Hoosier Tire East’s Bob Summers Named Grand Marshal of NAPA Fall Final Weekend at Stafford Motor Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — Stafford Motor Speedway has announced that Bob Summers of Hoosier Tire East will serve as the Grand Marshal of the 42nd Annual NAPA Auto Parts Fall Final. Summers will send the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour to the green flag for the 150 lap race with the most famous words in motorsports.
Summers, now a Hoosier Tire distributor, began his 60-year career in the tire business in 1955 working for the Firestone tire company in Indianapolis. During his time with Firestone Summers worked with some of the legends of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway such as Mario Andretti, the Unsers, and A.J. Foyt as well as a host of Grand National, Sprint Cup as it is currently known, drivers. Summers left Firestone in 1981 and a phone call from Bob Newton shortly thereafter got Summers into the business as a Hoosier distributor. Summers passion for short track racing is still going strong 34 years later operating Hoosier Tire East out of Manchester, CT. Currently Hoosier Tire East services local tracks Stafford, Thompson, and Waterford as well as the Whelen Modified Tour, and the Super Modifieds at Star Speedway.
“It’s an absolute honor to be the Grand Marshal of the NAPA Fall Final,” said Summers. “I hung around racing a lot as a kid and I hung around Firestone a lot and when one of the guys quit, I took his place and the rest is history. Firestone started phasing out of short track racing and I left in 1981 and then a couple of weeks later I got a call from Bob Newton and we made a deal that made me a distributor. It’s been a great relationship, Hoosier has great people and they’ve done a lot for me and I’ve done a lot for them also. I’m looking forward to giving the command and I have to also recognize my wife Connie and my son Robbie. When I first got started in 1981, I couldn’t have got this business going without their help.”
The 2015 NAPA Auto Parts Fall Final Weekend gets underway on Saturday, October 3rd with practice sessions for Stafford’s Whelen All-American Series divisions, the Legend Cars, and the Whelen Modified Tour. Action continues on with Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the Whelen Modified Tour cars, along with heat races for Stafford’s weekly divisions and the Legend Cars with action wrapping up on Saturday with feature events for the SK Light, Limited Late Model, DARE Stock, and Legend Cars divisions. The Legend Cars feature will be a national qualifier event. The NAPA Fall Final continues onSunday, October 4th with the NAPA Auto Parts Pit Party from 11am-12noonfollowed by Stafford’s SK Modifieds® and Late Models joining the Whelen Modified Tour in feature action.
Tickets for the NAPA Auto Parts Fall Final Weekend 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 will be priced at $42.00 for all ages. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax.
For more information on the 42nd Annual NAPA Auto Parts Fall Final, 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