Most of my memories of past Turkey Derby’s are of COLD weather. In recent years I have ventured to Lakeland, Florida to cover the Hooters ProCup finale on the Saturdays after Thanksgiving, only to find that it gets cold there too. Humor me by reading along as I relate my enjoyable experience of this weekend past.

Those who know me are familiar with the fact that I generally travel to races solo. Doing so affords me the ability to be more flexible with my schedule and has allowed me to carry tons of (expletive deleted) around with me “in case I need it”. My trip to Wall Township Speedway for the Thanksgiving weekend classic would be different this time.

I spoke to Ted Baxter about the Hampton Jitney trip to the Derby a couple of weeks ago. Ted, who is known to our faithful Message Forum patrons as TBax, puts together race tours from single-day trips for Modified Events to full out packages with tickets and hotel accommodations for Cup weekends including Daytona Speedweeks. We left Riverhead a little before 7AM and the trip to the track seemed to take no time at all. I’ll discuss my great Jitney experience further later in this missive.

As cold as the weather was on Long Island Friday, I expected it to be even colder in New Jersey Saturday. It was pretty chilly but not too cold to keep an enthusiastic crowd from showing up for this great event. One thing the temperature did affect was traction. When the Open or Tour type Modifieds went out for time trials, there were several that didn’t even wear the labels off of their sticker tires during their runs.

It certainly would have been a good idea to give the competitors an additional hot-lap before taking the green flag for their runs. Two competitors that did turn fast qualifying laps were disqualified. Officials detected that the tires of the #99 of Pete Brittain and the #05 of Joe Hartman had been “altered”. Both were able to transfer into the feature event by earning a spot in the second “B” main.

Several drivers had a difficult time getting around the track in time trials. No one had more trouble than Matt Hirschman. The second-generation driver stuck his #52 into the first turn guardrail on his warm-up lap. Officials awarded Hirschman a provisional qualifying spot based on the fact that he is this season’s RoC Tour champion.

It was great to see Alex at Wall. I was a little disappointed that he hadn’t worn his lederhosen. He won his Pick-6 bets and I guess as a result he won’t be forced to wear such attire. I wouldn’t be surprised if he showed up wearing them with a Robin Hood hat next season. TBax presented Alex the trophy for the Pick-6, Eno Lirpasti’s Beer Stein. Alex gave Ted an Eno Lirpasti shirt.

There have been many changes to what was once Wall Stadium. I mentioned the changes to the pit area in the article I wrote when the WMT visited Wall in June of ’03. The one thing that really amazed me was Wall Township Speedway’s electronic scoring system. Not only does this system provide the facilitation of quick practice and time trial sheets, it also automatically adjusts the scoreboard and posts the qualifying time of the current car a top the scoring pylon.

The last time I was at WTS for a Tour show, Steve Owen also pitched in with an article that included his fried Oreo experience. Fried Oreos? I figured if they were still selling them that no one had died from eating them. I tried them out and they were actually quite good.

Bob Finan had joined us on our Jitney ride from the Island. This was a rare venture for the veteran Riverhead Raceway announcer. To his recollection, this was only the second time he had left Long Island in well over a decade. It probably goes back to when coffee was twenty-five cents a cup.

Ted and I thought Bob was just with us to watch the race. Surprise, surprise, Finan stirred himself to a frenzy in the announcer’s booth adding a little excitement on top of an event that already had seen some. Bob pitched in to help announce the Open feature. He was in rare form.

Prior to the Open or Tour type Modified race, the Wall Modifieds took to the track for their first of three fifty-lap affairs. Track workers spent about a half hour separating three cars that crashed into the turn one rail in most spectacular fashion. One of the competitors blew his engine going into the turn and the three in the pile as well as several others were just “along for the ride” as the track became devoid of traction. Check out Howie’s photo in the gallery to see the aftermath. It looked like they were trying to build a house of cars.

