Modified Heat Race Quick Results (10 Laps):

Heat #1: 1.) Ryan Godown 2.) Billy Osmun 3.) Ryan Krachun 4.) Frank Cozze 5.) Rick Laubach 6.) Brandon Grosso 7.) Davey Sammons 8.) Matt Stangle 9.) Wade Hendrickson

Heat #2: 1.) John McClelland 2.) Ryan Godown Jr. 3.) Justin Grosso 4.) Jim Housworth 5.) Jordan Watson 6.) Anthony Perrego 7.) Anthony Tramontana 8.) Will Dupree 9.) Paul Mancini

Heat #3: 1.) Jack Butler 2.) Cale Ross 3.) Billy Pauch Jr. 4.) Louden Reimert 5.) Tim Buckwalter 6.) Steve Davis 7.) Danny Bouc 8.) DJ Hunt 9.) Dominick Buffalino

602 Crate Sportsman Heat Race Quick Results (8 Laps):

Heat #1: 1.) Joe Toth 2.) David Burns 3.) Matt Ellery 4.) Nick Van Wickle 5.) David Miloszar Jr. 6.) Andrew Bohn 7.) Will Dupree 8.) Matt Martino 9.) Ricky Moran 10.) Rob Tete

Heat #2: 1.) Ryan Simmons 2.) Will Protinick 3.) Steve Kemery 4.) Dan Fleming 5.) Joe Brown 6.) Ryan Krushinski 7.) Paul Hartwig Jr. 8.) Glenn McIntyre 9.) John Scarpati

4-Cylinder Feature Quick Results (15 Laps):

1.) ROBBY DUNN 2.) Rich Page 3.) Dominick Antonelli 4.) Ed Ford 5.) Garett Mull 6.) Brianna Hicks 7.) Kelly Fleming 8.) Ian Ashford 9.) Zac Cook 10.) Corey Carr

Modified Consi Quick Results (10 Laps):

1.) Davey Sammons 2.) Matt Stangle 3.) Anthony Tramontana 4.) Paul Mancini 5.) Steve Davis 6.) Will Dupree 7.) Dominick Buffalino 8.) Wade Hendrickson

Modified Feature Quick Results (60 Laps):

1.) RYAN GODOWN 2.) Justin Grosso 3.) Anthony Perrego 4.) Brandon Grosso 5.) Louden Reimert 6.) Matt Stangle 7.) John McClelland 8.) Billy Osmun 9.) Ryan Krachun 10.) Paul Mancini 11.) Anthony Tramontana 12.) Danny Bouc 13.) Jack Butler 14.) Frank Cozze 15.) Ryan Godown Jr. 16.) Jim Housworth 17.) Jordan Watson 18.) Davey Sammons 19.) Cale Ross 20.) Will Dupree 21.) Billy Pauch Jr. 22.) Tim Buckwalter 23.) Steve Davis 24.) Rick Laubach 25.) Dominick Buffalino 

602 Crate Sportsman Feature Quick Results (30 Laps):

1.) DAVID BURNS 2.) Nick Van Wickle 3.) Joe Toth 4.) Ryan Simmons 5.) Will Protinick 6.) Steve Kemery 7.) Joe Brown 8.) Matt Ellery 9.) David Miloszar Jr. 10.) Dan Fleming 11.) Ryan Krushinski 12.) Paul Hartwig Jr. 13.) Ricky Moran 14.) Matt Martino 15.) Glenn McIntyre 16.) Will Dupree 17.) Rob Tete 18.) Andrew Bohn 19.) John Scarpati 

I know tracks need to be open, but I think mid week shows should be left for the touring series.  If tracks clog up the week with their own shows, fans can't see drivers or series that are not the norm at the track. 

I don't have an answer... and not trying to stir the pot either, but sad to admit it... especially when it comes to the modifieds.... I'm thinking that it might be time for guys like us to recalibrate our idea of "the norm", and maybe give in to the new reality that 27 mods is a good showing for a special midweek show... . 

It doesn't seem that long ago that we could expect to see 40 mods in NJ for a special midweek show, but maybe these days, 25 is about as good as we can expect?

Cost of racing? Lack of weeknight crew help? 6:30 start time on a weeknight?  Just not that many modifieds around anymore?

Not blaming anyone, or any one thing either, but it's definitely a change that guys like us, spoiled from decades ago... probably will just have to accept as the reality in 2023.

