While we were waiting for the racing action to commence, we were walking around talking to old friends. In our travels, we stopped at a stand selling Italian Ices. We had never considered Mango as an Italian Ice flavor; however, it was delicious.

The first feature on the docket was Vintage Modified feature. Johnny Sutton took the early lead, followed by Jim Lambert. With only 2 laps complete, those two already had a half-lap lead on the rest of the field, with only 5-car starting the race. By the end of lap 5, Sutton had a good 20-car lead on the rest of the field. We wonder why this race is 25 laps; but grateful that it isn’t 50…

Sutton picked up the victory of the ’race’. We wonder why the division is still part of the Shootout weekend, as there is never a decent car count, or much competition of the cars that show up. It is more of a 25-lap practice session than anything else.

16 cars were scheduled to start the Vintage Sportsman race. 13 cars actually came to the grid, with 25 laps again to be the distance.

Jeff Melton jumped to the lead, with Willie Wall 2^nd. A spinner put the field under yellow. Melton took off at the green, followed by Brian Thomas 2^nd. Willie Wall was 3^rd, with Todd Bradbury 4^th. Bradbury took over 3^rd on lap 3.

Another quick yellow on lap 6 restaged the field. Melton still held the lead; however, Todd Bradbury was now up to 2^nd, and all over the back of Melton. However, Bradbury was showing a lot of smoke, as Johnny Gregory went under Bradbury in turn four on lap 7. Of course, more yellow showed. Gregory slid under Melton through turn four as they on lap 10. It was now Gregory, Melton, and Bradbury.

Bradbury found a way to get past Melton in turn one on lap 13--- Of course, that was by was of Bradbury trying to go through Melton’s left rear quarter panel.  Of course Melton went after Bradbury, but couldn’t do any damage. Melton was parked for the retaliation, and Bradbury was sent to the rear for causing the yellow to begin with.

The new leader was Johnny Gregory, followed by Johnny Buxton, and Brian Thomas. All this, and it’s still only up to lap 13. Buxton was able to finally get under Gregory on the tri-oval on lap 18. After another yellow, Buxton was able to hold on for the win.

The SK Modifieds were up next for their 50-lap feature. As opposed to most SK races, we’re hoping that this will be a fairly clean race. We’re keeping an eye on Burt Myers, who’s starting 17^th and scratch.

Preece got under Silk on the first lap to take the lead. Hirschman is 3^rd, as caution came out for Tommy Farrell and Patrick Emerling spinning on lap 2. Under the yellow, we noted that TC, who started 8^th, is already up to 4^th.

Preece kept the lead, with Silk 2^nd,. TC almost got under Silk, but fell back. TC is, as usual, a force to be reckoned with. TC is all over Silk, banging on his rear bumper, tying to get the 2^nd spot. While Silk and Christopher are fighting for 2^nd, Preece is slowing pulling away, and by lap 11, has a 10 car lead. TC finally has position going into turn one on lap 13, taking over the 2^nd spot.

That leaves Keith Rocco to start working over the rear bumper of Silk for the 3^rd spot. Ryan Preece still has a nice lead over TC; however, a caution came out on lap 17 for a Tommy Barrett, who spun in the dogleg.

Silk, Woody Pitkat, Barrett, Doug Coby, Adam LaCicero, and Tommy Farrell make their way into the pits. Ready to go green, they were now Preece, TC, Rocco, Hirschman, and Paules the top five. When the cars shook themselves out, TC was the new leader, followed by Preece, Hirschman, and Rocco the top four.Filk was 5^th, and Paules and Yuhas fighting for the 6^th spot.

At lap 25, the halfway point, it was TC, Preece, Hirschman, Rocco, and Preece the top five.

Woody Pitkat spun on lap 33, bringing out a caution flag. Most of the field from the 6^th position on back, came into the pits to make adjustments. We are somewhat surprised that despite the cautions, this is a pretty good race. Pitkat spun on the restart, bringing out another yellow.

