Maple Grove Raceway - Geezers at the Grove - August 8

Saturday, August 8

With states waxing and waning on social distancing rules, we kept our fingers crossed that we would have more races in 2020. Geezers at the Grove was held...albeit without spectators. Just like Beaver Springs, Friday was a stormy, messy travel night but after the morning fog lifted Saturday was sunny, hot and humid and racing was on!

We started the day with 15 cars but during time trails Frank Johnson and Skip Cowell had mechanical issues so we began eliminations with 13 cars. Bob Bower’s low reaction time (.013) of time trials earned him a first-round bye.

Eliminations Round One:

We are calling this Red-Light Round One! Every race was lost on a red light!

Race One: Bruce Deming vs. Dave Fenzel. Dave cut a sharp .013 light but broke out running .04 under his dial. It didn’t matter as Bruce went red by a thin .085. Adding to Bruce’s angst he ran a razor-close .009 over his dial.

Race Two: This race saw Kevin Lynch against Bill Magliane. Kevin took the win running a 10.441 on a 10.40 dial with Bill going .032 red while running a tight .005 over his dial.

Race Three: This one pitted Scott Hasko against Carly Boyer. Carly went .238 red giving the win to Scott who ran 11.496 on his 11.45 dial.

Race Four: Ed Linus lined up against Ray Bruno in this race of tri-five Chevy’s. Ray went .021 red giving the win to Ed who ran 10.148 on his 10.07 dial.
A couple.

Race Five: In this race of tall PA boys Denny Stewart lined up against Paul McCorkle. Paul went .035 red handing the win to Denny who ran 9.539 on his 9.46 dial.

Race Six: The Carson Boyz went at it in this one with Ronnie coming out on top as (you guessed it) Robert went .051 red while running .029 over his dial.

Race Seven: No red light on this one because it was a Bob Bower bye run! Bob got out of it running a 10.35 on his 9.00 dial.

Eliminations Round Two:

Race One: Denny Stewart took on Kevin Lynch in this double red light race. Kevin ran 10.47 on his 10.40 dial but left first giving the win to Denny who ran 9.80 a 9.50 dial.

Race Two: Ron Carson defeated Dave Fenzel with a .062 reaction and running 9.73 on his 9.69 dial. Dave had a heartbreaking breakout running 10.123 on a 10.13 dial.

Race Three: This one had Scott Hasko in the Relic up against Bob Bower in the hot-rod Rambler. This was a good race with Bob running 10.34 on his 10.30 dial with a .285 reaction. Scott ran 11.60 on his 11.40 dial but his .084 reaction made the difference and gave him the win.

Race Four: Ed Linus had the bye run and used the opportunity as another time shot running 10.18 on his 10.07 dial.

Eliminations Round Three - Semi Finals:

Race One: Ron Carson and Scott Hasko lined up in another close race. Scott had a .085 light and ran 11.614 on his 11.50 dial. Ron’s .064 light and 9.786 on a 9.69 dial were slightly better and enough to give him the win. Margin of victory was .039.

Race Two: Ed Linus and Denny Stewart were paired for this one. Both racers cut good lights, Ed’s .086 to Denny’s .055.Ed ran 10.235 on a 10.14 dial getting the win over Denny who broke out by .031.

Eliminations Round Four - Finals:

The final round was a match between Central Jersey’s Ron Carson and South Jersey’s Ed Linus. Ron went a disheartening .036 red handing the win to Ed who had a .049 light and ran 10.16 at 127.14 MPH. Congratulations Ron and Ed!

Final thoughts on the Geezers at the Grove Saturday

It was a fun…but long hot day with eliminations starting late afternoon and running into the early evening. No spectators due to Covid19…but hey we were racing! Win, lose, or break, it was great to be with friends and thrashing our hot-rods. As always please excuse any errors or omissions…they are purely unintentional!

– Ray Bruno