NEW ENGLAND MOTORSPORTS SOUTH
by Lou Modestino

       January 8--- Two southern New England standout drivers will get a head start on the racing season this weekend. Ted Christopher of Plainville, CT and Bobby Santos, III of Franklin are scheduled to be driving TQ Midget racecars at the Atlantic City (NJ) at the Boardwalk Hall this Friday and Saturday, January 12-13. TC will be steering his own car prepared by Solhem Racing of CT while Santos will steer John Payne's entry in that event. Bobby is subbing for Payne who suffered a heart attack back in late November and decided to forgo the event and hired the southeaster MA driver. Santos' victory at the post season Big Car race at Lakeland, FL added to his very impressive resume. Following the AC event, the Bay State driver will be gearing up for the ARCA and Busch Grand Grand National events, fielded by
Davis Racing, at the Daytona Speedway next month in Fla.

     And speaking of TC, the Czarnecki Bros are returning to the True Value Modified Racing Series  in 2007 with him  at the wheel for six specific dates. Those are four at the  Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, NH  and two more at the  Waterford Speedbowl  according to a knowledgeable source close to the team. That's good for those two tracks  because Ted always livens up an event wherever he competes. Also, this commitment with the TVMRS won't enhance his standing with the NASCAR officials who are unhappy when when of their Whelen Modified Tour stars races in that (TVMRS) series which has replaced the NASCAR WMT at several venues in New England over the past few years.  However, Christopher seems less concerned with politics and sets his sights on racing and winning.

      Stafford Motor Speedway's Contingency Program netted over $20,000 in bonus money to competitors during the 2006 season. The $20,525 that was paid out in 2006 contingencies to SMS competitors brings the grand total paid by the SMS contingency program to over $170,000 in the eight years (1999-2006) the program has been in existence.  During the 2006 season, there were
$1,500 in total posted contingency awards available to competitors each and every Friday night as well as the Tech-Net Spring Sizzler and CARQUEST Fall Final weekend events.

       "The contingency program is something that we're very proud to offer to our competitors here at Stafford," said SMS CEO/GM Mark Arute.  "We owe a great deal to all of our contingency partners both from the 2006 season as well as seasons past for their generous contributions to our competitors.  This past season, our contingency program was taken to a new level with awards available to competitors in all five divisions.  We had a new company in Bosch Spark Plugs come on board to join our charter members CARQUEST Auto Parts, Dillon Ford, and New England Racing Fuel as well as our other returning partners, and New England Racing Fuel stepped up their level of involvement by sponsoring all five of our weekly divisions.  We're looking to have an even bigger and better program to offer to our competitors for the 2007 season."

       The 2006 Stafford Motor Speedway Contingency Program was once again spearheaded by CARQUEST Auto Parts, who contributed nearly $6,000 in bonus money to SK Modified, Late Model, and Limited Late Model competitors.  New England Race Fuels, Sunoco Brand totaled $4,775 in free gas to competitors with their increased level of involvement.

      Stafford Motor Speedway began its contingency program during the 1999 season as a way to reward the top-3 finishers from its feature events.  As Stafford's contingency program has grown over the years since the initial 1999 season offering, the program has nearly doubled in size with it's weekly and end of season payout totals.  Stafford Motor Speedway's 2006 contingency partners included Atlantic Coast Trailer Sales, Bosch Spark Plugs, CARQUEST Auto Parts, The Davidson Company, Dillon Ford, Driscoll Motorsports Photography, Mystic Pizza, and New England Racing Fuel, Sunoco Brand. Additional special event contingencies were provided by Reliable Welding and Speed.

       A tradition continues on January 20-21, 2007 with the presentation of the annual Autoparts Swap 'n Sell.  New England's largest indoor all automotive swap meet will take place in the Better Living Center located on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition (Home of the Big E) in West Springfield.

     The event attracts vendors from Maine to Florida offering a huge assortment of wares for diehard racers and car enthusiasts of all types. Vendors will offer everything from high-performance parts and accessories to tools and gadgets.  Collectors will find unique pieces of auto- and memorabilia while restorers are sure to uncover hard-to-find vintage originals along with replica and reproduction pieces.

    Autoparts Swap 'n Sell puts over three acres of new and used parts for everything automotive all under one roof.  Bargains will abound on merchandise for racecars of all types, plus hot rods, classics, customs, and imports.  The casual shopper and the zealous bargain hunter will be satisfied with Autoparts Swap 'n Sell. With over a million parts, every taste and price range will be represented.

    For nearly 30 years, the Autoparts Swap 'n Sell has stood as a tradition for the automotive community.  Single-day adult admission in only $8.00. Kids under 12 are admitted free with a paid adult.  The show will run from 8 AM to 5 PM on Saturday and Sunday, January 20-21, 2007.  Limited vendor space is still available.

