Another Award for Rocco

Don't have much to say here, but just wanted to let you know that Keith Rocco will be recieving the Bill Lee Male Athlete of the Year award at the Gold Key Dinner in Southington on April 17. He's the first racing-related recipient of the award since its inception in 1973.

The press release via the Stafford site is here.

Pre-Christmas News Megapost

This could possibly be the last post I make before Christmas, so let's make it a megapost. There's a lot to cover in this, so let's get right to it.

+ The big headline from last week: The banquet for the Whelen All-American Series, taking place last Friday night at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte. Keith Rocco was the star of the show, as he was honored for his record achievement; collecting a maximum 810 points to clinch the national championship.

+ This logo, over to the right here? Well, it's going to be used in the 2011 season as NASCAR celebrates 30 seasons of the Whelen All-American Series. Sorry for taking it off the website. Thought a visual would be helpful. I'll also paste the link here as well. Did you know that nine tracks have been partnered with NASCAR for all 30 years? According to the press release, Stafford is one of those tracks.

+ Award money has also been revealed from this past season as well. $30,575 was earned from contingency sponsors (finishing in the top-3 in features; etc) and Reliable Welding and Speed for the Rookies of the Year. Another $35,500 was paid out for post-season awards.

+ And closing this out on a jolly note, Santa is coming to town. Santa is Glenn Johnson, owner of Morrison and Johnson Automotive. I love the pictures of the sleigh.

With that, I'm going to wish all of you a Merry Christmas. Stay safe. Stay dry. And if there's news before the new year, I'll be posting it.

Your Late Awards Post

A little more than a week ago, Stafford held its annual champions banquet at LaRenaissance in East Windsor. About 500 people showed for the event.

The champions were formally crowned, and other awards were given out. I apologize for not going into full detail on this one, but the story on the awards will tell you who won what - as far as anything not previously announced goes.

Rookies of the Year

In five days, the awards ceremony will be held at LaRenaissance in East Windsor. Believe it - it's the 41st installment.

Two days ago, the Rookies of the Year in each division were announced.

Josh Sylvester in the SK Modifieds
Tim Fogg in the Late Models
Matt Galko in the SK Lights
Duane Provost in the Limited Late Models

Champion Stories and Champion Ceremonies

Don't have a lot to talk about, but it feels like a lot. Let's get to it. The other three champion stories are up on Stafford's site. All posted on Friday. Just as I thought they were going to be.

SK Lights - Limited Late Models - DARE Stocks

And information about the awards ceremony in November is also up. No real explaination needed.

Thursday News

This is what we call "the calm before the storm". When you wake up in the morning, you will be prepared for two days of racing action. There is some pre-weekend news for you before things get a bit crazy at SMS.

+ There's a very interesting trophy waiting for the winner of the May 7th Late Model 100. What is it? It's a hood from a passenger car that will be airbrushed by students from Lincoln Tech Institute. If you'd like to take a look at it, it will be on display at their booth on the midway before the evening's event gets going.

+ On the second week of racing action, welcome Darrell Yarborough Nationwide Insurance to the contingency list. They've hooked up with the SK Light division, giving $50 to the third place finisher in each race on the schedule.

+ Spend $59 on events at Charlotte Motor Speedway and/or zMAX Dragway, and get a $10 voucher to get into your favorite local short track. NASCAR affiliated.

+ And for those of you who are going to vote on the Craftsman Mechanic of the Year, please look at the following image (courtesy of the Stafford website):

January News Megapost

Okay, considering that I failed in promising you a post-Christmas and pre-2010 entry, consider this one of the longest news posts ever. (Second to the Fall Final megapost back in September.) Categorized by topic, of course.

Driver News
You have driver stories on Brian Chapin, Todd Owen, and Kevin Gambacorta.

Sponsor News
Town Fair Tire will be back to sponsor the August 8 race featuring the Whelen Modified Tour.
CARQuest also renews affiliation, in the name of the CARQuest Belts and Hose Pit Party.
Reliable Welding and Speed also joins suit, renewing as the sponsor of the Rookie of the Year award.

Though I promise you that the actual categories aren't as long as you thought they were, I promise you that it's a good number of stories posted.

