Stafford on Tap for NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour
Gardiner, ME — Stafford Motor Speedway runs four NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour events per year – each with its own significance. But the eighth annual Stafford 150, scheduled for Friday, August 29, is probably most significant because of the race that follows it.
This race will serve as the final tune-up for one of the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour’s most prestigious events – the Stafford 300, and in addition to the immediate rewards that a good performance will provide, a team can come away from the Stafford 150 with a measure of confidence to carry into the Stafford 300.
The Stafford 150 should not, however, be written off simply as an R&D event for the Stafford 300. There is too much at stake to treat any NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour event lightly, and after all, a win at Modified Mecca Stafford is a significant addition to any driver’s resume.
Mike Stefanik of Coventry, R.I. is a man on a mission – one goal being to win his third NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour title. But, he is being chased by a number of drivers who are all interested in seeing that he doesn’t accomplish that goal.
One driver, Tim Connolly of Endicott, N.Y. has served notice that he and car owner Bob Garbarino have begun to click, and he presents one of the strongest challenges to Stefanik at Stafford – Garbarino’s home track.
Although Stefanik has won the two events run at Stafford so far this year, it was Connolly who put a halt to Stefanik’s streak of six wins in six starts.
In addition to Connolly, drivers such as Rick Fuller of Auburn, Mass., and Mike Ewanitsko of N. Babylon, N.Y. have also picked up multiple wins this year, and all are doing their best to unseat Stefanik from the top spot in the championship points battle.
Interestingly, Connolly, Ewanitsko and Fuller have each had Stefanik in hot pursuit in one of their victories this year while Ewanitsko was the only one of the trio to chase Stefanik to one of his checkered flags.
Factor in the drivers who usually score a win or two, but haven’t so far this year, and you’ve got the makings of an anything goes, no holds barred event that promises to keep the fans on the edge of their seats.
The Stafford 150 is race number 18 on the 23 event schedule. There is still a lot of racing to go, but drivers and teams know that things will start to tighten up.
And, time is quickly running out for drivers to log a Stafford win on their 1997 statistics.
Sources: NASCAR PR