Gargiulo Wins ARDC First in Epic Susky Battle
By Mark Kielblock

Newberrytown, Pa. - At the conclusion of his "Rookie of the Year" campaign in 2006, PJ Gargiulo missed winning the Susky season closer to Ray Bull by inches. Gargiulo was to say later that that experience left a "fire burning in his belly" to get the job done; to get an ARDC win. Sunday night Gargiulo successfully extinguished that flame by defeating ARDC's best in a classic clash of the titans at the Newberrytown oval.

Tracy Readinger and Scott Zipp led the 26 car field to the green flag. To no one's surprise Readinger went immediately to the inside rail to try to take an early lead. What was a surprise was that Scott Zipp went to the top side and was able to keep pace with Readinger throughout the early laps. A race that would later have thrilling conclusion, started out with a thrilling side by side battle that would see Readinger and Zipp see saw back and forth down the straights and run almost dead even in the turns.

Click to view

Finally on lap 5, Zipp was able to complete the pass of Readinger coming out of turn two. That was the good news. The bad news for Zipp and Readinger is that by lap 6, sixth row starters Andy Martin and PJ Gargiulo had already cracked the top 5 with Martin third and Gargiulo fifth. Andy Martin saw the high groove that Zipp was running and made it work even better as he went a lane higher and eventually swept past Zipp and Readinger into the lead.

The stage was now set for a classic battle as Martin hung in the extreme high groove, Readinger went to his familiar spot on the inside rail and PJ Gargiulo now third was rolling through the middle of the corner. On lap 15 Gargiulo went for it all as he dove for the inside between turns 3 and 4 and passed both Readinger and Martin in one move to blast into the lead.

Gargiulo looked determined to put his stamp on this race as he immediately began to open a gap on Martin and Readinger, but first wins never seem to come easy. Gargiulo had to endure a restart after a lap 18 caution. His first restart was flawless as he rolled high in the corner, then shot low to prevent an inside pass. It worked to perfection and he was able to open a gap, but yet again the caution winked on -- this time for a stopped Frank Polimeda in turn 2. Gargiulo used exactly the same tactic on the next restart and he made it work just as successfully as he was able to open a gap. This time there would be no more interruptions as Gargiulo was able hold his lead all the way to the checker.

Gargiulo wasn't totally sure this race was his. "I saw Andy up high and I said, oh no," Gargiulo explained in victory lane. "My car was good enough to go up there, but we changed the gear and didn't have the gear to run high. I had to be on the bottom. When I got the lead, I kept expecting to see Andy come back by me on the high side, but he never did." Gargiulo then ran down a list of people to thank for the long awaited first win. "I've got to thank Crew Chief Bill Jackson. Of course, I've got to thank my dad Paul Sr, make sure you put dad in big capitol letters," Gargiulo joked. "Also Sperrs Fuel Oil, Church's Auto Parts, Uncle James, Simpson, Team RTP, the Pistorios and Joe Farrell."

Night Notes: The Susky track crew put some water on the upper groove just before the ARDC feature. It worked to perfection, bringing alive a track surface that saw many laps completed in blazing sunshine by the ARDC, 358 Sprints and Legend Cars. There was much passing throughout the field as the winner and second place came from the sixth row and Randy Monroe advanced from 23rd to 9th. AJ Ernesto advanced from 15th to 6th. Shane Penny overcame heat race ignition issues with Jerry Steward's Bishop/Fontana to finish 11th after starting 25th. Steve Lenig posted a 4th place finish and pressured Readinger for third, after a series of frustrating runs for the Selinsgrove, Pa. driver this season. Stephanie Stevens struggled with race-ending brake problems. The York County Racing Club was on hand and presented winner PJ Gargiulo with a plaque in victory lane.

26 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition. Heat races were won by Steve Lenig, Andy Martin and Scott Zipp.

20 Lap ARDC Feature: 1) 51- PJ Gargiulo 2) 21-Andy Martin 3) 2-Tracy Readinger 4) 9-Steve Lenig 5) 46-Brett Arndt 6) 14-AJ Ernesto 7) 11-Eric Heydenreich 8) 12-Drew Heistand 9) 27-Randy Monroe Jr 10) 75-Ryan Watt 11) 34-Shane Penny 12) 29-Zack Martini 13) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 14) 77-Nick Wean 15) 84-Jimmy Commock 16) 20-Carey Becker 17) 44-Frank Polimeda 18) 99-Scott Zipp 19) 42-Jack Spence 20) 00-Greg Robinson 21) 25-Chris Zrinski 22) 16-Dave Shirk 23) 0-Steve Buckwalter 24) 95-Mark Lawshe 25) 38 Bobby Goerner 26) 26-Stephanie Stevens

Northern Swing yields a Streak of Top 10's
Updated June 7th

At a glance...
Grandview: Finished 10th from 15th
Penn Can: Lap 1 incident with Eric Heydenrich, battled back from 26th to finish 10th.
File Mile Point: After a lap 1 incident, battled back from 24th position finish 7th.
Grandview: Rained out - to be made up October 18th
Big Diamond: Lap 1 incident with Tracy Reading, rallied back from 24th to 7th with one lap to go. Night ended after tangling with ARDC Champions Ray Bull and Andy Martin (scored 17th)
New Egypt: Finished 10th from 13th

Grandview Speedway and the Northern Swing
Updated May 28th

Grandview's Thunder on 'The Hill' Series begins tonight premireing the 410 Winged Sprint cars and the legendary ARDC Midgets! 410 time trials kick off the event at 7:30pm.

Grandstand Admission: Adults $20, Ages 7-11 $5, Children under 6 FREE
Pit Passes: $25 all ages

Directions:

From Route 422, go NORTH onto Route 100. Follow Rt 100 proximately 10 miles into Bechtelsville, PA. Turn right onto Speedway Drive (large sign on Rt 100 for the speedway).
Track website: www.grandviewspeedway.com

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

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!

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 - 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!