Hey folks! I just got back to my tortured little hovel in time to belt out my
thoughts of the 2004 Featherlite Modified Series Banquet. This was a great show
and for those who missed it, shame on you. This story will tell the reader a
little about who won what but this is more about the general atmosphere of the
ceremonies. If anyone wants to read about who showed up and who didn’t, this
isn’t the place to find it.
Mike Joy, best known as the voice of NASCAR on FOX, emceed the event. Some may
know Joy as a fan of the Modifieds. Those in the know, know that Mike is one of
us. Although Mike Massaro did a fine job filling in for our good friend last
year, it was great to have our real Modified guy perform the duty.
Several of the awards were very special. Particularly special were the two
awards that were given posthumously. Walter Cole was tabbed as the winner of the
‘Len Boehler Award’. Wade Cole was stunned but he accepted the award,
traditionally given to a car owner, on behalf of his late father with a great
deal of dignity and humility.
Many were congratulatory of the recognition given the owner of the #33Modified.
There is no question that many would have quit after failing so many times as
Wade has. In particular Donny Lia echoed similar sentiments in his acceptance of
the Budweiser Pole Award. Donny’s comments relative to how difficult it was for
his team to just qualify when they first started led to his tip of the cap to
the Cole Family Racing operation.
Tom Baldwin, Jr. accepted his father’s second consecutive ‘Most Popular Driver
Award’ and gave us some retrospective insight along the way. For those who are
not aware, the younger Baldwin has, at great expense, begun to renovate his
father’s auto repair shop. Even those who were frequent patrons or guests at
Baldwin Automotive hardly recognize the building that was for so long the home
of the 7ny.
I visited Baldwin Automotive on Thursday and it looked great. Sunday I passed by
and significant changes were evident in the few days since. The Baldwin family
is building a trophy case in the renovated shop, something the elder Baldwin
never cared to do. Although any trip to the facility might find one to encounter
numerous trophies hidden in niches here and there, the things that the Old Man
liked to show off were his cars, his people, his humor and his golf game but, if
you wanted to see his Martinsville clock, that cost twenty bucks.
I think that Tom, Jr.’s vision in the restructuring and renovation of Baldwin
Automotive was to leave a local legacy to his namesake. Without the racecars and
the race shop, it isn’t the same. The trophy case they build will be a testament
to a great competitor and keep the many memories of Tom’s storied career alive.
The Most Popular Driver Awards will figure prominently in the display as the
younger Baldwin knows, these recognitions meant so much to his dad.
Our own photojournalists Howie and Mary Hodge were recognized with the 'Smiley'
Waterman and Donna Parks Awards. These awards are presented by the Modified Tour
Auxiliary in memory of two late great Tour Officials. Thanks to Fran Lawlor for
getting a great picture of them receiving their awards.
The one single announcement that meant the most to me was by Phil Kurze of
Whelen Engineering. Phil proudly unveiled the new Whelen Modified Tour logo to a
rousing ovation. Yes folks, we are OFFICIALLY back on the TOUR. I am so glad
that someone had the vision to do this in lieu of the WMSNOOWD, which rang like
a lead bell to me. Kurze also presented jackets emblazoned with the new logo to
the top-20 competitors and several other notables.
There is no doubt what kind of car the logo represents and its’ creator, the
legendary Sam Bass was on hand for its’ debut. The proportions lean more towards
where we have come from than where the Tour is or the future of the Tour. There
is no doubt that that image depicts a Modified racecar but, it looks more like
an upright Coupe from the days before offset than our modern-day low-slung
ground rockets.
Don Hawk took the stage to give us what he termed to be a ‘State of the State’
message. For a few minutes I wondered whether I was at an awards banquet or a
shareholders meeting. Then again, we are shareholders as owners, drivers,
crewmembers, media vermin and fans.
This has been a new adventure for Don as he tries to stoke the fires of interest
in the division he likes to call home. Hawk told us of a Joe Paterno saying that
is a sign for Penn State football players referenced to him by Modified team
owner, Bob Garbarino. Apparently he had heard what many of his predecessors had
heard. Statements like, ‘We’ve heard this all before. What are you going to do?’
I don’t remember exactly how Hawk said the sign read but the way that I would
best represent it is; ‘Your actions speak so loudly, that what you say, I cannot
hear.’
