All posts by Kyle Souza

Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park

Open Show, Local Division Payouts Released For Thompson World Series

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Press Release from ACT Tour/PASS/Thompson Speedway

Photo: Tom Morris/My Race News

Thompson, CT — American-Canadian Tour (ACT) and Pro All Stars Series (PASS) officials have announced the purse structure, rules, and other information for a trio of open shows at the 58th World Series of Speedway Racing. High-paying single-day events are planned for the Tour-type Modifieds, 350 Small Block Super Modifieds, and ACT-type Late Models on the Saturday portion of the 18-division card. 

World Series promoters Cris Michaud and Tom Mayberry have posted more than $26,000 in awards for the Tour-Type Modified Open on Saturday, October 10. Whoever triumphs in the 75-lap main event will cash a $5,000 winner’s check. Everyone who takes the green flag receives a minimum of $500 to start. 

The event is open to cars that fit the rule sets of the Modified Racing Series, Race of Champions Modifieds, Tri-Track Open Modified Series, or Stafford Open Series. SK Modifieds may also compete using any carburetor. The entry fee is $50 for entries postmarked by October 1 and $100 for entries sent after that date. 

All entrants are required to run Hoosier 1320 tires on the left side and Hoosier 1330 tires on the right side. These tires must be purchased at the track from Hoosier Tire East. Teams may register up to six tires and need to have four registered tires on the car for both qualifying and the feature. 

Both the 50-lap ACT-Type Late Model Open and the 30-lap 350 Super Modified Open will pay $2,000 to win and $300 to start. The Late Model feature has just over $14,000 in total awards while the 350 Super Modified feature offers nearly $13,000 in posted awards based on a 30-car starting field. 

The Late Model event will use American-Canadian Tour and Thompson Late Model rules. The ACT rule set can be found at www.acttour.com/rules. Tires for the event must be purchased at the track on race day. 

Small Block Super Modified cars must follow Oswego Speedway and Star Speedway rules including the engine rules. Teams will have a two different tire options. They can run Hoosier 10-inch 1057 tires on three corners with the Hoosier 1060 on the right rear or American Racer EC-83 tires on three corners with the American Racer EC-84 on the right rear. 

Teams that choose the Hoosier option must buy tires at the track from Hoosier Tire East. For the American Racer option, teams can register up to six tires at $25 each. Four of the six registered tires must be on the car at the feature’s conclusion. 

The full payouts and other information that has been announced for all World Series open events can be found at www.thompsonspeedway.com, www.acttour.com/thompson-speedway, or www.proallstarsseries.com. Entry forms for the Tour-Type Modified Open and 350 Super Modified Open are also available on these websites. 

A 25-lap open event for 8-cylinder Street Stocks is also slated for the first day of the World Series on Friday, October 9. The rules and payout for this event are expected to be released by the end of the week. 

Apart from the Late Models, purses for Thompson Speedway’s local divisions will be the same as at the Thompson 150 on September 3. This includes a $1,500 winner’s purse for the 30-lap Sunoco Modified feature, $350 payouts for the Limited Sportsman and SK Light Modified winners, and $200 for whomever triumphs in the Mini Stock feature. Each purse structure is posted on Thompson Speedway, ACT, and PASS websites. 

Advance tickets for the 58th World Series of Speedway Racing are now on sale at https://happsnow.com/event/Thompson-Speedway-Motorsports-Park-YHPQ. A three-day general admission pass is $55 for adults and $15 for kids ages 12 and under. Grandstand attendance is limited to 25% of capacity per state requirements. Pit admission is $75 per person for a three-day pass. Pit pass sales will be at the track on race day only. 

Division rules, purses, and entry forms that have not yet been released will be announced soon. Visit www.thompsonspeedway.com or www.acttour.com/thompson-speedway for regular updates and to review the track’s health and safety guidelines. 

For more information about the World Series of Speedway Racing schedule, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com/thompson-speedway or www.thompsonspeedway.com. You can also get updates on Facebook and Twitter at @ACTTour. 

