Tabbed At Last Minute, Returns “Mystic Missile” To Charlotte
It’s well documented by this point what transpired as winter broke in New England and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season approached. Reigning titlist Donny Lia departed Bob Garbarino’s Mystic Missile Racing team for a shot in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the famed No. 4 seat became vacant.
Who would Garbarino tab to be Lia’s successor? Would the “Mystic Missile” even return to defend the championship? Those questions were answered when Massachusetts native Bobby Santos answered the phone.
“It was really exciting to get the call last-minute to drive for Bob,” Santos said. “It’s one of the best rides on the Tour, so that meant a lot. It was pretty exciting to do what we did this year and go out and win the championship.”
CHAMPION CAR OWNER PROFILE: Bob Garbarino
CHAMPION CREW CHIEF PROFILE: Bob Mueller
What Santos and the No. 4 team did was start the season with wins in three of the first four races. First came wins at Thompson International Speedway and Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut – Santos’ home tracks. But it was his third win of the season in his first run at historic Martinsville Speedway that is perhaps the most memorable moment of the season for the third-generation racer.
Continue reading ‘Champion Profile: Santos Fits Right In’
One of the most successful and respected team owners in the touring series ranks, Bob Garbarino continues to build on his legacy in NASCAR Modified racing.
Garbarino’s No. 4 “Mystic Missile” Dodge is as synonymous with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour as a number like the Wood Brothers 21 is in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The Mystic, Conn., businessman began fielding a Modified in NASCAR competition in 1962, and has been a part of the New England racing scene ever since.
The competition and the style of racing is what has kept Garbarino coming back through the years.
“I think it’s the competitiveness. I’ve stayed in that series because that’s what I like to do,” Garbarino said. “I think the people at that level are real people, and that really hasn’t changed in a number of decades. The cars look a little different maybe, and some of the equipment is upgraded, but we haven’t got out of that same style of racing and that same level of involvement. It’s still a part-time thing for everybody, and it’s been kept at that semi-professional level.”
Continue reading ‘Champion Car Owner Profile: Bob Garbarino’
At the sport’s pinnacle, Chad Knaus has earned five-consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series titles as crew chief for driver Jimmie Johnson. Similarly, in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, Bob Mueller has called the shots for three of the last four championship-winning teams for car owner Bob Garbarino and Mystic Missile Racing.
Unlike the combination of Knaus and Johnson, Mueller has had to achieve his success with multiple drivers. Donny Lia drove the No. 4 “Mystic Missile” to the championship in 2007 and 2009 and the third crown was earned in his first year working with Bobby Santos in 2010. Chuck Hossfeld also slid into the seat in 2008 and put together a solid season that resulted in a pair of wins and a top five overall finish.
The net result of working with three drivers in four years: 59 races, 44 top 10s, 16 wins, three championships.
“The bottom line is, our team has pretty much been the same all four years,” Mueller said. “The nucleus of the team has been solid, and by bringing in the different drivers, it wasn’t that hard for me. From Donny to Chuck to Bobby, the feel and what they wanted in the car wasn’t that different. It was just basically fine-tuning around each one of them.”
Continue reading ‘Champion Crew Chief Profile: Bob Mueller’
Touring & Weekly Series Champions’ Week Set To Kick Off
Daytona Beach, FL — With the culmination of the NASCAR season looming at the end of the week, track promoters, drivers and officials are preparing to descend on Charlotte, N.C., for the celebration of the outstanding achievements in 2010.
Keith Rocco of Wallingford, Conn., will be in the spotlight Friday, Dec. 10 at the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Awards Banquet, where he will be officially presented with the championship trophy for his first national title.
On Saturday, Dec. 11, the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Awards Gala will bring together the series champions and top drivers from all seven of the NASCAR regional touring series.
The banquets will be held for the first time at the Charlotte Convention Center’s Crown Ballroom adjacent to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Continue reading ‘Destination Charlotte’
Published at December 6, 2010
in Stafford.
Racing at five different speedways and in 34 Feature Events, saw the Plainville, Connecticut resident learn much while understanding she still needs to progress her driving skills.
Plainville, Connecticut — During this past season anyone keeping an eye on SK Light competitor Victoria Bergenty would be firmly impressed. Racing weekly at the Stafford Motor Speedway, as well as excursions to Monadnock, Waterford, Thompson and Twin State Speedway’s saw the 19 year old complete over 1,040 laps in Feature Event competition. Whether under the banner of SK Light, Sportsman Modified or TSS Modified action, only three late race crashes and a mid-season engine failure kept Bergenty from completing every possible lap aboard her family owned #74 racer.
Though many fans and racers are impressed with the young racer, ask Victoria her critique on the season and you’re struck by a solid dose of integrity. “It’s not like I’m totally disappointed with my season,” she explained, “but I want to win races. I won early in Dare (Stock) competition at Stafford (Motor Speedway) and it was an amazing feeling; a just reward for all of my family’s hard work.”
Though the focused racer has only experienced three true seasons of racing behind the wheel, perhaps one can ask if it’s the race simulation’s that give her the advantage? Growing up where her dad John drove, crewed or wrenched stockcars since the late 60’s, gave Victoria plenty of opportunity to sit in, then watch those same race cars compete at tracks across New England.
Continue reading ‘Victoria Bergenty’s Commitment to Smart Driving Brings Lasting Results and Added Wisdom’
Goodyear to Present the ACT Speedweeks Cup
The American Canadian Tour (ACT) has announced that Goodyear, the official tire of the 25 year-old short track sanctioning body, will be the presenting sponsor of the first ever “southern swing” for the ACT Late Models on Sunday, February 13 and Monday, February 14, 2011. Last month officials from ACT and New Smyrna Speedway in New Smyrna, Florida announced that the ACT Late Model teams would become part of the historic World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing (WSASCR) at the well known ½ mile speedplant.
For over four decades northern race teams and fans from Maine to Minnesota have made the annual pilgrimage to the ‘World Series’ at New Smyrna during Speedweeks at Daytona. “In the old days, the late Richie Evans would run out of the NASCAR Wednesday night awards banquet and rush down to make sure he was in the feature at New Smyrna that night. Junior Hanley, Gary Balough and a whole host of modified and late model racers made New Smyrna their ‘off-season home’. It is going to be a lot of fun to bring our northern ACT Late Model teams to Florida,” said Tom Curley, President of the American Canadian Tour.
“ACT race teams have supported Goodyear for the past seven seasons and we are really pleased to be the presenting sponsor of the first Goodyear ACT Speedweeks Cup,” said Scott Junod, Goodyear Sales Manager, Short Track Racing.
Continue reading ‘Goodyear to Sponsor ACT Speedweeks Cup’
Portraits Highlight Link Between Past and Present
Daytona Beach, FL – DJ Kennington doesn’t even hesitate when he’s asked what it means to him to be a NASCAR champion.
“It means everything to me,” said Kennington, the 2010 champion of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1. “It’s what I’ve tried to do for as long as I could remember.
“I always watched the Daytona 500, and then the Cup races on Sundays, and I always wanted to be there. And now that I can actually say I’m a NASCAR champion is pretty cool.”
Winning a NASCAR championship puts a driver in exclusive company, one defined by excellence and achievement. It’s a bond that stretches from the top drivers in the sport’s earliest days on the beaches of Daytona to those that excel at their craft today on tracks throughout North America.
Continue reading ’2010 Champions Carry On Legacy of Pioneers’
