Racing points championship racing from 1996-current at Galletta's Greenhouse's Go-Kart Speedway
Sundays from June-August & Saturdays from September-October, and summer Fridays at Oswego Speedway.
We race exclusively with limited-modified 5hp Briggs and Stratton flathead motors all with affordable 100% stock parts at Galletta's, & 5-8hp motors at Oswego.
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CHRISCHRUSHER'S PROJECTS: Chris' Graphic Novel: Chris' Family Greenhouse/Host:
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Wes' Positioning in the |
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Wes' Positioning in the |
Despite the fact that Wesley James fully recovered from his injury in the 2007 Galletta's Klassic Championship 200, he retired from the faster Galletta's Speedway, but resumed at the smaller, slower, safer Oswego Kartway - but even then, only after the 6.5hp OHV Outlaws were no longer being forced to race in our division. He made up for lost time, as he took two at the track after not winning there since 2006. However, one of the wins... the biggest race of the year, in fact - the 2008 Classic 50 - he won despite leading ZERO laps and NOBODY got disqualified. How the heck did he do that, you say? Easy! The fine folks that flag and operate at the Oswego Kartway, that's how!
On THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4th, 2008, the Galletta's Karting Club participated in THE OSWEGO KARTWAY'S 2nd ANNUAL DIRT TRACK CLASSIC at THE OSWEGO SPEEDWAY. The inventors of Single-Wheel-Drive Gas Stocker racing; father Wes, Matt, and Chris Stevens sweep the top three spots in the Gas Stocker Classic for the 2nd year in a row (but not without some controversy on the final lap). Although Wes led not one lap, he was awarded the win when the caution flag came out on the final turn of the track, and although all participants in the race (and several spectators) saw the yellow,
mildly retarded, grudge-holding, easily-angered, highly-irrational, temper-tantrum-throwing, in-your-face loudmouth jackasstrack operator Jim Losurdo threw the checkered flag and awarded Wes the win, as his bumper barely passed the checker before his son Matt's (who had a comfortable and insurmountable lead before he slowed for what multiple competitors and spectators thought was the yellow flag - but it was a white flag that - because of the low-lights and a dusty track - cornerman flagger Trevor Jock thought was a yellow). The Galletta's Official Scoring awarded the race a tie between Matt and Wes, although Oswego officially awarded the race to Wes, and then banned our class from the track and mocked us several times on public web-forums (including ours) and to everyone they know. Ah, what a smart man they have in charge of that little tiny bullshitring they call a track... which is WAAYYYY overpriced, over-hyped, overrated, and if it was not in back of the famed Oswego Speedway which brings people back there just because it IS the famed and beloved home of Supermodifieds, it would probably not have existed past its first year. Way to thank the people who gave you the idea to start the track back there and brought anywhere from five to fifteen paying customers to your track almost every single week since it opened, Jimmy.
In 2008, Wes came back to race on the smaller, slower, safer Oswego Speedway Dirt Track. And at Oswego's newly renamed Oswego Kartway on Thursday, August 21st, 2008, Wesley "Ogre" Stevens won the 30-lap feature in the Galletta's Greenhouse #4 by storming off to a huge early lead and beating his two boys Chris and Matt to the finish line. This was Wesley's first win since the 16th Annual 2006 Galletta's Klassic 150 and first feature win at Oswego since the 2006 Oswego Kartway 40-Lap Rut-land Mini-Classic. This is also the first race he won since getting hurt in the 17th Annual 2007 Galletta's Klassic 175, so it was a good show for the grumpy lil' Ogre!
Wesley "Ogre" Stevens had another winless campaign during both the '07 Galletta's nor Oswego Speedway Dirt Track seasons, despite racing in every Galletta's race and most of the Oswego races. Even so, Ogre still was consistent enough to get 3rd in the Galletta's point standings and 4th in the Oswego Speedway Mixed Motor Gas Pro Stock class, including a 2nd place in the Oswego Classic, only getting passed late by his eldest son, Chris for the win. It would be his last full season, as he retired after a bone-crunching wreck with a very erratic 1st-time rookie driver in the Galletta's Klassic 200 put him in the hospital, the only really serious wreck in the history of our club that has raced all Summer and into Fall from 1990 to now.
