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(Stafford Springs, CT)—When Open Modifieds return to Stafford Speedway Friday, June 16th for the Casella Waste Open 80, Glen Reen will be looking for his second consecutive victory behind the wheel of the Dan Avery owned #10a Avery Construction car. Reen opened the season with a 15th place finish in the NAPA Spring Sizzler®, but won the CBYD 81 last month at Stafford. The CBYD 81 victory was Reen’s 17th career feature victory across four different divisions at the Connecticut half-mile.
“I’ve never won back to back races at Stafford in any division so I’d like to change that,” said Reen. “I always knew we had the capability to win and I knew that we would have success this year, especially working with Keith and Jeff Rocco. Coming back to Stafford knowing we won the last race is definitely a snowball effect and helps the momentum of the team. We all thought we could do well, we just had to get the car where I wanted it. I made a mistake at the Sizzler® telling Keith I wanted a loose racecar because that’s how I like to run the SK car when he was telling me to do something else. If I had listened to Keith and what he wanted to put into the car, we might have two open wins at Stafford right now, who knows? That was shame on me for not listening to Keith because he knows how to get around Stafford much better than I do. We’re going to have the same approach to the Casella 80 as we did for our last race. We’re there to have a good time and see where the night takes us. If I can finish fifth, then that would be awesome and we’ll walk away and have some beers and some laughs and have a great time. A win would be even better but I’m not going to put pressure on myself. Thanks to all our sponsors Avery Construction, Keith Rocco Racing, Lime And Stone, Stone Restoration, Tech Ed Products, LifeCare Family Chiropractic, and Pettit Engines for their support.”
Reen came into the 2023 season not having won a race at Stafford since May 17, 2019. Combine that with the fact that Reen hadn’t raced an Open Modified style of modified since the 2014 season, and it’s safe to say that probably not many people had Reen listed as a serious contender, which is just how he likes it.
“I love being the underdog that no one ever thinks about,” said Reen. “I like being a spoiler but I also don’t think anyone should ever count us out. I was looking at the all-time wins list and I have 17 wins at Stafford now so I know how to get around the track, I just need the car to do it with. I’m coming to the track this season to have fun and I think it really shows through just how well you can do once you take the pressure off.”
Reen’s victory last month ranks among the most special wins of his career in that he not only did he drive his boyhood idol Dan Avery’s car to victory lane, but did so in a vintage firesuit that Avery used to claim a championship.
“It was definitely a special win,” said Reen. “It had been since 2014 that I drove a tour type car and I forgot how exciting it is to drive with a couple hundred extra horsepower versus driving an SK car. At the last race I was running a little behind schedule because I had tires that weren’t matching up to what I wanted for sizes so I had to remount 4 tires and the first practice was about to hit the track. I went to go change into my firesuit and realized that I left it at home. So I had to call my brother, who got out of work early to grab my suit, and as he was going to my house, Dan Avery came around the corner with his old Porter and Chester championship winning suit from Riverside Park and he asked if I thought I could fit. Sure enough it fit so we made the first practice and it was extra special to win the race in not only Dan’s car, but his championship winning firesuit as well.”
Reen will need several factors to go in his favor in order to win the Casella 80, one of which will be a good pit stop. For the CBYD 81 last month, Reen threw together a team at the last minute and they performed flawlessly to win the race off of pit road when the leaders all pitted, which allowed him to take the lead shortly after a restart and lead the final 27 laps.
“It’s stout competition every Friday night at Stafford,” said Reen. “You’ll need to have a good pit stop, which we had a good stop last race after throwing a pit crew together about an hour and a half before the race started. I had Tyler Leary and Matt Vassar carrying tires and Jeff Rocco and Chris Sullivan changing tires, so it was pretty cool to beat some of the big teams off of pit road.”
The 6th Annual Casella Waste Open 80 is scheduled for this Friday, June 16. Stafford’s SK Modified®, Late Model, SK Light, Limited Late Model, and Street Stock divisions will join the Open Modifieds in feature action. Tickets for the Casella 80 are available now online at StaffordSpeedway.com/tickets and tickets will also be available for purchase at the admission gates. Tickets for the Casella 80 are $30.00 for adults, $10.00 for kids 6-14, and free for kids 5 & under. Reserved seating is priced at $35.00 for all ages and pit passes are $45.00 with a valid 2022 Stafford Competition License and $50.00 without a Stafford license. If you are unable to attend the event, tune into the live stream on FloRacing, the official streaming partner of Stafford Speedway.
For more information, visit www.staffordspeedway.com, checkout Stafford Speedway on Facebook or Twitter, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
