2020 NEAR Hall of Fame Cancelled

2020 NEAR Hall of Fame Cancelled.

The NEAR Board Members and Hall of Fame Executive Committee Representatives met at the ProNyne Motorsports Museum this past Sunday. After much discussion and after holding off as long as possible, we gave in to common sense. The decision was unanimously made to cancel the 2020 NEAR Hall of Fame Banquet.
As hard as this decision was to make, it was the right one. The Covid 19 pandemic has not moved on. Our facility for the event is still not open in Ct. A great number of our membership and honorees are in the highest risk group for infection. In the interest of being as safe as possible, we will regroup and try to have a stellar event in 2021!
Please note that all nominations for the 2020 Hall will be retained for consideration in 2021. We will continue to accept additional nominations until April of 2021. We thank any and all that have had a hand in the planning, sponsoring, and putting on of this event. Please continue to be safe and God Bless.

2020 Annual Meeting Report-Part 1

The  Annual  Member’s Meeting held on Sunday, Feb. 9th, 2020 was a well attended event. A great showing of members from all corners of New England were on hand to usher in a new season.  Spirits were high as we  got down to the business of the 2019 season ending awards, HOF Truck Committee news, 2020 schedule, Officer Elections, and Special Awards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Members were greeted at the door and memberships were available from Steve Masse and Valarie and Steve Tucker. Paul Masse had his modified model collection on hand, and he also helped Ric Mariscal man the NEAR t -shirt table. Ric and Pete Newsham teamed up to run the merchandise/memorabilia raffle that raised a little over $200 for the club. The man behind the camera that you never see is NEAR member Brad Cowan, thanks to him for all of our photos.

 

 

 

 

After a delicious luncheon served by Jim and the Thompson Staff, the business side of the meeting began. Current Board officers Rich Goucher,President, Skip Matczak,Vice President, Rob Quinn, Recording Secretary, Paul Masse, Bruce Nichols,and Dick Berggren were elected by popular vote. These officers ran un-opposed. Our open chair for Treasurer/Membership was nominated from the floor, as was another Board member. Elected by the membership by popular vote was April May Preston for Treasurer and Oscar Hancock for Board Member. Many thanks to these two for stepping up and helping our club!!

After being elected as a new Board Member Oscar Hancock, along with Rob Quinn, introduced their vision for the HOF Truck. They proposed that NEAR should authorize a new Hall of Fame Truck Committee. This group will take over fundraising, upkeep, everyday operations and responsibility for events. The truck will remain owned by NEAR and used for NEAR activities. The group displayed a new layout for the graphics on the truck that was very impressive!  They also have a great many sponsors lined up to share the costs involved. A motion was made, seconded, and approved to establish the Hall of Fame Truck Committee. All sponsor, donor,  gift monies and expenses will be run through the NEAR Treasurer’s office for proper book keeping  and reporting. Fantastic job, guys!

Current and this year’s new HOF Truck Graphics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEAR Banquet Tickets Going Fast!

Tickets for the 2018 NEAR Hall of Fame Banquet  on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018 are selling briskly. With Ted Christopher and Mike Stefanik leading a fine group into the Hall, friends, family, and fans want to be there to see the induction.

Jump on board and get yours now! Also available for promoting your business or team is the Hall of Fame Program, with very reasonable rates. See below for the links to download  both forms. See you at the banquet!!!!

NEAR 2018 Ad form

NEAR 2018 Banquet form

2018 HOF Class of 8 Announced

Article courtesy of author Justin St. Louis/Rutland, Vt. Herald

The New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame has announced its Class of 2018 with a decidedly northern flavor. The class has the highest percentage of new inductees from north of Massachusetts in the NEAR Hall’s 21-year history: Six out of the eight have strong ties to Vermont, New Hampshire or Maine.

Though his name may not be familiar to many stock car fans, Colchester’s John Buffum is the most high-profile inductee from the class. The driver, team owner and car builder is the most accomplished American in the history of rally racing, winning 118 events at the national level in the United States and Canada, three events internationally, and a pair of Pikes Peak Hill Climbs. Buffum was born and raised in Connecticut but has called Vermont home for more than 50 years. He can claim 23 national rally championships and one road racing title as a driver, and another 31 titles as a team owner and constructor. 

