{"id":4363,"date":"2011-02-12T16:41:39","date_gmt":"2011-02-12T21:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=9076"},"modified":"2011-02-12T16:41:39","modified_gmt":"2011-02-12T21:41:39","slug":"carquest-champions-charities-driver-spotlight-bobby-santos-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/carquest-champions-charities-driver-spotlight-bobby-santos-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"CARQUEST CHAMPIONS FOR CHARITIES DRIVER SPOTLIGHT: BOBBY SANTOS, III"},"content":{"rendered":"

CARQUEST CHAMPIONS FOR CHARITIES DRIVER SPOTLIGHT: BOBBY SANTOS, III<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Stafford Springs, CT)—As the excitement builds for the June 28th CARQUEST
\nExtreme Tuesday Champions for Charities event, Stafford Speedway has been
\nbusy coordinating charities and the drivers that will represent them. The
\nfield for the CARQUEST Champions for Charities race is impressive, as it
\nrepresents 42 championships among 12 drivers and 5 different open wheel
\ndivisions.<\/p>\n

Bobby Santos, III, the 2010 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Champion, will be
\nracing to help raise funds for the USAC Benevolent Fund to support Eric
\nSaunders. Eric Saunders, the son of Hoosier Tire\u2019s Irish Saunders, was
\ninjured in a motocross crash while he was practicing for the Steel City
\nNational at his home track last year and he is now on the road to recovery.
\nThe money that Bobby Santos, III raises will go towards helping Eric’s
\nfamily purchase equipment for his rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re good friends with Irish Saunders and I knew about Eric\u2019s accident
\nlast year,\u201d said Santos. \u201cBeing a young driver myself, I could identify
\nwith what happened to Eric. With him being so young and to have an accident
\nthat potentially could end his racing career, I can\u2019t imagine what that
\nwould feel like, not only for Eric, but for his friends and family as well.
\nI\u2019ve never driven a caged go kart before, so this race should be a lot of
\nfun and hopefully we can raise a lot of money for Eric in the process.\u201d
\nThe USAC Benevolent Fund was established in 1959 as a way to help provide
\nsupport for individuals such as drivers, officials, organizers, and
\nmechanics who have ties to USAC and Indy Racing League competition. Since
\n1959, the USAC Benevolent Fund has committed hundreds of thousands of
\ndollars to assist members and their families in time of need.<\/p>\n

Although he is only 25 years old, Bobby Santos, III has built up quite the
\nracing resume. Santos began his racing career in the quarter midget ranks
\nand in 2000, at the age of 14, he moved into open wheeled competition by
\nracing modifieds at New Smyrna Speedway and a 350 Supermodified at Star
\nSpeedway. In his first season of 350 Super competition at Star, Santos won
\na race and set a track record that still stands today. Santos continued his
\nforay into the world of open wheels, racing ISMA Supermodifieds, USAC
\nSprints, USAC Midgets, and USAC Silver Crown cars. Santos is a Boston Louie
\nNEMA winner and an ISMA Bud Nationals winner at Oswego. Santos led all
\ndrivers with 5 USAC Midget wins in 2006 and the 2006 season also saw Santos
\ntake home a $50,000 bonus from CARQUEST Auto Parts and Valvoline as he won
\nthe Midget and PRA Big Car races in the same night at Stafford. Santos won
\nhis first career Whelen Modified Tour event at Thompson in 2007 and the 2009
\nseason saw him win races in USAC Sprints, Midgets, and Silver Crown cars.
\nThe 2010 season saw him move into the #4 Mystic Missile owned by Bob
\nGarbarino and he won 3 of the first four races of the season on his way to
\nhis first career NASCAR championship. Santos will look to defend his
\nchampionship with the Garbarino Mystic Missile #4 for the 2011 NASCAR Whelen
\nModified Tour season.<\/p>\n

The starting lineups for the CARQUEST Champions For Charities qualifying
\nraces will be determined by how much money each driver raises for their
\nselected charity. The starting grid will be set with the drivers who have
\nraised the most money starting up front. Fans are encouraged to get
\ninvolved in the event by donating to their favorite driver or favorite
\ncharity. To make a donation to the USAC Benevolent Fund For Eric Saunders
\non behalf of Bobby Santos, III, and for more information on the event,
\nplease refer to the CARQUEST Champions for Charities donation page located
\nat www.staffordspeedway.com. Stay tuned to www.staffordspeedway.com for
\nmore driver spotlights and exciting information regarding the CARQUEST
\nChampions for Charities event.<\/p>\n

Santos and the CARQUEST Champions For Charities field will sit behind the
\nwheel of Wild Thing Senior Outlaw Go Karts and will race around the Stafford
\nMini-Mile rather than the half-mile that the field of champion drivers is
\nused to navigating when they come to race at Stafford.<\/p>\n

CARQUEST Extreme Tuesday will take place on June 28, 2011 and will also
\nfeature the ISMA Super Modifieds, NEMA Midgets, and Pro-4 Modifieds.
\nTickets for CARQUEST Extreme Tuesday are on sale now at the Speedway Box
\nOffice and are priced at $30.00 for adult general admission tickets, $5.00
\nfor children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 and under are admitted free of
\ncharge when accompanied by an adult. Reserved seating is priced at $32.00
\nfor all ages. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with
\novernight parking available.<\/p>\n

For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
\n860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com
\n.<\/http:><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CARQUEST CHAMPIONS FOR CHARITIES DRIVER SPOTLIGHT: BOBBY SANTOS, III (Stafford Springs, CT)—As the excitement builds for the June 28th CARQUEST Extreme Tuesday Champions for Charities event, Stafford Speedway has been busy coordinating charities and the drivers that will represent them. The field for the CARQUEST Champions for Charities race is impressive, as it represents 42 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[196,197],"tags":[72],"class_list":["post-4363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut","category-stafford-connecticut","tag-stafford"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}