Just wondering ?
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Just wondering ?
I don't think Preece is going
I heard Szegedy might, but then again I heard he's coming to Riverhead for the 77 lapper.
I heard Pennink might. Of the 3 , I'm guessing he might be the only one.
No facts here, just what I've heard.
last real roc was 1991.
Worm - just because certain drivers choose not to run does not mean it is'nt the "real RoC". Andy Harpell has done an excellent job with the event, Oswego is a great facility that's getting even better, and the racing in the "200" has been good. 30 - 40 mods will qualify this Sat., and many of them are some of the top names in Modified racing: Hirschman, Hossfeld, the Leatys, Fidanza, Rudolph, Paulus, Putney, Hebing, Zeiner, Hanbury, throw in a WMT regular or 2 and you've got the makings of an awesome field. Give the race a chance - it's my favorite event of the year and I attend several WMT races annually.Quote:
Originally Posted by worm
1991 had about 100 modifieds try out for the 52 car field. Drivers from all over the northeast were at this event, and previous races there. Oswego, although a great race and track, can't compare to those Pocono races. The majority of racers, even as you mention above, are RoC/northern tier drivers. The great Race of Champions, as it was, is not that anymore unfortunately.
Also notice the amount of different leaders:
1991 RoC Pocono
2011 RoC Oswego
Moving the race to Flemington is what took a lot of the lustre off of the RoC. The move to Oswego was just unable to recapture what had already been lost. Flemington was a great track, but it wasn't a neutral site since they raced mods there weekly. If you want proof, just look at who won those RoCs at the square.Quote:
Originally Posted by RGeeProductions
Yup, agree with that...Quote:
Originally Posted by Groundpounder
The ROC died in 1992. Harpell is a joke and the race is now a joke.
The ROC Died a long time ago. Thats not to say the Oswego 200 is not a good race, but when the field this saturday at Riverhead for a race paying about 1500 to win is superior to the ROC Field, well, thats just sad. The Greatest 10 Sporting events I have seen in my lifetime were the 1982-1991 ROC's at Pocono. I pray that someday, somehow, I shall see something even close to that.
Pocono is in talks to have the INDY cars race there in 2013, if that's any consolation!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Teds Race Tours
I don't see a lot of support from the Tour guys or MRS. Official finish from ROC web site. Does anyone know if they sent cars home or did they start everybody?
1. (60) Matt Hirschman
2. (22) Chuck Hossfeld
3. (71) Jimmy Zacharias
4. (51p) Erick Rudolph
5. (6) Jan Leaty
6. (3) Daren Scherer
7. (5) Kyle Ebersole
8. (29) Zane Zeiner
9. (50) Terry Cheetham
10. (51) Wilbur Hebing
11. (14) Doug Reaume
12. (72) T.J. Potrzebowski
13. (07) Patrick Emerling
14. (8) Earl Paules
15. (62) Tony Hanbury
16. (59) Karl Hehr
17. (27) Andy Walko
18. (34) Rusty Smith
19. (69) Tommy Cloce
20. (16) J.R. Kent
21. (47) Jim Storace
22. (31) Nick Barzee
23. (88) Billy Putney
24. (25r) John Ramsey
25. (44) Sege Fidanza
26. (0) Randall Richards
27. (98) Matt Wentz
28. (65) Andy Lewis
29. (10) Daryl Lewis, Jr.
30. (4) Kris Meyn
31. (1) Matt Clemens
32. (77) T.J. Zacharias
From what I heard, that was it. Hopefully a story by later today..
Congrats to Matty Hirschman and the #60 team. I was with you in spirit! And text messages received at Riverhead Raceway!!
I was there and it was a decent race not great. First before you crap on the ROC 200 true it is not the ROC of years past. Nothing is. Where is the Thompson 300?
Does the Spring Sizzler still have the sizzle of the original? WMT lovers don't need to lecture anybody about dwindling car counts so give it a rest. Mod counts are
down everywhere and that is a problem. Oswego is waaay down my list of favorite places but it is about the only place left to hold this event. The day was
perfect weatherwise and the back grandstand is the only place in the racing world where you can bring a law chair into the stands. The best place to watch
racing at the Steel Palace. Matt set fast time and drew the fourth stating spot. Got the lead on lap 3 and lead until he (short) pitted for his tires around lap 60
something I believe. After the field cycled thru their stops Matt regained the lead and had to hold off a hard charging Chuck Hossfeld to grab his fourth ROC 200
win. A great finish it was. BTW, there were no halfway breaks, competition yellows or multiple day investments that make the WMT so much better than the rest
but Andy tries.
People get too wrapped up in the name. Its not 1972 anymore. That's understood. This is still a big event on the ROC Tour. 32 cars in the pits. big purse, and lap money. Nothing wrong with that on a Saturday night in July.
I think you can still bring lawn chairs to Seekonk also.
The Race of Champions at Pocono on the 2-1/2 mile and 3/4 were magical. Oswego was always a great place to see a race. The old Classic weekend 200 laps Mods and Supers were one of the best weekend events of the year.
......."After the field cycled thru their stops Matt regained the lead and had to hold off a hard charging Chuck Hossfeld to grab his fourth ROC 200
win." ooops. That should have read FIRST ROC 200. Me goofed.
