Media Contact: Steven Ovens - woodhullracewaypr@gmail.com For Immediate Release – January 22nd, 2019 – Joe Kaminski Jr. photo -
(WOODHULL, NY) – Fans of the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. loved the driver of the No. 3 for many reasons- but one of the biggest being that they could relate to him as a ‘regular, blue collar’ kind of guy. If that’s the kind of driver you pull for, Woodhull Raceway’s 2018 Hobby Stock track champion is your kind of driver.
Canisteo, NY’s Joe Birdsall is just one of many drivers in the ever popular and growing Hobby Stock division that is helping usher in a new era of grass roots racing to ‘New York’s Toughest Bullring.’ Trucking industry by day and driving stock cars by night, Birdsall is bringing back that blue collar flavor to Saturday night short track racing.
The driver formerly known as ‘Puddin’ would ride his Dukes of Hazzard driving style all the way to a Hobby Stock track championship in the Woodhull Auto Supply Hobby Stocks. Birdsall was never afraid to scrape the turn four wall if necessary and was the driver who truly brought the “Sherwood Lane” off the turn two drop off on the backstretch on a weekly basis.
Birdsall battled all season long with last year’s track champion Carter Dennis. However the difference in 2018 was that Birdsall came away with four feature wins to Dennis’ two wins. While Birdsall wasn’t as consistent as Dennis was in the Top 5’s department, Birdsall’s two more wins more than made up for his poor finishes to edge Dennis by 17 points in the final rundown.
Birdsall purchased a Street Stock in the Fall and will plan to move forward with those plans, so the growing and ever popular Hobby Stock division will likely see a new champion in 2019, although Carter Dennis would love to make it two championships in three years for his team out of Addison.
AJ Niedermaier and his awesome looking Dodge Charger No. 73 earned Rookie of the Year honors for 2018.
The end of the year will leave racers and fans waiting until the March 15-17 Arnot Mall Car Show in Big Flats, NY to gather together once again to bench race in preparation for the 2019 season. The season will kick off on April 6 and 13 with open practice sessions, weather permitting, before kicking off with a special event on April 20 and the complete weekly program with Big Block/Small Block Modifieds on April 27.
For more information visit www.woodhullraceway.com or visit Woodhull Raceway on their Facebook and Twitter pages.