You've heard of mixed metaphors. Here's a good one - bringing a shovel to perform a sweep. For John Blewitt III, the mixed metaphor is appropriate, as he dug and dug from a 21st-place starting spot to sweep New Hampshire International Speedway's two Modified Series races in 2006. Blewitt described the race as "pretty uneventful for us until about the last fifteen laps. Our car was too tight off the corners. Jimmy (Blewitt) and I were mired around ninth and tenth and really weren't going anywhere. It seemed the longer I went the better I got, the car seemed to come to me when we got into the top five."
NHIS' old reputation for being one-groove with the bottom the only workable groove is long past; today The Magic Mile may need to be called The Magic Cushion, because it races more like Indy Raceway Park. For Blewitt, though, "I had to move down a lane because if I ran higher I was too loose through the middle of the corner. The car seemed to come in at the right time, where at the end I could pass and not get stuck on the bottom without any help. When I got the lead from Teddy (Christopher) I thought he'd make a run back by me, but I was really strong by myself. We ran 29.80's by ourselves, and I knew if I could get clean air I'd be in good shape."
Jerry Marquis made a last-gasp run but came up short in second, while James Civali came home third; Civali survived a last-lap scuffle with Christopher that sent Teddy sideways and back to sixth. The finish was something of a repeat from July, in that it involved Blewitt and Civali, coming home third in the Ramar-Hall #28. Unlike July, though, there was no need for a scoring loop recheck.
"I was trying as hard as I could," Civali said. "You get a run, get a push, and there's not much else you can do. I was being pushed around a bit, but there wasn't much to be done about it. Blewitt did his best to get draft off lapped cars. If you can break the draft, you can drive away."
Civali stated the bottom groove was of little use. "If you're on the bottom and there's a line of cars at the top, you're going to lose your run off the bottom. But I'm thankful we ran as well as we did, to run up front twice in a row is something.
"The track was greasier from July," Civali continued. "Everyone was sliding around a little. The track didn't really change much. The draft was effective, but the draft is usually not that erratic where people pull out that quickly."
Erratic draft or not, it was a substantially calmer race from July's eye-popping competitive savagery. But the New Hampshire 100 was still a hard-fought competitive race with a good draft allowing the true racing ability of the Modifieds to shine forth. Civali may wish for more than two annual Mod Series events at NHIS as strongly as he runs them - certainly a lot of fans likely would appreciate more than two Mod races here.
Trouble is, John Blewitt III may bring that shovel again.
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