Over the winter of 1979-80 Tom Heveron and his chief mechanic Ed Laprade decided that their driver Doug Heveron had progressed enough in his driving ability that they should build him a new car. What they didn't realize was that the car they built during that winter was to become a legend!

They introduced the car at the beginning of the 1980 season and by July 4th weekend Doug Heveron had his first Oswego win. The car was very basic in design and as solid as they come. It ran steady as a rock throughout the 1980 season capped off with a fine 2nd place Classic finish.

Chief mechanic Laprade made a few changes in the car's suspension over the winter of 1980 and three weeks into the 1981 season Doug Heveron laid claim to victory circle and relinquished it only twice the rest of the season! He tallied up 13 wins, tying Jim Shampine and Todd Gibson for most wins in a season, won the track championship and the Classic.

It was more of the same in 1982 as Heveron totally dominated the supermodified scene with another track championship and Classic win.

Once again the lure to try Indy drew Doug as it had Lux, Gibson and Bentley. Doug Heveron was off in 1983 to try his hand at champ car racing. He was involved in a crash during practice in which he sustained a broken leg as well as broken dreams. Tom Heveron secured the services of Bentley Warren to drive the now famous car No. 1 super and in the six weeks Ben drove the machine, he got two wins, two seconds, a fourth and a fifth. Doug was back behind the wheel by July 16th and continued from where he left off in 1982, winning races. A year prior the Heveron team built a back up to the winning roadster and put Bentley in this car when Doug came back. While the back up car was fast it still did not measure up to the awesome handling characteristics of the original car. The main Heveron car could hug the inside hub rail as if it were attached to it! The five weeks in the main car plus a good run in the backup car gave Bentley the 1983 track championship.

The '83 Classic was a story unto itself that year. One lap to go and it looked like an all Heveron sweep with Doug in the lead and Bentley in the backup car running second. Heveron suddenly ran out of fuel and Bentley tried to protect Doug's lead which eventually led to them both being passed at the checkered. They finished third and fourth. The fourth place finish by the main car is the worst the car has ever done in the Classic! The Heverons' sold the main car to veteran car owners Ed and Tom Bowley over the winter of '83-'84 and sold the back up car late the next season to Jim Paternoster of Utica.

Many rail birds felt this would be the end of the domination for this car because the Bowley team, while competitive for many years, was not what you would consider a "winning team!" Suspicions looked to be coming true all to quickly at the start of the 1984 season as small mechanical problems kept Ben out of the opening day show and a DNF in the second event. They finally got things hooked up in the Port City 150 on May 27th and Bentley started a domination reign with the Bowley team that (as of this writing in Feb. '88) has yet to be broken!

Bentley won the '84 Oswego track championship as well as the Classic. After a brief slump in 1985 which saw Bentley visit victory lane only five times, he came back in 1986 to dominate once again, winning the track championship and the Classic another time. There was no doubt about it now, the Bowleys indeed were a winning team and the car they had was the best of it's time!.

During the winter of '86-'87 Tom Bowley must have had a premonition of things to come or he's just. plain smart because he sought out the back up car to this winning machine. He discovered it in Fulton, N.Y. , having been purchased by former supermodified competitor Denny Wheeler from Paternoster after the car sat idle for several seasons. Money was no object and they brought the car back to Massachusetts.

Sure enough the backup car had to be pressed into service midway through the 1987 season when Bentley crashed the original car severely in the July 18th $10,000 to win Mr. Supermodified show. Extensive rear end damage was done to the car and with no real time to do a good repair job, the car was put aside to be repaired over the winter of '87 -'88. So as I write this article, the Bowley team is repairing this legendary car to continue writing the Oswego Speedway history books.

Just listen to the credentials of this car: 54 feature wins, just one shy of tying Jim Shampine's' wedge car of 55; 6 track championships (4 for Bentley and 2 for Heveron); 4 Classic wins (2 for each driver); competed in 7 Classics completing all 1400 laps out of a possible 1400 with 4 wins, 2 seconds and 1 fourth; out of 131 features entered, the car has finished in the top five in 105 of them for an average finish of 4.51 - better than any car in the history of the speedway!

And there you have my picks for an Oswego Speedway museum. You may have some of your own picks, I'm sure. But I believe there's no arguing that these six supermodifieds have forever earned a spot in the history of Oswego Speedway.