The NASCAR WMT Gets Ready to Kick Off its 2023 Season in the Sunshine State

Read Time:5 Minute, 25 Second

By Michael Jaworecki/Myracenews

Photo Adam Glazman/NASCAR

The long winter is almost over, and the NASCAR Whelen Modified series ready to get back racing.

Series director Jimmy Wilson put together a 2022 schedule that included many staples of the tour and added new tracks. The first addition was the inaugural trip to Florida during Speedweeks and New Smyrna Speedway. That event could not have gone any better for the series, 31 teams towed to Fla with Matt Hirschman taking the top prize, The event was so successful the track had to turn late arriving fans away as every ticket was sold for the event.

Once again in 2023 the NASCAR WMT season will start at the New Smyrna Speedway. An even with an even bigger field of thirty-six teams are ready for the season opening New Smyrna Beach Visitors Bureau 200 February 11th. 19 Total races will make this the busiest schedule in many years.

2022 series champion Jon McKennedy will start his title defense this Saturday, Jon was strong all year and captured the title after a wild event at Martinsville Speedway. Everyone enjoyed the trip south last year except 2021 series champion Justin Bonsignore. Justin suffered from overheating early that would put him in a points hole from which he would never recover.

The Tommy Baldwin Racing team captured their first owner’s championship with Doug Coby, John Blewett and Mike Christopher Jr. splitting the driving duties. This year they will all be back with the team with Doug Coby racing the full nineteen race 2023 schedule, Jimmy and Mike running a partial schedule.

This year’s schedule of 19 races will be the largest schedule in decades. Returning tracks for 2023 are Riverhead (3), Thompson (2), Oswego (1), New Smyrna (1), Richmond (1), Martinsville (1), Monadnock (2), New Hampshire (1), Wall (1), Claremont (1), Langley (1) along with returning and new tacks Seekonk (1), Lancaster (1), Lee USA (1) and North Wilkesboro (1).

JDV Productions will play a big part in the schedule this year. While Jennerstown is off the schedule Monadnock, Lee and Claremont will bring plenty of NASCAR WMT races to the Granite State. Add New Hampshire Motor Speedway and about a quarter of the season will be spent in New Hampshire.

Notes: Back full time to the WMT is 6-time Champion Doug Coby. Doug will be in the #7 TBR entry with backing from long time sponsor Mayhew Tools. Patrick Emerling will have a busy week; it starts with the WMT race and continues with Tour Modifieds then finishes with an ARCA Menards race, Daytona Speedway, a busy week for sure.

Matt Hirschman looks to win his second consecutive New Smyrna NASCAR WMT race after winning the inaugural race last year. If Matt wins, will he head to Richmond March 31st? Anthony Sesely makes his first of a reported ten starts in 2023. Justin Brown, a Riverhead Raceway Modified regular will join the tour as a rookie with Doug Ogiejko as crew chief. Anthony Nocella comes into the race after his big Islip 300 win at Riverhead raceway, Anthony should be a threat for the win as he is near the front of every race he enters.

Ron Silk had a solid 2022 season coming up just short of the title, with the team together for another year he will be one of the favorites every week. Eric Goodale also was in the championship hunt all year and should be up front again this year.

Looks like just about the entire Catalano family headed from their Ontario NY home to New Smyrna, Tommy in the WMT, Tour Modified and the Super Late Model events. Amy Catalano and Tyler Catalano will race Tour Modifieds plus Trevor Catalano will be in a 602 Modified. The garage near Buffalo NY will be about empty.

Chuck Hossfeld will miss his first Speedweeks in many years.

50 Tour Modifieds are entered for the five nights of modified action after the WMT leaves town, if you love Modifieds this is your week.

As with last season all 19 WMT races and the entire World Series will be broadcast live on FloRacing.

Reserved seating for the top 6 rows of the grandstands has been sold out, you better get there early to get a seat on Saturday.

Because of last year’s overflowing pits and the huge amount of race cars entered for this year’s World Series the pits and parking have been shifted around, go to the New Smyrna Web site to get all the info.

