July has been a great month to be a race fan at Oswego Speedway. It’s always fun to be at the race track on a night where there’s a new winner. In July of the "60th Season" of operation, there were no less than six first time feature winners at the Big O.
Fourth of July weekend, we had two first time winners in the SBS division, as Bobby Henry and Krieg Heroth each reached the top step of the podium for the first time. The same night, Jeff Holbrook won his first Oswego feature in six years.
The next week, the record books added another chapter as the brothers Bond became the first set of brothers to win on the same race night. After years of trying, Bobby Bond finally won his first ever Oswego Speedway supermodified A main during King of Wings Weekend.
We may have saved the best for last, as we had two more first timers this past weekend, with Barry Kingsley and David Gruel forever making their marks in Oswego Speedway annals as feature winners. Saturday night will go into the books under the chapter, “Good Things Do Happen to Good People.”
David Gruel made the jump to supers this year, after a very successful SBS career. He came to Oswego in 2003 and has racked up an impressive resume in seven short years. David ranks fourth all time in SBS wins (15), sits in the top ten of all time SBS points, and came off a track championship in 2009. Going into Classic Weekend, I chatted with David, who was very happy in the SBS class, and he told me he would like to jump to supers, but only if the right situation came about.
During the off season, his phone rang with that right situation, as Double Deuce Racings head honcho’s Billy Samuels and Bob Hoefer were looking for a driver, as Bobby Magner moved back to the Holbrook stable’s for 2010. David jumped at the opportunity, and has taken full advantage.
The first half of 2010, David has done well, learning the supers, and the difference between the two classes. The car has had motor issues, but resolved them coming into the weekend. He started the race on the pole, and drove away early. One caution bunched the field, but Dave cruised away by ten lengths. Keith Shampine rode in second, with Joe Gosek, Pat Lavery and Dave McKnight at it for second.
David turned laps in the 3’s and 4’s early on, but wear and tear brought them to 5’s and 6’s late in the race. About halfway, high point man Otto Sitterly began a charge. At halfway, Otto was in eighth, more than fourth seconds off the pace. The 7 car came to life and Otto wheeled and dealed his way to third with five to go. He moved by Keith with two laps left, and was a second and a half behind the 50.
Otto caught Dave, and had one shot. Dave hit his marks and came off four in front. Otto got every ounce out of his car and dirt tracked it to the finish, but came up a car length short. David crossed under the checkered, becoming the 87th different driver to win an Oswego supermodified feature. David joined Mike McLaughlin, Dave Trytek, and Michael Barnes as the only rookie supermodified winners. Showing the DD guys have a knack of finding talent, Barnes also won his first feature in a DD car. Great job to David, Billy, Hoef, and all the DD team.
Barry Kingsley has been around the Oswego Speedway pits seemingly his whole life. Barry spent years learning the ins and outs of a supermodified, crewing for guys like Howie Page and Keith Gilliam. Barry is one of the most respected guys in the pits, but turned in his wrenches for a driver’s suit a few years ago, and bought an SBS car, wanting to turn laps instead of watching someone else drive.
Starting in 2006, Barry has learned the SBS cars, and gotten quicker as the weeks went on. July 17th, Barry drew an inside front row starting spot. Before the race, front row mates Jason Simmons and Barry were joking before the race with Simmons light heartedly telling BK, “hey watch out, I’m gonna get the jump and you’ll be seeing my bumper.” Barry, in true BK form shook it off answering, “Ok, see you out there.”
The green came out, with Jason jumping out front. Barry followed behind, running in the 25’s tracks. Caution came out on lap 6, but the 25 lost power. Barry was now in the lead, with rookie Mike Bruce and high point man Dave Cliff in third.
Barry drove a good race, covering the inside, as the SBS textbook says to do. Halfway came in the 30 lapper, with the supermodified pit area beginning to take notice. Usually, the supermodified guys are getting ready for their race, but something else made the pits take notice, Barry was leading. Little by little, the supermodified guys wandered over to the fence to cheer him on.
First, buddies Johnny Richichi and Andy Noto came over, with stop watches in hand. Joey Payne reached the fence. Many more of the supermodified guys came over, trying to give BK hand signals and rooting on the 23. In all the years of covering the SBS/limited supermodifieds, I can’t remember the pit area trying to help a driver along the way it played out Saturday night. Nervous anticipation was all through the pit area as laps clicked off.
Lap 18 and lap 21 cautions bunched the field. Barry hit the restarts perfect, and stayed up front. Mike Bruce was quicker, and possibly could have forced his way through with the bumper. Even though a rookie, Mike Bruce is rapidly gaining confidence by his fellow drivers for doing just that, being a clean driver, and he wasn’t going to throw away that confidence. Mike never kais a bumper on Barry, or even put him in a compromising spot.
Lap 24, Barry drifted high coming out of four, but recovered ok. He stayed in front, as even over the motors of the cars you could hear the collective sigh of relief throughout the speedway. As the white was in the air, the 23 got more than just a little sideways again out of four. Barry used every ounce of talent he gained over the past four years, and caught it before it went around. He gathered it up, caught it, and pointed it back in the right direction.
He remained in front, with Cliff pushing his across the line, under the checkered flag for the first time in his career. Both the pit side and grandstand side went wildly nuts, as one of the good guys finally saw his dream come true. Barry Kingsley won an Oswego Speedway feature!
The celebration was on! First, it was the 23 doing donuts in turn one. The 23 wasn’t even stopped as the circus was already started in Victory Lane. Handshakes, hugs and high fives were all around. There were more than a few tears shed, not by just girls, but guys as well, that knew all too well all the blood, sweat, tears and money Barry has spent at the Big O. The shower Keith Gilliam gave BK on the podium was priceless as well. All in all, the last time I can remember a scene like this in Victory Lane was after Danny Soule picked up his first feature win in 1990.
The drive home that night was full of thinking back to just what a special night we just spent at the track. We’re all race fans, and each race night at the track is fun, but last Saturday was one of those magical nights. We had two first time winners, one from a rookie in the class, and another, well, it could have been straight from the movie of the week.
July has been a great month to be a race fan at Oswego Speedway. I can’t wait to see what the rest of July and what August has in store for us.
See you at the races.