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ARDC Title Fight Moves to Big Diamond Nationals; Who’s “The Puppy?”
By Mark Kielblock
Felton, DE- With the top 5 drivers separated by less than 100 points, the Wingless Warriors of ARDC are headed for a Saturday night date at the Big Diamond Nationals. The ARDC Midgets are joining the Big Block Modifieds and Sportsman on the opening night of the Diamond Nationals weekend.
Randy Monroe Jr. of Hampton Va. held the point lead for a long stretch of the ARDC summer run. However a recent stretch of uncharacteristic poor finishes eroded Monroe’s lead to the point where he finally lost it. In ARDC’s two most recent features Monroe finished 21st at New Egypt Speedway on August 16 and followed that up with a 16th place finish at Susquehanna Speedway Park. With the tight-knit formation at the top of the ARDC point standings, just two hiccups dropped Monroe to third in the standings, 32 points behind current leader Frank Polimeda.
The rolling tide of luck and opportunity has turned in favor of two drivers who struggled in the early and mid-season; the aforementioned Polimeda and PJ Gargiulo. In a recent interview Polimeda alluded to having less pressure as he trailed Monroe in the standings; he will now have to adjust to being the “hunted” with very little room for error. Polimeda holds just a 24 point lead over the recently resurgent PJ Gargiulo.
Gargiulo has quietly put two hard-charging performances in the bank as Monroe struggled. The first was a 12th to 3rd place performance that went almost unnoticed in the frenzy of a late race battle between two-time ARDC Champ Andy Martin and Billy Pauch Jr. at New Egypt. An equally impressive drive flew under the radar when Gargiulo drove from 21st to 7th at SSP without the benefit of a mid-race caution. He accomplished this while all eyes were on a Buckwalter “Family Feud” for the win that was taken by Steve Buckwalter over cousin Bruce. Gargiulo has to keep his guard up over the final three points paying ARDC races as he seeks to make up the 24 point gap to Polimeda and holds just 8 points over Monroe.
“Slick” Nick Wean has battled all season long to stay in the hunt; including overcoming a blown engine in his primary car no. 78 and switching to last year’s mount no. 77. Consistency has allowed him to remain just 59 points out of the lead. He and fifth place runner Brett Arndt (92 points behind) would need the front runners to have a big stumble, but they still have a shot at the 2008 ARDC Championship.
Future ARDC “Rookie Watch”: The 2008 ARDC season has yet to be completed and rumblings of the first ARDC rookie for 2009 are already beginning to be heard. On Sunday Sept. 21 Trevor Kobylarz took to the track at Grandview Speedway in the “Two Dogs Racing” no. 49, a number made famous by his dad Bryan – a two time ARDC Champion. As reported by his mom Deanna, Trevor took to the Midget like a natural. “Bryan couldn’t stress enough to Trevor that he had nothing to prove, that this was for pure fun,” Deanna related by email. Trevor’s performance was such that Deanna reports that the pressure is now on the team to field a car for his rookie season in ’09.
“Talk about full circle,” Dea nna wrote “Here is a boy that has been going to the races since he was three months old. A boy watching his dad roll that 49 into victory lane many times and take two championships. Now fifteen years later, Trevor is taking his dad's seat! He looked so smooth behind the wheel. Very reminiscent of his dad's style. It was extremely meaningful to Bryan to watch his son take so well to the midgets. Billy Pauch Jr. was on hand to keep Trevor's confidence soaring high. “I must thank the Pauch Family for sharing the track with us and this special day.”
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