NEMA’s Greg Stoehr Going To Get Technical
Brockton, MA – Hinting he’s “getting smarter as well as older,” Northeastern Midget Association veteran Greg Stoehr plans on paying more attention this season.
“I’ve always been an old school seat of the pants racer,” says Stoehr, driver of his own Mazda-powered #26. “This year I’m going to get a little more technical; I’m going to keep better records, think more about set ups.
NEMA’s next stop will be Saturday May 29 at Monadnock, a track that favors “the old school driver,” a place “where you get no rest, where you’re up on the wheel all the time.”
Greg, 46, and older brother Russ, who drives for the late Gene Angelillo’s Dumo’s Desire team, are one of NEMA’s all-time top brother acts with 49 victories. They are third generation racers following Grandfather Bill and father Paul.
“I remember at eight or nine hanging around outside the pits at Westboro watching my father,” he says.
Admitting to being his brother’s biggest cheerleader (“He’s 100 percent more driver than I am”), Greg Stoehr is nonetheless a strong contender for 2010 NEMA honors. He’s part of a group that includes, in addition to his brother, two-time defending champion Randy Cabral, Erica Santos, Adam Cantor and youngsters Chris Leonard, the opening day winner Chris DeRitis, and Jesse State.
“I’m looking for more consistency,” he says. “I can run fast, set fast time at a lot of tracks then fall short in the 25-lap feature. I know we have a better package than I’ve shown.”
While “there are no secrets or sibling rivalry” between the brothers (they’re business partners), “whoever is fastest” is going to win the race.
This will be Stoehr’s fifth season since coming back from nine years away. His racing divides on either side of daughters Kathryn and Bethany, 15 and 16 respectively. He actually quit following their birth and then returned when they began racing Go Karts. They continue to race Monday nights at Stafford Speedway.
He has won three times in the past three years at Monadnock including last year’s Marilyn’s Passion. There have been four wins since his return, all powered by the Circle Performance Mazda.
The daughters are, in fact, his crew. “I couldn’t do it without them,” he says. “Gear changes, springs, tires, set ups, they do it all.”
He can’t resist boasting about the Mazda, pointing out the “passenger car motor” now has three years on it without a rebuild. “All we do is change the oil and we have not had a mechanical breakdown.”
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEMA PR