Syracuse

[Winger]

I just saw the following headline. I couldn't find a story or results yet. Congratulations to Frank Cozze. Billy Decker won the 358 race.

Frank Cozze drove from his 33rd starting spot and played the gas mileage game and scored the win of the Rite Aid 200 at the New York State Fairgrounds.

BYW, this is for the Northern transplants.

[JackTripper]

That is unbelievably awesome!

I grew up watching Frank in the Cozze family #44, then orange and white, at Nazareth. Frank is the true definition of a throw back racer, owning a salvage yard, and just being a hell of a driver. He was looking forward to bringing back last year's car and had a plan that he stuck to, and damned if it didn't pay off!

Frank has been at this game a long time and truly deserves this one. Just goes to show you that there are some series left out there where you can still win the biggest race of the year by bringing your A game and using your noggin, and not by buying your way to the front.

[Winger]

That is unbelievably awesome!

Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool too. I've always like watching him. I'm a Decker fan but glad to see Cozze win. I sure miss going to that race. I guess this year was different. No rain or snow, no mud, no cold. lol I guess Brett Hearn tried pulling a Balough Batmobile trick this year but tech wouldn't allow it. Wish I'd been there.

[Frasson118]

Here's the car I most remember. When it was brand new, it was a thing of beauty.

[ancrdave]

Syracuse,NY — October 12, 2008 – By Tom Skibinski, Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series PR Director

Frank Cozze has been coming to the New York State Fairgrounds landmark oval for 40 years. Sunday afternoon proved to be more than a happy ending for the Keystone State Modified veteran as he captured the biggest DIRTcar Modified victory of his career in the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series Rite Aid 200 to close out the 37th edition of Super DIRT Week on the storied Syracuse Mile.

“I don’t even know what to say, I’m kind of choked up,” remarked an emotional Cozze, who accompanied his car-owning father on his first-ever visit to the Salt City’s most famous speedway for the annual NYS Fair Labor Day Championship in 1968. Now at the age of 53, the seasoned veteran from Wind Gap, Pennsylvania becomes the oldest driver to win DIRTcar NorthEast’s premier event for Big-Block Modifieds with the $50,000 top prize going toward an early retirement fund. “Everybody did such a great job … my brother spotting in the stands … all my sponsors … just so many people I don’t know who to thank first.”

“Ya, the old boy (dad Dick Cozze) had a car here for the first couple (DIRT Weeks) and I was almost too young to come to them so it’s gonna feel real good to get him up there with me for a picture. This win is way up there, by far the biggest I’ve ever had, what else is there,” beamed Cozze, after redeeming himself in a marquee event that has teased him for over three decades. Cozze posted a pair of top-threes in his first five title runs between 1977-1981, scored third-place finishes in 1992 and 2003, and even held the lead in 1989 until contact with Danny Johnson just seven laps from the end squelched his best-ever chance to climb to the top of the podium.

Joining Cozze on center stage this Columbus Day Weekend were second-generation chauffeur Matt Sheppard and fellow Pennsylvania pilot Duane Howard, while a late-race charge afforded Canadian standout Stewart Friesen fourth-place just ahead of pole-winner and 2004 Rite Aid winner Tim Fuller. Lebanon Valley Speedway regulars J.R. Heffner and Eddie Marshall crossed the line next while youthful drivers Billy Dunn from the north country, New York’s Capital District runner Keith Flach and Central New York DIRTcar circuit stalwart Justin Haers tallied top-10 finishes in the 200-lap affair.

Sheppard out-dragged front row partner Fuller to set the early pace, opening up a comfortable 10 car-length lead after just one time around the unforgiving Moody Mile. Cozze filed in 33rd on the 46-car starting grid and was hardly noticed the first half of the race as an early pit stop strategy kept his Waite's General Contractors no. 44 Carquest-Bert Transmission/PMC machine mired midway in the pack. Numerous yellow flags throughout the event proved more than beneficial to Cozze as he waited patiently in his march toward the front and quietly cracked the top-10 by lap 90 after a round of pit stops.

