Todd Szegedy pulled his blue deuce into Victory Lane at the thirty-fourth annual CARQUEST Fall Final at Stafford Motor Speedway. Szegedy led the race wire to wire but that’s not the only news that echoed from Modifieds this weekend. I’ll try to keep this short as the interviews from this Stafford Springs resulted in over twelve pages of text, most of which will be used in future stories to try to keep our Internet friends entertained during the winter months.

Some of the folks that I did interviews with this weekend included the members of the Whelen Modified Tour championship winning Flamingo Racing team. Another was a very interesting conversation that I had with long-time Modified racing advocate and Stafford Speedway announcer, Ben Dodge. I will have something on the champions ready prior to the banquet and the piece on Ben will likely wait until sometime in 2007.

Next weekend is the fourth annual North-South Shootout™. Hoosier Tire has jumped onboard to be the title sponsor of the featured Tour type Modified race. Hoosier Tire Asphalt South has been announced as the presenting sponsor of the entire event. We will be there to provide Live Updates from Concord Motorsports Park and the information should start flowing through our Message Forum portal sometime late Friday afternoon.

I asked Donny Lia, “Do you think that it’s your turn to win the North-South Shootout™?" Donny said, “Maybe. I mean I won the pole there the first and third years and Johnny won the race. John won the pole for the second one and I won the race.” I asked, “So maybe you’ll let John win the pole so you can win the race?” Lia responded, “Yeah, we’ve kind of flip-flopped that and this could be my turn to win. We’re ready to go!”

I said to the two-time and defending champion of the North-South Shootout™, John Blewett, III, “Donny Lia says it could be his turn, what do you think?” John replied, “I think a lot of guys think it’s their turn. We’ve won two out of three and maybe it is somebody else’s turn but I think we’ll be going down there pretty well prepared and we pretty much know what it takes to win down there. There’s going to be some pretty good competition down there and some cars there last year that had certain points of the race gone in a different direction anyone could have won.

I think the key there is to have a comfortable car, maybe not the fastest but something that’s going to be the same speed through the whole race. We seem to have that. We’ve had that pretty consistently the whole year. I feel pretty confident going into the race but not cocky. We’ve been in contention to win just about every race we’ve been in this year. If you go down there and finish in the top-five, you’re doing something. We’re going there to win but we won’t be dissatisfied with a top-five.”

Perhaps what is most on the minds of the fans and competitors is what everyone’s plans are for next season. In search of further news about the future of the #36 Modified, I spoke with J&S team owner, Ed Whelan. Ed had no further announcements about the team’s plans for 2007. However, he did tell me that Bobby Santos, III would drive for him in the Hoosier 100 next weekend at Concord Motorsports Park.

Eric Beers told me that he would be driving his own #9 Tour type Modified in the Hoosier 100 at the North-South Shootout™. Beers will also drive Terry Zacharias’s car in the SK-type 50 lap event. Eric will have brothers Kevin and Brian Crowley in his corner.

Speaking of the Crowley’s, when one thinks of the NSS weekend, who can forget the pedal car races that have been dominated by Kevin’s twin daughters Ashley and Shawna. Both of the Crowley girls have outgrown the competition so there will be a new winner this year.

Prior to the race, Polly Reid told me that Phil Moran had taken a position with Bill Davis Racing. Tom Baldwin, Jr. apparently has hired Phil to be in charge of the chassis shop at BDR. She also told me that Tom had tabbed Steve Aspinwall from the Mystic Missile team for a position at Bill Davis racing and that he was actually on his way there Sunday morning. I asked Steve Halpin, who is in charge of the Tom Baldwin Memorial Open whether Tom was going to fleece the entire Tour of its talent. He just smiled and had no comment.

The pit party was big. The meet and greet that we had there was lightly attended. For those of you who enjoy our Live Updates, unless we have a couple of folks who stand up and choose to help out, the only one that we will have next season will have a Southern flavor. Charli Brown will be providing the Live Updates from all of the Whelen Southern Modified Tour races next season. He will be meeting with me at the North-South Shootout™ to learn the ropes.

The torrential rains of Saturday night had left the infield quite wet. However the winds of Sunday had evaporated most of the water from the infield less two small puddles inside the Mini-Mile. It was so windy on Sunday that the stanchions for the Musco lighting were swaying. As the field came to life it felt as though the Arute Suite in turn four was going to get blown right out onto the track.

