{"id":4782,"date":"2011-04-09T16:00:50","date_gmt":"2011-04-09T21:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=9076"},"modified":"2011-04-09T15:42:21","modified_gmt":"2011-04-09T20:42:21","slug":"jamie-%e2%80%9cthe-jet%e2%80%9d-tomaino-chasing-career-carquest-tech-net-spring-sizzler-victory-27-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/jamie-%e2%80%9cthe-jet%e2%80%9d-tomaino-chasing-career-carquest-tech-net-spring-sizzler-victory-27-years\/","title":{"rendered":"JAMIE \u201cTHE JET\u201d TOMAINO STILL CHASING FIRST CAREER CARQUEST TECH-NET SPRING SIZZLER VICTORY AFTER 27 YEARS"},"content":{"rendered":"

JAMIE \u201cTHE JET\u201d TOMAINO STILL CHASING FIRST CAREER CARQUEST TECH-NET SPRING SIZZLER VICTORY AFTER 27 YEARS<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Stafford Springs, CT)—In NASCAR\u2019s Daytona 500, Dave Marcis holds the
\nrecord for most career starts with 33, and A.J. Foyt holds the Indy 500
\nrecord for most career starts with 35. Jamie Tomiano, who has raced in 27
\nof the previous 39 Sizzlers, currently holds the CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring
\nSizzler record for most career starts and he will add to that total in this
\nyear\u2019s 40th Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler. Tomaino\u2019s familiar #99
\nSupreme Manufacturing Chevrolet will take the green flag for the 28th time
\nin this year\u2019s edition of \u201cThe Greatest Race in the History of Spring\u201d.
\nTomaino made his first career Spring Sizzler start in 1980 and he has been
\nin the Sizzler starting field every year since 1989, a span of 22
\nconsecutive races.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember my first Spring Sizzler in 1980, we finished around 20th and we
\nwon around 350 or 400 dollars,\u201d said Tomaino, whose recollection was spot on
\nas he finished 22nd and won $365 for his first Spring Sizzler start. \u201cI\u2019ve
\nbeen racing at many Sizzlers, and it\u2019s a great accomplishment that I\u2019m still
\ngoing today. I haven\u2019t been able to win one yet, but I still think that we
\ncan get to victory lane. All drivers want to win the big races and the
\nSizzler is definitely a race that I would like to win. My whole career I\u2019ve
\nbeen close to winning some big races, but I always seem to come up a bit
\nshort.\u201d<\/p>\n

With 27 and soon to be 28 Spring Sizzler starts under his belt, Tomaino has
\namassed a great deal of memories throughout the years, but he says that the
\nmemory that sticks out the most was a year that he missed the race.
\n\u201cIt was the first year of the Tour in 1985 and I was leading the points
\nheading into the Sizzler,\u201d said Tomaino. \u201cBack then, there were so many
\ncars attempting to make the race, if you didn\u2019t make the top-10 in time
\ntrials, you had to qualify through a heat race. We ended up qualifying
\n11th, so we had to go into the heat race to qualify. We started on the pole
\nfor the heat race and we were running in a qualified spot before I had a
\nflat tire. There was no infield pitting for the heat, so we had to go into
\nthe consi, where they took 2 cars to transfer into the race. We ended up
\nfinishing third in the consi and we missed the race. That had to be the
\nsickest feeling I\u2019ve ever had as we drove back to New Jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the years, the qualifying format isn\u2019t the only thing that has changed.
\nThe race has changed from an 80-lap dash to a 200-lap marathon, and Tomaino
\nsays the tire strategy has changed quite a bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack then, there was Goodyear, Hoosier, M+H, Firestone, and McCreary,\u201d said
\nTomaino. \u201cIt was an 80-lap race and you would see some guys come into the
\npits 4 or 5 times to change tires. Now, we have one tire and we only get 4
\ntires to change for 200-laps. A lot of times you would see guys change from
\none tire company to another right in the middle of the race. Some tires
\nwere better than others for qualifying and some were better for the race.
\nYou really had to buckle down and be on your game if you wanted to qualify
\nfor the race back then, so if one tire was a little bit softer than the
\nothers, a driver might use one set of tires to get qualified and start the
\nrace on, and then they would pit the first chance they got to change to
\nanother type of tire. Back then teams would come into the pits and change
\nall four tires at once. There would be two jacks on either side of the car
\nand there would be four guys with air guns to change the tires. Probably
\nthe best team at changing tires like that was Mario Fiore\u2019s #44 team.\u201d
\nIn addition to the tire strategy, Tomaino also says that the track has
\nchanged as well as the line that the drivers use to make their way around
\nStafford.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe track in the 80s was much different than it is now,\u201d says Tomaino. \u201cIt
\nused to be that the tires wouldn\u2019t last 25 laps unless you knew what you
\nwere doing. I used to tell the younger guys back then that I would be
\ncoming by to lap them in about 25 or 30 laps. The line has also changed, we
\nused to run much higher in the corners where now guys are practically racing
\naround the apron.\u201d<\/p>\n

After 27 previous trips to Stafford for the Spring Sizzler, Tomaino still
\nhas the motivation to come to Stafford and chase after his first career
\nSizzler victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing ever changes, we still get pumped up to come up to the Sizzler,\u201d
\nsaid Tomaino. \u201cThis is something I said I was going to do when I was 10 and
\nI\u2019ve been racing now for 38 years. Some people love baseball, hockey, or
\nbasketball. I love racing and I\u2019ve been fortunate enough to still be going
\nafter 38 years. Our goal is to survive the first 175 laps and then hope
\nthings fall into place for us in the last 25 laps of the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 40th Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler gets underway Friday, April
\n29 with a practice session for Stafford\u2019s weekly divisions. The practice
\nsession will be open to the public at no charge. Action continues on
\nSaturday, April 30 with Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the Whelen Modified
\nTour cars, along with heat and consolation races for Stafford\u2019s weekly
\ndivisions. Saturday will wrap up with feature events for the SK Light,
\nLimited Late Model, and DARE Stock divisions. The Sizzler continues on
\nSunday, May 1 with the CARQUEST Belts & Hose Pit Party followed by Stafford\u2019
\ns SK Modifieds\u00ae and Late Models joining the Whelen Modified Tour in feature
\naction.<\/p>\n

Tickets for the \u201cGreatest Race in the History of Spring\u201d are on sale now at
\nthe Speedway Box Office. Tickets are priced at $35.00 for adult general
\nadmission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 and
\nunder are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult. Reserved
\nseating is priced at $38.00 for all ages. As always, Stafford Motor
\nSpeedway offers free parking with overnight parking available.<\/p>\n

For more information on the 40th annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler\u00ae,
\nor to order tickets, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
\n860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JAMIE \u201cTHE JET\u201d TOMAINO STILL CHASING FIRST CAREER CARQUEST TECH-NET SPRING SIZZLER VICTORY AFTER 27 YEARS (Stafford Springs, CT)—In NASCAR\u2019s Daytona 500, Dave Marcis holds the record for most career starts with 33, and A.J. Foyt holds the Indy 500 record for most career starts with 35. Jamie Tomiano, who has raced in 27 of […]<\/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":[196,126,197],"tags":[72],"class_list":["post-4782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut","category-new-england","category-stafford-connecticut","tag-stafford"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4782","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=4782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}