At Thompson Speedway on Sunday I had a mission; and my mission was to pay close attention and get to know one driver in each of the three Modified touring series races. That’s right – you heard me correctly – three different drivers. I thought it would be neat to follow three drivers and see how they do, not just follow the leaders or write about the winner. But get this, here’s the mind blowing twist - all three of these drivers would have to have the same car number. That’s right folks – the same car number. I know, I know - sounds like groundbreaking, gripping journalism huh?

Well, after painstaking numeric analysis, I determined my target number - 77 it would be, but much to my disappointment and dismay, Sege Fidanza from the ROC didn’t make it. Luckily, I had I had a backup number, but using this backup in favor of my primary number would mean I’d only be able to focus on two drivers, not the three as planned – but it’d all still work with the two because one driver would be racing in two different races – that’s right – one driver in two different races – in the SAME DAY even. Imagine that.

I was happy to see the True Value car of David Roy’s on the frontstretch at the pit party. This allowed my plan to work. As it turns out – I wound up seeing three different drivers out there in cars numbered Seventy Nine on Sunday, but it was really only two of them – I’ll explain later..

Let’s start with True Value racer, David Roys -

Value the Fans...

I’ll be honest, I haven’t followed much of the TVMRS this season, sure I pay attention to who’s winning, but as for the fine detail, I just don’t know it. For example, I had no idea who David Roys was, let alone that he hails from the Island. No, not some island in the middle of a New Hampshire lake, but THE Island – the one where many of our Modified racing hero’s either came from or once raced. Dave lives in and hauls from Conium, NY, which I can’t say I’ve ever heard of – makes me think of a Super Modified ace by the name of Warren Coniam, I always liked that name – so unique.

I also didn’t know that David is one of three cars hailing from the Island that has found a home on the True Value series. Johnny Bush and Ken Vogel, Jr. are the others that also represent Long Island.

You see, I had wrongly assumed that all of the True Value racers came from "up north." Even though Riverhead Raceway is where 38 year old Roys considers home – it’s the True Value Racing Series that makes David Roys feel at home when he gets the itch to travel. When David goes racing off of the Island, the TVMRS is a series that works best for his team, and one where he can hang his helmet – comfortably.

"The heat race structure is nice, it’s nice to travel to the different tracks and it’s cost effective because they limit us to the amount of tires - they stay on top of the rules and nobody is running any big fancy headers and you can run a 23 degree motor", Roys said.

I asked if it was nice to be part of a series that is growing – "It is nice, I tell ya – they’re all good guys we race with – if somebody breaks something, if somebody’s got something - they’ll give it to you, I got parts from 5 or 6 cars yesterday...."

Now that sounds very – shall we say, brotherly – said Roys "the camaraderie is just unbelievable."

It also sounds pressure free. Roys added, "This is what we do for fun, we go racing."

Coming to Thompson was almost a bust for Roys after he backed it into the unforgiving concrete in turns 3 & 4 after getting loose during Saturdays practice. If not for the hard work by the 79 team, some borrowed parts from his fellow competitors and a rear end from WMT owner Eddie Partridge, it would have been a long ride home to the Island. David was grateful and proud of his modified brethren that lent a hand, and he was quick to point out his primary sponsors Mikes Place and Meads Welding that help him get it done financially – as well as his fiancée and car owner Jacquelyn Howard.

I’m always interested in the car and the 79 Roys drives is a bit of a hybrid and one of special meaning. The car was built in part by the late Tom Baldwin Sr., and with it carries a sense of pride for David and his team. David crewed on Baldwin’s #7 for a period of time and Tom was an important influence. Obviously coming to the site of Tom’s fatal crash, carried some additional weight.

I asked David of his relationship with his mentor and friend. His response was genuine.

"Tommy Sr’s is very close to my heart, he’s one of the reasons why I wanted to come here and run this race. It really meant something to come here."

In Sunday’s feature David started 11th and ran within the top 15 the entire race, which was plagued with cautions. The repaired 79 Roys machine hung in there and maintained a steady pace around a track which was still new to David. While the SPAFCO creations of Alexander, Hinckley, Savory were the class of the field, Jimmy Kuhn made his Troyer mount a deciding factor as well. On a lap 55 restart Roys was in the 9th position and the repaired Troyer/Baldwin hybrid seemed to be gaining some forward momentum, but was soon caught behind the slowing #21 of Richard Savory who earlier blazed through the field.

