{"id":4921,"date":"2011-04-24T11:55:17","date_gmt":"2011-04-24T16:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=9076"},"modified":"2011-04-23T15:56:21","modified_gmt":"2011-04-23T20:56:21","slug":"5-time-sk-modified%c2%ae-champion-bob-potter-serve-grand-marshal-40th-annual-carquest-tech-net-spring-sizzler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/5-time-sk-modified%c2%ae-champion-bob-potter-serve-grand-marshal-40th-annual-carquest-tech-net-spring-sizzler\/","title":{"rendered":"5-TIME SK MODIFIED\u00ae CHAMPION BOB POTTER TO SERVE AS GRAND MARSHAL OF 40TH ANNUAL CARQUEST TECH-NET SPRING SIZZLER"},"content":{"rendered":"

5-TIME SK MODIFIED\u00ae CHAMPION BOB POTTER TO SERVE AS GRAND MARSHAL OF 40TH ANNUAL CARQUEST TECH-NET SPRING SIZZLER<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Stafford Springs, CT)—Stafford Motor Speedway has announced that 5-time
\nSK Modified\u00ae track champion Bob Potter will serve as the grand marshal of
\nthe 40th Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler. 40 years after Potter
\ntook the green flag in the very first Spring Sizzler and finished 9th, he
\nwill send the Whelen Modified Tour field on its way this year with the most
\nfamous words in motorsports, \u201cDrivers start your engines.\u201d
\n
\n\u201cI really appreciate Mark & Lisa [Arute] asking me to do this, it\u2019s a great
\nhonor for me,\u201d said Potter. \u201cI\u2019ve done this once before at Waterford and it
\nreally makes you feel great to be asked to be the grand marshal. I used to
\nlove sitting in the race car and hear those words, it gave me goose bumps
\nwhen I heard those words and started the car up. I\u2019m sure this will be a
\nlittle bit different than sitting in the car, but I\u2019m sure that I\u2019ll have
\ngoose bumps again when I give the command. The Spring Sizzler is always the
\nbest race and I\u2019m sure that this year is going to be one heck of a race.\u201d
\nPotter is one of the most successful drivers in Stafford\u2019s SK Modified\u00ae
\nhistory. He ranks 4th on Stafford\u2019s all-time SK Modified\u00ae winners list with
\n24 career victories, and he has won 5 SK Modified\u00ae track championships.
\nPotter enjoyed one of the most dominant runs in the division\u2019s history at
\nStafford, with four of his five championships coming in a five-year span
\nfrom 1991-1995. Only Mike Christopher, who won the championship in 1993,
\nbroke up Potter\u2019s stranglehold on the SK Modified\u00ae championship. Potter\u2019s
\nfive Stafford SK Modified\u00ae track championships was a division record that
\nstood until Ted Christopher won his sixth track championship in 2007.
\n\u201cTo me, Stafford was always a driver\u2019s track,\u201d said Potter. \u201cI saw a lot of
\nguys try Stafford who didn\u2019t make it. It takes a special driver to be able
\nto win at Stafford. The turns are different from each other and sometimes
\nyou have to remember what turn you\u2019re in. I always said that if you can win
\na race at Stafford, then you could win a race anywhere. As a driver, you
\nreally had to be dialed in to win at Stafford. Three things I always tried
\nto focus on was concentration, dedication, and the will to win, and we
\nusually did pretty well when we came to Stafford to race.\u201d
\nFor his career, Potter made a total of 7 starts in the Spring Sizzler,
\nincluding the very first Sizzler in 1972 where he drove the #110 for car
\nowner Roger Bonville. In his 7 Spring Sizzler starts, his best finish was
\nsecond in 1988, the year that the SK Modified\u00ae division was the headline
\ndivision at the Spring Sizzler. In that 1988 Spring Sizzler, Potter
\nfinished runner-up to Ted Christopher and just in front of Bo Gunning,
\nmaking a podium that combined for 15 Stafford SK Modified\u00ae track
\nchampionships and 163 Stafford SK Modified\u00ae feature victories.
\nThe 2011 CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler gets underway Friday, April 29
\nwith 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 conclude 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":"

5-TIME SK MODIFIED\u00ae CHAMPION BOB POTTER TO SERVE AS GRAND MARSHAL OF 40TH ANNUAL CARQUEST TECH-NET SPRING SIZZLER (Stafford Springs, CT)—Stafford Motor Speedway has announced that 5-time SK Modified\u00ae track champion Bob Potter will serve as the grand marshal of the 40th Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler. 40 years after Potter took the green flag […]<\/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-4921","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\/4921","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=4921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}