This Day in NEMA History...
October 9th
2011... A product of the Lites program, Anthony Nocella (Seymour 4) grabbed his first NEMA feature at Seekonk’s DAV. He started ninth, took the lead on lap 13 and beat back a restart challenge on lap 19 to finish ahead of Randy Cabral (Bertrand 47) and Keith Botelho (Stoehr 25). Greg Stoehr (Miller 3m) was fourth with brother Russ (Dumo’ Desire 45) fifth. |
October 10th
2010....A 20-year old Gaerte motor powered Keith Botelho, driving a Russ Stoehr-owned car, to victory at Seekonk. Scoring his first win in 12 years, Botelho took the lead on a lap 13 restart from John Zych Jr. (Zych 9). It was the first time in victory lane since 1985 for Crew Chief Carl Kibbe. Greg Stoehr (Stoehr 26b) was second and Zych third. |
October 11th
1981...Nokie Fornoro (Scrivani 21) equaled Joe Csiki’s standard for consecutive victories (six) with a win at Westboro. Bobby White (White 63) and Joey Coy (Nagy 36) followed. It was actually the ninth win in 10 races, the streak interrupted by a crash at Hudson in a race brother Drew won. It remains one of the most dominating seasons in NEMA history, Fornoro/Scrivani winning 10 of 17 races. |
October12th
2008...Randy Cabral (Bertrand 47) started 12th, took the lead on lap 21 and had to beat back at late challenge from Jeff Abold (Seymour (29) to post career win number 20 at Seekonk’s DAV. Greg Stoehr (Stoehr 26b) was third, Bobby Santos II (Santos 98) fourth and William Wall (Wall 5). |
October 13th
1974...Johnny Mann clinched the championship from himself and for car owner Dewey Cali winning a season-ending 100 lapper at Seekonk. Mann, who won a 100 lapper two weeks earlier at Thompson, came from the third starting spot to defeat Ronnie Evans (Rogers 6), Billy Hughes (Sheehan 5) and Rich Volger (Perkins 4th). There were 48 cars in the pits. Mann finished ahead of Dave Humphrey (McCarthy 47) and Hughes at Thompson. Humphrey set fast time (21.428) in qualifying at Thompson while Bobby White’s 14.220 was best at Seekonk. It was Mann’s second championship. |
October 14th
1984...Overcoming an incident with a push truck, Billy Mann captured championships for himself and car owner Everett Rogers winning a season-ending 25-lapper at Thompson. Lee Smith (Lowrey 17) and Drew Fornoro (Angelillo 45) were second and third. It came ten years and a day after Billy’s dad Johnny clinched his second NEMA title. The Manns remain the only father and son on the championship rolls. |
October 15th
2000...Coming from last with “drive it till it blows” instructions, Joey Payne (45b) passed Angelillo teammate Russ Stoehr (45) down the front straightaway on the last lap at Thompson to give Gene Angelillo his 100th Midget. Stoehr’s second was enough to ensure championships for Angelillo, his ninth, and himself, his third. Jim Miller (Miller 3m) was third. Payne has called it one of his most memorable wins. |