Full Moon Fever

London, Ontario (December 3, 2009) - Strange occurrences in the sporting world over the last few days made me wonder if there was a full moon...as it turns out, it was yesterday.

Superstition is something I've tried to get away from over the years - I don't have much of a choice really after smashing so many mirrors at a demolition job in my teen years, and having a black cat. I have, however, come to believe that strange and/or interesting things DO happen around the time of the month when the moon is full.

Just a few things that happened over the last few days:

- Florida Panthers Defenseman Keith Ballard sends teammate Tomas Vokoun to the hospital with a swing A-Rod would be proud of..

- The Roughriders squander their chance at a second Grey Cup in three years, Don Cherry-style.

- Sabres goalie Ryan Miller's clearing attempt goes through a small cutout in the glass where photographers point their cameras, hitting a Toronto Star photog in the face.

- The Buffalo Bills win a football game, and the Maple Leafs get a shutout.

This last item is enough to make me think hell has frozen over too...

Earlier this year the full moon struck a couple of times at races I was working. In July just a few days after a full moon, "Batman" Adam West passed Rick Wilson for a feature win...Has anyone ever passed Rick Wilson on the outside for a win at Brighton before?!

Under an August full moon, we had one of the longest, most wreck-filled nights of racing I've seen at Ohsweken. Teammates Glenn Styres and Ryan Hunsinger crashed heavily, Mikey Kruchka had a huge crash in turn two that left him injured for the remainder of the season, and tires were peeling off Thunder Stocks left and right.

One of the strangest nights of racing I've seen happened on the night of a full moon a few years ago at Auto City Speedway. Two Sprints and a Modified ended up on their lids that night - rarities at a paved track. On the drive home, we encountered a car driving in reverse down the interstate...

Speaking of Auto City, 410 sprint cars are back at the egg-shaped track this June after a year away. They'll be under the new Xtreme Sprint Series banner. The schedule for the series was released Tuesday, featuring twelve televised events on Comcast. While the Hoosier Outlaw Sprint Series is working with the new group, the Auto Value Super Sprints are not. In fact AVSS has a race scheduled at Berlin Raceway on the same day as the Auto City race. On the other hand, AVSS will NOT be a part of the season ending Open Wheel Spectacular at Berlin. Go figure.

This week's trivia: Mike Ling of Mount Brydges, Ontario was first to break the 13 second barrier at Auto City. Just eighty miles from the Bluewater Bridge, Auto City could have been considered Mike's "home track" before Delaware returned to the AVSS schedule. It was sort of a home track for me too, actually...

The USAC Western Sprint Car series portion of Turkey Night at Irwindale, CA once again featured a few Canadians last week. Chris Schmelzle, Jeff Bird, and Matt Mansell made the long trip from Vancouver Island for the 69th annual race. Bird came out best of the Canucks with a 16th place finish.

The off-season upgrades continue for Ontario's Sprint Car teams. Chris Jones has a J&J chassis for next year, while Rick and April Wilson are going to try some 410 racing.

"We might run Florida in February," says April. "If not, then we are for sure going to run a few races in PA in March, and go 360 racing in the summer. Then if there's any 410 races close like Ohsweken we will go!"

A piece of Ontario racing history changed hands in October. The restored Ted Hogan/Doug Duncan "Flying 7" sold for $13,375 CAD at an RM Auction.

It's been just short of fifty years since Hogan was killed in a small plane crash. Duncan went on to build the first truly successful rear engine Supermodified at Oswego, and passed away just a few years ago. A Don Edmunds Midget piloted to the 1972 USAC championship by Pancho Carter also sold at the auction for over $10,000.

If you lost out on the Hogan car, perhaps you'll be interested in The Time Machine, which is on the block these days. Both Flying 7 and Time Machine (to name just two) belong permanently in the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame, but they seem to have different priorities down there in Toronto.

Back to the Grey Cup for a moment...A lot of media folks pointed out various things that led to Saskatchewan coughing it up, but one play so far ignored is the 2-point convert attempt Montreal made after their touchdown made the score 27-25. Instead of tying the game, apparent pass interference that went uncalled kept the 'Riders in front with less than 2 minutes to play. Saskatchewan went two and out after the ensuing kickoff and gave the ball back to Montreal with enough time to get down the field and kick the winning field goal...but in a tie game Saskatchewan's play-calling may well have been different, with overtime a possibility.

It won't surprise me if somebody gets manure dumped on their lawn out in the prairies before this week is out, but way more than the too-many-men penalty is to blame for the Green Riders losing the game - They were ahead by sixteen points with less than eleven minutes left.

If you're in the area, come visit me in the booth at Sailors home games this winter. Or, just like Vegas, the inbox at tommygoudge@hotmail.com is always open too.