Gary Waldron may have just picked up his first win of the 10th Anniversary Gold Crest Division Championship Season, but it certainly wasn’t his first ever.

He accomplished that feat in his very first race with SUPRS way back in January of 2005. “Mutley”, as he has been known for some years, wasn’t the only racer to wear the rookie stripes at this  Bristol Motor Speedway race. Chris Meyers, Russ Goldthwait, and Kevin Marine. Marine would go on to be the designer of our first major in-house mod for NASCAR Heat.

So join us as we take a look back at the names and events that has helped shape this league and feel free to comment below about the results, news, and notes from this 2005 copy of SUPRS Weekly.

SUPRS Weekly Volume No. 1 Issue No. 4 Date 1/9/05

Gary Waldron Grabs Bristol Gold

Goshen, IN 1/5/05… Gary Waldron has followed Supermodified racing his whole life, but Waldron made a point of making sure everyone else was following him in the 38 lap SUPRS feature at Bristol Motor Speedway.

“I’m still mopping myself up,” exclaimed the Wyoming, MI driver as he received the accolades of his fellow drivers. “I just tried to be smooth, run my line and be patient because I’m still learning all of this.

Waldron was making his first appearance in SUPRS competition in the beautiful black and red Michigan Hill Gang sponsored #10 but he looked like a veteran as he ran third in his heat, set fast time of 14.104 seconds and led the feature green to checker against the largest field assembled yet for a SUPRS contest. “This seems so real that I start shaking when I do it. I think after that race, even Chris Perley would be proud!” said Waldron who is a big fan of 2 time International Supermodified Champion Chris “The Rowley Rocket” Perley. Waldron’s win marked third time this season that a driver has led the feature start to finish, but also noticeable was the fact that he was the 5th different driver to post a feature victory in 7 races. Rounding out the top five were Kevin Marine, Bob Gangwer, John Davidson, and Chris Nicastro.

Joining Waldron in the rookie ranks for Bristol were Russ Goldthwait of Fulton, NY and Kevin Marine of St. Paul, MN. Marine is one of the few members of the SUPRS league that has never seen real supermodifieds in action but was immediately drawn to the spirited friendly competition of the league. A veteran online sim racer, Marine fared very well in his first outing posting second quick time of 14.192, and running second in his heat as well as the feature, “I tried my darndest to catch the #10 and as soon as I’d pick up a tenth he’d open it back up again,” commented the driver of the Shaker Designs #7,  “I had a blast though, everything ran good on my end and although there was a little bit of rubbing out there, that’s part of racing.”

Goldthwait didn’t run as well as Marine, but had fun nonetheless, stating, “It was a lot different racing all these guys that practicing with the computer cars, I just tried to stay out of everyone’s way and have fun.” Goldthwait brought the BurnBoys.com #12 home in a respectable 7th place for the feature after moving up one spot from his starting position.

Chris Meyers also made his SUPRS debut and had his hands full racing with keyboard controls. “I did my best to stay out of everyone’s way and just finish the race using a keyboard,” said Meyer’s who hails from Amherst, OH and is the pilot of the Supermodified Central.com #23. “I’m looking forward to getting a steering wheel and being more competitive next week,” he concluded.

Conspicuously absent from the night’s festivities was second place point man Chris Lucas. Lucas who is an over the road truck driver had mechanical problems with his truck and was unable to make the call to green. “I hate that I couldn’t race with you guys tonight, I know John, (Davidson) is getting closer in points and I really thought I had a shot at winning at Bristol tonight,” stated Lucas once he made it home.

The Supermodified Ultimate Paved Racing Series travels to west to visit the extremely fast Mesa Marin Speedway located in Bakersfield, CA for the SupermodifiedScorecard.com 50 on 1/12/05.  Come out and join the fun of simulated Supermodified racing with the “Ultimate Online Short Track Race Car!”

Results-SUPRS Regular 38 at Bristol Motor Speedway-1/5/05

TIME TRIALS-

1. #10-Gary Waldron, Wyoming, MI-14.104

2. #7-Kevin Marine, St. Paul, MN-14.192

3. #91-Chris Nicastro, Cleveland, OH-14.192

4. #25-Bob Gangwer, Goshen, IN-14.248

5. #5-John Davidson, San Diego, CA-14.382

6. #22-Jim Davidson, Elyria, OH-14.700

7. #72-AJ Truax, Hannibal, NY-14.866

8. #23-Chris Meyers, Amherst, OH-14.869

9. #12-Russ Goldthwait, Fulton, NY-15.022

10. #69 Tanya Matthews, Hannibal, NY-15.090

13 Lap Heat Race Random Start-Top Three Finishers Receive Points

1. #5-John Davidson, San Diego, CA

2. #7-Kevin Marine, St. Paul, MN

3. #10-Gary Waldron, Wyoming, MI

4. #25-Bob Gangwer, Goshen, IN

5. #91-Chris Nicastro, Cleveland, OH

6. #72-AJ Truax, Hannibal, NY

7. #23-Chris Meyers, Amherst, OH

8. #69 Tanya Matthews, Hannibal, NY

9. #12-Russ Goldthwait, Fulton, NY

10. #22-Jim Davidson, Elyria, OH-DNF

38 Lap Feature Finish

1. #10-Gary Waldron, Wyoming, MI

2. #7-Kevin Marine, St. Paul, MN

3. #25-Bob Gangwer, Goshen, IN

4. #5-John Davidson, San Diego, CA

5. #91-Chris Nicastro, Cleveland, OH

6. #22-Jim Davidson, Elyria, OH

7. #12-Russ Goldthwait, Fulton, NY

8. #72-AJ Truax, Hannibal, NY

9. #23-Chris Meyers, Amherst, OH

10. #69 Tanya Matthews, Hannibal, NY

League Meeting

There will be a league meeting Tuesday January 11 at 8pm to discuss several race format issues including changes to heat races and the special last lap tribute planned for the Randy Witkum Memorial, server issues, paint and skinning issues, using the NO-cd patch and game issues. Also on the docket is discussion about Forum changes, testing something other than TS for voice during race applications, and penalties and rules infractions. Anyone having any other items that they would like to discuss should contact Bob ASAP so he can set up the meeting agenda. We will try to keep it short and to the point so everyone can get back to their normal schedule or maybe do some practicing.

New League Members

We would like to extend a hi hearty ho and a frosty mug of brewhaha to our new members-

Chris Meyers, Russ Goldthwait, Gary Waldron, Robert Gill, Kevin Marine, and Bud Flaith.

We are glad to have you all on board and hope you enjoy racing with us in the “Ultimate Online Race Car!”

Upcoming Specials

For those of you that are looking for more online racing Supermodified style make sure you check out the SUPRS schedule for some really unique events to fill out your January online racing calendar.

The SupermodifiedScorecard.com 50 coming up on 1/12 is a 50 lap race at Mesa Marin Speedway which is home track to John Davidson-A.K.A. SFJ. The following Wednesday we will race what is sure to be an emotional event for all of us regular supermodified fans. The Randy Witkum Memorial 50 at Jennerstown Speedway will honor ISMA rookie Randy Witkum who lost his life while racing for the lead in an ISMA heat race 1999. This race will feature a special finish to remember our fallen friend. Finishing out the first month of the New Year will be the “Crazy Canuck Snowball Derby” 63 at Cayuga 2000 Speedway in Nelles Corners, Ont., CAN.

Everyone is welcome to come out and enjoy the thrill of the “Ultimate Online Race Car” and can get more information by contacting SUPRS.