Wes "Ogre" Stevens at the '07 Galletta's Klassic held on 2007/09/23 before his bone-crushing wreck left him facing retirement from full-time racing at the track.
The wreck that ended Wes' full-time racing career was not caught on tape, but we do see the aftermath... OH NO! Wes is down for the count! When that ol' crafty veteran nicknamed lil' Ogre led a chunk of the race early, but the wanted to save the kart to last to the end of the 200-lapper, but oddly wound up spinning out. Coming back up through the field, he tangled wheels with an extremely erratic 1st-time rookie driver, which put him and his kart flipping into some brush and breaking his scapula and a handful of ribs around it (to this day we do not know if the kart landed on top of his back or if he landed on a fallen tree branch or stump hidden in the brush). He had to take a trip to the hospital and was out of work recovering for a few weeks, but the Galletta's #4 was not done in the race. It was almost completely unharmed (minus a bent "flip" bar that protects the motor) and it lived on when Kyle Reuter broke down in the Galletta's #5, hopping into and finishing the race in the #4.
One of Wes' best career races was one he did not win, although he did lead late and had a shot at it! On August 30th, 2007, Chris "ChrusherComix" Stevens won the Oswego Speedway Classic Weekend's Dirt Supermodified Yard Kart Classic 50, his 1st Feature at Oswego since 2006, and his 3rd overall feature of 2007 in his Galletta's #8. His father Wesley Ogre Stevens settled for 2nd in the Galletta's #4 after inheriting the lead when a wreck between Eric Raponi and Mike "MC" Howell took the then-running 1-and-2 out of the lead. Wes' younger son, the ever-winning racer and head mechanic Matt Stevens got 3rd in his Galletta's #33, the 3rd place finish clinching Matt his Oswego Speedway Dirt Track Mixed Motor Gas Stocker Track Championship for the 2nd year in a row. This makes the three originators of Oswego-area Yard Kart racing taking 1-2-3 in the first ever Oswego Speedway's "Super Yard Kart" Classic (the year before it was renamed to the easier-to-say "Oswego Kartway)! View more on this race here. More->
In 2006, Wes Stevens had a feast-or-famine type of a season. Leading back to 2003, Ol' Ogre gad only won three feature wins in nearly four seasons. But Ogre came up BIG very late in 2006. He won three features, including the two biggest races at the two tracks that the club raced at in '06 - Annual Galletta's Klassic 150 and the Oswego Speedway Dirt Track (Kartway) Ruthole Classic 40!
2006/09/23 - Photo by Gene Galletta, Remastered by Chris Stevens.
150-Lap "Classic" Championship Race Victory in 2006! Only one other than Matt or Chris (between 1996-2009) to win the largest-running, biggest (150-200 laps = over twenty miles) and arguably
(only WKA-type karter snobs too finicky to try it would argue against it, yet would get likely owned by superior drivers if they ever tried to run in it) the most prestigious local dirt karting event.
Galletta's Speedway Race 2006 #16: On 9/23/2006, The 11th Annual Galletta's Klassic 150! Wesley did it! He finally, after 11 years, FINALLY broke his two boys streak of Galletta's Klassic Championship race domination! Driving the same Galletta's #4 with the same $20 eBay-won motor he has had since around mid-season, Ogre led early, dropped back, passed a sleeping-behind-the-wheel Rob Jimenez, and held off serious challenges by Rob, Matt Stevens and Chris Stevens to take an impressive 150-Lap win! To this day, it is without dispute, hands-down, the finest race that Ogre ever ran on any track at any time! More...
