First and foremost I would like to send out my condolences to the Stolarcyk family. Mike III was a great friend and a great ambassador of auto racing. There is no doubt he was one of the nicest guys in racing and a heck of a lot of fun to spend time with. He always had a big smile on his face whether he won the feature or had an incident on the track. He will be missed by all who knew him.
Rest in Peace Mike.
I read on another forum that a scholarship fund has been set up for his two kid
It has been a while since my last installment of From The Capital District here on DTD. It has been a busy month of March for me and all of the local media, drivers, crews and fans. On a personal level, I have been busy attending all of the local car shows, writing my weekly column for my local newspaper and have stayed very busy with my latest effort – LaGrange Motorsports Media.
At present time I have 20 clients which include 19 drivers and one organization (Empire Lightning Sprints). I ha
Wow,,,, again, thanks for the response from all of you on the various topics you want me to blog about. Still really can't get over the fact that everyone stills cares what I believe or think about situations in dirt today. The question I picked this week was "WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST PEEVE WITH D.I.R.T. RACING"???
Well,,,,,,, hmmmmm??? lets see,,,, there were a few but the biggest peeve I think "we" had (and I use we because it really was my dad's big one also) was with the Syracuse fall final
I've got a "gripe", and it's been with me for quite a few years now. As many of you race fans know, there are some race tracks out there that have visual obstructions blocking the paying fans view of the racing and the action thats being provided on the track. I ask myself, "Should this be, and is it right?" Well in my personal opinion, I have a BIG, LOUD, opinionated answer, ABSOLUTELY NO!!!
Hey, I look at it this way, when I walk up to the race tracks ticket window, I'm handing over my hard
Racing season is finally getting into full gear and this past weekend was no exception. It was nice to have the opportunity to get out with some great racing friends and enjoy the event at the Selinsgrove Speedway. As you already know, Pat Ward captured Friday night’s 25-lap event and then Danny Johnson got the win on Saturday night after Ryan Godown came up light. It was a tough break for the driver out of Ringoes, N.J.
Ryan Godown
- After talking with Johnson and Jeff Strunk, they
I spent this past Saturday at the RAAL Motorsports shop, as they are preparing the 358 small block ride that Todd Stewart will drive, as well as a sportsman car that will be driven by Todd’s 16 year old nephew Luke. This will be Luke’s first season in racing.
Todd’s plans are still up in the area for Friday nights, but Saturday evenings the RAAL team will be at the Brockville Ontario Speedway looking to improve upon the team’s third place overall finish in 2008. You can follow
As many of you know, John Wight has purchased Brewerton and Fulton Speedways. This should be a really good thing for racing and it will now end the saga as to what will happen to the two facilities.
Speculation yesterday afternoon was that Brewerton was being purchased by someone that was not going to use it for a racing facility. So good thing John Wight stepped in and made the purchase.
John Wight has experience in the past running speedways, Can-Am Speedway, so that should be of great
Thanks for all the requests on topics you want me to comment on. I am somewhat flattered and surprised in the interest on my views. Keep them coming to joeplazek@plazek.com
The first topic was "why do you think the new talent is just not showing up in D.I.R.T. Mods?"
Well first off let me say this, I don't want to slight the new talent that is there but no one seems to be destined to dethrone the "greybeards" at least until they retire. These guys just keep winning races and it should not be
Hey everyone,
Alittle late but here are some pictures from the trip down in Florida.
Team Five Star Racing Products, Adam Murphy #28 and Adam Leslie #15
Some on track action of the #15 Mod-Lite
Pit shots
Here are a lot of the locals from Canada that went down to race in Florida, a few are missing.
Me and my dad talking about the race
While down there in Florida, there where two birthdays to celebrate. Friday being Adam Murphy's birthday and Sunday being M
I HAVE BEEN ASKED BY DIRT TRACK DIGEST TO DO A WEEKLY BLOG ON MY THOUGHTS ON THE HAPPENINGS AROUND DIRT THIS SUMMER. I AM AT A LITTLE DISADVANTAGE NOT ATTENDING ANY SHOWS SO I REALLY DON'T KNOW HOW INTERESTING I CAN BE. SOME OF MY IDEAS MAY BE DATED OR AS I LIKE TO CALL IT "MATURE"
I WILL START WITH A COUPLE THOUGHTS.
CANT REALLY BELIEVE THE LACK OF NEW TALENT BEING DEVELOPED IN THE DIRT MOD RANKS. SITTING BACK AND WATCHING NOW FROM THE SIDELINES IT AMAZES ME ITS THE SAME OLD, SAME OLD. I FO
Prediction Time for 2009
He we are, about to embark on the 2009-racing season. I thought that this would be a great time to throw out some predictions for the upcoming season in the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT series, and the Mr. DIRT Small Block series, MR. DIRTcar Sportsman and Pro Stock.series, as well as my local tracks of Brockville, and Can-Am.
