Here we go again. Our first opportunity to experience some serious short-track racing will happen this Saturday night, when the Riverview Ford Season Opener kicks off the 2013 racing schedule at Speedway 660.
I had hoped this version of my weekly blog would be all about the great weekend of racing we saw to mark the beginning of our awesome 20th anniversary season. Oh yeah, and I likely would have talked about Kid’s Night, originally scheduled for this coming Saturday night. However, it was a weekend to remember or perhaps forget, depending on how you look at it.
Unbelievable – that’s about all I can say about last weekend. Speedway 660’s new owners implemented a rain-date for the Riverview Ford Season Opener, just in case we got some precipitation on the first Saturday of racing. That way we could go racing on Sunday, if necessary. But wait, it turns out that we get flooded by a monsoon all weekend long! As a matter of fact it has pretty much rained every day for at least the last two weeks.
But all of that is about to change. The weather has got to change for the better and we have got to go racing. So, I want everyone who reads this blog to do your best sun-dance, early this week, and help us get a beautiful Saturday, so we can make our first trip of the year to the Geary Woods this weekend.
A couple of quick notes – The Riverview Ford Season Opener has been rescheduled for this Saturday night and the Kid’s Night, originally slated for this weekend, has been rescheduled for Saturday, June 15th. And the rain-date for the opener, is still in effect, and will go this Sunday at 2PM, if necessary.
We weren’t the only ones who dug out our rain-suits, rubber boots and umbrellas last weekend. The PASS 150 scheduled for the White Mountain Motorsports Park, in beautiful New Hampshire, was also washed out. Speaking of the Pro All-Star Series, they’ll be here a week from this Saturday night (June 08th) for one of our most exciting events of the year.
But let’s focus on the Riverview Ford Season Opener. If you thought everyone was anxious to go racing last weekend, I’d say the anxiety level is up a notch or two this week! It’s going to be amazing. Fans, race teams and Speedway 660’s staff and owners are raring to go.
I’m really interested to see who shows up to race in each of our divisions. From the talk I’m hearing, you’ll want to keep an eye on the Pro Stock and Street Stock Divisions. Nick Murray had a great story in the Gleaner last Saturday that focused on Dustin Tucker, son of former Auto Value 250 winner, Speedway 660 Pro Stock Champion and three-time Parts for Trucks Maritime Pro Stock champ Shawn Tucker. Young Dustin will slide into a Pro Stock and run a partial schedule with us this year. We expect him to suit-up when the Tucker family is not on the road with the Maritime Pro Stock Tour.
Cole Boudreau will be out defend his Bando championship in 2013. The young Chipman
driver is also expected to jump into a brand new Pro Stock for a few races this season!
Nick also reported that 2012 Bandolero Champion Cole Boudreau now has a Pro Stock car, built in Nashville, soon to be sitting in the family garage over in Chipman. “Kid Cole” says he’ll run Bando full-time this year and his Dad Mike says they’ll likely come out a time or two to play with the big boys. We already know Dana Hamm-Cameron, another Bando champ, is moving up to Pro Stock and the reigning Martins Home Heating Sportsman champ Glyn Nott is headed in that direction too! And Paul Gahan says he’s coming back full time this year too. Anybody else coming out to play?
I also expect to see new faces in Street Stock. After running a four cylinder last season, we saw Greg Cashol make an appearance in street stock on SpeedWeekend. So we expect he’ll be back full time to race against his grandfather Rick, a five-time champ. I‘ve also heard that Alexandra O’Blenis and Kenny MacKenzie Junior, a couple of 2nd generation drivers, from pretty famous racing families, are headed to street stock after starring in the Bando division.
And, as reported on the Speedway 660 web-site last week, Luc McLaughlin, the reigning Fredericton Jeweler’s Four Cylinder champ, is moving up to Street Stock. We’ll post a Conversation with Luc later this week. He’ll tell us about his 2012 championship season and his approach to this season when he finally gets a chance to climb into the car that Shannon Brake drove to win last year’s Street Stock crown.
So, there is a lot to look forward to this weekend and all season long as Speedway 660 launches into its 20th anniversary season. It all begins this Saturday night at 7PM with the Riverview Ford Season Opener, but come early because Bando and Four Cylinder heat races will go right around 6:15PM. And oh yeah, just in case, we do have a rain-date for Sunday at 2PM. But I’ve put away my rain-suit, rubber boots and umbrella and have no intention of bringing them out until after SpeedWeekend!
We’ll see you at the races.
