When emailing me . . .

Put "DIRT TRACK NH" in subject line of emails!

Hi.

This post is intended to address a possible problem. The biggest kick I get out of doing this blog is getting feedback from you readers. There hasn't been much, and yet I get the impression that the word is getting around. I hope you are enjoying seeing the history of the sport I love through my eyes, and be assured that it will continue.

I would like to ask one favor, if I may. If you email me at rclogston@hotmail.com, PLEASE mention Dirt Track NH in the subject line. The reason for this is that this account is set on 'exclusive,' so unless you are a regular contact of mine your message will go into my spam bucket. I do look through those, and if you put that in the subject, I'll fish it out and read it. I just read one that said 'blog,' and I took a chance, but I learned the hard way NOT to open emails from people I don't know unless I have good reason to believe that I should.

What I'm saying is, if you've emailed me, it probably got deleted. Supposedly, it is possible for anyone to leave a comment, and that is how I would prefer to hear from you, because I would also like everyone else to have a chance to see what you want to say as well. Still, there are indications that some people have found it difficult to leave a comment. That is something I have no control over.

But I do like getting emails from you, so feel free to write. Just remember; if you don't put Dirt Track NH in the subject line, it WILL be deleted. Don't get mad because you put 'blog' or 'race fan' or something, and you don't hear back from me. Twice I've been wormed and lost my whole hard drive, so I take NO chances. I've spent a lot of hours digging through old photos and scanning them into my computer. Yes, I've saved them to disk, but I'm still not risking a bad spam.

And please, leave a comment if you can.

Warren Randlett

Here's a couple of shots of Warren Randlett's '34 Ford, which raced around NH in the '50's and '60's. Warren is the gentleman standing beside the car, and these shots are only about 10 to 15 years old. The assumption is, this car is still around. Last I knew, Warren was living in Homosassa Springs, Florida. The pictures are by my father.

Promises Kept - More Random Snaps

Hi. I've been promising to post some more, and here it is. I've also been promising all summer to post some pictures just as soon as I could put my hands on them and get them scanned into the computer. Well, I finally found them, and here's some of them. These pictures show some of the family connections of NH dirt track racing.
Here's a shot of a pair of young men who would grow up to both be very good race car drivers. The big guy in the white t-shirt is Corey Avery, who became a very good Late Model driver. He got off to a slow start, but after a couple years became very fast indeed. The real shame of it was that he climbed out of the car just as he was getting good. The little guy on the left is his brother, Ryan, who just won the Mod title at Bear Ridge Speedway. And the car they're standing in front of? Why, that's one of the 01's that their dad, Jim, co-owned with driver Butch Clogston. Ryan and Corey have both carried on with that number since Butch's passing.

I kept getting requests for any other pictures I could find of "Sweet Lou" Ottati. Well, here's the only other one I've found so far. Lou was a very good driver and a really good guy.

Do you attend the races at the Legion Speedway in Rumney/Wentworth? Well, if so you've seen this big fella. That's Bob "BA" Ayer, the managing director, back when he was crewchief for Billy "Git-tar" Moses. The lady in red is Mary Emery, the wife of the car owner.

This is two of my favorite drivers, together as always. On the right, Donnie Sharp, Sr, one of the greats of the Late Model drivers. To his left is his son, Donnie Jr., who went on to star in Sprint Cars in New York state. They both came back to their roots this summer, taking turns racing the Sprint at the Legion Speedway. This is one of Donnie Jr's first Modifieds at the same track back when it was called the Nor-Way Pines.

I've been promising to post this one for a long time now, and couldn't find it until recently. If you remember the old 106 Midway Raceway in Loudon (now known as NHIS) then you probably remember Ernie Gilbert's #51. Well, this is Ernie Jr at the Pines.

Stay tuned. More coming when I get time.

Don't Keep Me In Suspense!

Okay, bad pun alert. This is a semi-technical piece, from somebody with little or no technical expertise. Feel free to comment, and correct. Here goes.

Suspension. Gotta have it. Keeps the car from resting on the wheels. Like any other part of a race car, it's gone through a lot of changes. Back in the day, when race cars were cars chopped down for racing, the original suspension usually kept on providing its original service. Leaf springs and shock absorbers.

A prime example of '60's era racing technology, as built by Jim Parris of Groton, NH. This car was soon given the number 30 by its next owner, "Hard-Luck" Harold Hannaford.

