Ladyga Up to Speed in Atlantic City
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — Nick Ladyga of Voluntown, CT is running well in his indoor debut for this weekend’s NAPA Know How Racing Weekend at Boardwalk Hall.
Ladyga was fifth fastest during the first practice Thursday night at 9.194.
“As the day went on I tried to, you know, just figure out the track,” Ladyga said. “We made the mistake of going out too early a couple of times and we got stuck behind some slow cars and the track didn’t really rubber up enough, so we kind of fell off in speed.”
Ladyga is running the same car he used outdoors last season with a different engine. The outdoor setup in stock compared to the indoors ‘outlaw’ engine. Ladyga’s car is a Mark Lafler chassis with a Billy Pippard engine (Pippard Racing Engines).
“Mark Lafler definitely helps out with the setups and if you can pay attention and listen to him you really can’t go wrong. And from what I’ve experienced the first couple of practices yesterday and the car was really fast my first time ever indoors, so I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a big confidence booster.”
The University of Rhode Island student is sporting his school colors on the No. 38 TQ Midget. The car originally had blue tin and a blue wrap.
“We peeled the outside off, made it white, and we left the inside blue and we had a good wrap going with it. My buddy Corey Barry hooked me up with a wrap and it came out pretty nice, so we kept the colors that way.”
[Jan. 29 Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
[Jan. 30 Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
The annual Atlantic City weekend has brought nearly 100 TQ Midgets to Boardwalk Hall. Most of the practice had the top 20 cars within half a second.
“It’s definitely a big deal. …You got Erick Rudolph. You got Jimmy Blewett, guys like that that pretty much mastered the indoor stuff. … You’ve got so much talent in one spot and I think there’s like 80 plus cars here and just to make the show is a great deal. And that’s the first step is just trying to make the show, and then make the show, and try to stay out of trouble, and get to the front the best you can, and just gotta keep all four wheels on it to be there at the end.”
The family team consists of his parents, brother, grandmother, and Uncle Joe. Hawkey and son construction, and Sunny’s Market are his sponsors.
Ladyga’s car also has #DStrong on the car for Dorian Murray. Murray is an 8-year-old battling cancer whose final wish was to become famous. Social media, sports teams, and businesses have supported him with #DStrong. Ladyga’s grandmother lives five minutes from Murray in Westerly, RI.
“It was really close to home for us and, you know, I just feel really bad for the family, you know, and hopefully I can do a good job for him this weekend.”
Ladyga will enter NorthEast Race Cars Tri-Track Open Modified Series races and is considering a partial schedule of the Race of Champions Modified Tour and Valenti Modified Racing Series events this season. Ladyga plans to attend the next indoor race at Trenton, NJ February 26-27.
“I’m definitely looking forward to running the tour car this year ‘cause we had good speed down at the Turkey Derby practice and it’s just a blast to drive those Modifieds.”
The team put the Pettit tour engine in the SPAFCO car and Ladyga was seventh quickest in Turkey Derby practice November 14. They did not run the event at Wall (NJ) Stadium because the trailer frame cracked on the way home and was not repaired in time.
Ladyga would like to run a full Modified schedule pending sponsorship.
“I’ve been talking to a couple of people and, unfortunately, no bites yet but I’m still trying. I’ve got my proposal and résumé all setup. So hopefully, we can get some sponsors, and get a full race schedule going.”
Ladyga’s father helped get the bring the ATQMRA back to New London-Waterford and Stafford. It will be the inaugural event for Stafford’s 1/5 mile oval and the first for New London-Waterford since the mid-1990s.
“I know David Arute pretty well, so we were able to work out a deal, got David and them in contact with the Midget guys, so that’s definitely going to be cool.”
The Sunoco Modified rookie finished sixth in point standings at Thompson. He showed speed, despite it was his first time in a Modified. Ladyga started 13th and ran as high as fourth during the 75-lap Icebreaker feature.
“We had a blast running the Modified this year, especially my rookie season. … I was able to pick a few cars off and stay out of trouble (at the Icebreaker), and we were running right up front with I think (Ryan) Preece was up there. We were battling Woody Pitkat and coming to like five to go. We ended up running out of gas because there were so many caution laps.”
“Every week unloaded the car and we were like top three fastest in speeds in practice, and the race and had a shot to win a couple of times. Unfortunately, we had a disagreement with the officials on one of their calls, and we got sent to the back. But other than that, really good season. We’re really happy with it.”
“I feel like I progressed a lot as a driver and I’m never satisfied. I always want to keep making myself better, run up front, and that’s just basically my biggest thing. I always go to the track thinking that I’m going to win ‘cause if you don’t come to the track thinking you’re going to win then you shouldn’t show up at all. So I always push myself to be the best. I got my family behind me. They’re pushing me, so always trying to make the next step up, and hopefully get a career out of motorsports is really what I want to do. I mean, it’s a slim chance, but I still see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I’m going to keep pushing for it.”
Ladyga started in Quarter Midgets at age four and moved to Mini Cups at age 10. He competed at Seekonk (MA) Speedway, Hudson (NH) Speedway and Poughkeepsie (NY) Raceway. “That was a fun track. That was a small little bullring,” Ladyga said of the 1/5 mile in Arlington, NY. Ladyga moved to Legend Cars, Late Models before running Sunoco Modifieds and TQ Midgets last year.”
His goals are to qualify for Saturday’s feature, a top five finish and hopefully get a win for #DStrong.
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com
Photos by Paul Fohlin and Nicholas Teto