Awards Banquet Celebrates 2010 Top Drivers
Concord, NC — Keith Rocco’s breakthrough season culminated Friday night with his coronation as the 2010 national champion at the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Awards Banquet at the Charlotte Convention Center at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Rocco, 25, from Wallingford, Conn., also collected his third straight NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Connecticut championship, as well as the asphalt Modified Division track titles at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway and Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl.
“Racing was all I ever wanted to do,” Rocco said. “Winning was just a bonus.”
After finishing fourth in the national standings in 2007 and 2008, and second in 2009, Rocco put together a season for the record books. He had 21 wins, 39 top fives and 50 top 10s in 53 starts en route to collecting 810 points — the maximum total a driver can accumulate.
Continue reading ‘Rocco Crowned Whelen All-American Champ’
Team shares in national championship celebration
Charlotte, NC — During the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series banquet at the Crown Ballroom at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Jeff Rocco joked that he was born minutes before his twin brother Keith — in the “only race he ever let me win.”
While that may be true, the twins made a trip to Victory Lane together on Friday night, as Keith Rocco was crowned the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion. Jeff Rocco serves as the crew chief for Keith at Stafford Motor Speedway.
“We love to race,” Jeff Rocco said. “That’s where our heart lies and our passion lies. If this never happens again, we’re still going to have fun every Thursday, every Friday, every Saturday night. We’re going to give it our all no matter what happens. We love to race. This is just a huge bonus.”
Keith Rocco won 21 races in 2010 at three Connecticut short tracks — Stafford, Waterford Speedbowl and Thompson International Speedway. Jeff is the crew chief at Stafford, while Shane Hopkins serves as the crew chief at Waterford; Rocco won both track championships.
Continue reading ‘Notebook: Family Drives Rocco’s Title’
State champions bask in spotlight of award’s banquet
Charlotte, NC — Wayne Helliwell Jr. thought he had gotten a crack at this celebrating a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series title once before.
But after running away with the New Hampshire state championship a few years ago, Helliwell lost it after encountering what he coined “technical issues” with his home track of Lee USA Speedway in Lee, N.H. Given another opportunity in 2010, though, Helliwell finally capped off a Whelen All-American Series championship season at Lee USA with nine wins in the track’s Late Model division.
For the second-generation Lee racer, victory was understandably sweet.
“This is big,” said Helliwell, of Dover, N.H. “To overcome all that stuff before is just huge. Racing with my dad for so many years, he was never able to pull a win out of Lee. So to be able to win a championship out of there — and the state championship stuff that goes with it — is really big for the whole family.”
Continue reading ‘Notebook: Helliwell Cashes On 2nd Chance’
