Goodale Hopes to Keep Momentum at Seekonk
Eric Goodale of Riverhead, NY enters Saturdays’ Seekonk 150 sixth in points with a goal to improve. He’s opened the season with 4 top 10s in 5 races. Goodale felt a top 10 finish was possible at South Boston until engine problems.
“It’s definitely a good start but nothing to be too excited about,” Goodale said. “We have some tracks that we really need to get our act together on. I haven’t run very well at Seekonk in the past couple of years and we got that coming up on Saturday. And we got Riverhead coming up soon and it’s gonna be tough. I got some tracks where I’ve been good in the past, but lately, have not been so hot at. So, my first big test was Thompson where we’ve really been struggling, and we came home with a third-place finish there and the icebreaker. So, that’s one off the checklist, but I still got plenty more to go here until I start to feel real good about the season.”
Goodale’s team purchased a new Troyer TA3 chassis. Although family commitments prevented him from entering the races at New Smyrna, the team has been consistent. Last season the team split the season running a SPAFCO and a Troyer TA2 at half the events.
“We never really could get in a rhythm with either car and we just struggled real bad with both cars.”
Goodale is happy with the season so far including 2 top fives in the last 3 races. The next 3 races (Seekonk, Thompson, and Riverhead) potentially can continue a run up the standings. While Goodale’s best finish this season was at Thompson (third), the bullrings at Seekonk and Riverhead come into focus. Goodale has 1 top 10 in 3 Seekonk races. Goodale has 2 top fives and 6 top 10s in the 8 races since he won at Riverhead in 2014.
“If you got a lot of momentum behind you, you can be good at any track you go out to where you just can’t mess up and you can do everything right. But I will tell you as far as our program at the 58 camp, we’ve been struggling man at these smaller tracks. Riverhead, obviously I got my first Whelen Modified Tour win at Riverhead a number of years ago. And I gotta be honest, since that, man, we have just been awful. like not even in the ballpark. We’ve struggled there on local nights, we’ve shown up and run some local races and have just been disaster. So, I can basically say the same for the last two Seekonk races, for sure too. We’ve shown speed in practice, and we just have not been able to hammer down a race that has lasted for us. So, I’m excited to go back and run as good as we have been to these two tracks coming up and see what we can put forth. A little different setup, new chassis, full head of steam going in. So, we’ll see what we can come up with.”
Goodale’s longtime sponsors are still on board: GAF Roofing, Riverhead Building Supply, and the support of his family. His crew chief is Jason Shephard and operates Complete Chassis Solutions in Moosup, CT. Billy the Kid Engines provides the horsepower.
“It’s good and it’s bad. I feel like a lot more good than it is anything, he gets a lot of input from a lot of other race teams around. So that’s pretty cool. But obviously, I always want our car to come first and foremost, which it does, but like, it sucks sometimes when you see like a competitor come over and pick his brain about something and I’m like, Mike, I want to beat that guy. Like, don’t make them any faster than he needs to be, so it’s good. Jason does. Jason’s been with me. For a number of years now we met when we were teenagers. And, we were both two young kids just trying to make it in the racing game one as a driver and one as a crew guy, and we ran into each other. And, the rest is history been working together ever since. And we’ve had some, some ultimate highs and some real low lows. But, at the end of the day, he shows up to work and prepares one hell of a race car. So, we’re still out there being competitive for wins on the most competitive series I feel like in America.”
The competition on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour has been tight with Ron Silk, Jimmy Blewett, Patrick Emerling, and Woody Pitkat in the top 5 in points behind 5-time champion Doug Coby.
“That’s what drives people to the tour. And, it’s ultimately what drives people away from the tour because people want to win and it’s certainly not easy to win on the Whelen Modified Tour. I think we all need to slow Mr. (Doug) Coby down and make sure we keep Justin (Bonsignore) in check because we’ve seen what the two of them can do in years past if they get on a roll. So, we put ourselves in a little bit in the hole having a DNF early in the season. But, the best we can do is go out there and try our best that go chase after checkered flags and worry about points, the last quarter of the year after everybody’s cards are out on the table. And its certainly cool to see some of the names up there in the top 10 I can tell you right now that if you take a snapshot at the top 10 right now and what it’s going to be come the World Series at Thompson in October, I will definitely not be the same as it looks right now.”
by: Nicholas Teto, YankeeRacer.com
Photo by Nicole LaRose