This coming Saturday night at Dunn Tire Raceway Park (DTRP) is the annual Tommy Druar/Tony Jankowiak Memorial 100 for the Mighty Modifieds. The 100 lap special for the open-wheeled machines takes home a minimum of $4500 to win, $2000 minimum for 2nd, and it will be a minimum of $300 to start the feature event at the "Home of the US Open".
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| Tommy Druar in Victory Lane at Lancaster |
Tommy Druar and Tony Jankowiak were both taken away from us way to soon. Both loved driving open-wheeled Modifieds at Lancaster. Tommy was known as the "Traveling Man". Tommy would travel to any racetrack to race. Tommy edged Tony out at the end and became
the 1987 Modified Champion. The following season Tommy was able to
defend his title and win his second career championship which included a
win in each month of the 1988 season. Tommy had a family that he loved,
he really enjoyed being with them. During the off season, he
contemplated hanging up his helmet. Racing was becoming more expensive
and it was harder to spend the time with his family. With less than
a month before the 1989 season started, Tommy picked up Mobil as a
sponsor and decided to race for another year.
Tommy was taken away from us on June 10, 1989 in an accident at Lancaster. His
car jumped wheels with a competitors car and hit the wall drivers side first.Tommy did not survive the accident. Tommy is survived by his wife Mickey and children, Matt and Ashley
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| Tony and son Andy in 1989 - Phil Czarnecki Photo |
Tony Jankowiak lost his life just ten months after brother in law Tommy at the Spring Sizzler at Stafford Motor Speedway in Stafford Springs, Connecticut. Tony was behind the wheel of the Bill Potts-David Riggs owned #99 on the Modified tour for the 1990 racing season. Tony was trying to get around a lap car and the two made contact and Tony slammed into the turn one wall head on.
Tony left
behind his wife Debbie and Children Andy and Tommy.
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| #37 Tommy leads #73 Tony & #01 Gail Barber at Lancaster 1985... Dave Burlingame Photo... |
The loss of both Tony and Tommy
along with several other drivers in a short period of time helped to
jump start a complete overhaul of the safety specifics of the cars in
the division. Safety features were implemented at Lancaster after Tommy
Druar’s crash like foam wall technology pioneered by Bill Colton to
which many drivers credit with saving lives. The Modified cars
themselves were completely redesigned with more impact absorbing crumple
zones that produced the Modified design that is still in use today. Tony
Jankowiak was the last driver in this span to be killed in a Modified.
Tommy and Tony are missed by us all and now the second generation is taking over the driving chores with Matt Druar driving a Street Stock at DTRP and Andy Jankowiak driving an Sportsman Modified at Wyoming County International, DTRP and Holland and he also drives for Vinnie Christiano in the Casey's TQ Midget Series.
With the running of the Tommy/Tony Memorial 100, we remember two of the all-time greats in Western New York Modified competition. This race honors these two men and is a favorite of both drivers and fans at Lancaster and throughout Western New York as they get to remember two of their own that died doing what they loved. God Speed Tommy and Tony, you are missed by us all.
With the running of the Tommy/Tony Memorial 100, we remember two of the all-time greats in Western New York Modified competition. This race honors these two men and is a favorite of both drivers and fans at Lancaster and throughout Western New York as they get to remember two of their own that died doing what they loved. God Speed Tommy and Tony, you are missed by us all.
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