Column Compiled By: PHIL SMITH / RPW – WESTERLY, RI – The car count at the recent Whelen Modified Tour Series event at the Monadnock Speedway was somewhat disappointing with only 24 on hand and a less than full grandstand witnessed the event.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returned to action this past Saturday, May 18 when the series headed to Riverhead Raceway on Long Island for the Miller Lite Salutes Wayne Anderson 200.
Quite a few of the local runners were expected to enter the event. The car count at Riverhead totaled 30, 18 of those were tour regulars.
Wayne Anderson is a corner stone of the auto racing community on Long Island and has raced at Riverhead, Islip, Freeport and West Hampton Speedways. The Riverhead Raceway Management honored him with a special night. Wayne Anderson was the 1994 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Champion. He drove the legendary Ole Blu No. 3 owned by Len Boehler plus his own car to garner the title which he dedicated to his dad, Axel Anderson, another Long Island legend. Anderson has a total of three NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour wins. In addition to his Modified Tour Championship and wins Andreson has five track championships and 32 wins as a driver. Following his retirement from driving Anderson continued as a car owner and recorded five championships and 45 wins.
Persistent sprinkles forced officials to postpone the event to Sunday afternoon. As per NASCAR rules the starting lineup was determined by point standings with the top 10 drawing for spots. Prior to the event Matt Hirschman withdrew from the event as he had a commitment to compete in a Race of Champions Series event at the Mahoning Valley Speedway in Pennsylvania. He finished fourth.
Ron Silk toughed it out to win the Wayne Anderson 200 on Sunday afternoon. Silk had some tense moments in the closing moments after running over debris that did damage to the snout of his Phil Moran wrenched car. In spite of a big dent, none of the mechanical components of the car were not damaged. Austin Beers applied some serious heat to Silk on the final lap but to no avail. Beers settled for second with Justin Bonsignore, third. JB Fortin and JR Bertuccio rounded out the top five. Sixth thru tenth included Jake Johnson, Craig Lutz, John Beaty, Patrick Emerling and Mark Stewart.
Silk ended up starting in the sixth position following a redraw of the top 10 starters, which allowed Trevor Catalano to lead the field to the green flag. Silk did not let that bother him; he utilized the speed of his silver No. 16 Haydt-Yannone Modified to pick off his fellow competition. After only 30 laps, Silk had already worked his way into the lead after passing Craig Lutz. Despite holding steady at the front of the field, Silk faced relentless pressure from Lutz, who was eager to obtain his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory since 2022. When Lutz’ car began to fade, Silk then encountered challenges from championship rival Justin Bonsignore and Austin Beers.
An overtime restart provided Beers the perfect opportunity to steal a victory. The young Modified competitor attempted a crossover on Silk in Turn 4 coming to the checkered flag but could not get the run he needed to make the race-winning pass.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series takes a week off before heading to the Cement Palace, the Seekonk Speedway, on Saturday night, June 1.
The Stafford Speedway hosted their Weekly Racing Series on Friday, May 17th with its five weekly divisions plus the remaining 12 laps left over from the April 28 SK Light feature. Tyler Chapman was the big winner of the night, winning both the 12-lap completion of the April 28 SK Light feature event as well as the regularly scheduled 20-lap feature. Chapman’s 2 wins gave him 3 wins in 3 SK Light races this season and dating back to the end of 2023, Chapman has now won 5 consecutive points paying SK Light feature events. Other winners on the night were Cory DiMatteo in the SK Modified® feature and Kevin Gambacorta in the Late Model feature with both drivers scoring their second consecutive wins of the 2024 season. R.J. Surdell came home a winner for only the second time in his Stafford career and the win was his first since July 7, 2017. Surdell was grateful just to be there as his car fell on him just five days previous. Travis Hydar locked up his second Street Stock win of the 2024 season and in the process became Stafford Speedway’s winningest Street Stock driver in history with 21 career wins, breaking a tie with Kyle Casagrande.
A cool night kept the crowd down a bit but not the enthusiasm of the competitors. The car count showed 30 SK Modifieds, 33 SK Lights, 17 Limited Late Models, 16 Late Models and 20 Street Stocks.
In the SK 40 lapper at least 10 lead changes made the event one of the most competitive at Stafford. Seven cautions, all except one for minor spins slowed the event. Bryan Narducci in the Tommy Baldwin entry and Kieth Rocco in the Dan Avery car duked it out for the first 30 laps before Rocco began backing up. Cory Dimatteo came alive on lap 32 as he took the lead from Narducci in turn three. Troy Talman came from deep in the field to take the lead from DiMatteo on lap 34. DiMatteo rallied and retook the lead on lap 28 and never looked back. Talman finished second with Andrew Molleur, third. Rounding out the top five was Rocco and Marcello Rufrano. Sixth thru tenth included Mikey Flynn, George Bessette, Jr., Tyler Hines, Dylan Kopec and David Arute. Narducci ended up 20th. Narducci actually came across the finish line in fourth spot and in the heat of the moment forgot to go over the height pad and was disqualified and placed in 20th spot. Narducci has two more races in the car before Luke Baldwin takes over the seat for at least four events.
Stafford’s new tire package rule has done the trick as the quality of the SK Modified racing is at it’s best. The rule states that tires must be used for competition on the same night they are purchased. Estimated weekly purchase limit – 3 tires. Meaning, all tires must be fresh out of the truck and on to the car. This eliminates the illegal soaking of tires.
