Legends Car Driver Stephen Kopcik Making Move into Stafford Speedway’s SK Light Modified Division for 2014
Stafford Springs, CT — After spending the last two seasons competing in the Legends cars ranks at Waterford Speedbowl, Newtown native Stephen Kopcik will become the newest member of the 2014 SK Light Modified rookie class at Stafford Motor Speedway. Kopcik and his team recently acquired a Chassis Dynamics car that was a backup car for Ryan Preece at Thompson Speedway and he will have Mike Paquette from CD Chassis helping him out with the setup on his #21 machine.
“David Smith Racing, who is one of our primary sponsors, bought a car for us about a week ago,” said Kopcik. “We have Ryan Preece’s backup car from Thompson, the orange 31 car. Mike Paquette is going to be helping us out with setting the car up and it’s a nice straight car and there’s no mismatched parts on it so we have a good recipe to go out and win.”
Kopcik comes from a background of winning races and championships. Kopcik got his start racing in go karts and after five championships, including a WKA Regional Championship in 2008, he made the move into Legends Car racing at Waterford in 2012. Kopcik won Rookie of the Year honors in 2012 and he finished as the runner up in the championship standings to Joey Ternullo this past season after being in the hunt for the championship all season long. While the 2014 season will be a first for Kopcik being behind the wheel of a modified race car, he is ready to get his rookie season started.
“This is brand new for me, I’ve never been in a modified before,” said Kopcik. “I think the biggest challenge for me will be getting used to the car. You have 15-inch tires that stick out from the car so you have to get used to that. Everything is going to be different for me. I’m going into the season with the goal of winning a race and try to go for Rookie Of The Year. There looks like there will be a lot of rookies this year in the SK Lights so you don’t know who is going to be really good and who is going to be ok. I don’t want to be too excited and you can’t be cocky, but you have to be confident. I’m excited for the season to get started. We’re going to try to win a race, win R.O.Y., and be consistent. I think we have all the right stuff in place to get it done we just have to go out on the track and do it.”
Kopcik won’t be the only rookie driver making the rounds this season in Stafford’s SK Light ranks. There are 6 other rookie drivers signed up thusfar for 2014 SK Light competition although Kopcik is disappointed he won’t get the chance to race against the defending track champion.
“There’s going to be a lot of competiton this year in the SK Lights,” said Kopcik. “I was a little disappointed to see Tony Membrino was moving up to the SK Modified® division, I was looking forward to racing against a driver like him. Chase Dowling is moving up, Troy Talman, Ronnie Williams, Cam McDermott, a lot of the really good guys who have proven themselves are moving up so there’s a whole new batch of drivers this year. For now we’re focused on the SK Light but eventually I’d love to make the move up to SK Modifieds®.”
Kopcik will carry sponsorship from N.J.K. Automotive, David Smith Racing, Newtown Pools, Hocon Industrial Gas, and Gervais Brothers Racing on his #21 and his father Nick will serve as the crew chief.
“My dad Nick is the crew chief, he does a lot of stuff on the car,” said Kopcik. “We also have Nick Danuszar, he works together with my dad as a team, we have David Smith helping us out and that’s it for crew. Hopefully we’ll have a bigger crew when the first couple of races get here. We’re definitely looking for sponsors, you can always use more sponsors. Right now our primary sponsors are N.J.K. Automotive and David Smith Racing, Newtown Pools, and Gervais Brothers Racing, Hocon Industrial Gas, CD Chassis, and T/A Engines.”
Kopcik will hit the track for the very first time with the 43rd Annual Spring Sizzler on April 25-27. Tickets for the “Greatest Race in the History of Spring” may be ordered by calling the Speedway Box Office. Tickets are priced at $38.50 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 is $42.00 for all ages. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax.
For more information on the 43rd Annual 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