The 4th Turn

~ By Tom Boggie

Remember when you were a teenager, and asked your father if you could borrow the car? His response was usually something like, make sure you bring it back in one piece.

Bodie Bellinger might want to think twice the next time his father decides to borrow the car.

The Bellinger Racing Team returned to Albany-Saratoga Speedway in full force Friday night, with Bodie as a spectator. Four weeks earlier, after a rainout at Albany-Saratoga, Bellinger and Jack Lehner went to Lehner’s house to ride ATVs. A crash sent Bellinger to the hospital.

“I got up on a couple of wheels, and I bailed,” said Bellinger, who still has his right arm in a sling, “I hit the ground and it [the ATV] landed on top of me. They had to lift it off me.”

Bellinger’s injuries included a broken shoulder blade, a broken collarbone, four broken ribs and a punctured lung. But his recovery is going well.

“I’m feeling better,” he said. “The doctor said I’m about 50 percent right now. I want to get back in time to run the Firecracker 50 [on July 3] at Fonda.”

When the 18B pulled back into the pits after hot laps last Friday, Bodie’s father, John, climbed out of the car. When I gave him the “Are you out of your mind?” question, he just gave me a little shrug and said, “Hey, I’m only 60.”

The team was back last Friday because Bodie had previously qualified for the “Come ‘N Get It” modified shootout, and promoter Lyle DeVore had told Bodie he could use a substitute driver. So John Bellinger wanted to get some track time before “Come ‘N Get It.”

“We’ll see how it goes,” said Bodie.

Well, things went from bad to worse. In the first modified heat, John avoided disaster when he pulled off a perfect 360 spin in the second turn and kept going. But after starting deep in the modified feature field, he only lasted two laps.

The third time around, Lehner got around in the second turn and Bellinger had nowhere to go, slamming into Lehner’s car (as Alanis Morissette would say, isn’t that ironic) and flipped a couple of times. The 18B was done for the night.

More irony: “Come ‘N Get It” was rained out for the third time on Wednesday night and rescheduled for Sept. 19, meaning Bodie will be healed and will be able to campaign the car himself.

WILD KINGDOM

Ken Tremont Jr., Ron Hedger and I were shooting the breeze Friday night, discussing the pros and cons (mostly cons) of the previous week’s race at Devil’s Bowl Speedway, when someone in Tremont’s hauler yelled, “Tell them what you hit.”

Anyone who’s driven back from Devil’s Bowl at night knows there’s all kinds of wildlife along the roads. So when Tremont saw something in the road, he swerved around it, hoping he didn’t hit anything. But the next day, he had a surprise.

“Take a look at this,” he said as he walked along the side of his hauler. “I must have nicked it.” Sticking out of the sidewall of one of the tires were about a dozen porcupine quills.

If those things can get through the sidewall of the tire, think what they could do to your leg.

BIG NIGHT AT THE VALLEY

Because of last week’s rainout, Lebanon Valley will be putting on an extended show Saturday, with double features for big blocks, small blocks and pro stocks.

The highlight of the card will be the seventh annual J.C. Flach Memorial, which will pay $5,000 to win this year. The memorial is a tribute to J.C. Flach, who was killed in a logging accident in September 2012.

Because Orange County isn’t racing this weekend (the track is holding its Spring Smashtacular), Brett Hearn will be back at the Valley for the Flach Memorial, and that’s only fitting, because he’s won three of the previous six tributes (2015, 2016 and 2018).

Andy Bachetti won the first J.C. Flach Memorial in 2013, and Kyle Hoffman recorded his only career big block win at the Valley in the memorial race in 2014. If I’m not mistaken, that was also the first win ever for the new DKM chassis that Hoffman, Eric Mack and Dave Constantino created.

Rob Pitcher won the memorial race in 2015, starting from the pole and leading flag-to-flag for his first big block win in five years.

Because of the rainout, the Maynard Forrette Memorial will also be run Saturday. That race will pay $2,500 to win, which means some big block driver could have a very lucrative night.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Marc Johnson had been good, but not great, in the first two modified features at Albany-Saratoga, so he decided to make some drastic changes. That resulted in his first win of the season last Friday.

“I was just confused,” he said after his win. “I was getting thrown for a loop by what the car was doing, so I switched everything up. I just went with my gut, the car felt a lot better, and here we are.”

Mike Mahaney ran into some bad luck last Friday at Albany-Saratoga. After winning his heat race, he went back out for hot laps, and the engine started smoking heavily in the Adirondack Auto-sponsored No. 35. He went through the pits, trying to find a car to borrow for the feature, but had no luck.

Tim Hartman Jr,’s expanded schedule took him to Big Diamond Speedway in Pottsville, Pa., on Monday night for the Short Track Super Series races. He didn’t qualify for the modified race in Jimmy Becker’s car, but he finished fifth in the North Region sportsman race.

Matt Sheppard won the modified race at Big Diamond, despite having a ton of bad luck. He drew one of the highest numbers for the heats and didn’t qualify. He came back to quality through one of the consis, and started 21^st in the modified 50-lapper. But he charged from the rear to get the win, which was worth $5,000.

Bachetti finished seventh at Big Diamond, while Stewart Friesen had mechanical problems in the Halmar 44 and finished 20^th.

Included on the card at Albany-Saratoga this Friday night is another $1,000 to win sportsman race, as well as the Ray Galusha Memorial for four-cylinders. Both the dual cam and single cam winners will receive $400.

Jessey Mueller got his first 358 modified win of the season last Saturday at Airborne, while 11-year-old Derrick McGrew Jr. chalked up the first DIRTcar sportsman victory of his career at the Plattsburgh facility. Only 12 cars started the 358 modified feature.

Cory Sparks won the CRSA sprint car feature at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park on Sunday. Former sportsman driver John Scarborough had a big lead, but blew his motor with two laps left, giving the win to Sparks. Jeff Trombley finished third.

Congratulations to Brian Calabrese for getting his first “official” sportsman win at Fonda Speedway last Saturday. Calabrese had been awarded a win on Aug, 20, 2016, when he finished second to John McAuliffe. McAuliffe was then disqualified for refusing to pull the motor out of his car.