For camping information and general Thompson Speedway inquires, call (860) 923-2280 or email oval@thompsonspeedway.com. You can follow Thompson Speedway on Facebook and Instagram at @ThompsonSpeedway or on Twitter at @ThompsonSpdwy. 

For technical information concerning all PASS divisions, and for media or marketing questions, please contact passracing@roadrunner.com or visit www.proallstarsseries.com. Don’t forget to “Like” the Pro All Stars Series on Facebook or follow on Twitter @PASSSLM14 to keep up with breaking news as it happens. 

NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series, Riverhead Raceway

Big Money On the Line in Bubba 150 Tour Modified Event at Riverhead

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By: Kyle Souza / Photo: Noah Watts/My Race News

Riverhead Raceway isn’t messing around.

After the announcement of the cancellation of their NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race scheduled for September 19 due to COVID-19 fan restrictions, the quarter-mile in New York decided they were going to put some big money on the line that night no matter what. Little did they know how all of the racing community would get behind the race with them.

Track PR writer and announcer Bob Finan has been trying to keep up with the many sponsors which continue to pour in.

Without the Whelen Modified Tour, due to the cost required to bring them in and pay their purse, Riverhead is going forward with one of the biggest paying local modified races of the year in the region.

Riverhead is also permitted a small portion of race fans who can enter through the grandstands and watch the night of racing. Masks are required at all times by all patrons, including those in the pits.

The track will honor Bob “Bubba” Patanjo, a long-time Bill Park team member, who passed away over the winter with a 150-lap Tour Modified event this Saturday, September 19, along with five other of their weekly divisions. As of story publishing on Wednesday night, the race is already $2,900 to win, with bonuses provided by the Patanjo family and friends, Oval Speed Unlimited (race sponsors) and more.

Tommy Baldwin, a former Daytona 500 winning crew chief, and current NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour car owner, has also jumped in on the fun. Baldwin will provide the Tommy Baldwin Challenge Award, which places $750 to any driver who qualifies in the top-five, but elects to drop to the rear of the field and wins the race. If someone happens to accomplish the tasks, special bonuses awarded will be over $2,500, but they must earn the checkered flag.

A $1,200 hard charger award is on the line, with bonus money provided by Doug Ogiejko, Baldwin Automotive and the Patanjo family. Before the race even starts, drivers will compete in a qualifying time trial session, which pays $500 the polesitter. Sponsors of this award include My Race News, Natural Designs & Concepts, Spider Web Racing in memory of Spider Ligon, Brigandi Brothers Automotive of Nesconset, JTEC Electric, L.I. Poultry and Mike Farrell.

Riverhead Raceway will offer this race as part of their RiverheadRaceway.TV PPV package, with a ticket set for just $25 for the entire night of racing. Practice starts at 3:30 p.m., with qualifying taking the green at 5:30 p.m. Feature event racing will follow and the Bubba 150 is slated to be the second-to-last race of the night, with only an enduro following it.

Some additional awards have also been posted:

-$250 Late Place award: $200 from Ralph Beaver and $50 from Short Track Race Razzle

-$50 13th place finisher award from JTL Enterprises in memory of Ted Christopher

-$29 to 9th place qualifier in time for JB Fortin NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour team in memory of Ed Cahill

-$25 to the 5th place runner on lap 67 from Okula Motorsports

-$25 to 10th place car on lap 57 from Okula Motorsports

-Nicole Fortin will pay $25 to the leader of lap 34 & 84 and will pay $25 for the fourth-place finisher and $16 for last place finisher.

-John’s Fuel Oil is posting $84 for the leader of lap 84 and $16 for the last car on the lead lap at lap 34.

-Bobby Mason & Ace’s Landscaping have sponsored laps 60 and 98, with $100 to the leader of those laps.

-Eastport Feeds and Crescent Duck have posted a $500 bonus for the Bubba 150 — with $250 going to the second-place finisher, $150 for third-place finisher and $100 for fourth.

For more information on the race, or to provide bonus money, fans are encouraged to visit RiverheadRaceway.com.

