The World Series of Speedway Racing always seems to put an exclamation point at the end of the season for our beloved Tour. Like the final power chord of a great rock band’s performance, it’s satisfying and bittersweet. Doesn’t anyone want an encore?

The weather this weekend couldn’t have been more beautiful. The crisp autumn temperatures swept through on swirling winds that only made the smell of the campfires in the parking area that much more inviting. The cooler temps were perfect for more horsepower and sweatshirts, attire for which we haven’t had much use this year.

We arrived with our hauler on Friday. I walked the midway and watched as Don Hoenig took active participation in pumping out puddles that showers from earlier in the day had generated. It’s great to see a track owner who chooses to take such an active role.

Ed Partridge’s camper, which is more like a rolling hotel, was on the way. Unfortunately, there were few spots remaining where we might park this behemoth in the campgrounds, much less find a space where we might move the Blewett motor coach along side. We found a spot and waited.

Dave, or as we know him “Pork Chop”, showed up with Jay, Colleen and Jungle George about two hours after we arrived. Once he parked the trailer, it was time to go to work. Perhaps it is because of the amount of work to put everything together is the reason we haven’t had this trailer with us since Speedweeks at New Smyrna.

The trailer was leveled, all sorts of slide-outs were locked in and pieces of hardware seemed to have been laid as a form of jigsaw puzzle on the side. In short order, we had steps, the structure for the awning and the roof rails installed. Putting on the canvas through what were some pretty stiff breezes wasn’t too easy. Why can’t I seem to find wind like this when I want to go sailing?

Stanley had meatball heroes planned for dinner. There were a few ingredients that were missing. Apparently, some people just can’t complete a simple task and those concerned will never hear the end of it. If he had asked me, I would have been happy to bring the mozzarella.

After dinner, I sat down to watch the B-Cup show. That’s the Busch race or the soon-to-be Nationwide race to everyone else. Bobby Santos got into the fence and the rest of the race really didn’t interest me. Our gang played cards while I tried to get some sleep.

Shortly after the card game and the race were over, Jimmy showed up with his motor-home. Parking campers is a lot like moving tire carts into the tire garden. There never seems to be enough room and there are a lot of people complaining. Like campers, tire carts come in different sizes and some teams are sizing up more tires than others. Compromises have to be made in many cases.

Something that one does not generally encounter in the tire garden are people who have been hitting the sauce. Let’s face it. We travel with a bunch of instant (plural expletive for an orifice deleted). Have another beer and get over it.

The Walt’s Cup quote of the week came early. It was a vinyl sign on the back of the #88 car. Don King had a special message for the competitors that he put on the back of the car to be driven by Doug Coby. It read, “JAMES IS IN THE RED CAR”. The name on the roof of the Ramar Hall backup car said Frank D. Coby. It was explained to me that was to help folks who didn’t understand the speed charts somewhere.

It was great to see Linda Brady at the track on Saturday. It was almost as great as getting my first email from her after she got out of the hospital. She looks great and so does Joe. Take it easy Joe; we need you around for a long time.

Even with the stellar weather with which we had been blessed, the schedule would be tight. That’ll happen every time a track tries to run fourteen feature events in one weekend. The veterans know that this means a lot of “hurry up and wait”.

Practice came to a screeching halt on Saturday. There was only one ambulance present and apparently it is a community ambulance. They were called out for an emergency off premises. This left most of us shaking our heads.

Normally, when I have attended races at Riverhead, I’ve seen two ambulances. That’s despite the fact that there is a hospital three minutes away. They are privately contracted and are there for the sole purpose of supporting the event.

What if there was an accident, on or off of the track, where there were multiple persons injured? Hopefully this will be looked into by the powers that be. It is something that needs to be address for all facilities where we compete.

Jamie Tomaino crashed during time trials. Tony Hirschman was already on the track when the incident occurred. Hirschman saw the #99 facing the wrong way as he came to take the green and alertly locked it down. We are all quite thankful that a driver as cognizant as Tony was at the wheel. That incident cost Hirschman a shot at the pole.

Jamie wanted to be sure to acknowledge that five teams offered him their backup cars. The #99 team got assistance from all over the paddock area and made a concerted effort to repair Jamie’s car. Eventually Tomaino chose to drive Donny Lia’s car on Sunday. The #18 just missed making the field with Chuck Hossfeld behind the wheel and was renumbered #99 for the race.

