Stone Tops Whelen All-American Rookies
Devil’s Bowl Driver Has “Best Year Ever”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Rookie seasons can be rocky, but Todd Stone shined and earned top NASCAR Whelen All-American Series rookie honors for 2013.
Stone, 45, of Middlebury, Vt., won the series’ national Rookie of the Year Award presented by Jostens while ranking 30th in the national point standings. In the process, he also collected Vermont’s NASCAR championship and the modified division track title at Devil’s Bowl Speedway, a half-mile paved oval in West Haven.
He won the prestigious award by outdistancing Bobby McCarty, 21 of Summerfield, N.C., who races his asphalt late model at South Boston (Va.) Speedway. McCarty finished second in South Boston track points this year behind NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion Lee Pulliam. Cole Williams, 17, of Sellersburg, Ind., placed third in national rookie standings. Williams competes in the late model division at Lebanon (Mo.) I-44 Speedway where, like Stone, he won his first track and state NASCAR championships.
Stone is a 25-year veteran of short-track racing, but 2013 was his first in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series. Over the course of his 17 starts this season, he picked up 10 wins, 14 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes. Dirt-style modifieds – the feature division on the Devil’s Bowl asphalt oval – ride on grooved hard-compound dirt-track racing tires.
“This is the best year ever,” Stone said. “The local paper called it a dream season. I’ve been waiting a long time to have a year like this. We worked hard for years to have a chance at a season like this.”
Rookie of the year honors are determined among first-year NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division I license holders.
“I think it’s an honor to race at a NASCAR-sanctioned track,” Stone said. “NASCAR is a big name and it’s neat to be part of something like that.”
Stone will be among those honored at the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Awards on Friday, Dec. 13 at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C. Also honored will be the 2013 national champion, as well as, track champions from 55 tracks across the United States and Canada, state and province champions, and other top competitors.
Even though Stone is an owner-driver, his father, Gardner Stone, is vital to the team’s success. The senior Stone is president of G. Stone Motors, a Ford and GMC dealership in Middlebury where the driver is vice president. In March, the dealership and the Stone family were the subject of an eight-episode reality series on the Game Show Network’s “Family Trade.” The dealership is known for accepting unusual trade-in items such as coffins, a hot-air balloon and livestock. Gardner Stone recently retired from short-track racing and was also a five-time Grand National Pulling Tractor champion.
Stone began his racing career 25 years ago at Devil’s Bowl, then a dirt track, driving a four-cylinder Ford Pinto in which he scored one win and the division’s rookie-of-the-year award. The following year he was top rookie in the dirt late model division at the track. He had a chance at the track championship in his second late model season, but missed a race late in the season to attend a friend’s wedding. Two years later, he moved up to the featured modified division and won his third divisional rookie-of-the-year award at the track.
He then moved on to drive asphalt late models in the American-Canadian Tour where he won his share of races and was a championship contender. He later returned to dirt Modified racing at Devil’s Bowl and nearby Airborne Park Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y. Stone won the dirt-track championship at Devil’s Bowl in 2008, and won the last race on its old dirt surface in 2009. He stayed with dirt track racing until last year when he returned to modified racing on asphalt at Airborne and won the track championship. This year, he was the division champion at both Devil’s Bowl and Airborne.
“I knew coming into this season that we had a pretty good car, but I didn’t expect to win 10 races,” said Stone. “(Top performers) start at the back and you’ve got to get by a lot of cars to get to the front in 35 laps. The crew puts a good car under me every week.”
Jeff Carter is Stone’s longtime crew chief. Team members include Rob Lowell, Wade Provencher and Corrie Whallan. The Devil’s Bowl car is based on a Teo chassis and powered by a GM crate engine. Sponsors include G. Stone Motors and a sister company, G. Stone Commercial.
Stone and his wife, Stacey, have three children.
The well-traveled driver believes the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and Devil’s Bowl Speedway are a perfect fit.
“I rate Devil’s Bowl Speedway highly,” Stone said. “It’s well promoted and it’s an impressive facility. They keep it clean and nice. The people who own it really care about it. It’s the kind of place NASCAR should be very proud of.
Completing its 32nd season, the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series is NASCAR’s national championship program for weekly short-track auto racing. There are 55 sanctioned tracks throughout the United States and Canada that participate.
A NASCAR Division I driver’s best 18 results through the Sept. 15 closing date counted toward their state and national point totals and the champions are decided on overall point total.
Under the point structure for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, a race winner receives two points for every car in the event up to 20 cars. Second place receives two fewer points and so on through the field. Race winners receive an additional five points. For example, if 20 cars are in the field, the winner receives 45 points, second place 38 and third 36. If there are 15 cars, the winner receives 35 points, second 28 and third, 26.
Track operators also designate support classes as NASCAR Divisions II-V and drivers in those divisions compete for points in the NASCAR Finalist program. The program brings added recognition to support division drivers. Points are kept separately for asphalt and dirt tracks.
WHELEN ALL-AMERICAN SERIES STATE/PROVINCE ROOKIES OF THE YEAR
State/Province Driver Track Starts Wins Top 5s Top 10s Points
Alberta Ryan Knowles Edmonton International 5 0 5 5 26
California Sheldon Didinger All American 26 0 10 20 308
Colorado Monty Skinner Colorado National 4 0 0 0 24
Connecticut Joey Cipriano III Stafford 12 0 2 10 294
Florida Anthony Sergi New Smyrna 19 1 8 13 259
Idaho James Hall Magic Valley 20 3 13 20 175
Illinois Joel Clossey Rockford 16 0 2 15 122
Iowa Brian Kosiski Junction 1 0 0 1 14
Louisiana Alex Scribner Revolution 7 0 6 7 50
Maine Nicholas Cusack Beech Ridge 14 0 0 5 262
Michigan Matt Frazier Kalamazoo 12 0 0 4 122
Minnesota Mark Hawes Raceway Park 16 0 8 14 306
Missouri Cole Williams Lebanon I-44 18 6 16 18 446
Nebraska Brian Kosiski Junction 25 0 8 14 306
New Hampshire Jake Stergios Lee USA 15 1 10 14 259
New York Frank Morich Chemung 19 0 0 8 246
North Carolina Shane Lee Hickory 20 2 12 18 408
Ohio Daryl McKay Columbus 19 0 5 15 388
Oklahoma Grady Smith Salina 4 0 2 4 70
Ontario Leonard Johnston Barrie 32 2 14 25 384
Pennsylvania Frank Cozze Grandview 22 1 5 8 431
South Carolina Ryan Walker Greenville Pickens 20 0 7 18 292
Tennessee Tyler Goodwin Kingsport 21 0 1 11 376
Texas Michael Kourkoubes Houston 19 0 9 13 314
Vermont* Todd Stone Devil’s Bowl 17 10 14 16 572
Virgina Bobby McCarty South Boston 23 0 10 18 510
Washington Jason Kody Evergreen 3 0 2 2 48
Wisconsin Matt Inglett LaCrosse 14 0 0 3 148
Pos. Name Track(s)
1 Todd Stone Devil’s Bowl
2 Bobby McCarty South Boston, Motor Mile, Caraway
3 Cole Williams Lebanon
4 Matt Wallace Lebanon
5 Frank Cozze Grandview
6 Shane Lee Hickory
7 Daryl McKay Kil-Kare, Columbus
8 Leonard Johnston Barrie
9 JC Newell Lebanon
10 Tyler Goodwin Kingsport
Sources: Paul Schaefer/NASCAR PR