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SUNY Canton Automotive Technology program

Wednesday, April 23rd 2014

New on the Audio Page for today:

Dale Planck described the racetrack he saw in hot laps and looks ahead to getting back to Fulton.
Adam Roberts unveiled a new nickname for 2014 and told me how he got it back in his hockey days.
Alysha Ruggles ran her first race since last summer and talked about her fourth place finish.

After a pair of busy days away from racing, we will be back at it today and have a busy day planned. I will be in the studio after I write up another article for the Syracuse Post Standard and Syracuse.com. It will be a preview of Fulton and Utica Rome as they get set to open this coming weekend.

On the site today we have three real nice conversations from the opener at Canandaigua. And like I said, we’ll be back in the studio again today to get some more and I do have a list of requests to get to.

Like I said yesterday, I have fallen so far behind on work here at the house as spring is finally upon us. After yesterday, I am a lot farther along than I was on Easter Sunday so I should be able to finish up what I need to tonight. Plus our latest temporary frix worked and we have three new photo bins up for you to view. No, it is not fixed yet but the bandaid we put on is holding.

Now let’s chat more about what we have for you today on the Audio Page. I start with a man who is still learning a somewhat new track for him. Dale Planck described the racetrack he saw in hot laps and looks ahead to getting back to Fulton this weekend. He also described his comfort level at Canandaigua, how the Friday practice helped and why he does not get any advice from a multi-time Sportsman winner.

Adam Roberts unveiled a new nickname for 2014 and told me how he got it back in his hockey days. He talked about his goals for the first night out, explained why he chose to race on the first night rather than practice and how comfortable he is on Hoosier tires.

Alysha Ruggles ran her first race since last summer and talked about her fourth place finish. She talked about the groove she ran as she came from 6^th to 4^th, the need to get off the bottom a little more and explained what she was doing to help her dad in a pick up Sportsman ride.

Tuesday, April 22nd 2014

New on the Audio Page for today:

Vic Coffey remembered a tough outing at Five Mile Point and talked about his hopes for Canandaigua.
Chuck Bower got ready for his first race of the season and told me about his fairly new chassis.
Pete Stefanski will be a regular at Canandaigua and talked about his plans to race up north too.

It was a flat out beautiful day on Monday. Probably the best day we have had so far this year. I started out doing a few spring projects and the next thing I knew it was dark out. I got my snowtires swapped out and moved all the winter stuff to the shed.

I had hoped to get in the studio but that will have to wait as I am swamped today as well. We are going out to Weedsport to pick up our fun cars and then I have a get together later in the night. So I will not be able to get back in the studio until Wednesday. But I have to do so and I will. I have a lot of folks on my list and if I get freed up long enough today maybe I can squeeze some in.

Now let’s chat more about what we have for you today on the Audio Page. I start with a driver who was hoping to have some fun at one of his favorite tracks. Vic Coffey remembered a tough outing at Five Mile Point and talked about his hopes for Canandaigua. He also talked about how nice it was to be back at a track he is very comfortable at and explained what it was that made his new Modified different than what he is used to.

Chuck Bower got ready for his first race of the season and told me about his fairly new chassis. He told me about some changes they made to the car, why he went back to something he had better luck with in the past and ran down his plans for 2014.

Pete Stefanski will be a regular at Canandaigua and talked about his plans to race up north too. He told me how a rule change helped allow him to run at the track, his hopes for some nice car counts and described how he is compared to the cars he will race.

Monday, April 21st 2014

New on the Audio Page for today:

Mike Mahaney recapped his Friday night at I-88 where he had to borrow a ride for the races.
Alan Johnson talked about how they got the 10j car together for this season at Canandaigua.
Vinnie Vitale got his helmet ready for hot laps and told me about his practice laps on Friday night.
Dave Allen showed off a new car with a new look and explained why Florida changed his thoughts.
Rich Scagliotta talked about his race at Albany Saratoga on Friday and Fonda last weekend.

As I write this on Sunday afternoon the house is filled with the smell of prime rib. Dad seared it at his place and then brought it over to our oven. Both sides of our family are coming over and we are hoping we have a wonderful time. And we hope you did too.

Obviously on a holiday I don’t really want to bug any racers as they spend a day with their families so I dug out the first five interviews I did in the pit area Saturday night at Canandaigua. I hope you enjoy them.

And I have lots more in the can and have already starting assembling a list of drivers to speak with this week. It is great to have more tracks racing and more will jump on board over the next few weeks. It’s a great tome to be a racefan.