After the Savory machine spun with a flat tire, Roys had a top 5 finish well within his sights. However, a last lap tangle caused by the spinning 72 of Kuhn proved to be unavoidable for David Roys. The 79 made slight contact, but hurried to the yellow checkers for what was surely thought to be a top 10 finish.

After the race, the 79 team seemed pretty happy and relieved – and rightfully so. Driver 79 managed to bring it home in one piece. Initially, the team and driver thought they had "around a 6th place finish." Monday’s disputed results however, show Roys finishing 13th – highly unlikely in my opinion, as the cars that required wreckers were listed ahead of the Roys machine. Either way the 79 team should be satisfied with their weekend as they managed to repair a battered car and race competitively. For David Roys, his first visit to Thompson Speedway was a bit of a roller coaster ride. From torn up racecar to a top 10 contender – that’s not bad, in fact, that’s something the entire team should be proud of.

I caught up with Roys after his feature and I asked him how it went?, "Awesome, we had a good time, the car was a little tight early but then the car came to us, it just came a little too late. It being my first time here, it took some time to find the proper line. Overall I’m happy after yesterday, what we had to fix, borrow a rear and all kinds of parts, I’m happy yea."

I’m sure in the stands there were a bunch of happy, new David Roys fans out there. The kids who he let autograph the front of his car during the pit party. It’s all about connecting with the fan base and I think that very small gesture was about the coolest thing I’ve seen in some time. The pit party made it possible, but the driver and team took it a step further and connected with the youngsters in a way they can relate too. I mean – who wouldn’t want to sign a racecar?

You know - It’s the little things that make a difference.

I’m sure the guy who helped build the car would agree, as he was surely giving a nod of approval from up above at David Roys’ first effort at Thompson.

Whelen in the leaders...

The driver 79 on the Whelen Modified Tour we all know is 29 year old Chuck Hossfeld. Prior to the racing on Sunday I was able to chat with the Ransomville, NY native and he talked openly about some of the struggles he has been experiencing this season. Chuck is a pretty mellow guy, but I felt his body language spoke volumes about team 79’s recent string of disappointments.

"Our qualifying hasn’t been that good and I don’t know if I’m off a little bit – I mean, I have more poles than wins on the tour so I don’t know where I got off track, but our qualifying has been really poor." Chuck added that perhaps he is "over thinking qualifying too much" and maybe the best course of action is to "do what comes natural" to gain starting positions in the top 10.

Not that there isn’t trouble up front, but the bad starting positions this season haven’t put the Hill #79 where it needs to be on the starting grid. Said Hossfeld, "The bad qualifying is putting us behind the 8 ball as far as the racings going and the last couple of races we’ve been caught up in stuff that for the most part, isn’t our fault and that’s what happens when you qualify poorly"

It hasn’t just been the qualifying struggles this season. There had also been a slight motor problem that reared its head previously at Thompson, Stafford and Holland – so not a nice combination overall. Somehow this quality pairing of a driver who is loaded with talent, and a team capable of a championship title, can’t get the consistent results one would expect.

It’s hard to get those results when luck isn’t on your side – and Chuck agrees, "Once we had some bad luck, it’s just snowballed – what we gotta do is have some good luck and have that snowball. That’s really what I can attest it too. When you have bad luck or your face is in the dirt, it seems like your confidence can get down and you start second guessing things that normally - if you were firing on all eight cylinders, the answers come easy."

Owners Roger and Sandra Hill are behind their driver 110% and Chuck feels it’s a great situation that is developing during their first season together. "I couldn’t ask for better people to be involved with, because they really support me", Chuck added, "We’ll figure it out."

Unfortunately, they didn’t figure it out for the Whelen 150 lap feature.

Hossfeld had take a provisional starting spot and started 31st. He wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry either. At the first caution on lap 37 the #79 was in for service. During the second caution, Chuck came in again, this time taking 3 tires. The car still didn’t move overly forward. A questionable spin in turns 1 and 2 on lap 71 didn’t help matters.

As the race was nearing completion the 79 had made some progress, but mainly due to attrition and track position. Not a great result, but not awful either, and even though Chuck brought it home clean, it still scores as a disappointing 16th place finish.

I watched Hossfeld hop from one car to the next as he prepared himself for the ROC feature. I can’t imagine he was thrilled with the idea of going out in a car without any practice, on sticker tires – but Chuck focused in and kept digging as he strapped himself in and headed out again. He would later be glad he did.

