Matt Hirschman celebrates victory in the SK Modified event at the 2009 North-South Shootout at Concord (N.C.) Speedway
But the big question for many was if an SK Modified event would be returning to the racing card as a companion to the showcase Tour Type Modified John Blewett III Memorial race.
The North-South Shootout ran at Concord Speedway from 2003 to 2010 before moving to Caraway Speedway in 2011.
An SK Modified event on the racing card had become a regular tradition at the North-South Shootout. Keith Rocco of Wallingford won the SK Modified event at the last North-South Shootout at Concord in 2010. Woody Pitkat of Stafford won the SK Mod feature in 2011 in the first event at Caraway and Michael Gervais Jr. Of Southbury won in 2012, but after that season the event was dropped from the card.
Darren Hackett, owner of Caraway Speedway, is promoting this year’s event at Concord Speedway, which is scheduled to run Nov. 6-7.
Hackett said he is hoping to be able to return an SK Modified feature to the event’s card this year. Hackett said Thursday he is working to find the sponsorship to be be able to put up a $5,000 to win purse for the event.
“The purse that they had before paid like $2,100 to win and I don’t think that’s enough to attract people to come south,” Hackett said. “I’m not saying it’s not a good purse for up there, but all the cars have to come from up there. There might be a few from the south, but there’s really not a lot of [SK Modifieds] down south. So I feel like, in order to attract cars, we have to make it a $5,000 to win, $500 to start purse. In order to do that I need to find some sponsorship money to go with it.”
Hackett said he would like to see a commitment of at least 20 cars for the event.
“The last time they ran the [SK Modifieds] at Concord I think they had 17 cars, but I wouldn’t want to do it without at least 20 cars,” Hackett said. “I think 20-25 cars would make a good race for them. I mean, I’d love to have 60 there, but I think 20-25 would be a good number.”
The purse should be the same as the open mods??? Cost the same to tow down and race. Tires and fuel all cost the same
I think they should add the Street Stocks to it. Had 25 last week for the PASS race, Don’t know how many SK’s would show up but Bowman Gray will be done racing and could get some of those street stocks and could have a huge field. Just something to think about
C’mon, STREET STOCKS ??? How about Powder Puff too?
Street Stocks isn’t that far fetched. Back in the day the Race of Champions at Pocono ran them
with the Mods and they drew a huge field. For sure a large purse would be needed to draw them
but it’s gotta be less than what it would take to get SK’s. I like the idea.
Why not make this race one year up north then one year down south. Adding the Street Stocks would be a great move as long as a rules package could be designed to keep everyone on a level playing field.
The Race Of Champions at Pocono brings great memories. Although I was relatively young back then some images will always remain with me from these events. The Street Stock Races are what always come to mind first. It seemed like they started 60 of them and it was an endless stream of just awesome looking cars ( to my young and impressionable self ). Recapturing this era may be impossible and my memories may be slightly distorted over the years but I would pay to see that again. Folks in case you haven’t noticed, Chris D. is never right about anything. When he opts to go upper case like he is yelling at you it is usually confirmation that he has jumped the tracks again.
How can you have a North-South Shootout with SKs, a car that only run in the North? I think the idea of Street Stocks or Mini Stocks is better. You can draw from just about anywhere in the country and the over purse doesn’t require a mortgage. As stated earlier Street Stocks ran at Pocono and drew a bigger field than the mods.
Sec D., what kind of a crowd would Stafford get if they dropped the mods and only ran Street Stocks? Ask Bruce Bemer if he is willing to ditch the 2 mod divisions and bring in a high paying street stock race.
To Chris D,Who said drop the Mods and only run SS? What the hell are you talking about? This article is about a support division to a Modified show. A Modified show. Some of us don’t mind at all the idea of a SS opener in support of the N/S Shootout. Back then there had to be ten body styles of cars and different wheel openings and rake and just a bunch of ideas from up and down the east coast all in one place. It was really something to see. On a side note, I don’t think you will see the N/S Shootout in the North again. If we say it cost to much to go down there and win, it must cost too much to come up here and get stomped. As for your question Chris, If there were no Mods running at Connecticut race tracks I think you will get the close to the same crowd you have now. Because a race fan is a race fan is a race fan.
To Sect.D, Nice typo dummy. I first wrote “the same crowd” and changed it to “close” but left an extra “the” in there. Anyway, there would be shock but enventually we are all going back to see the races.