Yes indeed, there are at least two sides to every story. And before I get to reprising; ‘Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus’, just because one side of a story is more appealing or popular to one group or another, doesn’t make that the right side of the story with which to agree. I’ll tell you a little about Jennerstown Speedway later.

First off I would like to thank my buddy, who shall remain nameless, for making new keys for my car a couple of weeks ago. I lost my keys and he took care of me. This past week I found one of my original sets of keys and they worked as good as ever. Unfortunately, after I had shut my car off to make a stop in the woods of eastern Long Island, the original keys failed to work.

This happened last Thursday afternoon, as I was about to prepare for my departure to Pennsylvania the next morning. I reached my buddy on the phone and there wasn’t much he could do about it at that point. I wound up smashing out my steering column like you see the criminals do in the movies to get out of there.

Consequently, no one recognized me when I pulled into Jennerstown. I rented a car from the guys who ‘pick you up’. Too bad they hadn’t serviced the (expletive deleted) thing before I took it. At least I had peace of mind that the car I drove wouldn’t wind up on the side of the road leaving me with a four hundred mile hitchhike. Shopgirl was happy with that decision. Stay tuned to see if my death trap makes the trip to Loudon next week.

The Jennerstown Speedway is perhaps the racing facility that is best suited to host our beloved Tour on the East Coast. The Pennsylvania oval is just a scant bit over a half mile in circumference and its’ wide, sweeping, banked surface is conducive to great high-speed competition of the WMT. It was great to see our guys battling it out on another racetrack befitting their talents and abilities.

Most of the competitors agreed that this is a great place to hold a Modified Tour event. Six years removed from the last time the WMT graced this facility, the Mods were met with about a half-filled grandstand. Those who did turn out certainly were treated to some great racing, albeit after the eventual winner had put a spanking on the rest of the field. I’ll have more about the race later.

With all of that said there are those who feel that this distance is too far to travel. Although those sentiments were limited, it didn’t escape discussion at the driver’s meeting. Ed Cox apologized to the competitors before they had hit the track for practice. He said, "I’m sorry guys…maybe we can hold this event next year…someplace closer to home." Although I think I understood what he had just said, and nothing would please me more than to drag this whole facility back to Long Island, I thought that was a pretty interesting thing to say at a racetrack that had just shelled out the money for the WMT event to be there.

In addition, Ed went on to chastise the drivers for the poor performance and sportsmanship that was displayed at Stafford last Sunday. Cox informed the competitors that there was a change going into effect regarding cars pulling up too soon (to pit under caution). The gist of it is that the penalty for the first offense is the same, restart at the tail end of the longest line. Subsequent violations of that rule will lead to loss of laps and perhaps jeopardize pulling up to pit altogether.

One of the amazing things about the Jennerstown Speedway is its’ General Manager, Larry Mattingly. Larry has pulled out all of the stops to make this racetrack as successful as possible. A few weeks ago, Larry brought the ISMA Supermodifieds to Jennerstown and they put on a great show. "The Supers cost us about half what the [WMT] does and we had a packed house," Mattingly told MSS. The place was obviously less than full Saturday but the fans that were there were pretty enthusiastic.

From the beginning it was easy to see that Larry is a very ‘hands on’ type of leader. Prior to leaving for Jennerstown, I checked out the track’s website. Like MSS, they have an engaging message board, of which Mattingly is the moderator. When I signed in at the track, it was Larry, the General Manager, who took the time to sign me in and make me aware of the press facilities. It is obvious that Jennerstown is not just his place; it is his passion.

Mattingly related to some of us in the press box that it was very difficult for Jennerstown to compete against NASCAR’s Premier Series television schedule. Larry didn’t cry about it, he did something about it. Jennerstown has held four of its’ five ‘Fan Appreciation Nights’ so far this season. Each of the nights feature special fan interactive events, a $3.00 admission price and fans can attend some of these nights for free if they come in costume or wear a bathing suit. These Fan Appreciation Nights have been pretty popular and although the track doesn’t earn much at the front gate, at least the stands are relatively full opposite NEXTEL Cup telecasts and the track can earn a little money through their concession stands.

Adult tickets sold for $25 at the gate for the WMT event, $15 for teens and seniors, $10 under 12 and under 6 were admitted free Saturday. These prices are similar to those at other special events. Advance tickets for special events and ticket packages are available at a significant discount from the Jennerstown online box office. By the way, the adult ticket price for a regular show is seven bucks.

The creativeness doesn’t stop there. Larry has one of his announcers that is constantly roving the grandstands whooping things up. Mike Milliron gets fans to sing, play trivia or snitch on a spouse for prizes. At one point Mike was standing atop the press box when he informed the crowd that he was going to throw chicken wings to them. What fell from the sky was a rubber chicken.

Milliron’s version of Happy Birthday was painful to sit through but he seemed to revel in its’ irreverence. All through the times when Mike played to the crowd, he kept them interested and promoted the concessions. He didn’t do it telling the spectators that everything there was delicious but by giving away certificates for free food. He made everyone hungry talking about the food he was giving away, thus the concession stands were packed.

