Pain at the racing pump

WINCHESTER, N.H. (WWLP) - Pain at the pump. You feel it on the road, racers feel it at the track. John Holland of New England Racing Fuel told 22News 110 octane Sunoco Standard is priced around $10.25 a gallon, while 112 octane Sunoco Supreme is a dollar more, $11.25 a gallon. NASCAR tour type modifieds would require the higher octane Supreme. Holland says the prices are about a dollar a gallon more than last year. Racers at weekly tracks could use 7-10 gallons of gas for a night of racing. Holland estimates a touring team might use 300 to 400 gallons a season which would be $300 to $400 more than last season for fuel. But teams and weekly racers alike will point to the cost of the gas we all use as a factor in their racing plans. Whether they haul their cars in a tractor trailer or pull a box trailer with a hefty pickup truck, the cost of getting to the track usually outweighs what the race car burns on the track.

Horsepower To Hockey Sticks

Perhaps no one on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is watching the National Hockey League Lockout more closely than Richie Pallai, Jr. On select weekends from April to October, you'll find him behind the wheel of his #39 Chevrolet. But the New Yorker shares his passion for racing with his love of hockey. Pallai is a senior at New York University in New York City. His play in college has fired a strong interest to play professionally. Pallai told 22News, "I grew up playing hockey first. I started racing when I was 16. I've been playing hockey longer than I've been racing." During last year's winter break he joined 19 other players from different colleges who went to Europe to play. If he's able to play professionally after he graduates from NYU next year, Pallai says he'd like to stay in the states so he can be closer to his family. But when asked which he truly enjoys more, hockey or racing, Pallai explains it this way, "It all depends what I'm doing. If I'm in the race car now, I like racing. If I'm on the ice an hour from now I'll say hockey. I have it good that when racing ends hockey starts and when hockey ends racing starts."

Kimmy's A Champ At The Dog

Racing is scheduled to wrap-up for the season this Saturday at the Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire. For Chicopee's Kimmy Rivet, it will be the last race en route to winning the track's Mini Stock Championship. The personable 22 year old made 4 trips to victory lane this year in her #99 Toyota. This is her 5th season racing a mini stock at The Dog. Rivet's closest championship chasers were Beth Adams who was 30 points back, and Julia Raymond who trailed by 88 points. Raymond is a former champ in Monadnock's 4 cylinder Enduro division. Kimmy has one more task ahead of her: crafting her champion's speech for the speedway's upcoming awards banquet.