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By Jill Chastenay
Growing up in Claremont, New Hampshire it’s obvious that I frequented
Claremont Speedway every Saturday night. Just like now I always
preferred to watch the modifieds. In the nineties one of my favorite
drivers was David Pinkham. Back then David drove the number 16
Modified and he was one of the up and coming drivers. Then, all of the
sudden he was gone!
Last year I was lucky enough to see David race again, this time at Beech
Ridge in the True Value Modified Racing Series. He filled in for Gary
Casella and ended up winning the race! I like many others who had seen
Pinkham race in the nineties were happy to see him win. My only hope
was that I could see him in a car every week.
This year I did see Pinkham at a couple of tracks early in the
year. However, to my dismay he was not running in a car, yet. However,
just like last year Gary Casella decided to go on vacation, the same week
as Beech Ridge which put David back in his car. Wouldn’t you know he
got second this time in a much talked about race with Dwight Jarvis. Of
course I happened to miss this race, so when I saw him running the 51
Modified at Star I was thrilled!
Pinkham’s finish at Star wasn’t quite as good as Beech Ridge, finishing
18th but that did not deter my excitement at seeing him in a Modified
again. I had to find out if this was a permanent ride and if I could
interview my longtime favorite driver.
Finally at the end of August, I got the opportunity to interview David
Pinkham. We met in between races at Monadnock Speedway on the
26th. For those who don’t know David Pinkham he is from Buxton, Maine
and has been racing for 22 years.
The first thing I had to ask David was, where did he disappear to and how
did he end up in the back in the modifieds? David replied, “ I took a
couple of years off to spend time with my kids, I’m a single dad.” He also
told how Gary called him up last year to run the 25 car at Beech Ridge
and then again this year. Now he’s running in the 51 Modified for Warren
Mordenti. Warren told me at Star “he’d have Pinkham in the car the rest
of the year as long as it’s running!”
Of course this made me have to know, will David Pinkham be in a
Modified next year? He answered (very thoughtfully), “Yes, I’ve had a
couple of offers for next year. Good quality ones, unless Gary gets out
of the car. They are a good team.” He would not say who made the
offers and I wasn’t going to pry. We all know how racing is, what’s true
one week could be false the next. I’m sure we’ll be some of the first
people to know once he seals a deal!
Since it had been a while since David had run a Modified I wondered if
the cars and the sport had changed much since he ran at Claremont. He
said, “The only change I’ve noticed is the respect. There is a mixed
crowd of older and younger people racing right now. There doesn’t
seem to be the ‘give and take’ that there used to be.” This answer led
right into the next question I had for David, “Past or present who has
been your favorite driver to run against and why?” Right away David
said, “Dwight Jarvis and Jack Bateman, they could race hard but that
there was respect between the drivers and the drivers were friends off
the track and go do things together.” He also added, “while racing with
Dwight at Beech Ridge they were racing as hard as they could but it was
fun because there was that age-old respect between them.” I also
wondered what it was like to run against Punky Caron. Pinkham said,
“Before I ran at Claremont I watched Punky run and that’s how I figured
out how to get around the track.”
The track Pinkham has found to be challenging is Seekonk. At Beech
Ridge where he obviously has no problem racing David has run in the
Pro Stocks in the last few years. Can you believe it fenders! When I
asked how Pro Stocks were different than Modifieds David said, “No fun,
Modifieds are more stable and more fun.” As a driver for 22 years I
thought it would be interesting to know what advise he would give to
someone starting out in the sport he went back to, “patience, and
respect” as being important for a new driver. This emphasis on patience
is evident in the way he always drove and continues to do today.
David Pinkham is what every driver should be patient, modest, and one
of the nicest guys you will ever meet. He’s very polite and yet when he
gets on the track he is aggressive enough to go for the win. This
combination of positive characteristics are sure to help get him into a
good car next year.
Claremont Speedway every Saturday night. Just like now I always
preferred to watch the modifieds. In the nineties one of my favorite
drivers was David Pinkham. Back then David drove the number 16
Modified and he was one of the up and coming drivers. Then, all of the
sudden he was gone!
Last year I was lucky enough to see David race again, this time at Beech
Ridge in the True Value Modified Racing Series. He filled in for Gary
Casella and ended up winning the race! I like many others who had seen
Pinkham race in the nineties were happy to see him win. My only hope
was that I could see him in a car every week.
This year I did see Pinkham at a couple of tracks early in the
year. However, to my dismay he was not running in a car, yet. However,
just like last year Gary Casella decided to go on vacation, the same week
as Beech Ridge which put David back in his car. Wouldn’t you know he
got second this time in a much talked about race with Dwight Jarvis. Of
course I happened to miss this race, so when I saw him running the 51
Modified at Star I was thrilled!
Pinkham’s finish at Star wasn’t quite as good as Beech Ridge, finishing
18th but that did not deter my excitement at seeing him in a Modified
again. I had to find out if this was a permanent ride and if I could
interview my longtime favorite driver.
Finally at the end of August, I got the opportunity to interview David
Pinkham. We met in between races at Monadnock Speedway on the
26th. For those who don’t know David Pinkham he is from Buxton, Maine
and has been racing for 22 years.
The first thing I had to ask David was, where did he disappear to and how
did he end up in the back in the modifieds? David replied, “ I took a
couple of years off to spend time with my kids, I’m a single dad.” He also
told how Gary called him up last year to run the 25 car at Beech Ridge
and then again this year. Now he’s running in the 51 Modified for Warren
Mordenti. Warren told me at Star “he’d have Pinkham in the car the rest
of the year as long as it’s running!”
Of course this made me have to know, will David Pinkham be in a
Modified next year? He answered (very thoughtfully), “Yes, I’ve had a
couple of offers for next year. Good quality ones, unless Gary gets out
of the car. They are a good team.” He would not say who made the
offers and I wasn’t going to pry. We all know how racing is, what’s true
one week could be false the next. I’m sure we’ll be some of the first
people to know once he seals a deal!
Since it had been a while since David had run a Modified I wondered if
the cars and the sport had changed much since he ran at Claremont. He
said, “The only change I’ve noticed is the respect. There is a mixed
crowd of older and younger people racing right now. There doesn’t
seem to be the ‘give and take’ that there used to be.” This answer led
right into the next question I had for David, “Past or present who has
been your favorite driver to run against and why?” Right away David
said, “Dwight Jarvis and Jack Bateman, they could race hard but that
there was respect between the drivers and the drivers were friends off
the track and go do things together.” He also added, “while racing with
Dwight at Beech Ridge they were racing as hard as they could but it was
fun because there was that age-old respect between them.” I also
wondered what it was like to run against Punky Caron. Pinkham said,
“Before I ran at Claremont I watched Punky run and that’s how I figured
out how to get around the track.”
The track Pinkham has found to be challenging is Seekonk. At Beech
Ridge where he obviously has no problem racing David has run in the
Pro Stocks in the last few years. Can you believe it fenders! When I
asked how Pro Stocks were different than Modifieds David said, “No fun,
Modifieds are more stable and more fun.” As a driver for 22 years I
thought it would be interesting to know what advise he would give to
someone starting out in the sport he went back to, “patience, and
respect” as being important for a new driver. This emphasis on patience
is evident in the way he always drove and continues to do today.
David Pinkham is what every driver should be patient, modest, and one
of the nicest guys you will ever meet. He’s very polite and yet when he
gets on the track he is aggressive enough to go for the win. This
combination of positive characteristics are sure to help get him into a
good car next year.