And if you haven't looked at the site on a daily basis, I encourage you to take a look throughout the winter. SMS is having an anniversary of the history of the track and the Modifieds, with each day leading through the winter bringing us closer and closer to the modern day. Though as of this post, they're still stuck on '72.

Also, if anyone hasn't noticed yet, SMS has put up a yellow pages link with all of the other useful navigation tools.

The Banquet in a Nutshell

Part one in a three-part series detailing things that happened pre-Thanksgiving. All of which should be up by the end of the night.

I'll start with the banquet first, because I know that's pretty much the first thing that happened this week. A couple hundred people showed up to celebrate the season that was at SMS on Friday, November 20. They were also there to officially crown the five track champions and hand out a few more pieces of hardware.

The five track champions, which have already been discussed in earlier entries here, were...

+ SK Modifieds: Ted Christopher
+ Late Models: Jim Peterson
+ SK Lights: Michael Gervais, Jr
+ Limited Late Models: Andrew Durand
+ DARE Stocks: Don Wood

The track's Rookies of the Year (again, mentioned previously in an earlier entry) were...

+ SK Modifieds: Mark Bakaj
+ Late Models: Adam Gray
+ SK Lights: Michael Gervais, Jr
+ Limited Late Models: Dan Flannery

Moving onto all of the stuff that wasn't announced until the awards. Most Improved Driver winners for the year were...

+ SK Modifieds: Richie Pallai, Jr
+ Late Models: JJ Hill
+ SK Lights: David Webb
+ Limited Late Models: Dave Yardley, III

And as for the Most Popular Drivers? Well, they were...

+ SK Modifieds: Woody Pitkat
+ Late Models: Dillon Moltz
+ SK Lights: Heather DesRochers
+ Limited Late Models: Carla Botticello
+ DARE Stocks: Kyle Casagrande

And finally, the Craftsman Mechanic of the Year award went to John Berardi, who worked on both Don Wood and Stephanie Berardi's DARE Stocks this past season.

More to come later tonight. Part two of the three part Tueday event: The schedule notes. Stay tuned.

Rookies of the Year

Well, I fail more than I already do. The following two articles were written up last month. I don't get to them until November gets here. Anyway... All on-track events at Stafford are officially over. (The last of the '09 swap meets took place on Sunday, and that was it for outdoor action until the spring of '10 gets here.) But there's one thing on the track's to-do list that hasn't been crossed off. That thing is the annual end of season banquet.

Last month, I gave you the stories for the five track champions and the state's Rookie of the Year. Now, I give you the track's Rookies of the Year. Enjoy.

+ SK Modifieds: Mark Bakaj
+ Late Models: Adam Gray
+ SK Lights: Michael Gervais, Jr
+ Limited Late Models: Dan Flannery

Bring on the Banquet

So now that the racing season is over (and I finally got all of my news stories posted), what's next on the agenda? Besides the final swap meet of the year -- also Stafford's final on-track action for 2009 -- there's the annual banquet at La Renaissance in East Windsor. There'll be about 500 people there to celebrate the season that was. And to watch as hardware is handed out.

Awards will be given out in a few categories: The five track champions, along with the four Rookies of the Year. Results of the Most Popular Driver awards will also be revealed, as well as the Most Improved Drivers for the year.

I promise that as soon as everything is revealed with Most Improved Drivers and Most Popular Drivers (hopefully it's all in print the day after the banquet; I'm doubtful for attendance), I will be posting with a quick results post explaining everything.

So stay tuned for that.

Track Champion Stories

I promise that I'll get the results up from Fall Final weekend. Slow week means I tend to forget what I'm doing at times. This is definitely a slow week.

Anyway, if you don't already know, Stafford has their track champion stories up.

+ SK Modifieds: Ted Christopher
+ Late Models: Jim Peterson
+ SK Lights: Michael Gervais, Jr
+ Limited Late Models: Andrew Durand
+ DARE Stocks: Don Wood

Also up is an article about the CT Rookie of the Year, Joe Allegro, Jr.

This post will be edited in due course when the rest of the articles go up onto the track site.

