{"id":8849,"date":"2012-01-25T10:30:47","date_gmt":"2012-01-25T15:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=9076"},"modified":"2012-01-24T18:22:56","modified_gmt":"2012-01-24T23:22:56","slug":"mcgrail-targets-2012-airborne-modified-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/mcgrail-targets-2012-airborne-modified-title\/","title":{"rendered":"McGrail targets 2012 Airborne Modified title"},"content":{"rendered":"

McGrail targets 2012 Airborne Modified title<\/strong><\/p>\n

South Plattsburgh, NY \u2013 Airborne Speedway competitor Pat McGrail of Candiac, QC is going all out in an attempt to return the DIRT Modified title north of the USA border in 2012.<\/p>\n

McGrail has purchased a new Troyer DIRTcar Modified chassis designed specifically for asphalt racing and a new RL Racing engine to go with it. He\u2019s also welcomed Fastenal aboard as a new sponsor.<\/p>\n

McGrail came on strong in 2011 after a slow start to place sixth in the Ernie\u2019s Discount Tools Modified point standings while recording three podium finishes. \u201cI am going to try my best to bring the Airborne championship trophy home to Quebec just like Martin Roy did last year,\u201d McGrail said.
\n
\nRoy has announced plans to compete in the CASCAR series this season. In 2009, he became the first Canadian to win Airborne\u2019s lead division championship in 38 years. He became a two-time track champion in 2011 by overtaking Patrick Dupree of Saranac Lake, NY in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be my third full season at Airborne,\u201d McGrail said. \u201cWe did okay my first year and we were quite good last year, but not good enough to beat the top drivers like Roy, Dupree and George Foley. Last year we struggled at times. The car was a little too heavy in the back, had problems coming out of the corners and was hard on the brakes. The rear end would jump around too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rene Lessard of RL Racing has enjoyed much success at Canadian dirt tracks, including Autodrome Granby. Troyer race cars have set the standard for Modified racing in the Northeast for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2018re trying to advance some rear suspension ideas and position components in a way that\u2019s best suited for pavement,\u201d Troyer owner Billy Colton said. \u201cYou need the proper balance between flexibility and stiffness. A stiff car can be fast, but it can also be very unforgiving if you don\u2019t hit the setup just right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very respectful of how Airborne\u2019s promoter Mike Perrotte has kept a lid on expenses in the Modified division,\u201d Colton said. \u201cHis approach has been great. You can still take a regular dirt modified car there and be competitive. The chassis we\u2019ve built for Pat McGrail and Roger Labreche fit the rulebook.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGrail\u2019s title bid will be assisted by two long-time crew members – Yvon Perron and Leandre Laroche. \u201cI\u2019m 50, Yvon and Leandre are 60-plus,\u201d McGrail said. \u201cWe agreed we need to come back and give it another try at Airborne. It\u2019s very competitive there, but it\u2019s a very good place to race and we still have the need for speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Airborne\u2019s 59th season opener is set for Sunday, April 29.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

McGrail targets 2012 Airborne Modified title South Plattsburgh, NY \u2013 Airborne Speedway competitor Pat McGrail of Candiac, QC is going all out in an attempt to return the DIRT Modified title north of the USA border in 2012. McGrail has purchased a new Troyer DIRTcar Modified chassis designed specifically for asphalt racing and a new […]<\/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":[126,4156],"tags":[15806],"class_list":["post-8849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-england","category-new-york","tag-airborne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8849","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=8849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}