All three active Vermont stock car tracks find representation in the newly announced class.

North Ferrisburgh native Jamie Aube rose from humble beginnings at Barre’s Thunder Road and Milton’s Catamount Stadium to become a household name in the short track world. Aube won the nationally-respected Oxford 250 in 1987 and ’89 and also won three consecutive championships on the former NASCAR Busch North Series.


C.V. “Butch” Elms III is one of two dirt track stars to be named to the NEAR Hall of Fame. The North Haverhill, New Hampshire native is undeniably one of the most accomplished dirt drivers in the Northeast, taking 136 documented wins and 11 track championships. Elms is best known these days as the owner and promoter of Bradford’s Bear Ridge Speedway — where the bulk of his success came in his driving days — which he has owned since 1989.


Ken Tremont Sr. also represents the dirt world, and is the only non-New Englander in the Class of 2018. The all-time greatest car owner and engine builder at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, Tremont has 93 wins and 10 track titles (and counting) within the borders of New England, and he remains active with both his son, Ken Jr., and grandson, Montgomery, driving his cars. Tremont’s accomplishments in his native New York State — though they were not factored into his nomination by NEAR — bring his career totals to well above 350 race wins and nearly 50 championships.


As a driver, New Hampshire native Dick Glines won a championship in the highly-competitive Oxford Open Series and was a winner at several Maine tracks. As a crew chief, he was responsible for the rise and dominance of Robbie Crouch in the 1980s, winning 49 touring series races and five championships including three-straight on the American-Canadian Tour, and was Aube’s crew chief during his 1990 Busch North title run. As a fabricator, Glines built cars for eight additional Busch North championship teams, and his cars also won NASCAR Busch Series (now Xfinity) races.


Maine’s Pete Silva won more than 120 races on paved short tracks up and down the East Coast, and is considered to be one of the Southeast’s most legendary drivers. After winning Late Model Sportsman races in his native New England, Silva relocated to the Carolinas and won many races and track championships at places like Greenville-Pickens, Hickory and Asheville, racing against many drivers who went on to national prominence in NASCAR.


Finally, two giants of New England stock car racing will highlight the Hall: Mike Stefanik and the late Ted Christopher.


Stefanik, a Rhode Island racer and one of asphalt Modified racing’s very best, is a seven-time champion of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and the series’ all-time winner with 74 victories. He was an outstanding driver in full-fendered equipment as well, winning Busch North Series and Modified Tour titles in 1997 and 1998. He was the 1999 Rookie of the Year on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and has hundreds of victories in weekly short track competition.


Christopher, who was killed in an airplane crash last fall in his native Connecticut, owns more than 370 victories in his career in an almost immeasurable variety of race cars, from Modifieds to Midgets to Super Late Models and more. Christopher was the 2001 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion and the 2008 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion. He is the all-time winner at both Stafford Motor Speedway (131 victories) and Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (99).


The New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held Nov. 11 at Maneeley’s Banquet Hall in South Windsor, Connecticut. The ticket order form can be printed by following the link below this story.

 

2018 HOF ticket order form

Showers Stall Start of the 2018 NEAR Shows

Story and pictures courtesy of Bill Henry

 

Mother Nature took the start of the New England Antique Racer’s season by storm on April 29, 2018.

The annual Summer Knights Show was stopped in it’s  tracks by rain at the Berlin Lions Fair grounds in Berlin CT. The early morning rain deterred many folks from making the yearly trek to show number one. Not surprisingly, the hardy members of NEAR were there waiting for the start of the season.

In attendance waiting when John Jarush, of  the Summer Knights, made the decision to pull the plug were:

The 02 Vega of Butch Burbank, the 110 Coupe of Curt Snow, the 00 Corvair of Mike Rucci, and last year’s Show Champion Angie Bullock, accompanied by Bill Kemp, and Angie’s black beauty 088 coupe.

The weather continued to be poor after the 9:10 a.m. decision to call it a day. The Summer Knights went to work with the facility owners, the Lions Club, immediately. Mr. Jarush established a new date, with the same sign in time and venue on Sunday May 20, 2018.

John hopes to see everyone who did not make the trek this time on Sunday May 20, 2018, from 9 to 3. This is a huge fundraiser for the Knights, and NEAR’s long term association with this event has helped raise awareness for their causes.

