But the heat is stifling.
It is enough to send a man mad.

Those are the last two lines that document what James Clarence Withencroft believed to be the most remarkable day of his life. ‘August Heat’ was written by William Fryer Harvey and the famous short story was published in 1910.

The heat at Stafford was stifling. The heat staggers me a bit but sleep deprivation was the reason I found the confines of the Stafford Motor Speedway press box before the haulers entered the paddock. Thanks to Rob Arute for allowing me to enter so early. I curled up on the floor to take a nap. The phone rang. I tried again and the direct connect chirped. I brought my phones with me to the floor and they both rang simultaneously as I stretched out again. Sleep dep, I wonder whether this is what it feels like to be in a coma?

With any chance of catching a couple of winks appearing to lead more invariably to a quest in vain, I headed off towards the paddock area. Forty cars showed up for the 15th Annual New England Dodge Dealers Modified Madness at Stafford Motor Speedway. The tire guys were hard at work and I was able to empathize with them.

Mike Irvine stopped me as I was passing through. He thanked me for including the crew in the ‘Getting to Know You 2’ article that posted last week. I told him to get a copy of the program for the race as there was a piece I wrote in there that the guys on the #18 team would probably enjoy.

The ‘Pitstopper Magazine’ that SMS puts out is one of the finest that can be found at any local short track. The Pitstopper for this event included my submission, “Donny Lia; Making Up for Lost Time” and articles by Peter Vander Veer, Dave Meredith and SMS Communications Director, Scott Running. It is sad to think that some tracks publish a program with little news or commentary of any kind.

It is always interesting listening to the banter over the official’s frequencies. When someone was trying to get a hold of Beth Caron over the scoring channel, I could see that Beth was not responding. She was sitting in the scoring tower about seventy-five feet away preparing for qualifying. After trying to get Beth’s attention by waving through the window, I finally went out into the heat and flailed my arms from the side of the press box.

When Beth did see me I pointed to my headset and she figured out that someone was looking for her. Beth thanked me over the radio for getting her attention. The response from the other end was priceless. “Does he have that big cup with him?” Like I said in that article, “…no one wants to hear about me anyway. They all want to know about the cup.”

Qualifying began and towards the end I started to get nervous. There were weather concerns that influenced NASCAR and SMS officials to move up the start of the Tour show to the first feature of the evening. On one hand, would I be here for another show that would be postponed to a date when I have a conflict? On the other, Vicki was still at work and I didn’t have anyone to post the live updates as the start of the event rapidly approached.

Tony Hirschman torched nearly the entire field in time trials by two tenths of a second. The redraw put Chuck Hossfeld in the pole position and Jimmy Blewett, driving for TS Haulers to the outside of the front row. I’d like to thank Shawn Courchesne of the Hartford Courant for posting the qualifying results as well as the redraw. I think I’ll nominate him for a CMPA award.

When Amie got up to the press box, she had the answers. First we called Jackie who was attending another sporting event at the time. Then we called Linda and thank you once again Linda for bailing us out. Vicki got home at about eight o’clock and relieved Linda posting the updates. She told me that this race was the most fun of any race she had done so far. Thanks to everyone who joined in on the fun Friday night and I hope everyone has a great time Thursday night as well.

Chuck Hossfeld dashed to the lead at the start of the race. On lap 26 Frank Ruocco brought out the first of three cautions that befell this event when he spun his #91 in turn four. Mike Stefanik was able to muscle his way around Hossfeld on the subsequent lap 31 restart.

Stefanik was fast in the #16 Flamingo Racing Chevrolet. I don’t ever remember that car appearing to turn so effortlessly and at the same time have such good bite coming off. That restart lead to a very long green flag run.

It was obvious to me that the officials really wanted to be sure that this race got to halfway. When Reggie Ruggiero spun through the infield on lap 33, the caution didn’t fly. The Reg got the #41 heading the right direction and did an admirable job of fending off the leaders and staying on the lead lap for quite a while. Somewhere between lap 55 and 60, evidence of a sprits of the R-word appeared on the window of the press box. Ruggiero reprised his spin through the infield on lap 103. Once again, no caution flag.

There were many parallels between this race and the one that the Tour ran July 9th at Jennerstown. Both races were 150 laps. Both races had 22 laps of caution. Both races included long green flag runs that were punctuated by caution periods where every car on the lead lap pitted. In both events the #48 team gambled on a two tire stop to get out of the pits first and it worked both times.

The second caution flew on lap 113 for Jimmy Blewett spinning in turn two. At the time that all of the leaders pulled up to pit, Blewett’s #12 was on the hook headed for his pit stall. Mike Stefanik and the #16 team got robbed at that point. The #12 was pitting in the stall adjacent to Stefanik’s and that delayed Mike’s entry, exit and disrupted the crew’s efforts to service the car. I don’t think it helped the #50 team either.

