Hey, this was a hot weekend. There was action on and off of the track in Riverhead and Fred Wilcox called in the Live Updates from Holland. Let’s get started.

We start this story from a bowling alley. That’s not exactly where one would normally begin a racing weekend. Wildwood Lanes in Riverhead was a gathering point for several dozen of the racing faithful Friday night.

“Dr. Dirty” John Valby performed and left no one un-offended. Like some racetracks, this bowling alley has had to look for additional ways of generating income. Wildwood sports two giant HDTV projection systems, which featured several Major League Baseball games on a bed of classic rock before the beginning of the show.

This place has a PA system that is unbelievable, high-tech stage lighting and air-conditioning the likes of which will not be found at most clubs where one might usually go to see a band perform. Ray Rossi insists that I drop by to watch a race there. We will see if we can convince him to have a Modified DVD night there over the winter.

I was met at the door by Wayne O’kula. Wayne has worked recently with Jim Storace and the #47 team. O’kula competes regularly in the Blunderbust division at Riverhead Raceway and has couple of victories so far this season. Wayne told me that the Sypher team was headed to Holland.

Everyone at Wildwood was quite accommodating. Ernie and the Cup were welcome guests. I spent most of the night with Ken Heagy, another Riverhead native, who had plans of nabbing his second North vs. South Shootout qualifier win on Saturday night.

Saturday was quite warm in our little Ville. The Tom Baldwin Memorial 77 was the only Modified race I really got to enjoy last season. When one concerns oneself with generating the Live Updates there are a lot of things that one might miss if instead one just sat and watched.

I had three missions upon entering Riverhead Raceway. One, have a good time. Two, try to take some pictures with my new camera. Three, interview Riverhead Raceway’s Public Relations Director and long-time track announcer, Bob Finan, for a column to promote this coming week’s race.

I did have a good time although the heat was incredibly oppressive. I was a royal pain in the butt for everyone as I took pictures like a tourist. Bob was hesitant at first but quickly opened up and I believe that will make quite a story to post later in the week. Mission accomplished.

The concessionaire in turn two was like Henry Ford. He would sell you any color shirt you wanted as long as it was black. Actually it was Gene Ullman, from ASI, who was selling his “Tiger” Tom Baldwin, “Greatest Show on Earth” tee shirts. These shirts, like everything ASI produces, is of the highest quality material and the graphics are stunning.

ALL proceeds from the sale of these shirts are going to the charities supported by the Tom Baldwin Memorial Open. Those charities are, Victory Junction Gang Camp, The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, The Village of Bellport Summer Concert Series and The Autism Society of America. If anyone hasn’t picked up one of these gorgeous shirts I guess they’ll have to call ASI at 1-877-ASI-WEAR. That’s 1-877-274-9327 for those of you who cannot spell.

Charger competitor, Eric Lutz, was having a bad day. He had a giant cooler full of beverages and ice for his crew, spill out in his trailer on the way to the track, His transmission broke during practice. Next was a flat tire and to top it all off, as Eric pulled away from his pit stall to go out for his heat race, another competitor tried to pass him in the paddock area who drove over the left side of his car. A rough day for a guy who used to work for one of the builders I supplied. Lutz salvaged a top-ten finish out of the day.

The Modifieds took to the track for time trials. Modified veteran, Bill Park, took down the pole but the redraw put Tom Rogers, Jr. in the top spot. Rogers was driving the #5 Modified of Frank Vigliarolo, Jr. Frank, Jr. was away from the track as we were told that Frank Vigliarolo, Sr. has taken quite ill. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Frank, Sr. and the entire Vigliarolo family.

We had a couple of celebrities in the pit area at Riverhead. NASCAR’s Jerry Cook was there. No, he didn’t fly up on some corporate jet. Jerry bought his own ticket, flew commercial and rented a car. Cook said, “This was one race I wasn’t going to miss.”

Jerry’s duties keep him away from his beloved Modifieds through most of the season. He will be with us at Martinsville for the Made in America, Whelen 300. Cook mentioned, “Tommy [Baldwin, Jr.] told me I could have flown up with him. I think I’ll try that next year.”

Another person one would not normally expect to see at Riverhead was Speedway Illustrated’s Dick Berggren. Dick waltzed through the pits and interviewed many of the Riverhead regulars. He had drivers posing for pictures and snapped them at interesting angles.

