After the traditional Thanksgiving celebration was over, Ted was ready for some racing. On Saturday he headed to Wall Township Speedway to race a Modified in the 32nd Annual Turkey Derby. He was excited about reuniting with an old friend and teammate, Billy “Bear” Calicchio, to drive the famed Bear Motorsports #14.
Saturday was a cold but sunny day. The frigid temperatures made track conditions difficult – there wasn’t much traction to be found – but TC and the Bear were not worried. The car was very competitive in practice and despite the slick track, Teddy posted a lap time in the top-ten to transfer directly into the 100-lap feature. When he drew the pole position for the race, there was cause for cautious optimism. It is always better to be starting up front, but like any race at Wall it would be a battle of survival as much as racing.
TC led the first ten laps of the feature, but things turned downward when a brush with the outside wall cut down the right rear tire and sent him spinning in turn one. After a quick pit stop to replace the tire, he fell in at the rear of the field. Over the next 40 laps he carefully worked his way forward, back into contention. But a caution on lap 52 saw him duck back into the pits as the Bear Crew bolted on three fresh Hoosier tires.
Once again at the rear of the field, TC went to work. He sliced and diced his way back to the front of the field, into fifth by lap 65. He was battling Eric Beers and Pete Brittain to move into the top-three while holding off the advances of Wall regular Tim Arre. While trying to make a pass down the backstretch on lap 72 he made contact with Arre, sending him hard into the outside wall and eliminating both cars from further competition. TC watched the remainder of the race from the pits as local favorite John Blewett III took the checkered flag first.
“Bear had an awesome car for me to drive today,” recalled TC. “It turned really well in the corners and had plenty of power down the straightaways. Starting from the pole our plan was to stay out front and save the tires so we wouldn’t have to pit. But the flat tire changed all that. We put on a practice tire and went back out because we knew it was too early to race to the front. Our new plan was to pit around halfway and then drive the wheels off the car to get back to the front.
“We got the caution we needed just after lap 50 and the crew put on three fresh tires. I knew I didn’t have any time to waste so I was racing as hard as I could to get back to the front. We got back up to fifth and we still had a lot left. I was working on Brittain and Beers after a restart. Timmy (Arre) had followed me back up through the field and I knew he was anxious to get by me because at that point we were the two fastest cars on the track. I went to the outside down the backstretch to try and make a pass but Timmy had already stuck his nose out there and we got together. I hit the wall pretty hard and then bounced off it back into him. It ended the day for both of us. It was a shame, because I know we had something left for John (Blewett). It just ended too soon for us to show it.”
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