Homegrown History: Doug Coby Wins Whelen Mod Tour NAPA Spring Sizzler 200 At Stafford

Doug Coby celebrates victory in the Whelen Modified Tour NAPA Spring Sizzler 200 Sunday at Stafford Motor Speedway (Photo: Michael Ivins/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Doug Coby celebrates victory in the Whelen Modified Tour NAPA Spring Sizzler 200 Sunday at Stafford Motor Speedway (Photo: Michael Ivins/Getty Images for NASCAR)

STAFFORD – In the ranks of Modified racing in the Northeast, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour NAPA Spring Sizzler 200 has long stood as “The Big One.”

Call it the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500 rolled into one when it comes to Modified heritage.

“Not that it overshadows necessarily winning some of these other shows, but it is what it is, everybody wants to win the Sizzler,” three-time Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby said. “… It’s a big deal.”

Coby’s formative years in stock car racing were spent competing in weekly divisions at Stafford and he got to live a dream in 2006 when his first career Whelen Modified Tour victory came in the Spring Sizzler.

Sunday the Milford driver continued to cement his personal legacy in Modified racing’s big one.

Coby started on the pole and dominated from start to finish on the way to victory in the Spring Sizzler 200 at Stafford Speedway.

Todd Szegedy of Ridgefield was second and Rowan Pennink of Huntingdon, Pa. third.

It was the third Spring Sizzler 200 victory for the 36-year old Coby, who also won the event in 2012. He became the seventh driver to win at least three Spring Sizzlers since the event’s inception in 1972. Coby started running at the track as a teenager in high school.

“My first win in this race in [2006] was right after [former track owner Jack Arute Sr.] had passed and it meant a lot to the Arute family to have somebody like me who came up racing here able to win the biggest race that their track holds,” Coby said. “I’m sure [the Arute family] likes seeing a “Stafford Guy” go out there and win Stafford’s race. … That’s a cool thing just to know, back in 1996 when I first ran a Late Model here I think I drove into the turn one fence my first lap on the track because the car wouldn’t turn, now I’ve got three Sizzlers and a bunch of other wins here.”

It was the 18th career series victory for Coby and his eighth series win overall at Stafford. Coby, the two-time defending series champion and 2012 champion, led 193 of 200 laps on the day.

“[Crew chief Phil Moran] just knows how to make the thing rotate the middle [of the corners] and get good bite off [the corners],” Coby said. “… Nothing’s ever easy, especially in this series. That’s why we are always very appreciative when we can win. … We just take one race at a time and try to improve from the last time we were at a track.”

Coby seemed to be toying with the competition in his Mike Smeriglio Racing ride for much of the event, quickly checking out from his pursuers on restart after restart.

“I was pretty confident that if I could make it through turn one and two on the first lap [after each restart] that I would stretch it out.” Coby said. “And I know how it is when you’re chasing a dominate car, you’re just going to overdrive for those first three or four laps after the [restart] so I went my hardest then to make them go their hardest. And eventually when you’re the second or third place car and you can’t get the leader – I don’t want to say you give up – but you settle in and say ‘I’ll wait for the next caution and try then.’” … As the leader I’m aware of that and trying to stretch it out and saying ‘Come get me.’”

Said Szegedy: “Obviously that’s frustrating. I drove my tail off from the time we dropped the green [flag], as hard as I could drive within the means of the car. And the last thing I want to do is make a mistake. I want to at least get the car to a podium finish. [Coby’s car] has just got tremendous drive. … We’ve got a little bit of work to do.”

For Pennink, the podium finish proved victory-like for he and his Boehler Racing Enterprises team. In their first race together in the season opening Icebreaker 150 at Thompson Speedway on April 10 Pennink finished ninth. The BRE program and its Ole Blue No. 3 car have long been iconic fixtures with the series, though consistent success has been hard to find over the last decade for the program.

“It’s always a good day when you finish in tech on the Tour,” Pennink said after his second start for the team. “For me, it’s been a while since I’ve been in tech. Way too long. I think the same thing with the [Boehler Racing Enterprises] team. I think two good things coming together here could be something good for the future. I’m looking forward to it.”

