{"id":5845,"date":"2011-06-23T20:57:46","date_gmt":"2011-06-24T00:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=9076"},"modified":"2011-06-23T20:57:46","modified_gmt":"2011-06-24T00:57:46","slug":"2-time-ltd-division-pro-4-modified-champion-stan-mertz-takes-donny-lia-carquest-champions-charities-stafford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/2-time-ltd-division-pro-4-modified-champion-stan-mertz-takes-donny-lia-carquest-champions-charities-stafford\/","title":{"rendered":"2-TIME LTD. DIVISION PRO-4 MODIFIED CHAMPION STAN MERTZ TAKES OVER FOR DONNY LIA IN CARQUEST CHAMPIONS FOR CHARITIES AT STAFFORD"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stafford\"
\n(Stafford Springs, CT)—2-time Limited Division Pro-4 Modified champion
\nStan Mertz has joined the CARQUEST Champions For Charities field, taking the
\nplace originally reserved for Donny Lia, who will be unable to attend the
\nrace due to a scheduling conflict. Mertz won the Limited Division Pro-4
\nModified championship in 2008 and 2009. Mertz will be racing for the
\nConnecticut chapter of Autism Speaks and he is looking forward to getting
\nout onto the Stafford Mini-Mile behind the wheel of a Senior Outlaw Kart.
\n\u201cI\u2019m certainly glad Stafford was able to fit me in for the race,\u201d said
\nMertz. \u201cWe\u2019re excited about the race. I\u2019ve been doing a lot of work for
\nthe tornado victims in Massachusetts and this is another great opportunity
\nto raise money and give something back to Autism Speaks and fill the shoes
\nthat Donny Lia got started. We can\u2019t wait to get to Stafford.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Mertz is a 2-time Ltd. Division Pro-4 Modified champion, he falls far
\nbehind his competition in terms of go kart experience. But he is looking
\nforward to the challenge of racing a new style of car as well as the
\nchallenge of racing on the Stafford Mini-Mile.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have absolutely no experience in go karts,\u201d said Mertz. \u201cMy biggest
\nworry is keeping the momentum of the car up since I\u2019m probably going to be
\ngiving away a weight advantage to most of the other guys. I\u2019ve never raced
\nthe mini-mile at Stafford before, but I\u2019ve heard it\u2019s a lot of fun to drive.
\nAny time you can drive a new type of car it\u2019s fun, and this race is all
\nabout having fun and raising money for charity. I\u2019m looking forward to
\nbeing able to mix it up on the track with guys like Teddy [Christopher] and
\nthe good thing for me is if I should happen to get into someone out there
\nduring the race, I don\u2019t have to race against them later in the night.\u201d
\nThe starting field for the CARQUEST Champions For Charities event will be
\nset by how much money each driver raises for their selected charity and
\nMertz has already been hard at work to increase his donation total for a
\nbetter starting spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve already raised about an extra $500 in one day, so I\u2019m looking forward
\nto see how far we can move up the starting order,\u201d said Mertz.<\/p>\n

In addition to his newfound CARQUEST Champions For Charities driving duties,
\nMertz will be pulling double duty as he will pilot his familiar #16 car in
\nthe Pro-4 Modified feature as part of CARQUEST Extreme Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made the move from the Limited division up to the regular Pro-4 division
\nlast year, and we have a new car for this year,\u201d said Mertz. \u201cWe\u2019ve had
\nsome engine issues, but we have great power and we just have to eliminate
\nour issues so that we can take advantage of our great power. I think if we
\ncan do that, we can definitely be fighting for the win.\u201d<\/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 as well
\nas the Senior Outlaw Karts. Tickets for CARQUEST Extreme Tuesday are on
\nsale now at the Speedway Box Office and are priced at $30.00 for adult
\ngeneral admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5
\nand under are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult.
\nReserved seating is priced at $32.00 for all ages. As always, Stafford Motor
\nSpeedway offers free parking with overnight parking available.<\/p>\n

For more information, or to order tickets to the 8th Annual CARQUEST Extreme
\nTuesday event, 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":"

(Stafford Springs, CT)—2-time Limited Division Pro-4 Modified champion Stan Mertz has joined the CARQUEST Champions For Charities field, taking the place originally reserved for Donny Lia, who will be unable to attend the race due to a scheduling conflict. Mertz won the Limited Division Pro-4 Modified championship in 2008 and 2009. Mertz will be racing […]<\/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-5845","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\/5845","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=5845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}