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) announced Thursday that three-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Champion (NWMT) Justin Bonsignore will drive the team’s No. 19 Toyota GR Supra in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) on Saturday, June 22.
The June 22 race at NHMS will mark Bonsignore’s first career NXS start, but he is no stranger to the Magic Mile. The 36-year-old driver has made 25 NWMT starts there over the past 14 years. In those 25 races, he has two wins in points-paying events and one in a non-points race, along with 10 top-five finishes. His most recent New Hampshire win came last September.
Speaking of NASCAR Modified Drivers, Mike Stefanik would have been 66 this past week.
One of the oldest traditions on the Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park oval returns on Memorial Day Monday May 27th, 2024, with the first $5000-to-win Open Modified Dash 4 Cash of the season. On years gone by the Thompson Speedway entertained race fans on Memorial Day Monday and they are bringing that tradition back on Monday May 27th!
The Memorial Day Special will feature Outlaw Open Modified Series Dash for Cash Season Opener – 50 Laps/$5,000 to Win plus Sunoco 604 Modifieds, Late Models, SK Light Modifieds, Street Stocks and Mini Stocks. This is an afternoon event, post Time: 3:00pm.
Lou Modestino who has his ear to the ground advises “The GM 604 “Crate Engine” appears to be the possible savior of the Thompson’s track’s Modifieds in the New England area. Cris Michaud of ACT and Tom Mayberry of PASS are banking on this at the 5/8-oval in Thompson, CT that they have leased from the Hoenig Family. In spite of just a under a half-dozen Mods equipped with this engine, they put on a good show at Mid-April’s annual New England Classic at NHMS.”
That weekend was also financial success due to over 100 race cars turning out with five different divisions with some under 4,000 fans in the grandstands. No doubt the wet spring weather had a lot to do with it. A Crate Engine rule, some 20-years ago, helped the late Tom Curley turn around a bankrupt American Canadian Tour at the time consisted of the Pro Stocks/Super Late Models morphing down to an ACT Late Model. Which eventually became the standard for just about every track in New England that featured that type of race car.
Even though it took about ten years to accomplish this impossible task. That is standardizing the same rules at every track which up until then had never been accomplished. This fact reinforces that history continues to repeat itself especially in short track racing.
The Stafford Motor Speedway has been an open wheel Modified stronghold and has defied the thought of the crate type engine. Stafford’s car counts of SK Modifieds, close to 30 each week and SK Lights, close to 35 each week are more than ample and the competition is good. Stafford’s crowds are the best in New England. Their secret, is the fact they their competitors very good and treat them right. As far as the crowd of spectators goes, they get out and promote their events to the general public. Most tracks in New England do little or nothing in this department and they continue to wonder why.
Anthony Nocella has won in nearly everything he has climbed behind the wheel of in the Northeast and New England regions of the country. Everything from Tour-Type Modified championships and a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, to NEMA wins and NEMA Lite championships, and even a Supermodified win and a victory indoors at the Rumble in Fort Wayne.
Now, the Massachusetts driver has his sights on the 76th Annual Little 500 Presented By UAW at the Anderson Speedway in Anderson, Indiana next weekend. Not only will it be his first Little 500 and Anderson Speedway appearance, it will also be his first race in a Sprint Car. It’s been an event that’s been on Nocella’s radar for some time, thanks in part to a former car owner and fellow Massachusetts native in Matt Seymour, the defending Little 500 winning car owner with driver Jake Trainor.
The all new book, The Modified Years At Stafford, by the Grace of God and 600 hp, is gaining interest and has become a must have in race fans and competitors library. Race by Race, Year by Year, it’s all there. Read all about it! Books are now available on Amazon.com and Coastal 181 (877-907-8181 toll free) and are available thru Stafford’s web site in their store. Order yours now. Makes a great gift!
With the cooperation of the Arute family another book has been published with pictures and biographies of the 50 Greatest Drivers at Stafford.
The Stafford Motor Speedway had become the epicenter of NASCAR Modified racing in the northeast by the late 1980’s. From its dirt beginnings to its lightning-fast asphalt, Stafford had become the toughest and most gratifying track to score a victory. The Arute family which has owned and guided the destiny of the facility commissioned their thousands of loyal fans to name their favorite drivers. In alphabetical order so as not to offend anyone:
Tom Baldwin, Gene Bergin, Brett Bodine, Geoff Bodine, Ken Bouchard, Ron Bouchard, Mario “Fats” Caruso, Rene Charland, Ted Christopher, Leo Cleary, Tim Connolly, Jerry Cook, Corky Cookman, Pete Corey, Fred DeSarro, Richie Evans, Mike Ewanitsko, Ed Flemke, Sr., Jeff Fuller, Rick Fuller, Ernie Gahan, Bill Greco, Bo Gunning, Ray Hendrick, George “Moose” Hewitt, Tony Hirschman, George Janoski, Charlie Jarzombek, George Kent, Buddy Krebs, Randy LaJoie, Jan Leaty, Jerry Marquis, Mike McLaughlin, Ray Miller, Steve Park, Bob Polverari, Bob Potter, Brian Ross, John “Reggie” Ruggiero, Greg Sacks, Ollie Silva, “Wild” Bill Slater, Jimmy Spencer, Mike Stefanik, Carl “Bugsy” Stevens, George Summers, Jamie “The Jet” Tomaino, Maynard Troyer and Satch Worley.
Books are priced at $17.95 each and be purchased at the track at the Novelty Booth or at the Stafford Motor Speedway on line store. Books are also available at Amazon.com and at Coastal181 (877-907-8181).