We had our own valet in the press box. Diane Fulton stepped, fetched and kept us wonderful company all day. Diane is a Fire Department volunteer whose 39 years of childcare experience prepared her for dealing with me.

Jennerstown is nearly sold out for their NASCAR NEXTEL Cup ‘Race of Champions’ night which will be held the night our beloved Tour heads to Beech Ridge. Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Sterling Marlin and Ken Schrader will head to Jennerstown for an autograph session and a match race. The NEXTEL Cup boys will be in Pocono that weekend.

"The TV mentality has changed the way we have to do business," said Mattingly, continuing, "bringing in the Cup stars pretty much guarantees a sell out at the same cost as bringing in a major Touring series like the [WMT]." Jennerstown Speedway is literally in the middle of nowhere. The local population is around 700 people. "We have to be creative and promote our racing to people from outside of our immediate area to persuade them to come here."

Jennerstown Speedway spends a bunch of money in advertising. Saturday’s edition of The Tribune-Democrat, the regions largest newspaper, included a full-page ad on the back page of the sports section. That ad would be a fine keepsake for any Tony Hirschman fan. The ad was placed to promote Saturday night’s race with a near poster-sized image of Tony and the #48 Modified. Jennerstown also advertises heavily in the Pittsburgh area.

I know that tracks in the northeast have felt the same kind of suck-out from television that Jennerstown has. The difference is that these guys continue to persevere through creativity and boldness. Many of those who operate the tracks that are in our backyard could take a few lessons from Jennerstown Speedway and Larry Mattingly.

Our gang had a little section at Jennerstown. The gathering featured Ted Baxter of Hampton Jitney and Pancake fame, Alex Rogovin, our Pick 6 guru who has recently taken to writing for MSS and Cuyahoga Cuse, who if I am not mistaken I last met at Lake Erie in 2003. They all appeared to be holding court right in front of our view from the press box.

Before I go any further I have to comment on some roadside signs that were erected in the areas near the track. Official reflective yellow chrome signs told us that this was a ‘High D.U.I. Crash Area’ or a ‘High Aggressive Driving Crash Area’. Apparently the Department of Traffic in the area wants everyone to be aware of what has been happening on this road. I didn’t know whether the DOT was trying to warn us about a dangerous situation or whether they were just trying to raise real estate prices in the area. When I saw these signs, I figured the best thing that I could do would be to buy a piece of property, erect some grandstands and sell tickets. ‘If’n y’all want to see some crashin’, y’all just wait here a couple minutes.

Daren Scherer showed up to race with the WMT. Daren regularly competes at Tioga and Chemung and finished fifteenth in a WSMT race earlier this year at Caraway, NC. Scherer has an interesting sponsor, the Binghamton Mets baseball team. That is a farm team for the New York Mets. His car, which usually bears the #3 was re-numbered 8 for Saturday night’s event.

Another racer joined the WMT for the race at Jennerstown. Richie Coy, from Ringwood, NJ raced his #88 Modified in the event. Richie is a third generation driver of the Coy family that has been quite successful in midget racing for many years.

The Wheeler Bros. 150 was the first Whelen Modified Tour event to fail to yield a full field in quite some time. Obviously there were some of the regular competitors that chose not to make the tow or had other obligations. Congratulations to Mike Stefanik, who finished second at Lake Erie in the Busch North Series race. Kelly McDougall, Tony Ferrante, Jr., Mike Molleur and Dave Etheridge were others on the entry list that for whatever reason, failed to compete.

WMT ROTY campaigner, Tyler Haydt crashed in between turns three and four early in practice. The crash was eerily reminiscent of the one that Tom Baldwin had there in 1999. Tyler appeared to walk away under his own power but the King racing team loaded up the #28 and departed early.

The usual suspects were fast in practice. In addition, Matt Hirschman showed that he could find his way around the place quite well. NASCAR officials were concerned about the Hoosier tires. They had all of the competitors go out and scuff their time trial tires for seven laps at the end of the practice session.

Tony Hirschman put the #48 on the pole with a time of 17.741 seconds. Seven competitors cracked into the seventeen-second range the last of which was Greg Shivers who posted an impressive time.

It was great to meet Craig Murto in the press box. Craig publishes Late Model Racer, which is a neat little magazine. Murto raved on and on about what a great driver Mike Ewanitsko was. When I saw Mike in the stands, I took the liberty to point him out. Suddenly Craig was a happy guy.

The local media people were quite impressed with the way that the WMT competitors carried themselves. One commented "These guys are soooo fan friendly!" Another stated, "the local racers here should be paying attention to this." Another observed that nearly every driver had hero cards and that several teams had candy for the kids.

The local competitors at Jennerstown aren’t like those you might find at Riverhead or Stafford. Just like the fans in the grandstands, many of the regular racers at Jennerstown tow there from a distance. Perhaps that might be one reason that some of the regular competitors don’t often stick around to sign autographs.

