Victories Everywhere at SpeedwayEXPO
West Springfield, MA (March 7, 2007): While the Better Living Center at the Eastern States Exposition bustled with traffic on March 2-4 during SpeedwayEXPO, the Stroh Building was alive with activity all weekend as well. A full line-up of events provided non-stop entertainment for vendors and attendees alike. Whether the goal was education through seminars or entertainment with activities like the pit stop contest, SpeedwayEXPO delivered.
SpeedwayEXPO also hosted the first annual Pedal Car Nationals, presented by Martel Motorsports. Five heat races were held on Saturday afternoon for 26 children, ages 3 to 7, with the winners going into the main event. C&C Racing Promotion provided the nostalgic pedal cars, replicas of famous Modifieds from the Northern and Southern Tours. Taking the top prize was lightning-fast Kaycee Travis, age 6. The second- through fourth-place finishers were following in the footsteps of their fathers: Three-year old Austin Beers, son of Whelen Modified Tour driver Eric Beers, came home second, followed by Karen Fredrickson, the seven-year-old daughter of Speedway Illustrated Editor and Modified Racing Series competitor Karl Fredrickson. Fourth was Timothy Dorr, five-year-old son of reigning Waterford Speedbowl Sportsman champion Dwayne Dorr. Lucas Ingellis, age 4, rounded out the top five.
Each child earned a participant medal and the top five finishers each received trophies courtesy of Martel Motorsports. The top five also got copies of the children’s book Martin & T.J.’s Race Car Repair, by Susan Kelly Hearn, from Coastal 181.
On Saturday night the action heated up when eight teams competed in the Pit Stop Challenge presented by Racingjunk.com. Each four-member team had to complete a two-tire change with one air gun. Regular members of Zach Sylvester’s Whelen Modified Tour team Tom Pokorny, Josh Sylvester, Tim Albee and Bill Michael (calling themselves Team DMF), captured top honors with a time of 34.987 seconds. Team HRE, Howie Deitz, Kerry Hall, Bill Barnett, and Russ Hersey, recorded a time of 35.493 seconds to finish second. Rounding out the top three was Team SCR—Steve Barrett, Jr., Steve Barrett, Sr., Andrew Keeney and Greg Moran—with an elapsed time of 39.298 seconds. A complete rundown of the contest standings can be found on www.speedwayexpo.com.
As close as the action was in the pedal car races and the pit stop challenge, the Pet of SpeedwayEXPO contest was a landslide victory for Buddy, a Schnoodle owned by Mike Gorgievski and Amy Seeley of Auburn, MA. Mike is a regular competitor at the Thompson International Speedway. Buddy, Mike & Amy will share a prize doggie-bag package with goodies for both dog and owners courtesy of SpeedwayEXPO and Stellar Apparel. (Buddy will also appear in an upcoming issue of Speedway Illustrated.)
The Racing Against Cancer Team TM was also a big winner at SpeedwayEXPO. The “Anger Management” charity event—aka the dunk tank—raised nearly $300 was raised for this non-profit group. Corey Boudreau of Seekonk Speedway, Andy Christmas from Monadnock Speedway, Mike Parks of Twin State Speedway and Mike Scrivani of the Northeastern Midget Association each took a turn, offering their friends and competitors the chance to dunk these track/series officials.
From the drop of SpeedwayEXPO’s green flag on Friday night to the waving of the checkers on Sunday evening, the action was busy, colorful and great fun. For a look at the weekend’s events log on to www.speedwayexpo.com.