Out in New York and the midwest, where there were huge crowds and a lot more money, things progressed a lot quicker. I was fortunate enough to see the cars made out of pre-war coupes and sedans with their fenders removed. On tracks that allowed it, a Jeep or International Scout frame was a popular upgrade. Soon, the old steel bodies became the only link to the cars raced after World War II. Even they began to give way to fiberglass replicas. Eventually, the bodies completed their evolution to flat panels of steel or aluminum rivetted to the chassis.


During these final transitions we began to see a beast known as a "bar car," meaning torsion bar suspension. In an over-simplified nutshell, this is a suspension system based not on a bending spring, but on a twisting bar. Torsion bars have been around since the 1920's, and were part of Ferdinand Porsche's original ideas for the car that came to be known as the Volkswagen. Torsion bars have several advantages, including easy adjustments, relative simplicity, and they were cheap to boot.

Alan Larter in a late-80's "Bar Car."

Another suspension system that became popular around this time was known as the "four-poster," using coil-over springs. This is, as the name suggests, a coil spring with a shock absorber in the middle. This is the type of suspension used in Nextel Cup racecars. A variation can be found in Champ cars and Formula One. It's a bit more expensive and complex than torsion bars, but also appears to be superior.

Doug Murphy, of Center Harbor, NH with his "Four-poster."

Both systems are in common use these days in dirt track racing, all the way up the ladder. Still, that has not kept creativity from being expressed. In the late '80's and early '90's, Jack Cook of Moultonboro started using a single transverse leaf spring made of fiberglass. I recently found out that this probably came from a school bus. Not one of the regular types, but those square ones with the flat nose that look like a loaf of bread going down the road. It worked very well, but I've never seen it used by anyone else.

Another alternative was tried by Buck and Big Bill Moses on his #15 car about the same time. They tried using an independant rear suspension out of a Corvette. It worked very well, but was too fragile to be used on a dirt track. The funny part of that was that they were still running a flathead Ford V8 at this time.

All this was done in the name of keeping the wheels on the ground. If you watch a Strictly Street or 4-Cylinder race, especially if the track's a little rough, you can quickly see what a disadvantage leaf springs and shocks have. All the wheel bounce, especially on the rear-wheel-drive cars, is almost non-existent in a Modified or Sprint.

"Smiling" Bill George

 

This fellow was my hero when I was growing up. He was from Andover. I'm not sure what he did for a living, but he had oxen that he used to pull at the fairs, so I suspect he might have been a logger. His brother, Woofie, had a garage in Andover. Woofie - whose real name was Carleton, I believe - also raced a little, but Bill really had the gift.

He won a track championship at the old Legion Bowl, and another one at the 106 Midway Raceway in Loudon. He also raced at Claremont back when it was dirt, and probably a few other places as well.

This picture is from the Legion Bowl in Wentworth, circa 1963. On a historical note, that's Raymond Heath, Sr. in front of him in the original "Sweet 16."

Yeah, that's me about the same time. It's also me with Bill in the top picture. This is the first car I saw him in, and the one up above he picked up late in the '63 season. By the way, that one was built by my uncle, Jim Parris. More on him later.

From what I understand, Bill passed away just a couple of years ago; '04 or '05. He'd have been around 90.

As usual, anyone who has any more to say about Bill is more than welcome to leave comments.

Early Thunder Road

 

I've been getting requests for the real, real old pictures, so here's a few. I got these out of a 1972 Northern Nascar program that Wilbur Martin very graciously loaned me. There was a section of the program that referred back to "the old days" and had these pictures. Btw, I had always thought that Thunder Road in Barre, VT started in the fifties, or maybe even the late forties, but Bill Ladabouche's excellent site on the Catamount Speedway says the place started in 1960. This fellow is Tony Colluchio. At least, I think that's how you spell his name. I remember this car, but even moreso I remember its predecessor; a jet-black Hudson #0 that everybody called "The Big O." I also remember the night he destroyed it. We still rooted for him, but somehow it was different seeing him in a flathead Ford instead of the big Hudson.

Tony was my brother, Butch's hero. Everybody remembers Butch now as "the Duke" driving the # 01 patterned after the Dukes of Hazzard. Before that, his car always was #0 and black, after Tony's Hudson.

This is the great Paul Martell, in his most famous Thunder Road car. I saw him mostly at Keith Bryar's 106 Midway Raceway in Loudon, where he was all but unbeatable in the blue-and-white #444. To be honest, I can't tell you much about this car outside of the obvious, but mister-man could this ol' boy drive a racecar.

