Stafford Native J.J. Hill Looking for Big Things in Stafford Speedway’s Late Model Divison
Stafford Springs, CT — With the 2011 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season set to kick off in a little more than a month’s time, Stafford Springs native J.J. Hill is excited about his chances in Stafford’s Late Model division. Last season saw Hill capture his first career victory in the most prestigious race of the season, the Late Model 100, and Hill is looking to use that win as the building foundation for a run at a top-5 finish in the Late Model points standings with the #41 Life Care Family Chiropractic team.
“We’re working our way towards winning more than one race and running up front every week,” said Hill. “We want to be higher in points this year, but our main goal is to be consistent. There’s no reason why we can’t run in the top-5 every week. They always say that the first win is the hardest one and once you get that first one, they start coming after that, so hopefully we can do that and get a couple of wins this year. Our main focus is to finish in the top-5 in the points and if we can do that, it wouldn’t matter if we win or not. We should definitely be improved from where we were last year.”
The road to CARQUEST Victory Lane was a long and oftentimes uphill battle for Hill and the #41 team. Hill began his Late Model career in 2005 with a rough season that saw him not qualify 6 times and a 27th place finish in the points standings. Hill’s next three seasons were a combination of struggles and tough luck that saw him finish 26th in the points standings each year with one top-10 finish. But Hill had a breakout season in 2009, taking 5 top-10 and 10 top-10 finishes to wind up 7th in the points standings. Although he slipped down to 12th in the points last year, Hill took his first victory along with 4 more top-5 and 6 top-10 finishes.
“After 5 years of racing, you start to wonder if you can win or not,” said Hill. “The win really didn’t sink in for us until the end of the season. Now we know we did it once, so why can’t we go out there and do it again? Last year we started off the season around 20th in points after the first couple of races, so it was a nice climb back up in the standings for us.”
Another reason Hill has optimism for the 2011 season is the addition of Rob Russell as a team and chassis consultant.
“This will be our second season working with Rob,” said Hill. “Having Rob helping us last year got us turned around 180 degrees from where we were. Having Rob help us out gets everyone involved and excited about working on the car. Rob is like the heart of our team he gets everyone pumping. We started working on the car the week after the Fall Final. We stripped the car down and we decided to start from scratch. We improved some parts and pieces on the car and we still have some older stuff on the car. Rob really gives us a lot of knowledge and we’re all excited about getting back on the track with how we started to run more consistent at the end of last year. The whole team is much more confident than we were at this time last year.”
Hill will carry sponsorship from Life Care Family Chiropractic this season in his quest to make the top-5 in the final points standings, and like most other teams, he is searching for additional sponsorship.
“We have Life Care Family Chiropractic on the car and we’re looking for additional sponsors,” said Hill. “Life Care is a great sponsor to have, they’re big fans of racing and they’ve been helping us out all winter long with the car. If we can’t find more sponsors before the season starts, hopefully we can run well enough that we will attract some sponsors. We’re going to have a little different look to the car for this year, we’re changing up the paint to make it easier to pick out of a crowd. We can’t wait to get back out on the track and try to win some races.”
The 2011 Late Model season kicks off with the 40th Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler, scheduled for April 29-May 1. The Whelen Modified Tour will headline the Sizzler with Stafford’s five NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions joining them on the card. Tickets for the “Greatest Race in the History of Spring” are on sale now at the Speedway Box Office. Tickets are priced at $35.00 for adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 and under are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult. Reserved seating is priced at $38.00 for all ages. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available.
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