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(Stafford Springs, CT) —Fresh off back-to-back 2-win seasons, Cory DiMatteo is looking forward to kicking off his third season together with the #11 Hummel Brothers Hot Dogs SK Modified® owned by John Hummel with Ed Flemke, Jr. serving as his crew chief. DiMatteo came up just short of winning the SK Modified® championship in 2023 and he will hope to once again be a championship contender.
“I’m very excited,” said DiMatteo. “We improved from our first year together and I think there were a few things that we missed, but I definitely thought we were going to improve so I wasn’t very surprised at all with how we ran. We want to win as many races as we can and I think we have a better chance at winning the championship this season than we had last season and that’s always a good thing. I’m extremely excited for this season, especially with the weather starting to get nicer, I wish we could race this weekend.”
DiMatteo heads into the 2024 season following a season that saw him tie his career high in wins with 2 and he set personal bests with 7 top-5 and 11 top-10 finishes in 17 races. DiMatteo also finished all 17 races and he is looking to exceed those numbers as over the winter his team have put together a virtually brand new #11 machine.
“Last season was good, we had a smooth year, and we finished every race, which was a huge goal of mine,” said DiMatteo. “I figured at the beginning of the season that if we could finish every race that we’d have a good shot at the championship, and we did. We just didn’t have the best luck while some other guys didn’t have the worst luck so things could have gone the other way very easily for us. Over the winter the guys have put a fresh front clip on the car, put a new rear end in the car, and John [Hummel] bought two new motors and he refreshed an older one, so he’s all geared up and ready to go. We have a lot of equipment upgrades for the car and I’ve never had anything like that before so it’s very nice and it helps make my job as the driver much easier. Big thanks to Hummel Brothers, Raceworks, Island Cove Yacht Sales, and Sign Pro.”
In addition to his SK Modified® duties, DiMatteo and the Hummel team will also partake in Stafford’s Open Modified races with the NAPA Spring Sizzler® and NAPA Fall Final with other starts possible as well as help crew chief his brother Dana’s #76 Open Modified.
“We’re going to go to the Sizzler® and definitely run the Fall Final and if everything is going good we’ll do some races in between,” said DiMatteo. “I’ll also be helping my brother. Any time we go to the racetrack together we all work together and help each other out.”
The first Late Model feature of the 2024 season will be held as part of the 52nd Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler®, set for April 27-28. The NAPA Spring Sizzler® kicks off on Saturday, April 27th and will consist of two 40-lap NAPA Duel qualifying races for the Open Modified division. The 40-lap races will each pay $3,500 to win and will set the field for Sunday’s NAPA Spring Sizzler®. Stafford’s Late Model, Limited Late Model, and Street Stock divisions will complete Saturday’s racing program with qualifying and feature racing.
Order 52nd NAPA Spring Sizzler® Tickets
Sponsor a NAPA Spring Sizzler® Lap
Sunday, April 28th will play host to the $20,000 to win 52nd NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler®. Filling out Sunday’s racing card will be qualifying and feature racing for the SK Modified® and SK Light Modified divisions along with last chance qualifiers for the NAPA Spring Sizzler®.
For more information, visit staffordspeedway.com, follow Stafford Speedway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
