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(Stafford Springs, CT)—When Stafford Speedway’s Late Model cars hit the track in 2025, one driver will be reaching a significant milestone. Tom Fearn, driver of the #92 King Gray Coach Lines Chevrolet, will mark his 40th season of racing when he rolls out for the 53rd Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler® on Saturday, April 26th. Fearn began his career at Riverside Park Speedway during the 1985 season and kicked off his Stafford career in the 1988 Fall Final.
“1985 was my first year racing at Riverside Park and my first Stafford race was the Fall Final in 1988,” said Fearn. “The rules were good back then so you could run both tracks and in 1989 I ran the same car in the Late Model division at both tracks. This will be my 40th year in racing and it might be my last year driving, but I’m not positive on that just yet. My five to ten year plan is to move to Florida so I’m not really sure yet if I’m going to keep on driving or keep the car and put someone in it for 2026. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it at the end of this season. It’s been a long time racing over 40 years and I’ve enjoyed a lot of success with 9 championships and over 100 wins between Stafford and Riverside.”
Watch Tom Fearn 2021 Bottom Shot Podcast
Six of Fearn’s 9 career track championships have come behind the wheel at Stafford. Fearn has won 3 titles each in Stafford’s ProStock and Late Model divisions, and he is also the winningest driver in Stafford history for both divisions. Fearn has 17 career ProStock wins at Stafford and he currently has 65 Late Model wins. Fearn’s 65 Late Model wins are 20 more wins than the next driver on the list and his combined total of 82 wins ties him with Keith Rocco for 3rd place on the all-time Stafford winners list. Fearn and Rocco currently sit 2 wins behind Woody Pitkat in second and 49 wins behind Ted Christopher. Fearn is looking forward to adding more wins to his total before he is finished racing.
“It’s a great thing to look back on,” said Fearn. “I won 3 championships and a bunch of races in the ProStock division at Stafford and then they got rid of the division and that was a heartbreaker for sure. But that’s something that can never be taken away and my name will always be there. I’m sure that there will be other guys down the road that will beat those records, although I don’t think anyone will be breaking that ProStock record! It’s a great feeling to have and I’d love to add a few more wins to that total. I don’t really think too much about it. I know Keith Rocco and myself are tied on the all-time wins list and Woody Pitkat is just a few races ahead of us. If Keith or Woody wins great for them, and if I can get a few more wins, great for me. None of us are done racing yet and it’s been a lot of time and effort from a lot of great people and sponsors behind me to help me have the success that I’ve had.”
Over the years, Fearn has enjoyed the highest of highs by winning races and championships and he has also seen the lows of racing. With 40 years under his belt, Fearn has raced against hundreds of different drivers, which now includes a second generation of racers.
“I’ve been around for a while now and there’s guys that I’ve raced against that now I’m racing against their kids,” said Fearn. “I’ve seen all kinds of things that have changed over the years. Obviously racing has gotten more expensive and the rulebook has gotten a lot bigger. The Arute family has kept on improving the Stafford facility year after year, which is great. Being around for as long as I have, I know how tough it must be to operate a race track. I‘ve been to some tracks that I don’t want to say were run down, but you could see that they were not really updated.”
Fearn’s 40 years in racing has required a lot of help and support from sponsors as well as family and friends. Fearn has always tried to make sure that his sponsors receive the biggest bang for their buck and some of his sponsor-driver relationships have turned into lasting friendships away from the track.
“I’ve always tried to look at things through a sponsor’s point of view,” said Fearn. “If I’m a sponsor, why am I going to spend money on helping someone have fun when I could keep that money and I could go have fun? You have to make it worth the sponsor’s while to give you money and I’ve tried to give that to all my sponsors over the years. I’ve had some really great sponsors, going back to the Porter and Chester days with the ProStock, I had Waste Management at one point for a few seasons, and now King Gray Coach Lines has been with me for a while now. Dennis King and his wife have been great sponsors and we’ve formed a great friendship outside the track. For this season we have King Gray Coach Lines, Stafford Sand and Gravel, Whip’s Sporting Goods, Hawley’s Auto Repair and Completion Center, Tom and Carol Howard, Buzzy, Jonathan Williams, R.A.D. Auto Machine, N.E. Gear Polishing, DMW Graphics, Fleetworks of California, Bill Kushin, Hoosier Tire, Sunoco Fuel, and Reliable Welding and Speed as sponsors. It takes quite a few people to run a race team and the average race fan doesn’t always see what it takes to get to the track every week. Most of all, I have to thank my wife Sue. She is my number one supporter allowing me to do what I do every week and she’s with me every step of the way. Every Friday night she’s up in the stands spotting for me and you don’t really see a lot of women spotters. I’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of great people and sponsors around me supporting and helping me through 40 years and I’m grateful for their support.”
Throughout his career, Fearn has been mainly a full-fender driver, racing in both the ProStock and Late Model divisions in an area that is rich in modified history and tradition as well as fan interest. Despite being surrounded by modifieds throughout his career, Fearn never ran a modified full-time, making only a select few starts over his 40 years.
“I’ve pretty much been a full fender guy,” said Fearn. “I’ve ran a few SK races at Stafford. Going back to the late ‘90’s, Curt Brainard used to have 2 cars so I raced his car a few times and one year I ran a second Bob Hitchcock car as a teammate to Woody Pitkat for a night. I’ve always told people that I race within my means and I don’t want to go broke racing. I’ve seen too many guys come and go because of that. If I couldn’t afford to do it right, then I wasn’t going to do it at all and I never really tried to press anyone or look for an SK ride. I ran a couple modified races at Riverside and in 1992 I ran a Busch North race at Riverside, so I’ve tried a couple different things.”
The 2024 season was a bit of a disappointment for Fearn and the #92 team. For only the second season since 2012, Fearn failed to record a feature victory and he only had 2 top-5 finishes in 19 starts. Despite the lackluster numbers on paper, Fearn feels like he and the team made progress throughout the 2024 season and are primed to be back among the front runners in 2025.
“Last year we struggled a little, but we had a lot of fun at the track,” said Fearn. “Last year was a rebuilding year for us and we had great expectations coming out of the gate but it just never happened. There were a variety of things that were holding us back a little bit but I felt like we got better as a team throughout the season. The only problem with that is all the other teams got better as well! Last year the car had good short run speed but we were lacking a little bit on long run speed. I’m always looking for one more win and then once you get that one, you want to get a second and third and keep on going. I think towards the end of last season we were pretty close and if we can start out this year like that and improve the car a little more, we should be in a pretty good position. We’re always working on things and we’ll keep at it and hope for the best.”
The 2025 season gets underway with the 53rd Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler® set for April 26-27. The NAPA Spring Sizzler® kicks off on Saturday, April 26, with feature events for the Late Model, Limited Late Model, and Street Stock divisions, along with SK Light qualifying duel races that will set the field for an extra-distance 30-lap feature event on Sunday, April 27.
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Sunday, April 27, will play host to the 53rd Annual NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler®. Filling out Sunday’s racing card will be qualifying and feature racing for the SK Modified® division, the 30-lap SK Light Modified feature, plus the NAPA Pit Party.
For more information, visit staffordspeedway.com, follow Stafford Speedway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
