Fresh Start for Fraulino
Joe Fraulino, Jr. of East Hampton, CT will bring his No. 27 to the upstart Wicked Cool Midget Series later this season. The team is sponsored by Pizzeria Da Vinci, Four Seasons Hearth and Home, Gateway Real Estate, The Tavern on 66, American Powder Coating, John Boyce Construction, and American Outsource Waste Recycling.
“We purchased the Bigelow machine, Bill Stergios is the founder of this new series and his sons were great people that we met in Quarter Midgets. It’s gonna be fun to go to many different tracks around New England. The reason for the switch to the Midgets isn’t only because the uncertainty of the Speedbowl, but also take a step back because I feel myself I jumped into a Modified too quick.”
Series founder “He seems like a guy that is driven to make this series not just fun for the drivers, but the fans, and his target to young kids to get them to want their parents to bring them to see the Wicked Cool Midgets… This series seems driven in the right direction with Bill and for many years to come.”
Fraulino wants to have a consistent year at a new host of tracks. The Wicked Cool Midgets will run 12 races at Beech Ridge, Hudson, Star and Oxford Plains.
“It will be a learning curve, but I’m ready to learn and get these tracks down and just improve week by week. Just go to each track and learn and be better there the next time we show up. The goal is to be consistent and finish races because you don’t have to be the fastest car to win. You have to be consistent to win and be there when it counts. You can look at all forms of racing and it’s possible to win a championship without winning a race.”
” I feel that a Midget is back to my roots over the Modified and work from there. I look at like what Bobby Santos did in a Midget, learn the tracks and look where he is now (at) Tinio Racing, one of the best on the (Whelen Modified) Tour.”
Fraulino thanked his parents, siblings Nick and Krista for traveling and supporting him throughout the years. His father, brother, and friend Tom Flemke help at the shop. Tom Gagliano, an East Hampton resident at UNOH, has provided some ideas for the new ride.
Fraulino returned to racing after receiving permission to house the car at his grandfather’s garage. The rookie was 15th in SK Light Modified points at Waterford (CT) Speedbowl with one top ten in seven starts. Fraulino started in Quarter Midgets at age four, racing them for eight years.
“It was a battle of ups and downs. We would go to a Thursday practice at the bowl and feel we found speed then show up on Saturday and be quicker than the past Saturday, but still off from the Thursday practice. But having Brain Ross in my ear and him taking the car and “Rossifying” it made me notice a lot in a racecar and I was taught a lot by just listening to him talk. And what he did for me I couldn’t thank him enough.”
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com
Wicked Cool Midgets Schedule
Sat 4/18 Oxford
Sat 5/2 Beech Ridge
Sat 5/23 Star
Sat 6/6 Star
Sun 6/28 Hudson
Sun 7/26 Hudson
Sun 8/2 Oxford
Sat 8/8 Star
Sat 8/29 Star
Sat 9/19 Beech Ridge – heats and feature
Sun 9/20 Beech Ridge – heats and feature
Tentative Sat 10/3 Oxford