Ronnie Marvin was always Tony C's arch-enemy. We would boo him just as hard as we'd cheer Tony. In truth . . . well, Ronnie may have been a little rough, but he was a real nice guy, and a great driver. And that 13 car would really fly!

The Ingerson brothers used to race at the Legion Bowl and Loudon as well, although their cars were never this pretty after an evening of racing on dirt. As I recall, Doug was probably the better driver of the three. Russ was nicknamed "the Wild Child." I'll have to steal that for somebody at the Legion Speedway. The trouble is, there's so many it could apply to. ;>

Well, that's about all for now. More later, of course. Enjoy.

And, if anybody out there has any pictures, or wants to share a story, about any of these guys, go right ahead. I'm especially interested in anything you might have on Tony Colluchio, who seems to be the forgotten man of old-time racing.

Dynamite Dave and Old 97

This picture's from the late 1950's, from the pits at Claremont. I remember this car, or one just like it, from the Legion Bowl and 106 Midway Raceway in the early '60's. Note the bull horns on the roof. They were a recurring theme for Al.

See? This car was the one Al raced in the early 1980's. I always loved the look of this one. I don't know what kind of chassis this is but damn, that's a pretty car.

If I'm not mistaken, this was Al's last race car, Alf. The Sanville's always named their cars. I suppose it gave them personality, as if the driver didn't already do that. By this time, Al was in his early '60's and still winning races.

Eventually, he turned over the steering wheel to a succession of drivers, and the operation of the team to his sons. Wally Langlois was probably the best of the hired guns, winning a track championship one year at the Nor-Way Pines.

Eventually, Al's son Dave took over the driving chores. He quickly earned the nickname "Dynamite Dave," which sticks with him to this day. Over the years Dave has won many championships at several different tracks. The unsung hero of the Sanville team is Dave's brother, JJ. He's the engine and chassis guy, and Dave will be the first to tell you he's not really competitive if JJ's not turning wrenches for him. This car is the famous Miss Emily, which Dave raced (and won with) in many different forms for almost twenty years. Different bodies, six or eight cylinders, Miss Emily was a winner.

Thanks to JJ Sanville, and to Norm Roulx, for supplying some of these pictures. I took the other ones. I'll add more as I get them.

FYI: Dave's still racing, and JJ's still his crew chief. He and his new car, Sassy Theresa, can be found at Canaan Dirt Speedway and the Legion Speedway about any Friday or Saturday night.

Racing becomes an obsession, you know. I've seen it dozens - no, make that hundreds - of times. It becomes the center of your life. And your family's life, too. Even though it's never more than a hobby, everything revolves around it. And of course eventually the kids are going to take it up as well.

 

That's what it must have been like around the Sanville house. Like so many others. Y'know, I've been around the Sanville's for years, and I have no idea what any of them do for a living. They certainly don't race for a living. Nobody at this level does.

Except in a few, very rare, cases, it always costs more than it ever makes. And yet, come Friday and Saturday night, there you are again. And evenings during the week, either repairing or upgrading. And all winter, hitting swap meets, heating the garage so you can tweak things for next season.

Al Sanville was the dad, of course. And the Old 97 was at just about every track in the area. And, it was always one of the ones to beat. Some thought Al was a little rough sometimes, but the simple fact is that the front of the field is crowded. Sometimes, you've got to use your elbows a little bit.

Ted Winot

There are certain constants in the racing universe. For example, dirt track racing works best at night, because the track doesn't dry out as fast. I could go on and on, but the point is that one of those constants is this; you need a good flagman.

The flagman is the glue that holds a race together. He/she is the law out there on the track. You may not realize it, but they have a lot more to do than keep track of how many laps left to go. They have to see literally everything that is going on, which makes a couple of good assistants indispensable. Plus, once they've seen everything, they have to be able to execute the necessary authority to see justice done. And they have to do it quick!

It's a largely thankless job, because when you get it right, it's expected. But God Almighty help you if you get it wrong! Or, if anyone has the perception of your being wrong. And all you have to do for that to happen is make a decision. Guaranteed, whoever you rule against has a section of grandstands eager to tell the world what a rotten, blind, lousy S. O. B. you are. You've got to be able to take it all with a smile. IF you can do that, and be a born showman on top of it all, you're on your way to being nearly as good as Teddy Winot.

I first became familiar with Ted when he was flagman at the Legion Bowl in the early '60's, but he already had a widespread reputation before that. He had flair, that's for sure. At the beginning of a race he would take a green flag in one hand and a red one (later yellow) in the other. He walked down to the beginning of the first turn and waited. Coming from the other direction was the field of race cars, lined up two by two and moving slowly out of turn four. He would stand on the infield, wagging the flags at them, beckoning them to come on.