One of the more odd things that I have heard over the NASCAR frequencies was this: “Tower”
“Go ahead.”
“We have a report that a branch has blown onto the back straightaway.”

On lap nine there was an accident that involved Jimmy Blewett, Tom Bolles, Rick Fuller, Dick Houlihan, Ken Barry and Danny Sammons. Blewett’s car seemed to get really loose and may have had some contact from the #41 of Reggie Ruggiero while he was trying to save it. Blewett and Fuller were done for the day.

The Houlihan team did a great job fixing up the #46 to get Dick out to pickup a few positions. The Solhem team worked on the #0 car seemingly during every caution period and soldiered on for a lead lap finish. Ken Barry came back from a flat tire to challenge for the win.

Rob Summers had a particularly hard crash in his #1 car on lap twenty-three. Wayne O’Kula later told me that his car went vertical, inverted and then plunged nose first. Wayne said, “I can tell you that the bottom of that chassis isn’t painted either.” Apparently Rob’s car had contact with the #28 of James Civali and the King team worked for the better part of the day to keep their driver out there.

The yellow flew again on lap thirty-one. Reggie Ruggiero and Chuck Hossfeld got together coming off of turn four. Hossfeld drove away to finish two laps in arrears. Ruggiero was done for the day.

All this time the battle up front had been intense. Szegedy, Ted Christopher, Donny Lia, Mike Stefanik, John Blewett, III and Tony Hirschman were really mixing it up. Christopher looked as though he was going to take the lead when problems erupted for the #36 on lap fifty-one. Entering turn one, a brake rotor came apart on Ted’s racecar and cut his left-rear tire. Christopher’s season ended against the fence between turns one and two.

Most of the high rollers that were going to pit; chose to do so on lap fifty-three under caution. Stefanik, Jerry Marquis, Eric Beers, Doug Coby, Eddie Flemke, Zach Sylvester, Kevin Goodale and Jamie Tomaino all came in. The Goodale team seemed to get the best out of those who changed tires.

Matt Hirschman spun on lap sixty to bring out the next yellow. Sixteen laps later, Danny Sammons spun in almost the same spot to do the same. John Blewett, III chose to pit at that time, bringing some of those who had pitted earlier with him.

Things settled down up front and although there was a caution for a Jim Storace spin on lap one twenty-eight, the battle for the win had shaped up between Szegedy and Barry. Ken did everything he could to pass Todd without hitting him. He just came up a little bit short.

In Victory Lane, Todd said, “I’ve got to thank Phil [Moran]. He put a really awesome car underneath me. We went back to the setups we used to have back in ’03, when we ran strong. I want to thank my car owner, Mike Smeriglio and John Romano and my sponsors Unilever, Wisk and Snuggle. We were very optimistic through the bad times my car owner was always happy and smiling. The car was awesome.

Ken Barry was clearly faster than me at the end of the run. I had to drive the wheels off of it at the beginning. I think I burned up the right-rear [tire] up a little bit. And I started loosing that right-rear hard. To be honest with you, I know Ken is a good clean driver and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to stay in front of him but he was extremely faster and I don’t know how much longer I could have kept in front of him.”

Todd was asked, “How bad did you want to win this race with Phil on the pit box for the last time for you?” Szegedy replied, “Phil is the guy who made us a winner. I’m very proud of Phil because he needs to be down there. Guys with talent like that need to be down there. Unfortunately, you just can’t make a living with the Modifieds as a crew chief: it’s really hard to do. I’m glad we ended the season the way that we did. It was a rough season for us just like it was for everybody else out here. It’s always great to end the season with a win.”

Ken Barry said, “We had a pretty awesome racecar. We just got a little bit tight in the middle there at the end. I could get along side of his tire but I didn’t have the muscle to pull up along side of him. Todd’s a pretty clean driver. Everyone has a lot of respect for him and I was not going to lay the bumper to him. Early on we got tangled up in a wreck. We had a flat tire so we came in and put a right-rear on and after that the car was just awesome.”

Zach Sylvester said “We can’t complain on this deal when this [the Fall Final] started and we had motor troubles and power steering problems. We had to take a provisional. We’ve had such a good car every time we’ve been here this year I wasn’t too worried about it.”

