New Chassis and Engine Have Glen Reen Excited for 2014 SK Modified® Season at Stafford Motor Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — For Wilbraham, MA native Glen Reen, the 2014 SK Modified® season at Stafford Motor Speedway is full of promise. After only running a handful of races last season, Reen and his #17 TechEdProducts.com team have been busy during the winter putting together a new chassis to go along with a virtually brand new engine. These two factors have Reen excited about his prospects for the 2014 season at the Connecticut half-mile facility.
“I’m real excited about this season,” said Reen. “Everything on the car is new for this year. We have a new chassis and we rebuilt our motor last season after it blew up. We ran the engine once last year after we rebuilt it but we ended up getting wrecked after 12 laps so the engine only has 12 laps on it. Ralph Ridgeway put the motor together for us and we’re going to be working with R.A.D. Automachine this year. Ralph ran NHRA and he was inducted into their Hall of Fame a couple of years ago, so he really knows his way around an engine. Ralph first built an engine for me in 2009 and I remember blowing by Teddy [Christopher] on the straightaway and after the race he came up to me asking about who built my engine. I have almost my entire Whelen Modified Tour team from 2009 coming back with me and we have a notebook that we’ve been building up since the 2011 season, we have some great support from TechEdProducts.com, PioneerValleyWheelRepair.com, magunpermit.com, Squid Decals, and Reen Motorsports, so we have a lot of good momentum going for us right now.”
Although he has yet to win a feature in the SK Modified® division, Reen certainly knows his way to NAPA Victory Lane. From 2006 to 2007 in Stafford’s SK Light Modified division, he won a total of 6 races with 5 of those wins coming in 2007 when he finished fourth in the final points standings. Reen is not only eyeing up his first career SK Modified® victory this season, he also has his sights set on making a run at the track championship.
“We’ve been second at Stafford two or three times now,” said Reen. “I’ve been really close but we just haven’t been able to get a win yet. If we did win this year I think I’d be the only driver who has wins in the SK Modified®, SK Light, and Whelen Modified Tour divisions, which would be pretty cool. Our goal for this year is to get our first win, win as many races as we can, and make a run at the championship. When you start points racing, that’s where you start to get into trouble so we want to go for wins and see where we stack up at the end of the year. We were in the top-5 for most of the 2011 season but we blew our engine in the 100 lapper and we ended up having to borrow a motor that wasn’t a Stafford motor, which hurt our performance for the rest of that season. Stafford is one of the hardest tracks around and if you can run well and win at Stafford, you can run well and win anywhere. I have a really good feeling about this season and we can’t wait to get started.”
The SK Modified® division at Stafford won’t be the only place where race fans can see Reen in action this season. Reen will be piloting the #8 Sypher Construction Whelen Modified Tour car owned by Mark Sypher and he is looking forward to big things happening for that new combination in 2014 as well.
“I’ll also be driving the #8 on the Tour for Mark Sypher,” said Reen. “I’m real excited about this opportunity Mark has given me to drive his car this year. He is going to provide the car and I have a Bob Bruneau motor that I’ll be putting into the car and just like my SK car most everything on Mark’s car is new for this season. Mark’s best finish so far has been an 8th and his best points finish was a 14th so it would be pretty cool to be able to give Mark his first Tour win. I can’t wait for the NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler to be here so we can get started.”
Reen will begin his busy 2014 season with the 43rd Annual NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler on April 26-27. Reen will practice and qualify both his SK Modified® and Whelen Modified Tour cars on Saturday, the 26th with Coors Light Pole Qualifying along with heat and consolation races for Stafford’s weekly divisions. Saturday will conclude with feature events for the SK Light, Limited Late Model, and DARE Stock divisions as well as a feature event for the Northeast Mini Stocks. The Sizzler will conclude on Sunday, April 27 with the famous NAPA Auto Parts Pit Party followed by Stafford’s SK Modifieds® and Late Models joining the Whelen Modified Tour in feature action.
Tickets for the “Greatest Race in the History of Spring” are on sale now at 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 priced at $42.00 for all ages. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available. All tickets are good for both Saturday and Sunday admission. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax.
For more information on the 43rd annual NAPA Auto Parts 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