Story By: SCOTT RUNNING / STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY – STAFFORD SPRINGS, CT – For the third consecutive season at Stafford Motor Speedway, the Ted Christopher Safety Initiative, established prior to the start of the 2020 season by Christopher’s wife Quinn, will provide three Stafford drivers with new safety equipment.
Following the conclusion of the TC 13 Shootout on September 9, three drivers will be awarded a brand new racing seat from The Joie of Seating.
“I’m proud to be able to continue fundraising and promoting driver safety in honor of my late husband Ted Christopher,” said Quinn Christopher. “Teddy always stressed that he would spend whatever he had to spend in order to be safe in his race cars. No matter what he was racing or what the cost was, he always did whatever he had to do in order to be safe. I imagine it would have been so easy to just say ‘it’s good enough’, but he always did whatever he needed to do. I still remember after the first season we did this so many people came up to me and told me that Teddy would talk to them about getting better safety equipment and all the younger drivers said they went out and immediately got whatever Teddy told them to get just because it was Teddy talking to them. It’s great that so many people have donated money to Teddy’s memorial fund and I can take that money and use it for something so useful and something that would mean so much to Teddy.”
The three racing seats will be awarded as follows on September 9:
- The 13th place finisher of the 13 drivers from the 40 lap SK Modified® feature on Sept. 9 who transfer into the TC 13 will win seat #1.
- The race winner of the TC 13 lap shootout race will win race seat #2
- The race winner will randomly draw a winner of all drivers competing that night to be awarded seat #3.
- If a winning driver is not in need of a new race seat, they can also choose to pay it forward to another competitor who is in need of an updated seat.
The Joie of Seating seats continue the tradition of awarding new safety equipment to Stafford drivers through the Ted Christopher Drive for Safety Initiative. In 2020, over 100 drivers in total received either a new Nomex undershirt, helmet skirt, or head sock with all drivers who participated entered into a drawing for a new Leaf firesuit, which was won by Meghan Fuller. Last season saw the TC Safety Initiative award a brand new Bell helmet to one driver from each of Stafford’s five weekly divisions with Tyler Hines, John Blake, Paul French, Mike Hopkins, and Frank L’Etoile, Jr. all winning new helmets.