“Nobody, I mean nobody, gets the gas mileage we got all week,” declared Cozze, who would ultimately circle the Syracuse Mile the last 129 laps on one tank of gas, with a handful of his closest challengers running dry as the final laps clicked off. With his crew flanked by recently rehired Brent Tittle and Dave Hoffman, brother of ’96 Rite Aid champ Doug Hoffman, Cozze made his first pit stop for fuel and a two rear-tire change after a lap 39 caution. When Tomkins slowed on lap 70 to force out the sixth yellow flag, Cozze stopped for only a new right rear tread and what amounted to enough fuel to cover the remaining distance. “Jack Stanley and Bill Gill, my fuel guys, they had it right to a tee. They said I could probably go another 20 (laps) if I just conserve. We got enough cautions there that it really helped, and I was worried more about the tires than fuel.”

“I said before the race that if we can keep a right-rear tire on it, we can pit early … you can’t get a much better shot at this (win). Things just went our way, guys made great calls and both pit stops were right on the money. We didn’t even practice (pit stops), that’s how good these guys really are. And this is the same car I’ve been running every Saturday night, we just put a new body on and came here. This is the car I like the most, the one I sit in the best. It’s the number one car, really the only one I got right now,” said Cozze, who made his Modified debut during the Bicentennial, following a brief stint in the Novice Sportsman class from 1974-75.

Sheppard made his own trip down pit lane on the 50th circuit to give perennial Super DIRT Week favorite Brett Hearn his first lead in the Rite Aid 200 since 2003 when the Sussex, New Jersey speedster led the opening 38 laps. Another yellow flag unfurled when Shawn Reimert darted across the track in front of the leaders on lap 61 and Frenchman David Hebert moved to the point the following circuit. Haers was the next in line to inherit the number one position under caution following Tomkin’s mishap, and the Phelps, New York driver held it at the lap 100 mark to pick up the $5,000 Halfway leader bonus packsge posted by Dig Safely New York, Promotion and Pinnacle Design Group (PDG). “I lost the brakes around lap five and I didn’t want to pit with the leaders so I wouldn’t screw up anybody,” Phelps divulged afterwards. “When I got out front and was able to stay there I thought I might as well shoot for the halfway deal. Leading that lap and coming home in 10th-place is a pretty good day considering what might have been.”

Chasing Haers under head starter Dave Farney’s crossed flags at the halfway point were two-time Syracuse Sportsman Modified feature winner Vince Vitale, 2005 DIRTcar NE Sportsman rookie of the year Chris Higgins and Cozze, who had managed to lay low saving both fuel and tires while the competition thinned out in front of him. And when Vitale elected to make his final stop pitside on lap 124, Cozze was there to take control followed by another prominent Pennsylvanian Rick Laubach and four-time Rite Aid 200 winner Billy Decker, who had been carving his way through the field following a tour of pit road himself after a lap 81 caution.

Lap after lap Laubach shadowed Cozze, looking for any opening that would take him to the head of the class for the second time in three shows. He led 26 laps in the 2006 Rite Aid race. Yet that opportunity never came as Laubach ran dry on lap 189 sending Dick Biever’s no. 14 Alpha Mills Corporation-SmartAndSexy.com/TEO mount limping slowly into the pits at the same time an exploding right rear tire on Vitale’s Troyer ride incurred the 17th and final caution period.

When the green lights returned for the final lap 192 restart, all eyes focused on leader Cozze in his bid for that elusive Super DIRT Week trophy and top chaser Decker who was looking to become just the third driver too sweep both Big-Block and Small-Block features on the same Super DIRT weekend. With five laps still to go, Tomkins moved in on Decker’s bumper while Cozze brought the capacity crowd to its feet trying to tabulate in unison the leader’s fuel mileage as he stretched his narrow advantage to a half-dozen car-lengths.

The closing laps were run off in typical fairgrounds fashion with positions up front seeming to change through every turn. Decker’s LJL Racing no. 91 Gypsum Wholesalers/Bicknell mount suddenly went up in smoke on lap 197 to extend Cozze’s lead and the following circuit offered further relief as new second-place runner Tomkins only remained there one lap before he dropped off the pace with the gas gauge reading empty on the Honeoye Auto Parts no. 84 Red Parker & Son Excavating/Bicknell car.
Meanwhile, third-generation driver Friesen was picking off the opposition one by one, improving from 10th-place on lap 192 to fourth at the finish line with all hell breaking loose as the curtain rolled down on Super DIRT Week XXXVII in Syracuse.

