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There they were sitting
as spectators at Star Speedway back in 1998, watching Gahan, Hudson, Baldwin...
they both looked at each other and said lets build a Prostock! Not knowing a
damn thing about racing, they put together "The Green Monster" in 1999, it would
be the #55, and the driver was Bobby MacArthur. And, OH! what a "Monster" it
was! He was the worst race car driver, he would only survive a few laps and
then he was always towed off the track with a demolished car (remember those
days?). All of the drivers disliked the #55, and prayed that he would not
return.. But he did, faithfully every week.
In the year 2000, they came out with the "Zebra 55",
same results... they still had a lot to learn! Bobby decided to retire the
"beast" and had a Distance car built for the 2001 season. That year was a little
better, he won his first race at Star Speedway. In 2002 they put together the
#56, and the driver was his cousin, Rich Bertone. Rich was now in the driver's
seat, thinking he learned from all of Bobby's errors, he thought he would go out
there and be a "SUPERSTAR", the results were the same, he went no where. Toward
the end of the season that year, Bobby took him out, and everyone thought WOW,
how could you do that to your own cousin! Bobby's response was, "You were in my
way!" This is when Bobby became the bad guy, and his cousin capitalized on it.
Rich began to play "The Mayor" with everyone at the track, so Bobby put a decal
on the #56 that said "Vote for Me". Needless to say, Richard had everyone
accepting him and Bobby was still the "bad guy" who couldn't drive a race car.
This actually helped Bobby as it made him work harder at accomplishing his goals
as a driver.
In 2003, they made it a three car team. They brought
Eric Hudson on board, and had an entourage for a Pit crew, heck there had to
have been 20 people! Everyone looked professional and it was beginning to look
like a team. Bobby would have finished second in points that year, but due to a
political disqualification, they took him out. Rich was doing much better that
year...but, that would be the last year at Star Speedway, the track decided not
to have the Prostock race the following season.
The year 2004, Bobby and Rich decided to race at Canaan
Speedway, where they dominated the track. Bobby's first year there, consisted of
7 wins, 6 top 3's, and Rich finished in the top 10 mostly every week, Their cars
ran well on this track. In 2005, Bobby won 2 out of 4 races and Rich won his 1st
feature and won 5 heat races. They left after 5 weeks into the season, and returned
near the end of the season and Bob picked up 1 more feature and Rich finished 6th
in points.
Everyone needs to remember that they have only been
into the sport for 8 years, next to some drivers that have been racing for more
than 20 years... they have proven themselves. We now know them as "THE
SHOWSTOPPA" and "THE ROCKET" they have made quite a name for themselves in the
racing circuit, newspapers, web boards, TV shows, and fans everywhere. The
ROCKET still gets all the respect, and the SHOWSTOPPA gets NONE! The SHOWSTOPPA
still doesn't care what people think, as he continues to strive and attain his
goals. Being one of the most dominant and controversial drivers in the Northeast
he is "THE SHOW-STOPPA In his words, "He looks like Patrick Swayze, resembles
Arnold. thinks like Einstein, and moves like Elvis".
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