Joe Allegro, Jr. Takes Unusual Path to 2008 SK Light Modified Track Championship at Stafford Motor Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — In only his second season of racing at Stafford Motor Speedway, Joe Allegro, Jr. took home the 2008 SK Light Modified track championship in the tightest points race of the 2008 Stafford season. While Allegro and his Parker Street Used Auto Parts team will celebrate as champions, the road they took to the championship was most certainly a path less traveled.
Allegro began the 2008 season with a last place finish at the Spring Sizzler, putting him in a deep hole at the outset of the year. Two more subpar finishes over the next three races left Allegro 86 points behind the championship leader. It is often said that the mark of a champion is consistency, and a second place finish in the fifth race of the 2008 season is where the consistency began to come into play.
Allegro would not finish lower than 10th place over the final 14 races and he slowly but surely began to close the gap to the top of the points standings. Allegro did not get to the points lead until the final Friday night race, taking a 4-point lead into the season ending CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend, where there would be three other drivers along with Allegro eligible to win the championship. Each of Allegro’s championship rivals encountered problems during the race while Allegro drove to a third place finish to lock up the championship.
“This was a dream come true for me,” said Allegro. “I used to come to Stafford and sit in the stands and dream about winning a race here and now I’m a champion, it means quite a bit to me.”
Allegro’s championship effort was almost derailed during the September 5th event as a hard crash into the wall as the field was taking the checkered flag left his car severely damaged.
“We had a lot of help from our sponsors, Parker Street Auto Parts and Fredericks Autoworks, to get the car back together,” said Allegro. “We work on the Chase Motorsports Whelen Modified Tour team, and some of those guys came down to the shop to help us put the car back together. We had several offers from teams offering to let us borrow a ride, but we wanted to put our car back together. We didn’t get the car back to the shop until Wednesday and we worked all day and night Thursday on putting the car back together and we didn’t get finished until 7:30 Friday morning. It was a big team effort to get the car back to the track.”
Another quirk to Allegro’s championship season was that the team was shut-out from reaching CARQUEST Victory Lane.
“About halfway through the year, it started to bug us that we hadn’t won yet,” said Allegro. “I’ve won at least one race every year since I started racing, so this year we didn’t win any of the battles, but we won the war!”
Allegro will officially be crowned the 2008 SK Light Modified track champion at the 39th Stafford Motor Speedway Champions Awards Ceremony on Friday, November 14, 2008 at the La Renaissance Banquet Facility in East Windsor.
For more information about the Champions Awards Ceremony, 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