Just as Daytona is synonymous with superspeedway stock-car racing, Oswego (N.Y.) Speedway will always be linked with supermodifieds.
With big-block engines hanging out the left side and tires twice the width of most racers, the cars scream around the five-eighths-mile, ringed inside and out by steel walls. Neither fans, nor drivers forget the experience.
George Caruso, Jr. ran the speedway with brothers Doug and Romey after taking over from their uncle, Harry, and their father George, who’d built the track from a rustic half-mile into the “steel palace.” But they eventually saw the writing on the wall and, to the amazement of many, the facility passed to Pat Furlong and Steve Gioia, Jr.
“The region’s economy was one of the major factors,” explains George, Jr. “Another thing is that a lot of our drivers retired or quit racing regularly. In a short time span, we lost Bentley Warren, Eddie Bellinger, Steve Gioia, Jr., Pat Abold and Joe Gosek, who went to ISMA. Those guys were household names in the area and brought fans.
“Then we had two guys who dominated for six years, ’94 to ’99, who weren’t fan friendly. Mike Muldoon and Doug Didero were great racers, but people just didn’t relate to them.
“On top of that, we had NASCAR booming. People began doing one or two Cup races instead of a season of short-track racing. And it wasn’t just us, it happened throughout the Northeast.
“And within a year of us taking over, the tax structure in Oswego County turned upside down. The two nuclear power plants and one gas-powered plant demanded and got tax breaks when they were sold. To make up for that, property taxes for everyone else soared. Our land and school taxes went from $27,000 to $64,000 in one year.”
The change in Northeast racing is also illustrated by the situation at the Caruso’s other business, Speedway Press, which among other things produces race programs.
“In the late ’80s, we were doing programs for 30 tracks every week,” Caruso said. “This year we’ll have eight tracks. They’re either out of business or can’t sell programs. The Internet and the lack of crowds have killed that business. The only ones who buy programs now are older fans, who have a collection and keep statistics. Fifteen years from now, you won’t be able to look things up on the computer, and there won’t be any programs, so it’s a bad scene.”
On the other side of the coin, Caruso says he saw a tuner show and drifting event at Oswego this summer and was amazed.
“They had a huge crowd and I saw more young people there than I’ve seen at Oswego in 10 years,” he said. “Shows like that attract young people, unlike traditional short-track racing. And drag racing is drawing them in as well.”
“Huge crowd” is a relative term, as every promoter knows, but Caruso says estimates by casual observers are always high.
“We were getting 2,000 people a week, but guys look at the stands and see twice that or more. And most promoters inflate the numbers to attract sponsorship. Back in the early ’70s we were courting Budweiser for Classic Weekend and went to Trenton for a champ car race. The weather was horrible and the crowd tiny but the Bud guy thought they drew 50,000. When he asked about Oswego, I quickly inflated our draw to 12-15,000.”
Caruso says the show of the year was Classic Weekend, with 9,000 fans on Saturday night for the modifieds and more than 10,000 Sunday for the supermodifieds.
“That’s a lot for a short track, but everyone thought we had 25 or 30,000. Glenn Donnelly was getting a full house then at Syracuse, 15,000 fans, but he advertised 75,000 to impress his sponsors.”
While many would think that growth of the ISMA road shows hurt Oswego, Caruso disagrees, saying, “ISMA was a good thing for the supers. It put the Oswego show out in the world for people to see. Then we started running their winged shows too. One of our greatest shows ever was the Jimmy Shampine Memorial with ISMA and the non-winged Oswego supers on the same bill. The attendance was good, but 10 years before that, when interest was at the peak, we would have overflowed.”
But there’s a downside to ISMA’s success too, as Caruso feels it’s hurt the International Classic, one of American racing’s great traditions.
“Since they’ve gone their own way with rules, it’s hard for guys to take the wings off and run the Classic. The kids have no experience that way,” Caruso said.
“They miss the help from the wing and have no desire to learn to drive without it. It’s a shame they don’t support it but they don’t realize what a historic event it is, having run since 1957.”