Here's a dive into the #'s (as you can see, I called in an expert to help):

Tuesday 6/20/23: 

• 27 modifieds at New Egypt
• There were 19 NES New Egypt modified drivers on hand Tues 6/20.  
• There were 4 other drivers at New Egypt on 6/20 that might be considered "outside invaders": (Perrego, Cozze, Tim Buckwalter, Dom Buffalino in NES modified driver Kevin Borden's car.)_
• There were 4 Bridgeport modified drivers on hand that you could call "Bridgeport invaders":  Billy Osmun III, Jordan Watson, Cale Ross, Rick Laubach.
• There were 6 "New Egypt" modified drivers who have raced recently at New Egypt but were not there on 6/20/23: Clay Butler, Brian Kuhl, Kevin Vaclavicek, Chris Grbac, Sean Weiss, Dakota Kessler, Kevin Borden (Buffalino was driving his car on 6/20)
• There are 17 "Bridgeport" modified drivers (looking at the 6/16 modified feature finish) that were not at New Egypt on Tues 6/20: W.B. James, Stan Frankenfield, Joseph Watson, Duane Howard,  Mike Franz, Neal Williams, H.J. Bunting, David Hunt, Sam Martz, Jr., Jack Swain, Brett Kelly,  Tommy Scheetz, Sam Martz, Sr., Blaine Bracelin, 20. Daylton Strohl, J.R. Fulper, Ron Roberts

So... if you take the modified drivers who have raced at New Egypt recently (26) + modified drivers who have raced at Bridgeport recently (22)... plus 4 invaders, you come up with a grand total of: 52 (actually 51 cars since Dom Buffalino was driving Kevin Borden's car on Tues night.)

That means unless others join the party (NY drivers?, Grandview drivers, and maybe a few more from Delaware) 52 is probably about the max to be expected if all the New Egypt and all the Bridgeport modifieds showed up, plus 4 or 5 invaders.

(Warning - take an aspirin before reading any more (below) in preparation for a soon to be felt headache:)

 Here's the info (below) I was using to come up with the above info

Color code:

• New Egypt Modified Driver
• Bridgeport Modified Driver
• "Outside Invader"

Finish from New Egypt 6/20/23:  1.) Ryan Godown 2.) Justin Grosso 3.) Anthony Perrego 4.) Brandon Grosso 5.) Louden Reimert 6.) Matt Stangle 7.) John McClelland 8.) Billy Osmun III 9.) Ryan Krachun 10.) Paul Mancini 11.) Anthony Tramontana 12.) Danny Bouc 13.) Jack Butler 14.) Frank Cozze 15.) Ryan Godown Jr. 16.) Jim Housworth 17.) Jordan Watson 18.) Davey Sammons 19.) Cale Ross 20.) Will Dupree 21.) Billy Pauch Jr. 22.) Tim Buckwalter 23.) Steve Davis 24.) Rick Laubach 25.) Dominick Buffalino & Wade Hendrickson, DJ Hunt

Finish from Bridgeport 6/12/23:   1.)Jordan Watson, 2. W.B. James, 3. Billy Osmun, III, 4. Stan Frankenfield, Jr., 5. Joseph Watson, 6. Duane Howard, 7. Mike Franz, 8. Neal Williams, 10. H.J. Bunting, 11. David Hunt, 12. Sam Martz, Jr., 13. Jack Swain, 14. Brett Kelly, 15. Tommy Scheetz, 16. Sam Martz, Sr., 17. Cale Ross, 18. Rick Laubach, 19. Blaine Bracelin, 20. Daylton Strohl, DNS – J.R. Fulper, Ron Roberts

So, is 25 modifieds (or in this case 27) about as good as we can expect for a midweek show at a NJ track?

I certainly hope not because if that is the case, track operators have no reason or incentive to pay the type of purse offered at NES the other night...and that's the type of money the modifieds should be running for (sorry for the dangling proposition)...

Modified car counts in the mid 20's....Last Saturday at Hickory Speedway the top Late model weekly nascar series had 11 cars start the feature...they also run 4 to 5 differant classes weekly, very weekly..You Jersey guys are doing great...Probably never be like the 60s to 80s car counts.  ..HtH..

At last minute, I went to Grandview his past Saturday night since I haven't been there in several years.  I'm was amazed that they drew (I recall) 34 mods and 39 sportsman (or crates).  I'd say the stands were about 70% full which, in my opinion, is a great crowd.  I went to New Egypt's 60 lap gunfight and found the show to be equally as good as Grandviews, although the mod/sportman fields were not as strong.  I think the important factor these days is not how many cars, but the quality of the cars.  Don't get me wrong, a 10 or so car field (like Howie mentioned) is not good no matter how good those cars/drivers are.  But the fields I've seen these days (New Egypt and Bridgeport) are acceptable to me as they've put on a good show. I think the cost of today's hot rod, its engine, and transporting them are all factors in who shows up at the track these days.    Scott Ely 

P.S. And speaking of transportation, I loved the photo in the latest edition of AARN of Logan Watt's racer pulling into Grandview on a cool looking ramp track.  Enjoyed looking at the haulers as much as the hot rods back in the day.