Jerry Pearl

Jerry Pearl competed on & off at the Speedbowl for over 3 different decades, winning races in 3 different divisions along the way.

Pearl won at the Speedbowl for the first time in 1973 driving a #43 in the Sportsman Sedan division (the Late Model division at the time). He would return a couple years driving a Modified and win twice during the 1975 season. His most memorable win came in 1978 when he edged out 4-time Speedbowl Champion Dick Dunn in a side-by-side finish. He finished 5th in Modified points that season.

In the 1980’s, he drove his brother-in-law Jack DeNino’s “9 of Diamonds” car, winning a couple more races and finishing runner-up to the Modified Driver Championship twice: in 1982 to Moose Hewitt and in 1983 to Bob Potter.

When the Speedbowl transitioned to SK Modifieds, Jerry Pearl became one of the upstart division’s first stars, also competing at Stafford Speedway (where the division was created). He won back-to-back SK Modified Championships at Stafford (1984-1985) but lost the 1985 crown at the Speedbowl via wins tie-breaker to Rick Fuller. Pearl was awarded the Perfect Circle Award, which was given to the driver with the most combined SK Modified points from Stafford and Waterford. When the Arute family’s lease of the Speedbowl ended after 1987, Pearl left weekly competition at Waterford as well.

He would return in 1991, again driving a #43 he owned, winning 2 races and finishing 2nd to Ricky Young in the championship standings, his 4th runner-up finish to a Speedbowl Championship. Then in 1993, he finally won his first SK Modified Championship at Waterford. Pearl won 12 SK Modified races at the Speedbowl during the 1990’s. He retired after the 2001 season with 19 career wins at the track. His son Jeff won the SK Championship in 1998 and Jerry’s grandson Bryan Narducci has also won races at Waterford.

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