It certainly doesn’t seem as though Don is sitting on his laurels, or anything
else for that matter, as he has made strides toward addressing a number of
issues.
Since he began working with our beloved Tour:
The Series has a new sponsor. In particular it is a new sponsor that will work
with us as a marketing partner.
The Series is now called a Tour. Like it always should have been.
We wanted television. Hawk claims that all that is needed is a signature.
There were tire issues that needed to be addressed. Don says that the issues are
settled and after testing and negotiations, the Tour will be on Hoosier rubber.
We wanted to go to new venues. Hawk pointed out the Jennerstown and TBA dates on
a tentative schedule. Jennerstown is one of my favorite tracks and the TBA is
highly likely to be Myrtle Beach, SC.
There were those like myself that had pointed out that we had been excluded from
the Toyota All-Star Showdown. Don pointed out that NASCAR is in the process of
taking control of the SMART Tour and that we would have a Shootout of our own.
Hawk tried to hammer home the news that the smallest winning purse would be six
thousand dollars.
Then he rallied the troops with his proclamation of the return on the Thompson
300 as a 300-lap event with no qualifying heats.
What Don Hawk was trying to show is that he had asked what the needs were and
that virtually all of them had been addressed. Thank you Don for your great
efforts. To me, Don’s greatest accomplishment has been ascertaining the Whelen
sponsorship agreement.
Some of those who have been around for a while treated Hawk’s announcements with
cautious optimism. Among the reactions included comments like, ‘We will see what
it says on the entry forms’. At least it feels like the Tour is moving forward.
I’m sure that the team owners are anxious about what kind of television package
will be available. I heard someone say, ‘I can offer you a pen Don!’ Negotiating
a television deal is not quite that simple. However, for the said package to be
effective for the teams, it has to be announced in time for the car owners and
their PR representatives to market that package to potential sponsors.
There are some that will not be happy about a venture to Myrtle Beach. That will
be a long haul and the tremendous amount of exposure that it is said to garner
the Tour is questionable. Some will not be satisfied without a Martinsville
date.
Another point of contention might be Don’s reference to a ‘Shootout of our own’.
The Third Annual North vs. South Shootout is still planned for November 4&5,
2005 at Concord Motorsports Park, which happens to be a NASCAR sanctioned
facility. Sources close to the promotion of that event tell me that this would
not be the ‘Shootout’ to which Mr. Hawk made reference. Stay tuned, this could
get interesting.
Mike Joy got a Whelen jacket from Phil Kurze. It was nice to see him grovel for
it. Upon reception of said jacket Joy explained to us that Whelen is pronounced
‘Whelen, like a “wheel”’. When Mike re-introduced Don Hawk, to present the
Championship ring later in the program, he referred to him as ‘Aman of action’.
Action Don, our new pied piper.
Art Barry and Bob Garbarino both received the NASCAR Dedication Award. The two
long-time friendly foes were both well deserving of these awards. Barry and
Garbarino are old guard gentleman car owners we would all like to see with us
for years to come.
Art Barry appears to be poised to return to the Tour next season with his ‘Auto
Meter Rookie of the Year Award’ winning son Ken at the helm of the #21. Things
look just as optimistic for the owner of the Mystic Missile. Despite Friday’s
announcement that Chuck Hossfeld would vacate the seat of Garbarino’s Troyer to
campaign Don Barker’s #50 Modified, Bob Garbarino told me today that 2000 Whelen
Modified Tour Champion, Jerry Marquis will be behind the wheel of the famous #v4
in 2005.
The move by Marquis was apparently in the wake of sponsorship concerns for the
Ole Blue #3. Michael Boehler is weighing his options and pursuing sponsorship
opportunities. The legacy of perhaps the most innovative wrench in Modified
racing history hopes he can solidify his 2005 plans by mid-January.
Tom Baldwin, Jr. was invited back to the stage to wrap up a few things.
Apparently there had been a conversation between Tom and a few of the NASCAR
brass including Don Hawk. There was something missing from the awards, a hard
charger award. Tom told us that there would be a ‘Tom Baldwin Hard Charger
Award’ for every event next season. The award that recognizes his father’s hard
charging style will be five hundred dollars to each winner of the award and Tom
told us that he would donate five hundred dollars to the Victory Junction Gang
Camp in the name of each award recipient as well.
There was some interesting banter between several competitors from the podium.
