![\"Stafford\"](\"http:\/\/maineracer.com\/images\/stafford.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
(Stafford Springs, CT)—When it comes to the CARQUEST SK 150 at Stafford
\nMotor Speedway, no driver knows the song of success better than 2006 SK
\nModified\u00ae track champion Frank Ruocco. Ruocco has won the last two CARQUEST
\nSK 150\u2019s and he has won three out of the last four 150-lap events at
\nStafford. If not for Woody Pitkat coming back from 2 laps down to win the
\n2008 race in which Ruocco finished second, Ruocco would have four
\nconsecutive CARQUEST SK 150 victories.
\n
\n\u201cThe first race I ever won at Stafford was the 150 and I\u2019ve ran well in
\nextra distance races at a couple other tracks,\u201d said Ruocco. \u201cThese races
\nare long enough where the faster cars usually make their way to the front.
\nIn some of the 40-lap races you don\u2019t always see that. Our strategy is
\ngoing to be same as it always is, we\u2019re going to get settled into a spot
\nearly and click some laps off. Generally we have a good setup for the 150
\nand Stash and Steve Butova are working hard on the cars, I\u2019ve never seen
\nthem work so hard before. Tire management and patience will be the key to
\nthe race and hopefully we\u2019re one of the cars that will be there at the end
\nof the race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruocco heads into the CARQUEST SK 150 without a victory to his credit in
\n2011. Last season, Ruocco had two wins prior to his CARQUEST SK 150
\nvictory, but he was a distant 10th in the points standings. After winning
\nthe CARQUEST SK 150, Ruocco won once more and he finished on the podium in 5
\nof the final 8 races of the 2010 season to elevate himself into third place
\nin the final points standings. Ruocco looks to continue that trend this
\nseason with a strong finish in the CARQUEST SK 150.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo win this race would be a huge boost for the team,\u201d said Ruocco. \u201cTo be
\nthis far into the season and not have a win is frustrating, and it\u2019s time
\nfor us to turn that around. It\u2019s not for a lack of effort, like I said
\nStash and Steve are working really hard on our cars, there\u2019s just a couple
\nof guys going better than us right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruocco holds several CARQUEST SK 150 race records with most wins (3) and
\nmost laps led (388), which indicates that Ruocco has had both a good car and
\na good strategy for this extra distance feature event. While Ruocco
\nemployed a slightly different strategy for the Coors Light SK Modified\u00ae 100
\nthat was held in June at Stafford, Ruocco says he will return to his tried
\nand true methods for the CARQUEST SK 150.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year for the 100-lapper I flew back from the Bahamas the day of the
\nrace and we only made half a lap before we got caught up in a wreck,\u201d said
\nRuocco. \u201cSo this year we said we weren\u2019t going to let that happen and I
\nrode around about 75% for the first 50 laps and then went racing for the
\nsecond 50-laps. We\u2019re not going to do that for the 150, we\u2019re probably
\ngoing to start somewhere around 9th, 10th, or 11th and we just want to
\nsettle into a line and click off laps. The key is to try to not race side
\nby side with someone for too long because that will just kill the tires.
\nLast year, we spun early and got a lap down because I was a little
\nimpatient, so we had to race hard for the entire race, which is not exactly
\nhow you want to do it. Most guys seem to be most comfortable with their car
\nin the bottom groove, so you try to get yourself into an odd numbered
\nposition with 50 laps to go so you\u2019ll be on the inside for a restart.
\nHistorically it seems like we have several caution periods in the last 20
\nlaps of the race and if you are on the outside for a restart and your tires
\nare all used up, you can really go backwards in a hurry.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 8th annual CARQUEST SK 150 is scheduled for July 22nd. Tickets are
\npriced at $25.00 for adult general admission, $5.00 for children ages 6-14
\ngeneral admission, and Free for Children ages 5 & under. Reserved seating
\nis available for $28.00 for all ages. Stafford Motor Speedway offers free
\nparking, with overnight parking available.<\/p>\n
For more information, or to order tickets to the 8th Annual CARQUEST SK 150,
\ncontact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us
\non the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Stafford Springs, CT)—When it comes to the CARQUEST SK 150 at Stafford Motor Speedway, no driver knows the song of success better than 2006 SK Modified\u00ae track champion Frank Ruocco. Ruocco has won the last two CARQUEST SK 150\u2019s and he has won three out of the last four 150-lap events at Stafford. If not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[196,4163,126,197],"tags":[4161,72],"class_list":["post-6383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut","category-modified","category-new-england","category-stafford-connecticut","tag-sk-modified","tag-stafford"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6383","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=6383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}