Chase Dowling Takes Home 2013 SPAFCO SK Light Modified Rookie of the Year Honors at Stafford Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — For a rookie driver, making a move into a new division can be a daunting prospect. A rookie driver making a move up in competition with no prior experience can only serve to increase the tension of learning a new car and division. But for Roxbury, CT native Chase Dowling, the 2013 season at Stafford Motor Speedway offered no such troubles.
Prior to the 2013 season, Dowling had never sat behind the wheel of a modified, making the move into the SK Light division from Legends Cars. Dowling proved that he was a sharp study as he won his very first start in the season opening Spring Sizzler and he went on to record 6 more feature wins to lead all SK Light drivers at Stafford with 7 wins this season. Dowling’s 7 wins ranked second behind only SK Modified® driver Ryan Preece’s 8 wins as the winningest driver at Stafford during the 2013 season.
“Our goal at the beginning of the year was to win Rookie of the Year and we wanted to get a win,” said Dowling. “We thought 3 wins would be good but we ended up winning more than that and we wanted to get a top-5 finish in the points. It was a good season overall for us. We hit all our goals and to have 7 wins, the most in the division, was awesome. I thought the maximum that we could get this year would be 3 wins and winning just one race would be pretty cool. Halfway through the year we already had a couple wins and our goals started to get higher and higher and it became more about winning the championship than winning the Rookie of the Year.”
Dowling’s early season triumph put him at the top of the SK Light standings and he stayed there for much of the 2013 season, dueling with Tony Membrino, Jr. When the final checkered flag fell on the 2013 SK Light season, Dowling came up just four points short, or two positions on the track, of Membrino in the championship standings. Although Dowling ultimately missed out on winning the championship and there was a bit of disappointment in not winning the championship, Dowling recognized that the 2013 season was a pretty special year for him and his #15 S+S Asphalt Paving team.
“I would say yes and no if this year was disappointing. It came down to one race that we got wrecked out of, but you really can’t look back and be disappointed about a season where you had 7 wins. To be able to win Rookie of the Year and finish runner up in the points to a guy who has been racing in the division for a couple of years was pretty good for us. We had a good setup all year, we really didn’t have to fight the car at all. I think the biggest challenge for me was how to set people up to pass in the Modified because that was definitely different from Legend cars and other cars I’ve raced. It’s real close racing in the SK Lights and you have to get used to that and not be intimidated. I have to thank all my sponsors for their support this season, S+S Asphalt Paving, All About You Homecare, Dunleavy Truck and Trailer Repair, Carrigan Air Conditioning and Heating, Southwood Auto Parts, Arbitell Convenience Stores.”
In addition to being a quick study behind the wheel, Dowling and his crew were also quick studies in balancing having fun and being serious about their performance on track.
“It was definitely a fun year for us but we had to be serious towards the end of the season,” said Dowling. “Being either first or second in the points we couldn’t really afford to mess around and we put in a lot of hard work on the car this year. My crew guys are fun to be around and you have to have some jokes here and there but they were always ready when it was time to go. We were definitely 100% prepared for the end of the season when we were racing for the championship and overall it was a really good year for us.”
For the season, Dowling recorded 7 wins, 13 top-5 and 16 top-10 finishes in 18 races for an average finish of 4.4. Dowling will be officially crowned the 2013 SPAFCO SK Light Modified Rookie of the Year at the 44th Annual Stafford Motor Speedway Champions Awards Ceremony on Friday, November 22 at Maneeley’s in South Windsor.
For more information, please 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