Former Crewman Tony Pisa Races To Oswego Small Block Super Rookie Of The Year Title
Story By: DAN KAPUSCINSKI & CAMDEN PROUD / OSWEGO SPEEDWAY – OSWEGO, NY – Tony Pisa has been wrenching on racecars for more than 15 years, and in 2017 finally walked through Oswego Speedway’s Steel Palace gates as a full-time driver, capturing this year’s Pathfinder Bank Small Block Super Rookie of the Year title in the Greg O’Connor No. 89.
Starting with Shaun Gosselin around the early 2000’s in the quarter midget, micro, and midget ranks; Pisa then provided body fabrication help to the Supermodified pairing of Dan Kapuscinski and Barry Cann, before landing with the Craig Rayvals Supermodified team in 2007.
“The first thing I ever touched that hit the Oswego Speedway was a nose I helped build with Mike Kapuscinski for Danny’s car around 2004,” said Pisa. “Later I helped Danny and Barry Cann build a Super body on the car that Danny took 5th with in the 2006 Classic, and then moved to help the Rayvals team in 2007 and 2008. I picked up my first win as a crew member with Craig in ’08.”
When the Gosselin team advanced to the Supermodifed ranks, Pisa was right there.
“We got two wins with Shaun in 2013,” said Pisa. “During that time, I also started helping Greg (O’Connor) when time allowed. The first real interaction I had with them was after Greg took a trip into the foam. I ran over and took an arm full of bent body panels over to the Gosselin trailer to fix because I knew where all the tools were. There were lots of confused and concerned people in the No. 90 pits wondering who just stole all their body panels.”
Over the course of the next few seasons Pisa spent the majority of his time focusing on the Gosselin No. 26 machine, but kept in touch and helped O’Connor when he could, which eventually led to a shot as a driver.
“I had purchased a 600cc Microsprint to race in 2017 and shortly after that Greg teamed up with Steve Flack, which made Greg’s old car available,” said Pisa. “Greg immediately offered me the seat and suggested we try and run full-time.”
Pisa, who had limited experience in the Micro ranks, was essentially a true rookie.
“My main goal was to get as many laps as I could and learn the car and the track,” said Pisa. “I had hoped to finish every race but due to some bad luck and some rookie mistakes, that did not happen. Overall, I look at the year as a success, despite suffering some big setbacks. The car was fast right away and I was able to pick up a top ten and a pair of 11th place finishes.”
Pisa would go on to finish the season 13th in the overall driver’s standings, winning Rookie of the Year honors to finish the regular season.
During Budweiser International Classic Weekend, Pisa suffered another setback, hitting the turn two steel during time trials on Friday night. However, the true racer came out in Pisa and in his team, as the crew worked hard to fix the racer for Sunday’s B-Main.
“Greg and Brian (Dana) helped me get the car back together to run in the B-Main on Sunday, and we finished the Classic,” said Pisa. “We won Mike Kapuscinski Rookie of the Race honors.”
With 2017 in the rear-view mirror, and plenty of learning experiences in his back pocket, Pisa is already preparing for 2018.
“The car is down to a bare frame,” said Pisa. “We have a lot of work to do this off-season. It looks like we will basically be building a new car around the existing cockpit, as the trip into the steel Classic Weekend was pretty rough on the frame. As of right now the plan is to have the car ready to attempt the full season, but that will depend on some additional funding.”
One thing is for certain, when there is a race at Oswego Speedway, Tony Pisa will be there in one capacity or another.
Pisa will be awarded Rookie of the Year honors on Saturday, November 4 during the Speedway’s annual Hall of Fame and Championship Awards Banquet at the Lake Ontario Event and Conference Center in Oswego, beginning at 6 p.m.
To book a room at the Best Western, phone a hotel representative at (315)-342-4040 or visit online at www.bestwestern.com.
Banquet tickets are available in the Speedway box office, located at 300 E. Albany St. in Oswego, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. Tickets for the night’s festivities and dinner are $45.
Speedway Supports Children’s Museum of Oswego’s Build, Play, Grow Campaign; Speedway Exhibit Set To Be Added
Oswego Speedway is proud to announce its support of the Children’s Museum of Oswego’s Build, Play, Grow Campaign ahead of the 68th consecutive season of action at the ‘Steel Palace,’ set to begin this May.
Used for the benefit of children, families, educators, and caregivers in the Oswego community, ‘CMOO’ is a non profit organization which houses a variety of interactive exhibits designed to promote physical and intellectual development which focus on aspects of current and historical local significance, imaginative play, the arts, science, and mathematics.
The Children’s Museum of Oswego also offers programs for various age groups that provide a structured learning objective such as crafts, topics in science exploration, environmental studies, music and movement, and literacy activities. An agricultural exhibit donated by C’s Farm Market as well as a hardware store exhibit donated by Burke’s Do It Best Home Center include recent additions.
As part of the new partnership with the Children’s Museum, located at 7 West Bridge Street in Oswego, an interactive Oswego Speedway exhibit will be added as well. Within the exhibit, children will have the opportunity to get suited up and participate in a ‘race’ of their own, or perhaps ‘crew’ on their own race team.
Already in the works, the Oswego Speedway exhibit is set to be the final piece of the ‘Town Square’ area at CMOO. The historic ⅝ mile oval will be reduced down to a child-sized backdrop to a ‘pit area,’ which will house racing gear and even a model Supermodified.
“The Children’s Museum is excited to collaborate with the Oswego Speedway on the final piece of the Town Square exhibit area,” said Jillian Shaver, executive director at CMOO. “The Steel Palace will be the backdrop for an engaging hands-on activity where children can dress-up like a race car driver or a member of the pit crew and race to change the tires, fuel the car and perform mechanical adjustments on a model of a Supermodified.”
This new Oswego Speedway exhibit is expected to be unveiled around the time of the 62nd annual edition of Budweiser International Classic Weekend at the speedway, which will take place from August 31 through September 2 in 2018.
“We are very excited to assist in making Oswego Speedway a part of the new Town Square at the Children’s Museum of Oswego,” said track owner John Torrese. “It is important to keep the younger generation involved in the sport and CMOO provides the perfect opportunity for us to engage in that effort. Oswego Speedway is looking forward to seeing the finished product of this exhibit next year and looks forward to collaborating with the museum on all of the ideas we have to put this together.”
While Opening Day has been set for Saturday, May, 26, the 2018 schedule and rules packages for Oswego Speedway are nearly complete and will be released in the coming days.
Oswego Speedway’s Mitchell’s Speedway Press Hall of Fame Banquet will take place Saturday, November 4 at 6pm in the Lake Ontario Event Conference Center located at Best Western PLUS Captain’s Quarters on East 1st Street in Oswego.
Banquet tickets are available in the speedway box office, located at 300 E. Albany St. in Oswego, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 10am to 1pm on Saturday, October 28. This Saturday will be the final day to purchase tickets for the event. Tickets for the evening’s festivities and dinner are $45.
