Monaco Ford Driving Safety and SK Light Modifieds at Stafford Speedway in 2024
(Stafford Springs, CT)—Monaco Ford of Glastonbury, CT will return to Stafford Speedway in 2024 as the official sponsor of the Monaco Ford Safety Team and supply two 2024 Ford trucks for the safety team to utilize on track. Monaco Ford will also be seen as sponsors on the SK Light car #46 of Brian Sullivan and the #75 SK Modified® and Open Modified cars of David Arute during the 2024 season at Stafford Speedway.
“My great uncle Sonny had race cars back in the late ‘40’s and early ‘50’s and my father raced at Stafford in the mid to late ‘70’s to early ‘80’s so I remember going to the track as a kid although we didn’t get to see my father race because he retired before my sister and I were born,” said Mike Monaco, fourth generation co-owner of Monaco Ford. “This is a great tie to bring him back to Stafford as well as my sister, brother, and myself. There were years where we’d see the safety trucks and I thought that would be a great idea for us to get tied in with that. With getting to know the Arute family and with our relationship with David Arute now, it makes a lot of sense for us to be there every Friday night and why not have our trucks there.”
Monaco Ford will also become the title sponsor of the Monaco Ford Double Down SK Light feature set for Friday, May 24th as the first of two 40-lap extra distance events the SK Light division will partake in during the 2024 season. Last year’s SK Light Double Down feature event saw Sullivan drive his Monaco Ford car to NAPA Victory Lane with Alexander Pearl and Tyler Chapman rounding out the podium finishers.
“We really like the SK light division,” said Monaco. “We got started sponsoring Brian Sullivan and now my oldest son Axel races karts on Monday nights and seeing some of the drivers graduating from karts really ties our connection together. I love to see the look on my Dad’s face whenever we’re at the track. He loves it and now that my son is racing, hopefully, one day he’ll start racing at Stafford on Friday nights. Axel thinks it’s the greatest thing in the world and having a connection from him to my father has been a fantastic thing to watch.”
About Monaco Ford
Monaco Ford opened its doors in 1922 as Monaco’s Garage and since then has been owned and operated by four generations of the Monaco family. It all started with Peter Monaco, selling all makes of vehicles and was licensed to work on horse and carriages. As the business began to grow, Peter’s sons Sonny, Albie, Johnny, Billy, & Charlie were all actively involved, officially becoming a Ford Dealership in 1957. In 1972, Charlie’s son, David Monaco, became involved in the business full-time and was named president of the company in 1988. David has grown the business tremendously and helped put Monaco Ford on the map as a top-level Ford Dealership in New England. As his children grew up in the dealership, David taught Chrissy and Mike how to run the business, how to treat customers, and how to make a positive impact on the community. Now over 100 years since opening, Monaco Ford is co-owned by its fourth-generation, siblings Chrissy and Mike Monaco.
With locations in Glastonbury and Niantic, CT, Monaco Ford is your destination when in the market for a new or used vehicle. Race fans can visit monacoford.com to learn more and see their current truck, car, and van inventory.
“We’re the biggest Connecticut Ford dealer with 2 locations in Glastonbury and Niantic,” said Monaco. “We’ve been around for over 100 years, the company was started by my great-grandfather back in 1922. My grandfather and his brothers ran the store, then my father, and now it’s me and my sister Chrissy. We focus on commercial vehicles but we carry all vehicles that Ford sells.”
The 2024 racing season gets underway at Stafford Speedway with the 52nd Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler®, set for April 27-28. The NAPA Spring Sizzler® kicks off on Saturday, April 27th, and will consist of two 40-lap NAPA Duel qualifying races for the Open Modified division. The 40-lap races will each pay $3,500 to win and will set the field for Sunday’s NAPA Spring Sizzler®. Stafford’s Late Model, Limited Late Model, and Street Stock divisions will complete Saturday’s racing program with qualifying and feature racing.
Order 52nd NAPA Spring Sizzler® Tickets
Sponsor a NAPA Spring Sizzler® Lap
Sunday, April 28th will play host to the $20,000 to win 52nd NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler®. Filling out Sunday’s racing card will be qualifying and feature racing for the SK Modified® and SK Light Modified divisions along with last-chance qualifiers for the NAPA Spring Sizzler®.
For more information, visit staffordspeedway.com, follow Stafford Speedway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
Sources: Scott Running/Stafford Speedway PR