2017 ISMA Season with $10,000 to Win Race at Delaware and New Triple Crown Series Begins May 27
Carol D. Haynes, ISMA PR
Oswego NY – When the last checkered falls in October and the banquet door at the Turning Stone Casino, closes in November the chat rooms and car shows offer placebos to the race fan. But it isn’t until the calendar turns to April that the yearning for the fuel smells in the air and the thunderous sound of the engines begins in earnest. The hours in the garage prepping for the new season mount now for each team.
The International SuperModified Association (ISMA) doesn’t begin racing until May 27 when they travel to Oswego Speedway for the Jack Murphy Memorial King of Wings IX 50, sponsored by Shea Concrete and Corr/Pak. The traditional July King of Wings has been combined with the opener in 2017.
ISMA doesn’t waste any time moving down the road from Oswego Speedway to Lancaster Speedway less than a week later for a return to that western NY speedway that they haven’t visited since 2003 concluding a 21 year streak at that oval. Names that fill the win list at Lancaster are those of Russ Wood (5 wins), Joe Gosek (3 wins), Dave McKnight (2 wins) and Chris Perley (2). The early years saw Doug Heveron, Mike McLaughlin and Bentley Warren the first three taking checkered at the Western NY half-mile.
The Lancaster 50 lapper is also the first winged event in the Triple Crown Championship Series formed by Dan Kapuscinski Motorsports Promotions in conjunction with Oswego Speedway and the International Supermodified Association. The 10-race joint venture, five non-winged and five winged shows, which helps to offer bonus money for supermodified drivers and owners, would not be possible without the support of Shea Concrete Products, ASI Racewear, A&P Automotive, Burke’s Do-It-Best Home Centers as well as the support and dedication of the participating TCCS race teams and the loyal Supermodified fan base.
On June 23, ISMA returns to Stafford Speedway for a Friday night 60 lapper. In the eleven previous visits to the famed Connecticut speedway, Chris Perley dominated the win column, picking up 5 wins. Mike Lichty won the last two races there on 2012 and 2013. Bentley Warren, Russ Wood, Rob Summers and Mike Ordway Sr. each added one victory to the ISMA record books over the years.
July finds Jennerstown Speedway on tap on the 15th with the Sandusky Hy-Miler weekend scheduled for the 28th and 29th.
Last year ISMA returned to Jennerstown after have run 16 events there from 1988 to 2007 with Bentley Warren and Chris Perley winning 11 of the features. Last year’s return saw second generation driver Mike Lichty battling with Mike Ordway Jr. until the waning laps of the one-caution speed event when Lichty took over for good and set his sights on the ISMA title.
In late July, Dave Shullick Jr., was dominant on his Ohio home turf, sweeping both legs of the prestigious 2016 Hy-Miler weekend.
August is a busy month with the Ollie Silva Memorial at Lee USA (NH) on August 11 with the August 12 New London-Waterford Speedbowl (CT), a tentative show at this writing. Dave Shullick Jr. rolled into New England last season to pick up his third straight victory by winning the Silva Memorial. Fellow Ohioan Mike McVetta took home the Waterford win the next day.
The big news in 2017 is that the traditional Harvey Lennox Memorial series at Delaware is now a one day-show on August 19. The 75-lapper will be huge incentive for the competitors this year with a whopping $10,000 to win main event; the largest payday for an ISMA feature win in recent years.
Rolling into September ISMA is once again part of the traditional Classic Weekend with the ISMA SuperNationals 60 slated for the 2nd. Last season found Dave Shullick Jr. the winner as he and Mike Lichty vied for the 2016 championship title. Shullick would go on to just missing winning the non-winged famed Oswego International Classic 200 the next day in what would have been a historic moment for the second-generation driver and the speedway. Only four supermodified drivers in history have won the big three – Hy-Miler, the Oswego Classic and the Star Classic, which are the longer distance races for supermodifieds. Bentley Warren, Doug Heveron, Joe Gosek, and Mike Ordway Sr. are those four and Shullick very narrowly became the fifth.
The annual Star Classic, as tradition has it, follows the Oswego Classic, making Saturday Sept. 9 the date in 2017. In 2016, another Ohioan took home the coveted Star Classic crown when Moe Lilje drove the Jimmy Bodnar 76 to victory.
The grand finale of the ISMA season is at the Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park for the World Series of Speedway Racing event on October 13-15. The ISMA championship has often been decided at this historic Connecticut oval and last season was no exception as Mike Lichty and Dave Shullick Jr. went into the fray as potential champs with Shullick Jr. taking his second straight ISMA crown when Lichty, the point leader by 39 points, going into the weekend, ended his race with a broken left front shock.
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