day starts with a drivers meeting at 1:00PM, practice from 2-3, time trials at 4:30 and the 25 lap qualifying heat at 6:00.


In addition to the tour Riverhead will feature 2 local divisions, the Chargers and the Blunderbusts. Both will be running double point time trial shows, which usually bring out nice fields.