It was great to witness Dick interview Sal Accardi, Jr. in the presence of Sal Accardi, Sr. That will make an interesting little story. I hope this turns out as well as the story Berggren wrote about Waterford last year. At the driver’s meeting Dick was introduced and he flung his arms high exclaiming, “I’m loving it!”

“Dynamite” Dan Turbush had a wild ride in his Super Pro Truck. Turbush hit the wall hard in turn two and collected Danny Grennan early in that race. Grennan, an old favorite of the Baldwin crew, came back to win the Super Pro Truck feature.

Things weren’t all bad for “Dynamite” Dan, the dangerous man. Turbush, who has been dominant on the Riverhead Raceway Charger scene for many years, was offered the seat in Doug Wholey’s #98 Late Model at the beginning of this season. Dan took down his first career Late Model win Saturday night in impressive fashion.

Meanwhile, I was splitting time between the turn two gang and the folks in the hospitality area. Thanks to Rich Pallai from CAR-QUEST for putting out a nice spread for us. That’s where one would find many of the Old Man’s former crewmembers. In addition to Tom, Jr. and Tammy Baldwin, there was Stevie Colliccio, Chet Arthur, Jackie Ziegler, “Fat” Pat McKeegan, Adam Cantor, who drives the 7ny NEMA Midget and several others.

Over in turn two we had all of that crowd’s regulars surrounding TBax, Ted Baxter. “The Lord of the Backstretch”, was checking out the MSS Live Updates from Holland for us on his cell phone. Steve “hollywoodmic” Halpin was there with his buddy, Turn Two Woody.

Steve told me that he was going to call Nike. He said, “Dub, I paid a lot of money for those shirts. They’re supposed to be “sweat proof”.” The golf shirt I had been given from the fundraiser was soaked. It looked like a rainforest at my feet. I could just hear the Old Man, “Hey W-A-L-T, stand over here and water the flowers.”

Fred Wilcox quite capably substituted for me at Holland this weekend. “Shopgirl” had a great time posting the Updates. The Updates would post and invariably, someone would call Bob Finan on the phone. Fred’s updates streamed over the public address system at Riverhead Raceway. That’s cool.

Someone posted on the Live Updates that driver introductions were underway at Riverhead. Actually, Dynamite Dan hadn’t finished winning the Late Model race at that point. Requests were made for Live Updates from the Tom Baldwin Memorial 77. If someone else wanted to call them in to someone who wanted to post them, that would have been fine by me.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Race Director, Joe Larsen, was the honorary starter for the race. In the flag stand he volunteered to Riverhead Raceway starter, Mike “Smokin” Boken, that he would flag the whole race for him. Joe said, “Get me a radio, I’ll do it if you want.” Smoke politely declined. I think that Boken would have liked to take Larsen up on that offer about half an hour later.

I was headed toward the front stretch grandstands. It had been a very long and hot day. Last year I stood with Tommy, Jr., Johnny Morgan, Chet and most of the original Baldwin crew to watch Wayne Anderson take down the win. This year I sat with Rich Pallai, Tammy Baldwin, her boyfriend Ryan and Tim Halpin. This was a good decision.

Tim actually sponsored one of the cars in the race. Periodic Tour competitor, John Fortin, had the Mortgage Guy on his side. The #84 was sponsored by www.timothyhalpin.com.

The race was a wreckfest. Although seventy-seven green flag laps were completed, I figure there were certainly more laps run under caution than under green. Someone counted well in excess of twenty caution periods. I figure Mike has his right arm on ice as I write this article.

Several competitors pitted for tires. A few pitted twice for two new sets of tires. I heard one team put ten sticker tires on their car during this race. What is wrong with this picture? Hey, they only let us change seven tires at the Thompson 300.

That means there was a driver that drove nearly one tenth the distance of the Thompson 300 who changed more than forty percent more tires than are allowed at that event to complete this race at Riverhead which went a green-flag distance of under twenty miles. Fortunately the driver who won did so on the same four tires he took time on and started the race with. Howie Brode did the Old Man proud.

Howie won the Riverhead Raceway Modified track championship in 1998 driving one of Tiger Tom’s old racecars. Saturday night there was a connection too. The engine that powered the race winning #96 was the same plant the Tiger used that I drove back and forth to North Carolina for TB several times a few short years ago.

This evening was nearly unbearable. It seemed as though every division wanted to demonstrate how frequently they could bring out the caution flag. Like I have said about some Tour races in the past, the Modified race wasn’t very good, but it was a great finish.