Later in the press box, Zach said, “When we came here, we had changed an engine two days prior and we just had a bunch of problems that we just couldn’t get fixed in time to go out to time trial.” I asked Sylvester, “What are your plans for next season?” Zach responded, “I’m probably going to try to find a ride for the Tour. Me and my father have discussed it. We’re going to try to do it a little bit easier for both of us. We’ve been doing this straight-out since I was nine years old and it has gotten to the point where we want to find an easier way of doing it. We will see what opens up. A lot of things usually do come banquet time. I’ll weigh my options at that time. If not, I’ll have the SK. Things look good in that. We’re ready for a full season next year here [at Stafford] and we’re going to do some other shows at Thompson. Either way we will be behind the wheel.” Zach will drive an SK for Glenn Johnson at Stafford in 2007.

I told Ken Barry, “Great run, what do you attribute it to?” Ken replied, “A lot of hard work by the guys. I mean we were destroyed after Thompson. This car has got new front and rear clips on it. I mean everything from the front of the doors and the quarters back are brand new. We’ve had good cars the last half of the season. We just haven’t been able to show it.”

I noted to Barry, “It seems like you have been able to show it here. What is it about Stafford that brings out the best in you?” Kenny said, “I cut my teeth here. I’ve got a lot of laps here. This is one racetrack where I don’t have to stop and think about how to pass and this and that. I’ve got enough laps here and a couple of wins here in an SK here so it’s one of my better racetracks. Lately we’ve had a really good car here; we just haven’t had the chance to show it.”

I said, “Did you have something for Todd at the end of the race?” Ken kind of shook his head and said, “If I could have gotten a little farther up along side of him going in, I probably could have had him. He’s just got a pretty awesome motor under the hood. When we stood on the gas he could just pull me just enough that it let him get back up in front of me. I’ve got a lot of respect for Todd and I’m not going to move him out of the way.”

I asked Ken, “What are your plans for 2007?” Barry said, “They’re up in the air right now. We’ve got to find a sponsor. We’ve done this all year long out of our own pocket and there’s just not enough there to be competitive and keep on doing it. You’re skimping on tires, you’re not freshening the motors as much as you need to. If we don’t find a sponsor we might have to go to a limited schedule but one way or another we will probably be back.”

I asked Todd Szegedy, “Did your strategy have anything to do with not screwing up anything by pitting?” Todd said, “When you pit, definitely something could happen. I could get caught up in a wreck. If you can go the whole way without pitting, you’re going to have a better shot at winning. You’ve just got to hang on in the end. The unfortunate part about it is that you have to drive so hard in the beginning to stay in front of these guys. They were going hard. I wish we could just get going and go off at an easy pace. I would have had a lot more car at the end. You can’t. The first thirty or forty laps we were going like hell.” The #2 team was involved in six wrecks this year and staying out front kept them out of the carnage.

Todd Szegedy and Mike Stefanik had an interesting exchange that we submit here for our readers. Todd said, “I didn’t know whether I was going to be able to hold onto this. I didn’t know if we made the right call. It started getting free. I started losing the middle and it was doing like quick snaps.” Mike said, “Lia was doing that, I was doing that it was like a quick thing like the right-rear would just roll under.”

Szegedy said, “Then once we got going it would be good but Kenny was definitely better.” Stefanik said, “He was all over you?” Todd said, “Yeah. Right at the end he was all over me. He was definitely better than me.” Stefanik replied, “You should have let him go then.” The press box erupted in laughter.

Szegedy said, “Yeah, you know it’s funny that you say that. I said to myself, “If Kenny gets me, good for him, because he deserves it.” I didn’t necessarily block him but I held my line really low so he couldn’t get a good run. I went slower into the corner to keep him from going underneath me.” Mike said, “Slow down to win. If he goes around you he beats you.” Todd replied, “It’s tough to tell yourself that.” Stefanik said, “You’re getting mature. Another twenty years and you’ll be something.”

Szegedy responded, “I should have done that speech that you did with a few races to go that you did to me, right before Thompson. “You know, by the way, if you win the championship you get to go to New York City”. You know my stomach went into my throat after you said that.” Mike said, “Yeah, that’s a lot of work.”

In his interview, Stefanik said, “It was a great day. We came here so relaxed. I couldn’t wait to get out on the racetrack and just race for just the sheer fun of it. I always race for the enjoyment of racing but there’s always the points, there’s always don’t make mistakes, there’s always don’t bang wheels, don’t get a flat, don’t put your team in a bad situation. I really didn’t care. I just had fun with it and raced it like it was an open show like Oswego. Just go there, see what you can do and go home. It’s a great way to go racing. I’m really happy for Eric [Sanderson]. He told us he wanted three things at the beginning of this season. One, win races, two have fun and three win the championship so all of that stuff is off of his list.”

