John Montesanto Returns to Stafford’s SK Light Modified Divison
Stafford Springs, CT — Stafford Motor Speedway’s SK Light Modified division will add another new car to its roster for the 2009 season, but with a hitch; the new driver won’t be a rookie. John Montesanto, who drove Late Models at Stafford in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, will return to the Connecticut half-mile after a nearly 20-year layoff to try his luck in the SK Light Modified division.
“Some friends of mine and I decided that we needed to add some excitement to our lives on Friday nights,” said Montesanto. “I began racing Late Models at Riverside and I’ve also raced at Waterford and Stafford. I’ve always wanted to race a modified at Stafford, so after almost 20 years off we’re going racing again. With the cost effectiveness of the SK Light package, we decided that the time was right for us to finally jump into modified racing.”
Montesanto and his team visited Stafford throughout the 2008 season to gauge their competition while searching for a car, which turned out to be a more difficult proposition then they bargained for. They finally struck a deal with Gary Bienkowski, who has campaigned the #38 car in the SK Light Modified division the last two seasons with George Nocera, Jr. behind the wheel. The #38 car finished 6th in points during the 2007 season and Nocera had three podium finishes in the early stages of the 2008 season before a crash ended their season midway through the year.
“We went to the track quite often last season to check out the competition,” said Montesanto. “We were also looking at several different modifieds throughout the year that were for sale, but every car we went to look at ended up getting sold to someone else. We’ve been working on a deal with Gary for a while now to purchase his car and we are anxious to get into the car and go racing this year.”
Montesanto enters the 2009 season in a unique position. Montesanto has previous experience at Stafford to fall back on, but in a full fendered car and not an open-wheeled modified car. Despite the lack of track experience, Montesanto feels he and his team will be ready when the 2009 season kicks off.
“We’ve talked with a few people in the division, and they’ve given us the ins and outs of running the SK Light car,” said Montesanto. “We’d like to win a race this year for sure, but that is everyone’s goal. I think if we can qualify for every show and finish the season in the top-10, that would be a great season. We feel like we have a good starting point with the car for the beginning of the season and that we can catch on pretty quick as we go along. We can’t wait to get started!”
Montesanto and his team will make their SK Light Modified debut at the 38th Annual Tech-Net Spring Sizzler, scheduled for April 24th through April 26th. Tickets for “The Greatest Race in the History of Spring” are now on sale at the Stafford Motor Speedway box office. Tickets are priced at $35.00 for adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, $38.00 for reserved seats, and free for children ages 5 & under. Tickets are good for admission to the Saturday April 25, and Sunday, April 26 portions of the Tech-Net Spring Sizzler, with the Friday, April 24 practice session open to the public free of charge.
For more information, 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