Story By: SCOTT RUNNING / STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY – STAFFORD SPRINGS, CT – With Stafford Speedway’s Late Model division set to run their annual extra distance feature event, the Paradiso Insurance 50, this Friday September 6, Bobby Stirk, III and the #9 team sponsored by A6A Associates, Tri-State Elevator & Hoist, and Costa & Son Construction are ready to fight for their first Late Model victory.
The fact that Stirk will even be at the track to try to win the race would be a small miracle after crashing his car and seeing the front end briefly catch fire in last week’s feature event.
But thanks to some hard work by his crew, Stirk will be at the track ready to chase the checkered flag.
“There wasn’t much left of the front end,” said Stirk. “I think I was able to save a shock and an upper control arm but other than that, pretty much everything else was junk right up to the front of the firewall. We spent all day Saturday getting the motor cut out of the car and Sunday we were at Rob Russell’s shop working on the car from noon to midnight. Monday we were at Rob’s again from 9am-midnight, and then Tuesday night we got up there around 5 and worked on it to midnight. Rob took a day off of work and he worked his butt off getting the car back together. It was a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of coffee, but I think we’re looking pretty good. We have a fresh front clip on the car so it’s going to be like we’re getting a fresh start at things. I’ve always loved the longer distance races but coming from the Street Stocks, we usually ran 20 laps and our longest race was 30 laps. Although I haven’t done much extra distance racing, I think we’ve always had a long run type of car with my driving style.”
While Stirk is looking for his first Late Model win at Stafford, he has 6 Street Stock feature wins to his name at the Connecticut half-mile facility. It took Stirk the better part of 3 full seasons and 2 partial seasons to notch his first victory in the Street Stock ranks. Once Stirk recorded his first win in the beginning of the 2022 season, he notched 5 more wins before moving into the Late Model ranks for the 2023 season. Stirk nearly won his first Late Model race two weeks ago, but got passed on the final lap by Paul Varricchio, Jr. A win in the Paradiso Insurance 50 would be big for Stirk and his team on several levels.
“I felt like 2 weeks ago was going to be our time to win a race,” said Stirk. “We got passed on the last lap, which was heartbreaking and it sucked, but it was a lot better than finishing outside the top-5 and I’ll never complain about getting a podium finish. It would be huge to win this race. Just to win the 50-lapper alone would be huge for us, but with the week of hell that we’ve been going through with the crew guys all driving an hour and a half up to Rob’s shop, I certainly can’t do this alone and it would just mean so much more. With all the work that Dave Dorosh, John Johnson, my father, Rob Russell, Darryl Vertefeuille, Kyle Theriault, and Dennis and Dana Wray have put in, a win in this race would be pretty special.”
Stirk was able to win Late Model Rookie of the Year in 2023 and he has already surpassed his top-5 and top-10 totals from 2023 this season. Stirk matched his best career Late Model finish of 2nd but after winning 6 races and contending for a championship in the Street Stock division in 2022, it’s been a steep uphill climb for Stirk in the Late Model ranks.
“It’s been humbling for sure,” said Stirk. “It’s a totally different caliber of teams and drivers from the Street Stocks, but we welcome the challenge. I think we have one of the bigger crews for a Late Model team and thank god everyone of them has been sticking with us and especially Rob Russell. Working with him has totally changed our views on everything and we’ve progressively been getting better and hopefully this will be the new start that we need.”
Stirk is currently tied with Andrew Durand for 5th place in the points standings and sits only 8 points, or 4 positions on the track, behind 4th place Cliff Saunders.
“We’d like to maintain our top-5 position in the points and we want to get our first win,” said Stirk. “It took us a while in the Street Stocks to get our first win but once we did, they started rolling and it would be nice to do the same thing in the Late Model division. A win would be much needed for our team.”
The Paradiso Insurance Late Model 50 takes the green flag this Friday night, September 6th with all five weekly divisions in feature action. Tickets are available now online at StaffordSpeedway.com/tickets and tickets will be available for purchase at the admission gates the night of the race. Tickets are priced at $25.00 for adults, $5.00 for kids 6-14, free for kids 5 & under, and reserved seating is $30.00 for all ages. Pit passes are $40.00 with a valid 2024 Stafford Competition License and $45.00 without a Stafford license.