Don Lia wanted to see his car on the track at least once on the Tour this season. I heard that was one of the reasons that the #18 was brought up to Thompson for Hossfeld. Geoff Harbach, son of former Modified campaigner, Alan helped on the change over. Geoff’s Uncle, Richie, is a splitting image of Geoff’s grandpa, the late Fred “The Flying Dutchman” Harbach. It was great to see Richie and Preacher there this weekend.

The feel-good story of qualifying was Tony Ferrante, Jr. Tony put the #31 on the pole with the fastest lap of the day. Then he picked the pole in the redraw. It was a nice 50th Anniversary present for his parents, Jeanette and Tony, Sr., who were celebrating their special day at home.

As happy as we were with a top-ten qualifying effort for the Tour show, we were really excited about our Sunoco Modified. Jimmy made quick work of the third heat race. Other Sunoco Mod heat winners were Kerry Malone and former T.S. Hauler’s driver, Bo Gunning.

It was time to go camping. Carol Grasso is a fire bug. F-F-Fire Beavis! Folks didn’t show up to eat by her camper so she graciously brought her food to our little Ville. I thought we were going to get the cards going but later I decided to watch the forty-three greatest drivers in the world (guffaw!) from the banking capitol of the southeast. The racing still continued at Thompson. I’ll discuss that later.

Several people were setting off fireworks in the campgrounds. Someone was lighting off some really serious stuff. The mortars appeared to be coming from the infield. At about 11pm either they ran out of ammunition or someone took my suggestion and shot the guy who was doing it with a rifle. Boy, did it get quiet, or is that just me?

Sunday morning I met Phil Kurze. Phil would like to let it be known that the Whelen Modified Tour will not be going away. Whelen is quite happy with its relationship with NASCAR and the Modified Tour and is looking forward to a very long and fruitful relationship.

Later, Ricky Miller and Jalopy Jack came by. Miller has been covering racing since they typed on stone and Jack sounds like he built those typewriters. Find Jalopy Jack on Mike Field’s website, Long Island Motorsports News and I believe Ricky’s column is still in Gater.

How do we feel about Mark Mockovak? Let’s see; the reigning Man-of-the-Year for our beloved Tour was given a checkered flag that was signed by all of the competitors by his former NASCAR official colleagues. In addition the Media honored Mark by voting him the winner of the Sonny “King” Richards award. On top of that; of all of the UConn football fans out there, Mark was the one who got a phone call from Shawn Courchesne from Virginia.

Don’t get me wrong, Jason Christley and Paul Schaefer have done a good job since Mark was set free. Mockovak would be worth twice the price NASCAR was paying him. Unfortunately, I don’t think they could get him back; even at that price.

Mockovak received his award during the star-studded opening ceremonies for the World Series on Sunday. Dick Houlihan was honored as a retiree after many years as a competitor and one hundred-fifty wins. When Russ Dowd asked Dick if he would “stay” retired, Houlihan responded, “I just made a deal to run four TVMRS races next year."

Donny Lia was honored with the Whelen Modified Tour Championship trophy. Earlier in the day the Mystic Missile team got together with the trophy and their car for a photo session with one of Thompson’s scenic backdrops. It really looked great.

Last race’s article was titled “American Idol." At the World Series, Thompson Speedway enlisted the help of American Idol star Julia DeMato from Brookfield, CT. She did a fantastic job singing the national anthem.

It was time to go racing. Before we knew it, it was time to go out for the Sunoco Modified race. Jimmy blasted to the lead from his third place starting spot. He appeared to be walking away but the car was getting tight. He fended off Kerry Malone for the win. The right rear tire had five pounds of air in it by the time we got through tech. One more caution and that one probably would have eluded us.

It was an emotional Victory Lane. Jimmy was humble and thankful. The crowd was struck with thunderous silence when he spoke. It was Jimmy’s fifty-fifth feature victory but his first win since we lost his brother John.

We’ve all dealt with the passing of John Blewett, III in our own ways. Some of us have gotten back to some old habits, like smoking. I fell off of the wagon after sixteen years, if only for a couple of days. Roy chose not to join us this week because of the venue. Jimmy celebrated a tradition that JBIII started last year at the World Series.

Last year, John, Jimmy and a couple of other folks watched the feature events on Saturday night. John said, “Hey, let’s go down and get in every Victory Lane picture tonight.” Friday night, Jimmy brought the kind of excitement to every victory that comes with a major touring series win. A couple of dozen people followed Jimmy down and celebrated with all of the winners.

