Awesome! Fantastic! I can’t believe they do that with 20 other cars around them!!
Those are just a few of the comments heard after people took a ride in the Oswego Speedway 2-seat Supermodified during the 2010 season. “We were going down the front straight at 130 miles an hour, I knew we were going to crash, I shut my eyes, then we were going down the back straight,” said one very satisfied race fan.
In all nearly 200 people took a ride on the wild side in the 2-seat Supermodified. They came from NY, PA, NJ, DE, MD, NH, MA, FL, MI, OH, CO, TX, and ONT and QUE, Canada. Not one of them left unsatisfied. To a person, any who had ridden in the NASCAR, IRL or any other 2-seat program, said this was the best. The 2–seat Supermodified was more like the real thing.
One person said “from the grandstand it looks so smooth. On the track it is anything but smooth. It seems like the car is never really straight.” While another said, “You just can’t believe how close to the wall you are. I swear, in turn one I could reach out and touch the inside wall, and in turn two I could touch the outside wall”
Probably the most successful weekend of the year was International Classic Weekend when 26 fans had the opportunity to Ride with a Legend. Pat Abold, Eddie Bellinger, Greg Furlong, Joe Gosek, Davey Hamilton and Doug Heveron all donated their time to give 4 fans a ride in the 2-seat Supermodified, and Chris Heagerty was the high bidder at $850.00 to take a ride with Bentley Warren. Bentley then came up with a plan to give not only Chris, but the runner-up bidder as well, a ride. Proceeds from the Ride with the Legends went to Cleaning for a Reason, the cancer support group which has been given tremendous support by Tom Heveron, Jr.
A lot of the success of the 2-seat Supermodified program goes to Keith Gilliam. “Keith not only drove the 2-seat Supermodified for the vast majority of all the rides,” said 2-seat Supermodified coordinator Roy Sova, “but he also maintained it on a weekly basis all season long, said Sova. “When we blew the engine, boy that is a ride some fan is never going to forget, Doug Holmes of Finger Lakes Auto Machine stepped to the plate and had the engine rebuilt and Keith had it back in the car for our next scheduled rides.” A lot of people were with the 2-seat Super almost every week and “without people like Keith, Doug, Trina Helmke, Lisa, Butch Kisselstein, Pinner, Debbie Bond, Mike Howell, we never could have done it.”
Perhaps the greatest ride of all for the 2010 season went to Peter Dougall of Fishers Landing, NY. On August 21 Peter got to start the feature in the 2-seat Super. Peter got to get pushed off with the rest of the starting field, scrubbed his tires, took the hot laps with the field, and then fell into line for the start. Coming down for the start, between turns 3 and 4, a car ahead of them slipped out to the wall. “We had to pass him!” said an elated Dougall. The thrill wasn’t over yet. Coming off turn 4 for the green two cars came together, both out for the night. The 2-seat Super made it’s way through the carnage and again fell in at the rear of the field. Dougall exited the track before the ensuing restart, but he knew what had happened. “We started 21st,” said Dougall. We passed that one car between 3 and 4, then got two more that crashed. We finished 18th!!” Although there was no payday involved for Dougall, he said he was still smiling about it weeks after the event.
“The 2-seat Supermodified will be back better than ever for the 2011 season,” said Sova. “We plan to have a fan start the feature every week. We’ll be doing more corporate events, and even special events like birthday parties. Look for us to be at the National Parts Peddler show at the NYS Fairgrounds in mid-November when we will have some show specials and Christmas specials.”
Next year you can be one of the people taking a Ride on the Wild Side in the 2-seat Supermodified at the Oswego Speedway! For more information on the 2-seat Supermodified call Roy Sova at 315-297-2262.