Area loses legend; another star rises

August 17, 2019

We lost another local racing legend with the passing last weekend of Bill Forney at the age of 92. Today’s racers may or may not know about the former racing champion who was from Boardman. However, many wish they could have had such an illustrious racing career. Forney raced in the 1950s and ’60s before he hung up his helmet in 1971. As with many racers of that time records were not kept, but this I do know. He won 14 different race titles and was Canfield Speedway’s only seven-time champion winning the crown in 1959-61, 1963, 1965-66, and 1968. In 1964 he was the top ...

Basics mean everything for YSU basketball

July 22, 2019

YOUNGSTOWN JOHN Barnes saw the four wooden, folding chairs all set on a 45-degree angle, facing toward the hoop. One was knocked out of place. He quickly went over to straighten it back into place. Everything was succinct and had its place. It’s been Barnes’ discipline each and every time his team is in the gym. Time accounted for, as well as his team’s actions. Let me interrupt my train of thought. Four chairs. Gym. OK, if you’ve seen the movie, you think of Hoosiers. The only thing missing from Barnes was a brown leather bomber jacket, a worn basketball twirling in ...

Horizon vs. MAC hoops matchups make sense

July 15, 2019

Type in Horizon League Summit League in any search engine, then scroll down slightly on your smartphone. Under people also ask, it says, “Is the Horizon League Division I? Is the Summit League d1?” The same could be said for Youngstown State. I’ve heard enough people being surprised that YSU was Division I in athletics. So, why in the heck would the Horizon League be in cahoots with the Summit League, the former Mid-Continent Conference, for a three-year deal to play one another’s teams in men’s basketball starting in 2020? I originally saw this in early March when it ...

Warren Football Legends moves to mid-August

July 14, 2019

The annual Warren Football Legends celebration dinner and golf outing has a few major changes for 2019 — the fourth year of the event — but a couple of things that haven’t changed are that all proceeds benefit the Warren G. Harding football program and former players from Harding and Western Reserve high schools will be recognized. The big changes are the date — it has moved from late September to the weekend of Aug. 17-18 — and a new theme, The Rivalry: Browns vs. Steelers. The event’s organizers — co-chairs Ray Yannucci, former publisher of Browns News Illustrated, ...

Sharon Speedway is more than just racing

July 13, 2019

HARTFORD DIRT flies underneath my low-riding SUV, feeling the undulations of the bumpy grass terrain below. The remnants of a quick-moving rainstorm soaked the already saturated surface, leaving some tan-colored muddy indents — ready to cake any vehicle in its wake. Sounds like the splatter from the 3/8-mile oval track at Sharon Speedway, inundating each Sprint Car tested to the limits in every race. When the track hasn’t been tormented by Mother Nature, you can truly get some dirt in your diet with chunks of track soaring in the wake of a pack of cars circulating inside a fenced ...

Lou Blaney Memorial coming this Saturday

July 5, 2019

It’s time to honor a true racing champion, Lou Blaney. On Saturday, Sharon Speedway will hold the Lou Blaney Memorial. Fans and drivers alike will honor a man who raced for five decades, winning over 600 feature events, including 121 Modified wins and 11 in a Sprint car at Sharon alone. The legend passed away in 2009 after battling Alzheimer’s. Headlining the event will be Tony Stewart’s All-Star Circuit of Champions. Dale Blaney, six-time All-Star champion and a son of Lou, is second in points in the circuit going into this weekend’s event. He is two points behind ...