Comments

  1. Didn’t take too long for the 4 to be removed from the track hammock style. Probably won’t be the last time this year.

  2. Personally, the Thompson 300 was, and always will be, “The Big One” for this series. The fact they got rid of it does not make the Sizzler the new “Big One”.

    Give the 2 team the championship right now…gonna be a ho hum season, no one has anything for the 2 when it is out front.

    See ya next year.

  3. darealgoodfella says

    Congrats to the 2 car, that car is on rails. Extremely well tuned.

    ChrisD., the RF of the 4 was hit (or hit something) and eventually broke. Something broke. I was watching it for several laps, wheel was bent, damaged, etc. Probably some suspension too. Too bad the team can’t see the right side of the car from the infield.

    Congratulations to Pennink and the BRE Team. It’s good for modified racing to see a home built chassis in the top 3. The 3 ran very good all day. I hope they stay out of trouble, it will be great for the Tour for that car to finish well, preferably a championship.

    The 00 was entertaining. Not too many cars were spared. Many could be marked with a “TC was here”. Call the 00 the pinball car. The bunch of people where I was sitting were just laughing as the 00 bounced from car to car.

  4. Definitely going to go down as one of the least favorite sizzler days I could remember. Everyone you thought would win did easily. Preece had a lot to say after getting dumped by the 51. Preece needs to send a message to the 51 and 2 teams about getting dumped from behind.

  5. Coby was dominant today, congrats! TC should have gotten tires when the field did. Beautiful day for the race.

  6. Dareal, not much to sat about the 15 LFR house car huh? Shocker. Or the dominating Troyers? Way to avoid the elephant in the room here. Joke.

  7. Preece needs to keep his mouth shut if he wants to go anywhere. He is not Kyle Busch and say what he wants following a wreck. Cup nor Xfinity teams or sponsors don’t want to hear that from a rookie on a lower class team and without deep pockets

  8. darealgoodfella says

    Brian, where was the 44 and 8? 44 is still struggling with that magical LFR chassis, and the 8 still stinks with the same chassis and engines as the 2. Hmmmmmm…. anybody should see that the LFR is not the solution. If it was LFR, all LFR cars would be top 4. That is far from happening. The 8 & 44 are stacked with talent, should be doing much better, especially since that LFR chassis is supposed to make it so much easier. lol!

    So that elephant is what? Carburetors? What is it that you don’t want to talk about? Carburetors? Or… is it something else?

    Do you really think the chassis has anything to do with it? Do you know what the chassis does?

  9. The best race of the day was run first, except too many cautions and a few cars ran out of gas. The SK division is like the trucks in the “big 3 NASCAR series”, its usually the best race of the weekend. The 99 has unbelievable drive off the corners. Stand in the infield, and watch the car operate. It’s good!

    The sizzler was terrible. Im not patting Coby on the back, but the car is great, no matter if you like him, or not, however Doug has not really “raced” anyone yet. He qualifies up front, and “drives” the car not needing to “race” anyone. His only passing is lapped cars, which he has no issues with usually.
    Speaking of lapped cars, the 01, (and I have not posted any negative comments about her this year), was lapped approx every 8-10 laps. If she ran the race to the finish, she would have been lapped approx 25 times. I saw her pit and take on new tires. Why? Whatever.. I wont comment on the 6 incident, as I did not see it. Lia in the 8 is a weapon, and dangerous. He’s terrible! Nice to see the 3 run well. 44 has work to do. For all the “R&D” talk, the 15 went pretty good.
    I thought Stafford’s “flyover” was a little limp, till someone explained it was not a real copter, but a “drone”, so that explains that.

  10. I enjoyed the SK feature most. I know there was the “Can we complete just one lap?” period, but good race to watch. The SK Light feature was a good watch Sat., too…

    Great day overall for Pennink! I guess it wasn’t the car holding the 3 team back over the last few years. Glad to see Blewett OK after his hard hit… Radio chatter between officials noted something failing in the right front of the car.

    I thought the tour race was a tad boring, but what a GREAT turnout in the stands!

  11. Gee dareal, you’d think a great driver like “Showtime” would realize he got hit or hit something and had something bent or damaged. Nope, just keep going and burn up some of Garbarino’s money. You keep watching him Dareal, and next time that happens you radio in to “Showtime” so he will know enough to slow down or pit next time he has that happen. And by the way, the 8 had to pit early because the window net was down, since you are so interested in excuses.