13 cars remain for the restart, as TC kept the lead, followed by Preece3, Paules, Hirschman, and Rocco. On lap 40, Steven Reed got up and over the concrete wall into the fencing, part of which was ripped down. The red came out immediately, as rescue personnel raced to the scene. Fortunately, the word came to the press box that the driver was OK. This is one of the more horrible hits that I’ve witnessed in many, many years. It is a major tribute to the people that build these cars that Reed was able to safely get out of the car. It also says quite a bit for the quality of the catch fence, or Reed would have been in the woods after going airborne over the wall. Part of the catch fence may be gone; but Steven Reed’s car stayed in the facility.

That being said, it will take a while as the track must put the fence back. The red will continue for a while. After over a half hour, the track went from red to yellow. We’re surprised that the fence is not being replaced at the dogleg. Apparently, they will continue the race show with no catch fence at the dogleg. 

With 10 laps to go, the field realigned with TC, Preece, Paules, Hirschman, and Silk in single file. On the green, Preece was all over the back of Christopher. Another yellow came out as Yuhas spun ‘with help’.

On the restart, Preece got into TC, causing both to spin in turn four. Under yellow, several cars decided to hit others trying to come up with their own idea of where they’re supposed to line up. Officials just threw the red so the field could be ‘officially’ lined up. Meanwhile, TC and Preece went to the pits for new rubber. They came out with Preece 11^th and TC 12^th.

Another yellow came out when four cars got together in turn one on lap 43. TC was again in the mix, as he needed a wrecker to get back to the pits with a broken suspension.

As the field was lined up, it was now Earl Paules, Ron Silk, Matt Hirschman, Keith Rocco, and Doug Coby. Silk got under Paules on the restart for the lead. Rocco was 3^rd, Hirschman 4^th. Preece got under Hirschman for 4^th, with four to go. Rocco got under Silk in turn one, and trying to keep the lead, Silk touched the wall, falling to 3^rd. Meanwhile, Preece was up to 2^nd. At the checker, it was Rocco, Preece, and Paules.

It was interesting watching Rocco doing donuts on the narrow front stretch without hitting the wall, as the 2010 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Champion celebrating his victory at the Shootout.

“We had a good car to start with,” Rocco said in Victory Lane. “We’ve had some awful luck in the past at this place.

“I knew we had a real good shot after that last restart,” Rocco concluded.

The biggest surprise to us was how good of a race this was. We can’t remember an SK Modified race in the north-east that was this good.

The final rundown was Keith Rocco, Ryan Preece, Ron Silk, Earl Paules, Mat Hirschman, Doug Coby, Ron Yuhas Jr., Tommy Barrett, Tommy Farrell, Woody Pitkat, Adam LaCicero, Ted Christopher, Steven Reed, Jerry Gradl Jr., Burt Myers, Patrick Emerling, and Dan Kurzejewski.

Now up are the USA Modifieds for their 50-lap feature, as 24 cars took to the tri-oval.

At the green, Brian Springer took the pint, with Chad Poole 2^nd, and Brain Nester 3^rd. Yellow came out as 8 cars got together in turn four, then bringing out the red briefly with a blocked track.

Springer kept the lead, followed by Poole, Nester, Mike Stacy, and Ross Klingelhofer. By lap 5, Sprinter had pulled out a 15-car lead. Chad Poole was barely holding on to 2^nd, but was obviously holding up the field.

Nester finally went around Pool on lap 10 for the 2^nd spot. Chad Poole is getting banged around as cars go around him. At lap ten, the running order is Springer, Nester, Stacy, Klinelhofer, and Poole.

By lap 21, Nester has caught up to Springer, as the two fight for the lead. Nester finally got around Springer for the lead, stringing out the lead. Nester has a 20-car lead at the half-way point, stretching out his lead. At lap 30, Nester’s lead is just shy of a ¼ of a lap, as this race starts to resemble an enduro. At least the field is going green. Lap 37 shows about a 5-second lead, and ended up as the winner of the USA Modified race.

The big race of the weekend, the Tour Modified race was now on the track at 4:23 waiting for driver introductions of the 32 cars for the 125-lap race.. Between laps 25 and 100, the cars must make a mandatory pit stop. Even if they decide not to change tires, they still must jack up the car, making certain that two tires must be raised off the ground.

Corey Lajoie spun at the green, not making contact, having to go to the rear.

