Tom Baldwin Memorial

[Mortgage Guy]

Is everyone ready for this race??? I hope there will be a great crowd. The purse is by far one of the biggest of the season, with a great job by Gina raising lap money, I would say the whole field will get a little extra. Tommy Jr and the whole Baldwin family will be in for the event, as well as a possible appearence by Dr. Dick Bergren, who contacted the track a few weeks back showing interest in coming to the race. I also think there will be at least 25-30 modifieds present. Let's show these drivers our support in the name of a man who was great for Long Island racing, Mr Tom Baldwin.

[Jaws]

I'm in.

And I do believe there will be a good amount of cars and fans.

This is much better than driving to Buffalo!!!

I know the purse is $16,000+ with lap money (About $6,000) and you say that is the largest purse by far. What do they pay on a regular Sat. night???

[44chargerfan]

The crowd won't be too full because there is nothing special besides modifieds. If there was a bus race/demo, the crowds would be packed.

[catfish]

You just knew someone would say something like that. What is wrong with a show with NO circus acts?

[allhailunc]

There is nothing wrong with a non-circus act show. I think what they meant was that seeing the attendance on non-circus act nights is not the greatest. Hopefully those that loved & respected the Tiger for who he was and what he did will encourage some more folks to attend the show.

[44chargerfan]

I prefer a show without circus acts because you see real racing and if you get there late, you can still find a decent seat. What I was saying was that the crowds won't be as full as the nights when there is a bus event.

[turn1cowboy]

Yeah but we all know that the TURN 1 COWBOYS well be attending as always :applause: so if you wanna have fun, come to turn 1. :-B Look for the Loud Section sign in turn one, can't wait to see all of you at the track!!!

[art11758]

I will be there with my girlfriend and my two sons. I've been waiting all month (well since Jennerstown) to go to the races again.(money woes...nuthin' new)
And since there is no longer a Seekonk date to conflict, my schedule is open.
Now if I can just work some "magic" on my pick five for the night........

[TractionControl]

Jaws the last I knew the winner usually gets $1,500.

[Mortgage Guy]

Carl Pastreyak was just added to the roster. This is really shaping up.

3 Bertuccio cars
Mike Andrews
Kevin Goodale
Glenn Tyler??
John Fortin

Those are just some that I heard were coming.

[catfish]

No, last minute change in plans

[racingfan]

well i've been going to racing since islip with my grandfather and my uncle i was too young to remember all/ i do remember tiger ( tom baldwin).so i will be there before i leave for florida/tiger was a great man. :D

[An Observer]

The weekend of 7-29 looks like one of the best shows of the season. A few of the Old Timers will be there with the Family's. Here's to a Great Night of Racing. Good Luck to all, And put on a Great show.See you in the pits.

[DAN D.]

Dont forget to wear your Tom Baldwin Tshirts.. By the way, what's the admission price? Is it more than the reasonable $27 regular pit gate fee? I will be there one way or another .. where can we see the building roster of the drivers??
Just a reminder pic that I took of the Tiger less than 2 weeks prior to his untimely passing to that great big oval in the sky, and a picture of me and Tom Jr. 4 days before.

[Jaws]

No Mountain on Sat so we should have Eddie Brunnhoelzl III, maybe Anthony Ferrante, what about Howie Brode, or will he go to Holland?

[modprincess8x]

Yeah Jaws, we will be there. Hope your bringing Christian, stop by the car after the races, its been awhile!

[chealy7296]

Dan--as far as I know pit admission is the usual $27.00. On a regular saturday night the modified winner gets $1425.00. It looks like this will be one great race, can't wait.

[W. J.]

Howie Brode was at Riverhead when the rains came last Saturday. It's a safe bet he'll be ther this week, too.

[W. J.]

To answer the questions about the purse for this race, 1st pays $1600, 2nd $1200, and 3rd $1065, according to info I received from Bob Finan today. In addition, lap money will be shared throughout, plus a $100 fast time prize has been posted by JYD Enterprises, with Jim Vaccaro adding another $77 to that, for atotal of $177 just for setting fast time. In addition, Jim Vaccaro also added $77 to the last lap money, to be paid to the winner. A big thanks goes to all who worked on collecting these monies and to those who contributed in Tom Baldwin's memory.
It certainly sounds like it would be worth trying to take away some of this money at the end of the night, so I'm sure this race will be well supported by the Modified drivers, both Riverhead regulars and some out of towners, too.

[Jaws]

Hey, Mod Princess. Long time no speak!

As a matter of fact Christian will be there, 1st mod race.

[ReptarRacing]

Just as a reminder - The Tom Baldwin race is also the qualifier for the North - South Shootout. Good Luck to all drivers.

[44Magnum]

And a grand total of 22 Modifieds showed up for this important race! :eek:

And despite the decent weather, the stands were far from full. :help:

And to date, there has not been one comment about this alarming state of affairs from anyone on this message forum. :confused:

This should speak volumes about the current "management" of Riverhead Raceway. :disgusted

[allhailunc]

I have to agree about the attendance-we went by at 6:30 and I could see the track between all the people dressed as empty seats. I would have hoped for a better turnout, but at least the "faithful" were there. Seeing how good the day was, though, I bet many were either beaching it for the day or outside enjoying themselves-sitting in those stands during that kind of heat can be quite unbearable (**** I should know).