Attendance points were awarded to those who made this trip, and will be awarded to those who make the show on the new date. Lets hope that the rest of the season will be safe and dry for the rest of the schedule in 2018!

Thanks again to those who attended, and we look forward to showing more cars on the new date.

NEAR ANNUAL MEMBER’S MEETING

2ND  UPDATE-MEETING  DATE  CHANGED  TO              

 

              SUNDAY, JANUARY 21st, 2018

     DUE  TO  SCHEDULING  CONFLICT  AT  TRACK

           

               THOMPSON  SPEEDWAY  CLUBHOUSE 

                              205  E  THOMPSON  RD.  THOMPSON, CT.

DOORS  AT  11 A.M. – MEMBER LUNCH  AT  NOON

                 FREE   LUNCH  FOR  PAID  MEMBERS – ALL  OTHERS  $10.00  CHARGE

       AWARDS FOR TOP FOUR CARS/DRIVERS 2017

           DISCUSSIONS FOR  RUNNING/STILL  SHOWS  2018 SEASON   SUGGESTIONS, COMMITTEE  FORMING  AND  ADDITIONS,  COMPLAINTS

           RACING ITEMS/MEMORABILIA  RAFFLE

        BRING ALONG  ANY  ITEMS  YOU  WISH  TO  CONTRIBUTE/DONATE  TO  RAFFLE

            MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS  AVAILABLE AND PROCESSED

   YOUR  INPUT  IS  WELCOMED  AND  APPRECIATED

 

 

Schaefer, Barbeau, McNulty Get NEAR Hall of Fame Bids

Submitted by Justin St. Louis

 

Veterans Committee elects three pioneers to join NEAR’s 20th Class

SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn. – A trio of well-travelled post-World War II drivers – Midget icon Dutch Schaefer and Modified standouts Joe McNulty and Henri “Red” Barbeau – are the Veterans Committee selections for induction into the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame. All three inductions will be made posthumously.

Long Islander Schaefer and New Englanders McNulty and Barbeau join drivers Russ Wood, Bobby Gahan, Gardiner Leavitt, and brothers Jeff and Rick Fuller, crew chief Steve Bird, car owner Tom Dunn, and announcer/promoter Ben Dodge Jr. in the Class of 2017. The induction ceremony is Sunday, Nov. 12, at Maneely’s Banquet Hall in South Windsor, Connecticut.

“Schaefer, who battled in Midget racing’s post-World War II golden era, and McNulty and Barbeau, who helped the Modified become New England’s signature division, are pioneers in every sense of the word,” said R.A. Silvia, chairman of the NEAR selection committee. “They had a definite impact on New England auto racing history.”

Active from 1933 until just short of his passing in 1978, Schaefer, a four-time ARDC king, was among the country’s Midget superstars and is a member of the National Midget Hall of Fame. A multi-time ARDC president as well, Schaefer included three Danbury Fairgrounds titles among his championships. A frequent NEMA competitor as well, the mustached driver won at a dozen New England tracks, including legendary ovals like Eastern States Exposition, Pines Speedway, Cherry Park, and Candlelight Stadium.

The personable McNulty, known for “taking care of the race car,” was a force in Southern New England in the 1950s and ‘60s, posting wins at Lonsdale, Seekonk, and the Waterford Speedbowl. He was also a winner at Norwood and the demanding Old Bridge in New Jersey, the latter two under the NASCAR banner. Bertha Small’s #23 and Slim Ross’ #222 were among the rides for the Providence native who raced out of Quaker Hill, Conn.

A Woonsocket, R.I., product, Barbeau was a familiar figure from the late 1940s into the early 1970s in both Modifieds and Cutdowns. Heading up Barbeau’s résumé is a major win at Pinecrest Speedway in Toronto in 1959 and a late model championship at Seekonk in 1973. Usually associated with the Reveraux/Auclair #L1 car, Barbeau was a force on a circuit that included, among other stops, Lonsdale, Westboro, West Peabody, Norwood, the Pines, and Seekonk speedways.

More information, including ticket purchases, is available at www.NEAR1.org.

