PASS South Driver Jay Fogleman Looking Forward To Making Stafford Debut In Pass National Championship Event
Stafford Springs, CT — The Pro All-Star Series (PASS) cars make their Stafford debut on Sunday, August 26th, as part of the PASS National Championship Series, open to both PASS North and PASS South drivers. The Stafford PASS 125 will be the second race of a 7 race series that will determine a PASS National Champion. PASS South driver Jay Fogleman will make the tow up from Durham, NC to try his hand against the PASS North drivers at Stafford. Although the PASS 125 will be Fogleman’s first ever race at Stafford, he is looking forward to the challenge of seeing a track for the very first time.
“I always look forward to going somewhere new, and the fan base in the north for short track racing seems to be more exciting than anywhere else,” said Fogleman. “I remember racing Late Models at Martinsville when they had the Late Models and Modifieds and Stafford was always a big name in modified racing. Stafford is one of the tracks that I’ve never raced at before, so I’m really looking forward to going there.”
Normally Fogleman is a bit behind the PASS North regulars when he makes the trek north for a race. Yet he is excited about his chances in the Stafford race because he has the same lack of experience that most of the northern drivers have.
“I’m real excited about it because it puts me on a more even playing field since most of the northern guys have never raced at Stafford either,” said Fogleman. “Normally when we come up north, it’s to a track like White Mountain or Beech Ridge, and most of the guys race there every week or grew up racing there, so we’re usually at a bit of a disadvantage. I feel like we have a better shot at Stafford than any other track up north since everybody is on the same deal going there for the first time. There’s a good group of guys up north. Guys like Cassius Clark, Ben Rowe, Johnny Clark, and some of the newer guys, they’re real decent guys to race with. They’ll race you hard, but they’ll race you like you race them. This is a one-day show, so that should make it more exciting. In the south, we usually have an open day of practice the day before the race so we have a bit more time. I’m usually better right off the truck, so I’m good with a one day show.”
Fogleman is taking extra steps to come up with information beforehand in order to develop a decent setup that he can work with once practice gets underway. Fogleman has also leaned on a source that has an extensive background at Stafford.
“We have a baseline we work off of and we’ve been tour racing since 1989-1990, we’ve never really ran the same track for points, so I think maybe we’re a little bit better prepared than most with the setup,” said Fogleman. “We’ll make some calls and look at some aerial photos and anything else we can find out about the track that might give us an advantage. We’ll have the car extremely adjustable since we don’t get a lot of practice, get it the best we can, and then it’s up to me. That practice will be huge because everyone will be in the same situation. If you miss on something simple like the gear, you’ll lose 15 or 20 minutes changing that out, so that makes it extremely critical to get as much done as you can. I think that’s what we do well in that we’re prepared for change when we get to the track. We come up with two or three different scenarios that we work off of to get the car good. Usually with these races, no one gets the car perfect so it’s almost the best of the worst that ends up winning the race. I talked with Phil Moran [crew chief for Todd Szegedy] and he gave me some really good pointers and directions to go in with the car, which will probably save me some time on making changes. I’m trying to do all the research I can instead of just showing up and hoping for the best. Phil has raced in the South with the modifieds, so we kind of talked about some tracks that were similar to Stafford and I think I have a good idea of where I need to start with the car.”
The Inaugural PASS event at Stafford will consist of the PASS Super Late Models in a 125-lap race, the PASS Sportsmans and Stafford Limited Late Models in a 60-lap race, the PASS Modifieds in a 40-lap race, the 602 Dirt Sportsman Modifieds in a 40-lap feature, and the N.E. Truck Series in a 30-lap race.
Tickets for the Inaugural PASS event are available and on sale now at the Speedway Box Office. Tickets are priced at $27.50 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 $30.00 for all ages. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax. 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