This Day in NEMA History...
June 19th
1983... After flipping the night before at Star, Lee Smith (Lowrey 1) was a Sunday afternoon winner at Seekonk. Second through five were Mike Favulli (Favulli 80), Billy Mann (Rogers 61), Drew Fornoro (Angelillo 45) and Butch Walsh (Nagy 36). The Star-Hudson doubleheader weekend was popular among owners and drivers throughout the 1970's, 80's, and early 90's. |
June 20th
1953...Bert Brooks, in the Smith 99, beat Fred Meeker in the Kernan 17 at the quarter-mile Dracut Speedway. Cliff Riggott was third. The Smith 99 and Kernan 17 were among the best Ford-powered Midgets in the East. Brooks went to win four in a row (June 27 at Westboro, July 3 at Norwood, July 17 at Norwood) establishing a record that stood until Joe Csiki’s six straight in 1963. |
June 21st
1998...Starting in the middle of row six in the 33-car field, Russ Stoehr, in his own #26, won the 33-lap Mini-Indy Challenge at Flemington Speedway. Stoehr passed Wakefoose for the lead on lap five but a caution seven laps latter set up a battle with Phil DiMario that lasted until the end. DiMario, in fact, nearly took the lead with a turn-one move on lap 25 that Stoehr used a slower car to thwart. Keith Botelho was third with Gary Halterman and Drew Fornoro following. The first of two Flemington wins for Stoehr (the came second a year later), it came on the 12-year anniversary of Stoehr’s first win, a 25-lapper at Star in Bruce Beane’s Cosworth-powered #26. Stoehr, who had 21 wins in Stoehr cars, finished ahead of Mike Osite (Noguiera 10) and Drew Fornoro (Angelillo 45) at Star. |
June 22nd
2013...Joey Payne became the 14th member of NEMA’s 20-win fraternity in the Scrivani Memorial at Monadnock in Ed Breault’s #44. Excelling in traffic, Payne finished ahead of Russ Stoehr (Dumo’s Desire 45), Greg Stoehr (Stoehr 26b), Seth Carlson (Feigel 71) and Ian Cumens (Seymour 29). The membership remains at 14. This was also Payne's first NEMA win since 2008. |
June 23rd
2001...Drew Fornoro (Campanale 54) was in the lead by lap eight and breezed to his 79th NEMA victory at Star. Jim Miller (Miller 3m), Russ Stoehr (Angelillo 45), Randy Cabral (Cabral 35) and Pete Pernesiglio (Pernesiglio 50) followed. It was Fornoro’s 22 rd win at Star. He added victories at Star in 2002 and 2003. |
June 24th
1989...NEMA returned to Riverside Park after an absence of 25 years and Jeff Horn (Hayes 47) came away with “a huge” victory. Championship-bound Joey Coy (Kibbe 94) was second followed by Babe Shaw (Shaw 107), Brian Caruso (Caruso 23) and Mike Seymour (Tapley 8). |
June 25th
2010...Adam Cantor (Cantor 7ny) chased down early leaders Barry Kittredge and Greg Stoehr before passing the former with on lap 19 and went on to win the 25 lapper at Lee. Kittredge (Kittredge 8) held on for second with Russ Stoehr, Greg Stoehr and Bobby Santos (Breault 44) third through fifth. |