The 4th Turn

~ By Tom Boggie 

There used to be a time when Nick Stone did a lot of racing, and a lot of winning.

But these days, he’s busy running Stone Motorsports in Rotterdam, and has cut back on his racing schedule. But that doesn’t mean he still can’t win a big race or two.

Stone picked up the biggest pro-stock victory of his career last weekend when he took the checkered flag in the Short Track Championship at Charlotte, N.C.

Stone originally wasn’t going to make the 800-mile trip to Charlotte with car owner Jason Meltz. No, Stone wanted to stay closer to home, and race at Utica-Rome Speedway last Sunday.

But as has happened so often at Utica-Rome this season, the forecast was for rain, so on Thursday, track officials pulled the plug on what was going to be a make-up show.

So Stone and Meltz decided to head South.

Despite being a little off on setup early in the Saturday portion of the show, Stone qualified seventh, and the crew started tinkering on the car.

“We were kinda off for our heat and practice,” Stone said in an interview with Cristina Cordova of DIRTcar after his win. “We found some issues under the hood with the motor and changed some handling stuff. We got the car handling real nice and it all worked out.”

The win was worth $3,000. Stone held off another Capital Region driver, Chuck Dumblewski of Amsterdam, to get the victory. If you remember, Dumblewski also finished second in the pro stock race at Oswego during Super DIRT Week.

Stone is making a habit of winning big races late in the season. In September, he pulled into Devil’s Bowl Speedway for the first time in his career and won the King of DIRT Series Carl Vladyka Memorial that was part of the Vermont 200 weekend.

Last year, he had two wins at Fonda Speedway, including the Honda Classic on Aug. 2. That was his second straight win in the tribute race for Honda Carpenter.

Stone, who started racing in 1998, is one of just four drivers at Fonda Speedway with over 40 pro-stock victories. He sits fourth on the all-time list with 42.

Only 18 pro stocks made the long haul to Charlotte, but the Capital District was well-represented. In addition to Stone and Dumblewski, Fonda Speedway champion Kenny Gates finished fifth, Jay 
Casey was sixth and Albany-Saratoga champion Kenny Martin was eighth and earned the Hard Charger Award after starting 15^th. Finishing just outside the top 10 was Dan Older of Ballston Spa, who finished 11^th, and won his heat race.

In the sportsman division at Charlotte, Robert Bublak Jr. finished ninth, and David Schilling of East Greenbush was 20^th. Schilling started on the pole, but suffered a flat tire late in the race.

The final DIRTcar big block race of the season will be held this weekend at Charlotte. Matt Sheppard has a 42-point lead over Erick Rudolph in the battle for the modified championship,

BOBCO TAKING OVER

The annual St. Patrick’s Day weekend car show at the Viaport Mall in Schenectady will be seeing some changes this season.

Bob James of Bobco Video is taking over the show, which will now be called the Northeast Racecar Show. Cars from any track in the Northeast can participate, and the show will also include go-karts and Slingshots.

Entries for the show will open on Dec. 1. Entry forms will be available at bobcoracingvideo,com.

Organizers are already tossing around ideas on how to generate more interest in the show. How about a Hall of Famers booth? I’m sure drivers like C.D. Coville, Dave Lape and Ken Tremont Jr. would love to come out and sign some autographs for a while.

Don’t forget the third annual Elmo’s Speed Shop swap meet at Albany-Saratoga Speedway on Nov. 11.