Perley Makes Charge from the Rear to Win with Few Laps Remaining
Thrilling feature race goes green to checkered without a yellow flag

by Curt Mackail
eyeonexeter.com correspondent

LEE, NH   The "Rowley Rocket," Chris Perley, won the 75-lap Ollie Silva Classic event last night on Lee Motor Speedway's 3/8th mile oval. Perley drove the #11 Vic Miller-built supermodified car to its second win in as many weeks, last week's coming at the Waterford (CT) Speedbowl. Perley, the Rowley (MA) native, is a local favorite and perennial contender for the major-league ISMA championship. Perley also took the checkered flag a year ago at the annual Ollie Silva Classic race on the Lee track.

Some 5,000 fans saw Perley steadily advance from near the back of the pack of 19 entrants on a humid Friday night in August. Perley's progress to the front started about five laps into the contest as he picked off slower cars one by one, although at the halfway mark he was still some seven seconds and a half-lap behind the race leaders.

With 25 laps remaining Perley began his charge in earnest, dusting the eight front-runners in a series of one-on-one duels that spotlighted Perley's driving ability and the capabilities of the Vic Miller race car. Although Perley's #11 was as quick as any of the competition in the straights, it was in the corners that Perley shone.

Perley repeatedly made his hard passes using the same tactics at the same points on the track, typically setting up the prey in front of him by driving outside and high into turns one and two, seemingly concerned with passing outside on the backstretch. When the competitor responded by crowding Perley's nose to the wall, Perley invariably ducked late and low into turn three and, with a right front wheel wheel now inside his victim's left rear, drove the Vic Miller car as tightly as possible to the inside. Exiting turn four with the left front wheel still on the inside apron, even driving the front straight almost to the infield grass, Perley turned the tables on the foe, now forcing the competition to the outside, then pulling away with a superior motor and chassis set-up. Four times Perley used this approach to knock off hard-chargers. Once passed, Perley's victims seemed depeleted of willpower more than anything else, unable to keep pace with a car they had run in front of and then fought to a draw for several prior laps.

The race, which was run nonstop without a caution flag or crash, turned by its midpoint into a front-runners shoot out among three cars at the lead with Perley moving up from the rear. For 10 laps or more, another local favorite, Justin Belfiore in the #98 car, looked like he would follow in Perley's wake as they moved in tandem, but Belfiore's motor and setup simply couldn't maintain the blistering pace Perley set. With 25 laps left and the field strung out around the track, most of the the crowd realized that Perley's charge was well underway. Traffic began to slow the three race leaders and Perley ran mostly in the clear, chopping several seconds off the lead.

With 10 laps remaining, Perley passed through traffic into second place, quickly chasing down fellow Rowley resident Dan Bowes who'd inherited the lead after mechanical failures eliminated the other two pack leaders. For eight of the final 10 laps Perley remained just off Bowes' right rear wheel, as fans kept one eye on the lap counter and one eye on the track battle. With two laps to go, Perley executed the same tactics he'd used to pass others all night, darting inside in turns three and four, emerging with a noselength lead that he turned into a carlength lead by the back straight. Perley's first grasp of the race lead came as he crossed the line with one lap remaining. With a car length to spare he took the checkered flag a lap later - a masterful display of race management, confidence, steely nerves and a very capable race car from the young driver and his experienced builder.

The race itself was one of the cleanest and most exciting supermod showcases around here in recent memory - featuring a very closely matched field and all of the sport's top drivers in one event. Run without delays, the entire 75 lap contest took fewer than 20 minutes to complete. Given the quality of the track action, it would have been nice to see the race go twice the distance. 

The win was Perley's fourth in six ISMA events he's run this season, clearly marking him as the man to beat on the circuit. Vic Miller's #11 car, which has been shared between drivers Perley and Chris Cicconi on this season's ISMA schedule, remains in first place in the points standings with four events remaining.

Perley, who calls the late Ollie Silva his hero, may be the only driver today that equates with the legendary Silva, for whom the Lee event is a memorial. Silva rang up a unequalled number of wins and racetrack accomplishments during a career that spanned four decades in cars that began with jalopy-style racers in 1949, through the golden days of New England modified and super-modified racing in the late 60s, 70s. Silva personally built and funded his own cars which sometimes appeared inferior to the competition. One famous Silva anecdote had him unloading his race car to open laughter from the assembled pit crowd of well-funded NASCAR teams who were at the  Waterford Speedbowl for a 1975 race. None had previously seen Silva on the track. That night Silva won the race and lapped the field not once, but twice. The story is often retold by fans to this day, along with other incredible Ollie Silva recollections including his 500 career-win record.

Silva suffered a severe head injury in a 1978 crash that left him in a prolonged coma and ultimately ended his driving career. Ironically, he crashed driving a car on loan from another driver when the throttle stuck wide open, sending Silva off the top of a corner embankment and into trees. Silva himself was famous for meticulous maintenance and safety of his equipment and observers said such a malfunction would have never happened had he been driving his own car.

Silva attempted a racing comeback in 1980, but the brain injury had left him with considerable speech, coordination and balance deficits that frustrated him and made it obvious he would never compete again. (For his first comeback practices, he had to be physically carried by his team and placed in the car because he could not walk well nor climb into the car without help.) Silva officially retired and lived with his sister in Salem (NH,) infrequently visiting racetracks as an honored guest. Silva died in 1998 at age 75. He remains arguably the best short-track driver in history although he never became a big-name because he always turned down the "rides" he was offered from big-name NASCAR and Indy race teams, preferring to be in total control of his pursuits.

Entrants for Silva's memorial race in Lee came from as far west as Las Vegas. Teams from New York, Ohio, and the south comprise about half of all supermodified tour teams along with a dozen New England racers. Canada was also well-represented, with some seven Ontario-based teams in the ISMA rosters.

Supermodified cars feature fuel-injected engines producing more than 800 horsepower and are regarded as the ultimate short-track racers for their brute power and remarkable handling. Resembling a short-track sprint car crossed with an Indy car, the typical supermodified is entirely purpose-built for its sport. Weighing about 1700 pounds, the supermodified features a huge wing on top for downforce in the corners, 3 inches ground clearance underneath its custom tube-frame, a methanol-burning 470 cubic-inch Chevy engine offset to the inside for cornering, and one of a variety of suspension schemes depending on the car designer. With a power-to-weight ration that places them in league with F1 cars, supermodifieds achieve lap times on long tracks that equal those of the more prestigious IRL fields that race on the same courses.