Northeast Mini Stock Tour to Make Stafford Speedway Debut at 2013 Carquest Tech-Net Spring Sizzler
Stafford Springs, CT — For the very first time, Stafford Motor Speedway will welcome the Northeast Mini Stock Tour Presented by Texas Roadhouse (NEMST) as part of the 42nd Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler, scheduled for April 26-28, 2013. The Northeast Mini Stock Tour was created by Bob Guptill in 2009 as a way to provide an inexpensive Touring division for competitors across New England. The Tour began with 9 cars in its very first race, and the Tour now averages over 20 cars for each of its races.
“We made a special announcement at our banquet and it was met with cheers from the crowd, so we’re all very excited about coming to Stafford,” said Guptill. “We had 9 cars for our very first race, and our car counts have grown every year since then and it continues to grow. We’ve averaged about 23 or 24 cars for our races this season and our biggest race was at Waterford, where we started 34 cars.”
The NEMST is open to 1980 to present mass produced 4 cylinder passenger cars with a minimum weight of 2,150 pounds. The Tour attracts drivers from all six New England states and Guptill says that the Tour’s rules package allows for a wide variety of cars that show up at the track.
“Our rules are pretty similar to the Thompson and Waterford Mini Stock rules,” said Guptill. “We allow some different things in the engines for longevity, and we have a good mix of guys who travel as well as home track drivers, so it makes a really good show for the fans. We allow fuel injection, so rather than a majority of Mustangs like you see at Thompson and Waterford, we have a wide variety of manufactures on the Tour. We have Hondas, Volkswagons, Toyotas, Dodges, as well as Mustangs, so there is a range of different cars for fans to identify with.”
Just as the Valenti Modified Racing Series has a unique qualifying system, the NEMST also has a unique system to qualify cars through heat races for their feature events. All cars are awarded NEMST championship points from their heat race finishes in addition to the championship points that a driver earns from their feature finish. The NEMST drivers are lined up in order heads up from their heat race finishes and the first heat race winner then picks a number out of a hat to invert between 2 and 7 rows for the feature lineup, and feature winners cannot start a race from higher than the 10th position.
“When we first started, we saw some guys taking a couple of laps in the heat race and then parking the car, so we had to figure out a way to add some excitement,” said Guptill. “Once we started awarding points, you really see the guys get after it in the heat races going for the win. That competition carries over to our feature events. Since we started in 2009, we’ve run 34 races and we’ve had 13 different winners in those races, so it’s a very competitive Tour. Everyone is real excited about coming to Stafford and we think we’ll have a very competitive race and put on a great show for the fans.”
The NEMST will run a 25-lap feature event as part of the CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler Saturday festivities, joining Stafford’s SK Lights, Limited Late Models, and DARE Stocks. Stafford’s SK Modifieds®, Late Models, and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will hit the track on Sunday for their feature races. NEMST sponsor Texas Roadhouse will be on hand during the Sizzler to give out sample bags of peanuts and they will also have a free raffle of a gift basket worth $100 full of Texas Roadhouse goodies.
For more information about the NEMST, please visit www.northeastministocktour.com. For more information on the 42nd 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