6/7/2010 – Gary Miller Sr. Unretires, Wins 11-Kart/45-Lap Opener, Then Retires Again (+YouTube Videos)
6/7/2010 – Gary Miller Sr. Unretires, Wins 11-Kart/45-Lap Opener, Then Retires Again (+YouTube Videos)
June 7th, 2010 – Gary Miller Sr. came out of his 29th self-imposed retirement to hop into the Galletta’s Greenhouse #0 before the 2nd heat and sweep both the heat and the feature. He promptly retired for the 30th time during the victory photo session. Stay tuned, as something tells me he will come out of retirement yet again. Apparently, I have powers that enable me to foresee such things because my prediction has come true several times before.
2010 Offseason News: Chassis Builds by Dick Dann – DESTROYER CHASSIS!!
Dick Dann created the new Destroyer #86 – an offset kart where the driver sits more to the right instead of directly in front of the left-rear engine. The Nick Dann #68 was also rebuilt into the Eric Howell #89!
June 6, 2010 Rainout
The original opener scheduled for Sunday, June 6th, 2010 ran into an early-morning rain – the first solid rain we had in weeks – which soaked the track. Head track-maintenance-man Matt Stevens wanted to still hold the event, as the track was race-able, but due to the wet lower groove and chilly temperatures, enough veterans voted for the option of having a rain-date on Monday. That we did.
June 7th, 2010 – THE RACE IS ON!
Closeup of the RADICAL offset Galletta’s-style 1-WD/Flatkart hybrid designed and built by Dick Dann.
Heat 1 saw the debut of Dick Dann’s new #86 (above and in this message board thread) which he built almost entirely from scratch out of spare parts and a nearly brand-new motor block that we found for him on ebay for less than $100. His whole kart cost only in the $500 range total, and it is a thing of beauty – hopefully it will stay that way, but our races do take a toll on these ironman machines as all of the karts look spectacular until they’d been in a few wrecks dinging up paint jobs. Dick is running double-duty, as he is also running with the clones all over central NY this season. However, some bugs need to be worked out in the new #86, as he scored 2nd to Matt Stevens. Not that Matt dominated – he started scratch and everybody in front of Matt’s Galletta’s Greenhouse #3 either spun out or wrecked. Matt passed nobody and still won. They were followed by Gary Miller Jr., George Russell and Russ Bartlett.
The 2nd Heat saw Melissa Stevens put her brother-in-law Chris into the woods going into turn 3 (above). Gary Miller Sr. banzai-dropped Larry Phillips in turn 1 en route to the heat win, although he was docked points for the move (see our message board debate and penalty about the 1st-turn banzai drop). Tim Galletta scored 2nd, while Chris came back strong after his trip into the brush to take 3rd. Larry, Melissa, and Shadoe Russell rounded out the field.
Chris eluded to the fact that due to him breaking Matt’s 8-year-straight reign as Undisputed Track Champion of all Oswego Dirt Karting on two Oswego tracks, that people will be gunning for him this season. And sure enough, he was right. People want his Championship belt!
An excellent opening feature for 2010 began with 11 karts and 45 laps! What many people do not know, is that the Galletta’s Karting Club & Speedway started as a friends-and-family club back in the early 1990s. Because we were not a part of the normal karting circuit, some local karters (though not all, as some have raced with us and know how tough the racing is at a Galletta’s club event) have sneered at our brand of economical karting. We evolved differently than other forms of karting. Although they are different – 1-wheel-drive vs. 2-wheel-drive; gas vs. methanol; homemade rules vs. WKA rules; right-turn chassis vs. left-turn chassis; higher ground clearance vs. none – they certainly are not better, just simply higher priced to field. Our class fields 10-15 karts on a regular basis, has done so for many years now, and our 11-kart opener – that includes 15-year-veterans of the sport Matt and Chris Stevens – continued this tradition of affordable racing action with talented drivers throughout. And people who have driven everything have told us just how much fun it is to race in our club. All of this, and we are still seeking ways to both equalize the competition and make the racing even safer and more fun. New for this year, we are adding chest pads for those who want them (contact me about ordering them), and improving our horsepower-to-weight scale. Some have questioned why we added this to the race details, but it is because we have been attacked from time to time, and we simply want to set the record straight. Anybody who doubts the club’s racing skills is invited to join anytime and find out.