“You gotta work on gas mileage out here and M2 had it down pat today,” added Cozze, after establishing a new standard for fuel consumption on the famous fairgrounds oval. “I can’t wait to see how much (fuel) is left. The track got kinda wide out there today and I ran around the top most of the race. I don’t know what Rick was doing, just know that I was conserving. When I had to stretch it out there I had no problems as good a car as I had today,” reflected Cozze, who has been known in the past for getting good gas mileage to minimize pit stops in the extra-distance races.

“The first time I won Eastern States (1989) at Orange County I went the whole way without stopping. Glenn (Donnelly, former event promoter) kind of blew it off not thinking anybody could go 200 laps without stopping. He changed his tune the next year, but I still won with a fast car and today we probably could run a few laps more.”

Sheppard happily settled for runner-up laurels after improving from fourth to second in the closing stages as the misfortune of Decker and Tomkins opened the door for the two-time Syracuse race winner.

“I saw Billy up in smoke and Gary ran out of gas with a couple to go, and I knew he pitted after Frank so I said Frank’s gotta be the next one to go and I’ll be leading this thing,” said Sheppard, who won the Super DIRT Week Sportsman race in 2000 and followed up three years later with a checkered flag in the 358-Modified headline attraction. “But he made it, congratulations to him. I was blubbering a little bit in the corners, I know I was getting pretty low. He got phenomenal fuel mileage, my hat’s off to them guys. ($20,000) we’ll take it,” added Sheppard, after recording his best-ever finish in eight events with two 10th-place tallies coming in 2002 and ’06.

The seventh try at the State Fairgrounds for third-place finisher Howard was easily his best, with his last appearance in Syracuse made in 1999. “We really had a good race car but we were saving fuel, I wish we could’ve raced a little harder,” said the Oley, Pa. driver after steering Chad Sinon’s no. 4 BPG Racing-Alex's Lemonade/Troyer entry to his best finish since ending up 13th in 1997. “I think we really had a good shot at (win). It was a great effort not being here for a number of years. I always like coming here, maybe this will become a routine event.”

“If you keep the car fairly straight the track was pretty good. I had spotters making sure I didn’t smoke the tires. Our pit strategy worked to perfection, the yellows came out right when we needed them to so it was a good day right to the end. I’m sure we’ll be back,” Howard said.

Despite engine failure putting Decker 24th on the final scoresheet, the Unadilla, New York driver clinched his second overall Hoosier Tire Mr. DIRTcar Championship, his first for car owners John and Laura Wight. “I probably owe Gary (Tomkins) a new fire suit,” quipped Decker, 43, who needs one more triumph on tour to surpass Hearn as the all-time Advance Series single-season win leader as Decker has 10 that tied the mark set by Hearn in 2002. “The motor was missing since lap 123 and I was spewing something on him for quite awhile. I knew it was coming apart, just hoped it would last to the end.”

Added Tomkins, who was credited with 22nd-place after getting a brief glimpse of leader Cozze with just two to go, “It wasn’t as much what I was getting on me, it was that smell, I knew something was gonna happen to Billy eventually. I only went through a few tear-offs, but my nose is still burning a little bit from running behind him so long and waiting for something to go.”

Offering the only serious challenge to Cozze throughout his second-half surge to the front, Laubach went home with a prize package valued at over $1,000 courtesy of Budd Olsen Speed Supplies and Area Auto Racing News after being recognized as the Rite Aid 200 ‘Hard Luck’ award winner. “Our game plan got thrown out the window on lap 40 when all the leaders came in, that was what we were going to do. We changed our strategy to make it a one stop deal after that. I tried Frank a few times but just stayed close in back of him waiting, trying to lull him into a daze then maybe sneak by. I think we had a strong enough car to get by, just fell a little short on chances today.”

