Episode 268
June 16, 2019
Turning 50 is incentive to go to 24 Hours of Le Mans
I met Lou Masciarelli at the 2017 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona when the fans were allowed onto the tri-oval grass just before the start of the race. I am unsure exactly how we met in that crowd of thousands of race fans. I am glad I did.
Turns out that Lou, a customer support engineer at Exagrids Systems, is an International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) and endurance race fan through and through. When we met he mentioned that he had attended multiple IMSA races and loved how that organization treated their race fans.
He commented that the endurance racers are fan friendly and typically willing to give interested fans a few moments of their busy race weekend time to converse.
Lou travels from his Bellingham, Massachusetts home to several races every year. Masciarelli told me “I’ve been to five Daytona 24 Hour races and five Sebring 12 Hour races and always wanted to do Le Mans. I have friends that live in the UK that go every year so I tagged along.”
“Plus I will do Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans, and Watkins Glen all in the same year. Kinda cool milestone. I turned 50 last week so it seemed serendipitous.”
Lou and his two friends living in the UK, David Edwards and David Ralli, spent their time at Le Mans exploring the 8.467 mile race track, which employs sections of the public roads which are shut down for the duration of the event. They camped at the Porsche Curve where the Corvette # 64 crashed heavily enough to be withdrawn from the race finishing 59 out of 61 starters.
Northern Maine Soap Box Derby winners announced
As reported in Episode 266 on June 2nd, the Northern Maine Soap Box Derby was held June 16 at Derby Hill located in the Houlton Community Park. Over 40 entries participated according to race officials. The weather was very cooperative.
Kody Swanson finishes second; holds onto 6 point lead
The 100 lap feature came down to the last laps when second place Chris Windom punted leader Steve Buckwalter with one to go causing Buckwalter to spin bringing out the caution flag. Windom was the new leader, however, in the process of hitting Buckwalter, Windom punctured a tire which deflated on first turn of the one lap shoot-out handing the win to Brady Bacon who held off the hard charging Swanson for the win.
After the race Silver Crown points leader Swanson said, “This was certainly a tough day, but for all that we went through to escape with a second-place finish is
something we’ll take. I have been under the weather today, and this
team worked really hard today too.”
“We are still battling the brake issues that plagued us at the
Hoosier Hundred, and did whatever we could to fix them, but unfortunately they still played a factor in the feature tonight. Without being able to be confident entering
each corner, I had to really be conservative in traffic to make sure I took good care of myself and the competitors around me and not put
us in a bad position.”
“Ultimately we survived that and a few other hurdles to be in a position to win in the end, but I just couldn’t make the pass for the lead stick in Turn 1. I had to commit to
Buckwalter’s inside, and was pumping the brakes for all I was
worth, but just slid out enough for him to get back by and eventually
force us back to the fifth position.
“I felt like it was a chance I had to take to try to win the race for this
team, and am disappointed that I didn’t execute well enough in that
instance to finish it for them.”
“We never gave up, and did our best to get back up there, so to
come home with a second-place finish is still a little bittersweet. I am
proud of the effort that everyone put in on this team today, and do
look forward to our next chance to try again.”
Swanson will get that chance to try to win June 28 at Madison International Speedway, Oregon, Wisconsin in the ByTec “Dairyland 100”.
NMKA Season Opener Presented by Pat’s Automotive
The Northern Maine Karting Association (NMKA) 2019 eight event, 10 race season got underway Saturday at Spud Speedway, Caribou, Maine. Attendance was light with several racers away at end of school family events.
Rusty Wallace Driving Experience postponed
Due to rainy weather, the Rusty Wallace Driving Experience at Spud Speedway was postponed to Thursday September 26, 2019. All pre-purchased tickets will be honored and more room is available for those wishing to drive a super late-model at Spud Speedway.
Let’s go racing,
Tom Hale
Soli Deo Gloria (Joshua 1:9)