RPW Exclusive: The Champ Trail: Thompson’s Icebreaker Postponed, Again, SMART Mods At OC & More…

Column Compiled By: PHIL SMITH / RPW – WESTERLY, RI – The NASCAR Modified Tour Icebreaker 150 was scheduled to go green on Saturday, April 5 along with the originally scheduled season opener for the Late Models, Street Stocks, SK Light Modifieds and Thompson Sunoco Modifieds.

The New England weather had other ideas.

NASCAR and Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park have postponed this weekend’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event as a forecast for inclement weather impacts the region for the second weekend in a row. The race has been rescheduled for Wednesday, April 16. The start time will be announced at a later date.

The Icebreaker 150 was originally scheduled for March 30, but had been postponed to this past Saturday, April 5, due to a poor forecast.

The Thompson Speedway oval is leased by the partnership of Cris Michaud and Tom Mayberry.

Michaud said he reached out to NASCAR officials on April 1 about running the Icebreaker 150 this past Friday. A NASCAR spokesperson said team owners were polled about the possibility of running the event on Friday and the logistics of doing the event were too much to deal with for many of those teams. Following last weekend the hopes of having any sort of makeup event at Thompson on a weekend were curtailed because of scheduled events on their road course. I guess that kind of shows how the Hoenig family feels about the Modifieds. It’s all about money in their pockets.

While bad weather washed out the action at Thompson, the sun showed bright and warm in Rougrmont, North Carolina. Despite the fact that only 21 cars showed for the 99 lap SMART event the action and competition was good. It was a good day for the guy they call the Rocket Man, Ryan Newman. Newman qualified fifth and in a re-draw, drew the pole starting position. Newman’s main threat came in the form of Mike Christopher Jr. Christopher, driving the Gary Putnam entry, was the main threat but in the end was run up by Paulie Hartwig and had to settle for third. Mikey wasn’t to happy but maintained his cool in a post-race interview. Joey Colter finished third with Luke Baldwin and Jonathan Cash who rounded out the top five. An early strong run was turned in by Sam Rameau who ended up tenth. Rameau started third and was an early leader until giving way to Newman.

After a strong first half at Darlington Ryan Preece finished 26th after running in the top 3 of the NASCAR Cup event.

For the 2025 racing season at Stafford Motor Speedway, Riley Generators of East Windsor, CT will provide a $100 bonus to each Limited Late Model feature winner. With 21 races on the 2025 docket, Limited Late Model drivers will be racing for a piece of a $2,100 bonus pie. The 2025 season will mark the fourth consecutive season that Riley Generators has offered a first place contingency bonus in the Limited Late Model division.

“We continue to love having a relationship with Stafford Speedway and the Limited Late Model division,” said Dan Riley of Riley Generators. “We want race fans to think of Riley Generators and to give us a call whenever they need a generator. Between the fans in the stands every Friday night plus the online crowd watching on FloRacing, Stafford is a great place for us to get our name out there. We’ve made a lot of friends in the Limited Late Model division over the last few years and we certainly appreciate it when they thank us and give the business a plug.”

In addition to their first place contingency, Riley Generators will also support the Limited Late Model division by being the title sponsor of the Riley Generators 30 for the third consecutive season. The Riley Generators 30 serves as the Limited Late Model division’s lone extra distance event of the season and the race is scheduled for Friday, June 13th.

In three short weeks the Stafford Motor Speedway comes alive for the greatest race in the history of spring, The 53rd annual Spring Sizzler on April 26 and April 27. A full compliment of Tour type Open Modifieds, SK Modifieds and SK Lites will provide two full days of non-stop action.

In somewhat of a surprise, Brad Lafontaine, a 2019 inductee into the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame, has been hired as the new race director of the New London – Waterford Speedbowl. Considered one of the best in the business as a crew chief, Lafontaine has coached Mike Stefanik, Ted Christopher, the Fuller Brothers and Keith Rocco. He even made a winner of Tom Baldwin Sr. Lafontaine should be a good fit at the shoreline oval. He is knowledgeable and fair.

Coastal 181, Reading For Racers has released their 2024-2025 Catalog of great books. Among the newer titles is “Lazzaro, the man and his machine”. Lou Lazzaro became one of the Northeast’ most revered drivers of all time. He was equally as good on dirt as he was on asphalt. For many years he raced and won, sometimes three to five times a week at his home tracks, the Albany Saratoga Speedway in Malta, NY, Fonda Speedway in Fonda, NY and at the Utica-Rome Speedway in Vernon, New York. Lazzaro was a regular track representative for the All Star League that raced on dirt and asphalt tracks during the late 60’s. The most remarkable thing was that he did it all with the same car. One of his biggest fans believe it or not was Richie Evans. Other great reading in the Coastal 181 catalog include “Ray Everham-Trophies and Scars”, “Bugsy”, “Richie”, “Eddie Flemke” and “The Soul of a Modified” Lenny Boehlers Ole Blue. Call Coastal181 at 877-907-8181.

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).