Once again, the weather wreaked havoc at the shoreline oval this weekend, with the Saturday evening race card being cancelled due to heavy rains. This Saturday night, it’s the Speedbowl’s traditional mid-season extravaganza, the “Pepsi 300”. Scheduled to go the 100-lap grind are both the SK’s and the Late Models. The Sportsman and Mini Stocks will also go the extra-mile route, both divisions covering the 50-lap distance. Time trails will be part of the program for all classes, an event that’s particularly unique for the Late Model, Sportsman and Mini groups who rarely take part in the race against the clock.

In looking back at past Pepsi 300’s, the event has often been crucial in determining the final outcome of the seasonal points race. This year’s edition sees former multi-time champion Dennis Gada sitting in the top spot in the SK’s, and veteran Jay Stuart remains the man to beat in the Late Models. Dewayne Dorr, who’s mauled the competition in the Sportsman ranks this year sits atop the parade in his division, while it’s multi-time feature winner Danny Fields in the Mini wars. All divisions are close numbers-wise this year, so it’s a sure bet that teams will be placing a lot of extra emphasis on this night of extra laps around the Bowl’.

Waterford’s mid-week “X-Mod” division continues to grow in popularity, with more teams signing-in at each event. A part of the “Wild & Wacky Wednesday” show, the budget-minded division has provided a place for potential Saturday night warriors to get their feet wet in the world of open-wheel competition. Add in the always-popular 4 & 8-cylinder X-Cars, along with Legends, and it’s just the ticket to avert those “work week doldrums”.

Also up on tap this week will be the annual “Night of Destruction”, an event that demolition derby aficionados are sure to enjoy. Taking place on Friday evening, the show includes school bus demos & races (particularly entertaining for the students in your family), along with passenger car demos and the always-entertaining “burn-out” contest.

In non-racing news, the employment picture on the Southeastern Connecticut shoreline unfortunately, continues to worsen.  Along with recently announced cuts at Electric Boat, three-hundred high-paying manufacturing jobs will be lost to the area by 2008, when the Pfizer Global Manufacturing facility in Groton, Connecticut shuts its gates forever. Personally speaking, this comes as no surprise, as yours truly was released from Pfizer employ just last February after almost 27-years of service as part of a corporate-wide downsizing effort known in Pfizer-speak terms as “Adapting to Scale”. Fortunately, I was able to avert the soup line by recently finding employment within my field, a feat in itself considering the area job market. At least one Waterford SK owner-driver that I know of will be directly affected by his change in career status, but as local employers continue to downsize, move operations, or go belly-up, there’s bound to be more. So much for the benefits of the “new economy” our politicians keep telling us about.