Now let’s chat in more detail about what we have on the Audio Page for today. I start with a man who is off to a tough start in 2014. Mike Mahaney recapped his Friday night at I-88 where he had to borrow a ride for the races. He told me what went wrong inside his engine and described the car they had with them at Canandaigua.

Alan Johnson talked about how they got the 10j car together for this season at Canandaigua. He remembered winning the Jan Corcoran Memorial last year, how he did in the Friday night practice and why he likes the slick racetracks.

Vinnie Vitale got his helmet ready for hot laps and told me about his practice laps on Friday night. He told me how much he improved in the second session, what he learned as they changed the car and his plans for the 2014 season.

Dave Allen showed off a new car with a new look and explained why Florida changed his thoughts. He told me how much work it took to get it to the track on Saturday, how key the hot laps would be and why he will stay at Canandaigua until he starts to get the handle on the car.

Rich Scagliotta talked about his race at Albany Saratoga on Friday and Fonda last weekend. He told me how it was to take on a new track, how the team threw him a little bit of a surprise and how much he enjoyed his top ten in Malta.

Sunday, April 20th 2014

New on the Audio Page from Canandaigua Motorsports Park:

After the heat races:

Ronnie Davis III talked about his win in the first Sportsman heat and his tough night on Friday.
Paul Guererri won the 2nd Sportsman heat and talked about how good his new car felt in the race.
Matt Guererri spoke about his win in the final heat race and how the practice laps helped.
Peter Britten told me about his win in the first Modified heat and his third place on Friday night.
Danny Johnson came from second to win his heat and reacted to drawing two for the feature.
Matt Sheppard led every lap to win his Modified heat and talked about his race night workload.
Gage Morin made the pass for the win with three to go and told me how he got a big block.

After the features:

Paul Guererri led all 25 laps to win the Sportsman feature and discussed it with Shane Andrews.
Gary Tomkins picked up $6400 by winning the Jan Corcoran Memorial and talked with the crowd.
Billy Dunn made a late race charge to finish second and told Shane Andrews about his motor.
Jimmy Phelps came from 16^th to 3^rd in 64 laps and explained why his car faded a little at the end.

It was a great night at Canandaigua and it felt so good to be at a racetrack on an actual race night and see a lot of folks that in some cases I have known for decades. A nice crowd was on hand for night two of the Jan Corcoran Memorial. It was a night to honor the memory of Jeremie Corcoran’s mom and it was surely a night to remember indeed.

Gary Tomkins picked up career win number 48 and did so by holding off Billy Dunn and Jimmy Phelps in the closing laps. Tomkins passed Steve Paine who led the first 18 laps and then stayed mostly on the bottom except for a brief time when he looked around and also when he was in traffic which was a lot in this one as only 2 cautions slowed the pace.

Billy Dunn looked like he might have a shot as he was able to get side by side with Tomkins. Dunn blew a motor the night before and had to put in his winning Syracuse motor.

Jimmy Phelps came from 16^th starting spot and methodically worked his way towards the front. For a bit he looked like he was the fastest car but as he told the crowd in victory lane, he had to use up his stuff to get to the front and he felt he didn’t have a lot left once he got there. But 16^th to 3^rd is a good night at any track.

Paul Guererri won the Sportsman feature as he raced with his nephew Matt early on. Eric Giguere hit the wall a ton in turn four after another car hit the utility tire inside the corner and slid up into his side. It was a real hard hit and Eric took a ride back to the pits in the ambulance. He was a little shaky as they helped him get in and we are hoping he is alright today. Get well soon Eric!

As usual, the track was slick, smooth and racy…typical Canandaigua. There was a power outage but it ended up taking about as long as the intermission to fix so very little if anything was lost there. It was great to see several of the drivers helping out as they figured out what looked like a new generator. Nice job guys!

All in all we had a great time as Allie and I enjoyed a real nice night of racing at one of the best facilities in the northeast. Good job everyone.

Saturday, April 19th 2014

New on the Audio Page for today:

Bobby Varin told me how things went for him in his first race back since a serious neck injury.
Justin Haers talks about his hopes for the Canandaigua opener and his guest driver for the night.

It was a cold day on Friday and I spent some time with the family as I get ready for the Jan Corcoran Memorial at Canandaigua Motorsports Park later today. Allie and I will get there nice and early and will be looking to load up with interviews as we get to see some actual racing at the big half mile. We’re really looking forward to it.