John Blewett, III has demonstrated that his family team will be one to watch in 2006. JB started third, quickly worked his way to the lead and managed his tires like a champ. John took down the victory the way other champions like Stefanik and Hirschman have, by driving as fast as he needed to, not as fast as he could.

Several competitors chose to take on tires to blast through the field. There was no limit to the number of tires that could be changed at the Turkey Derby. The fresh rubber was a distinct advantage for all of those who chose to do this. Unfortunately for those who did choose to change tires, they seemed to bounce off of one another on the way toward the front. I don’t think Tim Arre and Ted Christopher are exchanging Christmas cards this year.

Jimmy Blewett seemed to put on one of the best shows coming through the field out of those who took tires. Despite getting put out-of-shape and losing a few spots, he wound up sixth. Matt Hirschman salvaged a podium finish out of a day that started so poorly. He brought the #52 home third.

Two drivers that had “retired” returned to have good runs at Wall. Ken Wooley and Tony Ferrante, Jr. finished second and fifth respectively. Eric Beers quietly finished fourth in the Bierce #19.

Early in the second Wall Modified feature, one of the competitors spilled antifreeze on the track. That would make for a long fifty lapper. I headed back to the bus.

Hampton Jitney is not a bus company that shuttles the masses around. This is a company that specializes in customer service for Manhattanites who like to be pampered on trips to the Hamptons. Their buses are luxurious coaches equipped with VCR and DVD players, Wi-Fi Internet access and driven by courteous chauffeurs.

The trip to Wall seemed short for a couple of reasons. First off, this guy could really wheel; he got us there in a hurry. Secondly, we watched tapes of races from Islip Speedway in ’84 and Star in ’90 among others. On the way home we were treated to the ESPN broadcast of the ’98 Martinsville Tour race.

For those who are interested in catching up on some old races, call Channell 1 video at 1-888-RaceVideo [722-3843] toll free nationwide. See what they have available at www.racevideo.com. Videos from Channell 1 are available on DVD and VHS. Many races, including the North-South Shootout™ should be available for holiday gifts for that special someone.

We talked about Bones Bourcier’s book RICHIE! on the bus too. That and many other racing books are available from Lew Boyd’s www.coastal181.com. I highly recommend Racing Safely, Living Dangerously, which is the autobiography of Bill Simpson that Bones help put together. Visit the site to see all of the great titles or call Coastal 181 at (978) 462-2436.

Many of the folks on the Jitney bus slept to and from the track. It was a very comfortable ride and the price is about the same as what one would have spent on gas and tolls alone. I don’t think there is any doubt that I am going look up Ted for a couple of races next season.

To get on the mailing list for Hampton Jitney Race Tours call 1-800-327-0732 or email Ted at hamptonjitney@yahoo.com. There are currently sixteen packages scheduled for Cup weekends for 2006. Ted also has packages where folks can fly in and “Meet us there” where Hampton Jitney provides tickets, hotel accommodations and ground transportation between the hotel and the track.

In addition there is a tour scheduled to Englishtown, NJ for the NHRA Supernationals and tours to Atlantic City, Canada, Broadway plays and snowbird service to Florida. All tours are reasonably priced. Visit their website at www.hamptonjitney.com.

Some of the videos we watched were from Tom Baldwin’s personal stash. Steve Halpin generously brought them along and I can’t wait to see some more of them. We had a great bunch of people on the bus and I think that any race fan would have had a blast on board. The next scheduled Hampton Jitney Race Tour will be one-day trip to the Motorsports 2006 show at the Fort Washington, PA Expo Center on Saturday, January 14th. For more information about the Motorsports 2006 show visit www.aarn.com/ms-about.html.

There doesn’t seem to be anything that has come about to break up the logjam in the rumor mill. The key to figuring out the puzzle is likely to be when Ted Christopher solidifies his plans. I don’t have any news on who will be where beyond speculation at this point.

The next event on the schedule for us is the Whelen Modified Tour banquet at Mohegan Sun December 16th. Vicki is flying in for the event and I hope everyone gets a chance to meet her. We hope to see everyone there.