Emerling Emerges on NWMT
Bristol is an opportunity for Patrick Emerling to reach new heights. The Orchard Park, NY driver enters the Bush’s Beans 150 sixth in points. He has ranked sixth in points four times since last year. Emerling could reach the top five in points after Bristol. Emerling’s first top five was at Bristol in 2011. He has two top tens in three races there.
Another top ten at Bristol would match another career best. He has reached three consecutive top tens twice before. He averaged a 6.6 at Bristol, New Hampshire, and Stafford last year. He matched that earlier this year at Stafford, New London-Waterford, and Stafford, averaging 8th.
“It’s another kind of a neutral track, so historically we always kind of did better there,” Emerling said. “But I always went fast. Every time I was down there I always had fast cars down there … I took my notes from last year and hopefully made the car a little bit better for me this year and I’m hoping to walk away with actually a win this year. … so I think I’m going to have more confidence going into it.”
Emerling recorded his best finish last month, fourth at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. His last three races represent a career milestone: his first two poles and two top tens. Six top tens match his season high (2011, 2014).
“We’re still (not) quite where we need to be, but I know we’re getting pretty close, which is a good thing.”
“We’ve been plugging away at it trying to get better and up our game and just trying to get better cars underneath myself and then on the ROC this year we’ve been doing better. We kind of put more effort into it and kind of brought it up to the level of which Chuck (Hossfeld) and Matt (Hirschman) are.”
“…With the tour, we’ve been trying to work to do the same thing. On the tour it’s very difficult to compete in that series simply because there’s a lot of experience and there’s the best drivers and the best crews and a lot of funding behind a lot of them teams there. So it’s just tough to compete with a lot of them guys…. We’ve just been kind of getting better and better here as of late and the results are kind of starting to show a little bit.”
Emerling is in his fifth season on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Besides learning new tracks, he also had to adapt to the “aggressive driving” of his competition. He did better at “neutral tracks” like Bristol and New Hampshire Motor Speedway compared to tracks that host most of the races Stafford Motor Speedway and Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in Connecticut.
“Just getting the setups right. That was the big thing. … But at Thompson and Stafford they have those tracks so down pat that it’s tough to compete with the regulars there. But over time we collected notes and we just got better at it and got ourselves some better cars.”
Emerling became the ninth driver to win his first 2 poles consecutively. He joins John Rosati, Jan Leaty, Mike McLaughlin, Ed Kennedy, Nevin George, Eric Beers, Todd Szegedy, and Bobby Santos, III.
“I knew we were getting our setups a little bit better so I knew we were going to be better than we were before. I just as far as getting 2 poles in a row that’s just like awesome. … (Jan Leaty) I think he’s a good qualifier so take notes from him and got some ideas and then we got the car right on point there and we were good, which I’m very happy (to) do that. But I’d also trade them poles for wins too. But it’s good and hopefully we’re striving towards some wins in that series. It’s very hard to do, but I think if we keep running like we are I think we’ll get some.”
Emerling has benefited in his two years working with Crew Chief Jan Leaty. Leaty, of Williamson, NY, won 9 NWMT races and 26 poles in a career spanning 1985-2008.
“I learned a lot of setup things off of him and then he gives me him being a driver himself I got some good driving tips off of him every now and then. … (The Leaty family) they’re class act guys, just good people. … We’re good friends and enjoyed our time working together here.”
The Race of Champions Modified Tour points leader continued his recent momentum with his third win of the season Saturday night. He won the 110-lap 26th Annual Tommy Druar/Tony Jankowiak Memorial at Lancaster (NY) National Speedway. Emerling led 34 laps to best former champion Chuck Hossfeld, Jankowiak’s son Andy, Matt Hirschman, and Tony Hanbury. Emerling’s strategy “played out” after pitting early for a flat tire.
“We turned it into a strategy that kind of worked out for us and then to beat Chuck and Matt and a lot of the guys there. To beat them is awesome ’cause I extended my points lead. And Chuck is really hard to beat at Lancaster. (Hossfeld owns 9 series wins at Lancaster). He’s always been really strong there. … It was exciting to win a race named after Tony J there and Tommy Druar.”
Emerling is supported by Buffalo Auto Auction and Troyer Race Cars. Many of Emerling’s trips to the NWMT races are six to seven hours one way.
Emerling has sights on his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win. His second goal is to win the Race of Champions Modified Tour championship. The busy Modified schedule allows Emerling a lot of seat time. “It keeps you fresh. I think keeps you sharp.”
Emerling plans to run both series, except for a conflict October 4 between the NAPA Fall Final 150 at Stafford (CT) Motor Speedway and the Sunoco Race of Champions at Chemung (NY) Speedrome. He has not decided which race to attend.
Emerling will also run the three indoor TQ Midget events at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, and the inaugural at PPL Center in Allentown. He finished seventh in the standings last season. The additional race at Allentown helps drivers like Emerling with a car they only run during the offseason.
“Having that extra show kind of makes it a little more worth it and then the TQs are just really fun shows to run and we have a lot of fun at those. it’s kind of a less stress sort of an atmosphere so it’s kind of more of a fun thing other than a serious business with the NASCAR tour”
“There’s a lot of really good competition in the TQs and they’re fun cars to drive. They’re real fast. The … power to weight ratio I think exceeds an asphalt Modified I believe even. So they’re quite difficult to drive indoors ’cause you have to learn certain things about the surface and what the surface is going to do throughout the run and throughout the day and stuff like that. But I think some of my old indoor Go Kart experience helps with that a little bit ’cause I felt like when I first started the TQ racing I felt like there wasn’t really much of a learning curve other than the first race or two. After that I was very comfortable in the TQs there.”
First 2 NWMT Poles Won Consecutively
1985-John Rosati-Catamount and Star
1986-Jan Leaty-Pocono and Shangri-La
1987-Mike McLaughlin-Thompson and Riverside Park
1996-Ed Kennedy-Stafford and Nazareth
2002-Nevin George-Stafford and Beech Ridge
2003-Eric Beers-Wall and Beech Ridge
2004-Todd Szegedy-Thompson and Stafford
2010-Bobby Santos, III-Thompson and Stafford *
2015-Patrick Emerling-Stafford and Thompson
* Santos won third consecutive pole at Stafford
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com