Nick & Joe Boivin Ready to Tackle Modified Racing at Stafford Speedway at Rookies in 2012
Stafford Springs, CT — Stafford Motor Speedway's modified rosters will have a pair of brother rookie competitors during the 2012 season. Nick Boivin will join the SK Modified® rookie class, while his younger brother, Joe, will be joining the SK Light Modified rookie class. Both Boivin brothers have been behind the wheel of racecars since a very early age and they will look to become the first brothers to each be Rookies of the Year in the same season in Stafford Speedway history.
Nick will be behind the wheel of the #11 Millrite Machine Ford in the SK Modified® division, while Joe will be piloting the #21 Ford of Northampton Ford in the SK Light ranks. Both Nick and Joe began their racing careers driving Wild Thing Karts and their career progression has brought them to Stafford Motor Speedway's modified divisions. While both Nick and Joe will be modified rookies at Stafford, Nick has an edge over Joe in the experience department as Nick raced in the SK Light and Tour-type Modified divisions at Monadnock Speedway last season before driving an SK Light at the CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend. Joe will be driving a modified for the very first time in his career.
"This will be my first time in a modified," said Joe. "I have high hopes for the SK Light division, but there is definitely going to be a learning curve for me. I've never driven a car with this much power before."
"I think I should be ok with experience," said Nick. "I'm going from a car with about 520 horsepower down to a car with about 460 horsepower, so that shouldn't be a problem. I think the biggest thing for me is going to be getting used to the competiton in the SK Modified® division and how much you can lean on other cars and how much other cars will lean on you."
While both Boivin brothers will be rookie drivers this season at Stafford, they are both well versed in winning races and championships. Joe won several races in the Mini Stock division in 2011 and he won 8 times in the Sportsman division at Monadnock in 2010, while Nick has 13 championships and nearly 100 feature victories to his name in his young racing career. But both brothers are cautious about their approach to their rookie seasons at Stafford and interestingly enough, they each have the same goal.
"My goal for the season is to stay out of wrecks and get as many top-10 finishes as I can," said Joe. "I know the SK Light field is a tough field and not having a lot of experience in that type of car or with the track is going to make it tough for me, but I'm looking forward to the season. I'm a little nervous because when you get into a wreck in a modified, it's usually not a minor wreck with the wheels out in the open. As a driver, you're always looking for a win but we've never done this before, so I don't know how long it will take for us to pick things up. But you can only win Rookie of the Year once and we'd definitely like to do that."
"My first goal is to finish races," said Nick. "We feel like we have good enough equipment and a good enough team to go for Rookie of the Year. Winning races and the championship are unrealistic goals, so we're just looking to get some top-10 finishes, accumulate points, and hopefully we can win Rookie of the Year."
While Joe will be driving the same car that Nick drove at the CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend, he says that any notes might not be of help in determining a setup as he has a different driving style than his brother.
"I'll have the same car, but we have different driving styles," said Joe. "I think that having a baseline setup will help initially, Nick likes a loose car where I like the car to be a pinch tight, so a setup that works for me might not be the same as Nick had when he drove the car."
And where Nick has plenty of Modified experience under his belt as he approaches his rookie season, he says that the difference between Stafford and Monadnock will take some getting used to.
"This will be my first time driving on the big track at Stafford," said Nick. "At the Fall Final, it took me a couple of practice runs to figure out a line to run. I was used to diving into the corner and hitting the brakes and then getting back on the gas, so I was expecting to be able to go into the corners high and then dive down to the bottom, but I found out quickly that didn't work. I was surprised at how low you had to be in turn 1 to get the car to work. We were pretty good in turns 3 and 4, so I think if we can get turns 1+2 figured out, we should have a pretty fast car. It's a new car and a new team, but we'll have help from Kenny Barry from Spafco, so our hopes are high and with everyone's support we're hoping to have a great rookie season."
While Nick may have an experience advantage over his brother, Joe has the market on nicknames cornered.
"When I was younger in go karts, I would fall asleep in the car and my parents would wake me up for the feature and then I would fall asleep in the car after the race was over, so my dad started calling me Sleepy Joe," said Joe. "As I got older, I was concentrating more on what I needed to do and I don't fall asleep in the car any more."
The Boivin brothers will be wide awake and ready to hit the track running when the 2012 season kicks off with the 41st Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler on April 27-29. Tickets for the CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler are available and on sale now through the SMS Box Office. Tickets are priced at $38.50 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 will be priced at $42.00 for all ages. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available.
For more information on the 41st Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler, 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