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Courtesy of Madsen Motorsports, Brett Hearn’s 2012 Super DIRT Week big-block Modified winner, purpose-built for the Syracuse mile, is now on display in the Northeast Dirt Modified Museum and Hall of Fame, on the grounds of Weedsport Speedway in New York.
The car is in good company: Also on current rotation in the Museum are Kenny Tremont’s 1999 Super DIRT Week winning Troyer big-block; Bob and Michele Faust’s Enders-powered Teo-Pro that Tim Fuller drove to victory at SDW in 2004; Jimmy Phelps’ beautiful HBR Troyer “Mud Buss” that won the final 358 race on the mile in 2015; and a replica No. 22 coupe driven by the late Billy Rafter, who enjoyed great success at Syracuse in the late 1950s and early ’60s. Stewart Friesen’s prizewinning 2015 Teo-Pro, the last car to score on the Syracuse Fairgrounds mile before the track was demolished, will be added to the roster following restoration at Eric Mack’s shop.
Visitors can view these historic race cars, and many others, starting April 9th when the Museum opens for the season. Hours are Thursdays and Sundays from 12-4 pm, as well as race days at the speedway and during the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremonies on August 13th.
Fans will appreciate the backstory on the Museum’s latest addition to the Syracuse collection. Hearn and car owner Brian Madsen concede the one-of-a-kind Teo-Pro creation looked like a failed experiment when it debuted at the NYS Fairgrounds mile in October 2011.
“We really struggled with the original configuration,” Hearn admitted. Post-race, rehashing his frustration with his brother Bobby who built the piece, Brett came to this conclusion: “I didn’t think the problem was with the car—it was with the bodywork.”
With the help of team partner Kevand Cross and NASCAR chassis expert Eddie Dickerson, the car was taken to North Carolina and tested at the A2 Wind Tunnel.
“We threw a whole bunch of stuff at it and when we were done, we gained a ton more downforce, especially on the nose,” Hearn remembered. “That made all the difference in the world. We went back to the mile in 2012 and the car was lightning fast.”
Not that the race ran stress-free, thanks to Mother Nature. “They were calling for rain about halfway, the guys in the pits were watching the radar, and we chose to stay out there,” Hearn recounted. “We were conserving fuel so we could go as long as we possibly could. We knew once it started to rain, it was going to rain all afternoon, which it did. We played that card. But the car was dominant all week.”
Although the victory was Brett’s record sixth in SDW big-block Modified competition, it was his first in 17 years. It was also car owner Guy Madsen’s long-awaited first ever.
Built for the big track, the Madsen team fielded the one-and-only maybe a dozen times after that. With some alterations, Brett ran the car to a top finish at Oswego SDW and a win in Orange County’s 2017 Eastern States 200.
“It was raced at Syracuse with torsion bars; it was raced at Oswego with coil suspension. So it’s been through some changes,” Hearn said. “It was super-unique at the time—it still is. A lot of the frame was built to accommodate the aerodynamic package—that was part of the deal. There were a ton of one-of-a-kind twists and tweaks to the bodywork that were really cool.
“It’s truly a one-off: there was never one built like it, and there has never been one like it since.”
