The loudest buzz around the NASCAR hive has been coming from the "young guns" of
the sport. Since 1999 the biggest movement seen in NASCAR is young rookies running
exceptionally well with the best in the Winston Cup business. Since the success of Tony
Stewart and Ryan Newman the trend has now shifted to looking to sprint and midget drivers
taking their talent to the upper echelons of major league auto racing and winning early on
in their careers. The same goes for the best kept secret in racing… The Wirtgen
America NEMA Midget series. For years young guns of the most competitive midget club in
the country have been showing the prowess of veterans with their flat-out, no fear driving
style that has come to be known as the "NEMA youth movement"…but it didn't
begin there.
Young drivers have been coming through the Wirtgen America NEMA ranks for almost thirty
years. The best drivers in NEMA were, at one time, young hotshoes. What I want you to do
now is take a trip with me back in time. That's right, pack the plutonium, fuel the
Delorean, charge up the Flux Capacitor as we go all the way back to 1977 to St. Pie,
Canada where a then 19 year-old Doug Cleveland, driving for Jim O'Brien in only his second
full NEMA season, beat veterans Bob Cicconi and Johnny Evans. The win, to this very day,
has become a treasured highlight of both driver and car owner. Cleveland finished 8th in
points that year and has since gone on to become a coveted Johnny Thompson Award winner,
and the family team are the oldest active NEMA members. That same year saw a youthful Joey
Coy form an alliance with now-retired, car owner Carl Kibbie. The team recorded three NEMA
titles in their careers.
Okay, hop back in the Delorean, get it up to 88 miles per hour and flash-forward to 1984
where we pay a visit to sophomore drivers Bobby and Mike Seymour in their early twenties.
Mike won his first ever NEMA feature at the Monadnock Speedway early in the season, while
brother Bobby captured the East Coast Classic, the richest NEMA purse at that time. Both
brothers would go on to record driving titles with Mike winning the championship in 1994
and Bobby in 1987.
Leapfrog to the following year. It's 1988 and the rookies are starting to garner more
attention. Howie Bumpus headed a tough rookie class despite having no prior racing
experience. No go-karts, no mini-sprints…nothing! That didn't slow Bumpus down one
bit. In the last four races of the '88 season, Bumpus walked away with his first ever win
at the Waterford Speedbowl and followed it up with second, third and fourth place finishes
in the last four races. To prove those runs were no fluke, he won opening night at Star
Speedway the following season early '90's introduced us to new talent like Keith Botelho,
Matt O'Brien and Pete Pernesiglio. Twenty-four year old Botelho won the Pat Thibodeau
Youth, Determination and Talent award in his rookie season. Eight years later fans watched
Botelho in a "David versus Goliath" battle with Drew Fornoro for the 1998
championship. Botelho finished the bridesmaid but managed to end the season with three
wins, won the Johnny Tompson Award and Most Improved Driver. At the tender age of twenty,
O'Brien grabbed a Most Improved Driver award in 1991, Pernesiglio walked off with a top
ten in his first ever start and won the Youth Determination and Talent award in 1993, he
was twenty-three. It was also the year that little brother Greg made a last lap pass to
beat older brother Russ, in what some say to this day, was the best NEMA feature ever.
The time circuits are set for 1997 and the destination is Seekonk Speedway. Mark Buonomo
came to NEMA from an impressive kart and mini-sprint background. The twenty year-old would
adapt to the Wirtgen America NEMA Midget Series rather quickly though. With less than ten
races under his belt he set the NEMA world on its ear winning the sought after Wen
Kelly/Brian Caruso memorial in a thrilling battle with Russ Stoehr. It didn't stop there,
Buonomo became a force to be reckoned with at Waterford winning there in 1999, 2000 and
swept two races there in 2001. He capped the 2001 season winning the prestigious Xtra/Mart
World Series of Speedway Racing at Thompson.
The Dawn of the 1999 season saw Barry Kittredge and Randy Cabral showcase their talents to
the NEMA family. The year would go down as one of the toughest fought battles for Rookie
of the Year. Cabral and Kittredge played ping-pong in the points until the last race of
the season put them both next to each other in the top ten point standings. Both
competitors put on an impressive display of driving. It was the first time in history that
NEMA awarded co-rookie of the year honors to both drivers.
The following year saw a twenty-one year-old Cabral score a darkhorse win in the
"Boston" Louie Seymour memorial against names like Noki Fornoro, Dan Drinan and
Bentley Warren. Kittredge almost won in 2000 at Waterford, until a late race caution
snatched victory away. At the dawn of the 2001 season Cabral picked up where he left off
winning The Icebreaker, Seekonk's D.A.V. Memorial and a regular points show at Star. Later
in the season, it was Kittredge's turn to redeem himself and step into Waterford's victory
lane.
The 2001 and 2002 seasons were the beginning of the kiddie corps. At the annual winter
meeting in the Thompson Speedway clubhouse, a vote was passed lowering the clubs minimum
age from eighteen to sixteen to compete. That brought us names like Kyle Carpenter, Tommy
Spada, Ryan Dolan, Tim Bertrand, Adam Cantor, Kevin Weeks, Bobby Santos III, Ben Seitz and
Tim Heath.
Kevin Weeks would win Rookie of the Year in 2001, but NEMA would hear the young lions roar
in 2002. Sixteen-year-old Ryan Dolan turned heads at the Icebreaker winning in fine
fashion. At Waterford in June, youngster Tim Bertrand beat Randy Cabral, Bobby Santos III,
Russ Stoehr and Ben Seitz to the line for his first ever win. That means four out of the
top five were in the under twenty-five demographic. In August Bobby Santos, III won his
first race after eight career NEMA starts and became the first driver to win in his rookie
season in fourteen years.
The following week at the Oswego Classic, Kyle Carpenter saw victory slip through his
fingers due to battery trouble. Veteran Drew Fornoro won the race, but two out of the top
three were youngsters. Cabral and Ben Seitz would finish second and third. The final two
races of the season Cabral topped the Waterford Finale and Carpenter grabbed victory
number one at Thompson. The World Series was the finest race of the season. Ryan Dolan and
Bobby Santos, III swapped the lead three times in one lap. The two would eventually make
contact, spinning Santos and ending Dolan's day. Santos changed a tire and charged back up
through the field to finish second. The final points tally saw Cabral finish second,
Carpenter and Dolan were fifth and sixth, Cantor, Seitz, Bertrand and Heath were tenth
through thirteenth. Tommy Spada finished seventeenth and Santos rounded out the top
twenty.
At seasons end newcomer Tim Heath won Rookie of the Year with one top five and four top
tens. Ben Seitz and Bobby Santos, III were co-Youth Determination and Talent award
winners, Adam Cantor won the Ralph Miller Memorial Award for Outstanding and Continuing
Perseverance, and Gino Spada (Tommy's dad) won the Never Say Die award.
In the first race of the 2003 season, Cantor finished second to Drew Fornoro after Bobby
Santos was disqualified in post-race inspection. Justin Barger, Sean Cassie and Rich
Gerbee are among the newest blood in The Wirtgen America NEMA Midget series. Sixteen
year-old Sean Cassie finished seventh in his maiden run.
Now, I know that comparing NEMA and NASCAR is apples to oranges. NASCAR is the elite in
American auto racing and NEMA lives in a corner of the open-wheel universe. All I'm saying
is, the young gun craze may be new in the world of stock car racing, but it's old news to
NEMA.
In Charlotte, I'm Derek Pernesiglio.
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