On the restart, it was Chuck Hossfeld in the lead, followed by Justin Bonsignore, Matt Hirschman, Ryan Preece, and Eric Beers. By the end of lap 3, the cars had settled in to single file. T.J. Zacharias spun at the entrance of the front stretch on lap 6, which will bring out a double-file restart. After stopping in the pits, T.J. pulled it behind the wall, done for the day.

At the restart, Hossfeld muscled to the lead, as five got together in turn four. So much for that restart…

Earl Paules was towed to the pits, as Burt Myers went to the pits. When Myers comes out, he’ll be running close to Junior Miller. That could be interesting…

This time, Bonsignore got the advantage, taking the lead, followed by Ryan Preece, Chuck Hossfeld, Matt Hirschman, and Eric Beers. On lap 10, several cars got together spinning, including Junior Miller. Watching closely, “Mr. Madhouse” Burt Myers wasn’t anywhere near him.

At the green, Bonsignore edged Preece for the lead, , with both exchanging the lead with crossovers in turns one, and then the tri-oval. Hirschman was sitting in the catbird seat in third, waiting for one or the other to make a mistake. Erick Rudolph had now moved up to fourth, with Hossfeld back in fifth.

Preece took the lead on lap 20, going under Bonsignore. Now that he has the lead, it appears that Justin can’t stay close to Ryan’s rear bumper. Hirschman is 3^rd, Rudolph 4^th, and Hossfeld 5^th, as the field has gone 30 laps, and is now in the window for mandatory pit stops.

Ron Silk, started 13^th, and is now running 7^th. Ted Christopher, who started 21^st, is now up to 9^th, and closing fast. Now on lap 30, Preece has just caught slower cars, and is running through lapped traffic. Jimmy Zacharias spun by himself in turn one on lap41. Now the cat and mouse game begins on who will or won’t use this opportunity to make their pit stops. Many cars are now making stops, including Eric Beers.

Justin Bonsignore came to a stop in the pit area, obviously having a problem. The car has shut off twice; once on the track, and once in the pits. The crew is looking at the battery, and in fact is doing a battery change. Fortunately, the laps under caution do not count. Justin will go from 2^nd all the way to the rear of the field. That is if he can get out of the pits quick enough--- which didn’t happen. When the field went green, Bonsignore got caught in the pits, losing laps.

Ryan Preece took the lead under green, followed by Hirschman, Hossfeld, Christopher, and Rudolph. Burt Myers lost power coming through the backstretch, and looped it in turn four, bringing out another yellow on lap 46. Myers was pushed to the pits, and came out a number of laps later.

Hirschman took the lead on the restart, followed by Preece, RC, Hossfeld, and George Brunnhoelzl III. GB III took the spot from Hossfeld on lap 48, moving up to fourth.

With 1/3 of the race complete, the top five is Hirschman, Preece, TC, GB III, and Hossfeld. Jimmy Zacharias spun and slammed into the water barrels protecting the pit entrance, resulting in an spectacular explosion of water, after contact with Justin Bonsignore on lap 62. Jimmy gingerly walked away from the scene.

At this point, all cars have pitted with the exception of Rudolph, who is currently leading. The field was still under red, having to replace the water stanchion.

As the field went back to green, Rudolph had the lead, followed by James Civali. That lasted only one lap, until Civali took the lead, with Rudolph 2^nd, Jimmy Blewett 3^rd, Shawn Carrig 4^th, and Josh Nichols 5^th.  By lap 69, Rudolph started drifting back. Lap 72 now has Civali, Blewett, Preece, Hirschman, and Carrig the top five. Carrig tapped the outside wall, falling back several positions, with Nichols taking over the 5^th spot.

Lap 80 has Patrick Emerling get into Rudolph, who in turn went head first into the inside front stretch wall. With water left on the track, Erick went to the pits, where the crew looked toward the front of the car, and sent Rudolph behind the wall. At this point, 25 cars are still in the race.

On the green, the lead is taken by Civali, Hirschman, Preece, TC, and Blewett the top five. Hirschman is right on Civali’s back bumper, looking for a way around to the lead. Meanwhile, Rowan Pennink found his way into the top five, as GB III sits in 6^th.