RoTY Program + Reliable Welding and Speed = 8 Years' Sponsorship

In 2002, Reliable Welding and Speed (owned by SK Modified driver Brad Hietala and wife Linda) joined forces with Stafford and started sponsoring the track's Rookie of the Year program. $700 and $500 in prize money was awarded to Tucker Reynolds, Jr (SKs) and Mark Lewis (Late Models).

2009 will mark year number eight in the Rookie of the Year program, with the Hietalas and Reliable Welding and Speed yet again on board.

The names that have won Rookie of the Year at Stafford since the sponsorship came into play have been familiar yet famous, especially in the SK Modified division. Both Woody Pitkat (2004) and Keith Rocco (2005) are past winners; both of which have been in contention to win the national championship for the Whelen All-American Series. Rowan Pennink (2006) found his way onto the Whelen Modified Tour, finishing 8th overall in the standings last season.

Nearly $11,000 has been awarded to nineteen different drivers since 2002. Four new winners will be added to the list when the season comes to a close this year, with another $2,200 going to the winners of each rookie class.

November News

A few things since I haven't gotten sleepy from the turkey I had Thursday and needed to get these up before the new year rolls around (=P):

-- Award winners from the banquet. I know, this was two weeks ago tomorrow and I just got to putting this information up. No undeserving winners there.

-- Ticket package prices are up. Was it $400 for early birds last season? I can't remember if the prices went up or not from last offseason. (Bad writer!)

-- In purse news, over $400,000 was given out to the teams for their efforts in the 2008 season. The money was for point funds, awards, and contingencies.

-- Driver rosters are starting to take shape for the new season. Yes, it's only November. They're not much now, but stay tuned to those to see who's returning, who's moving up to what division, and what new faces will be seen at the half-mile.

That's it for now. More news to come (hopefully) in the near future. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving.

Rules and Banquets

A few things for your Thursday evening:

Rules are now out for the rest of Stafford's divisions. Apparently, they weren't as hyped up like the Limited Late Models since the LLMs were the only ones to have their own press release.

Here are the links for the rest of the rulebooks:

+ SK Modifieds
+ Late Models
+ SK Lights
+ DARE Stocks

Also, if you're looking for the award banquet form, you can find it right here. You must RSVP by Halloween, or you have no shot of attending.

Other than that, I've got nothing else for you. Light news tonight, and more news when I see it. (Or when I find something interesting to talk about.)

A Cornucopia Filled With News

Okay, first off, I'd like to wish all of the faithful readers out there a happy Thanksgiving. Hope you stuff yourselves silly. I know I will. Now first thing's first. The important stuff.

High noon has come and gone... And what do you know, the 2008 schedule has been officially released. I was hoping to come on this afternoon and be relieved to see some excitement on the schedule for next season, and I do have excitement planned. Here's what I know after reading the schedule: There is NO word on a Busch East race at the half mile this season. I've gone through the schedule about three times now, and I would hate to tell you guys that they're not racing out there. But alas... I must tell you that the Busch East at Stafford is only a mirage. But the good news is that the Whelen Modified Tour is racing their usual four times in '08 (Spring Sizzler, Fall Final, and the usual dates in May and August).

Going through the thing, the first thing I noticed was that the Late Model 100 will be run three weeks into the schedule. Huh?

You heard me right. You'll see it right. Three weeks into the season, the Late Models will be running their first extra distance race. In June, you'll have the SK Modified 100. So what does this mean? Oh, Stafford had something up their sleeves, and they've delivered the goods. Something was brought back. Well, two somethings were brought back. Mark these two dates on your calendar now and request that time be taken off from work if you have to: July 25 and August 22. Those are the dates of the SK Modified and Late Model 150s! That. Is. Right. It's been quite some time since there has been a 150 for either the SKs or Late Models, but next year, you'll be getting both. (That, to be quite frank with you, was certainly not what I was hoping to see as I checked out the feast. But hey... A blogger's heaven is an extra distance race. And I shall be awaiting every lap of it.) Four years of absence will be just what the doctor ordered. Let's see what happens when an even greater strategy comes into play.

The CARQuest Extreme Tuesday is back. It will be held on July 8 of 2008. ISMAs, NEMAs, and Pro-4 Modifieds... Oh, my!

