OSWEGO, NY (August 19, 2019) - When Keith Shampine got out front and ran away with the 50-lap Novelis Supermodified feature event at Oswego Speedway last weekend, it was a very popular victory for fans young and old. It was also a win with much historical significance.
Picking up his first checkered since back to back victories in the Spring of ‘17; when he won the Jim Shampine Memorial followed by a Twin 35 just one week later, Keith became the eleventh different winner in twelve Supermodified feature events this season.
Oswego Speedway’s prior record for most different feature winners in one season was also eleven set in 1975. Eleven different drivers and twelve different cars won features that year as part of the twenty two race schedule; a record that has now been tied.
In addition to being the driver who just so happened to tie that win record, Shampine also won exactly forty years and one week to the day that his legendary uncle Jim brought the famed rear engine masterpiece to victory lane. That ‘79 event was also the last prior to Classic Weekend.
As it turned out, Shampine won with his radical offset car on August 18 of 1979 as well, with this particular victory taking place one week prior to his only rear engine win and forty years and one day apart from his nephew’s return to Oswego victory lane.
Looking back in time, records certainly show that the August 17-21 weekend was always quite successful for ‘The Pine,’ who also won both the invitational feature along with the 45-lap main event contested on the 21st of August, 1976.
Seven years prior to the unforgettable rear engine drive and four ahead of the August 21 sweep, Jim also picked up the win on August 19 of 1972, a victory that allowed him to secure the third Supermodified track championship of his career that same evening.
With his win last Saturday, Keith Shampine has now tied Gordan Johncock, Nolan Johncock, Ronnie Wallace, and more on Oswego Speedway’s all-time list. The track’s 2019 season concludes with Budweiser International Classic Weekend August 30 to September 1.
About Oswego Speedway: Oswego Speedway is a 5/8 mile semi-banked pavement racing oval located off the shores of Lake Ontario in scenic Oswego, NY. The speedway has been a continuously run weekly racing venue since August 1951. The premier open-wheel pavement short track cars in the world, Supermodifieds, run weekly at the Oswego Speedway making it the only weekly Supermodified racing venue in the world. The Small Block Supermodifieds and 350 Supermodifieds accompany the full blown Supers on a weekly Saturday night schedule which runs from May through September. Oswego Speedway is mentioned in racing circles as the “Indy of the East,” as no fewer than a dozen past and present competitors have competed at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway including Mario Andretti, two-time Indy 500 champion Gordon Johncock, and former International Classic Champions Bentley Warren, Joe Gosek, and Davey Hamilton.
- CAMDEN PROUD on Aug 19, 2019
- Article Date: 8/19/2019