Frank L’Etoile, Jr. Picks Up New Sponsor for 2014 DARE Stock Season at Stafford Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — After winning two races and finishing 8th in the points standings as a DARE Stock rookie in 2013, Wethersfield native Frank L’Etoile, Jr. has signed KOMA Unwind as a primary sponsor for the 2014 season. In a somewhat unusual story, it was the sale of a car that brought L’Etoile and KOMA together for the 2014 season.
“My dad and my grandfather sold their modified to the owner of the company and he started the KOMA Unwind Modified Madness Series,” said L’Etoile. “They went down to Statesville, NC with a proposal and KOMA gave me a call back about a month later and they were looking to expand and get their product going in the north. It’s the biggest sponsor I’ve ever had. It’s a name brand that people will recognize and it’s definitely going to help us out with paying for fuel and some tires here and there. It certainly won’t hurt.”
L’Etoile had an extremely strong rookie season in 2013. After missing two races during the summer, L’Etoile accumulated 8 top-8 finishes in his final 9 starts of the year, including his first two victories on Aug. 30 and Sept. 13. L’Etoile says he and his team hit on a setup combination towards the end of the 2013 season that has them optumistic about their chances in 2014.
“We figured the car out during the last 5 races last year and we were fast every week,” said L’Etoile. “I think as long as we can keep the car in one piece there’s no doubt we’re going to be fast this year. I set a goal for myself to be in the top-10 or top-5 every week and keep the car in one piece. I think our results this year will speak for themselves. We can be championship contenders this season, it all comes down to finishing races. We have the speed to be in the top-5 every week, we just have to finish races. There are a lot of new people in the division this year and the gap between the fast cars and slow cars is dramatic. The top-10 is going to be pretty fast and it will just be making your way through traffic. It’s going to be tough.”
L’Etoile got his 2014 season off to a great start last week in the NAPA Spring Sizzler with a fourth place finish. With good results in the open practice that was held at Stafford on April 12 combined with his fourth place finish last week, L’Etoile and the #33 team are well on their way to being a championship contender in only their second full season of DARE Stock competition.
“At the practice two weeks ago, we started off with tires from last year and went out for two runs and then we put new tires on,” said L’Etoile. “We let the new tires break in and the last run we really toughened it up on the new tires and we were faster than we’ve ever been. The practice went very well for us. You never stop learning in this sport. Even at the end of the season last year I was still picking up things. Once you get fast enough, you can follow the fast cars and you can learn what they’re doing and pick up some things there. There’s always things to be learned week by week. Our goal is to finish every race. If we can do that and learn something every week, I think we’re going to be right where we want to be at the end of the year.”
For more information, 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