For current entry lists and the complete schedule check the New Smyrna Web site here: New Smyrna Speedway

Entry list: New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 at New Smyrna Speedway February 11th, 2023

Entry	Car No.	Driver	Organization	Crew Chief	Chassis	Sponsor
1	01	Melissa Fifield	Kenneth Fifield	Jake Marosz	FURY Race Cars	Pine Knoll Auto Sales
2	02	Joey Coulter IV	Coulter Motorsports	Harold Holly Jr.	FURY Race Cars	SRI Performance, Race Fan, Bilstein Shocks, Drive for Five
3	2	JR Bertuccio Jr.	Joseph Bertuccio	Michae Bologna	LFR	Gershow Recycling
4	3	Jake Johnson	Mike Boehler	Greg Fournier	Boehler Racing	Propane Plus, Lin’s
5	5	Kyle Ebersole	Bob Ebersole	Bob Ebersole	FURY Race Cars	Ebersole Excavating Inc.
6	07	Patrick Emerling	Jennifer Emerling	Jan Leaty	Troyer	Captain Pips Marina & Hideway
7	7	Doug Coby	Tommy Baldwin	Tommy Baldwin	PSR Products	Mayhew Tools
8	09	Chris Hatton Jr.	Chris Hatton	TBA	Troyer	Generac Racing Team
9	12	Anthony Bello	Paul French	TBA	Troyer	JB Management/Horsepower Hill
10	16	Ron Silk	Haydt Yannone Racing	Philip Moran	FURY Race Cars	Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes
11	18	Ken Heagy	Robert Pollifrone	Greg Gorman	FURY Race Cars	Buoy One
12	19	Anthony Sesely	Thomas Wanick	Stephen Kopcik	Troyer	Wanick Construction, Inc.
13	22	Kyle Bonsignore	Kyle Bonsignore	Cam McDermott	FURY Race Cars	Chalew Performance, MTT, Munns Auto
14	24	Andrew Krause	Diane Krause	Rob Hyer	Chevrolet	Supreme Manufacturing Company
15	26	Gary McDonald	Sean McDonald	Chad McDona d	Meade Chassis	Lake and Ave. Landscape Supply, L.I. Wood Heat
16	29	Spencer Davis	Spencer Davis	Alex Query III	FURY Race Cars	Cove Race Products
17	32	Tyler Rypkema	Dean Rypkema	Zach Truesdail	FURY Race Cars	Northeast Dri ing, MUSCO Lighting
18	34	John Fortin	Nicole Fortin	Kenneth Lechner	FURY Race Cars	CYA Screen Print, E & K Automotive, John’s Fuel Oil
19	36	David Sapienza	Judy Thilberg	Eugene Orlando	LFR	Sapienza Enterprises
20	41	Kevin Shea	Kevin Shea	Brad Caddick	Troyer	Colonial Tire & Towing
21	43	Matthew Kimball	William P. Kimball Jr.	Bill Kimball Jr.	LFR	J&M Towing, Poodiack Wealth Managment, Post & Beam, Edmund Ace Hardware, Trends of Fashion
22	46	Justin Brown	Russell Goodale	Doug Ogiejko	Troyer	Riverhead Building Supply
23	51	Justin Bonsignore	Kenneth Massa	Ryan Stone	FURY Race Cars	Phoenix Communications, Inc.
24	54	Tommy Catalano	David Catalano	David Catalano	Troyer	FX Caprara
25	55	Jeremy Gerstner	Dawn Gerstner	Stanley Butova	Troyer	Jerry Hunt Supercenter, T.B.E.S.
26	58	Eric Goodale	Edgar Goodale	Jason Shephard	FURY Race Cars	GAF Roofing
27	60	Matt Hirschman	Roy Hall	Michael Stein	Troyer	PeeDee Motorsports
28	64	Austin Beers	Mike Murphy	Ron Yuhas Jr.	Troyer	Dell Electric, Lumiere Electrical, Andrew James Interiors, AP Marquadt & Sons
29	71	James Pritchard Jr.	James Pritchard	Joseph Pritchard	FURY Race Cars	Freeway Automotive & Tire Pros
30	76	Jimmy Blewett	Jimmy Blewett	TBA	PSR Products	John Blewett Inc., FX Caprara
31	79	Jon McKennedy	Tim Lepine	Dale Hedquist	LFR	Middlesex Interiors
32	82	Craig Lutz	Danny Watts Jr.	Scott Tocci	LFR	Horton Ave Materials
33	92	Anthony Nocella	Anthony Nocella	Chris Burdell	LFR	Nocella Paving, K and D Associates, Airgas
34	99	Ronnie Williams	Trey Tomaino	TBA	Troyer	E.F.A.
35	20	Eddie McCarthy	Edward McCarthy Jr.	Bill Cole	LFR	McCarthy’s Marine Sales
36	25	Brian Robie	Kayleigh Eastman	Scott Spaulding	Troyer	Maurice Enterprises