Lets start out with the mighty big blocks and the Advanced Auto Parts Super DIRTcar series. As I appear into my crystal ball, I clearly see
With the Pa sprint car season getting underway last week at the Lincoln Speedway, it got me thinking....Sprint car racing, how do you like it, WINGED or NON WING?
For me, the choice is simple, NON WING sprint car racing is where it's at....Now I've been lucky enough to grow up and live almost smack dab in the middle of all kinds of racing here in Pa, mods, late models, and oh yeah, SPRINT CARS....I'm about an hour away from the historic Williams Grove Speedway, about and hour and 45 mins from
Since the second race track opened on planet earth one question has been asked, who has the better competitors? Since that day the answer has been different depending on who you asked. It’s a debate that will go on as long as there is auto racing and long after planet earth see’s its final checkered flag.
This is basically a pointless debate since there is no accurate way of deciphering whose field is better. There have been many who have tried to convince themselves and others that their
The Capital District racing season kicked off this past weekend in the form of the CVRA / Clifton Park Commons Car Show. A total of 15 racers displayed at the refurbished mall representing a multitude of divisions.
On Saturday, promoter Bruce Richards announced that the popular CVRA Wilton Mall show would return for the third straight season. The dates for this show will be March 27th – 29th during mall hours. This is turning into a great yearly car show just prior to the start of racing se
In retrospect arguing with Bob Miller is MUCH more rewarding than arguing with my wife. I actually have a chance to win when I argue with Bob. Let's be real. I almost always win a battle of wits with Bob. That's how I'll qualify this next statement. I miss Daytona.
I miss listening to the waves crash ashore, and I miss sleeping with a sliding door open. I tried opening the window in my bedroom when I got home, but my nostrils froze shut and I couldn't breath. I miss walking across the street i
It is that time of year again, as race teams begin to prepare for the DIRT racing season. Yes, some of you have already got a head start already with the Volusia County tour or will be at the track in Hagerstown or Williams Grove or other tracks in March, but for the bulk of us the season doesn’t start until we get into April.
One of my favorite times of the year is the car show season. I enjoy going to the annual Motorsports Expo in Syracuse to check out the new cars before they hit the t
Well, I'm sitting at home and my car is on it's way home now. This is where I want to share some of the costs of racing down in Florida for myself.
Gas for the tow down - $600ish
Gas for the race car - $100
Gas for the truck I went down in with my family - $300
Hotel room for the week - $800
Food for the week - $500
Pit passes for the week - (12+25+25+36) x 2 = $196
Registration fee's - (50+50+50+100) = $250
Tires/fluids/parts - $300
Misc - $100
Payouts - (400+50) = $450
Th
For the last night of racing we finally didn't have much to do to the car today because the night before went rather well. So we started by giving the car a good wash, then we went to work. My dad nut and bolted the car while I did other things such as getting my helmet ready. This surface that is at East Bay is like wet sand. When it dries it is like cement and is very hard to get off. Never mind the fact that it is like getting sand blasted.
Speaking of the surface of East Bay, it is so har
Now off to the races once again. After the night before there was minimal work to be done to the car. Basically just a nut and bolt and try to bleed the water system some more. After I took the car to get washed once we got there we stripped it down and started doing the work to it.While my dad did this I started to get my tires ready for the night ahead. We got all the air out of the motor yet again and checked it over again. Nothing seemed to be wrong with it still, thankfully.
When practice
Ok, where to start. After Wednesday night we had a lot of work to do to the car. We had to repair the damage done to the motor the night before. We had to nut and bolt the entire car, and wash the car. So getting to the track at around 10am this morning we started out day of work. I thought this was supposed to be a vacation.
We stripped down the car to just inner skins. Took all the tires off and the seat covers. My dad took care of taking off the elbow that blew apart the night before off th
Well the first night of racing has come and gone. For those of you that where listening to the races on the website (www.dirtnation.net) you would of heard all the problems that we went through last night.
The first practice session went probably the best, because nothing actually let go or failed during the session itself. After the session though we realized that we had a pretty serious problem that needed to be fixed as soon as possible. The problem being that we were getting air in the wa
Well now that its race day, or the first race day of the week, I will introduce what were down here for. The East Bay Winternational's are every year and are run by T-USA (Team USA). There are four races all at the same track. Wednesday is practice day as well as the Star's race. The "Star's" race is the big race to start the year. The payout is $300-700 to start (depends on how many contingencie stickers you have) and $3000-5000 to win (again depending on how many stickers you have).
To qual