You can see everything schedule related here.

Also on tap, we had the banquet on Friday night. Other than what I heard about a school bus transporting all of those who were coming in from the Stafford Springs area into the area of the banquet in East Windsor, it appeared to be a fun time regardless. Numerous awards were handed out, including the official crowning of the five track champions of the '07 year. The other winners of awards and the categories that they won in included:

Most Improved Driver: Brad Hietala (SK Modified), Dave Wray (Late Model), Raymond Grassetti (SK Light), Joey Ferrigno (Limited Late Model)
Rookie of the Year: Wade Mattesen (SK Modified), Corey Hutchings (Late Model), Josh Sylvester (SK Light), David Capriati (Limited Late Model)
Most Popular Driver: Woody Pitkat (SK Modified/Late Model), Chris Matthews (SK Light), Sean Foster (Limited Late Model), Dan Flannery (DARE Stock)

Third on the agenda... If you haven't seen them already, Stafford's '08 rosters are being updated as we speak. Don't hesitate to check out who'll be driving what cars in what divisions as the end of April rolls around. And with that being said, I'm out until there's more news. Gas pedal's on the right, and have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving season once again from the faithful blogger at The View From Turn One.

Banquets and Schedules and Ticket Pricing... Oh, My!

Happy Thanksgiving, ladies and gentlemen. I'm sure by now the bird has been cooked and you're sitting down giving thanks for everything in life, but I've completed all of that and today I give you what might as well be the biggest entry this holiday season. Today we'll cover three things that have been brought up through the Stafford community: The awards banquet, the 2007 season schedule, and ticket pricing. Please keep the ticket pricing part somewhere safe, just in case you plan on buying some season passes this season. You will not be disappointed.

However, we begin with the 2006 Champions Banquet held on November 17th. Plenty of people were there to officially crown the five track champions in their respective divisions, and along with the kings and queen being crowned, we had some other hardware to give out. They were for Most Improved Driver, Most Popular Driver, and Rookies of the Year. In the Most Improved category, your winners were Kenny Horton in the SK Modifieds and Scott Cook in the Late Models. Most Popular Drivers this season were Todd Owen in the SK Modifieds, Woody Pitkat in the Late Models, Kevin Gambacorta in the Limited Late Models, Lori-Jo Rzeszutek in the DARE Stocks, and Shelly Perry in the SK Lights. And the Rookies of the Year were Rowan Pennink in the SK Modifieds, Wayne Coury, Jr in the Late Models, and George Nocera in the Limited Late Models.

Now we turn our attention to something that'll put people on the edge of their seats: The 2007 Stafford Motor Speedway schedule. The entire schedule is on the track's website as we speak, but I've taken the time to take notes and give you the heads up on the special events. These are dated according to... Well, date. Pay attention and mark your calendars.

• Spring Sizzler: April 27-29
• Whelen Modified Tour: April 29 (FIRST appearance)
• Whelen Modified Tour: May 25 (SECOND appearance)
• Busch East Series: June 8 (ONLY appearance)
• Late Model 100: July 6
• CARQuest Extreme Tuesday: July 10
• SK Modified 100: July 20
• Whelen Modified Tour: August 10 (THIRD appearance)
• Fall Final: September 28-30
• Whelen Modified Tour: September 30 (FOURTH appearance)

There's an open date on the schedule. That date is June 24th, and that is a Friday. I don't know what's going on or what's the deal with the empty date, but I will give you details when I hear them.

Finally, today we are thankful for season ticket prices for the 2007 season. There are four different ticket packages to choose from starting now and up until May 11th. If you're looking for a Paddock Pass Package, it's $385 until December 15th. From December 16th to March 15th, it'll be $430, and then it gets raised to $485 from the 16th of March to May 11th. If you'd like to add a reserved seat to that package, be prepared to pay $50, $70, and $80 respectively. There are three other ticket packages to choose from, and the pricing was all listed in this friendly press release by the track.

Now that we've got everything covered, I'm thankful for sharing this information with you and I'm also thankful that we've had the best darn year ever. Stay dry and safe and don't go out tomorrow unless you absolutely need do. Happy Thanksgiving again. Take care.