NEAR Mitchell-Ratta Media Award to Veteran Reporters Danko, Herzig

Article by Justin St. Louis                                                                                 

The New England Auto Racers (NEAR) Hall of Fame has named two longtime stock car racing journalists, Brian Danko , left, and Tom Herzig, right, to receive the 2017 Mitchell-Ratta Media Award.

Bearing the names of respected motorsports writers Charlie Mitchell of the Norwalk (Conn.) Hour and Jack Ratta of the Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader, the annual award recognizes reporters dedicated to racing in the region.  Past recipients include writers Chris Economaki and Mark “Bones” Bourcier, and radio host Dave Moody.

Danko and Herzig will be honored at the NEAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Sunday, November 12, at Maneely’s Banquet Hall in South Windsor, Connecticut.  For more information including placing a ticket order, visit the official NEAR website at www.NEAR1.org.

Southington, Conn., native Danko is an open-wheel asphalt Modified racing authority, having covered the ground-pounders for over 40 years. Disappointed by a lack of coverage in his local newspaper, Danko took it upon himself to begin documenting the races at Plainville Stadium in the late 1970s for the New Britain (Conn.) Herald.  He soon branched out to Stafford Motor Speedway, Thompson Speedway, and Riverside Park, and eventually covered races from Maine to Florida to Indianapolis.

Danko has spent the last 30 years covering the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for Area Auto Racing News, and has also worked at the last 20 Daytona 500s.  He recently recalled a colorful experience sitting between Charlie Mitchell and Jack Ratta in the press box at Daytona International Speedway years ago: “Ithink they believed I needed some looking after,” he fondly remembered.  “They were both great writers and personalities.”

Herzig, a native of Charlestown, N.H., has been a respected racing journalist and publicist for 20 years with prolific contributions to some of New England’s most recognizable daily newspapers, including the Manchester Union Leader and the Barre-Montpelier (Vt.) Times Argus.

While writing columns and covering races for print, Herzig also served in public relations for promoter Tom Curley in 1997-2004, working the busy American-Canadian Tour circuit, Vermont’s Thunder Road Speedbowl, and New York’s Airborne Park Speedway.  He gave 10 more seasons at Airborne under promoter Mike Perrotte, and then spent one year as the DIRTcar Northeast Communications Director in 2015.

The well-traveled Granite Stater first cheered on his father, driver Ken Herzig, as he raced against NEAR Hall of Famers Sonny Rabideau and Roy Forsythe at the Cheshire Fairgrounds and at Claremont Speedway in the mid-1950s.  Herzig pitched to future Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk in high school, is an accomplished blues musician, and has also covered horse racing and high school and college sports for many years.

NEAR has already named eight new members for its Hall of Fame: Drivers Russ Wood, Bobby Gahan, Gardiner Leavitt, and brothers Jeff and Rick Fuller, crew chief Steve Bird, car owner Tom Dunn, and promoter and media man Ben Dodge Jr.; still to come are selections from the Veterans Committee.  For more information, visit www.NEAR1.org.

 

 

NEAR Prize Drawing Results From Meeting 9/20/17

NEAR will be in contact with all winners to deliver their prizes. Thank all who participated in order to help our HOF Truck Fund!

Grand Prize of $1000    Phyllis Wolstenhulme

Second Prize of $250   Cheryl Reilly

Third Prize  $125    John Rodolewicz

Fourth Prize    2 tickets 2017 HOF Banquet   Norman Cyr

Fifth prize        2 tickets 2017 HOF Banquet   Lou Kelley

Sixth Prize       2 tickets 2017 HOF banquet   Barbara Teal

Seventh Prize  2 tickets 2017 HOF banquet   Paul Jacques

Eight Prize         1 2017 HOF t shirt   Sydney Sullivan

Ninth Prize         1 2017 HOF t shirt   Bruce Mackinnon

Tenth Prize         1 2017 HOF T shirt   Cliff Polacek

Eleventh Prize    1 2017 HOF T shirt   Dave Beribeoulk

Twelve Prize        1 2017 HOF T shirt   Marion  Gararneau

Thirteenth Prize  1 2017 HOF T Shirt   Bill Seward

Fourteenth Prize 1 2017 HOF T shirt   Ted Palmer

Fifteenth Prize     1 2017 HOF T shirt   Jojo Farone