[Jaws]

I looked forward to this race for months, I was thinking 30 mods, a full stands and some great racing.

There were none of the above.

22 mods, about 3/4 full and who knows how many cautions.

We left at lap 28 because I figured we would be there all night and the kids were beat.

And we were right, race started at 9:00 and finished at 10:50 I was told.

It's a shame on such a night to honor one of LI's favorites.

Who knows what the answer is for this race, my suggestion is only 1 tire for the race, you start the race on tires you time with. When these guys know they can go like hell, burn up the tires and just replace them, they are driving way too hard, early and often. Maybe let the first 10 caution laps count too. And no more than 3 laps once the track is cleared. They gave some drivers way too many laps.

As far as the car count, NASCAR took care of that one with the Holland race. Plus, for the cost of running up front for this race, the money was not that great. A base purse of $11,000 and unless you ran in the first few spots and finished there, the night was a loser.

The stands, who knows. It was a very hot day, I know my kids were spent by 8:30. But this is 2 years in a row without a full house in the middle of the summer.

Let's hope this week is a different story.

200 laps at the head, looking forward to this one.

[LongIslandJam]

Just want to clarify a few things before this gets out of hand:

Modified Car Count - less than expected - agreed... Car counts elsewhere - less than expected... Just something to keep in mind... Waterford last Saturday had only 17 cars for the SKs to keep things in perspective...

Stands - more than I expected... Bus demos, demos, bus races attract people into the stands, racing does not unfortunately (fact of local racing in most areas)... A good crowd was on hand for a pure night of racing...

Modified race wasn't that much fun due to incident after incident... Agreed... However, the drivers hold part of the blame for that as well. They are the ones that ultimately turn the wheel.

Tire rule would be a great idea. I think that would help preach conservativism for racing.

200 laps of fun this weekend, and it should be a great day of racing as the best of the Northeast will do battle. :)

[An Observer]

A friend of mine who went to the races this past weekend told me the races sucked. Low car counts, plus, between the cars in the pits during the races there were no more than average 10-12 cars at a time on the track in the Late models and Modifieds. Boring. If you look at the schedule for '06 last weekend had the potential for the best weekend of the season. Maybe the Heat was the reason for the semi-decent crowd? But what about the racing?The guy that reported this to me is an Old time riverhead, etc. regular. I'll take his word for it 365 days per year. Well, maybe Monster Truck Weekend will be better.

[NYI]

Just wanted to clear some stuff up. For all the guys that changed tires; Howie Brode still won the race and he did not change tires. As for the car count, you can thank Nascar. They put Holland on the schedule after Riverhead would not take a second tour race. They made Riverhead suffer. Also, I was at New Smyrna for the World Series and as for the exception of Ted Christoper (because he did not have his schedule planned yet), every driver told me they would honestly consider going, but when Nascar puts a tour race on the schedule, what do you think is going to happen.

[art11758]

Wasn't this an "impound race"? Might have a wee bit to do with the way loose race cars we saw. BF said it was the hottest day of the year at the track thus far. Track temps must have been high, which makes for a greasy track. (IMO the cause of the super pro whatever) Car counts... already covered. Add to the fact Mahoning had a ROC 100 lapper (30 mods in the pits I heard) and I think Mountain was taking the night off, and that's where any extra cars may have been. The last couple of laps were good when Rogers turned it on, and if not for a bit of a hiccup passing Steuer, he might have won it. Other than that, I actually wish I went to Mahoning. Same cost, just a slightly farther drive.

[Mike Nuzzi]

Yes we will be there, Tony is parking the boat for a day.

[W. J.]

Yes we will be there, Tony is parking the boat for a day.
Sorry, but the race was held LAST WEEKEND!

[maestri fan 1]

You know, all of the fights and disagreements that went on during ALL the races on Saturday should tell everyone one thing and that is to grow up. On a night that everyone comes to the track to honor a legend, there are fights all night. There is no room for that kind of crap. It is very disrespectful, and on top of everything, I would love to know what Dick Bergrenn thought? If I were him, all I could think is, Wow what a joke! :mad: Well, hopefully, this is a wake up call for EVERYONE. Let's just go out and have FUN. Enough of the fighting crap. It's getting close to the end of the season and let's make it a great end to the season. What does everyone say??

[LongIslandJam]

Keep in mind maestri fan 1,

Fights will happen, because when you get a group of passionate racers all trying to win one for their hero, tempers will flare (plus the extra heat did not help)... I'm not trying to justify it, but I'm trying to be realistic. This race means a lot to everyone, and that's why some folks passion turned awry.

[Jaws]

I almost forgot about him.

I can't wait til that edition of his magazine comes out!!!

[44Magnum]

Just want to clarify a few things before this gets out of hand:

Modified Car Count - less than expected - agreed... Car counts elsewhere - less than expected... Just something to keep in mind... Waterford last Saturday had only 17 cars for the SKs to keep things in perspective...


That's true as far as it goes. But that still doesn't account for the fact that several currently-active Modified drivers who are listed on the Riverhead roster didn't even bother to show up.

To be sure, the ever-increasing cost of racing is a factor in declining car counts. On the other hand, over the last several seasons, there has been a steady increase in the number of L.I. Modified drivers who have been willing to load up each week and go out of state to race, despite the huge increase in gasoline prices.