Change of Plans Has Don Wood in Contention for DARE Stock Championship at Stafford Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — After winning the 2009 DARE Stock track championship, Don Wood ran the first half of the 2010 season and won 2 races before handing the keys to his car over to David and Paul Arute for the second half of the year. The plan was the same for the 2011 season, as Wood was going to run the first half of the year and then hand the car over to Stephanie Berardi and Charlie Newman. But Wood again had 2 wins and was leading the points at the midway point of the season, so the team made the decision to keep Wood in the car and race for the track championship.
“Originally the plan was to have me drive the first half of the season and then Stephanie [Berardi] was going to drive the second half of the year and then that changed to Charlie Newman,” said Wood. “We were in the points lead and we had a couple of wins at the halfway point, so [car owner] John Berardi and the crew asked me to keep driving the car for the remainder of the season and it was hard for me to say no. I definitely don’t want to let them down and I want to be able to win this championship for them.”
The 2011 season has been mostly smooth sailing for Wood and the #64 R.A.D. Automachine team. Through the first 15 races of the season, Wood finished in a podium position 11 times with 4 wins to put him solidly at the top of the DARE Stock points standings. But a crash that happened in front of him last Friday night left his car with sheet metal hanging from the car and he finished 18th while his chief rival for the championship, Andrew Hayes, finished 9th to cut Wood’s point lead down to 8 points heading into the final 3 races of the 2011 season, which is only 4 positions on the race track.
“Last week was just part of the deal, you have to take the good with the bad,” said Wood. “Hopefully our bad luck is behind us now. My strategy is to just go out and have fun, and if things unfold in my direction, great, and if they don’t, then that will be ok too. When I won the championship I didn’t do anything differently and we’re not going to change anything now. Andrew has been right behind us all year long, and consistency is what it takes to win a championship. We try to go week to week and if we can finish on the podium, then that is great. Our car isn’t always the fastest car, but the car is fast every week and I feel like we have one more win in the car for these last three races.”
In addition to contending for his second DARE Stock track championship, Wood also hit a milestone earlier this season when he collected his 11th career DARE Stock feature victory, which put him ahead of Stacey Botticello and Norm Sears for the most career DARE Stock victories. Wood’s win total was matched last Friday night by Kyle Casagrande, but the win mark was something that Wood had in his sights.
“It was a goal of mine to get to 11 wins,” said Wood. “Kyle [Casagrande] tied us last Friday night, but we were able to get there first and that is something that we’re real proud of.”
Another factor that Wood will have to overcome in the race for the championship is that his engine shop, R.A.D. Automachine, builds engines for Hayes, Cliff Saunders, and his son Josh, who are all trying to chase Wood down in the points race.
“It’s maybe a little weird racing against our engines, but we give everyone a fair shake and we would never do anything that would jeopardize our business,” said Wood. “We weren’t looking at winning the championship because the plan was to do only the first half of the season, so anything that happens from here on out is a bonus for us. If I can’t win the championship this season, I would be more than happy to see any one of the next four guys in the points win since those are our engines. But I want to win the championship for everyone on the crew, John, Donna, Stephanie, Jim, Dave, and Ray and our sponsors, R.A.D. Automachine, Berardi Transmissions, and the Berardi Family.”
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