By Lou Modestino
Ted Christopher, a top Modified driver, and NASCAR Whelen Modified team owner Mike Boehler of E. Freetown have agreed to race the 2013 WMTS and the full slate of races beginning with the February18-19 University of Northern Ohio sponsored inaugural Modified events on a temporary constructed paper clip shaped track on the backstretch of the Daytona International Speedway.
“Ted will be on board with us for next year,” said Mike Boehler. “He’s very excited about joining our team and I am as well. There’s 14 races and we talking to a couple of sponsors right now. On the six other Modified races at the nearby New Smyrna Speeday during that track’s World Series, “Ted will be driving one of Joe Brady’s cars there. We just going to focus on Daytona when we go to Florida next month.
Ted drove for us late in the 2012 season for five races. We were doing good at Bristol, Tenn. when a tire blew and we wrecked at Loudon, NH. We won one of the UNOH races and that worked out very good for the team at the Thompson Speedway. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get everything together in time for the opener up here at the Thompson Speedway Icebreaker in early April”.
A large part of NASCAR history in his own right, Mike Stefanik is set to participate in the historical and inaugural UNOH Battle At The Beach at Daytona International Speedway, Feb. 18-19. For the first time, NASCAR’s weekly and regional touring series will have a prominent place during Budweiser Speedweeks in Daytona, the “Worlds Center of
Racing.”
As a nine-time touring series champion, Stefanik had to be a part of it. “At Daytona, whether you win on the road course, the big track or the small track, the trophy will be worth its weight in gold,” Stefanik said.
Stefanik knows a little something about trophies. He shares the all-time record of nine NASCAR championships with NASCAR Hall of Famer Richie Evans. Stefanik won seven NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championships as well as a pair of NASCAR K&N Pro Series East titles.
Stefanik, from Coventry, R.I., has a locked-in starting position for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour feature in the UNOH Battle At The Beach by virtue of his tour win during the 2012 season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. It was a record-extending 72nd career Whelen Modified Tour victory for Stefanik. Drivers to win touring series races and championships in 2012 are locked into their respective features in Daytona; All others must qualify through heat races.
Unlike the vast majority of touring and weekly competitors that will head to Florida in February, Stefanik has raced before at Daytona – the NASCAR Nationwide Series event during Speedweeks in 1994. That was on the big track, however, and the UNOH Battle At The Beach will be contested on a-.4 mile oval on the track’s backstretch.
“I don’t really know that much about how the track is going to race, I just know our car owner wants to go,” Stefanik said. “It’s going to be good for our team to get together and get a race in before things really get going around here [New England], so that’s always a bonus.”
Stefanik will head to Daytona with a slightly different team dynamic than he had during the 2012 season in which he piloted the No. 66 that was a joint effort between two different teams owned Ed Marceau and Chris Our. For Daytona and the upcoming Whelen Modified Tour season, Stefanik will compete solely for Our in a No. 22 Modified and Brad Lafontaine will remain the crew chief.
The Whelen Modified events will be just one facet of the inaugural UNOH Battle At The Beach. The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Models will have qualifying races and a 150-lap feature on Monday, Feb. 18 while the action on Tuesday, Feb. 19 will include a similar schedule of qualifying races and 150-lap races for both the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tours and NASCAR K&N Pro Series.
All three features are non-points events and will be carried live on SPEED while supplemental event coverage will be provided at www.nascarhometracks.com.
This winter, Start/Finish Productions will once again present Auto Parts Swap ‘n Sell,New England’s largest INDOOR all-automotive flea market and swap meet. For over 30 years, Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, MA-Home of the Big “E”-has been the site of Autoparts Swap ‘n Sell. On Saturday and Sunday, January 19 & 20, 2013, the 125,000-square foot Better Living Center will feature wholesalers, retailers, and individuals offering virtually everything for any automotive application.
The event is an off-season tradition for racers of all types, hot rodders, car buffs, and diehard bargain hunters due to its size and variety. Hundreds of vendors offer everything from affordable tools, to automotive essentials, to state-of-the-art safety equipment and cutting edge racing technology, to unique auto and memorabilia, to hard-to-find parts and rare originals.
Autoparts Swap ‘n Sell offers the affordability of a traditional flea market, the comfort of a heated venue and showcase lighting. It also delivers some decided advantages over e-commerce and online auction sites by providing the opportunity for on-sight inspection and the gratification of interpersonal haggling.
Single-day adult admission in only $10.00; kids under 12 are admitted free with a paid adult. Show hours are 8 AM to 5 PM on both Saturday and Sunday, January 19 & 20, 2013.
Limited vendor space is still available. To reserve a12’x15’ vendor space exhibit space for $125.
Ted Christopher of Plainville, Conn., came back from a fiery incident that occurred in the pit area, and, with left hand tightly bandaged, raced his to the lead by Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., with eight laps remaining in the 40-lap ‘Coffee Cup’ main event inside Dunkin’ Donuts Center here.
The win for Christopher was his sixth indoors and by far the most dramatic.
