(Stafford Springs, CT)—Like most teams during the off-season, the #41
TicketNetwork.com Late Model team of J.J. Hill has been hard at work
preparing for the 2012 Late Model season at Stafford. The team has been
preparing a brand new Late Model for the 2012 season, which has Hill excited
about his prospects for the upcoming season, where he is looking to be a
championship contender.
“We started from the ground up putting a new car together,” said Hill. “We’
ve been running some ancient equipment, so it’s nice to be building a new
car from the ground up. The car has everything we want in it, so we’re very
excited about the season.”
After finishing no higher than 26th in the Late Model points standings for
the first 4 years of his career, Hill fortunes took a turn for the better
beginning with the 2009 season. He finished 7th in the points standings to
earn Most Improved Driver honors, and he followed that up with his first
victory in the prestigious Late Model 100 in 2010. Last season saw Hill
grab his second career feature victory and he also cracked the top-5 in the
points standings for the first time. With a new car and a great crew, he is
looking to continue the upward trend and be a contender for the track
championship this season.
“It’s hard to believe that I’m going into my 8th season,” said Hill. We
really struggled a lot for the first four years, but we’ve slowly changed
the face of the crew, and when you get the right people around you, better
things start to happen and we’ve had some success the last couple of years.
The championship is definitely on our minds. We’re trying to win races
every time we come to the track, and I feel like that if we can do what we
do every week, then we can be one of the contenders this year. We’ve
definitely talked about it in the shop and part of the plan this year is to
run for points.”
While the 2009 season may have been Hill’s breakout season, he still feels
like he hasn’t quite reached his full potential and he is primed for a
break-through year in Stafford’s Late Model division this season.
“We were up front for a lot of races last year, we just had small stuff
happen that kept us from getting the results that I would consider to be a
breakout season,” said Hill. “I think that if we can take a couple of small
steps forward this year, we can achieve breakout results. I feel like we
showed people that we’re there, we just have to take that next step
forward.”
Along with the new car that the TicketNetwork team has put together, Hill
will have his car from last season as a backup just in case a backup car
would be needed during the season.
“It’s a good feeling to have a solid backup car,” said Hill. “Knowing that
this is a car that we have won twice with before and that it’s a good top-5
car is a good feeling. Look at a guy like Tom Butler. Last year he had to
run in another car for part of the season and he did pretty well in that
car, so it’s comforting for us to know we have that backup car if we should
need it during the season.”
With a new car, a solid backup car, and a good team, Hill seems to have all
the piece of the puzzle in place to become a weekly contender as well as a
championship contender.
“We’re really excited about the season, we can’t wait to get started,” said
Hill. “We feel like we have a good plan to start off with on the new car,
and we have plenty of time to get things ready if we’re not there right
away. I have a great crew with Rob Russell, Billy Johnson, Alex Salony,
R.J. Surdell, Josh Zwinklestein, Eric Drew, Steve Spallacci, Dave McGuire,
and Neil Jewl, and we have a great sponsor in TicketNetwork.com. It’s great
to have some financial support and I can’t thank TicketNetwork.com enough
for all of their support. I also have to thank my Mom the car owner, my
Dad, Lifecare Family Chiropractic, and Gold & Diamond Exchange for all of
their support as well.”
Hill and the Late Model division will kick off the 2012 season with the 41st
Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler on April 27-29. Tickets for the
CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler are available and on sale now through the
SMS Box Office. Tickets are priced at $38.50 for adult general admission
tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 and under are
admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult. Reserved seating will
be priced at $42.00 for all ages. All ticket prices include 10% CT
Admission Tax. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with
overnight parking available.
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