I have never been to a ROC 200 event and I would say that is currently the pavement modifieds most historic event. I think one of the problems pavement modifieds have is we dont have any long storied marque events that you circle on the calendar and say I gotta go to that. A race event where a veteran driver who hasnt won that event yet is ridiculed for not getting the win there. Yeah TC is good but he hasnt won the big event yet and I will not say he is great until he gets a win at that event. It seems like I can easily name 2 or 3 major events for most other divisions but can not for the modifieds. Pavement late models have oxford 250, milkbowl, snowball derby etc, dirt mods have syracuse, eastern states (Orange County), dirt late models have countless events topless 100, dream, world 100, sprinters have knoxville, kings royal, midgets have chilibowl, night before the 500. What are the modifieds greatest events? I would dare say ROC, spring sizzler, and maybe seekonk open wheel Wednesday, possibly the Ice Breaker or World Series. You might be able to add the star open show, and the north south shootout if they are successful and grow. Many of these events are not more then 10 years old. For such a storied division, the pavement modifieds dont really have any cant miss shows. There really isnt anything nearing the prestige and excitement created by other racing division events. In my opinion, there really isnt a marque event on the schedule. Maybe I am wrong, in your opinion what is the big pavement modified event?
I agree for the most part. The RoC is the last historic event the mods have left, even though as already discussed, it isn't what it used to be. Some other potential BIG mod show traditions:Quote:
Originally Posted by csg
The Thompson 300 used to be the other big marque event, but as we all lament, that is no more.
The Bud 200 on Classic weekend at Oswego is another big one that's long gone.
The Spring Sizzler has lost most of its sizzle and is now just another tour show. Maybe in a "post Nascar" modified world they could change it back to 80 laps and make it special again.
The big Martinsville spring and fall races were traditions for quite a while, but those are long gone.
The Icebreaker and World Series are special because they book end the season, but the modified races themselves at those events aren't really all that special (especially not the WS since the mods are but one of 15 or so divisions at that event).
The races at NHMS, while high paying, have never really established any kind of tradition.
As mentioned, the Seekonk open show could grow into something over time.
The North-South Shootout could grow into a traditional big event, although that's going to be a steeper hill to climb with Charles gone. Having it at Caraway doesn't help either.
The Turkey Derby was another one, but it went for a lot of years without a modified race (the Sizzler only ran once without the mods). Besides that, Wall has pretty much been a mockery of a track with the inmates running the assylum for the last 10-15 years anyway, so that tends to takes away most of the prestige that event had left.
Out here in Western NY the US Open at Lancaster is a pretty big deal, but its reach doesn't extend much beyond the realm of the RoC tour (although quite a few New Englanders showed up for the first one in '89).
Another regional tradition is the King of the Mountain race every October at Mountain Speedway. That started there as the Pavement Pounder 100 back in the Evergreen Raceway days.
That's all I can think of right now. I so wish we could get the Thompson 300 back...
one itty bitty correction. You can bring lawn chairs into Seekonk too. Though it is some of the most comfortable concrete I have ever sat on. (I like Seekonk)Quote:
Originally Posted by uticamike
The old Dogwood 500 races at Martinsville way back in the 70's were great. Great memory of me and my dad driving down route 81 in the 1970's for a race there.
I used to love the 300 -- that was always the best bang for your modified buck.
I missed all of those classic ROC's that were at Pocono (my years of doing things other than race watching). The ROC's at Flemington, while exiciting, were (allegedly) not what they were back in the Langhorne, Trenton, Pocono days)
I gotta agree- there are a lot of decent/good events, but none that say "I gotta go to this." For my family and race buds, i know i will try to hit one of the big spring races, one of the fall races, Riverhead. I've only been to New Hampshire once and that was amazing.
I've only been to Seekonk once ( gonna change though in about a week) and I didn't realize that. My bad. I should have changed only for few.Quote:
Originally Posted by art11758
Long time no see Art. How have you been?
any thoughts on why the VMRS guys didn't show up for the RoC? It's really hard to consider it a race of champions when its a singular tour competing.
Most of those teams didn't like travelling to Airborne, Malta, or Wiscasset. Also, being in the middle of the season didn't help at all either. Of course even when the RoC was in September, there were still at least 2 more races left on the MRS schedule, so they still don't want to risk wrecking their cars. You still only see a couple of them travel to the NSS and Turkey Derby which are held when their season is over.Quote:
Originally Posted by bmain
Honestly, no one really travels anymore. Drivers stick to their own tour or track and don't venture too far from it. Maybe outsiders dont feel like they will get a fair shot from the sanctioning body, who wants to see their drivers do well, at these events. More likely its money and conforming to the other series rules.
I think todd szegedy raced with the MRS this year, then a few tour, MRS, ROC cars showed up at the Star race. I am interested in seeing how the Seekonk show is supported. I think we can forget about any Nascar Tour cars going with Stafford running the following Friday.
Wasnt the ROC moved to an earlier date in an attempt to attract more cars? They thought people were out of money at the end of the season and didnt want to risk a bent car with a tight championship battle. I am not sure how that worked out for them. Is 32 an increase or decrease over previous shows which were run towards the end of the season? I can say support from the MRS and Nascar Tour was non existent.
The 48 with Tony Hirschman and about 4-5 tour teams would of been there if they didnt switch tires brands.....FACT
Actually you can no longer bring a lawn chair into Seekonk. This changed 2 or 3 years ago. They put aluminum bleachers on the concrete steps you used to put the lawn chair on. When they first did that, they would not even allow you to bring in a seat with a back on it to put on the bleachers.(despite the fact they will rent one to you) Luckily, they figured out that was not such a good policy and changed it.Quote:
Originally Posted by uticamike
True enough teams don't travel much at least not like the old days. Cost big bucks to race (as well know) and those miles, lodging and eats add up quickly too. Just chasing racing like some of us fans do adds up. Lame purses are the biggest reason I believe. I know a team that was going to run Ricky's Race but looking at the (only) 2500 to win
they decided against it. Another biggie is that the three series have enough difference in their rules to make it un workable to most. If you can't get three tracks in the same state to agree on a rules package, doing it over three states or a region is near impossible. The real tragedy is NASCAR could open up their ways and make a Sept NHMS race
a real old fashion ROC type of event. I'm not holding my breath.