November 6, Brockton, MA--- Mike Jarret, under the banner of Helping Hands of America, will be the primary sponsor of the Northeastern Midget Association in 2008. It will be the fourth straight season Jarret has been involved with the club that will celebrate its 56th consecutive season.

“It’s all from my allowance from my wife,” jokes Jarret who “uses the logo of my company hoping to get it some publicity.” He will also be back as the car owner/crew chief on the Nokie Fornoro-driven No. 4.

“I want to help where I can,” says Jarret who believes NEMA, under the leadership of Mike Scrivani Jr., has never been stronger. “NEMA just finished a terrific season and there is every indication it’s going to get better,” Jarret continues. “Overall, there was a lot of good equipment. There were 15, 16 guys who could have won. We went eight races before we had a repeat winner. The rookies, after a few races, really came up shining.”

The ’07 season ended with the championship battle going to the final checkered. What’s best, continues Jarret “we don’t have to go
searching for 2008 dates. Tracks are calling us.” NEMA, he believes, will announce its ’08 schedule soon.

Helping Hands of America, based in Wrentham, MA, is both profit and charity driven. It re-sells donated tangible items (namely cars, trucks, boats), a portion of the sale going to charity. In the corporation’s
seven years, $8 million has gone to charity. He currently works with The Association of Blind Citizens, Sacred Heart Missions, Meals on Wheels and ALS, aligned with Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Shilling
on the latter.

Headquarters is next door to what once was Mike’s Truck Stop that was owned by Scrivani’s father the late “Iron Mike” Sr., a larger than life character and an accomplished car owner. Jarret managed the Truck
Stop in the late 70’s when Fornoro was dominating NEMA and ARDC in Scrivani equipment. “I never burn bridges,” says Jarret, “so the relationships remain.”

He looks forward to the elder Scrivani’s induction into the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame in January. “People thought he was a real tough guy,” says Jarret. “He had a heart of gold. He was a nice old guy and he loved the racing.”

Although he was “just a kid then,” Jarret says Mike Jr. played a major role in the team’s success. Jarret’s present involvement began five years ago when Mike Jr. approached him about helping get Nokie a
ride. After 25 years as a very successful “junk yard dog,” [salvage yard owner] Jarret “semi retired” in 1997. Three years later he formed “Helping Hands.” Six months after responding to the plea of Mike Jr., he was involved in NEMA (and ISMA) sponsorship.

He became a car owner in 2005 when Fornoro lost the ride he initially backed. “It just got me a little mad and I went out and put together a Midget,” he explains. Pete Valeri was a major help in getting the
Beast/Gaerte together.

Fornoro won the World Series at Thompson for Jarret. In 2006, the first full year of competition, Jarret finished second in the owner points, 16 behind champ Valeri. It was, ironically, a DNS at Thompson (the shaft on the fuel pump sheered) that cost him the crown.

Mike Jr., he insists, is not the crew chief although he acknowledges his assistance. “I don’t know why that was written,” he says. “Mike works on a lot of cars. He works on the Breault #44. Whatever people want to
say, Mike’s works for everybody, gives everybody advice.”

And, he says, a lot of people seek it. “The guy has never driven a race car but he can sit in the field and tell you exactly what’s good and bad about your car. He can tell what the driver is doing and then he can go right to the problem in the pits.”


For the 2008 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season, Stafford Motor Speedway will institute a tire rule for its SK Modified and SK Light Modified divisions. The tire rule will limit the number of tires that teams will be able to purchase each week and use during the course of the 2008 season. SK Modified  teams will be allowed to purchase 2 tires each week at the track, while SK Light teams will be allowed to purchase one tire each week at the track. “During the course of the 2007 season, the feedback we were getting from our SK Modified competitors was pointing us in the direction of going with a tire rule for the 2008 season,” said SMS COO/GM Mark Arute.

“Once the season was over, we consulted with our tech staff to put together a tire rule based on the competitor feedback we had received. Once we had something put together on paper, we sent it out to our SK Modified and SK Light competitors for their review, and the response from our competitors has been overwhelmingly positive.