Rick Fuller and Ted Christopher in particular spoke about ‘New Deals’. This was
an apparent reference to the fact that they were both accompanied by ladies
several years their junior to the ceremony. Somebody check if these ladies are
old enough to have a library card.
Quite poignant was Michael Boehler’s dedication of his third place owner's
trophy to Jim Fournier. Fournier was another of our tragic losses this year. Jim
was a long time member of the Ole Blue team who will be missed for even longer.
One thing for sure, there certainly was a lot of respect shown between the
drivers, car owners and team members who were recipients of awards this weekend.
Ed Flemke, Jr. brought his whole team to the stage to be recognized with him for
his runner up trophy. He said that there was no way that he could do this alone.
Ed was a ball of determination from the stage facing his fears of public
speaking among other things. I think he smashed out the shelves in his closet to
burn the skeletons and cast away the demons of his past. Respect, honor, loyalty
and determination oozed from Flemke as he looks to 2005 and another attempt to
capture the title. Congratulations Eddie. You didn’t confess it; you possessed
it. Some might want to fine him twenty-five points; I just want to shake his
hand.
When one looks at the 2004 Championship team, one might think, how did they do
it? The racecar is owned by a bunch of guys from New York. The racecar is
maintained by the driver, his crew chief son and a couple of buddies in
Pennsylvania. The crew chief son is in the middle of starting his own racing
career and as such can’t attend all of the Tour races. The crew is a bunch of
guys who seem to call each other Harry, including a couple of guys that drive in
from a locale in Houlton, Maine from where a trip might be faster to the artic
circle than most of the tracks on the schedule. They didn’t worry about the
circumstances, they just did the work and got the job done.
Congratulations to Tony Hirschman on his fourth Modified Tour title. Bob and Tom
Kehley showed us about respect when they asked Bill Brice to present their
Championship owner’s award. If you weren’t there to hear the story, shame on
you. I will not repeat it.
Tony was quite humble when he spoke. It seemed as though there was a mix of
incredible respect for his chief rival Flemke and a taste of unfinished business
he has yet to face. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree as Hirschman's
co-crew chief son Matt echoed similar sentiments. Tony, Matt and Ed all referred
to ‘raising the bar’ as far as each other’s performance.
There is no question that Doug Coby was well deserving of his ‘MostImproved
Driver Award’. Throughout this season of often-tumultuous flux there were
several other drivers that could have been considered for that award as well.
Donny Lia elevated his performance from a short track specialist to a strong
competitor on tracks of any length, Flemke shed his reputation of a checker or
wrecker driver to become one of the most consistent competitors on the Tour and
ROTY winner Ken Barry may have seen the greatest change in competitive level of
any driver on the Tour.
We lost a number of friends this year. Obviously the loss of a competitor
participating in an event hit everyone quite hard. In addition to Tom Baldwin we
lost driver Ricky Miller, owner Walter Cole, crewmembers Jim Fournier from the
BRE team and Bob Bradley whose floppy hat is missed almost as much as his
cooking around the Solhem camp. We lost open-wheel publisher and writer Len
Calinoff and photographer Peter Lawlor. They will all be missed but to many who
frequent this site the passing of Mod Series Scene publisher Lou Cady will be
one of the most devastating.
Perhaps the best part of an event of this kind is meeting all of those in
attendance. My girlfriend Vicki flew up from Florida for the banquet and I gave
her the twenty-five cent tour of NYC and New England prior to the event. There
is no question that she wanted to deposit a few more quarters as everyone we met
treated her so nicely.
There is no doubt that the worst part of an event of this kind is that there are
so many people there that we don’t get to meet with everyone. My apologies to
anyone to whom which I didn’t introduce my guest especially Fred Neergaard. So
many people, so little time and yet it was still a lot of fun.
Special thanks to the NASCAR events staff for putting together a nearly seamless
program filled with great video footage. Thanks to the folks at Mohegan Sun for
showing us once again what a first class kind of operation they are. Kudos to Ed
Flemke for his speech that was courageous, ground breaking and heartfelt.
Where does this leave us? It leaves us waiting with baited breath for anew
season of racing on the TOUR. We sit in anticipation of a very competitive2005
championship campaign. There are solid teams that have been together for a few
years that are on the rise. There are past champions in new rides and past
champion rides for new drivers. I can’t wait to get it started.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Long Island curmudgeon.