So you see we had this race too. The top-10 redrew for starting position and Eric Beers started from the pole in the BRE #3. Jerry Marquis was in chase and a couple of laps later, Tony Hirschman had moved in behind Marquis. On lap thirteen Marquis got under the leader to take the top spot and he brought Hirschman by Beers.

On lap twenty-one the yellow flew. Apparently Jake Marosz and Jim Storace had some contact in turn four, Marosz lost control of his #9 and plowed into the energy-absorbing barrier at the end of the pit wall. At the other end of the track, Storace, Scherer, Coy, Renee Dupuis and Kevin Konopka got together.

A couple of laps later the field was stopped on the backstretch and the red flag was displayed. The repair and cleanup of the barrier at the end of the pit wall and the removal of Marosz’s car precipitated it. The green flag flew but shortly after there were two more cautions. One was for the #88 of Richie Coy, who spun in turn three. The other was for Kevin Konopka, who hit hard into the turn one wall.

The race restarted on lap forty and seven circuits later, Tony Hirschman got under Jerry Marquis to take a lead that he would not relinquish. Around lap 82, Ted Christopher yielded to a black flag. The point leader came to pit road after numerous complaints that the #13 had been dumping water on the track.

By lap 100, Hirschman had lapped all but the top ten cars. Christopher returned to the race on lap 105 and finished twenty-five laps in arrears. The green flag run lasted so long that by the time the yellow finally flew for Steve Whitt spinning on the front straightaway, Tony had lapped up everyone except Marquis, Hossfeld and Flemke.

Tony had really stunk up the show until that point. Sure there was passing, it was the #48 blowing by everybody and a couple of guys trying to stay a half a lap from getting lapped. I’m not saying that that was all bad, especially in light of how well things had gone at Stafford last Sunday. I just think a debris caution around lap 100 would have made things a whole lot more interesting.

This is where I get a little confused by the rules. The four lead lap cars all pitted. When that happened, I would have thought that all of the cars that were only one lap down would have been on the tail end of the lead lap. I realize that the ten lap rule was in effect, but the leaders did choose to pit and the eight cars beside Jamie Tomaino, who got the beneficiary (lucky dog) pass, should have been lead lap cars at that point had they not chosen to pit.

The four lead lap cars; Hirschman, who took two tires, Flemke who took two tires, Hossfeld who took three tires and Marquis, who took two tires came out of the pits in that order. Tomaino by rule had to restart at the tail end of the field. It took several laps to get the leaders up to the front of the field.

On the restart, Hirschman pulled to a quick lead. Hossfeld quickly got by Flemke to assume the second spot and set sail to battle with Hirschman. Hossfeld had a much quicker car at that point but there just wasn’t enough time left. Tony and Chuck raced each other clean through the last lap as Hossfeld attempted to go around the outside.

Tony was still pumped full of adrenaline when he spoke to us in the press box. "I knew there were only four cars left on the lead lap they told me and it’s like what do I do?" Hirschman said, "I was so good I could have stayed out but I knew the three guys behind me were going to pit for tires and line right up behind me." The #48 team took two tires to keep track position and banked on their superior car. "My left front was shaking earlier, before we pitted, you know…once we pitted it picked up rubber, the last couple laps he said (his spotter) he was inside outside I couldn’t even look in my mirror my eyes were blurred from shaking."

The win combined with Ted Christopher’s misfortune closes up the point standings a bit. "We needed that, we got beat up last week." said Hirschman. Tony felt that his team has been one of the fastest everywhere except maybe Riverhead and they just had to just get back on track.

Chuck Hossfeld has had a documentary crew following him around everywhere. Whether this is going to turn into a hard documentary or an ‘American Chopper’ type reality program is uncertain. A couple of the guys who had been video taping Chuck told me that they would be following him around for the rest of the year.

Ed Flemke was a little upset that officials took so long to get the #13 off of the track. "The only negative thing we had all day was the thirteen was leaking water for a good thirty-five laps…I did say to Ed Cox ‘today you gave us a big lecture in the driver’s meeting about respect and respecting each other and driving stupid’ his words were…all of this starts at the top. When two, three, four guys who are complaining that the same guy (is leaking) even if you’re not sure, he is the point leader and that’s why you’re not sure and you’ve got to be careful, throw the caution and let’s find out. We are going way too fast here, I could not even see his car…" said Flemke, "…it’s not his (Teddy’s) fault, he’s got to do what he’s got to do, he gets paid to drive that racecar. I know I’ve got hurt here once before and this is not a place to hit (the wall). Other than that, super super day."

Thanks to all of those who asked if I would help them out in the pits. For those who don’t know, I do not and don’t plan on getting a NASCAR license. That should limit the amount of times I get hit on pit road this season. I have lived to go over the wall for many years and it does frustrate me a little that I haven’t had many opportunities to do so recently. I did have a great seat for the race and we really enjoyed bringing the action to you on the live updates forum.

Let’s all pray for good weather at Loudon. I am sure we will have a full field there. We will probably be doing the live updates from the press box directly. Thanks to everyone who make our efforts so successful.