I had several concerns for Brode and some of the other competitors as the Tom Baldwin Memorial 77 came to its’ conclusion. First off, we had witnessed so many laps under caution that there was a distinct possibility that some of the Modifieds might run out of fuel. Typically, at a time-trial event, the teams will start with as little fuel as possible to get as much nose-weight as possible for qualifying.

Another thing that worried those of us who are old friends of the Old Man were those competitors who had changed tires. J.R. Bertuccio charged through the field several times and it looked like he might be poised to snatch the win from Howie. The deuce was involved in a couple of incidents that foiled his attempts.

Tom Rogers, Jr., the 2004 Riverhead Raceway track champion, pitted for tires with about twenty circuits remaining. By that time, about half of the field had been eliminated due to attrition. Rogers blasted his way through the field. Although his charge wasn’t very sportsmanlike, there were only so many laps remaining and he was determined to win the race.

The #5 went to the outside of Howie’s #96 coming off of the last corner and came up less than a car length short. If this had been the Tom Baldwin 78, Rogers likely would have taken down the win. I’m sure that he wanted to bring home the trophy for the Vigliarolos.

It was a very emotional Victory Lane. Barbara & Jim Cromarty, Jerry Cook, Tom Baldwin, Jr. and Bob Finan all made presentations. Bob wrapped it up and told the fans good night. I asked, “Bob, isn’t this race a qualifier for the North vs. South Shootout?”

Finan turned his microphone back on. “Hey wait a minute folks. Howie, you’re going to North Carolina!” That was the icing on the cake.

There were a lot of racers who drove their hearts out trying to win that race. Ken Heagy and Chuck Steuer were two other drivers who chose not to take tires. They finished tenth and third respectively although they earned a bunch of lap money along the way.

John Fortin drove as hard as he could, wound up in a couple of altercations and finished fourth. Last year’s winner, Wayne Anderson finished sixth. Anderson was followed to the line by Mike Andrews, Jr. and former Baldwin crew chief, David Roys.

Doug Wholey had quite a night. In addition to Dynamite Dan’s win, Wholey is closely associated with the Howie Brode team. Nice shirt Doug! He was wearing the same attire as I.

The post-race parties at Riverhead Raceway are legendary. Everyone wanted to feed me. Don’t feed the fat sweaty guy. There was a band playing over by David Roys’ trailer. They were actually pretty good too. They came with their own PA and light system as well.

The fact that Howie plans on competing in the North vs. South Shootout generated some interest in a bus trip to the event. I called TBax on his cell phone and he seemed to think it was worth discussing. If you are interested, it would probably be a good idea to contact Ted by email HamptonJitney@yahoo.com.

I told Howie that the reason he won was that my cooler was in his trailer during the race. He chuckled, “You better put that thing in there next week. I’m going to need it.” I slowly began my walk toward the exit. Bill Denniston offered me a ride in his cart. I opted to walk.

I have a few comments on the race at Holland. It was only a matter of time when Tony Hirschman was going to take down his first win of the season. Congratulations to the Kehleys and all of the Harrys.

Congratulations are in order for Linda Case who took down the win in the Pick-6. I find it kind of nice that I’ve managed to get into the top-five. This game certainly makes things more interesting.

Some might have been surprised by the run that Danny Sammons had at Holland. Don’t include me in that list. Danny is an accomplished racer who has had a little difficulty adapting to our Modifieds.

I really felt that Danny would have had a great run at Waterford last week as well. The kind of cars and setups that Sammons was used to racing lend toward maintaining momentum. Holland, like Waterford, is one of those momentum type tracks.

It will take a little time for Danny to adapt his comfort level and accelerate his learning curve on tracks with major transitions. Unfortunately for Sammons, tracks with major transitions dominate the Whelen Modified Tour schedule. And Modifieds typically drive off of a different corner of the car than those full-bodied cars running the BBSS {big-bar soft-spring) setups.

Dick Houlihan has quietly put together a good season. Dick finished eighth Saturday night. He left Holland ninth in points. Way to go Houli!

Riverhead Raceway hosts the Miller Lite 200, Whelen Modified Tour event, next week. Time trials are scheduled to get underway at 5:45PM. Look for Live Updates to begin at about 6:30PM.

Bob Finan calls Donny Lia “Mr. August” as he has taken down win in the last three consecutive August WMT events at the eastern Long Island bullring. Qualifying is more than half of the battle at Riverhead. I look for as many folks as possible to show up to my hometown racetrack next week. For those who can’t attend, we hope you look us up.