  • Photo: Michael Jaworecki/My Race News
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Inside The Musket: Santos Becoming The Best at New Hampshire

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By: Kyle Souza / Photo: Tom Morris/My Race News

Bobby Santos and New Hampshire Motor Speedway seem to be the perfect match.

After 12 months of not making a start on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, Santos returned to competition in the Musket 200 presented by Whelen last weekend at NHMS and parked his No. 63 ThinkLite Chevrolet in Victory Lane.

Santos hasn’t been out of the seat in 2020 — competing in Sprint Cars and Midgets across the country — including a victory in the prestigious Little 500 just one week prior. But his tenure on the Whelen Modified Tour dwindled a bit the last few years, as he continues to build a family and race elsewhere. But, when he rolls into NHMS, it doesn’t matter whether he’s been on the Whelen Modified Tour lately or not.

He finds a way to win. Santos now has six victories in 28 starts there, including two in the prestigious Musket extra-distance event.

His six wins leads all active drivers, and has him tied for third in the list of all-time drivers at the ‘Magic Mile’. Only seven-time champion Mike Stefanik (8) and Tony Hirschman (7) have more. Santos’ most recent win tied him with Reggie Ruggerio.

“This place has been good to me, I just love coming here,” Santos said. “Good cars and good people around me giving me what I need and making the right adjustments. It’s about getting a feel that I like in the race car so I can race it. I want to be comfortable so I can maneuver and put ourselves in position. It’s also understanding that you have to be in the first couple of spots at the end of the race. If you are third, fourth, fifth on back, it becomes really hard to get to the front without doing anything drastic.”

New Hampshire’s style of racing includes drafting similar to what NASCAR Cup Series fans might see at Daytona and Talladega, but on a much smaller level. There are no large packs three and four-wide, but instead, a slight bump draft, or group or two cars chasing one, makes a difference.

It’s a major wild card of a race with the potential to be collected in a wreck high.

Saturday, Santos wasn’t much of a factor for the lead early, but was riding comfortably inside the top-10. He led his first lap on 169 of 200, and would lead a total of 24 before it was done — including the final one. It was in typical Santos fashion that he doesn’t show up to the front dance until it matters most.

In his six wins, Santos hasn’t led a lap before the 31 laps to go mark in any race. In fact, in all but one of his victories, Santos didn’t lead until there was under 10 laps to go.

He is always there when the big money is on the line, and this time, it earned him a $20,000 prize in the biggest paying Whelen Modified Tour race of the year.

“It was a long race, just trying to bide our time and put ourselves in position to be there at the end,” Santos said. “We just pushed as hard as we could.”

Santos swapped the lead back and forth with 2018 Whelen Modified Tour champion Justin Bonsignore countless times in the final laps.

His first four victories at NHMS were with Tinio Motorsports, but after they decided to step away, the last two have come with Dave Sapienza as his car owner. Sapienza, a competitor on the tour himself, tabbed Santos to drive his car in 2019 after Sapienza was injured in a tour race at Wall Stadium Speedway. Santos was involved in a wreck, earning a DNF in July of last year, but won the September Musket 250.

This year, he made it back-to-back. In those two Musket races only, he’s collected over $40,000 in winning prizes.

Sapienza also competed in the race on Saturday, but finished outside the top-10 a few laps down.

“I’ve been staying busy, racing my sprint cars and midgets, but at the end of the day it comes down to Dave Sapienza and his team,” Santos said. Tommy Grasso (crew chief) works so hard on the cars and prepares them so well. The team was so impressive this weekend — showing up with two cars and the guys bouncing back and forth. It was impressive the way they worked together and did what they could to accommodate me as the outsider and also understanding that it’s Dave’s team and giving him what he needs. It’s just an honor to be able to drive their car.”

If you look back at the history of the Whelen Modified Tour at NHMS, you can now argue that Santos might go down as one of the best drivers to ever run the track in a modified. The eight wins Stefanik has seems like a small number with Santos’ career still going full steam ahead.