  12. So because the 01 gets lapped every 10 laps does that mean that spafco cars are horrible? It’s a combination that makes winning teams period. A LFR chassis made a good team great. The 15 did what you said it wouldn’t. You can give a team a dominating car but if that team doesn’t know what to do with it they will never win. Give the 16 car, the 51 or the 58 car a LFR and they will have the top 5. The racing would be better than it was yesterday that’s for sure. The “dominating” manufacturer that you pronounced was a non contender…..again. That’s all.

  13. LM,

    So tell me exactly, what should he say?

    Because quite honestly, that whole ” do the right thing ” type of attitude doesn’t mean anything anymore. Sponsors are found through family ties, or B to B transactions. If you want to go anywhere or get in a top tier ride, you need $. So from what I heard over the loud speaker, all I heard was displeasure with the 51, and saying he was a “hack”.

    Also, for someone who isn’t a driver and probably has no recollection of what it takes to actually become a top tier driver, your opinion is just another “hater” that would rather see a driver fail at trying to be something, than be successful.

    Stay classy my friend.

  14. speed kills says

    Coby`s dominance has ZERO to do with the chassis manufacturer. Phil Moran is smart and I am sure at some point if they are looking hard enough they will find the grey area (performance advantage) he is enjoying at the moment. some people in my opinion were pre mature to open the pocketbook and buy these cars to “compete” against the 2 team .

  15. “you’d think a great driver like “Showtime” would realize he got hit or hit something and had something bent or damaged. Nope, just keep going and burn up some of Garbarino’s money.”

    FWIW, the 4 team was discussing contact that seemed to have knocked the toe out of whack over the radio. It sounded like everyone who mattered was in on the decision to stay out on the track.

  16. Cryan Preece hasn’t changed.

  17. Stafford is ten times better than the other track
    Even though same guys win every week
    Rocco and ………
    Oh ya Tommy tomato too

  18. NTLCHP92,
    I guess you didn’t hear him also say at the end of the interview that he owes a couple of people one. I guess that and calling the 51 a hack is being classy. Oh I didn’t know you were a former top tier driver

  19. darealgoodfella says

    speed kills, very well said. Whatever the 2 is doing can be done with a Troyer, BRE, SPAFCO, CD, etc. And it is not just one thing, it appears to be a couple things.

    NASCAR looks weak, inept, incompetent, foolish, etc. Just as they did with the Newman/7NY and the TC/36 debacles. And this is even worse because the SPEC motor is supposed to be a great equalizer. NASCAR as a sanctioning body is supposed to level the playing field, but they are fueling this runaway with deliberate ignorance. I hope it is deliberate ignorance, if not, it’s incompetence.

    The SPEC motor was introduced as a cost reduction. Cost control is a paramount in order to get competitive cars to show up. Clearly the 2 is spending huge amounts on development. This spending needs to be controlled, and curtailed. Remember when Cup cars used specialized engines meant to last only 3 laps for qualifying? That was stupid expense and went on way too long. This series can not be allowed to employ expensive capabilities that are used in upper echelon series. Capabilities that are expensive and accessible to very few. Therefore, this capability must be prohibited from being employed in this series, or it will kill this series.

  20. Sounds like I made the right choice saving my money and staying home. Pretty sad that the tour race used to be the reason I went to the sizzler and now it’s the reason I stay home.,only thing the tour is good for is catching up on some grandstand zzz’s and short lines to grab a snack

  21. DaReal,The 2 team works very hard and seems to be playing by the rules.whats wrong with that?any team that wants to compete should also work hard.Cost controls never seem to work in any endeavor.Money always talks and BS walks.Also I didn’t see the incident with the 51 and 6 or hear the comments made afterwards.I made it to my car faster than the 2.I was starving to death.What was with every food stand on the premises having long lines?I’m too fat anyway i guess.

