Boston Louie Seymour Memorial Midget Race

Over 40 cars are expected to pursue the 29 spots in the Boston Louie Memorial Midget race Saturday night, Aug. 24 at Waterford Speedbowl. The Northeastern Midget Association-sanctioned event honors the memory of noted USAC Sprint and Silver Crown owner Louie Seymour.

"No question, it's the biggest Midget race around here," reports Mark Buonomo, a four-time Waterford winner. "To win that, well, for me its as good as winning the championship. At the start of the year you look at the Boston Louie and say to yourself 'we're going to try to win that.' And, that's what we're going to try to do."
Time trials (16), two heats (five apiece), the B-Main (two) and an option will fill the field. Money is sprinkled around the event including the lucrative Stoehr family dash, a four-lap battle between the fast time winner, the heat winners and the B-Main winner.

"There's more money and prestige involved and that's important," points out two-time defending champion Russ Stoehr, "but this race is special because so many of us actually knew Boston Louie Seymour. He was special." Stoehr won the first Boston Louie back in 1997.

All five winners - Stoehr, Drew Forbore (1998), Bobby Seymour (1999), Randy Cabral (2000) and Jeff Horn (2001) - are entered. Barry Kittgredge calls the group NEMA's "honors fraternity."

"I've always known who Boston Louie was and winning the race was literally a dream come true," says Cabral. "That's the one I wanted right from the start. We were fortunate. We had a broken racecar the last five laps. Now, it will be a struggle to qualify. The competition gets better and better."

Fornoro points out "there are no secrets left at Waterford." The field could include as many as a dozen drivers who have tasted victory at the third mile. "It is very quick but everybody seems to be at their best when they come to the Speedbowl. Most everybody really likes running there. The surface is good and it's wide enough for three deep racing. The corner speed is very quick and that makes it a momentum track we get going pretty good there," says Stoehr.

"I go to the Speedbowl expecting to run well," says Tim Bertrand, the winner the last time NEMA visited Waterford. "That's the attitude we'll take to the Boston Louie."

"It's the race to win for a winged Midget," says Kittredge, a 2001 Waterford winner. "Everybody turns it up a notch for a couple of reasons. There's more money, but there's prestige too. There's a little energy in the air for that race."

"If you have any open cockpit history, you understand just where Boston Louie Seymour stands," says veteran Howie Bumpus. " To win a race with that name on it has to be very, very special. The fact that so many of us are aware of how much his family has done in his memory just makes it all the greater."

Pete Pernesiglio, the winner at Waterford's season opening Nationals this year, points out "Boston Louie was such an icon in open-cockpit racing. There are so many big names connected to it, so much history and prestige. It is the win everybody thinks about."

Waterford's regular divisions - the SK Modifieds, Late Models, Sportsman and Mini Stocks, will be part of the program as well.