The 4th Turn  ~ by Tom Boggie

Welcome to The 4th Turn

Longtime dirt track racing fans will remember The 4th Turn was the name of the column I started writing for The Schenectady Gazette in 1980. The first thing racing fans did on Friday morning was grab a cup of coffee and the Gazette to see what was in The 4th Turn.

Now that I’ve retired from the Gazette, The 4th Turn will appear exclusively on the Albany-Saratoga Speedway website every Friday morning during racing season, just like the old days.

So tell your family, friends, go on Facebook, whatever, and let them know The 4th Turn is back, and where they can find it. (It will also be searchable on the website as its own category)

Buckle up. It might be a bumpy ride.

Tragedy And A Tribute

The area racing community was shocked this week with the news that Bryan Goewey had died.

Although many people remember Goewey through his affiliation with his family’s car dealership business, he made many lasting relationships through racing.

Goewey was part of the Lebanon Valley Speedway “Rat Pack,” which included Randy Ross, Rick Beckmann and Dave Leckonby. After a couple of years doing all the crap jobs on other drivers’ cars, Ross and Goewey decided to strike out on their own, with Goewey behind the wheel.

Goewey’s driving career was like a meteor – it burned bright for a short period of time, and then was gone completely. In 1988, he and Ross made their first appearance at Super DIRT Week at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, and after winning the non-qualifiers race, Goewey drove to a fifth-place finish in the 200, and earned Rookie of the Race honors.

In three runs at Syracuse, Goewey finished fifth, sixth and 15th. His average finish of 8.7 is still the best in Super DIRT Week history for any driver with at least three starts.

As quickly as it started, Goewey gave up his driving career to concentrate on his business, but got back behind the wheel again in 1994 to run a limited Busch North schedule in his own car, sponsored by Primetime Vans. He only ran four races that season, but achieved what was one of the highlights of his career on June 5, 1994, when he finished fourth in the Watkins Glen 125. In those days, the Busch North series had its own Capital District clique, which included Goewey, Brian Ross, Jeff Spraker, Randy Snyder and another former Lebanon Valley big block driver, Steve Nowakowski.

Goewey kept his hand in racing by being an owner. In 1998, he prepared a car for Dave Blaney to run at Syracuse, and Goewey later put Blaney behind the wheel of a Busch Series car in 2001. Goewey’s stable of drivers also included both Jack and Ronnie Johnson, as well as Tony Stewart.

Ironically, when Goewey finished fourth at Watkins Glen, his crew chief was Greg Zipadelli, who went on to become Stewart’s Winston Cup crew chief. So when Stewart wanted a ride at the Valley, Goewey always made sure he had one.

I had the pleasure of being friends with both Bryan and his brother KC, and I always found Bryan to be incredibly positive and upbeat, more concerned about sharing the spotlight than being the center of attention.

He was truly one of the great people in our sport.

THE TRIBUTE

No matter who you talk to, the conversation swings to Tuesday night’s “The Tribute” for Jack Johnson and C.D. Coville at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. The 61-lap race will pay $6,122 to win, all the laps have been sponsored, and there are a ton of bonus payouts.

The latest bonus is the B&H Auto Bonus. The award is in memory of Mike Budka, the owner of the No. 64 that both Johnson and Coville drove at one time or another at Albany-Saratoga, and is in honor of engine builder Walt Markert, who built the motors for the 64. The bonus is $200 to the first small-block powered car to finish Tuesday’s race.

In doing additional research for the “Tribute,” I found some items that were typical C.D. One is a photo of Coville with car owner John Bruno. If you remember, Coville and Bruno teamed up to win the Albany-Saratoga championship in 1987. The great thing about the photo is that Coville is wearing a Hauser Trucking firesuit!

Coville won four Super DIRT Series races during his career. The first was in 1979 at Weedsport, when he was driving Jerry Barnowski’s Perth Lumber Wagon.

In 1983, Coville won the opening race of the season at Orange County Speedway, and then ended the season with a win in the Eastern States 200, probably the most prestigious win of his career.

And how many drivers get to compete in a house car? Although official records state that Coville campaigned his own car at Albany-Saratoga in 1992, that car was actually owned by Albany-Saratoga promoter C.J. Richards and was numbered 69, just like Richards’ old Sunkist-sponsored mini-stock. Coville used to joke that the car was sponsored by the law firm of Dewey, Cheatum and Howe.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Bobby Varin won Wednesday night’s King of DIRT 358 series race at Devil’s Bowl Speedway. He was followed by Jeremy Wilder and Marc Johnson. Varin, who had never raced at the Bowl before, took home $2,500 for his victory in the Palmer’s Service Center 76.

Glen Ridge Motorsports Park has had a problem with fluctuating car counts in its Crate Modified division, so track officials announced this week that regular modifieds will be added to the racing card this Sunday.

Nice to see Eddie Marshall back in victory lane at Lebanon Valley Speedway. He ended a four-year dry spell in last Saturday’s modified feature.

This Friday night’s racing card at Albany-Saratoga Speedway includes the annual Mark Hughes Memorial sportsman race.

Derrick McGrew Jr. picked up his third limited sportsman win of the season at Fonda Speedway last Saturday. The younger McGrew, who is only 12, is still going through a learning curve at Albany-Saratoga, but seems to be improving every week.