CARQUEST Champions for Charities Driver Spotlight: Chris Pasteryak
Stafford Springs, CT — Stafford Motor Speedway has again lined up an impressive field of current and former open wheel champions for its CARQUEST Champions For Charities Event as part of CARQUEST Super Saturday on June 30th. During the coming weeks, SMS will offer a profile on each of its championship winning drivers and the charity they will be racing for and this week’s CARQUEST Champions For Charities spotlight falls on 2-time Modified Racing Series Champion (2008, 2011) Chris Pasteryak, who will be racing to help support David’s House.
David's House provides a home-away-from-home and support for families with children receiving treatment through Children's Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH. David's House is the dream of a young boy named David Cyr, who passed away from leukemia in 1984 at the age of five. For three and a half years, David was treated at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover, NH. While visiting David during his hospitalizations was easy for his parents, other visitors ended up sleeping in their cars, in the waiting room, or in a chair at bedside to be close to David. Since there was no facility available for family members, David’s father Dick decided that he would start David’s House. The very first donation was $300.87 of birthday money and loose change that David had saved and David’s dream has now served over 11,000 families from all around the world since opening in 1986.
“David’s House has done a lot for the Modified Racing Series the last couple of years, so I wanted to do something to thank them for their support and help get the word out about David’s House and everything that they do,” said Pasteryak. “They supported the Ricky’s Race for Kids last year at Canaan with a $12,000 to win purse, and they were able to raise $37,000 for David’s House. We’re going to accept donations at our MRS events, but I think the best way for people to donate would be through the David’s House website. We’re looking at possibly doing an ice cream social and we’re working on some other ideas about how we can best get the word out about David’s house and raise some money for them.”
While Pasteryak is a 2-time MRS champion, when it comes to the Senior Outlaw kart that he will be driving, Pasteryak is a rookie. But while the CARQUEST Champions For Charities feature event will be his first time behind the wheel of a Senior Outlaw kart, Pasteryak does have quarter midget experience and he has experience racing on Stafford’s Mini-Mile, winning a Legends Car feature during Spring Sizzler weekend in 2001.
“I have absolutely no experience in one of these karts,” said Pasteryak. “The best show of the night might be watching to see if I can actually fit into the kart. I started out racing in quarter midgets, but I have zero kart experience. I do have some experience on the Mini Mile though, we won the Sizzler Legends car race in 2001, so hopefully I’ll remember that Legend car experience and can transfer it over to racing in the Senior Outlaw kart.”
Pasteryak was the big winner the last time the MRS visited Stafford, taking the checkered flag in the Shark Cycle 80 last September. While an issue with his spoiler cost him a possible top-5 finish in the 2012 MRS season opener, Pasteryak is looking forward to returning to Stafford as well as defending his title.
“I’m looking forward to doing our best this year to try to defend our title,” said Pasteryak. “It’s going to be tough to win the championship again, there’s a lot of strong competitors this year. We ran pretty good at Waterford, we were running second or third with about 25 laps to go and the spoiler broke. We had to come into the pits to fix the spoiler and we were able to get back up to tenth, but I think the spoiler cost us a top-5 finish. I always look forward to coming to Stafford, it’s the showplace of New England. I always enjoyed coming to Stafford as a kid to watch my Dad and my Uncle race, and hopefully we can repeat the success we had last year at Stafford and win again.”
The Shark Cycle 80 victory last season was extra special for Pasteryak, as it was the very first modified victory for his family in 35 years of racing modifieds at Stafford.
“Stafford has always been a special place for my family,” said Pasteryak. “My Uncle started racing at Stafford in 1976 and being that was the first win at Stafford for our family, it was a night that I’ll always remember. The trophy from that race stands out from all the others we have in the shop and now that I’m in the CARQUEST Champions For Charities race, I’ll be able to race at Stafford for a third time during the year. If I could, I would race at Stafford every Friday night. A weekly car is a little too much for me to take on, but if there was a ride available, I would love to race weekly at Stafford.”
The starting lineup for the CARQUEST Champions For Charities feature event will be determined by how much money each driver raises for their selected charity. The starting grid will be set with the drivers who have raised the most money starting up front. Fans are encouraged to get involved in the event by donating to their favorite driver or favorite charity. To make a donation to David’s House on behalf of Chris Pasteryak, and for more information on the event, please refer to the CARQUEST Champions for Charities donation page located at www.staffordspeedway.com. Stay tuned to www.staffordspeedway.com for more driver spotlights and exciting information regarding the CARQUEST Champions for Charities event.
CARQUEST Super Saturday will take place on Saturday, June 30, 2012 and will feature the ISMA Super Modifieds, NEMA Midgets, and Pro-4 Modifieds in addition to the Senior Outlaw Wild Thing Karts. Tickets for CARQUEST Super Saturday are on sale now at the Speedway Box Office and are priced at $33.00 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 $35.00 for all ages. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available.
For more information, or to order tickets to the 9th Annual CARQUEST Super Saturday event, 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