On lap 89, Hirschman tapped Civali, as both of them, and Preece and TC got together. Under the yellow, TC lined up first, but appears to have some front-end damage--- possibly cosmetic. Preece was sitting on pit road with water coming out the front. Lined up for the restart is TC, Pennink, GB III, Silk, and Eric Goodale the top five.

At the green, Pennink and TC made contact, with Christopher slammed into the turn one wall, gathering a handful of others… Did an SK race that I expected earlier break out? Anyway, Pennink was put to the of the field for rough-riding. While under red to clear the track, Junior Miller was leaking, and sent to the pits.

Lining the cars back up, the leader was now George “GB III” Brunnhoelzl, followed by Silk, Goodale, Hossfeld, and Blewett. The cars are now single file for all restarts.

On the green, it’s GB III, Silk, Tommy Farrell, Hirschman, and Carrig. Beers passed Carrig for fifth on lap 94. Lap 101 had Hirschman go around the outside of Farrell in turn one for 3^rd.

With 20 laps to go, GB III has a 20 car lead over Hirschman, now in 2^nd.  With 108 laps complete, there is now no lapped cars between Hirschman and Brunnhoelzl.  By lap 111, Matt has closed up on George, and passed, while both ended up in lapped traffic. When it cleared, Hirschman was in front, with George 2^nd, Blewett 3^rd, Silk 4^th, and Hossfeld 5^th.

Shawn Carrig brought out the yellow with 4 to go. What will be interesting is that George doesn’t appear to have anything for Matt. However, Chuck Hossfeld, now in third, has been charging forward. Can Chuck pass George quick and catch & pass Matt with 4 to go?

On the green Matt kept the lead, with George 2^nd, and Chuck couldn’t get past George for 2^nd, with one to go. However, Chuck made the pass for 2^nd on the final lap. Great race run by the winner Matt Hirschman. Hossfeld was 2^nd, Brunnhoelzl 3^rd, Blewett 4^th and Silk 5^th. For Matt Hirschman, he became the Shootout’s first 3-time winner.

“Sometimes, I’m not aggressive enough,” Hirschman said. On the big wreck, “I just went down low, down real low. I didn’t get down.

“At one point, I thought we were done,” Matt concluded.

Final finishes were Matt Hirschman, Chuck Hossfeld, George Brunnhoelzl III, Eric Beers, Ron Silk, Tommy Farrell, Rowan Pennink, Les Hinckley, Jason Myers, Eric Goodale, Patrick Emerling, Shawn Carrig, Zach Brewer, Justin Bonsignore, Jimmy Blewett, Josh Nichols, Daren Scherer, John Sarppraicone, Burt Myers, James Civali, Ryan Preece, Ted Christopher, Jamie Tomaino, Junior Miller, Erick Rudolph, Frank Fleming, Jimmy Zacharias, Gene Pack, Earl Paules, T.J. Zacharias, Corey Lajoie, and Doug Coby (DNS).

The final race of the Shootout weekend was now up as 28 cars of the CRA Super Series (Super Late Models) came out for their 125-lap feature. It would appear that this year would have just about the earliest finish in its 8-year history, as it’s now 6:45, and the sun just went down.

When the field went green, Jimmy Weller took the lead, followed by Ryan Blaney, Bobby Measmer Jr., Colt James, and Jeff Fultz the top five. A spin in turn three brought out the yellow on lap 2.

Weller kept the lead, followed by James,

Blaney and Matt Brooks got together, with Brooks riding and climbing the front stretch wall, as his car turned over. Naturally, the red came out. Brooks was able to get out and checked out. We noted that in the process, the gate by the starters stand that people use to cross over to the infield, was basically destroyed. If rumors going around are true, then Jack Roush or Tony Stewart, or whoever’s rumor you listen to won’t have much of a race track left if he takes over on January 1^st.

Personally, I can’t think of a time over my 56 years when so much of a race track was destroyed in only one day/night.

Believe it or not, we’re finally getting ready to go back to green at 7:37pm. This was a long red flag period…

When the green flew once again, Weller took the lead, followed by Fultz, Measmer, Ross Kenseth, and Joey Coulter. Of course, cars started spinning on lap 5, bringing out another yellow.

