2018 Database Updates

One of the things we do during the production of each film in our Speedbowl Documentary Series is re-verify the feature winners in our statistical database for that particular era.  And during the 2017-2018 off-season, we did just that for the 1984-1994 seasons covered in Part 4 of our series.   And when we did, we found results for some events we didn’t know existed previously.  We also re-evaluated some of the initial decisions we made about feature events and divisional history when we first created our statistical database back in 2005… and after further review, we felt a few of those decisions were incorrect.  So we made some adjustments that to our database.  See below for the details, plus those additional results we found.

ENDURO WINS ADDED TO CAREER WINS LIST

When we first started, we considered Enduro events as ‘Exhibition Events’ in our database.  We define Exhibitions as events where the entertainment value to the fan is of more importance than the official scoring of the event.  For this reason, exhibitions are NOT included in the Career Wins List.  Back then we also hadn’t been able to verify the winners of numerous Enduro events, close to 50 were missing verified results.  (Thanks to our continuing research since then, we reduced that list to only 15 left).  More importantly, over the years, we’ve also heard plenty of feedback from Enduro winners and competitors that felt Enduro wins should, without a doubt, be included in the Career Wins List.   So while the entertainment value of the Enduros is pretty high, over the course of their history since 1985, we don’t believe it outweighs the scoring of the event.  And with that new evaluation, the Enduro wins are now included in our Career Wins List.  8-cylinder and 4-cylinder Enduro classes are considered 2 separate divisions and their stats have also been added to any other applicable statistic in our Record Book as well.

For more info on feature results we are still looking to verify, visit our Missing Results page

For more info on how we determine what is or is not a feature event, visit our About Features Wins page

LATE MODEL DIVISION RESTRUCTURE

Another thing we looked at was the situation in which the Speedbowl, at least in statistical terms, had two versions of a Late Model division in the late 1970’s.  The first was a division that started in 1965 as the Daredevils and lasted until 1979 when they were known as Grand Americans.  The stars of this division were Mike Daignault, Bob Gada, Ron Cote and Donny Fowler.  There is also the division that started in 1977 as the Street Stocks and have evolved into today’s ACT style Late Models.  The stars over the years have been Phil Rondeau, Jay Stuart, Tom Fox, Allen Coates and Bruce Thomas Jr.  We originally connected the lineage of both of these divisions to start the Late Models back in 1965 when the Daredevils debuted. 

But this created a 3 year overlap from 1977-1979 when both divisions existed. We won’t get too specific in explaining how we structured this issue previously, only to say it was too confusing.  So we revised these stats to what they shouldlve been all along – 2 separate divisions. The first division is the Daredevil/Grand American (DGA) from 1965-1979 and the current Late Model (LM) division that started in 1977 and is still active. For most people, this change may not be noticeable but for those previously confused on how we defined these two divisions, we hope this clears it up.

For more details on our parameters for each division statistically, visit our About Speedbowl Divisions page

WE FOUND ANOTHER WIN FOR PHIL RONDEAU

After consistently coming up with 106 verified career wins for Phil Rondeau since we started Speedbowl research in 2005, we found another victory for Farmer Phil last off-season.  We found a mid-week special event in June of 1987 that we were previously unaware of.  The Late Models competed that night and Phil Rondeau won the feature.  After close to 13 years of continually coming up with a total of 106 wins for Phil Rondeau, now we have him with 107.

And unfortunately, our new total of 107 doesn’t match previous reports from the early 2000’s of Rondeau having anywhere from 108 to 113 caeer wins, which has stuck in our craw since we started research.  But despite any previously reported totals in any published source, our totals will always reflect only our own research and in Rondeau’s case, that total is 107 career Speedbowl wins.  If we find additional results as we did recently, we will once again add them to our total.

Click here to read more details on Rondeau’s career win totals.

WE ALSO FOUND ANOTHER WIN FOR ED YERRINGTON JR

Additionally since our last update, we also found verification of another result for an event we were previously unaware of.  There was a Super Stock companion feature to a Sunday Demo Derby show in June of 1981 that was won by Ed Yerrington Jr.

Anyone with additional statistical information, questions or comments, please contact us.

For more details on how we conduct our research and come up with the stats listed on this site, visit our About the Stats page.

Thanks for visiting our site, we hope you enjoy our Historical Site for the New London-Waterford Speedbowl

Sincerely,
Tom ‘Sid’ DiMaggio
Vault Productions owner & founder