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.

Spring Has Sprung

OK, so we have one MRS and one Whelen race on the books and one rain out. Stafford is up next and hopefully mother nature will let us get this one in.

What have we learned so far?? Well the #4 team is a solid team and with a good driver behind the wheel who is now Bobby Santos the III can win on any track. Ryan Preece has started the year where he left off with another second place finish and looking to move up one spot in the standings. Mike Stefanik looks to be on a mission to show yes he is getting older but that is not going to slow him down. TC fought the race car most of the Icebreaker for a 4th place finish. Todd Szegedy had one his usual solid top 5 finishes.

I think what we may also learn is that while we may not have the largest fields of cars it is a quality field of cars. Walking through the pits at Thompson there are a lot of new and freshened race cars that should make for great racing this year.

Several cars that caught my eye did not finish up front but it was good to see them in action.

Burt Myers from NC looked strong early but faded at the end to a 14th place finish. I think everyone would like to see him back for more. Richie Pallai Jr. finished 21st in his 1st modified start at the track. Johnnny Bush in his immaculate #68 had a crate motor and a GPS from Nascar to keep an eye on it. Teammates Wade Cole and Jake Morosz had there ups and downs but I think it was fair to say most were happy to see 2 of the long time tour supporters at the track.

Jimmy Blewett will give the 14 a good ride this year but is is strange not seeing the Reg at the Icebreaker. Hopefully we have not seen the last of him on the tour. Southern tour champ George Brunnhoelzl III who is a native Long Islander is keeping up a family tradition that dates back to the 1950's of winning races and championships.

So its now its on to Stafford and the 200 lap Spring Sizzler, a race that has been won by the biggest names ever to drive a modified. Lets hope the weather holds off so we can run the 39th annual Sizzler! It all starts with the morning pit party on the track from 11:00-12:00 and ends with 200 laps of modified action.

See you at the track.

Jaws

Racing Season is Now Open!

Well we now have our 1st race under our belts. The Waterford Speedbowl hosted 2 days of racing this past weekend. Sunday morning it was on the road early for the 2 1/2 hour drive up the Connecticut coast line to see the MRS racing series, Waterford SK modifieds, NEMA midgets and other local classes.

2 weeks ago it was 70 degrees, last weekend no such luck with a cloudy sky and 40 degree temperatures.

First up was the midgets, 5 minutes and 40 seconds later they were done with Chris Leonard at 19 years of age taking down his first win.

The SK modified class brought a strong field of good looking race cars to the track. 27 cars started a 60 lap race but far from that number finished. Keith Rocco started first and finished there. Keith was strong from the drop of the green and was never really was challenged. Back through the field there was a lot side by side racing and passing. Unfortunately there were many spins and wrecks too. Shawn Solomito passed many cars on his way from the back to a 7th place finish, Jeff Pearl also passed his share of cars and finished 3rd. Ceravolo was strong all day for a 2nd place finish .

The feature event of the day was the MRS modifieds. Another strong field of 30 cars from all over the northeast took part in their first race of the season. Doug Coby won his second MRS race in his last 2 tries at Waterford. And this time he stayed clear of the infield water.

It was a rough day for the open wheel cars. At one point on lap 80 there only 10 cars remained waiting for track clean up to finish. Chris Pasteryak had a good run going until he crushed the brand new cement wall setting off a chain reaction that involved no less than 6 cars and left several out of the race.

Matt Hirshman had a good day, staying out of trouble and finishing a strong second in what was an underpowered car. Eric Goodale had a good finish in 7th but took the hard route to get there. Several trips to the pits and a couple spins plus an almost trip into the first turn wall did not deter the MRS rookie from finishing..

The most disappointed driver of the day had to be Rowan Pennick who while running 2nd ran out of gas on a restart and was never a factor again finishing 10th.

Next up for the MRS modifieds is Albany Saratoga on the 18th of April, but before that its an annual tradition the Whelen modified tour at Thompson Speedway for the 2010 edition of the Icebreaker.

See you at the track.

Speedweeks in the Mirror.

So Speedweeks is over and the racing season has begun. The next real Modifed race is in less than a month at Atlanta Motor Speedway, on the 1/4 mile track on the front strech followed by Orange County Speedway in NC. Lets hope the weather changes a whole bunch in the next 4 weeks.

Opening day for the Whelen Modifed tour is in less than 2 months away at the Thompson International Speedway. The Modifieds will be joined by 6 divisions of stock cars to get the season off to a bang.

The winter was relatively quiet this year. That was until until Donny Lia left the #4 Mystic Missile team 2 weeks ago to re-join the Camping World Truck series. Donny was running well at Daytona until he was involved an a big wreck.

Then at New Smyrna TC won another championship (His 8th by the way) which wasn't the biggest story. The Ronnie Silk/ Keith Rocco WWE SK night at the track grabbed a lot of the headlines. Keith is quickly becoming one of modified racing's bad boys. That is too bad because he can drive a race car but if he keeps this up no one will notice.

