In 2013 Valenti Modified Racing Series racing director Scott Tapley tweaked the series points system by awarding championship points for heat race finishes.
Rowan Pennink celebrates the 2013 Valenti Modified Racing Series championship
The transformation of the points system has continued. It was announced recently that beginning in 2014 the series begin awarding points in events for running up front. A driver will for receive two bonus points for leading a lap during an event and the driver that leads the most laps during each event will receive five bonus points.
The Modified Racing Series also announced a number of technical rules changes for the series recently.
— Former NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour series director Ed Cox will retire from NASCAR in the coming weeks after 36 years of service with the company.
Cox, a native of Roanoke, Va., began with the sanctioning body in 1977. His most recent position was as special projects director for NASCAR’s touring and weekly racing series departments.
Cox spent 16 years as the director of the Whelen Modified Tour. He was replaced in the position by Chad Little prior to the start of the 2008 season. Many would argue Cox oversaw the series through its strongest era ever.
— It was the mystery item on the 2014 Stafford Motor Speedway schedule. An event listed for July 4 as the SK Modified 5K.
And nearly two week after the release of the schedule remains a mystery exactly what the event will be and it also remains unclear when Stafford officials will offer more details concerning the race.
— It was reported recently by Yankee Racer that Thompson Speedway regular John Lowinski-Loh of Milford, Mass. will compete full-time in the Late Model division at the Waterford Speedbowl in 2014.
Lowinski-Loh was the 2012 Thompson Modified division champion moved to the Late Model division at Thompson in 2013 and won one race. In addition to running at Waterford he also expects to run the seven-event schedule in 2014 at Thompson.
Corchesne,
Does it seems like a lot of the Thompson competitors are making the option of running another track and still running the few races Thompson has created for ’14?
It sounds to me like most guys will continue to run all the events at Thompson with more than a handful opting to also run part or full-time at Waterford.
Even though I don’t agree with what Thompson is doing, I do think this could be a win win for both tracks. Less races probably means that for those 7 events the stands and pits will be packed. And most racers want to race as much as possible so they will start to race at other tracks like Waterford. So I think this will be a good thing in the end. I don’t think the car counts were all that bad at the bowl to begin with. Towards the end of the season they got even better. I predict better car counts for next season.
I’ve seen numerous teams that weren’t there last year on staffords roster for next year. I dunno about Waterfords roster but I’m seeing consi races next year for sks at all the tracks. While I’m not agreeing with what Thompson is doing either it seems this may be a big boost for the other two tracks. Only time will tell
Yes, I also believe this is a win-win for both tracks. Waterford gets a higher car count. Thompson will have high car counts and exciting racing in the few events it’s hosting. Heck, even Stafford will benefit by taking Thompson’s fans. A few years down the road, I see Thompson as a thriving multi-purpose racing facility, and Waterford out of its financial woes.
wait – did you say most racers want to race as much as possible? the NHS shoot out post before this one said racers wont want to run the shoot out becase of points??? last year seekonk paid 5k to win and most so called racers said it was too expensive to race. now you are saying the same racers will run more shows for less money
Steve.. I’m convinced you have no clue what your are talking about. Racers do want to race as much as possible, but if your in the top five in points by the time this race comes around your Prally not interested in treating up your car before the points race the next day.
Ana as far as seekonk goes, most teams from this area had to buy at least 8 tires to run that race, they couldn’t run what they had so in order to break even they had to be in top 8 I believe. Most people I’ve talked to that didn’t go, that was there reason .
Yes, I think that most drivers at Thompson don’t think 7 races is enough. I also think Thompson is turning their backs on years of loyale fans and drivers. They’re gonna make most of the money off the road course and that seems to be the priority. Some people have said that the road course is somehow going to benifit the oval. I couldn’t disagree more. But at least we won’t have to rush out of work on most Thursday nights to get up there now.
Fred,
Not sure if you are a competitor or not but sometimes you have to bite the bullet to support tracks that support sk modified racing. Seekonk and Waterford are the only tracks that have paid 5k to win a sk race locally and neither track gets more than 20 cars for these events. Both owners and fans are to blame that these shows will not be back on the 2014 schedule. I think seekonk should pay 100 points next time maybe they will get a full field… – the next open comp show for modifieds at seekonk is paying 10k to win 1k for last and $500 for starting the last chance race – if there is not 50 cars at this race and 8 to 10 thousand fans I just don’t get why people cry about low purses – show your support for high paying races and they will get bigger and more often.
I don’t know how many cars were at the Seekonk open tour race but the speedbowl had 26 sk’s for the 150 which is not bad. And who said these races won’t be on the schedule next year?