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2000
Rondeau
Team Reaches 100
Farmer Phil's team earns 100th LM feature, Jay Stuart gets title
NASCAR returns to Speedbowl; Gada repeats as SK Champ
NASCAR
Dodge Weekly Racing Series
Sunday
Spectacular Series
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For the first time since
the late 1980's,
the Waterford Speedbowl would operate under a NASCAR
sanction. The sanction became available when the legendary 1/4 mile
track at Riverside Park (MA) Speedway closed after the 1999 season. SK Modified drivers became eligible to compete both
regionally and nationally with other sanctioned short tracks through the NASCAR
Dodge
Weekly Racing Series. The Late Models became eligible for NASCAR's
Exide
Shortrack Series. The Featherlite Modified Series would
return after over a decade absence and the Busch North Series would add the
Speedbowl to their schedule as well. 2000 was marked the first season
in years the track operator without a Chief Steward. After being held
by 3 different people in the previous 3 seasons, the position has remained
vacant ever since with the Race Director being the highest position among
the Speedbowl's officiating staff.
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To
begin it's 6th season as part of the Saturday night series, the Mini Stocks
were moved from their traditional 6pm feature start and became part of the
regular rotation of division features which concluded each Saturday's
program. The 4 cylinder division embraced the main stage with a season
long championship battle between the popular drivers Jimmy
Pont and Roger Perry which
went down to the Finale's season ending 50 lapper. Roger Perry's
championship bid collapsed when he crashed into the front stretch wall after
contact with Jim Rix Jr. His crew
got him back on the track, albeit many laps down, to an appreciative roar
from his fans. Pont, who finished the race in 4th, capped off a
consistent season which included 17 top 10's, 10 top 5's, 1 feature win
and his first track championship.
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On June 3rd, Phil
Rondeau celebrated at the time, what was recognized as his 100th Late Model feature at the shoreline oval -
2 days shy of his 1-year anniversary for capturing his apparent 100th overall
Speedbowl win. (Vault Research has concluded 7 of those victories
were from other drivers in Rondeau team cars) He once again fell short
of a 7th title when he finished 18 points behind Jay
Stuart. The long time rivalry between the two crafty
veterans continued throughout the 2000 season. Stuart led the
divisions in wins (6), including the season opening 50 lapper, en route to
the championship and also earned NASCAR's Exide Shortrack New England Region
Championship as well. Rondeau had 5 wins, while Chris
"Moose" Douton won 4 times and swept the two 100 lap
events in his first season in the division. After season's end, the
American Challenge experiment was over and by the time the 2001 season
rolled around, the division was once again called Late Models.
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Ted
Christopher became the Speedbowl's all-time SK Modified wins
leader when he won the May 6th event. It was his 30th SK win at the
shoreline oval, one better than previous record holder and 6-time track
champion Bob Potter. No longer a weekly competitor, it was the 12th
different season in which Christopher won a feature event - a division
record he has since expanded to 14 seasons. Dennis
Gada repeated as SK Champion. Mark
LaJeunesse won the rain shortened 101 lap event during the
Budweiser Modified Nationals. Tucker Reynolds
Jr won the 100 lap portion of the Pepsi 300 while Ron
Yuhas Jr won his second consecutive Town Fair Tire Finale 100.
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Former
weekly SK Modified competitor,
Ed Flemke Jr
set a new lap time record for NASCAR's Modified Tour with a 13.971 qualifying time trial for the New England Dodge
Dealers 150. The event was won by Jerry
Marquis after a Mike Christopher disqualification. Dennis
Demers set the NASCAR Busch East (then North) lap time record
while qualifying for the Budweiser 150. Brad
Leighton won the touring series' first event at the shoreline oval
since the early 80's.
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There
were 15 different winners in the Sportsman division, led by Shawn
Monahan and Ray Downing Jr
who both made 3 trips to victory lane. Ted Dupre won his first
Sportsman Championship over Diego Monahan.
Chris "Moose" Douton won the
season ending 50 lapper on the same day he won the Late Model 100 lap
event. At the time, he joined the legendary Don
Collins, who did it over 40 years prior, as the only competitors
to win feature events in separate divisions on the same day.
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Long
time track announcer Bob Freeman retired
from the PA booth at season's end. The year 2000 marked the 4th
different decade the popular Freeman was involved at the track.
Although he wrote many articles about racing over the years, his
career in the booth started beside another long standing and popular
announcer, Joe Golas,
in the early 80's.
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Fan
favorite Tucker Reynolds Jr won the Most
Popular SK Modified Driver award for a division record 4th consecutive year.
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