Race
Review - Susquehanna Speedway May 3rd
Updated
May 5th
Saturday left PJ and crew shaking their heads
after a disappointing end to a frustrating night of racing
at Newberrytown's
Susquehanna
Speedway Park.
"The
uncharacteristically heavy race track suprised us; we
did not expect that the track would have ever gone
to such an
extreme.
By the time we caught up to it (the track conditions), we
had overshot the setup. We'll come back... we got cut
this week, but we heal quickly."
~ PJ Gargiulo
The saga continues with the Northern
Swing starting Wednesday May 21st at Grandview, followed
by Pen Can on Friday and Five Mile Point Saturday May 24th.
ARDC Race #2 - Susquehanna Speedway Park
Street
Stocks, ARDC Midgets,
Late Models, Xtreme Stock Cars
ARDC "Month
of May" Begins at Susky on Saturday
By Mark Kielblock
2006
Rookie of the Year, PJ Gargiulo made an early statement
charging out of 10th starting spot to finish 3rd in his
new ride purchased from Gene Franckowiak in the off season.
Gargiulo has high hopes of grabbing his first feature
win in the former no.77 that found victory lane four times
in the 2007 season driven by Dave Ely.
Grandstands
Open:4:00pm
Invocation and National
Anthem: 6:00 p.m.
General admission: Adults (18 & older) – $14.00
Young
Adults (11-17) - $12.00
Children (10 & under) – Free
ARDC Season Opener - Susquehanna
Speedway Park
By
Mark Kielblock
Newberrytown,
Pa. - H&B Railroad has long been a sponsor
of ARDC driver Randy Monroe Jr. That seemed appropriate
in the ARDC opener Saturday night at Susquehanna Speedway
Park
as Monroe ran through the field like a runaway freight
train to take the victory in the 20-lap main event. Brett
Arndt
of Topton, Pa. and Bobby Goerner of Myersville brought
the 25 car field to the green flag. By lap 4 Monroe charged
out
of his fourth starting spot and was in the lead. Other
big movers through the field were Andy Martin from 7th
to 4th
in five laps and PJ Gargiulo who made the most progress jumping
from 10th to 5th by lap four.
Once Monroe got into the lead, he began to stretch it out
over second place runner Brett Arndt to a full straightaway
at one point. ARDC champ Martin continued his strong run
in the opener by sliding into third spot on lap 7. PJ Gargiulo then pulled the move of the night, executing a rarely seen
outside pass of Andy Martin to move into third on lap 12.
Veteran Frank Polimeda also began to make his presence felt
up front, moving into fourth on the same lap.
From there the race began to settle down with the top five
consisting of Monroe, Arndt, Gargiulo, Polimeda and Martin.
On lap 17 Gargiulo was able to get close enough to Arndt
to try a risky outside pass in turn two, but the attempt
failed as Gargiulo ended up in the dust of the extreme outside
groove. Gargiulo lost so much momentum that it nearly cost
him his third spot.
One
more bit of drama was provided by a turn two spin by Stephanie
Stevens,
bringing out the caution on the white
flag lap. This wiped out Monroe's huge advantage and gave
Arndt and Gargiulo one last shot to steal the win from Monroe.
It was not to be as Monroe powered away from the duo, while
Gargiulo made one last unsuccessful attempt to pass Arndt.
As they came under the checkered it was Monroe taking the
third win of his career over Arndt, with Gargiulo, Polimeda
and Martin rounding out the top five. Billy Pauch, Jr. authored
another impressive ARDC performance running from eighteenth
to sixth as a teammate to Monroe in the H&B Railroad/WO
Grubb Crane Rental number 49.
25 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition with Frank Polimeda,
PJ Gargiulo and Dave Shirk taking heat race wins.
Race Fans Are You Ready???
Updated April 2008
ARDC
- Where three wide and side by side is standard! We are
only days away from the season opener, and you just have
to be excited to watch Pennsylvania's mud slinging midget
drivers 'Wheel It' around Susquehanna Speedway! Pit Gates
open at 3:30pm and General Admission Grandstands open at
4:00pm.
Vic Martin
Photo
New
Car, Same Attitude...
Updated April 2008
The
off-season is finally over, PJ couldn't be happier!
"The
off-season was good to us, we enjoyed having our car on
display at
the Atlantic City show, and it was great
to meet so many fans of the club. You get a real appreciation
for how long ARDC has been in existence when so many people
young and old come over to talk about races they've seen,
or the ones they are looking forward to attending."
"It
also allowed us to re-evaluate how we run things. We
made
a checklist of goals, and now just need to
make them happen."
Armed with the Paul Gargiulo owned, Bill Jackson tuned,
F5 racing chassis, powered by a Snyder Chevy, PJ and crew
will compete in every race on the ARDC schedule.
Sperr's Fuel oil, Church's Auto Parts, Simpson Race Products,
RTP Graphics, and JHG are all excited to be back for another
year of thrilling ARDC midget action, and are looking forward
to the taste of victory!
FOR
SALE - Complete
operation $16,000 or best reasonable offer
Updated January 2007
Contact
PJ for more details: 484.576.6279
CLICK
HERE for pictures.
Race
Ready 33" Beast Midget & 2006 33" Stealth
w/Gaerte Motorplate
347 HP Don Ott Chevy with Brodix 12 Head (Dyno sheet available)
UltraShield Full containment seat
Simpson belts
Spares...