  22. It is amazing that the way the world is changing with technology, racing has suffered due to this. Television has gotten better, phones, everyday cars, etc…etc…etc. Its a shame racing has gone backwards due to technology.
    I wish there was a way to bring back the mods, the racing, and a few of the the tracks from the 70s and 80s. Anyone who is too young to witness that racing has no idea. Stories can be told all day, but if one did not experience the thrills of that era,…….sorry. Boy, I miss those days, and not too thrilled with the current product.

  23. LongTimeFan says

    As a long time fan and someone who has crewed on a tour team in the past I wonder how, or why is the 2 car so far ahead of all the other teams regarding performance? Coby seemed to be absolutely untouchable yesterday, as he has been in many of the events recently. The race is for second place now as the 2 team and driver are in another league.
    The MSIII team has the best of everything I’m sure. There are other teams that spare no expense as well (4,6,8,16,44,51,58 to name a few), yet they are a few notches below Coby and that teams performance on most days. Is it just a matter of the crew chief of the 2 out schooling the others that badly? How much of a performance advantage can there really be in the different bolt on components of the car?
    It’s impressive to see the run Doug and his team have been on. It certainly seems there’s a lot of work to be done to catch those guys. It’s amazing to see in this day and age the beatings that team is putting on the rest of the field. It’s going to be a long season for all of the other teams trying to catch the 2.

  24. Grey Matter says

    Does the word “clearly” mean that you know beyond a reasonable doubt that they are spending gobs of cash on development? Have you seen the team’s checks and balances? Do you have proof to make such a claim such as physical evidence? The guy who wrenches on that car (Phil) is a smart guy and so is Doug and I can only assume that everyone else on that team is. Instead of making some lame conspiracy theory, why can’t it just be chalked up to the team working together well or may be Doug being a better wheel man than the rest of them. Doug brought the 52 team a championship before he even stepped into the 2 car. Are you forgetting this because it seems to not be a part of your equation. Great car, great team, great driver, it’s the perfect storm.

  25. Poor Ryan, It must be so lonely at the top…I think he needs a hug

  26. darealgoodfella says

    Grey Matter, everybody thought the 7NY/Newman was good for the sport by making the field work harder to catch up with the Cup “technology” that was being brought to the Mod Series. And thought that the 36/TC was good, made the rest of the field get better. LOL!!!

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… when something like the 2 car happens, it is bad for the sport.

    Now somewhere I read that the 2 gets shipped down south to a 5 or 7 post shaker after each race for an assessment. This is way over the top for racing at this level. Way over the top. And for you Troglodytes, the shaker fine tunes the spring and shock package. This is far more educational than running the car on the track and watching lap times. But it is too late, the 2 car has the notebook from the shaker on the chassis tunes that work, and the 2 car is and will continue to be untouchable. They have the tunes for the core tracks. All they have to worry about is getting a bad RR tire.

    Using data gathering equipment in a car is illegal. But shaking a car appears to be fine. Shaking the car is the next best thing to having a data gathering system in the car. It should be stopped. It is not appropriate at this level.

    Watch the cars very closely… the 2 is rock steady, whereas the other cars bounce. That is what the shaker table addresses. It fine tunes the spring/shock package for a very smooth chassis response.

    Now since the rest of the field couldn’t afford the low cost SPEC motor, there is no way they are going to afford shipping the cars down south after every race to get shaken.

    This season is going to suck, plain and simple. When NASCAR lets this happen, the product sucks.

  27. beserious says

    Justafan, you say “the tour race used to be the reason I went to the Sizzler and now it’s the reason I stay home” That is the best statement I have seen in a long time. Yesterday one car starts on the pole and leads 193 out of 200 laps on the way to the win. That must have been quite a “race.” And yet, someone says there was a good crowd. Who are these sheeple that continue to fill NASCAR’s rotten corporate pockets by attending these terrible races? All I can think is that it is only two groups; people who know little about real sport and go because it is promoted as something special, and the second group is people who have some mindless loyalty to something that “was good 40 years ago.” even while knowing and continually complaining that NASCAR disses the division year after year. The Tour racing, seen through unbiased, fresh eyes, is the worst product out there. I’m sorry I could not support Stafford and its weekly divisions, SKs in particular, yesterday, but the “big show” absolutely kept me away. I’m supporting SKs, MRS, ACT, Tri-Track, and yeh, maybe even sketchy MTS.