With Super DIRT Week now officially in the record book, all eyes turn to Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, New York for the 47th running of Eastern States Weekend. The Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series season-finale will end with the crowning of an overall Hoosier Tire Mr. DIRTcar Big-Block Modified champion for the 33rd consecutive year. With his second Mr. DIRTcar title clinched Sunday at the NYS Fairgrounds, Decker will have his eye on returning to victory lane on the ‘Hard Clay’ as it was back in 1998 that he garnered his only other Mr. DIRTcar Championship and Eastern States triumph.

Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series Race #25 – New York State Fairgrounds, October 12, 2008 “Rite Aid 200” Modified Event Summary
FIN STR CAR# DRIVER LAPS $WON$
1 33 44C Frank Cozze/Wind Gap,PA 200 50,000
2 2 9S Matt Sheppard/Waterloo,NY 200 25,000
3 19 4 Duane Howard/Oley,PA 200 15,000
4 18 44 Stewart Friesen/Niagara-o-t-Lake,ONT 200 10,000
5 1 19F Tim Fuller/Edwards,NY 200 6,000
6 13 88 J.R. Heffner/Pittsfield,MA 200 4,000
7 27 98 Eddie Marshall/Ridgefield,CT 200 3,600
8 11 49 Billy Dunn/Watertown,NY 200 3,400
9 6 43 Keith Flach/Ravena,NY 200 3,200
10 17 3 Justin Haers/Phelps,NY 200 3,000
11 22 99 Ryan Phelps/Fulton,NY 200 2,800
12 3 20 Brett Hearn/Sussex,NJ 200 2,600
13 5 55 Mitch Gibbs/North Norwich,NY 200 2,400
14 34 7 Jimmy Horton/Neshanic Station,NJ 199 2,200
15 7 34 Andy Bachetti/Great Barrington,MA 199 2,000
16 43 29 Jeff Brownell Jr./Geneva,NY 199 1,900
17 14 56 Vince Vitale/Phoenix,NY 199 1,800
18 28 14 Rick Laubach/Hellertown,PA 199 1,700
19 25 57 Donnie Corellis/Averill Park,NY 199 1,700
20 36 1H David Hebert/St.Damase,QUE 199 1,700
21 39 FX1 Frankie Caprara/Watertown,NY 198 1,600
22 23 84 Gary Tomkins/Clifton Springs,NY 198 1,600
23 26 J66 Danny Johnson/Rochester,NY 197 1,600
24 15 91 Billy Decker/Unadilla,NY 196 1,600
25 10 2 Ronnie Johnson/Duanesburg,NY 194 1,600
26 44 02 Roy Bresnahan/Fulton,NY® 193 1,600
27 4 98H Jimmy Phelps/Baldwinsville,NY 182 1,600
28 20 1 Bobby Varin/Sharon Springs,NY 179 1,600
29 32 53 Ric Hill/Lafayette,NJ® 154 1,600
30 42 42P Pat Ward/Genoa,NY 145 1,600
31 35 41 Shawn Reimert / Oley,PA 126 1,500
32 38 19H Chris Higgins/Syracuse,NY® 123 1,500
33 29 99L Larry Wight/Phoenix,NY® 120 1,500
34 8 *14J Alan Johnson/Middlesex,NY 104 1,500
35 21 77X Dale Planck/Cortland,NY 96 1,500
36 45 3B Chad Brachmann/Sanborn,NY 78 1,500
37 30 35 Mike Perrotte/Elizabethtown,NY 58 1,500
38 24 26 Ryan Godown/Ringoes,NJ 47 1,500
39 40 83 Brian Swartzlander/Leechburg,PA® 47 1,500
40 37 48too Dave Rauscher/Waterloo,NY® 38 1,500
41 16 35X Jason Barney/Constantia,NY 32 1,500
42 9 12A Jack Johnson/Duanesburg,NY 27 1,500
43 12 115 Kenny Tremont/West Sand Lake,NY 19 1,500
44 46 66 Richie Tobias Jr.Annville,PA 17 1,500
45 31 32C Vic Coffey/Leicester,NY 10 1,500
46 41 7X Steve Paine/Waterloo,NY 1 1,500
*Alan Johnson drove #88 car not qualified by Steve Hulsizer.
EVENT SUMMARY:
LAP LEADERS: Sheppard (1-49), Hearn (50-61), Hebert (62-70), Haers (71-102), Vitale (103-123), Cozze (124-200).
TOTAL LAPS LED: 77-Cozze, 49-Sheppard, 32-Haers, 21-Vitale, 12-Hearn, 9-Hebert.
LEAD CHANGES: 5 among 6 drivers.
CAUTIONS: 17 for 84 laps.
ELAPSED TIME: 2 hrs. 39 mins. 47 secs.
AVERAGE SPEED: 75.100 mph.
MARGIN OF VICTORY: .480 sec.
FREIHOFER'S ROOKIE OF THE RACE $2,000 AWARD: Roy Bresnahan.
BERT HARD CHARGER: Frank Cozze.
A-1 RACE PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Frank Cozze.
DIG SAFELY NY-PROMOTION-PDG LAP 100 LEADER $5,000 AWARD: Justin Haers.
SHARON'S TOY RITE AID 200 CHAMPION $3,000 BONUS: Frank Cozze.
SHARON'S TOY RITE AID 200 5TH-PLACE $1,000 BONUS: Tim Fuller.
SHARON'S TOY RITE AID 200 TOP OCFS FINISHER $1,000 BONUS: Brett Hearn.
GATER RACING NEWS BEST APPEARING CAR & CREW: #2 - Ronnie Johnson.
BUDD OLSEN SPEED SUPPLIES HARD LUCK AWARD: Rick Laubach.
AREA AUTO RACING NEWS HARD LUCK AWARD: Rick Laubach.
NYSSCA 'TOP MEMBER' AWARD: Matt Sheppard.
AMERICAN TRADITIONS MOTORSPORTS POLE WINNER: Tim Fuller (30.160 sec/119.363 mph).
TEO PRO CAR OUTSIDE POLE WINNER: Matt Sheppard (30.461 sec/118.184 mph).
MAURI HOLBROOK MEMORIAL FAST TIME OF WEEK AWARD: Tim Fuller (30.160 sec/119.363 mph).
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS TRIPLE-20 RACE WINNERS: Jack Johnson, Matt Sheppard, Brett Hearn.
DIG SAFELY NEW YORK SHOOTOUT RACE WINNER: Pat Ward.
CARS ENTERED: 75.
RACE ROOKIES®: 6.