   The Eastern States Exposition Complex is located at 1305 Memorial Avenue in West Springfield.  Autoparts Swap 'n Sell is a production of Start-Finish Productions. For more information call (860) 871-6376.

      The management of SpeedwayEXPO has begun releasing details for the upcoming motorsports expo scheduled for March 2-4, 2007, also being held at the Eastern States Exposition, Home of the Big E, in West Springfield. SpeedwayEXPO will occupy the Better Living Center with more than three acres of displays dedicated to the sport of auto racing while the Stroh Building will host the show's special events for fans, exhibitors and racers. The inaugural EXPO promises something for the entire racing community.

    Show hours for the three-day event will allow ample time to enjoy everything that EXPO has to offer. The doors will open to the public on Friday, March 2, at 5 p.m. The historic first day will conclude at 9 p.m. Saturday hours will be 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Adult general admission is $15 per day. Children age 10 and under will be admitted free. Advance discount tickets are available for $10 on-line at www.speedwayexpo.com.

   The show floor will provide an ideal blend of fan attractions and trade amenities. A broad mixture of cars from tracks around the Northeast will combine asphalt and dirt stock-car racing with drag racing and other unique forms of motorsports.

    The trade portion of the event will be the main attraction for enthusiasts and racers. Vendors of performance parts and accessories will be a major part of SpeedwayEXPO. Confirmed exhibitors currently include Capital Motorsports, Pit Products, Racing Electronics, Reliable Welding and Speed, Seymour Enterprises, VP Racing Fuel, and many more. Show specials will benefit local racers as they prepare for the 2007 season.

     The entertainment experience will also feature interactive displays and attractions with professional racing flair. A number of collectibles and memorabilia vendors will be selling their wares. Events throughout the weekend will satisfy the most ardent fan and diehard racer. EXPO vendors will provide fans the opportunity to engage in both R/C and SIM racing while real-life action will be part of the Pit Crew Challenge scheduled for Saturday night. There will be pedal car races for children and a host of other activities that will be announced in the coming weeks.

      Also on tap for EXPO is a comprehensive seminar program aimed at educating, informing and entertaining racers. Topics will include sponsorship, safety, publicity, team management and more. A complete schedule of seminars will be released as soon as possible.  This inaugural EXPO will see a number of noted drivers take center stage as well. A large autograph session is planned for the Busch East and Modified Tour drivers on Saturday, March 3. Huge announcements are expected with other celebrity talent currently being lined up.

       NASCAR drivers Boris Said of Stamford, CT, Randy LaJoie of E. Norwalk, CT and Mike Stefanik of Exeter, RI  showed that "racers are racers" by placing 1-2-3 in the 2nd annual Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge presented by Whelen at the Lake Placid (N.Y.) Olympic bobsled course that Saturday. Drivers from a variety of NASCAR divisions and the NHRA tested their skills at the site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics, as the climax of a weekend devoted to support of the U.S. Olympic bobsled program.

      Despite making his second and final run of both races in a cold, windblown rain, Stefanik, the reigning NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion scored a pair of third-place finishes during the event. He was beaten only by NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver Boris Said, an international sports car racing star with bobsled experience, who won both races, by former NASCAR Busch Series champion Randy LaJoie in the opening race, and by NHRA top fuel drag racer Morgan Lucas in the nightcap.

       NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion Philip Morris, also invited to the event by Whelen, failed to finish the first race after crashing on his second run, but had a smooth ride to place 10th in the second race.    "We came up a little short because we got up on two runners in (turn number) 18 and we lost out to Randy at the bottom but neither of us had anything for Boris," Stefanik said after the first race. "Loose is fast," he continued, "but if you hit the wall you're going to bounce off and hit the other wall and act like a ping-pong ball."

     Stefanik ranked the second run of the second race as his best if the day, despite the intensifying rain. "We had a really clean run," the nine-time NASCAR touring series champion observed, giving credit to National Guardsman Matt Cryer, who served as his brakeman on the two-man sled, and to the U.S. bobsled team athletes who pushed their sled off the starting line. "It's awesome to be surrounded by all that talent. It gets that nice USA feeling going," he added.

      "It just makes it really, really slippery on the flat (surfaces) when you don't have any compression on your runners. You're hydroplaning and you don't have much control," Stefanik noted. Comparing the bobsled experience to his thirty years of stock car racing, he said "It's so different that you really can't apply too much, just try to relax and focus, look down the track and try to be smooth."

