2011 July 07 archive at YankeeRacer.com

Archive for July 7th, 2011

Career First for NEMA’s Horn; Field’s Domination Continues at Thompson; Rocco, Connors, Scorzelli, Monahan, & Boss

Published at July 7, 2011 in NEMA and Thompson. 0 Comments

Thompson, CT — A hot summer night proved to be fitting for the racing action at Thompson International Speedway on Thursday night. The only thing hotter than the mercury was Danny Field. The Deep River, CT, driver remains undefeated in Mini Stock action during the 2011 season as he scored his seventh straight victory. Thompson Speedway hosted the Northeastern Midget Association (NEMA) for the annual Marvin Rifchin Memorial event. Mike Horn of Ashland, MA, made a bold move on the opening lap that proved to be the winning one.

Keith Rocco of Wallingford, CT, ran high and dry to his second straight Sunoco Modified feature victory at Thompson. Jeff Connors of Ellington, CT, stretched his point lead with his first victory of the season in the Super Late Models. Mike Scorzelli of Malta, NY, was victorious in the Late Models. Shawn Monahan of Waterford, CT, earned his third victory of the season in the Limited Sportsman division. Glenn Boss of Danielson, CT, streaked to consecutive TIS Modified victories.

Mike Horn of Ashland, MA, wired the field to score his first career Northeastern Midget Association (NEMA) in the Series’ special event. Horn made it three-wide on the opening lap to take over the top spot. Almost immediately Randy Cabral moved into the second spot. Greg Stoehr ran in the third position. Point leader Russ Stoehr, who started deep in the pack, had worked his way into the sixth position by lap five.

[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto

Continue reading ‘Career First for NEMA’s Horn; Field’s Domination Continues at Thompson; Rocco, Connors, Scorzelli, Monahan, & Boss’

CARQUEST Auto Parts and Stafford Speedway Team Up to Raise Over $44,000 for Charity with Champions for Charities Event

Published at July 7, 2011 in Stafford. 0 Comments

Stafford Springs, CT — As part of the 8th Annual CARQUEST Extreme Tuesday event at Stafford Motor Speedway, CARQUEST and Stafford teamed up to create a charity race, CARQUEST Champions For Charities. The result was a smashing success as over $44,000 was raised for the various charities that were represented by 14 open wheel champion drivers. CARQUEST and Stafford contributed $3,000 to the total with the other $41,000 plus raised through donations that were made by drivers, team members, fans, and businesses.

“We were thrilled with the response we saw for this event,” said CARQUEST VP of Marketing Rich Pallai. “Everyone really got behind it and to raise over $44,000 for charity was a great accomplishment. We’re looking forward to the 2012 edition of CARQUEST Champions For Charities and we intend to build upon the success of this year’s event.”

Special invitations were extended to 14 open wheel champions for the race and each driver selected a charity that they would be representing. Leading the way in the charity race was 2006 Stafford SK Modified® champion Frank Ruocco, who raised $18,885 for the Lustgargen Foundation to fight Pancreatic Cancer. Russ Wood was second with $5,795 raised for Racing Against Cancer, Keith Rocco raised $4,230 for the Connecticut Wishes on Wheels Program, Woody Pitkat raised $2,728 for Victory Junction Gang Camp, Richie Pallai, Jr. raised $2,425 for the Danbury Animal Welfare Socitety, Mike Stefanik raised $2,150 for the National MS Society, Stan Mertz raised $1,730 for the Connecticut Chapter of Autism Speaks, Todd Szegedy raised $1,178 for the Foundation For Life, Bobby Santos, III raised $1,067 for the USAC Benevolent Fund to benefit Eric Saunders, Ted Christopher raised $1,016 for the Connecticut Breast Health Initiative, Randy Cabral raised $937 for the Spalding Foundation, Bob Potter raised $881 for Compassion for Cats of New London County, Chris Perley raised $550 for the North Shore Arthritis Walk in honor of Katie Blouin, and Jon McKennedy raised $485 for the Relay For Life of Pelham, NH.