DID NOT QUALIFY(29)
1NY-Greg Atkins/Clintonville,NY®
4S-Brad Shova/North Bangor,NY
7A-Al Blanchard/Fenwick,ONT
14M-Mitchell Jock/Akwesasne,NY
16-Mike Bowman/Baldwinsville,NY®
19-Joe Williams/Scotia,NY
21-Yan Bussiere/Drummondville,QUE
21M-Bob McGannon/Garnerville,NY
22-Larry Lampman Jr./Pt.Colborne,ONT®
22J-Jeremy Wilder/Fort Plain,NY
24-Chris Shultz/Pawling,NY
24D-Patrick Dupree/Saranac Lake,NY
26R-Rick Richner/Niagara Falls,NY
28P-Eldon Payne Jr./Hopewell,NY®
37-Jason Herrington/Troy,NY®
37X-Tom Scheetz Jr./Boyertown,PA®
M40-Mark Forte Jr./Blue Anchor,NJ®
42-Pete Bicknell/St.Catharines,ONT
44S-Casey Swamp/Akwesasne,NY®
45-Wayne Jelley/Pittsfield,MA
62R-Ron Smoker/Hamburg,NY
66-Vince Gagliardo Jr./Reading,PA®
66X-Carey Terrance/Hogansburg,NY
87-Hector Stratton/Bennington,VT®
87XPaul Gilardi/Pittsfield,MA®
84H-Steve Hulsizer/Bridgeport,NY
96-Todd Milton/Auburn,NY
220-John Ferrier/Middletown,NY®
347-George 'Skippy' Fox/Springfield,MA®

[georgep]

Thank you for the story and Finish order.