I hope Chuck and the Hill team keep digging on the Whelen Tour and continue to do what they have always done – work hard and have fun. Both driver and team know how to win – I’m certain they can get it done together – we all know the wins are not far away.

ROC - Revenge of Chucky...

While Earl Paules hauled tail around Thompson in his beautifully prepared modified, there was another car putting on a show and moving through the field. Chuck Hossfeld drove a second #79 Hill Enterprises Pontiac Sunday and started scratch on the field, due to not attempting to qualify on Saturday. Chuck made it look easy as he cut through the field from the back to the front – not once, not twice, but 3 times.

After breaking a right rear shock mount about a quarter of the way into the 75 lap race – the Hill team worked like demons to get Chuck back out. They did a great job getting the white and pink #79 back in contention. After Hossfeld quickly settled back into the race, he took advantage of the next caution and came in for his one tire allotment – naturally they took a right rear and then he made an exciting charge to the front. Chuck was running second with a racy Matt Hirschman in pursuit, when his car encountered terminal damage. Chuck needed a caution to offer a challenge to Paules, who had basically checked out on the field, but sadly the caution Chuck needed was brought out by his own car with a broken left front spindle. The damage was enough to sideline Hossfeld for the remaining handful of laps.

Same driver, same chassis and same horsepower as the orange 79 Chuck drove in the Whelen show. Apparently the only difference was the tires and shocks – that’s some difference!!

Speaking of difference – I interviewed a very different, upbeat Chuck Hossfeld after the race. "That was fun – the finish wasn’t there but... I could work traffic, I was far more comfortable in that car and I could tell in the first two laps. I mean, we had no practice in that car. My car was so good I was going to the front and when it’s that good, it was just fun out there,"

Hossfeld continued, "If we packed up and left after the Whelen show, I would have felt like garbage.".. "Everyone else left though, that’s the only bummer" (speaking of the fans).

In the ROC show Chuck Hossfeld raced like we all know he can. He was able to put his car wherever he wanted and he could drive it in hard and it stuck. Chuck, (like the 21and 72) was able to dice his way through the field at will - and not many cars did that on Sunday in convincing fashion. It was great to see Hossfeld driving it like he stole it, and I know the entire Hill team and especially Chuck was relieved to see some positive results from the track time this weekend - even if it came after the Whelen tour event.

As Chuck and the Hillbilly team head to his favorite track in New Hampshire, don’t be surprised to see Hossfeld slicing and dicing for the lead. He has proven to be a major player there in the past, taking the big paycheck twice at the Magic Mile.

Now I know it won’t take magic for that to happen again – perhaps Chuck and team just need to "do what comes natural."

It’s a nice day to... Start again...

So it wasn’t a Thompson 300 weekend. Fortunately, it wasn’t billed as such and if we’re all lucky the Thompson 300 will be back again someday, on a beautiful fall weekend. I had no problems with what Thompson put on tap this weekend, in fact – I really liked the idea, however I do have issue with what they have attempted to replace.

The Whelen Modified Tour deserves to have a Thompson 300 on its schedule; we all have our reasons why we love the 300. Thompson has a good idea here in their Modified Mania concept, and it would be wonderful if they moved this show to an open weekend in favor of the Thursday Tour event.

In my opinion the show went a little too long – fans weren’t there to see the end of the ROC show and I think all tour tracks should take note; while we love our modifieds and racing in general – teams and fans don’t want to be there all day and well into the night, especially on a Sunday – folks got stuff to do..

In the end at Thompson we saw lots of modifieds from all over. They hauled from Upstate NY, Long Island, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. They pulled from Maine, NH, Vermont and Rhode Island. They came from near and far to a beautiful speedway on a spectacular weekend. Kinda sounds reminiscent of a prestigious, long distance race I once knew - a fall classic that took place in a quiet corner of Connecticut not so long ago. Say -- isn’t that what the Thompson 300 used to be like back in the day?

Speaking of yesteryear – around 1983, there was this brash rocker by the name of Billy Idol, he had a plug for MTV that was both catchy and annoying – at any rate, it worked. With his lip snarled and his fist pumped - his wild spiked hair and his black leather duds demanded your attention.

Well, I thought maybe that look and attitude would work for my new campaign to restore the 300. I wonder if hired the aging Mr. Idol he could curl that stiff upper lip, pump his fist and demand my wish – it goes something like this...

"I want my Thompson 300!!"