1st "Unofficial" Oswego Speedway / Kartway Classic 40 on 8/18/2006, Wes Stevens won his 1st career feature win at the famed Oswego Speedway grounds - their new dirt track, later named Oswego Kartway. Wesley James "TrOgre" Stevens (in the Galletta's#4) got the win, shown above with a batch of defeated foes behind him. Ogre inherited the lead when Mike Billion (OHV #57) flipped on top of polesitter Matt Stevens (Galletta's #3) while going for the lead. The two battled back and forth throughout and worked their way back up. In fact, Mike, who had a far bigger motor than anybody else, flipped his kart two times during the event, which probably cost him a win. Ogre went unchallenged for most of the event, and was accused of cheating despite defeating expensive OHV 6.5hp and Briggs Raptor motors with a $20 ebay-won 5hp Briggs! LOL! More... At Galletta's 2006 Event #8 on 7/30/2006, Wes Stevens won... but it wasn't by any means an impressive win. He inherited the lead after prior leaders Ed Maynes lost a chain, Chris Stevens lost a hub, and Matt Stevens had a gummed-up carb, and was able to hold off Ed Meynes (2nd), Rob Jimenez (3rd) for the win while, Chris (outside) and Matt (inside) battled furiously side-by-side for the final three laps. More...
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In 2005, Wes Stevens won only one feature during our first and only full season of allowing controversial mixed-motors at Galletta's, and again placed third overall - again, to his boys Chris and Matt - in the Galletta's Greenhouse Karting Speedway Track Championship. He also did his comical "do great early in the race, then let people by, then lose" Classic races, winding up in fourth. He went almost two full seasons without a win until winning a post-Classic race in '05! More... |
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In 2004, although Wes Stevens scored third place in the Galletta's Greenhouse Karting Speedway Track Championship (for several consecutive years), and fourth in the 100-Lap Classic, he was held winless, with zero feature wins in '04! To add a little bit of salt in the wound, at least four rookies scored feature wins to help shut Ogre out this season when ol' Oge's could not break even one! More... |
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In 2003, Wes Stevens only won one measly feature, but still wound up placing third overall - again, to his boys Chris and Matt - in the Galletta's Greenhouse Karting Speedway Track Championship. This year however, he passed Chris late in the '03 Galletta's Go-Karts Klassic to take 2nd, his best finish in a Classic to date. More... |
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In 2002, Wes Stevens won four features and placed third overall in the '01 Galletta's Greenhouse Karting Speedway Track Championship. However, despite running up front early, he broke down and did not finish very well in the '01 Galletta's Go-Karts 80-Lap Klassic. Both to his boys, Chris and Matt. More... |
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In 2001, Wes Stevens won three features and placed third overall in the '02 Galletta's Greenhouse Karting Speedway Track Championship. He also placed 3rd in the 2001 Galletta's Go-Karts 80-Lap Klassic. Both to his boys, Chris and Matt. More... |
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In 2000, Wes Stevens won an impressive eight features and placed third overall (behind his boys Chris and Matt) in the Galletta's Greenhouse Karting Speedway Track Championship. He raced poorly in the 2000 Galletta's Go-Karts 80-Lap Klassic, broke down and finished 2nd to last. More... |
During the 1990s, Wesley was asked to join his sons karting league after they purchased a third kart, a red Manco yard kart. It was initially raced by Chris, but after Matt stomped a mudhole on Chris' butt in it, it was passed down to Wes, rebuilt a few times, and is now known as the Galletta's Greenhouse #4. During these early years, Wes would trade wins with his boys, but get third to them in wins and points every year.
Wesley James "TrOgre" Stevens... looking as mean as ever before the Fourth Annual Galletta's Greenhouse Klassic Championship race of 1999! Well, at least his kart was clean back then!
Ogre, before the Third Annual Galletta's Greenhouse Go-Kart Classic of 1998 in the #4, smiled for the camera before RaYzor Castaldo delivers a brutal WWE-style kick to the back of his helmeted skull!
This pic was even talked about on Ray's obnoxious internet radio talk show, HateTheRadio.
Here are some grainy photos from our 1st ever Galletta's Kart Klassic, the first with the Galletta's #4 (back then #23) driven by Chris, and Ogre inherited Chris's #01 (before it was scrapped for being too heavy; its parts salvaged to create a new, lighter kart, the Galletta's #2). Matt won this inaugural points standings and Klassic Championship race with Chris scoring a 2nd in each and Ogre a 3rd as well. He backed up the performance again in 1997.
Wes was never much of an athlete. His athletic prowess is approximately the same as an elderly chimpanzee with arthritis. And what do most average-to-below-average athletes who like sports play? Auto-racing, of course! Wesley's alleged children, Christopher and Matthew, started racing at a very young age. Pedal-powered carts, Tricycles, and BMX bicycles were vehicles used back in the 1908s.
