Christopher & Katon Solid in 2014
NWMT Teams Test in Advance of Mr. Rooter 161
WATERFORD, CT (June 12, 2014) – NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points leader Doug Coby, Woody Pitkat, Ted Christopher, Eric Goodale, and defending champion and race winner Ryan Preece practiced at Waterford Speedbowl today in advance of the Mr. Rooter 161 on June 21.
Ted Christopher of Plainville, CT is fifth in points with three top 10s, his best start in three years. Christopher won two of the first five races in 2011 and never finished worse than seventh in Eddie Whelan’s #36.
“Not bad,” Christopher said. “You just gotta keep working at it and this was a good test and I’m looking forward to coming to Waterford like I said next week and then we go to Riverhead and then we’ve got a pretty good surprise for Loudon, so we’ll see how that works out.”
Christopher can record four consecutive top 10s for the first time since the fall of 2011: Thompson (4), Lime Rock (5), New Hampshire (4), and Stafford (1). The 2013 Mr. Rooter 161 ended Christopher’s Waterford top-10 streak at four, which included a pair of podiums.
“For us it’s a work in progress because every week is a different setup,” Christopher said. …. “(I am) really happy with the practice. It went faster as the day went on with somewhat older tires, not used 100 lap stuff, but stuff that was decent and we would go a little faster. Each time we go a little faster and make strides and going in the right direction. I’m pretty happy for next Saturday, looking forward to it.”
Christopher joined Bob Katon, Jr. to drive the #13 J&R Pre-Cast / Cape Cod Aggregates car. The former #46 team will run a split schedule with Katon’s and Christopher’s cars. Katon sold his old car and purchased a former #7NY car from Gary Putnam. The powerplant is Christopher’s ECR engine.
“I wasn’t really planning on doing the whole series,” Christopher said. “He (Katon) wanted to do it. He ended up buying a fairly newer car for this year. He updated some of his stuff. He put my motor in, so I know my motor’s good.”
“It was kind of a weird thing,” Katon said. “We just had a couple of things going on and made a phone call. We talked a little bit and it all worked out.”
“It’s one of the best opportunities I’ve had to do this the right way,” Katon said. “Dennis is crew chiefing it and he’s helping out working on it. … (It) definitely can be a year for us. If everything clicks for us, it definitely can happen.”
Katon said the $10,000 to win Open Wheel Wednesday race at Seekonk in August is one race he would like to enter.
Katon estimates he has been in racing for 30 years. “It’s a passion,” Katon said. “It’s kind of an addiction I guess. My daughter’s involved somewhat and her boyfriend and stuff ,so it kind of kept us going.”
“Somebody down the road from me had a race car,” Katon said. “We used to go with my dad to the track. I started work on his car and that’s how I got involved. It just came from that. I’ve been doing this for a long time.”
Christopher drives the #13 SK Modified® at Waterford for Doug Dipisa. Christopher is fourth in SK Modified points with four top fives and eight top 10s in nine starts. Christopher won the 1992 SK Modified® championship driving for NEAR Hall of Famer Ron Berndt. He has 36 victories, including a NWMT race in August 2002.
“The last six weeks of the year we were really good,” Christopher said. “Unfortunately we didn’t win, but we were close enough to (win) every time.”
“For the tour race it will help out,” Christopher said. “I know some nuances I guess that some people may not know. But Keith (Rocco) knows them too and a few others that will be in the tour race. Hopefully we’ll have a good run.”
Christopher is second in SK Modified points at Stafford Motor Speedway with one top five and two top tens after three races. Christopher drives his own Broadband Access #13.
“With losing CARQUEST there that helped for the track,” Christopher said. “It’s a pretty big race they’re paying, with the $5,000 to win (the SK 5K presented by NAPA Auto Parts on July 5). That’s good and Stafford’s always a great place to race and I love racing there.”
Christopher is third in NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victories with 42, two shy of NEAR Hall of Famer Reggie Ruggiero. All of his victories occurred in a 13 year span from 1999 to 2011. Christopher has averaged a 12th place finish in the 32 races since his last win (Stafford, 2011 Fall Final). This is the worst drought since he was searching for his initial victory (94 races, Richmond, 1999).
“That would be nice,” Christopher said. “At this point in time, most of it’s goals, so that would be a goal for sure.”
Christopher is also eager to gain two victories at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park to get his 100th win there. “I would like to do that too,” Christoher said. “That’s why I might run my SK towards the middle of the summer and the end of the season.”
Christopher has also received an invitation to drive his modified on the recently opened road course.
“Once they finish it up, its going to be a beautiful facility,” Christopher said. “I’m looking forward to (it). I’ve still got my car setup from Lime Rock when we ran Lime Rock a bunch of years ago and probably put that together. DR (Hoenig) said I can come up there and do some test runs when they have open dates there. So he’s invited me to go there and I’m looking forward to try the road course.”
Christopher will run a limited schedule of Valenti Modified Racing Series events. He is considering the Race of Champions at Oswego Speedway on September 14,”if everything pans out where it’s an open date.”
This is the first season that the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series has awarded bonus points for a winner’s starting position.
“That would help us this way compared to those guys down south that start on the pole every night,” Christopher said. “I know when I won the national championship (2001) my average starting spot was 13th. Back then you only had to do it with one track. If they ever had that program back then, I probably would have won 10 national championships, where you can run Waterford, Stafford, Thompson, because that’s all I used to do.”
One of New England’s most successful drivers, Christopher has over 300 career victories. He is the winningest driver at Stafford (121) and Thompson (98). He has SK Modified® championships at all Connecticut ovals: Stafford (1987, 1996, 2000-01, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2012), Thompson (1988-89, 2000, 2002, 2010) and Waterford (1992).
Katon’s Berkley Auto Racing team began with Dick Houlihan as the first driver. They were successful together in the Pro Stocks winning championships at Seekonk and Thompson. Katon has fielded a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour car since 2004 with Houlihan, Eric Beers, George Brunnhoelzl III and Eric Berndt driving.
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com