The Guy To Beat

It is NOT one of the constants of the universe, but it happens frequently enough so that you might think it was. It's an interesting phenomenon, and almost unexplainable once you look it over. Also, it seems to be more and more difficult to achieve as time goes by. It's when there's one driver who almost completely dominates a race track.

The first time I remember seeing it was at the old 106 Midway Raceway, the tiny dirt bullring that eventually grew up into NHIS. The driver in question was a gentleman named Paul Martel. He was a driver of exceptional skill, and although he reportedly knew nothing about mechanics, he drove for a car owner who definitely did.

For a few years, Paul Martel could not be beaten. Simple as that. He drove the # 444, and it went like stink. After a long period of domination it was discovered that the 444 was built on an International Scout frame. Now, you've got to remember that this was about 1964, 1965, and there were no Troyeas and such. A racecar was a pre-war coupe with a roll cage welded to the frame and the fenders removed. A Jeep or Scout frame was the ultimate, but quite illegal at most tracks.

To make a long story short, Paul was given two weeks off and the car was outlawed. When he returned, it was in a legal car and the other drivers thought it would be open season. No such luck. Paul went right back to his winning ways in the 3J, which was a pretty basic old Ford, just like everybody else was running. Paul was flat-out good, and there was nothing anybody else could do about it.

In the A class at Riverside Speedway in Groveton, there was a fellow named Sylvio Bilodeau. He drove a '34 Ford sedan, # 92, painted purple. It had the words "Al Capone" on the back. During a three-year period in the mid-sixties, Sylvio and the Al Capone Special won over half the A-class features. At Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford, VT, Alan Whipple brought a beige # 47 with a Chevy six and ruled that track for a couple of years.

It's not that they were never beaten. It's just that they so clearly outclassed the field that it was ridiculous. These drivers won features and championships with an ease that was disconcerting. Consequently, they were hated passionately by the average fans. You would hear their names over the loudspeaker, and it was always followed by a chorus of boos.

In retrospect, this was the weirdest part. In each case, the drivers in question were the nicest of fellows, and almost always drove an honest race. Sylvio Bilodeau in particular was a real sweetheart of a guy, who lived quietly in North Stratford and drove a logging truck for a living. One day a week, he was a villian of Darth Vader-ian proportions who greeted the boos with a smile and a wave.

The only driver I ever saw beat this stigma was Franny Comeau. Fran owned the Late Model division at the Nor-Way Pines Speedway in Wentworth for over a decade. In that time, he won nine championships. He started out with a '56 Ford sedan that had already been beaten to death by another racer and discarded. Fran won either four or five titles with it. Then, he and his car owner put together a Mustang. For years after it was plainly obselete, Franny was the one to beat at the Pines. When he finally quit racing, the majority of the Late Models were tube-frame pure-race cars, and he was still beating them with that old Mustang.

And the best part of it was, the fans loved him. I mean, absolutely loved the man! For a while, the track held a Favorite Driver poll, but Fran would win every year by a country mile, so they just didn't bother any more. If you had a Late Model and raced at the Pines, you were racing for second; both on the track and in the hearts of the fans.

I haven't seen anybody in recent years that dominated like those four. If you have, feel free to post your comments, but in the last ten to fifteen years it seems to be getting tougher and tougher to do. One reason could be the vast number of classes now being run. It has thinned out the race fields considerably, at the same time as it has increased the car count at most tracks. Another factor closely related to that is the fine-tuning of the rules over the years. It's become harder to come up with a combination that can't be easily replicated.

Still another reason could be that, once a driver proves his domination in one of the lower classes, they give in to the temptation to move up, and the magic disappears. I've seen it happen to a pair of drivers who, each in turn, ruled the 4-cylinder division at the Pines for a couple years at a time. Both John Chase and Pete Royea came off big championship seasons and moved into Modifieds, only to find themselves running mid-field.

It's like Ray Evernham said back when he was Jeff Gordon's crew chief. First, you're competitive. Then you're a winner. Then, a champion. Finally, a dynasty. In 45 years of NH dirt track racing, I've seen four dynasties. Who will be next?