Supporting the Sport That He Loves.

Some people go on various chat rooms, comment on Facebook and voice their opinions at the track about the state of the Modifieds. They discuss car counts, the quality of races, the quantity of races, that the races should be on TV and that Nascar modifed races should pay more money.

Well we got the races on TV, even tracks like Riverhead Raceway will be on Versus TV in HD no less!

Plus one person decided to stop discussing and start doing something about the purse at his home track.

That person is know to many as LImodmaniac but his real name is Jim Schaefer , a school teacher from Riverhead NY. Jim is a long time race fan, especially the mighty modified race cars.

Jim has personally sponsored cars and always supports the races by attending up to 50 or more races a year all over the eastern United States.

Jim's quest started last year at the Riverhead Raceway WMT flash race. Jim dug into his own pocket and added $1,400.00 winner Ryan Preece's payout. Last year Jim was able to round up the base winners purse to a cool $4,000.00 to win. Kids from Jim's class got to go on the track and give the start your engine command, quite a thrill for them I am sure.

After the race Jim started thinking that $1,400.00 was good but $10,000.00 would be better. Jim believed with the help of others he could raise the money.

Right now the goal for the 2010 Riverhead Raceway WMT race on July 31st is to add $300.00 to each position plus an extra $2,100.00 to the winners share for a total of $5,000.00 to win. Jim's total goal is to add $10,500.00 to the purse, plus if he goes over that he would also like to add tow money for the cars that do not qualify.

Jim personally spoke to many of the drivers at Stafford and showed them a copy of the enhanced purse, I believe Jim made many friends at Stafford.

Several friends of the Chrome Horn web page have pledged money including Hossfan, Mod11racer, StoningtonModMania, Axel and Liquid bread. Jim is getting close to his goal but still needs a little help. So if you would like to contibute, contact Jim on the Chromehorn.com or speak to him at just about any modified race between now and July 31st.

Jim will be at the May 15th Riverhead Raceway 100 lap Modifed race supporting is favorite race cars, adding a little money to that race and drumming up support for the July 31st WMT race. Come on down and join him, the first feature race starts at 5:00 o'clock sharp.

From the drivers, team owners and fans of the sport, thank you Jim Schaefer.

See you at the track.

The 2009 Season in Modified Racing.

Well here we are 8 months after it all started at the Icebreaker. Only one race remains on the 2009 calendar, the Turkey Derby at Wall Stadium.

I was a good year on the WHT 13 races at 7 tracks in 5 states. I know that 13 races is not enough for some people but except the Spencer Speedway race the tour raced in front of good or great crowds all year long. The crowds at Bristol and New Hampshire we huge, seeing the mods at Thunder Valley and on TV was quite a thrill. The road trip to Bristol with Teds Race Tours was quite a trip. If you ever get a chance to travel with Ted do so as it is 40 dedicated race fans for anywhere from 1- 3 days on the big green bus.

The point race got very exciting after Bristol and went down to the wire. Donny Lia charge up the standings all summer and Fall was exciting to watch. Plus Donny had #3 team with Ryan Preece in tow all summer. No matter what was thrown at Donny, he and the team rose above it. The charge from the back 3 times at NH in September are what legends are made of.

Ted Christopher's decent in the standings after starting the season with 2 wins and a second was almost as startling as 2009 champ Donny Lia's climb to the top. Just one or 2 small breaks and Teddy might have been be the 2 time champ.

All told 2009 saw 61 different WMT drivers hit the track. Not the largest amount in history but with tough economy that was not too shabby. The True Value Tour had 69 different driver in action this year, the ROC had 57 drivers in only 8 races and while the Southern tour which only averaged 12-20 cars per race saw 43 drivers race at least once. Even the shortened season of the ASA tour saw 27 drivers this year.

With the ROC, WMT, WMST and True Value Series there were probably 125-150 different teams in action this year. Now if we could get them all in action at the same track like the old Race of Champions, that would be a sight to see.

In addition to tour tracks the independent track Shangra La II opened to good crowds and growing car counts. Lets hope they can keep the growth going with the installation of the rest of the grandstands, lights and the completion of the infield pit area. This would be a tremendous track to the ROC, WMT and maybe the Race of Champions some day.

This year I got to travel a lot more than I had planned and got to see a wide variety of tracks, I really enjoyed getting back to Oswego on 2 occasions. The steel palace has lost some its luster from when I first went there but it is still a big time track that puts on a great show. Labor day weekend it was packed with tons of cars, campers and fans. I also got to see the winged supers. for a special show in July.

Some of the more interesting news in the early off season is the paving of Albany Saratoga and Devils Bowl in Vermont. Those 2 tracks along with Airbourne Speedway may give the mighty mods 3 more quality tracks to race. Those and the WMT traveling to Lime Rock Park next year gets me excited already. The ROC and MRS racing series has already booked a race on April 18th 2010.

Add in the 10 rumored Speed TV races for the WMT series and it is shaping up to be another great year of open wheel racing all up and down the east coast.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

I can be reached at Mjaworecki@gmail.com