  28. darealgoodfella says

    So where are all the Troglodytes, LFR groupies, zombies, and drones?

    Even as brain cell challenged as you are, that one remaining brain cell tells you that the Sizzler was a Fizzler, and it sucked. What is happening is bad for the sport, and even with that one remaining brain cell you have, you are indeed smart enough to stay quiet and not whoop it up. Yep, even with your challenged brain processing capacity, you can still smell when something is real bad.

    Those that are yapping are working off a brain stem.

  29. darealgoodfella says

    Hey Shawn, you should interview Mike Smeriglio and Phil Moran, and ask how the shaker program has helped their performance.

  30. What Ryan needs to do is talk to TC on how to give a pay back and send a message. Whill watching the Richmond practices they showed dale sr t bone Darrell waltrip from back in the day. It was funny listening to dw on looking back to that race. Sure got his attention from then on. No sponsor cares what he does on the tour. It’s all about winning and staying out front to get on tv the most.

  31. @ Grey Matter – Well Said

  32. Random thoughts:
    -#6 is supposed to be a professional race car driver now. I understand being driven to win on all levels but you’re supposed to be better than that.
    -You old timers forget Richie Evan’s dominance? I don’t necessarily see the dominance of a team being bad for the sport. However, it’s obvious that #2 doesn’t have the popularity and respect from the fans or competitors like Richie did.. perhaps that is a more sensible reason for people to dislike #2 dominance.
    -darealgoodfellas essay long posts of repetitive conspiracies are nauseating… can he be blocked? Readers vote?
    -Nice to see healthy crowds for the first 2 CT shows.

  33. Take the 2 car performance out of the race,and it still sucked.THE SIZZLER WAS A FIZZLER,BAD SHOW.

  34. knuckles mahoney says

    My thoughts. The 2 is untouchable for the most part. TC puts on a good show. Not sure why the 4 picked JB to drive it, he’s really done little on the tour. The highlight of the show for me was to see Zachem get around on a low budget. He should be proud. Cole got lapped on lap 25 but no one is asking him to sit down. And a message to the 01. Please call Les Hinckley and ask him to drive the car. Sometimes it’s more fun to see someone do well in your car, rather than flounder around at the back.

  35. There is no one close
    This guy uses a old troyer and stills kicks butt
    It good to see preece not on tour because it is obvious he would dominate that series to easy
    I am glad less talented guys get a shot at it
    Preece xfinity and soon to be Winston Cup
    Booggetyy Booggetyy boyzzz

  36. Someone said it already but glad I saved 40 $ and the hour drive. Not entertainment when Coby leads 90 percent of the race. I had a feeling it would happen and it did. But to his credit he is doing everything right to compete and be the best. Maybe ill catch the next one but hopefully the tour turns into competition again not a freaking weekly Sunday NASCAR cup race. Snooze fest.

  37. So if that performance can be done with any chassis manufacturer then why hasn’t it been done before? The 2 team HAD that chassis you say it can be done with and came no where close to what they are doing now. So if that team is so great then why only one win in 2014? I just need to know. Im a outsider yes but this seems black and white to me. 2014 1 win no poles. 2015 Domination. 1 thing changed. Maybe I am the dummy here but if I raced personally I know where Im going for a car. SOUTH of the boarder!

  38. Joe Lajoie says

    Imagine if social media was around in 1997-98 when Mike Stefanik won 23 of 44 races in the Beal & Bacon x6?? This place would EXPLODE!!
    I guess the future Hall of Famer was “bad for the sport”.

  39. Some may think this comment is extreme or in accurate or what not but some will most definitely agree…at this point the best thing that can happen for modified racing is for nascar to not step in but rather step out and just drop them altogether because they dont give a rats behind about the division. There are too many mod tour series as it is but at least with the other ones for the most part it is usually a decent race maybe not wow what a race but decent and competitive. Only thing is would the wmt cars run elsewhere or pack up and call it a day? Beats me but nascar is first and foremost the biggest problem due to the fact they flat out dont care.