The 2010 WMT championship race will be wide open with Donny Lia not racing. Will Ted Christopher get his second championship. Will Todd Szegedy get his first after running so strong most of last year. Will Ryan Preece who is still so young but really came on last year take the last step and get his championship? Plus add in Eric Beers who will have a 2 team effort to try and win his first championship.

Every year at least 1 team steps it up. To do that you need experience, luck, money and a lot of hard work. This year Rowan Pennik could be that driver. Either in his own 93 or the rumored shift to the 4 car could move him up in the standings.

Bobby Grigas will have a new crew chief in Brad Lafontaine, could this be a big year for him? How about Ronnie Silk or Matt Hirshman both very capable drivers with great equipment and experienced teams behind them. This could also be a break out year for some younger drivers, Eric Goodale who had a pretty strong Speedweeks could have a breakout year in only his second full season.

Its just 50 Days until Thompson and counting down. It will probably be cold and with the weather we have had this winter maybe even a little snow left over. But the stands and the pits will be packed with thousands of people all looking to get their racing season off to a great start.

See you at the race track.

Jaws

Its Snowing, So it Must Be Time to Go Racing!!

OK, so it freezing outside and its snowing. That must mean its time to go racing!

While 100,000,000.00+ people are waiting for the Super Bowl, most people I know are looking at Florida not for the Super Bowl but for Speedweeks.

Hundreds of race teams and thousands of of fans are converging on the Daytona Speedway, New Symrna, Volusha and other short tracks around the state. They are there for their love of racing and the annual start of racing in the United States.

Will Jimmy Johnson make it 5 in a row, will Dale Jr. be the driver all him millions of fans want him to be, does Ken Schrader belong in the Bud Shoot out?

All good questions but most of my friends are asking different questions. How many cars are going to show up at New Symrna, will they all come home in one piece, who will win the championship that has been won by so many great drivers over the years? Who will win the Richie Evans memorial race?

For a week of racing that does not pay much beyond the 1st and 2nd place cars it has always attracted the best drivers and teams. Steve Park, Richie Evans, Jimmy Spencer, Tom Baldwin, Ted Christopher, John and Jimmy Blewett, Reggie Ruggiero, Donny Lia, Jan Leaty, Jamie Tomino, Tony Jankowiak and hundreds of others have tried their hands at one of the fasted short tracks in the country.

While a bad night at New Symrna could ruin your season, a good week could make your year. Many a driver has destroyed a car and never recovered the rest of the year. Others have open some eyes with one or two win in Fla.

Well unfortunately the years first race had to wait another day as heavy rains postponed night 1 but hopefully they get in night 2. But there are 7 more races to go including Wednesdays John Blewett Memorial and Fridays Richie Evans Memorial races.

Let hope for good weather and safe races for the rest of the week.

Until we meet at the track.

Jaws

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

Another Season is Almost Over.

Well here we are its mid October and its freezing outside. There is 1 more race to go for the WMT at Thompson Speedway. Hopefully the weather will warm up and we can have a great day of racing.

The season started so strong for the 36 team and driver Ted Christopher with wins at Thompson and Stafford. The last 6 or so races have not been so good. Wrecks, motor problems, bad luck and a race car that was just not that fast. After Stafford and dropping out of 1st place all the way to 3rd place I am sure Ted wonders how did the season that started so strong go so wrong.

On the other side of the coin the point leader #4 of Donnie Lia has been a rocket ship. I don't think anyone has ever gone 2 laps down, been involved in at least 3 wrecks and still finished 2nd. The big difference most of the season for Donnie vs Ted Christopher is Donnie rebounded from most wrecks to finish races well. TC did not have that luck. Donnie racked up 4 wins this season and the New Hampshire track title. Of all the drivers in the championship hunt Donnie must feel the most confidence as he is on roll.

Then there is the 18 year old driver who has gained many fans this year, Ryan Preece. Ryan has been strong all year winning races at Riverhead, the tough 1/4 mile track on Long Island and Stafford. The biggest reason for his 2nd place standing right now is his consistency, Ryan racked up many top 5 and top 10 place finishes. Only a 24th place finish at the first NH race in June and a 18th place finish at the Bud 150 at Thompson keep Ryan out of the point lead. This season has proved Ryan has a bright future ahead of him.

The 4th place team which is still not out of it but would need a lot of things to go right is the #2 Wisk team of Todd Szegedy. Todd was very strong through the middle of the season but a wreck at the September NH race and his wreck at Stafford really hurt their chances.

This weekends rain pushed back the championship battle 1 more week or the champion would have been crowned already. It should be an exciting weekend for the fans. Who will win, who will loose, only time will tell.

Also on Sat October 24th Wall Stadium, twin 66 lap Modifed races paying $6,600.00 to win each. That's a potential payday of $13,200.00!! An added attraction will be Ray Everham in his final appearance at Wall Stadium.

See you at the races.