Adrien Paradis, III Looking to Carry 1st Win Momentum Into Midstate Site Development Street Stock 30 at Stafford Speedway
(Stafford Springs, CT)—After securing his first career Street Stock victory at Stafford Speedway, Adrien Paradis, III will be looking to carry momentum from that first win into the biggest Street Stock race of the 2021 season, the Midstate Site Development 30 set for this Friday, July 2. Paradis, driver of the #19 CSB Communications Chevrolet, scored his first career win in the midst of his third full season while driving a backup car.
Paradis came to Stafford’s Street Stock division in 2019 and he finished 5th in the Street Stock standings with 6 top-5 and 19 top-10 finishes to claim R.A.D. Auto Machine Rookie of the Year honors. Paradis’ voyage in the Street Stock division since his rookie season has been anything but smooth. After an early season wreck in 2020 he still managed 3 top-5 and 8 top-10 finishes in 13 starts to finish 7th in the season ending standings. Misfortune struck again in the third race of this season damaging his primary car. After struggling with his backup car and taking a week off from racing, Paradis came back on June 18 and scored his first career win.
“The win was great and it was long overdue at 2+ years,” said Paradis. “Last year right out of the gate I destroyed my primary car, so I ended up buying a car from a former competitor I used to race against at Waterford and switched everything over to Stafford specs. That ended up working out for us last season and over the winter we got the primary car back together. My primary car got wrecked again in the third race this season and trying to get my backup car to where the primary car was has been tough. We’ve been fighting brake issues for a couple weeks and we’ve had a couple flat tires, so it seemed like it was never ending. For a moment I was thinking about calling it quits because I felt like I was tearing up equipment left and right, but thanks to my family and crew, they all told me I could push through. I took a week off a couple weeks ago just because I needed a break and then I came back the next week and won, which helped rejuvenate my passion for racing. It was an awesome feeling and now I’m just hoping that I can repeat that.”
Paradis followed up his win with a third place effort on Friday June 25 to give himself and the #19 crew a boost of confidence heading into the biggest Street Stock race of the 2021 season, the Midstate Site Development 30.
“I think I have a lot of momentum going into this race,” said Paradis. “I’m looking forward to the race and I just need to stay out of trouble and keep my head on my shoulders and not try to win the race on the first lap. It’s a long race and once cars start to shake out, hopefully we can start to pick them off one by one and be back up front at the end of the race. I’m very happy with where the car is at and we’re going to try to keep on improving it. As long as we can stay out of trouble, I think we can be right there at the end of races.”
Paradis’ two consecutive podium finishes brings his total of podium finishes for the 2021 season up to a career high 3 and he would like for nothing more than to add a second career win in the MSD Street Stock 30.
“I was confident I could get to victory lane,” said Paradis. “I was the bridesmaid enough times, it was time to be the bride for once. I knew we could do it, we just needed to stay out of trouble and have things line up for us and they did. We wanted to repeat last week but the car was just a little loose and I couldn’t catch the two guys in front of me. Hopefully we’ll make the change we need during the week and we can be up front again in the 30-lapper. It would be huge for us to go from 2 winless seasons to 2 wins in one season. That would give us the boost we need to keep on digging and trying to rack up even more wins. My entire crew puts in a lot of time and effort and it’s nice to get into victory lane and see the enjoyment that they all have on their faces.”
Despite the trials and tribulations that Paradis has endured the last 2 seasons competing with his backup car, he has no plans to bring his primary car back to competition before the start of next season.
“I do have parts to repair my primary car but I just don’t have the time to work on it between my job and spending time with my family,” said Paradis. “I’m pretty happy with the backup car for now and I’m not in any rush to get the primary car back together. We’ll probably work on it over the winter so we’ll have 2 cars ready to go for next season.”
The MSD Street Stock 30 is set for this Friday, July 2. The Street Stocks will be joined by the SK Modified®, Late Model, SK Light, and Limited Late Model divisions and tickets for the MSD Street Stock 30 are available online at StaffordSpeedway.com/tickets and will also be available at the gates day of show. General Admission tickets are $20.00 for adults, $5.00 for kids 6-14, and free for kids 5 & under. Reserved seating is priced at $25.00 for all ages and pit passes are $35.00 with a valid 2021 Stafford Competition License and $40.00 without a Stafford license. Following the conclusion of feature racing events, there will be a fireworks presentation to celebrate the Fourth of July weekend. If you are unable to attend the event, tune into the live stream on FloRacing, the official streaming partner of Stafford Speedway.
For more information, visit www.staffordspeedway.com, checkout Stafford Speedway on Facebook or Twitter, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