    On a different note coby is a good driver he is not great but are there really any great ones left? Im going to make a point and people can take it as for what they want. I am in no way going to say the 2 car is cheating because heck if I know but it is the car that is winning all these races not the driver, yes he has the ability to get the job done in a car that should win anyway but put any of the top modified drivers in that very same car and wambam checkered flag. Again not saying cheating but to me it rather obvious they have or are doing something nobody else has. Is doug that much better at driving than the field? Is phil really that much smarter than every crew chief out there? I honestly just dont think so. Something just dont add up.

    And to the people that say it’s all doug wheeling and not the car is just idiotic…probably the same people that said tc was all washed up a few years ago when he couldn’t win when he returned to the speedbowl with a much outdated car and still ran top 3. Does anyone know what happened when they built a brand new car for the bowl last year? Anyone? Answer is he won the most races on the year and if not for 1 bad night with a wreck would have wont the championship. Point being its not like it used to be its all about the car today. A lesser driver with a better car will beat out a better driver with less car all day long now and to me thats just no fun.

  40. Make the Sizzler an open comp event. I’ve been saying it for years.

  41. darealgoodfella says

    What was that?

    Somebody sensible is using the ‘justafan’ handle.

    Shawn, look into this.

  42. darealgoodfella says

    Brian said, “So if that performance can be done with any chassis manufacturer then why hasn’t it been done before? ” Because it takes TONS of money. It takes time, lots of time to build the notebook and database. And it takes TONS of money to do that. Tons of money above and beyond the normal budget to run a team.

    Please note the ascent of performance of the 2 car in 2015. The car got better and better and better as the season went on. Here’s the way it works. Race the car, send it to the shaker, shake it, tweak weight distribution, springs, shocks, sway bar. Repeat. This technique produces far better data than a stopwatch.

    Several years ago, people were leaving the Stafford Tour race long before the race was over because of all the accidents. It was atrocious. With this event, I think there were only 5 yellows and a red, which is very low, and the race sucked.

  43. You are correct Joe Lajoie, add to that 13 wins and 6 wins in a row in the same season! That is dominance……

  44. The Sizzler turned into the Fizzler many years ago; its very rare you see a good, let alone great tour race there. Someone usually checks out on the field – and this happened well before the 2 car started mainlining data or whatever that program is up to, now its just in your face… i don’t see anything wrong with ‘fells theories, it’s all about getting through the corners and that shaker deal explains a lot.

  45. 1st it was the carburetor… Now it’s the shaker. I bet Doug, Phil, and Mike get a good chuckle out of darealgoodfella’s expertise.

  46. The 2 just has the right combination right now. If they haven’t been caught illegal, then the other teams need to go back to the drawing board and work a little harder instead of worrying about what the 2 has. In the 70s and 80s the top guys could go to the metal rack and build their own. They all used to say, when the car is right it was like driving a baby carriage. Richie,Mike,Brian Ross etc. new the car inside and out. Most of the people today probably cant adjust the valves or tune the carb. Technology is in today and you just have to move with it. Personally, I think its the muffler bearings they are using. They used to sell them at The Agawam Speed truck at the Park.

  47. So Dareal, I’m confused now. All last year, the 2 car was better because it had a super duper carburetor-nothing to do with the chassis, so obvious according to you. Now your inside knowledge source says it’s a shaker rig that’s giving the advantage. So, are they shaking the carburetor, or is it the chassis? Maybe they upgraded the flux capacitor. I’ll bet they got some alien technology straight from Area 51-yep, that has to be it. Please edumacate us on how this deal really works. And how come NASCAR still hasn’t gotten you to be there Chief Technical Inspector, is that part of the evil conspiracy? Are they afraid of the truths that you could unearth?

  48. darealgoodfella says

    It can be more than one thing. SteveS, I know you can’t process more than two things at once. The 2 has pull… watch it on the restarts… it just drives away on the drag race. That is horsepower. Carburetor. After all, the SPEC motor is tightly controlled by NASCAR. LOL! And those carburetors… You believe that they are never massaged, and used as-built from the manufacturer?

    That car is silky smooth… that is an advertisement for using a shaker table. I’ve never seen a car so smooth.

  49. Did the 00 “bounce off” a few cars? Yes.
    Did the 00 cause any cars to spin. No.
    Did the 00’s tire gamble represent one of the few interesting stories in the race? Yes.

    PS – darealgoodfella is a lot like TC – controversial, but entertaining.