As our YouTube video shows, there was a very close race from start to finish. In act, the only thing that prevented putting a blanket over the entire field from lap first to last was Gary Miller Sr. taking the lead on lap 11 and pulling away from the pack for the entire race. Behind him, tons of bumper-to-bumper racing took place, which shows how good our class is. Gary was running light – the Galletta’s #0 is set up for heavier drivers, and since enough people brought up a problem with this, a 10-point penalty was retroactively enacted for this. Next race if a lighter driver wishes to drive the #0 (or #7 or #9, as they are handicap karts set up specifically for drivers exceeding 225 lbs.), weight must be placed to weigh the machine down. At Galletta’s, we have more powerful, gearing, cam and headers in the Galletta’s #0, 7 and #9 for larger people. We enacted and tinkered with our horsepower-to-weight scale to equalize the races and it has worked very well in the last few years, so everyone must abide by it. Gary didn’t like losing points, but he still keeps his win and the next time he selects to race the #0, it must be weighed down. This is partially our fault for not weighing the kart down before the race, but we must remain firm on the rule (part of the reason why people at the local pay track attacked us was lighter guys having an unfair advantage. We take this accusation seriously which is why we have to penalize Gary to be true our rules and enforce them.)
6/7/2010 45-Lap Order-of-Finish:
1st. Gary Miller Sr. (Galletta’s #0)
2nd. Tim Galletta (Galletta’s #7)
3rd. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s #4)
4th. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s #3; #33)
5th. George Russell (Galletta’s #2)
6th. Melissa Stevens (Stevens #19)
7th.Russ Bartlett (Galletta’s #6)
8th. Gary Miller Jr. (Miller #24) [DNF]
9th. Shadoe Russell (Doe #26) [DNF]
10th. Dick Dann (Destroyer #86) [DNF]
11th. Larry Phillips (L&K Small Engine #04) [DNF]
[DNF] = Did Not Finish
2010 Galletta’s Gas Flathead Dirt Karting World Championship Point Standings::
After 1 combined events at John J. Galletta Memorial Backyard Go-Kart Speedway from 6/7/2010
-thru- 6/7/2010. Our complete All-Time Points Standings from 2000-2009 are found on this webpage
|
Position |
Driver Name (Go-Karts Piloted) |
Years Pro at Galletta’s |
Total Points (Place) |
Average Points Per Event |
Events |
Features |
Heat Wins |
Feature Wins |
Feature Win % |
|
11 |
|
6th |
167.5 |
167.50 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
100% |
|
2 |
|
2nd |
163.5 |
163.50 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
3 |
|
15th |
133.5 |
133.50 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
4 |
|
2nd |
125.5 |
125.50 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
5 |
|
15th |
118.0 |
118.00 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0% |
|
6 |
|
4th |
114.5 |
114.50 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
7 |
|
1st |
105.0 |
105.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
8 |
|
5th |
104.0 |
104.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
9 |
|
5th |
96.0 |
96.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
10 |
|
2nd |
93.0 |
93.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
11 |
|
3rd |
88.5 |
88.50 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
FOR THE ALL-TIME 2000-2009 GALLETTA’S WINS & POINTS STANDINGS: HERE! |
|||||||||
New in 2010: We have had many occasions where a driver will miss one or two events and be shafted all year, never being able to make up for those missed shows. Some tracks will have a system where everybody will cut their worst one or two showings and then equalize this way. I don’t like that system because you are losing records, and losing points. Our solution is to have a 5-lap make-up race before the regular feature where drivers who have missed at least one show will race and be tagged on addendum to the end of the show that they missed. On 6/14/2010, we had our first of such make-up races, a 5-lapper that went as follows, and are credited on next week’s points chart.
6/14/2010 5-Lap Make-up Race for 6/7/2010 [for Make-up Bonus Points]:
12th. Russ Hockey (Hockey #00) [+68]
13th. Chris Carroll (Galletta’s #9) [+63]
14th. AJ Nason (Galletta’s #6) [+58]
15th. Jared Halstead (Galletta’s #0) [+53]
16th. Todd Halstead (Galletta’s #1) [+48]
17th. Collin Miller (Miller #24) [+44]
{Will be added after the 6/14/2010 Points Show}
Additional Bonus Point Show Credit via 8/29/2010 Retcon B-Main:
18th. Jeff Tetro (Galletta’s #9) [+40]
19th. Mike “MC” Howell (Galletta’s #0) [+35]
20th. Randy Platt (Platt #187) [+30]
This way it does not penalize anybody, and they get a chance to stay in the points race. They will not be able to score more than the people who did race, but still not just be mathematically eliminated from a shot at the title. We’ll allow it for one or two shows, but likely no more than that unless we have many Monday rain-date shows which conflict with work schedules. This means, we will likely allow for at least one missed Saturday/Sunday make-up race allowed per driver, and any Friday or Monday rain-date can have a make-up because those are the days when we usually lose the most drivers to work schedules. We will determine this based on our regular drivers. Since neither Chris nor Matt ever miss a regular season race, which is why they are always 1-2, this rule is to benefit visiting drivers who just cannot make one or two and need a make-up race and keep them in the competition. We hope this satisfies all... Well, except Larry, we know he’ll hate it! 😛
NEW! NOW YOU CAN COMMENT ON EVERY RACE ON GALLETTA’S KARTING CLUB’S WEBSITE!
Just sign in via your Twitter, Facebook, BlogSpot, Yahoo or other Social Networking ID and post:
