{"id":9451,"date":"2012-04-13T09:05:59","date_gmt":"2012-04-13T13:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=9451"},"modified":"2012-04-13T19:07:30","modified_gmt":"2012-04-13T23:07:30","slug":"carquest-champions-for-charities-driver-spotlight-ron-midford-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/carquest-champions-for-charities-driver-spotlight-ron-midford-jr\/","title":{"rendered":"CARQUEST CHAMPIONS FOR CHARITIES DRIVER SPOTLIGHT: RON MIDFORD, JR."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stafford\"<\/a>Stafford Motor Speedway has again lined up an
\nimpressive field of current and former open wheel champions for its CARQUEST
\nChampions For Charities Event as part of CARQUEST Super Saturday on June
\n30th. During the coming weeks, SMS will offer a profile on each of its
\nchampionship winning drivers and the charity they will be racing for and
\nthis week’s CARQUEST Champions For Charities spotlight falls on 2-time Wild
\nThing Kart Senior Champ Champion (2010, 2011) Ron Midford, Jr., who will be
\nracing to help support The Greg Caron Family Fund.<\/p>\n

On November 11, 2011, Ellington native Greg Caron, while serving a second
\ntour with his Marine Corp unit, lost both of his legs, the tip of his
\nfinger, and broke his collar bone after stepping on an IED in Afghanistan.
\nThe Greg Caron Family Fund was established to help Greg adjust to a new
\nlifestyle and Ron Midford, Jr. will be representing the Greg Caron Family
\nFund in his CARQUEST Champions For Charities effort.
\n
\n“My parents are good friends with Greg’s parents, they ride motorcycles and
\nplay golf together, so there’s a family connection,” said Midford. “Greg
\nHurlburt, who owns the kart I’ll be driving, is also friends with the Caron
\nfamily. We were both in the stands last year for the CARQUEST Champions For
\nCharities event and enjoyed watching the race. When we heard about what
\nhappened to Greg Caron, Greg Hurlburt and I were motivated to get in this
\nrace to help raise money for he and his family.\u201d Greg Hurlburt\u2019s son Cole
\nraces in the Tiger A division on Monday nights in Stafford. \u201cGreg
\n(Hurlburt) bought a Sr. Outlaw kart and motor that I will run in the
\nChampions for Charities Race and Cole will use when he moves to the Jr.
\nOutlaw division.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel we take for granted what our soldiers do for us on a daily basis.
\nThey protect our freedoms and allow us to live our lives the way we do. We
\nare all extremely fortunate to have soldiers like Greg Caron defending our
\ncountry and it\u2019s nice to be able to give something back.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of Midford’s fundraising efforts, there will be a Greg Caron Poker
\nRun on June 30th, the morning of the CARQUEST Champions For Charities event.
\nThe Poker Run will be from TSI Harley-Davidson in Ellington to Stafford
\nMotor Speedway. Registration is from 9-11:30am at TSI Harley-Davidson,
\nwhich is located at 398 Somers Road in Ellington, CT. The cost for the
\nPoker Run is $30 per bike and proceeds will benefit the Greg Caron
\nFoundation.<\/p>\n

“This poker run is great way to be able to raise some money for Greg,” said
\nMidford. “We have some great sponsors in TSI Harley-Davidson, Trantolo and
\nTrantolo, Kar Kare Auto Body a Division of Bolles Motors, and Stafford Motor
\nSpeedway that all pitched in to help put this Poker Run together. I wanted
\nto especially thank Lisa Arute for allowing us to be in the race and
\norganizing the Poker Run. We hope to have a big turnout of riders for the
\nPoker Run help raise money for Greg.”<\/p>\n

While Midford got a late start in his own racing career, he has been around
\nracing his entire life thanks to his familial ties to the Bolles family.<\/p>\n

Despite the late start, Midford has taken quickly to the Senior Champ Kart
\nranks, winning the championship in each of the last 2 seasons. In addition
\nto his Stafford achievements, Midford has also done well racing his kart in
\nindoor events in both Atlantic City, NJ and Providence, RI.<\/p>\n

“I’ve only been racing at Stafford for 5 years in the Sr. Champ division,
\nbut I’ve been around racing my entire life with my uncles Tom and Brian
\nBolles as drivers, and my grandfather Ed Bolles owning their cars,” said
\nMidford. “I competed in soccer and track when I was younger and didn’t
\nreally get into racing. As I got older, I started to get the itch. I lived
\non the west coast for a year and I worked for a company that owned Adams
\nKart Track in Riverside, California. I would go there a lot after work and I
\nreally started to enjoy racing. When I moved back home, I saw Stafford had
\nstarted racing karts and I thought I’d try it out. It’s a division that I
\ncan afford and we have a lot of fun with it. My dad, Ron Midford Sr, is my
\ncrew chief and my whole family is involved, my mom, Doreen Midford and my
\nwife, Renee Midford come to all the races and my brother, Steven Midford,
\nraces a kart on occasion too. In addition to Stafford, we’ve had some
\npretty good success at bigger events, like the indoor races in Providence
\nand Atlantic City. Over the last 5 years we\u2019ve had 1 top 5 and 2 top 10\u2019s
\nfinishes in Atlantic City, an event that usually gets around 60 karts. In
\nProvidence, there are usually about 45 karts and we have three top 5\u2019s and 2
\ntop 10\u2019s, so whenever we branch out to a larger stage we do pretty well.”
\nWhen it comes to the 15-lap Senior Outlaw race, Midford may have an
\nadvantage over the other championship-winning drivers with the level of
\nexperience he has racing in a kart around Stafford’s mini-mile. But when
\nasked about a possible advantage, Midford is quick to play down any notion
\nof having an advantage.<\/p>\n

“It should be interesting,” said Midford. “It should be a good event and
\nthe main thing is to be able to raise money for The Greg Caron Family Fund.
\nThe Senior Champ Kart is a little different from the Senior Outlaw Kart in
\nthat our karts are built from multiple chassis builders across the country,
\nwhile Wade Gagner builds all the Senior Outlaw chassis. Senior Champ Karts
\nhave a set of rules and parameters that chassis builders build our karts to.
\nOn any given night there could be as many as 6 or 7 different types of
\nSenior Champ Kart chassis on the track. Another difference is that our
\nkarts don’t have full containment seats and our seats are a little lower to
\nthe ground than the Senior Outlaw karts. I do have a lot of laps on the
\nmini mile, but all those guys are champions and they’ve been racing cars
\nthat have a lot more horsepower than my kart has, so I’m sure they’ll be
\nfine.”<\/p>\n

The starting lineup for the CARQUEST Champions For Charities feature event
\nwill be determined by how much money each driver raises for their selected
\ncharity. The starting grid will be set with the drivers who have raised the
\nmost money starting up front. Fans are encouraged to get involved in the
\nevent by donating to their favorite driver or favorite charity. To make a
\ndonation to The Greg Caron Family Fund on behalf of Ron Midford, Jr., and
\nfor more information on the event, please refer to the CARQUEST Champions
\nfor Charities donation page located at www.staffordspeedway.com. Stay tuned
\nto www.staffordspeedway.com for more driver spotlights and exciting
\ninformation regarding the CARQUEST Champions for Charities event.<\/p>\n

CARQUEST Super Saturday will take place on Saturday, June 30, 2012 and will
\nfeature the ISMA Super Modifieds, NEMA Midgets, and Pro-4 Modifieds in
\naddition to the Senior Outlaw Wild Thing Karts. Tickets for CARQUEST Super
\nSaturday are on sale now at the Speedway Box Office and are priced at $33.00
\nfor adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and
\nchildren ages 5 and under are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an
\nadult. Reserved seating is priced at $35.00 for all ages. All ticket
\nprices include 10% CT Admission Tax. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway
\noffers free parking with overnight parking available.<\/p>\n

Visit NERacingForum.Com<\/a> for latest New England Racing community News and updates.<\/p>\n

[adrotate block=”3″]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stafford Motor Speedway has again lined up an impressive field of current and former open wheel champions for its CARQUEST Champions For Charities Event as part of CARQUEST Super Saturday on June 30th. During the coming weeks, SMS will offer a profile on each of its championship winning drivers and the charity they will be […]<\/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":[15051,6795],"class_list":["post-9451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut","category-new-england","category-stafford-connecticut","tag-ron-midford","tag-stafford-motor-speedway"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9451","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=9451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9451\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}