Christopher and Matthew, summoned the power of the racing ghosts and the magic of Galletta's flowers, and revived Ogre from his slumber and near-final-resting-place under the Galletta's Greenhouse sign.
As the boys grew, so did their racing skills. They did not let Oswego's snowy winters stop their learning, as they would then further groom their abilities at sledding the treacherous Galletta's Sledding Hill. Here they are, teaching the revived corpse of Ogre how to sled. As we see, Ogre did not learn very well, and his terrible sledding caused an accident that put Matt on his head! Maybe in the future Ogre would learn?
Chris and Matt were so good, they went straight to Indy in 1986 at 12 and 10 years of age! Ogre, with his 80s beard, was allowed close to the prodigies, but only for a short time... just long enough for pictures. Here they drew powers from the legendary cars and track.
Fun and F***in' Foolish Facts:
Nicknames:
Wes, Ogre, TrOgre, Oge's, Deformity, Deformulation, Old man, Fossil, Wesley James TrOgre Stevens, The Wild Weakly Weasel Wesley, Weak-umms, Wes-umms, Dirty F***-umms, Mr. Negativity, Oaktree, Captain Marvel-less.
Karts:
Co-builder all of the Galletta's Go-Karts
(primary driver of the #4 before retirement; built or partially rebuilt every go-kart at Galletta's).DOB:
1554 (rumored; unverified)Marital Status:
Married for 30+ years; Wife (Mary - under protest),
two boys (Chris and Matt - "Dey are ungrateful boyz alwayz make fun of me, rraaarrr!").Occupation:
Fabricator/welder at Wiltsie's Construction (semi-retired),
Galletta's Greenhouse florist/janitor/lackey/slave, one of the cofounders of Galletta's Go-Karting Club.
Years Racing Go-karts at Galletta's:
1995-2007 full-time racer; retired to part-time racing in 2008; fully retired in 2009.
Now is track welder, official, and head flagger at Galletta's Backyard Karting Speedway.
20 career victories at Galletta's Greenhouse Backyard Karting Speedway (2000-07 before his retirement to track official and track welder).
3 career Feature victories at Oswego Speedway's dirt track mixed-motor gas stock class (1 in 2006; 2 in 2008). ["The forty-lapper! The longest wrace on that track of any class in 2006! Haaaarrr! Then a toothless guy called me a cheater".]
2008 Oswego Kartway Classic Winner - 1WD Gas Flathead Division (technically that is, although there is the fact that he never led one lap and passed the leader under yellow on the last lap and was awarded the win under checker/yellow. Never let facts get in the way of how
DimboboJimbo calls it there, or he'll boot an entire class/club of people who supported his track for its first three years with near-perfect attendance.)Finishes between 3rd-5th in points every year, but sadly never won a track title.
3rd Place in All-time Points & Wins
Favorite drivers:
Himself; None noted (unless his "old buddy Eddie B. or cheer for who Kwis and Madyew cheer for!"). Ogre will usually watch endless hours of Speed channel and not have a favorite to cheer for or even anybody to root against. Many have said that it you don't have a horse in the race, sports are very boring to watch, yet if you have something to root for, then that is where the excitement comes from. But not to Ogre! :)
Wesley has a "feast or famine" racing talent. He either is very fast and tough to beat - and when he is, NOBODY can catch him, or he makes rookie-mistakes and can't pass anybody for a year or more at a time. Wes is not a skilled passer, but when he starts near thefront, he is very very fast and can be extremely tough to pass. This is why he seems to do well when he time trials (his kart is always fast, but he has not mastered the art of passing). An example of this is that he didn't win one race between 2005-2006 except for the two biggest races of two tracks during the 2006 season: Oswego Dirt Track (40 laps - biggest race of every class on the track in 2006) and Galletta's Greenhouse Backyard Speedway Klassic (150 laps) . Another example is that he always time-trials one of the quickest every year even though he collects very few wins for his speed. (Left) Ogre wins the longest race of 2006 at Oswego Speedway's dirt track of any class. He took the lead early and then was untouched in this 40-lap race at the Mixed-Motor Racing Yard Kart class at Oswego Speedway's dirt track in 2006 (before it was known as Oswego Kartway). Yet, he can also be passed by drivers with years less experience driving slower karts on any given race at any given time. What an oddity he is! (Right) Ogre wins the 11th Annual 150-Lap Karting Klassic of 2006 at Galletta's... thus winning the two biggest races on the two tracks we race at after going almost two years without one win of any kind!