Suddenly, he would leap into the air, the green flag waving. Switching it to his left hand he ran up the infield toward the start/finish line as the cars roared past. He usually timed it so that he and the last car met right there. Then, he would sprint across the track and leap onto the flagstand. He would perform this same ritual every time he started, or re-started, a race. He must have run ten miles every race day.

After a couple of years at the Bowl Keith Bryar came calling, looking for officials for his new track in Loudon, and a team was born. Marge and Pearl Clogston (my mother and grandmother, respecively) were the checkers, Sonny Clogston (my dad) signed on as Pit Steward, and Ted Winot would handle the flags. It was a combination that would also work together at the Riverside Speedway in Groveton, and the Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford, VT.

It was a combination that would go a long way toward writing the book on how to run a race track, but to be perfectly frank the only irreplacable part of the machine was Ted. I've seen several good flagmen, and a bunch of mediocre ones, but there's never been one like him. He was easily as interesting as most of the races he presided over. As with anyone like that, the most memorable moments were the ones that went just a little wrong.

The 106 Midway Raceway in Loudon was a place where the best laid plans often went south. The reason was two-fold; the place attracted a ton of cars, and the track was tiny. About a fifth-mile, with an asphalt front straight, and I don't know where Keith Bryar got his clay but the rest of the track might as well have been paved also. Fast doesn't begin to describe it. Sometimes, too fast.

This was back when there was only one class. You brought a race car, and you raced. Sometimes fifty or sixty cars would show up, but that many cars simply wouldn't fit on the track. The max was 24, which meant a lot of racers watched the feature from their trailers. With that many cars, Dad and the Tech Inspector would come out to be infield flaggers.

So one night the feature's lined up, Ted's in turn one, the cars come out of turn 4, and up into the air he goes. He runs, the cars go, and he gets to the flagstand just as the last car goes past. He looks at turn 4, and here comes the leader. He hesitates. Big mistake. The field comes by, and there stands Ted on the wrong side of the track. Dad was laughing so hard he sat down in the infield. Eventually there was a wreck, the red flag came out, and a red-faced Ted flagged the rest of the race from the flagstand.


The Riverside Speedway in Groveton was a good track. It started about 1965 as a dirt track, but clay was hard to come by that first season. So, the owners used a mixture of fine sand and old drain oil. The picture here is of Ted in his trademark top hat after a hard afternoon. This was where he earned his nickname, "Rastus." If you think this is funny, you should have seen what he looked like after he took the hat off.

For its day, Riverside Speedway was one of the most well-thought-out facilities any of us had ever seen. Instead of a rickety set of bleachers, they built actual grandstands. The judges stand stood high above everything, and there was a VIP lounge below. At the back of the grandstands there was a large refreshment stand with a restaurant-quality kitchen, and under the stands was all the storage a track would ever need. There were even enough bathrooms.

The track was a large quarter-mile with steeply banked corners, and a solid concrete retaining wall. The flagstand was recessed into the wall, and a heavy-duty chain-link fence kept the fans and the track seperated. If you went up to the fence, there was a good three-foot drop to the track. Ted, of course, was athletic enough to be able to make the leap up to the flagstand. The only flaw in the design was that the door in the fence that allowed the flagman to bail out and into the grandstand area was on the turn 4 side of the stand, instead of the turn 1 side. This turned out to be an almost fatal flaw one day, as a car came out of 4, hit the wall, and went up into the air. It landed again right into the flagstand, and hung there. Ted dove for the door, and it's a good thing it opened easily because he actually went under the car to get away from the spot it came to rest.

It's odd how some things will make an impression on a kid. The thing that always amazed me about Ted when I was young was when we would leave the track at Loudon late on a Saturday night. There was a little place in downtown Laconia that would stay open until about 1 am called Mr. Sub's, that made the best toasted grinders you ever had. (Grinders? Oh, they call those subs now.) After the races the place would pack out with drivers, crews, fans, and of course the officials. The memory I will always have of Ted is him cruising from table to table in Mr. Sub's, holding the biggest, sloppiest meatball sandwich you ever saw in one hand, and never spilling a drop.

The team finally broke up in the early seventies. I don't know the reason, but I guess Ted just got tired of going to the races. His replacement wasn't very impressive, and he was the first in a long line who made us miss Ted all the more. I'm not even sure if Ted is still alive. If anyone knows, or has any more stories, feel free to post your comments.

