Late Model Driver Tom Fearn Has High Expectations for 2015 at Stafford Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — With experience on his side, along with 6 track championships at Stafford Speedway, East Longmeadow, MA native Tom Fearn is raising the bar in 2015. Fearn has his eyes set on dethroning 2-time defending track champion Adam Gray. In 2013 Fearn had an impressive 5 wins and finished 3rd in the points standings. Fast forward one year to 2014 and Fearn found victory lane one time and finished 6th in the points standings. Needless to say, in order to dethrone Gray, Fearn will be looking to repeat his 2013 season.
“We’d like to see if we can unseat Adam Gray from the top since he’s been there 2 years in a row,” said Fearn. “We’d like to have a better season than we had last year and match our results that we had in 2013. Everyone’s morale is better when your winning races and when you’re winning you’re not having to fix the car every week. I’ve won 6 championships over the years and I’d like to win another one before I retire.”
Fearn returns with the same crew on his #92 SAFCO Foam / King Ward Coach Lines Ford that helped him to the 5 wins in 2013. They have been busy during the winter months going through the car and getting it prepared for the new Late Model rules package that will see new tires, shocks, and springs on the cars for the 2015 season.
“Everything is the same on the car,” said Fearn. “My father does the transmission, Buzzy does the rear, Donnie at R.A.D. does the motor, maybe we’ll get some better luck this year than we had last year. We’re working on a new sponsor for this year and we have King Ward Coach Lines, SAFCO Foam, JR Sweeping Service, and Sun Valley Fire Equipment all coming back with us. We’ve been working on trying to get the car ready for the rule changes that were made, put a setup in, scale the car, and be ready for the practice day. We were pretty good all year; we just had some circumstances that happened to us that gave us some terrible finishes. It was kind of an odd year in a way; we had things happen to us that had never happened before. The year before we had 5 wins and it was a great season. We were hoping to repeat that but it didn’t happen that way. No matter what, there’s nothing like winning. You never know when or if your next win is going to come, and it’s a great feeling not only for me, but for the team and the sponsors to win races.”
In getting back to his 2013 form, Fearn is hopeful that he and his team can adapt to the new rule changes a little quicker than the competition and have a leg up during the early part of the year.
“With the new rules changes, I’ve been racing for a long time and a lot of times we can figure things out quicker than some of the other guys, so that might be an advantage for us,” said Fearn. “The cream always rises to the top and hopefully we can be one of those 3 or 4 guys who get things figured out pretty quickly.”
Fearn’s first opportunity at driving into NAPA Victory Lane will be during the 44th Annual NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler on April 24-26. 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 44th 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