If there ever was to be a national “Motorsports Holiday”, it would have to be Memorial Day Weekend. Every track, organization, or division in America seems to have a big show this weekend. The Indy 500 and Coke 600 grab the national headlines, but it’s the short tracks that make up the bread and butter of auto racing. That holds true here at Oswego Speedway also. On tap this weekend is one of the headliner shows of the year, the Shampine, Evans and White Memorial shows.
In the past, it was called Port City Weekend, but now has been renamed for three of the drivers that made longstanding marks on their respective divisions. Many tracks have memorial shows, and remember drivers gone by. This show, however, has major significance here, These three drivers, Jimmy Shampine, Richie Evans and Tony White, not only raced here, but they won here and have legacies that will be carried out through time. Let’s take a quick look at each of the drivers the races are named after this weekend.
Anybody that has ever heard of a supermodified has heard of Jimmy Shampine. Simply put, Jimmy is the one driver, builder, and innovator that had the most influence on the supermodified division, ever. To that point, one of Jimmy’s creations of over 20 years ago, the offset engine, is still very prevalent today in supermodifieds.
Jimmy built a rear engine car in 1979 that was so fast, track officials had to ban it for fear of making the supermodified division obsolete. Records you ask? Jimmy has a few. Most wins in a season, Jimmy is tied with Todd Gibson and Doug Heveron with 13. Jimmy ripped off 11 straight feature wins in 1978, in that offset engine. People always talk about records that will never be broken, Jimmy has one of those too. He picked up a total of 87 supermodified feature wins in his career. That can be put in a better perspective too, as Jimmy started from 18th every week, back in the day. Add in seven track titles, three Classic wins, one of which he is the only driver to lead all 200 laps, and 5 modified wins at Oswego also are part of the Shampine legacy. As respected as he was on the race track, Jimmy was the nicest guy outside of the race car as well. If some needed a part, advice, a pat on the back, or someone to speak to the local school kids, Jimmy was the first in line with a smile on his face. We lost Jimmy Shampine on Sept. 4, 1982, as he was involved in a turn two accident in the Budweiser Modified 200.
Richie Evans was the best modified driver, ever. The modifieds have a long history up and down the east coast, and drivers today can look no further than Richie to thank for that. The “Rapid Roman” won 477 feature events, everywhere from Daytona, to Star, both Pocono tracks, and Fulton. Richie even has a supermodified win at Thompson to his credit. Richie more than left his mark at Oswego Speedway also. Modified racing at Oswego has always brought the best of the best. Back in the 70’s the big three were Richie, Maynard Troyer and Geoff Bodine. They dominated competition here, with Richie the top dog. Richie picked up his first Oswego win on a Wednesday night special, July 12, 1972. His last Oswego victory was the season ender in 1985. Between those shows, he won a total of 13races, and had 34 top fives, both all time Oswego modified records. It didn’t matter if it was a 30 lap sprint, or a 200 lap strategy race, you had to beat the “Big Orange” 61 to get the checkered flag. Richie Evans was named in the last few years as one of the top 50 NASCAR drivers of all time. Richie Evans was killed in a practice crash at Martinsville Speedway in 1985, just weeks after his last Oswego win.
Tony White was the kind of driver the limited supermodified division typifies. He was a guy that always wanted to race at Oswego Speedway, but couldn’t afford a supermodified. When the stock cars came to Oswego, Tony got his chance. He had success in the stockers, and advanced up to the limiteds after a couple of years. Tony got the feel of the limiteds, and got quicker as time went on. He picked up his first limited win on 4th of July weekend. Tony White is the only driver to win features in the super stocks and limited supermodified divisions. Tony White was the driver “Joe Race Fan” could root for. Tony was a blue collar guy that during the week, owned a business with his brother Wayne, and on the weekend got in his race car. It’s fitting this weekend’s race is named for Tony, as possibly his finest hour came last weekend in this show. With an ill handling car, he held off all of the top drivers in the limited supermodified feature until the final laps of the race. It was an outstanding performance. It’s only fitting the races this weekend are named after these three gentleman.
See you at the races.