As Usual, NASCAR Gets It Wrong

London, Ontario (October 29, 2009) - My opinion of Dick Berggren is occasionally on the low end of the spectrum, but he definitely got it right Sunday night on Wind Tunnel from Thompson Speedway. Host Dave Despain asked "Doctor Dick" his thoughts on the inaugural class of inductees for NASCAR's new hall of fame, to which he replied that Raymond Parks ought to have been among them.

The omission of anyone from the first years of NASCAR other than Bill France, Sr. is disapointing, but not surprising. Pick up a copy of Driving With The Devil if you want to learn about NASCAR's real beginnings. I agree with Kevin Eckert's philosphy about halls of fame; going in on the first ballot is not particularly important, but at 95 years old, Parks is not going to be here forever. Let's hope he's still around to see his name go up on the wall.

Exactly a month after his terrible crash at Terre Haute Action Track, Travis Rutz went home to Langley, BC on Tuesday. He's still in a coma and has a long recovery ahead of him, so keep the donations coming.

Mark Sammut was just over 6 laps away from his third career ISMA victory on Sunday at Thompson, CT but it wasn't to be. Sammut lost his right front wheel on lap 43 of the ISMA finale after holding off fellow Canuck Mike Lichty for much of the event. Chris Perley made a spectacular charge to cap off another championship season with the feature win at Thompson, while Sammut finished the season ranked second in points, his best finish yet in ISMA.

While most Canadian racers are done for the season, Ryan Litt is not. The London, Ontario resident will head for North Carolina and Florida in November to compete with the TBARA series. Litt will drive a third entry for DeCaire Motorsports, a strong team in the Southeast that has claimed the last two TBARA championships. The Concord, NC event is part of the North-South Shootout weekend where Supermodifieds have run, but are replaced with Sprint Cars this year.

More sprint car rookies are on the horizon for Ontario next season. Aylmer's Stevin Goldner will make the jump from the JCAR series up to full size cars next year, and he'll do it with a chassis some sharp-eyed fans might recognize. A brand new car in the 2005 season, it had just 7 races on it when Les MacMillan packed it in.

How good can Jesse Hockett be? Some quick reading before the TJSlideways show Tuesday night revealed "Rocket Hockett" has 25 feature wins in the last 12 months, including the Oval Nationals ($12,500), Ronald Laney Memorial ($13,000), and the Ultimate Challenge ($15,000)...and he's only 26 years old.

Send your comments, thoughts, complaints, and whatever else you've got to tommygoudge@hotmail.com and until next time, keep visiting www.TravisRutz.com.