As they go back to green, Fultz took the lead, Kenseth 2^nd, Weller 3^rd, Corey Williams 4^th and Measmer 5^th. Measmer went under Williams on lap 9 fore fourth, while Michael Pilla took over 5^th. The top runners are single file as they hit lap 15. With 17 laps down, Ross Kenseth has caught Jeff Fultz, as they joined the battle for the lead.

On lap 45, James moved passed up to 3^rd, followed by Weller and Measmer. Fultz, of course is still in the lead, with Kenseth right on his bumper. A spinner brought out a yellow on lap 49, starting wholesale pit stops, as many teams fulfilled their obligations for the races’ mandatory pit stops.

When the field went back to green, Fultz kept the lead, Roger Lee Newton 2^nd, Kenseth 3^rd, Mark Reedy 4^th, and James 5^th. That was it until lap 56, when a car tapped the wall. The cars that didn’t make pit stops during the last yellow, are making them now, which will shake up the field a bit.

The cars were now lined up with Weller, Mark Reedy, Dennis Schoenfield, Grant Davidson, and Bobby Measmer Jr. At the green, Reedy had the lead, with Weller behind. Schoenfeld was all over the back of reedy, and finally made a pass for the lead on lap 59. It was now Schoenfeld, Measmer, and Weller. Of course, another spinner brought out a caution at lap 64, just after the half-way point.

At the green, it was Schoenfeld, Pilla, Weller, Newton, and Kenseth. Newton and Kenseth fought side by side for a number of laps before Kenseth took over the fourth spot. That started a battle between Newton and James that lasted for a number of laps.

Meanwhile Kenseth moved under Weller for 3^rd on lap 85. With 35 laps to go, it was now Schoenfeld, Pilla, Kenseth, Weller, and James the top five. A spinner brought out the next yellow on lap 102.

Pilla took the lead on the green. On lap 104, Weller and Measmer both wrecked in different parts of turn one, bringing out another red flag. We haven’t seen so much red since the last Halloween movie.

Getting set to go back to green with 20 laps remaining, Kenseth and Pilla were the top two, as another wreck came in the tri-oval.

With the green, Kenseth was at the point. Then a car spun in turn four. Nobody on the track or in the stands could see through the smoke. Suddenly a car came through rolling over out of the smoke. It was Ryan Blaney, who got involved in the flip at the start of the race.

While the track was under the protracted red flag, many of the car haulers in the infield took advantage of it to cross the track, and ‘get out of Dodge’ so to speak. That kept the red out because one of those tractor-trailers dropped a ton of water across the track. What next? The biggest surprise is that there are still some people sitting in the stands.

Finally at 9:27, they withdrew the red flag. The top five were now Kenseth, Pilla, Schoenfeld, James, and Davidson. Only 13 cars of the original 28 were on the track.

Kenseth took the lead, with Pilla 2^nd, James 3^rd, Davidson 4^th, and Schoenfeld 5^th. Jared Marks brought out another yellow on lap 111.

After several minutes of silence, an announcer broke in saying, “The latest from the pits--- It’s COLD!” Currently it’s 42 degrees with a wind chill of 38. Yup, he’s right; it’s cold! Only 14 laps to go. Unbelievably, when they were coming around for the green, Ross Kenseth apparently ran out of gas on the backstretch! Not a big surprise as these cars have been out on the track for 2 ½ hours! Incredible…

On the restart, it was Pilla, James, Schoenfeld, and Kenseth made it back to fourth in only four laps. On lap 118, a car spun in the front stretch. Only 6 more to go, as the field was tightened up for the restart. As the yellow came out, Kenseth had just made the pass for 3^rd. 10 cars were left on the track.

James takes the lead, with Pilla 2^nd, and Kenseth 3^rd. With 2 to go, Kenseth did a bump and run to take 2^nd. Me3anwhile Colt James took the win.

Finally, after a very long day, the 2010 version of the Annual John Blewett III North-South Shootout is finally over!

Many thanks to C&C Racing Promotions for hosting the annual event. Many thanks for some of the competitors for screwing up the event. After all, the Pace Car is the only part of the facility that seemed to safe from some of these drivers!