This hangover is fun to have

By Larry Ott

It is another race day at Ransomville Speedway. Cars are entering the pits. The track prep crew is putting the finishing touches on the racing surface. Engines are being warmed up and the fans are congregating in the main grandstand. It’s just another typical January race day here in good old Western New York.

Wait a minute! Did I say January? I must mean July. Heck, it’s winter here in January. This, however, is not a mistake. I mean January! For the third consecutive New Year’s Day, Ransomville hosted the third annual Fish’s Automotive-WYRK Hangover 100.

This wintertime stock car race has grown by a large measure, if car counts are any indication. The inaugural Hangover 100 run in 2001 had 42 entries. That number expanded to 115 in 2002, and this year’s addition saw the number of participants explode to 207.

"I could never have dreamt that the response to this event would be this incredible," said Tana Robinson, Ransomville’s marketing and public relations director. "Last Wednesday (race day) I stood and looked out the office window and was just in awe, watching the long line of race cars rolling into the pit area.

"I had predicted that 150 cars would show up this year, but happily, I guess I was a little bit off."

The first two years a single 100-lap feature was presented. This year, due to the overwhelming number of entries, Ransomville management decided to run the feature race card in two separate 75-lap segments. One race featured four-cylinder powered cars while the other race was for cars of both the six and eight cylinder varieties.

Even the name of the race is a bit odd, as it is still called the Hangover 100, even though the total for both feature race segments adds up to 150 laps. Such is the unique mystique of this wintry racecar meet.

For the record, this year’s winners are Bill Solly of West Falls in the four-cylinder group, and Tim Ponce of South Wales, who topped 125 other cars in the six/eight cylinder 75-lapper. Further evidence that this race event is gaining serious attention can be seen not only in the large entry list but also in the nature of some of the names that graced the list.

Among the summertime warm-weather drivers who participated in the Hangover 100 were DIRT Sportsman champion Randy Chrysler, and Genesee Speedway DIRT Sportsman champion Brian Sage, as well as Lancaster drivers Jim Ling, Jim Stone and Dave Wollaber. Sprint Car drivers Tim Phillips, Mike Lauterborn and Curt Sherwood also took to the track.

Other drivers participating included Ransomville Sportsman, Pro Stock and Street Stock campaigners Dan Mayer, Dan Shoop, Jim Nashwinter, and Ken Washburn, among others.

Drivers came in such a large numbers to this year’s race that the cars were backed up down the main driveway and out on to Braley Road, while waiting to get signed into the actual pit area.

Cars used in the Hangover 100 are basic street stock-type automobiles with very little modifications for racing, except for a few safety items. Consider them a form of an oval track demo derby or jalopy type vehicle.

The cars are relatively inexpensive to purchase and with only the winner of each race getting paid ($300), most drivers participate just for the fun of it. Drivers pay a $45 entry fee.

The Hangover 100 event was born in 2000 and took its inaugural green flag less then two months later.

"Loren Fish started talking about organizing a winter time New Year’s Day race at Ransomville at our awards banquet in November of 2000," recalled Robinson. "He approached me at the banquet and asked if it was possible to have a race of this type at Ransomville, and if so, would I help him out.

"I went across the room and talked about the idea of the event with the Friesen family (Ransomville promoters) and within minutes we made the announcement at the banquet that the first race would take place on New Year’s Day, 2001. We had less then two months to prepare but it came off well and has been growing ever since."

Auto racing writer Dave Roberts is the only media person who has covered all three Hangover 100 races. He likes what he sees in this event.

"Hey, I like the fact that nobody else has an event like this except Ransomville," said Roberts. "I know that Paul Szmal (a southern tier race promoter) tried to find out if any other tracks in the southern tier of New York wanted to start their own event like the Hangover race this winter, and nobody was interested. It is unusual that a track would host an outdoor stock car race in the winter. It’s not something you see very often. But it has been a success at Ransomville.

"I think that when the Friesen family started the Hangover 100 they saw it as a chance to showcase the Enduro type of race division, a class that has been going downhill for at least the last ten years.

"Enduro people are a different type of people. They come out on a cold winter day when it’s freezing and the wind is blowing and the parking lot is a muddy mess, and they enjoy themselves. I think that Ransomville’s management is even thinking about making next year’s race a triple 50-lap event, as there were too many cars on the track at one time this year with just the two features."

The event, which featured free grandstand admission, drew over 1,000 onlookers. Each spectator was asked to bring a canned food item to donate, and over three truckloads of much needed food was given to the Trinity Christian Food Bank.

Perhaps there is a greater lesson to be learned from the Hangover 100. Too many times during the regular (summer) race season, when competitors are usually competing in far more expensive cars, battling for bigger race purses, point championships and the prestige of winning, the concept of fun goes on the backburner as pressures mount. Some race nights, fun seems to be missing.

What the racers who drive in the Hangover 100 are teaching us is that when all the pressures are removed and people are allowed to strap into cars just for the pleasure of having a race to run in, then fun re-enters the picture in a most important way. In other words, if one is not going to have fun, then why race?

When it is time to ring in the New Year in 2004, one can expect that even more cars will participate in the fun. After all, who could believe that you can actually enjoy a hangover without having to take two aspirins the next morning?

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