For the longest time, whenever we tallied up Phil Rondeau career victories, we came up with 106 wins overall. 101 in the Late Models and 5 in the SK Modifieds. Those totals are important because when we started this website, Rondeau was the track’s Career Wins Leader (since surpassed by Keith Rocco in 2015). Unfortunately however, both totals that our research verified were less than what was previously reported in various race recaps in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. We’ll get into this discrepancy in detail below, but first let’s give a little backstory to the stats & the research behind the scenes.
HOW WE GOT STARTED
Prior to our research, which started in 2005, the only statistical history of record for the shoreline oval was John Brouwer & Dave Shippee’s book ‘A Racing History of the New London-Waterford Speedbowl’ which covered the track’s first 23 seasons (1951-1973) and was published in 1974. Statistically, it provided Track Champions plus win totals for each season listed by division.
Over the next 31 years, there was no known database of Speedbowl statistics, despite references to historical numbers in their press releases or track programs from time to time. There were also 6 different track operators in that span with no indication that any of them kept comprehensive statistics for historical preservation.
When we began creating a definitive Speedbowl statistical database, it was decided that it would provide a week-by-week listing of every feature winner chronologically for each season. This would allow us to create a comprehensive Record Book as well, which would not only help us track career wins, or season win totals, but other categories like consecutive wins So, as daunting of a task as that was, that indeed is what we did, initially using newspaper archives, trade papers or track programs to verify results going all the way back to 1951.
Early on, it became frustrating to see that some of our stats didn’t match Brouwer’s book or the handful of records that became publicly accepted in the Speedbowl community over the years. Two of those records belonged to Phil Rondeau, who at the time was the Speedbowl’s Career Wins leader and the only driver with 100 wins in a single division (Late Models).
RONDEAU’S CAREER WINS RECORD
References to Rondeau’s final career win total varied anywhere from 111 to 118 in the early 2000’s, depending on the source. Or sometimes it was listed in vague terms like “he’s collected over 100 feature wins…” as it was below in The Day’s story recapping Rondeau’s last win at the Speedbowl on August 7, 2004.
We recounted his verified win total several times during our research. We also re-verified all the Late Model results since Rondeau started in 1983 to make sure we didn’t credit someone else with victories that should have been Rondeau’s, but we found no such errors. Over the next 12 years, we probably went back and reviewed the Late Model results from 1983-2004 over 5 times. And the numbers never changed. 106 overall feature wins for Phil Rondeau, 101 in the Late Models.
ONE OF THE GLARING DISCREPANCIES WE FOUND
Some time more recently, we went through the archives once again. But this time, we made a chronological list of the references to Rondeau’s career win total to see if there was any continuity within those references over the years.
The first thing that stood out was a sequence that starts with Rondeau’s 1st win of the 1996 season on June 22nd. By our count, this was his 77th Late Model victory at the Speedbowl and his 82nd overall feature win. However in the track’s souvenir program (shown below), the win was noted as Rondeau’s 80th career Speedbowl win.
So for argument’s sake, let’s take that career total of 80 and follow it through Rondeau’s next handful of wins and see where we land….
- Rondeau won one more time in 1996 on Sept 14th, which would have been career win #81
- Rondeau did not compete at the Speedbowl in 1997
- Rondeau returned in 1998 and won the June 6th feature – career win #82
- Rondeau’s next win was 3 weeks later on June 27th – career win #83
However, track program recapping that June 27th event doesn’t credit it as his 83rd win, but instead his 94th career win, 11 more.
This jump in career numbers for Rondeau is where we believe the glitch between our research and previous reported stats lies. It is an increase of 11 career wins for Rondeau that our research simply doesn’t support. In fact, if you remove the 1997 season (in which Rondeau did not compete at Waterford) there were only 8 Late Model events he would have competed in between his last win in 1996 and this next win in 1998. That is 3 less than the 11 additional wins that mysteriously were added to his win total. Unfortunately, the math just doesn’t add up.
PHIL RONDEAU’S PERSPECTIVE
Interestingly enough, back in 2015 when Keith Rocco approached Rondeau’s record numbers, I got a phone call from Farmer Phil. I had gotten to know Phil over the years, including when we interviewed him for our #SpeedbowlDocSeries project. He expressed his doubts in our win total and was confident he had more feature wins than what we were showing and by extension what the Speedbowl was promoting as Rocco approached his records. The one thing we did agree on was that no matter what the total number actual was, Rocco would pass it soon anyway (which Keith eventually did).
I explained to Phil the guidelines for our research and that we had dated source material verifying every winner listed on our site. I also let him know, should he or anyone provide credibly sourced material that confirmed more wins than what our research currently shows, we would update our database accordingly – as is our policy with anyone who disputes our statistical research. No one has yet to come forward with any such information in regards to Rondeau’s career win total.
AND THEN WE ACTUALLY FOUND ANOTHER WIN FOR RONDEAU
A couple years later while working on our #SpeedbowlDocSeries, we actually found a mid-week special event in June of 1987 that included a Late Model feature that we were previously unaware. In a New London Day article we found recapping the event, the Late Models competed with Phil Rondeau taking the win. After close to 13 years of continually coming up with a total of 106 wins for Phil Rondeau, now we have him with 107.
In the end, that’s the real struggle with Speedbowl research. On the one hand, the ultimate goal is to have the most accurate stats and therefore I’m glad we found this additional victory. Yet on the other hand, this also means that for years we had it wrong. All those programs we published from 2007-2014 where we referenced that total of 106 are now misprints, all the hype in 2015 of Keith Rocco passing that number, when it should have actually been celebrated after his next win. That’ll irk me every time I think about it.
It is also important to note that none of this, in any way, is meant to diminish Phil Rondeau’s accomplishments. He is one of the best to ever drive around the Speedbowl and was rightfully inducted into the NEAR Hall of Fame in 2022. During the 80’s and 90’s, Phil helped put the Speedbowl’s Late Model division on the regional (and occasionally the national) scene as one of the best in local short track racing. His importance to the Speedbowl or the sport in general should not be affected at all because our research differs from previously reported statistics.
Lastly, we’ve always been concerned that the difference in our stats from what was previously reported or promoted would be perceived as us trying to re-write the Speedbowl’s history – and that couldn’t be farther from the truth. We really have no preference to anyone’s career statistics. Our goal has always been to provide the most accurate & comprehensive statistical history for the Waterford Speedbowl. Hall of Fame journalist Pete Zanardi told us early on in our research that eventually some people will be upset with our stats. Since there was no one acting as the gate-keeper of Speedbowl statistics after Brouwer’s book in 1974 until we began our research in 2005, there would inevitably be discrepancies in what we find vs. what has been promoted or referenced in years previously. Pete couldn’t have been more accurate with that prediction, it’s one of countless examples of good advice the ‘bowl’s longtime PR man has given us over the years.
So while we don’t like that Rondeau’s career wins total is different than what was previously promoted (including by ourselves), we shall continue to leave the door open for revising our database when more information is provided & verified. So if you think you have information on Rondeau’s career wins that differs from stats on this site, please contact us with the details.
Sincere thanks to all the fans & supporters of speedbowlhistory.com
Tom “Sid” DiMaggio