Christopher’s night started out fortuitously when he ran the second quickest time trial lap and won his heat race. When he and the other drivers left the arena floor after the heat for a routine post-race fuel sample inspection, his car burst into flames. Christopher escaped with a badly burned left hand; the car sustained little damage.
“It never hurt at all until now,” said Christopher in a post-race trackside winner’s interview. “It must have been the adrenalin. I have to thank the crew who got the car back in shape after the fire. This win is for them.”
Emerling, who set the fastest time and started on the pole position for the ‘Coffee Cup’, held off an array of early race challengers including Paul Lotier, Jr., and Jon Gambuti, both of whom ran a close second to Emerling.
But Lotier and Gambuti were involved in early crashes. Christopher, who had started sixth in the race, moved to second behind Emerling by lap seven and put on the pressure.
Christopher himself was challenged by Anthony Sesely, and the pair swapped second place back and forth several times during a series of mid-race restarts for accidents further back in the field.
Finally, ‘TC’ got Emerling just a bit out of shape and drove by on the inside to take the lead, an advantage he would not relinquish. Sesely followed Christopher by Emerling and was on the leader’s bumper at the finish.
“We finally got this car running right,” said Sesely, who started seventh. “The inside lane was definitely the place to be on the restarts. I lost a bunch of spots when I was up there. On the last lap off turn four, I got under him and I thought I might have had him.”
Emerling was a disappointed third after leading most of the distance. “Teddy got into me a little bit but that’s Teddy. I’d have probably done the same thing if the situation was reversed. My car was getting a little off as it was. This is just the second time I have driven one of these things indoors and I think we will be a threat in Atlantic City next month.”
Tim Buckwalter, who had flown in from a race the night before in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was fourth and Joey Payne, added to the field in 26th and last starting position as a provisional starter, claimed fifth.
Cody Sieber, Mifflintown, Pa., won the 25-lap Champ Kart feature race fashioned when he passed Brandon Rusczek, Wallingford, Conn., on the eleventh lap and then held off the late race charge of Danny Bouc, Plumsteadville, Pa, and a resurgent Rusczek. Mike Perry and Glen Meisenhelder completed the top five which crossed the finish line nose-to-taii.
“It feels great to win Indoors,” said Sieber, who races karts outside almost exclusively on dirt tracks. “It was close out there, good hard, clean racing.”
The race was the second of the Fatheadz Indoor Racing Series, promoted by Len Sammons Motorsports Productions. The series finale is a two-day racing weekend, scheduled for February 1-2, 2013 in Atlantic City, N.J.’s Boardwalk Hall.
Coffee Cup TQ Midget Feature Finish (40): 1. Ted Christopher, 2. Anthony Sesely, 3. Patrick Emerling, 4. Tim Buckwalter, 5. Joey Payne, 6. Matt Janisch, 7. Ryan Preece, 8. Tony DiMattia, 9. Tim Proctor, 10. Erik Musto, 11. Richie Coy, 12. Ryan Tidman, 13. Jon McKennedy, 14. Ryan Susice, 15. Shawn Nye, 16. Jonathan Reid, 17. Rob Vivona, 18. Tyler Devault, 19. Glen Reen, 20. Andy Jankowiak, 21. Jon Gambuti, 22. Paul Lotier Jr., 23. Bobby Holmes, 24. Rowan Pennink, 25. Chris Allen Jr. DNS: Erick Rudolph.
TQ Midget Heat Winners: Bobby Holmes, Ted Christopher, Shawn Nye, Jon Gambuti.
TQ Midget B Main Winners: Ryan Preece, Jon McKennedy.
Did Not Qualify: Jimmy Carpenter, Mike Osite, Ben Quinones, Luke Thomas, Amanda Quinones, Todd Hoddick, Ken Andreas, Steve Craig, Ryan Smith,
Champ Kart Feature Finish (25): 1. Cody Sieber, 2. Danny Bouc, 3. Brandon Rusczek, 4. Mike Perry, 5. Glen Meisenhelder, 6. Brian Sullivan, 7. Bert Ouellette, 8. Avery Stoehr, 9. Evan Beaulieu, 10. Mark Stewart, 11. Nick Hadden, 12. John Berger, 13. Brianna Page, 14. Brandon Tiezzi, 15. Frank Duquette, 16. Ron Midford Jr., 17. DJ Shaw, 18. Justin Bonsignore, 19. Adam Dion, 20. Alex Mielnicki, 21. Danny Gamache, 22. John Hillman, 23. Tim Sullivan, 24. Carter Levreault.
Champ Kart Heat Winners: DJ Shaw, Tim Sullivan.
Champ Kart B Main Winners: Nick Haddon, Bert Ouellette.
Did Not Qualify: Jimmy Wolcott, Brien Hamer, Nathan Tracy, Les Phelps, Josh Hedges, Manny Dias, Eric Snow, Stephen Beattie, Lauryn Burd, Trevor Sanborn, Will Shields.