And finally, another prime example is that he led most of the 2007 Klassic, then spun out, and then coming back up through the field, he crashed wildly, breaking 5 ribs and his shoulder-blade - which forced him to retire from full-time racing and only race sparingly per season, wife and doctor's orders made him decide to finally retire to flagging. The wreck did force Galletta's to make safer karts designed lower to the ground and reaffirm our rule to restrict all carbs to stock gas carbs only. This accident indeed created a paradox with our brand of racing: It proved that our racing is indeed fast to prove the WKA karting snobs wrong (when we say this, we do not mean all WKA-type karters, as we have friends who raced with us and also raced WKA. They all respect our racing and know that our regulars are damn good racers who could race any type of go-kart and win. We mean the jerks who race WKA who mock us as inferior and think that they are automatically superior racers just because their karts cost $2,000-3,000 more, even though very few of them could do all that well in our class with our equal karts and a salary-cap on parts), yet it was just a freak one-in-a-million wreck that caused a broken bone (the only one in countless thousands of green flag laps at our track) that may have scared some people away. Sometimes our class just never gets respect no matter what way you look at it, and yes, that does make us defensive, as you can read in some of our webpages. We now highly recommend chest pads in addition to mandatory full-face-coverage helmets, neck braces, and full body coverage with clothes and/or padding, and maintain that our form of racing isn't any less more or safe than other brands of karting, and still much safer than most forms of racing.Although many think that this forced Ogre to retire, that assumption is not entirely true. He wanted to retire for a few years, but losing a month of work due to the injury just solidified his retirement. He only came out of retirement to race a handful of times at Oswego in 2008 to increase our kart count by one and his boys attempt to try to get him from stop being such a chicken and use that fast Galletta's #4 kart. Upon retiring fully in 2009, Chris decided to race it regularly again (he used to race it in the mid-1990s).
Although Ogre retired from racing (partially after his wreck in 2007 and from full-time racing in 2008 after
drunk and stupid redneck assholes with too much time and expendable income on their handsdisgruntled speedway officials banned our class and mocked us at Oswego Kartway), with more volunteers and some additional arm/leg/chest pads, Ogre could perhaps be talked out of retirement, but his wife usually shuts him down since his injury due to his age. He only raced 2008 at Oswego because the puny track is so small and built for children that he wasn't scared to get in a kart on it. Well, that and he resumed racing at Oswego after the gas motor classes were properly split and the gas flathead class needed people to fill it so it wouldn't be an embarrassing and boring 4-6 kart class like most of them are. We'll only race with 8-18, and our usual kart count is around 10-12.Hobbies & interests:
Work ("I'm a weld-or. Rarr."), watching news, sleeping while watching news, eating, almost sleeping while eating, sleeping, watching & sleeping during racing, watching Speed Channel, sleeping while watching Speed Channel; Racing go-karts; Reoccurring parodied character and co-star of his own comic book and read-along-storybook CD-and-comic that was written and illustrated by his "big boy" Chris when he was still an immature teenager (although some still question his maturity, haha).More of Ogre, Matt & Chris' complete racing history at Galletta's and beyond is found here::
You can also join us on Facebook here:
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Website by Chris Galletta Stevens - professional cartoonist, graphic novelist & affordable website designer:
Please buy Chris's new children's book (co-created and written by Robert Buchanan)
named, Tee and Wee: Health and Nutrition for Young Earthlings, ON SALE NOW:
Buy it or get a sneak-preview.
Chris' kid-friendly/family-friendly comic strip named Towner (with over 10 years of comics):
Chris' 2007 Graphic Novel, Chrusher - End Cycle:
Chris's 1988-1999 teen-to-adult comic book named "ChrusherComix" (with over 19 years of comics):
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