Generation Next: Avery Stoehr Bound for NEMA Midgets Full-Time
Third Generation Driver Prepares for Rookie Season in #15a
Avery Stoehr of Lakeville, MA will be competing in the Northeastern Midget Association (NEMA) Midgets full-time for MCI Racing. Stoehr wants to “be competitive all year and learn as much as I can. … I think I learned a lot from driving the #3t, #26, and #44 this year and hopefully can build off that for next season.”
Both Avery and Bethany Stoehr’s cars are former Mike Jarret Beast-Gaerte Fords. Avery Stoehr will drive a new spare chassis, while John Andruk is finishing engine work this week. Sponsors Motor Cars International of Bridgewater, MA, Skaters Edge Indoor Skatepark of Taunton, MA and Circle Performance Racing Engines of Berkley, MA will join Stoehr for his NEMA run.
Stoehr has four career NEMA Lite wins. He finished third in NEMA Lite points last year with wins at Stafford and Waterford. Stoehr also had two top 10 finishes in five NEMA Midget starts this past season. “I as well as Carl Kibbe are really looking forward to him moving up,” Russ Stoehr said. “His limited performances in the #44 showed a lot of promise and his Thompson debut showed me he is ready.”
In the aforementioned World Series race, Stoehr drove Ed Breault’s #44A. He won his heat race and started on the pole alongside Joey Payne, Jr. Stoehr led the early going before contact with Todd Bertrand spun him from the lead.
Veteran Crew Chief Carl Kibbe stated, “I believe Avery is ready to move up. He has shown that in his five races, (in) full midget rides this past year. He has good communication skills and always gives it his best. When we are not as quick as we would like, he knows we must work more to step up our performance. He has a good balance of aggressiveness and smoothness. He has had a great two years in the Lite cars. There have been a few rocks in the road, as any young driver has had, but overall an impressive start to his midget driving career. Russ and I are getting the new car ready for the first race of 2014.”
Paul Stoehr, patriarch of the racing family, raced NEMA midgets from the 1970s-1990s. Russ Stoehr has won six championships and 49 races. Uncle Greg Stoehr has eight wins and multiple top-3 points finishes. Cousin and fellow NEMA Lites grad Bethany Stoehr edged Russ for her first NEMA victory at Waterford last fall, becoming just the second female winner in the club’s six decades.
Consider this: since Russ Stoehr’s first win at Fonda in 1987, a member of the Stoehr family has won at least one race in all but six years (1987. 1990-2002, 2007-2013).
Since his return in 2009, Russ Stoehr has won 10 times and claimed the 2010 NEMA championship. At this time Stoehr stated, “I have no plans for next year.”
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com
Photos: Crystal Snape