The tire rule is still in its infant stage and we will continue to work with our competitors and make any necessary adjustments as go forward into the 2008 season. ”Both the SK Modified and SK Light divisions will switch from American Racer tires to Hoosier tires. The size and compound Hoosier tires will be26.0/13.0-15 M45 on the left side and 27.0/13-15 M46 on the right side and the tires will be supplied by Hoosier Tire East in Manchester, CT.

Each Hoosier tire will carry a special bar coded serial number. Each tire will be scanned and entered into a database designating it as a tire for use at Stafford Motor Speedway. Each scanned serial number will be placed on an inventory card that will be assigned to the driver that the tires have been purchased for. SK Modified teams will be allowed to keep up to 10 tires in their tire inventory while SK Light teams will be allowed to keep up to 8 tires in their tire inventory. A determination of extra tires allowed for any extra distance event will be made by the race director for that event. For purposes of testing and/or extended practice, such as the Spring Sizzler and Fall Final events, each SK Modified driver will be allowed a total of 6 tires and each SK Light driver will be allowed a total of 4 tires, which will be kept on a separate inventory card. A competitors’ practice/test tires will not be permitted to be transferred from the practice inventory list to the weekly race tire inventory list at any time.

Don’t be shy!  Tell everyone what you really want this year…tickets to Lime Rock Park.  Where the racing is intense, the hillside view is spectacular and the experience is unforgettable.

Lime Rock Park is offering 15% OFF a season pass or 15 percent  off any ticket for any major event for the upcoming 2008 season.  Get a jumpstart on your ticket orders and take advantage of this outstanding discount.

Don’t wait…this gift opportunity from Lime Rock Park to all its fans is only valid through 21 December 2007.  All orders received after 19 December 2007 will be shipped for an additional fee.  Accepting phone orders ONLY.  Gift certificates will be mailed once the order is placed with instructions on how they should be redeemed. Call today at 1.800.RACE.LRP (1.800.722.3577)

  Mark your calendars and don’t miss out on this special holiday offer.  Season Greetings from Lime Rock Park!

Lime Rock Park 2008 Schedule:

Event                                                                                 Date
Grand-Am GT Classic                                                    23-26 May 2008
American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix                    11-12 July 2008
Mohegan Sun 200 NASCAR Busch East Series       15-16 August 2008
Rolex Vintage Festival                                                   29 August – 2 September 2008

We got Coastal 181's 2007 Holiday Catalog recently. Among the Hot Books are Steady Eddie, Midget Auto Racing-The First 70 Years and Daredevils of the Frontier about Eastern and Mid-Western midget and sprint racers. These books are reasonably priced. Check out their webpage at www.coastal181.com or call them toll free at 877.907.8181.

Along with the Coastal 181 material came a special gift offer for the holidays from Speedway Illustrated. For 12 bucks you can get a one year subscripiton of the magazine. Send the check to Speedway Illustrated, P.O. Box 37574, Boone, IA 50037-2574.


David Ragan, driver of the AAA No. 6 Ford Fusion, will be signing autographs at the New England Auto Show from 2-4 p.m. Nov. 28-the show's opening day. His appearance is just of the special events happening in AAA's booth at the show, which runs through Dec. 2 at the Boston Convention Center. Visitors will have the chance to check out Mr. Regan's show car and test their mettle in NASCAR simulators.

Racer Bob Tasca, III, who drivers the AAA Top Alcohol Funny Car, will be signing autographs from 4-6 p.m. Dec. 1. Mr. Tasca's car will be on view throughout the show. AAA of Southern New England offices have  $2 and $4 discounted tickets for members off the $12 admission price.

At the recent NEMA Midget Banquet held at White's in Westport, Ben Seitz of Monument Beach picked up his third straight champion's trophy. Plymouth's Randy Cabral took third place while fifth overall was Bridgewater's Greg Stoehr. Other locals that picked up some hardware were; East Bridgewater's Shane Hammond for ninth while Corey Cleary of Plymouth took 11th place in the point tally. Paul Scally of Middleboro was 12th and Marshfield's Shawn Torrey came in 15th.

There's a late season Cruise Day at the Middleboro Town Hall this Saturday starting at 9 a.m. while the NEAR Antique Racers Club will hold their Annual Movie Party at the Dante Club in W. Springfield across the street from the Big E. On Sunday it's a Die Hard Cruise Day at Bickford's Restaurant in Sharon on Rt. 1 just south of the I-95 Interchange.

    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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