I did get some work done in the studio in the small window that I had to work with on Friday. Justin Haers talks about today while Bobby Varin updates us on how he is feeling after his first race weekend.

We did make a change behind the scenes to our photo script and we’ll see if it did anything as I will try to load up some photos from today. Keep your fingers crossed and hopefully all will work out well there.

Now let’s chat more about what we have for you to listen to today on the Audio Page. I start with a man who entered the weekend not knowing how he would do. Bobby Varin told me how things went for him in his first race back since a serious neck injury. He talked about the one moment where he tired a little, how his Modified was at the Fonda opener as well as his trip to Five Mile Point on Sunday. So far so good for Bobby!

Justin Haers talks about his hopes for the Canandaigua opener and his guest driver for the night. He told me how good he feels after starting the season with a win in Florida, what they will be doing differently in the car Tim McCreadie will be driving and how nice it will be to run at more tracks this year.

Friday, April 18th 2014

New on the Audio Page for today:

Justin Wright talked about his hot laps at Canandaigua and how nice it is to help a young driver.
Adam DePuy was a test driver on Saturday and talked about the new Street Stock he was driving.
Ryan Watt talks about his Modified win at Bridgeport and looks ahead to a three race weekend.

Another weekend is upon us and hopefully Mother Nature will be a fan and let us all have some fun. I’ll be in the studio tonight and at Canandaigua on Saturday before a nice Easter Dinner on Sunday with our family.

We have three conversations for you today on the Audio Page and I know you’ll like all three. And for those of you who saw the Steve Pesarek stock car doing laps on Saturday, you’ll get to hear from the man who helped figure it out. A lot has changed in the division and this will be an interesting story to follow.

Now let’s chat more about what we have for you today on the Audio Page. I start with two of my conversations from my first night out and another I did on Thursday. Justin Wright talked about his hot laps at Canandaigua and how nice it is to help a young driver. He spoke about how his new car felt, what his goals were for the day and his hopes to travel a little more in 2014.

Adam DePuy was a test driver for Steve Pesarek on Saturday and talked about the new Street Stock he was driving. He explained why he spun the car out twice in the first session, what they were doing to tighten it up a little and how happy he was with how it was doing.

Ryan Watt talks about his Modified win at Bridgeport and looks ahead to a three race weekend. He told me how good his car was in the victory, how much he is looking forward to driving a Midget on Saturday and how his young son did in a ¼ midget on Wednesday.

Thursday, April 17th 2014

New on the Audio Page for today:

Billy Pauch talked about picking up his second win of the season at New Egypt. That’s # 704.
Gil Tegg told me how his practice laps were going at Canandaigua and his hopes for the 2014 season.
Jon Ellsworth had his Sportsman at the Canandaigua practice and talked some offseason upgrades.

I could not believe it when I looked outside Wednesday morning. There was snow on the ground and I muttered a few unkind words when I saw it. But by lunchtime it was gone thank goodness.

It’s been that kind of a year but we do look good for this weekend as several tracks are set to open their gates for the first time. Cancelled unfortunately is the opener at Skyline Raceway as they will run next Saturday and open the gates two hours early for practice.

Also the Rolling Wheels opener that was set for April 27^th is also in jeopardy. According to DIRTcar’s Series and Sanctioning Director Joe Skotkicki, “The real estate transaction has yet to be completed. Therefore the schedule is in limbo.” With just over a week left before that date, a lot will need to happen between now and then to make this happen. DIRTcar’s schedule has the track opening on July 3^rd with Modifieds and the ESS.

Now let’s chat more about what we have for you to listen to today on the Audio Page. I begin with a man who just keeps on winning at age 57. Billy Pauch talked about picking up his second win of the season at New Egypt, the 704^th of his career. He also told me about something they discovered right before the feature, how his latest driving school went and why it is important to pace yourself early in the season.

Gil Tegg told me how his practice laps were going at Canandaigua and his hopes for the 2014 season. He talked about a brake issue he had in the first set of hot laps, how much better the car felt in the second set and why he was glad he got the car dirty at the shakedown.

Jon Ellsworth had his Sportsman at the Canandaigua practice and talked some offseason upgrades. He told me about his hopes for his first top five finish, where he feels he could be better and why the extra help at the shop could help make the difference.


	What was the best movie to watch if you want to see cars get wrecked? It's a mad, mad, mad world. 1963 Gone in 60 seconds. 1974 Smokey & The Bandit Part 3. 1983 The Blues Brothers. 1980 Vanishing Point. 1971 Click here for more results


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