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NEMA Young
Drivers Good
‘For Everybody’ Says Payne |
There have been lots of changes in the Northeastern Midget Association since Joey Payne
Jr. gave car owner Gene Angelillo his 100th in the 2000 World Series at Thompson. Payne,
in the Angelillo seat fulltime in 2003, finds himself, at 37, an elder statesman.
Since that win, a youth movement has staked a claim on the club, the heralded Rookie Class
of 2001 setting about a revolution. Three members of that class – Ryan Dolan, Tim
Bertrand and Kyle Carpenter – won last summer. Bobby Santos III gave the movement
extra push, becoming the first rookie since 1988 to win a feature.
NEMA opens its 51st season April 5-6 at Thompson’s Icebreaker.
“I think it’s great for everybody including the old guys,” says Payne.
“These kids give us a little bit of fire. The youngsters are good and they’re in
good, fast cars. It used to be the veterans would sit back, make a move here, pick
somebody off there. Now you have to do it when you can because these young guys have great
talent and great courage.”
NEMA had 10 different winners in 2003, a number that easily could have been 12 or 13.
Although Payne does have a limited NASCAR Modified Series commitment, the NEMA
championship is the first priority.
Since winning the ATQMRA Rookie of the Year prize in 1984, Payne has over 75 open-cockpit
victories including a dozen in IMSA and five in NEMA. He saw limited action in NEMA last
summer, setting fast time at the Boston Louie at Waterford Speedbowl – the race
Santos won.
“A lot of people said NEMA was a step down at this point,” says Payne, a
standout in Supermodifieds for a dozen seasons. “I looked at the situation. When Gene
Angelillo calls with a ride in his car, how can you say no? Twelve championships, 105 wins
– how can you turn that down.
“I had told Gene I wouldn’t let him retire until I won a race for him,” he
continues. “I wound up winning his 100th and now I have the chance to help him win a
sixth straight driving championship.”
Payne insists a Midget is every bit as tough to drive as a super.
“Believe me, you can get hurt in a Super,” Payne begins. “The weight to
horsepower is incredible but you can use that horsepower to get you out of trouble. A
Midget is different. You have to be more aware of what’s going one. Nine times out of
10, if a Midget gets away from you, you’re gone.”
On a Super, he continues, “you have a 18-inch tire on the right rear, fifteen on the
right front. That’s a lot of rubber to keep you straight. A Midget you have an 11
inch tire and a seven inch tire.”
The variety of tracks – from tight quarter miles to the speedy five-eights at
Thompson and Oswego present a great challenge. “It shows what teams are on top and
what teams are not,” offers Payne who has won on several of the 2003 NEMA tracks
including Star, Lee, Thompson and Oswego. “There are a lot of different set
ups.”
He puts a 1998 Super win at Oswego and the 2000 World Series win on equal footing atop his
greatest memories. The Thompson win almost didn’t happen.
“I broke the car in practice on Saturday,” he recalls. “I had the Super too
so I didn’t get to work on the car. After Super practice I went back to the Midget
pits and they said they were putting the car away. I said ‘no way.’”
Payne and “his guys” repaired a broken head gasket but the car was “missing
and popping” as hs took his place in the rear of the starting line up. “Going by
Gene, I pointed to the motor and he gave me the thumbs up sign,” Payne says. “I
said ‘OK, that’s the sign – win or blow.”
The car was “so sick” Payne was able to “run flat out all the way
around” and that, he says, enabled him to catch race leader Russ Stoehr, also in an
Angelillo car, late in the race. He trapped Stoehr behind a lapped car in three.
“I just drove that son of a gun down in there. I said to myself “if this
doesn’t stick, I’m in trouble because I didn’t lift.”
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