Tony Hirschman led Ted Christopher, Jerry Marquis, Eric Beers, Hossfeld and Stefanik off of pit road. On the next green flag run Ted Christopher battled hard with the defending series champion for the lead but Hirschman was able to fend him off. Stefanik was able to pass Hossfeld and Beers, Hossfeld also got by the #3.

The final caution flag flew on lap 138. The caution was for an accident that involved Mike Christopher and Rick Fuller. Shortly after that time the precipitation started to pick up, NASCAR officials were working on getting the lead lap cars to the front of the field. They also had to get Matt Hirschman around as the beneficiary pass car.

The red flew on lap 145. Ed Cox directed the cars to be brought into the mini-mile so that the track crews could drag tires and get the track dry. As the cars were effectively being 'moved under red' that lap was not scored. I thought at that time the decision to go red was a big mistake and I wasn’t alone.

From up in the tower, the officials had the same vantage point we did. Ed directed the track personnel to begin track-drying efforts. The tow trucks dragged tires around the track and apparently the track hadn’t been totally lost. The red flag lasted just over twenty minutes.

The green flag was displayed at the conclusion of lap 146. Although there wasn’t much movement in the field through the last four laps, the decision to complete the event saved the night for the Stafford Motor Speedway. As the start of the Pro Four and SK Modified races had been pushed back, if the Tour event had ended short due to rain, most of the fans would have left before the start of those events. Good call Mr. Cox.

Tony Hirschman continues his inch-by-inch crawl towards the top of the point standings in search of his fifth Whelen Modified Tour championship. He now finds himself just fourteen points behind Ted Christopher who finished second. Christopher is in pursuit of his first WMT championship and has led the point standings after every race save one this season.

The field at Stafford looked a little different than it at the start of this season. By rough count I believe that there are approximately fourteen drivers or teams that participated in the Icebreaker that didn’t make it to this show. Some of the faces that replaced those from the start of the season include Matt Hirschman, Ruggiero, Jimmy Blewett, Frank Ruocco, Zane Zeiner and Anthony Seseley.

Zane Zeiner used to run occasionally on the Tour, particularly when we raced at Watkins Glen and at Nazareth. Seseley was a real new face to me. He drove for what appeared to be Jim Long, Jr’s team.

Ruocco is a regular competitor in the SK Modifieds at Stafford. He took a shot at the Tour show and got a finish out of it. Jeff Malave like Ruocco is a weekly campaigner at Stafford. Out of those who compete in the SK’s regularly, he is arguably one of those that most deserves an opportunity to race on the Tour.

For Jeff this was his first Tour race since the Icebreaker. It was nice to watch him earn a lead lap finish. When I spoke to Malave this week, I told him that he belonged on the Tour. Jeff hadn’t felt the same way until after Friday’s race.

Shortly after the race was over, I headed for the death trap. I was famished and in the throws of sleep dep. I returned to the speedway from the parking lot and headed towards the concession stand, I was jumped by the Paparazzi. Howie flashed me a number of times and got the candid shot of the Cup that he needed.

In retrospect I am sorry that I missed Donny Lia’s SK win Friday night. I had taken off for the hotel by then. As a matter of fact, I was probably too tired to drive but I made it anyway and was probably sleeping by the time he hit victory lane. Donny plans on making his second Hooters ProCup start at the Bristol Motor Speedway, Wednesday, August 24th. Another Modified Tour veteran is rumored to be participating in that event. I will give everyone the details when I know for sure.

Saturday I checked out at noon. I couldn’t believe how hot it had gotten. It was so hot that my 270 air didn’t work. I wanted to make reservations online for the ferry the night before but, the hotel had taken a lightning strike and their Internet and phones were all messed up.

You never know whom you might run into at the boat. I met a nice guy named Don who works for CSF. He wanted to tell me his favorite Tom Baldwin stories! If I hadn’t been traveling stand-by, I never would have met him.

I know this doesn’t relate to Modified racing but I wanted to point something out. The revamped NASCAR Nation program on SPEED has been a flop for most of us who would rather watch a program like RPM2night. Apparently it is doing pretty well as it appears that it has spawned a copycat. ESPN, the home of the aforementioned and defunct RPM2night, is starting a program where the entertainment industry meets sports called ESPN Hollywood. Go figure.

Our beloved Tour heads for Thompson this Thursday. If the WMT roster that is posted on the Thompson Speedway website is an indication of the entry list, it reflects the same number of cars that comprised the full field at the Icebreaker. This will be an emotional night for many. I hope to see everyone there.