Continue reading ‘CARQUEST Auto Parts and Stafford Speedway Team Up to Raise Over $44,000 for Charity with Champions for Charities Event’

Stafford Speedway Returning to TV Airwaves in 2011

Published at July 7, 2011 in Stafford. 0 Comments

Stafford Springs, CT — Stafford Motor Speedway has announced that they will broadcast their SK Modified® division on the Connecticut Sports Network (CTSN) with Wide Open Wednesday. CTSN can be found on Cox cable systems channel 144 and Comcast cable systems channels 185, 187, or 744 in Connecticut. The 2011 season will mark the 11th consecutive season that Stafford Motor Speedway has had a television presence with its premier division.

“We began broadcasting our SK Modified® races on television in 2001 with the goal of providing our competitors a unique advertising tool that they could pitch to potential sponsors,” said Mark Arute, SMS CEO/GM. “This announcement with CTSN allows us to continue to offer that unique opportunity and provides our SK Modified® competitors a vehicle to showcase their driving talents and their sponsors on a weekly basis to a statewide audience in Connecticut.”

Stafford’s Wide Open Wednesday program will make its debut broadcast on Wednesday, July 13th on CTSN. The debut episode will then re-air on Saturday, July 16th at 10pm and again on Sunday, July 17th at 11am on CTSN. Each subsequent Wednesday night will feature a brand new episode at 8pm with re-air dates and times of Saturday at 10pm and Sunday at 11am. Episodes of Wide Open Wednesday will be 30 minutes in length with special 90-minute shows for the track’s Coors Light SK Modified® 100 and CARQUEST SK 150 events.

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Craftsman Mechanic of the Year 2011 Balloting Underway

Published at July 7, 2011 in NASCAR WA-AS, Stafford, Thompson and Waterford. 0 Comments

The voting process to determine the 2011 Craftsman Mechanic of the Year Award has begun. Craftsman, the Official Tools of NASCAR, is offering rewards, recognition, bonus money and guaranteed-for-life Craftsman tools to top Mechanics in the NASCAR Whelen

All-American Series as selected by their peers.

Ballots will be available at your local track or you can cast your vote on NASCARmembers.com. Your votes will determine the Craftsman Mechanic of the Year at each NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track as well as the Top Three Mechanics

in the country in the running for the National Championship.

The National Champion will be the mechanic with the most votes.

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Dimatteo wins in Legends action again; Ternullo takes Bandoleros; Brouwer back in Victory Lane for first time since 2003 while Voglesong wins in X-Cars

Published at July 7, 2011 in Waterford. 0 Comments

Waterford, CT — Waterford Speedbowl’s Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday race program was back in action Wednesday evening, completing a 6-event program in brisk order under ideal summer conditions. Dana Dimatteo continued his hot streak in Legends Cars action, winning his second race in the past five days at the track in exciting fashion. Joey Ternullo of Middletown extended his points lead in the Bandolero division by taking down another victory. In Super X-Car action veteran racer and former track champion John Brouwer Jr. of Groton won the feature. Past X-Car champion Brad Voglesong of Middletown returned to the winner’s circle for the second time of the year and Bill Reiman of Southington won the night’s Wacky Race.

The Legends Cars feature played host to a great battle for the top-five positions throughout a special 30-lapper. Carl Blandina led the opening lap before giving way to fellow veteran Tom Gray. Teenager Dave Garbo Jr. took second position over Blandina ahead of a spirited battle behind him that consisted of Ed Field plus young guns Dimatteo, Troy Talman and Angelo Belsito. Former champion Jason Palmer was slicing through the field just behind that pack, joining the mix before the race was 10 laps old.

Dimatteo was up to second place when caution waved for the second time of the race on lap-13. Belsito’s top-five run ended on the restart attempt as he spun from third position when Garbo faltered on the restart. Palmer made his way into the top-five following the ensuing restart, then tracked down Ed Field for fourth position. Palmer raced inside Field to take the spot at halfway on lap-15.