I asked the champion, “What are you looking for the future of the Modified Tour?” Mike responded, “I was really excited to hear what Phil Kurze had to say. He talked to us at Martinsville, explained that there would be some excitement at the banquet. I believe it because it’s coming from Phil. Phil is involved heavily with the Modified Tour and he is behind it and he wants to see it as more that just a Connecticut based Tour. It sounds like we’re going to be doing some traveling.

He’d like to raise it to the next level. Phil is a very professional person and Whelen is a very professional business and NASCAR will listen to what he has to say because he’s spending the money and when he’s spending the money, I think he is going to have a lot of pull in what happens to this Modified Tour. Right now the whole future of the Modified Tour is in his hands.” Mike seemed really happy and proud to say that.

Perhaps one of the funnier things of the weekend concerned the name on the roof of the champion’s car. “Stroker Ace”, the name associated with every story of infamous racing lore where the actual name was omitted, appeared on the roof of the #16 car. The Flamingo boys have poked a lot of fun at Mike over the year but it has all been in good fun.

I wondered whether it had anything to do with Ted Christopher referring to Mike “Stroke and Poke”. Regardless of that, I could just imagine the Old Man seeing that. No, no boys. That goes on my car. Those stories were all about me! Don’t you know who I am?

Donny Lia got the drop on a bunch of us with a video camera. He said he was shooting a documentary on the Whelen Modified Tour. I wonder when it will air? I hope Donny likes the clip of him that I have of him shooting me.

I’m ready for the North-South Shootout™. Concord Motorsports Park beckons and I will call. This was a show I told everyone not to miss last year. It looks to be bigger and better in its’ fourth incarnation.

Oh yeah. The boat rides were rough this weekend. There was seawater everywhere. People looked ill. I couldn’t find a place for breakfast between Worcester, MA and Stafford that didn’t involve the golden arches or a donut shop. Those and other issues to be addressed in future articles and by the way, if Al Bundy is out there, have Phyllis shoot me your address by email so I can forward some CDs I’ve burned for you.

Although the banquet is the next date on the Whelen Modified Tour dance card, I wanted to make sure everyone is aware of the Motorsports Show at Atlantic City. The Expo Center where it had been held in Fort Washington, PA has been sold and thus the show has been moved to the Atlantic City Convention Center. The event will be run in concert with the Atlantic City Gambler’s Classic Indoor Races at nearby Boardwalk Hall. The Motorsports show will run from Friday January 12th to Sunday January 14th. For further information, visit the AARN website at www.aarn.com.

Late breaking news. I just received an email from Jeremy Davidson in Daytona where the 2006 Craftsman Mechanics of the Year winners were announced. Cliff Lawrence of Kansas City, KS, Wilmer Weiss of Hamburg, PA, Harold Burton of Riverhead, NY* and Howard Deitz of Winchester, NH took the top honors for the Division I, II, III and IV respectively. The winners were selected through a ballot in NASCAR’s official membership publication and each receives $2,000, a 36-inch Craftsman Professional tool box valued at $2,500, plus travel and accommodations to receive their awards at the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series awards ceremony in Las Vegas Nov. 11.

In addition, a mechanic of the year was chosen from each of the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series tracks as a winner. Of the tracks where the Whelen Modified and Whelen Southern Modified Tours compete, here are the winners some of whom we know from the Tours:

Ace Speedway – Calvin Cook, Reidsville, NC
Bowman Gray Stadium – Lee Jeffreys, High Point, NC
Caraway Speedway – Dewey Bowlin, Kannapolis, NC
Greenville-Pickens Speedway – Joey Bishop, Ashland, Piedmont, SC
Holland International Speedway – Mae Urban, Cheektonaga, NY
Jennerstown Speedway – Don Saylor, Cairnbrook, PA
Motor Mile Speedway – Ronnie Kelley, Salem, VA
Riverhead Raceway – Harold Burton, Riverhead, NY*
Southern National Raceway Park – Ryan Rouse, Wilson, NC
Stafford Motor Speedway – Scott Ritter, Shelton, CT
Thompson International Speedway – Jimmy Fuller, Boylston, MA
Waterford Speedbowl – Steve McCann, East Haven, CT

Each local track award winner receives a $100 bonus and $350 credit towards the purchase of Craftsman Tools. Congratulations to all of the winners!