Paradiso-Muska Shoot-Out to Feature The Best of Stafford’s DARE Stock Division at CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend
Stafford Springs, CT — As part of the 39th Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend festivities at Stafford Motor Speedway this weekend, the DARE Stock division will partake in the 15th Annual Paradiso-Muska DARE Stock Shoot-Out. The Paradiso-Muska DARE Stock Shoot-Out pits the 2011 DARE Stock feature winners as well as several wild card drivers against each other in an all-star 8-lap dash. The race winner will take home double what the normal DARE Stock winners’ share is, and with the big money, short lap format, the Paradiso-Muska Shoot-Out is the premier DARE Stock race of the season.
In 14 races since the Inaugural Paradiso-Muska Shoot-Out in 1997, there has been 13 different winners with Scott Hitchcock the only driver who has won the race twice. Cliff Saunders is the defending champion of the Paradiso-Muska Shoot-Out, and coming off a win in the Sept. 16 Final Friday Night Shoot-Out, Saunders is looking forward to trying to join Hitchcock as the only multiple winners of the Paradiso-Muska Shoot-Out.
“The Paradiso-Muska Shoot-Out is a pretty cool race with all of the feature winners from the season,” said Saunders. “It’s the best DARE Stock drivers from the season, and to hold off guys like Don and Josh Wood and Kyle Casagrande last year was a pretty cool race for me to win. My car seems to be better on the short runs, and we didn’t make any changes to the car last year, so our plan is to leave the car as it is and try to win the race again.”
This year’s Paradiso-Muska Shoot-Out field is comprised of feature winners Kyle Casagrande and Josh Wood with 5 wins, Don Wood with 4 wins, Cliff Saunders with 2 wins, and Andrew Hayes and Albert Saunders with one win each. Wild card entrants for the race include Kris Fluckiger, Kaitlyn Brice, 2006 Paradiso-Muska Shoot-Out champion Vince Gambacorta, Andy Marchese, Austin Bessette, David Arute, and James Carroll for a starting field of 13 cars. Should a non-wildcard entrant win the 15-lap DARE Stock feature during CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend, they will be added to the Paradiso-Muska Shoot-Out lineup.
The 39th Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend kicks off on Friday, Sept. 30 with pit gates opening at 12:00pm with a practice session running from 2:00pm to 6:30pm for Stafford’s weekly divisions. The General Admission grandstands will be open to the public at no charge for the practice session. The G.A. Grandstands will open at 2pm.
Action continues on Saturday, Oct. 1 with Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the Whelen Modified Tour cars at 2:15pm, followed by heat and consolation races for Stafford’s weekly divisions. Saturday’s events wrap up with feature events for Stafford’s SK Light Modified, Limited Late Model, and DARE Stock divisions. The 15th Annual Paradiso-Muska Shoot-Out will be the final event of the day and bring Saturday’s CARQUEST Fall Final activities to a close.
The CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend continues on Sunday, Oct. 2 with the famous Stafford CARQUEST Belts & Hose Pit Party kicking off the day’s activities from 11:00am to 12:00pm, with the final SK Modified® and Late Model feature events of 2011 being accompanied by the Whelen Modified Tour 150-lap CARQUEST Fall Final.
Tickets for the CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend are available and on sale now at the Stafford Motor Speedway Box Office. Tickets are priced at $35.00 for adult General Admission, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 & under are free. Reserved seating is $38.00 for all ages. All tickets cover both Saturday and Sunday admission to the Fall Final. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available. Tickets can be ordered by calling the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783.
For more information, or to order tickets, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
Sources: Scott Running/Stafford Motor Speedway PR