Back to the Blast and a New Season Goes Green. Two race posts for the price of none.

Race #1 The Blast – Sunday, Aug. 31st

After a long offseason, the 2025-26 North Jersey H.O. racing season officially roared back to life two weekends ago at Henry Harnish's stately Randolph Raceway manor. It was The Blast’s 22nd reprisal and as always, lived up to its name. Drivers from several states trekked back to Schoolhouse Road to run with some of this area’s best slot racers. One of Jersey’s finest took the first round of action on Henry’s rugged, unpaved since 1964, tub track. The second round fell to a quasi-invader, with dual Jersey/Carolina citizenship, who made the best of his globetrotting experience to dial up a well-earned Sportsman Class victory.

We started with the Trans-Am class, running 2-minute heats, on the bright orange tub track. There are other molded Aurora table tracks like it; Henry’s, however, has attitude. I’d go so far as to say it’s angrier than ANY other track in the northeast. The non-routed, unloved track pieces reject your car’s magnets, pickups and skinny tires. Racing on the Randolph tub is more like a rally stage than a road race. If completing a round on the tub wasn’t tough enough, marshalling the tub, immediately after you've finished 6 grueling heats, is just as difficult. De-slots here can ruin a marriage. Winning the T/a class at The Blast requires a strong roll cage; figuratively (if you catch my drift) and literally.

John Teevan was the first driver to go through all six lanes, with a few solid 17 lap finishes in the middle lanes. Punching up a 96-lap total to lead out of the gate. Two ‘less than optimal’ gutter lane drives (14’s) would be his undoing, however. As soon as Johnny T. disconnected from the green lane to start his marshalling round, Don Auriema clipped in and started firing arrows into John T's general direction. Donny bowled a 16 in the first gutter (red lane), then two 17’s, then three 18’s...one of them, incredibly, in the final lane gutter. Probably one of the best 2-minute heat results we’ve ever seen on the tub. Tub racing veteran Randy Jay Haydt (98 total) and host Henry Harnish (102) both muscled their way to strong finishes, but neither would be able to elbow past Donny. When the dust, guide pins and window posts finally settled, the rest of the field lay in a smoldering pile of Camaro and Mustang bodies in Donny’s wake. Congrats on yet another Blast win for the Warren County wonder, Mr. Donny Auriema. Mot Fitzcharles (97) and John Teevan (96) rounded out the top five. Also of note; excellent finishes for twin brothers David Singer and John O'Brien (6th and 7th respectively), both with 96 lap totals as well.

The second round of racing on Henry's super smooth Randolph road course, naturally, went quite opposite of the earlier Mickey Thompson stadium stage. Most Blast drivers brought cars that they’d been fine-tuning for months. Robin Schroy, Dave Lockwood, Randy Haydt, Tommy K, “Chief” Mario Pisano and, of course, the inimitable race host, Henry Harnish all had cars that were turning laps near 6 seconds flat, consistently. The baby raptor Sportsman cars that John Teevan had incubating in his home lab since the last time he raced H.O., in 2024, were a little hungrier though. Eating laps often at sub-6-second clips. Still, there were many close on-track battles throughout the race. I recall being glued to Jeff Crosley’s gas tank for a couple of very long stretches and that was probably the highlight of my raceday. Kudos to Jeff on a great run and a solid 9th place finish.

In the end, John Teevan came out on top with 3 laps more than the 2nd place driver, “The Champ” Henry Harnish (168), and 5 more than 3rd place finisher Dave Lockwood. Congrats, J.T., Champ and Mr. Lockwood on well-earned finishes. Randy Haydt and “Chief” Mario Pisano rounded out the top 5. Many many thanks to our gracious friend, Henry Harnish, for allowing us to bring so many crazy people into his home and park on his lawn. We are truly blessed to have such a generous host.

The day ended on a very positive note as Charlie Clohessey rescued Stephane and his family from a minor car battery mishap...courtesy of Mrs. Stephane. That Clohessey positivity was sure to carry over into race #2 at Mot’s new Lightning Loops track. Last Sunday's race was, in fact, a tremendous success.