Rocco Doubling Up on Wins
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division II-V Update
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Keith Rocco is no stranger to Victory Lane. Nor competing for NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championships.
The Meriden, Conn., driver, however, is chasing a rare double. Currently third in the Division I national standings driving his SK Modified Division car at three Connecticut short tracks, Rocco is also second in the Division II national standings thanks to success in his Late Model.
Rocco has picked up eight wins, 12 top fives and 12 top 10s in 14 starts in his Late Model at Thompson Speedway Motorsport Park and Waterford Speedbowl. That is in addition to his six wins in 16 starts in his SK Modified.
Three times – including this past Saturday at Waterford – Rocco has visited Victory Lane in both divisions in the same night.
“It’s pretty cool,” Rocco said. “It definitely makes all the work worthwhile. It makes the weekend a lot better, too. And come Monday, you have a lot less to do in the shop when you’ve got two wins.”
Rocco has 316 points, trailing only Jared Umbenhauer, who races at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania. Umbenhauer has five wins and nine top fives in nine starts for 331 points. He finished third in the Sportsman Division feature at Grandview Saturday.
The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division II-V Championship program determines support division national championships. In each division, dirt and asphalt tracks are combined in point standings. The four national champions will receive a trophy and a trip to the series national awards event. In addition, the top-three dirt and top-three asphalt drivers will be invited to the series awards event.
The top five NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Championship Division II-V leaders this week include:
• Division II: 1. Jared Umbenhauer, Grandview Speedway, Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania; 2. Keith Rocco, Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl, Thompson (Conn.) Speedway Motorsports Park; 3. Ryan Robertson, Bowman Gray Stadium, Winston-Salem, N.C.; 4. Brett Kressley, Grandview; 5. Derek Stoltz, Bowman Gray.
• Division III: 1. Jerod Weston, I-80 Speedway, Greenwood, Neb., Adams County Speedway, Corning, Iowa; 2. John Ketron, Kingsport (Tenn.) Speedway, Lonesome Pine Raceway, Coeburn, Va.; 3. Josh Sink, Adams County, I-80; 4. Blain Petersen, I-80, Adams County; 5. Jason Ketron, Lonesome Pine, Kingsport.
• Division IV: 1. Brad Derry, Adams County, I-80;2. Jeremy Menninger, Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway; 3. Dave Trudeau, Waterford, Thompson; 4. Corey Kyer, Columbus; 5. Jimmy McElfresh, Columbus, Kil-Kare Raceway, Xenia, Ohio.
• Division V: 1. Brian King, Anderson (S.C.) Motor Speedway, Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway; 2. Donavan Beacham, Anderson, Greenville; 3. Chris Harvell, Greenville, Anderson; 4. C.J. Huitt Jr., Greenville, Anderson; 5. Don Tavernia, Anderson, Greenville.
Rocco has finished in the top four in Division I in each of the last seven seasons. Last year was the first full seasons he ran both divisions, finishing fourth in Division I and 27th in Divison II/Asphalt under the former Finalist Program.
Rocco first started racing for car owner Scott Fearn when a friend of Rocco’s mentioned he knew a guy looking to run a street stock indoors on dirt. Fearn had a Late Model he was looking to sell, and Rocco jumped into it and in the first race out he started last and finished second. Of course, that prompted somebody to buy the Late Model.
A couple years ago, Fearn purchased another Late Model and Rocco began to drive it in addition to his regular SK Modified duties. Despite the vast difference between driving the open-wheel, built motor Modified on large Hoosier tires versus the full-fendered, crate motor Late Model on smaller American Racer tires, Rocco said he has no problem jumping back and forth.
“When you race as much as I do, you pretty much know what you’ve got to do,” Rocco said.
That showed on May 3, when he destroyed his SK Modified in a heat race at Waterford. While his father-in-law went back to the house to get the back-up, Rocco went out and won the Late Model feature. The back-up arrived in time, and Rocco won in that, too.
Rocco has another big reason to be all smiles this season. He and his wife Cassie had a baby boy, KJ, who will be almost six months.
“It’s awesome,” Rocco said. “When you get home, it makes you forget about all the other stuff that was going on during the day.”
Of course, he added, “the best is taking him to Victory Lane with you to get your picture taken.”
Running two divisions, he’s had plenty of opportunities to do just that this year.
Under the NASCAR point structure in Divisions I-V, drivers receive two points for every car they finish ahead of in an event, up to 18 cars. Three bonus points will be awarded to a race winner with a single-digit starting position and five bonus points will be awarded to a race winner with a double-digit starting position. At season’s end, drivers in Divisions II-V will be ranked by their best 14 NASCAR point race results. The season concludes September 21.
Drivers must be NASCAR-licensed and cars will be verified for display of required series sponsor decals to be eligible for NASCAR points and awards.
Sources: Jason Christley/NASCAR PR