I was tempted to write a one line story this week. It would have read; “It was hot.” The Sun and the heat drain the resources out of larger folks like yours truly.

The Connecticut Classic has been a Memorial Day weekend standard for seventeen years. Memorial Day weekend makes me think of all of the veterans who are out there. For any and all who have served in our armed forces, we thank you and we are forever in your debt.

Holiday weekends mean other things too. It means the price of gasoline is going to be higher. It means that the roads here on Long Island will be crammed with drivers who have little driving experience. It also means that one better make ferry reservations or they will likely be out of luck.

As I couldn’t join our team at Thompson Thursday night, I had to make a reservation. Fortunately all of the boats hadn’t been booked when I finally remembered that on Thursday. That still wouldn’t be enough to get to Stafford on time for the Connecticut Classic.

The heat seemed to come from nowhere. Kind of like our winter, here came summer. It makes it tough to sleep and even tougher to wake up. Thank goodness Shopgirl called or I would have missed the boat.

The Sun and the heat were merciless. Matt Hirschman asked me if I was going to be okay. I told him that I’d be fine about an hour after that orange orb goes over the hill.

The heat wasn’t the only thing that made people stop for a minute. I saw a couple of samples of propaganda that circulated through the community. One appeared anonymous that stated “Trash the Flash” and another was a more communal offering from a car owner who had the guts to put his name on the line. I thought the latter was creative and raised the possible solutions.

The author gave credit for a possible “non-qualifier feature” to Don Hoenig. The proposal of a non-qualifier or last-chance, hooligan type race has been bantered about by many. I respect that author enough not to divulge his name as I haven’t discussed it with that person to date.

As far at the anonymous flyer goes, it showed discontent for the flash format. In reaction to the “facts” stated; I never thought this format would add fans. I didn’t think the carnage at Wall would have been any less had it been a race run in the traditional style (150 laps with time trials).

I saw one or two teams that opted to only purchase one set of tires at Wall. I believe they presented used tires to be marked for practice but I might be wrong. Teams normally purchase three sets at Stafford and Thompson. Was the purse less than two-thirds of a one hundred fifty lap affair at either of those venues?

I believe that enough car owners complained about purchasing two sets of tires at Riverhead only to take two qualifying laps and loading up to go home that their voices were finally heard. If you are a car owner that lobbied for NASCAR to do something about that, congratulations! In my opinion, those owner’s complaints contributed to bringing about the flash format.

I do agree that this was an experiment at the expense of the car owners. I don’t know that cutting the bonuses was an insult to the drivers. That seems to be an opinion. Although the first flash race didn’t all come out roses, the format didn’t seem worse than “any” Saturday night show. Once again, that is opinion. And I don’t know of many teams that don’t lose money the second they leave the shop for any race.

Is the flash format good or bad? I can’t tell. Will it be different at Twin State? That depends on how many cars show up and how NASCAR officials call the race. Would I prefer we run time trials and a one-hundred fifty-lap race? Probably; I just don’t see the flash format as much of an issue as those who are railing against it.

I still believe that had one or two of the drivers at Wall who couldn’t navigate the track without contact or locking up their tires each lap been parked after the second or third caution, the yellow would have flown considerably less often. The Wall Township Speedway officials didn’t have any problem doing that the night before. Once those who couldn’t complete a lap without spinning were gone, the feature came to conclusion quite quickly.

NASCAR and Whelen seem to be trying to do everything they can to get the Tour into as many venues as possible. I’d note to be careful about espousing “We are supposed to be professionals.” The next thing we could wind up with a double dip like the Busch East guys had in Minnesota and Iowa last week.

The authors of either of these flyers can contact me if they wish to have their words published. I will gladly transcribe them and post them word for word on the Message Forum. However, they will not be posted in anonymity.

I saw Shawn Courchesne in the paddock area. Did I mention that he discovered Joey Logano? Like him or not, this guy gives more press to motorsports in New England than most of the rest of us combined. Be sure to check out his Blog.

Jason Christley was there too. I asked him, “Where is your Darth Vader helmet?" We like to poke fun at the former The Day of New London columnist. We tell him now that he works for NASCAR he has turned to the “dark side”. He was taking some pictures with a digital camera at Stafford. Don’t be surprised if they wind up on nascar.com.

Actually, I saw the whole gang there throughout the day. Dave and Hazel Meredith were strolling through the paddock. Jim and Denise DuPont were busy shooting and interviewing and I saw Howie and Mary Hodge on pit road. I forgot to give Howie his surprise present. That will have to wait for another day but it would have been perfect for Friday. I even saw Amie at the track.

Our car was bad at the start of the race. In the words of Ron White, “Ever forget something? Happened to us.” We short pitted figuring that we’d solve the problem which didn’t get diagnosed ‘til we stopped again later. Quote of the week goes to Fred Dunlop who stars as our spotter “Freddie Kraft”. “You’re going to have to pit. These guys are sucking the numbers off of the car on the way by.”

When the race was over I debated just sleeping in the parking lot. I was tired. I decided to beat the traffic by going down CT 140. There, Connecticut’s finest had set up a roadblock. I hope everyone was wearing their seatbelts and using designated drivers. They were stopping everyone.

That’s right; holidays mean you are going to be pulled over too. A State Trooper asked me “When was the last time you had a drink?” I told him “’91, back during the Bush administration. You know; the one before Clinton?” He let me go.

I stopped in Vernon for dinner a little after midnight. Actually I had breakfast. It was named after an “Extreme” four-run homerun. I saw a couple there enjoying a meal in Modified attire. They said that they enjoyed the race and are regular readers of MSS. If I were a little more awake, I probably would have asked for their names.

After I got past New Haven, I realized I was going to have to stop to sleep. I stopped and slept in the “Villa Del Toro”. It’s a little nicer than the “deathtrap” and roomier than the “Hotel Cavalier”. I woke up about four hours later and completed my trip home.

By the way, there was a race. Congratulations to Donny Lia and the Mystic Missile team on their second consecutive Stafford WMT win. All I can think of is that Jim Savage should be feeling a little better. He stopped by while I was mounting tires in all of that heat. He was bleeding from a minor injury but nothing is minor for a guy who has been through his tribulations.

Get well soon to Jon McKennedy. He hit hard in turn one on Friday night. I didn’t like hearing that he had memory loss. We want him back but his health is more important. Let’s hope he is 100% really soon.

When I checked my email at home, I got some bad news. Lester Young, father of Riverhead Raceway Modified competitor, Chris Young, had passed away. Visitation for Lester will be at the Reginald H. Tuthill Funeral Home on Main Street in Riverhead, Tuesday May, 29th, from 2-4pm and 7-9pm. His funeral will be at Old Steeple Church, Main Road, Aquebogue, on Wednesday May 30th at 10am.

Thanks to Mike Clayton for posting the results from Wall Township Speedway on the Message Forum. Congratulations to Jimmy Blewett on his fiftieth career feature win at Wall Saturday night. Did I just hear Status Green?

Memorial Day is a special day. It’s one of the few holidays that I join our community in celebrating. I go to the beginning of the parade in Riverhead. Then I buy a couple of beers. I bring them to Calverton, drink one and leave the other one for my dad. Then I go back to watch the end of the parade. I have one beer a year; so I lied to the cop Friday night.

Our next adventure on the Whelen Modified Tour will be at the Thompson International Speedway. Three weeks from Thursday the WMT competitors will get together for the Charter Communications 150. Maybe the orange orb won’t be so brutal or, by then perhaps we will all be a little more accustomed to the heat. However, the owners will never be happy with heats.