B.J. Sparrow told me, “I couldn’t believe how many people were in Victory Lane for the Pro-4s. What are they chanting? “Jay-Bee-Three!! Jay-Bee-Three!!” That was really cool.” If you don’t believe me, check out the pictures on Long Island Jam. Long after most of the media had called it a day on Saturday, Mike Mercurio stayed to save those images for posterity.

The win on Sunday was one that the T.S. Haulers team really needed. It would have been nice to have performed better during the Tour race. We were happy to get our car back shinny side up with four wheels on it.

Jimmy pitted several times and we tried to cure handling ills. About the time we felt the handling issues had been solved, a part broke in the rear suspension which forced us to park the #12. We got packed up.

Let’s get to the heart of the matter. The heart of the Modified Tour is and has been for many years the gentleman car owner. Please allow me to acknowledge that there are gentlewoman car owners as well.

2007 Whelen Modified Tour champion, Bob Garbarino is a classic example of the gentleman car owner. He’s been at this for nearly fifty years and finally we can write about his championship. He’s been a champion in my eyes for many years. Now he has the trophy to prove it.

There are many others out there who have come out of the same mould. It has been the care, concern, sportsmanship and perseverance of men like Bob, Art Barry, Lenny Boehler, Roger Hill, Tony Ferrante, Sr., Jamie Tomaino, Joe Brady, Ralph Solhem, Curt Chase, the Pasteryaks and many, many others who have made the Modified Tour possible. They’re all champions in my eyes.

People ask why drivers like Wade Cole and Jake Morosz haven’t jumped ship to run with a different Modified touring series. It’s because we are all their family. Chances are they’d have more track time somewhere else but they wouldn’t have the support or the camaraderie they have on the Whelen Modified Tour.

I talked to Wade on Saturday. He credits a great deal of his improved performance as a result of the relationship he has built with the #2 team. Congratulations to Wade and his team for finishing in the top-twenty in the point standings. That’s quite an accomplishment based on the kind of competition that we have on the WMT.

Yes, Wade’s dad Walter Cole was one of those gentleman car owners. He was recognized posthumously with the Len Boehler Award in 2004. Wade continues the Cole family racing tradition with care, concern, sportsmanship and perseverance. That’s what makes a humble guy like Wade Cole the heart of the Tour.

Several times, NASCAR has had an owners meeting the week before or sometimes at the first race of the season. A couple of times the owners were told that the meetings were exploratory in nature. Here’s a tip for the guys on International Speedway Boulevard; have one of those meetings now!

There are people like Ben Dodge who mentioned in AARN that the WMT needed to have some sort of change. Invite Ben and other all of the other respected people who think changes might be in order. Bring the track owners in. Get everyone together now so that ideas can be shared.

I am sure that there are plenty of great ideas out there with regards to cost, competition and most importantly safety. If ideas were shared now, by the time the banquet comes around, many of them could be addressed. If the sanctioning body waits until March or April, the seeds of those ideas will fall on the hardened ground of previously mailed entry blanks and rulebooks.

Design changes for the racecars at a late date may not be possible either. Those are the changes that I look forward to the most. We need to make our Modifieds safer. Get the car owners together now. There, I said it.

Jamie Tomaino was congratulating Wade on his top-twenty point finish as he was preparing to leave. “How about that Walt!” Jamie said, “Two Morgan Shepherds, me and Wade; one in the top-twenty and one in the top-ten!”

Oh, by the way, Bobby Santos had an awesome day. He had a great car. He carved up the field and got his first real opportunity to showcase his talent through an entire Modified Tour race. Well done Bobby and the Ole Blue team. In addition to it being Santos’ first Tour win it was great to see the Boehler team win in its fiftieth anniversary season.

The guy who was driving the red car apparently precipitated an accident that involved the car with the “James is in the red car” sign on it. NASCAR put the red car to the bottom of the finish. It certainly seemed like that driver and one of the drivers who built both the red and the blue cars wanted to wreck each other for the last several laps. I’m kind of glad we were parked at that point.

This week there are Modified races at All-Star and Lee on Saturday and Sunday respectively. These two tracks are minutes away from one another. I’d say that would be a pretty good place to go this weekend.

Most folks will be preparing for the John Blewett, III Memorial, North-South Shootout which will be at Concord Motorsports Park in North Carolina next week. Charles Kepley and his entire staff will be looking to make this event bigger and better than ever. Lap sponsorships are still available for the SK-type Modified race. I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Denise DuPont will be up in the press box at Concord to bring everyone the MSS Live Updates from this event. Congratulations are in order for Denise. She has become the first female to win the WAWA award which is a special honor for the racing media created by Dale Wolbrink at Thompson Speedway.