       Morris came to grief at the bottom of the mountain in his second run of the morning race, turning the sled over at turn 18, which became known as Trickle Turn in last year's inaugural event when former NASCAR NEXTEL Cup star Dick Trickle flipped twice on one day.  "I didn't want it to be renamed 'Philip Morris Turn,' so I tried to stay off my roof a second time," he quipped.

    Both Stefanik and Morris were impressed with the vertical banking of the fast turns at the bottom of the course. That's 90 degrees of banking, compared to 31 degrees at Daytona International Speedway. "It's nearly straight up-and-down in some places. It's really intimidating when you first walk in and watch the real bobsled racers and the speeds they go. It's just incredible," said Stefanik.

       Morris noted the stresses on the driver are different from those he feels in his Late Model stock car. "The g-forces are a lot less because you climb the banking here. You feel the g-force because it pushes you down in the seat, but you don't feel your helmet tugging your left or right like it does in a stock car."

      Geoff Bodine, who became interested in bobsledding 15 years ago and has been a driving force in the upgrading of the sport in the USA since that time, declared the second annual event a success and expressed no surprise at Stefanik's outstanding performance. Sounding just like the former NASCAR modified standout he is, the former Daytona 500 winner declared, "There was no doubt he would be good, because these sleds are like Modifieds - small, fast, and quick."

         A pair of New England Arenacross riders; Bill Ainsworth of Columbia, CT and Robbie Marshall of Stow, two riders sponsored by Chaplin (CT) Kawasaki, have plans to enter the BooKoo Energy Drink sponsored U.S. Open of Arenacross to be held at the Mohegan Sun Arena the weekend of February 9-11.

      The U.S. Open of Arenacross will also be the final race in the coast-to-coast BooKoo Arenacross Championship Series which has over 3 million dollars in purse, point fund and posted contingency for the 10-city tour.  The event at the Mohegan Sun Arena will have a $110,000.00 purse with $50,000 going to the U.S. Open Champion making this the richest arenacross in history. The Mohegan Sun will also host the BooKoo Arenacross Series awards banquet Sunday evening where the $100,000.00 series point fun will be awarded to the top 15-riders in the series.

            A duo of top riders leading the charge with impressive resumes includes Josh Demuth of Richland Hill, TX and Canadian Darcy Lang, who now calls  Corona, CA home, are the heavy favorites.   Demuth is the '02 and '03 ArenaX champion as well as the 2006 BooKoo ArenaX champ.  Lang holds the '04 and '05 ArenaX titles.  The  BooKoo ArenaX will be the first motorsports event, ever, to appear at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

      A local Honda rider Heath François of Acushnet, MA also plans to compete in the BooKoo event at the Mohegan Sun. He's a veteran of the Canadian Pro Nationals in 2005 and was a consistent top finisher in that series as well as qualifying for every round. In 2006 François got the season off to a good start by taking the NCSC Jack Frost Series at the Capeway Rovers track in Middleboro and ended up winning the Open Expert championship.

      The NCSC Spring Series was another story for Heath because at the half-way mark he took a bad spill breaking his sternum and bruising his heart. The result of all that had him out of the motocross action until late in the 2006 season. "I ran a few events at the Capeway Rovers in the late Fall just to get me back up to Square One. Fortunately my family owns lots of land and we have two practice tracks on the property. Because the winter has been mild I manage to get out there and practice several days a week. Also, I've been doing some long distance bike riding on my ten-speed to build up my endurance. And I've been training hard for the 2007 season and the BooKoo event. My goal at the Mohegan Sun is to transfer into the main event, " revealed François.

       In between all of this training the Old Colony Votec grad, Class of 2005, works at his full time job as an Electrician Apprentice for Twin City Electric in Fall River and is in his second year of training and about half-way towards his Journeyman license. It will be interesting to see how well Heath François does at the Mohegan Sun Arenacross before a hometown crowd.

     When the BooKoo Arenacross Brought To You By Manchester (CT) Honda Part Of Manchester Motorsports in the middle of the New England winter, February 9-11, moves into southern New England,  there will be some hot racing action at the Mohegan Sun Arena. That means you won't have to wait until the Spring to get your first racing fix of 2006.You can order your tickets now in order to be assured some good seats.

     A fifteen-Friday night racing series will be added to the Seekonk Speedway in 2007. Geared for the Seekonk Youth Racing Assn.(Mini Cups). The series is open to youths 10-18. Admission to the Fast Friday Series will be limited to pit passes while the grandstands and concessions would be open throughout the program. This change would allow the Rt. 6 oval to complete its Saturday night events by 10 p.m. and is part of an overall plan to streamline that program.

    Lou Modestino is a long-time columnist and Public Relations person, working for numerous tracks in the northeast, and now writes for The Enterprise in Brockton, MA.  He may be reached at lmodestino@hotmail.com. 

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