Top Ten 2004

01/05/05

 

As I was driving home last evening minding my own business and relaxing after a long day of work and play, George called. It’s January and that means that it is the time of year for our “best of” issue where we re-print a couple of our favorite or “best” columns of the past year. I love January, it’s like a freebie. I write nothing, and yet, have a couple columns in the paper anyway. When I answered the phone I was quite sure that he wanted me to tell him which couple of columns I thought were deserving of being re-printed this year. George, of course, had other ideas. “I’m going to write a new column with the top ten stories of 2004 instead of using old, recycled columns” he says “And, I’m going to leave it totally up to you to do whichever you want”.

          In the interest of proving to myself that I am up to the challenge of actually writing a new column in the month of January, and to prove to everyone else that I’m not a total slacker, here is my take on the top ten BNS stories of 2004.

          #10: Brad Leighton, now running a part time schedule, gets his first ever road course win at Lime Rock Park and then follows it up at Watkins Glen to sweep the road courses for 2004. And I thought the only thing Brad understood about Lime Rock was how to throw a championship victory party there when it was the last race of the season.

          #9: Beech Ridge race cancelled due to rain. No rain date? Not rescheduled? Someone just doesn’t “get it”.

          #8: Our own Martin Truex Jr. after graduating from the BNS goes on to bigger and better things by not only winning the Busch Series championship, but replacing an injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. at NHIS and starting his first Nextel Cup race at Atlanta.

          #7: The weather played a part in many of our races this season. Qualifying was rained out for 3 races that lined up on points, 2 races were cancelled and the September NHIS race ran on a Monday. More importantly, many campers were flooded out in the campgrounds at a couple tracks. Maybe we could try dirt racing and asphalt camping?

          #6: It was announced in late December that the BNS would return to its roots and run at Oxford Plains Speedway in 2005! When you are living in this part of the country and traveling to all these races, a race at the only track less than an hour away is huge news.

          #5: Dave Dion won the pole award for 2004 by winning 3 poles this season. Wow, where did that come from, Dave? As Dave is older than even I am, we’ll be renaming it next season. What has been the “pole” award will now be known as the “cane” award.

          #4: The new much-advertised and much-looked-forward-to race at Wall Stadium was not only postponed due to rain, but then completely cancelled after all the teams made two trips to New Jersey. My guess is that we won’t be there in 2005. Again, someone just doesn’t “get it”.

          #3: Andy Santerre won his third championship in a row. If this was a “top 10 biggest surprises for 2004” column, this wouldn’t even be included because no one was at all surprised, but as a story, it is certainly big. What a tremendous accomplishment for Andy, Bessey Motorsports, Aubuchon, Castle and everyone involved.

          #2: Ryan Moore signed a development contract with DEI. This is exciting! I can remember being at Daytona in 1990 and watching Kelly run in one of his two Busch races at the speedway and Ryan is really a ‘chip off the old block’. No one is more deserving of this honor than the Moores are and no one will work any harder at it than Ryan will. I predict that one of the top ten stories of 2005 will be the early success that this team has.

          My pick for the #1 story of 2004: The most treacherous mile in motorsports. Not Dover, not NHIS, not even the access road to the NHIS campgrounds. The “Tower Road” right here in Central Maine, just seconds from my home. Twice during the past season I have received an early morning phone call to come rescue one of my teenage children from their totally destroyed vehicle on the same one mile stretch of road. First it was my son, a flock of wild turkeys and a sheared off telephone pole. Later in the season, it was my daughter, a deer and an upside-down ride through the trees. Thankfully, there were only cuts and bruises and both were able to strap back in as soon as car owner Dad managed to bring out a back-up car. I now fully understand the cost and frustration of wrecked race cars.

Everyone has read by now that Andy Santerre will be leading the Grizco team in 2005 for drivers Mike Stefanik and Brad Leighton. What you don’t know is that there was a major bidding war for Andy’s services next season. Steve Griswold wanted, and ultimately got, Andy to head up his team in the North Carolina shop that he has been working out of. I wanted Andy to move back to central Maine and continue his driving career. I could have put Andy to work driving my kids to school and work each day and to dances and the movies each night. I could have paid Andy a very fair wage and offered him an endless supply of vehicles to use. With the insurance and vehicle savings that I would have realized, I could have still saved many dollars per year. Congratulations to Grizco on their new hire. I’m going to give Tracy Gordon a call, he lives pretty close by. Any other drivers that want to apply for this position should see me at the Busch North Scene Poker Run in Rangeley on January 29^th.

As always, send Questions, Comments, Hate Mail, and Indecent Proposals to, Fish c/o Busch North Scene or e-mail them to fishy@ctel.net