By the way, the first photo is from the Legion Bowl, circa 1963. Both pictures were taken by Sonny Clogston.

Bear Ridge Speedway

Happy Birthday, Bear Ridge Speedway


I was recently told that Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford, VT turns 40 this year. Boy, it doesn't seem like that long. I guess stock car racing really does keep you young, or at least allows you the delusion that you still are.


Now, I hope the friends I work with at the Legion Speedway won't mind me saying so, but if you get a chance you owe it to yourself to go some Saturday night this summer over to Bradford. Bear Ridge has been one of the premier dirt tracks in Northern New England these four decades. It started out as a state-of-the-art venue, and has kept up nicely with the times. Plenty of parking, good big pit area, and the food's even pretty good.


Oh, I guess I've got to share some boring memories of the early days, don't I? It's kind of expected, I suppose. Hmm . . . I guess I was about 13 when George Barber, one of the original owners, invited my folks up to his place for a visit. I remember that George restored old cars, and he had a particularly nice model-B Ford that he was working on.

At the time, Mom, Dad, my grandmother Pearl, and flagman Ted Winot were working Saturday nights at the 106 Midway Raceway in Loudon (now NHIS) and Sunday afternoons at the Riverside Speedway in Groveton. To make a long story short, George convinced Dad and Dad convinced the rest of the crew, and Sunday afternoons would now be spent in Bradford.


It was about that time that Loudon became Bryar Motorsport Park, and the little dirt track was gone, so we were down to one day a week. The four-person group had bounced around several tracks during the 1960's, so it wasn't a real big deal to drop Groveton for Bradford.

Still, there was something about George Barber and the whole thing that told us all that this one was here to stay. And, by george, it has!

Random Snaps

Been digging up some old pictures, which is what drives this whole thing in the first place. You who have been following this right along will be interested in seeing some new additions to the Big Bill and Tommy Richardson pieces. I've been scanning in a bunch of stuff, including some really old black-and-whites from the early '60's which I'll let you see in a while.

By the way, if you happen to have something that you'd like me to post here, just let me know.

This particular batch of photos were taken at the Nor-Way Pines Speedway in the early to mid 90's.

This gentleman is "Sweet Lou" Ottati, who I think hailed from Franklin or somewhere near there. (As always, feel free to leave comments that correct my errors. Hey, I'm a race fan, not a historian!) Lou drove mostly in the Dirt Stocker class at the Pines. I think this was one of his later cars, or at least paint jobs. By his own admission, Lou sometimes got a little over-excited and drove a little rough, but he was actually a very good driver. He collected several feature wins over the years, and challeneged for the division title on a regular basis.

He had one of the scarier moments in local dirt track racing one night when his engine went up. The radiator exploded and doused Lou with boiling-hot water and anti-freeze. The safety crew got him out of the car and he sat down right on the front straight while the EMTs determined whether or not he was going to be all right. He turned out fine, but he sure had us worried for a while.



This is "Flying Fred" Fecteau, from Belmont, NH. As of 2006 he was still driving this car, although with completely different body work. It still ran great, too. This car was originally one of a pair built by John and Royal Moses, who came from around Hill and Franklin. This was Royal's, while John kept his and eventually got a track championship with it. It's a great little car, from the days when the Modified division at the Pines (and most everywhere else in the area) was running on V6 power. The engine is placed almost in the center of the frame, and it was a beautifully balanced little rig.

Fred's never really been a big threat to the big-money teams, but he's really a very good driver and has taken quite a few trophies home over the years. The biggest memory I have of Fred, though, was one night when he gave Warren Emery's wrecker crew a chance to show just how good they were. Fred got in a wreck, and I mean he really trashed the thing. They towed it off the track and left it in the infield until the end of the night. Then, they got two wreckers and put one on each end of the car. They picked the whole thing up off the ground and Fred backed his trailer underneath it, and then they lowered it down. It was the only way they could load it. Happily, he was back in a couple weeks, and as I've said he's still racing that car.


Beany O'Haire's number 09 was a good car, but I always liked the old Nova he used to run. Won a bunch of features with that old rig. By the mid 90's the Late Model class was going to these tube-frame cars, and this was one of the better ones. I still think Beany just raced for fun, though. If he got behind he seemed to lose interest. Great driver, though, and always raced clean. Eventually his wife, Carol, became the Pines' pit steward, and Beany stopped racing for the most part. I've heard he's still got this car.

