Tom Butler Expected To Be Disqualified From Late Model Victory At Stafford Speedway

SMS-LOGO-HOME-PAGE-2012STAFFORD – Sunday afternoon Tom Butler got his first victory at Stafford Motor Speedway since 2009.

Though, upon further review, it looks as if Butler will be waiting at least another season to say his winless streak is over.

Multiple sources close to competition management staff at Stafford Motor Speedway have confirmed that Butler will be disqualified from the victory in Sunday’s 30-lap Late Model feature at Stafford Motor Speedway.

Butler, of Stafford, is expected to be disqualified running non-conforming shocks. An announcement from Stafford Speedway management is expected in the coming days.

Tom Fox, Stafford Motor Speedway director of racing operations and competition, was not available for comment on Sunday evening.

The victory was the first for Butler since Sept. 4, 2009. Cory Casagrande of Stafford, the fourth place finisher in the same Late Model event, is also expected to be disqualified for the same infraction as Butler.

The changes give Adam Gray of Belchertown, Mass. the victory and moves Tom Fearn of East Longmeadow, Mass. to a second place finish and Michael Scorzelli of Malta, N.Y. to third.

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Comments

  1. Don’t they inspect cars before the race these days? If so, shocks are visible and shouldn’t illegals be caught before the race.

  2. I was so glad to see Butler back late in the season cuz I’ve always been a fan. It’s sucks that this had to happen.

  3. track needs help,,, hire people that know something about racing

  4. Shocks are visibly the same but the division is only allowed certain part numbers so its not as easy as looking in and seeing something wrong its a matter or removal and inspection

  5. Gil, there are many tricks being played with shocks these days. One of them is to take a production shock such as a Pro Shock which may be the specified part number in the rule book, and send it back to be re-valved to the teams specifications. Visual inspections of shocks would not find this advantage. Only until the shock was physically pulled from the car would this be able to be detected.

    Sadly, things like this continue to be on the rise in racing. These tracks need to start finding ways to police it a little better without costing teams money. One of my favorite rules that doesn’t seem to be in use many places any more is a shock claimer rule paired with a cost rule. In theory, if for example, you were to put a $200(each) limit on the retail price of a shock, this should keep teams from spending absurd amounts of money on stock appearing modified shocks knowing they could be claimed at any point in time at a large financial loss. It seems to work well in other parts of the country. I haven’t read the Stafford Late Model rule book, but I personally think this could stand to be a nice addition.

  6. No they don’t inspect cars before they race.Never have and never will. This isn’t Cup. The work on the shocks is done inside. Unless you put them on a shock dino or disassemble them they will look the same as any other shock. This is not a visual thing its mechanical.The track has people that know plenty about racing thats why they catch people cheating and using legal parts. Sad Tommy is a good guy but even good guys do bad every now and then.

  7. do you realize how much it would cost to hire people to inspect every car 100% every week, nevermind the time it would take….pre race inspections are for things that involve safety, for the driver and everyone involved.

  8. As for the shock claimer it does not work. Any shock dealer will give you a bill of sale and put whatever price you want on it. It was tried and a multi time sk champion proved how it could be done. Tech inspectors just need to keep digging like they do at Stafford. Thats why there are more Technical DQ’s there than any where else….

  9. Dingus and others, thanks for bringing me up to date.

  10. Jimmy, simple solution. Make all purchases for shocks go through track like they did with SK light for a while (not sure if they still do) and have the shock stamped and numbered to track it. Want a simple solution to shock cheating, there it is. It can be done and has been done. Do it again. Then there will be no fudging of prices.

  11. One other note… It doesn’t matter if the shock dealer changes the price on the bill of sale. If you have cheated up crazy shocks, and I chose to claim them and give you my legal shocks… You still just lost a bunch of money. It can self police if done correctly, but it has to be done correctly. Unfortunately, I don’t think any of the tracks around here have the balls to do any of this cause I am willing to bet you would see some of your local superstars fall off their pedestal real fast.

  12. 15-20 years ago they used to do intake swaps at Thompson for the top 3 to keep everyone honest. They could do the same thing with shocks.

  13. disappointed says

    I would just like to point out that Adam gray did not get his shocks inspected after the race. Cory finished 4th yet had to park inside tech, which isn’t normal. There were complaints throughout the year but they decided to check the last race when they should do this at the beginning. Also, the shock used by tommy will be legal for next year. I think he would’ve won either way.

    My guess is that they didn’t check gray’s shocks because they knew they were illegal and didn’t want to have to deal with the drama it would bring because everyone would’ve said that he didn’t deserve the championship.

  14. late model fan says

    @dissapointed the 97 car was in tech and did have his shocks off. You really should know the facts before you run your mouth. The shocks that the 4 ran for the fall final will be legal for next year you are right. But if you knew anything about racing or getting your facts right you would know they are a big advantage… The way the late model rules are set up are so all the cars are equal and they are all real close to being as equal as competition can be.. The engines are maybe 3 to 4 horsepower in different at the most which in my opinion is not much. A clear advantage would be corner speed or set up/handling which was very clear with what the 4 car did. Those shocks he ran held the suspension down in the corner which gave him more corner speed and he was able to accelerate quicker then everyone else.

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