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By Dave Sully
(Little Valley, NY) Several years ago, fog descended on Little Valley Speedway during the T 3 All Star Series 358 modified event, creating a chaotic situation, dubbed the "Fog Bowl," that wasn't settled until the following day. Ironically, the T 3 Series was once again on hand on Thursday, July 3rd, when fog forced the postponement of most of the features after it appeared that the track had beaten the odds when the weather cleared after a nearly all day rain.
Only the Super Stock Feature was officially completed and even that ended under trying conditions, as winner Todd Hansen admitted that he had his face shield up for the final five laps as the fog suddenly descended, enveloping the speedway as the race progressed.
A caution fell on lap nineteen, forcing scorers to revert to the previous lap to declare an official finish. When the race was checkered, the entire back stretch was invisible from the grandstand, and by the time Victory Lane ceremonies were completed the whole track was enshrouded, making further racing impossible.
Schedule changes were made to accommodate the missed features. The late models and the street stocks will run double features on Saturday, July 12th, the next scheduled Little Valley race date, while the T 3 Series 358’s will run double features on the date of their next scheduled appearance, Saturday, September 20th. There has been no final decision on the status of the mini stocks, since they do not appear regularly at Little Valley.
The twenty lap Super Stock Feature saw Hansen, from Forestville, out-duel Steve Dixon and Jeremy Wonderling before claiming the win. Hansen took the lead from the pole at the drop of the green, but lost it to Dixon on a lap one restart as Dixon steamed around him on the outside in turn four.
Hansen did not go quietly, pressuring Dixon for three laps before retaking the lead, easing by on the inside in turn two. He held off Dixon until Jeremy Wonderling worked his way into second on lap eight. Wonderling applied some heat on Hansen for several laps before Hansen established some breathing room. With the fog now making its presents felt, Hansen had to negotiate lapped traffic as well as the fog, with a final caution flying as the white flag flew. It became a checkered flag when it became apparent that it was not safe to continue, making a winner of Hansen, with Dixon finishing second as he got back past Wonderling on the last scored lap. Wonderling took third.
NOTES: There were a healthy one hundred nineteen cars in the pits, including twenty-six Super Late Models, twenty-seven 358 modifieds, twenty-six Super Stocks, Twenty-six Street Stocks, and fourteen Mini Stocks…………A capacity crowd was on hand despite the rainy day and predictions of more possible showers………..As often happens after rain, which delayed the start of the program by a little less than an hour as the track was made race ready, the racing surface was very fast and produced some exciting heat races, including a great super late model race, which saw former winner, Vic Coffey, edge Todd Andrews by the tiniest of margins. In a similar scenario, Justin Baxter barely eked out a win over Chris Austin in the third street stock heat……….Results of the heat races and two super late model dashes, which set the top twelve starting positions, will be used to set the starting fields for the re-scheduled features on July 12th and September 20th.
Results:
Super Stock Feature (19 laps) Todd Hansen, Steve Dixon, Jeremy Wonderling, John Waters, Bruce Miller, Jim Johnson, Matt Cobb, John Lichy, Jon Rivers, Larry Knowles, Dan Cobb, Paul Grigsby, Mike Williams, Jr. Peters, Neil Patterson, Scott Pangrazio, Bob Bartlett, John Kemp, Terry Pangrazio, Ron Baker, Jeff Chesebro, Tom Schnars, Chad Ruhlman, Joshua Sawyer, Alan Wais, Dave Miller, and Bob Babbitt. Heat winners were Wonderling, Waters, and Dixon.
Late Model Heat winners were Vic Coffey, Bump Hedman, and Ron Davies. Dash winners were Ron Davies and Mickey Wright.
T3 Series 358 Heat winners were Curt Van Pelt, Tim Jones, and Billy Van Pelt.
Street Stock Heat winners were Brett Smith, Damon Lewis, and Justin Baxter.
Mini Stock Heat winners were Levi Watson and Steve Mowery.
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