I always loved this picture. I was writing the weekly piece for the Plymouth Record, and took my own pictures. I was getting tired of pictures of the winning driver shaking hands with the flagman in the dark, so I went around the pit before the races and asked the drivers to "do something interesting." Mark Jenot of Rumney did this. About this time he won his first feature, so I got to put this picture in the paper. God is good!

I used to call him "Miracle Mark," because of a move I saw him pull in a Dirt Stocker qualifier one night. There were three cars dicing for the lead going through turns three and four, and they were taking up the whole track. Coming across the back stretch was Mark, and you could tell he had his foot in it and wasn't going to back off. Coming out of four, just at the last possible second, all three of the cars ahead of him bashed fenders and parted like the Red Sea. Through the gap, with inches to spare, was Mark. He went on to win the qualifier. Beautiful, gutsy, and incredibly foolish move that paid off.

I'll throw some more stuff on in a while. Enjoy. And, don't forget that racing season starts up pretty soon. Hope to see you at the races.

Why I Don't Watch NASCAR Any More

Wow. It's hard to believe that I haven't posted here since last November. To tell the truth, I've been busy with work, music, watching Star Trek reruns, and so forth. Yesterday something happened that made me think about dirt-track racing, and longing for spring and the sound of V8 iron; the Daytona 500.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm a long-time NASCAR fan. In fact, I like just about all kinds of racing. I particularly like Formula One, and will watch just about anything this side of shopping carts. I'm really getting sick of NASCAR, though, and The Chase in particular.

The start of this season had a lot of potential, too. For once, Fox got to cover the 500. I'm so-o-o-o glad that NBC isn't doing it any more. I like BP, may he rest in peace, but if I never get to hear Mike Joy announcing a race again it will be too soon. Give me more DW! Boogity, boogity, boogity!!

Ah, but we're in the New NASCAR era. It's not about the race, it's about the chase. And, about making every single second as exciting as . . . well . . . a WWF wrestling match, actually. I think that's the audience they're after now. More and more I'm hearing long-time race fans that are more and more tired of the New NASCAR.

Think about your favorite sport for a minute. What's it really about? Where did it come from? Besides auto racing (and baseball, of course) I was always a boxing fan. It's easy to figure out what the beginnings of boxing were; two guys having a fistfight. The basic fistfight has nothing to do with excitement, crowd-pleasing, money-making, or any of that. It was about two guys with a disagreement, and honor being served (somewhat perversely, I'll grant you) by one knocking the other one down and making him stay there. It's awfully exciting to watch a good fistfight, though. Once you set up rules, mark a square, pad their fists, and take the anger out of the equation, you have a sport. The more barbarism you remove, the bigger your audience, but it's still just a fistfight.

Racing is just as simple. Pick a start point and an end point, and the first to traverse the distance in between is the winner. It wasn't long before two different places were replaced by an agreed-upon distance. 500 Miles, for instance. There was a time that travelling 500 miles in one shot was quite an accomplishment for any automobile. Now, they do it in about three hours, and you'd better have faster pit stops than everybody else, or you'll finish off the lead lap. Yesterday, there were (I think) 28 cars on the same lap. If not for the finish-line pile-up, the 20th place car would have finished about five seconds behind the winner.

As racing has become refined over the last century, the rules have gotten tighter and tighter. There are now more different kinds of race car than Carter's has got little liver pills. Stock cars, Champ cars, Formula One, Prototypes, Outlaws, Sprints, you know the drill. That's all just to decide who gets to start the race; what the layout will be, how much power they're allowed, how heavy, how safe, etc. etc. etc. Once the green flag drops, it's back to basics. There's the finish line, first one there wins.

But NOT in the New NASCAR. 500 Miles isn't enough if there's a caution period during the last ten laps. Then, we stick a green-white-checker onto the end. Or, red-flag the race and begin again with a whole new two-lap race. Seven times during the 2006 season races were finished with the green-white-checker. The first year of The Chase, the whole season championship was decided by one. A three-lap mini-race tacked onto the end of the last race of the season decided the championship by Kurt Busch over Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson, AFTER the regulation 500 miles were already finished. And none of those three even won the race!

And don't get me started about the chase. Nobody is allowed to dominate a season. If you have a really outstanding season, you find yourself five points in front of your nearest competitor, and a flat tire or bad pit stop can ruin what should have been a championship.

As far as I'm concerned, they can make the rules as convoluted as they want before the race. Once the green flag drops, let who's best decide who wins, even if they win by a mile.

There. Enough ranting. Back to REAL racing, please. Don't forget the Legion Speedway's 100-lap enduro on March 3.