NUMBERS GAME: Mod Tour’s Signature Look
Car History As Important As The Present To The Avid Fan Base
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to Waterford Speedbowl on Connecticut's coastal shoreline in two weeks for the Mr. Rooter 161, a unique race distance on a Tour more used to traditional 100-, 150- and 200-lap distances on short tracks and speedways across the northeastern United States.
The race, billed as a “Tribute to Richie Evans” – the first Modified driver elected into the NASCAR Hall of Fame last year, gets its '61' from the iconic car number Evans tormented his competition with over a decades-long career out of his Rome, N.Y., race shop.
Numbers and stock car racing, of course, go hand-in-hand. On the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series side, there are the numbers that need no introduction. There's the 3 and the 43, digits that represent not only the drivers who piloted them but also the inherent values of the Earnhardts and Pettys whose cars they adorned – tenacity, relentlessness, a commitment to winning.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is no different, with its own signature car numbers.
“The car has such an identity to it,” said two-time Tour champion Donny Lia, who returned to the No. 4 Mystic Missile Racing Dodge for a third stint with the team this season. “It's a special feeling being the guy that gets to drive it the last few years. And it's a good feeling having (car owner Bob Garbarino) that wants me to drive it. I can't thank them enough. They're really good people and such a huge part of Modified racing.
“Things wouldn't be the same if they weren't part of the sport.”
The car boasts its classic and familiar yellow, red and black livery, a simple and timeless scheme that's easily recognizable to Modified fans everywhere. But the “Mystic Missile” has far more substance than its familiarity.
Owner Bob Garbarino has won three of the last five Modified Tour championships, and his drivers have recorded dozens of wins in his No. 4. Garbarino has been fielding Modifies since 1961, and the car has been a fixture since the Tour's inaugural season in 1985 – boasting some of the best drivers in the division's nearly three decades.
“I don't know about doing this for a legacy, no,” Garbarino said. “I'm just proud of it. It's something I do. It's something that I'm proud that I've done it. That's all. I'm excited.
“We've done it the right way, as far as I'm concerned.”
Bugsy Stevens – named one of the All-Time Top-10 Modified Drivers by NASCAR in 2003 – drove the Mystic Missile in 1985. Ed Flemke Sr., Ken Schrader, Geoff Bodine, Satch Worley and Jerry Marquis have all driven for Garbarino. Tim Connolly won nine races in a six-year span in the mid-1990s. Five of Bobby Santos' six career wins came in the No. 4, and Lia himself won the 2007 and 2009 championships in the ride.
When he shows up at the track each week, Lia said he feels like the car itself has more fans than the driver.
“All the time I think about it,” said Lia, of Jericho, N.Y., a 15-time race winner. “When we're at the race track just looking at the car, it's got such an identity. Each time I'm in it, so many people in the stands – the car has fans. Forget about the driver, they follow the car, and that's pretty damn cool.
| DONNY LIA: DRIVER PAGE |
| KEITH ROCCO: DRIVER PAGE | TWITTER |
| DONNY LIA RETURNS TO MYSTIC MISSILE |
| KEITH ROCCO JOINS FORCES WITH BRE |
| RICHIE EVANS RODE ORANGE CHARIOT |
| WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR HISTORY |
“It's definitely a humbling deal.”
Wallingford, Conn., driver Keith Rocco might be a rookie on the Whelen Modified Tour this season, but he's no stranger to Modified racing.
The 2010 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion grew up watching his father, Ronnie Rocco, compete head-to-head with drivers like Evans and Stevens. It's fitting that Keith Rocco landed his first full-time Tour ride this season in the Boehler Racing Enterprises No. 3 – another car Stevens also drove.
The car is best-known by its popular moniker “Ole Blue.” The team has been racing Modifieds since 1957 and owns six NASCAR-sanctioned Modified championships.
The team won three straight Whelen Modified Tour titles from 1994-1996, including the last two with Tony Hirschman in the seat. Hirschman, like Evans and Stevens, was also named one of the All-Time Top-10 Modified Drivers in 2003 and his 35 career victories rank third-all-time.
“As far as I'm concerned, I'm more old-school than any of these younger guys coming into this sport now,” Rocco said. “I like to think that I'm different from those guys, because I work on my own stuff, tow my own stuff and build my own stuff. That's the way the Boehlers have always done it.
“I think it's a perfect fit for me.”
Not everybody believed it was a perfect fit. In fact, Rocco said he heard from both supporters and detractors – an equal proportion on either side of the fence – that questioned his move to a BRE team that hadn't won a Tour title since Hirschman for his first full-time foray into the series.
Rocco said that only made him want the opportunity more.
“Fifty percent of the people out there said they're a great group of people with good equipment,” said Rocco, a product of Connecticut's short-track Modified ranks.
“The other half, they all said their stuff is junk. The ones that tell you you can't do it, are the ones that drive you harder.”
People are noticing Rocco's efforts, too. He's sixth in the standings after four races, having posted three Top-10 finishes.
“I don't want to sound greedy, but we can do even better. The car has a ton of potential,” Rocco said. “It's a great group of people, and everybody works well. The (team) is such a perfect match for me, it's hard to believe sometimes it's true.
“And the cool thing about this deal is the fan base you pick up just because of the car. It's really great to put the car up there (near the front) every week.”
And with perhaps the most recognizable number in Modified racing – Richie Evans' No. 61 – adorning the next stop on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, it's fitting that both the No. 3 and the No. 4 will be in the starting field at the Waterford Speedbowl.
“To me, he's a hero and a legend,” Rocco said last year when Evans was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “I know it might sound silly, but I think of myself as trying to follow something (Evans) did – where you race as much as you can, travel as much as you can, do everything you can to race and to try to win.”
Sources: Travis Barrett, Special to NASCAR Home Tracks