by John Manzi, publicity director, Monticello Raceway

Monticello, NY — There was a time, and not too many years ago, that Monticello Raceway was inundated with drivers of Italian extraction. Not so anymore, though there still are some competing but nowhere near as many as the days of yester-year.

So what does the Mighty M’s Director of Racing do when he needs Italian-American drivers for the Godfather Pace, which is slated for Wednesday, August 26? He imports some, including three world class amateur drivers and longtime Billings Series competitors — George Casale, Tony Verruso and Joe Faraldo.

“With Kyle DiBenedetto on days for a driving infraction and Mike Forte recuperating from a horrible accident he was in a month ago, we lost our top two local Italian-American drivers but I’m appreciative that George, Tony and Joe will take the time to be with us and drive in our Italian race,” Warner said.

Casale, who’s near the top in points in the Billings Eastern Region leaderboard, drew (by lot) the favorite in the race, Mike Doherty’s Kronos Hanover.

A 1:59.2 winner earlier this year, Kronos Hanover will start from the coveted pole position in the Godfather Pace which will be race number four on the 13-race card on Wednesday.

Verruso has the second choice in the contest, April Aldrich and Jeanne Zukowski’s Allamerican Macro. But Verruso wasn’t as lucky with the post position draw. He and his pacer will start from the seven hole.

However, the one to beat may turn out to be Woody Hoblitzell’s Climb The Ladder, a 1:59.4 winner a few starts ago, who will have John DeSimone, Jr. in the bike. They leave from post position four.

The Godfather Pace is the eighth and final preliminary leg of Monticello Raceway’s Heritage Drivers Series and the winner will join the winners of the previous seven other series legs in a finale in early October which will be dubbed the ‘All-America Pace.’

The field for the Godfather Pace, with drivers and morning line odds, are as follows. 1-Kronos Hanover (George Casale-5-2); 2-Merle’s Boy N (Todd Marciano-8-1); 3-Greystone Carrie (Mike Petrelli-4-1); 4-Climb The Ladder (John DeSimone-7-2); 5-Flyin Aftermidnite (Jimmy Marohn-10-1); 6-Lux Gram (Joe Faraldo-12-1); 7-Allamerican Macro (Tony Verruso-3-1); and 8-Pante’s Inferno (Mike Spano-9-2).

Post time for the 13-race card is at 1:10 p.m. The Godfather Pace is scheduled to go to post at 2:25 p.m.