Most commonly used gear sets (5.11-6.14)
Spare Vertex Magneto, wheels and tires, bird cages, torsion arms, springs & bars
etc
2 front axles (1 hub to hub)
ARDC
Representin' at Motorsports '08
Announced By Mark Kielblock
Posted January 18, 2008
Felton,
DE Two of the young lions of ARDC midget racing are PJ Gargiulo
and Nick Wean. These two top competitors are taking their gleaming,
freshly minted machines to Atlantic City to represent the club
at Motorsports 2008. The Len Sammons produced show is one of
the key off season events each season. The 2008 edition kicks
off this Friday night, Jan. 18 and runs through Sunday Jan.
20th. Gargiulo,
2006 ARDC Rookie of the Year is coming off a 2007 season that saw him score
a top-10 in the ARDC standings. He is heading into
the ''08 season with equipment that has a winning track record. "We
purchased the Gene Franckowiak owned equipment during the off season, and
that's the car we are going to be displaying," Gargiulo revealed.
Dave Ely drove the Franckowiak no. 77 to an
ARDC leading four feature event wins in the ''07 campaign. The machine is
a 2006 F-5 Chassis
and will be powered by a Gaerte Chevy. According to Gargiulo, the no. 51
machine now in Gargiulo racing colors will look as good as it runs. "We
like to keep our graphics consistent, so the car will be black with red and
yellow trim," Gargiulo said. "To make the car stand out a little
bit more, the red trim is going to be a lot brighter this year. You'll be
able to see us from a long way off."
Sperr''s Fuel Oil, Church''s Auto Parts and Rod End Supply
make up the sponsor package for Gargiulo Racing.
Gargiulo also shared some plans that will make
the ARDC display a magnetic attraction to the public. "If our great
looking cars aren't exciting enough, we got together with Gary Silverman
who does the ARDC videos
at Big Diamond and Grandview. We're going to have a 32-inch plasma screen
running DVD's of our side by side 2007 action."
View more photos from Motorsports 2008 HERE
ARDC Charges into '08;
Schedule
Announced By Mark Kielblock
Posted January 2, 2008
Felton,
DE - Looking
to capitalize on momentum that has steadily built in recent
seasons, the American Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) Midgets
have announced their 2008 schedule. The slate will feature
23 races that will run the
gamut of established familiar race tracks, a return to
legendary traditional open wheel venues, trips south of
the Mason-Dixon
line, and finally a first-time
trip to a new facility for the Club. In embarking on their
69th season of thrilling side by side midget racing, the
ARDC Road Warriors will visit
10 different race tracks over the course of the 2008 season.
ARDC
has established a strong base at two Pennsylvania Speedways
over the past couple of seasons, namely Susquehanna Speedway
Park and
Big Diamond Raceway. Fans that have come to love the
ultra-competitive ARDC shows at these two
tracks will be glad to see that eight shows have been
scheduled at Newberrytown's Susquehanna Speedway Park and
four races
will take place at Minersville's
Big Diamond Raceway. Fans will anticipate the great racing
at Susky that has produced photo finishes between Ray
Bull and PJ Gargiulo in '06 and
Dave Ely and Tracy Readinger in '07.
Grandview
Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pa. has been a long-time favorite
venue
for midget fans and for 2008 they will be able to enjoy
ARDC
action three times at the high-banked 1/3 miler. The
first visit will be on Wednesday,
May 21. The second visit to Grandview will be a blockbuster
event Tuesday June 3rd where ARDC will share the bill
with the USAC National Sprint Cars,
the third will take place on Saturday October 18th.
The June 3rd event marks a return of the most talked-about
series
of races in 2007 that paired
up the Wingless Warriors of ARDC and USAC.
The 2008
version of the ARDC/USAC swing will kick off with the
aforementioned Grandview show. The next night, Wednesday
June 4 will
see the wingless magic continue in a much anticipated
return
to the legendary Williams Grove
Speedway in Mechanicsburg Pa. The mighty midgets
will be
able to use all 340 horsepower down the 'Groves long
straights and will thrill fans as
they battle side by side inches apart in the corners.
The
final night of the Swing will be Friday night June 5th
at Big Diamond Raceway. The 2007ARDC/USAC visit to Big
Diamond drew a near
capacity crowd, and '08 should be no different as the
wingless action will be spectacular on
Big Diamond's soft clay, high-banked corners.
Another
building tradition for ARDC is the annual "Southern Swing" to
North Carolina. A busy month of June will see ARDC at
Dixieland Speedway in Elizabeth
City, N.C. on Friday night June 20, followed by a trip to County Line Raceway
in
Rocky Mount
on Saturday night, June 21.
Highlighting
the month of July will be a return to a track that ARDC
visited for the first
time in '07, as the Club will take to the high-banked
3/8 Winchester, Va. Speedway on Saturday night July 5.
Also
in July, the growth of ARDC midget racing will continue
with an Historic
first ever appearance at Accord Speedway in Accord, NY. Promoter
Gary Palmer has revitalized the "Ulster County Bullring" in
recent seasons, and a widened racing surface should
provide unprecedented thrills when the ARDC
midgets
debut at the Speedway on Friday night July 11.
Another "Crown
Jewel" facility in northeastern dirt track racing is the
New Egypt, NJ Speedway. New Egypt fans were so thrilled
by ARDC Champion
Andy Martin's rim-riding win from the back of the pack in '07 that the Central
Jersey speedplant is going
to have ARDC on the slate for two shows in '08. The first
will be Saturday night May 31, and the second will be on
Saturday night, August
16th.
Other
dates are being negotiated and were not confirmed at the
time of this report. Track promoters interested in hosting
an
ARDC show in 2008 are
urged
to contact ARDC booking agents Lou Zrinski at 908-568-5424 or Tracy
Readinger at
610-587-4938
The ARDC
midgets will be staging the most competitive, thrilling
action on dirt from Pa to North Carolina and
everywhere in between in
2008. Don't dare
miss it!
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