  50. darealgoodfella says

    Chris D., I doubt Phil, Doug and Mike are laughing. It is not a secret. There is plenty of grumbling in the pits. Just like the grumbling when the 7NY was up to its shenanigans, and the 36 was running the big carb.

    NASCAR is the sanctioning body, and one of their top responsibilities is to maintain parity. The SPEC engine was a step backwards, and expensive. Huge mistake. Letting the 2 go on like this for so long is very bad. Huge mistake. Cost containment and restraint is also tops on the list. To let this go on for so long is bad for the Tour.

    And Coby isn’t even coming close to using all the car can do. He doesn’t have to. That is scary.

  51. Dareal says “The 2 has pull… watch it on the restarts… it just drives away on the drag race. That is horsepower”. Unless I am wrong torque gets you out off the hole and horse power carries you down the straightaway so I would say it is a combination of both. Did you ever think that maybe the transmission and how it is geared has something to do with the great restarts he gets? How about the differential gear ratio since they run a quick change rear. If the motor is governed by NASCAR which means everyone runs the same cam shaft and rocker arm ratio, then maybe they have found a differential gear ratio that works better with the cams power band. Just another trick to tune a motor.

  52. Ya’ll know the 2 only has a 1 pt lead in the points. Both the 16 and 51 have two top fives as well. The 16 obviously has a win as well. Heading to a bullring to boot. Lets not engrave the trophy yet.

  53. So it’s the carb on restarts, and the shaker table for the corners. Just want to get the set up right.

  54. darealgoodfella says

    NH Mark, the 2 is picking up, make that building upon, where it left off at the end of last season.

    Were you at the Sizzler?

  55. Old man racer says

    Enough of the “shaker table”. It’s called a chassis dyno.

  56. justafella says

    The Real Good Fella: when you talk about TC /36 with the sewer size carburetor please include the 51/JB In that same conversation. they both had the same engine builder and the only alteration was a power valve in the carburetor

  57. dareal said on 4/25 @1:10pm that “somewhere he read” that the 2 is shipped down south after every race to a 5 or 7 post shaker for an assessment. dareal, do you still have that article or did you lose it when you lost your mind? Reason I ask is, I, and I’m sure many others, would like to read the article. What publication was it in? Do you remember? Couldn’t have been that long ago, so you should be able to tell the class where you read it. Then, when I get a copy of the article you read “somewhere”, I will ask the NASCAR officials if it is allowed and what they plan to do about it. Unless of course you have already done that. Now dareal, you say that the 2 is destroying the tour because of their dominance and illegal tactics. So, what do you predict will happen? Will the tour cease to exist? Will all the other teams stop attending tour races? Will fans stop attending tour races? Will Barack Obama step in? Exactly WHAT is going to happen? Most likely, the tour will continue on, just like it has every year since 1985.

  58. darealgoodfella says

    Old man racer, it is not a chassis dyno. A chassis dyno is for doing pulls, to see how much power is making it to the wheels. It is used to tune the engine. I am talking about a 7 post shaker, and it is often referred to as a shaker table. It is used to tune the suspension, not the engine.

    Justafella, you are correct, the 51 could be included in that discussion. But I need to ask you, if the carburetor shenanigans were limited to a power valve as you say, why are carburetors being re-colorized? No need to be re-colorized for a power valve. There should never be a need to re-colorize a carburetor. Only if the metal has been worked will the carb need to be re-colorized.

    Chris D., don’t have a cow man! Something stuck a nerve?

  59. darealgoodfella says

    I… I… I… I am still all verklempt over Justafan’s ‘long’ post on 4/26 @ 4:37 pm. As I am that many others are getting it. The 2 car fans are terrified, understandably.

    Justafan, in your first paragraph you assert that NASCAR just doesn’t care. I think they think they do care, they are just idiots. They claim to impose cost controls, but they really don’t work, backfire, or ruin the product. The SPEC engine is the latest. The racing is horrible, less parity, cost millions for the Tour to changeover from the venerable built engines to the SPEC. The SPEC engines just aren’t as good as the built engines and cost more per lap of operation. They are pigs as far as fuel consumption goes, and need refueling, when the built engines did not need refueling. The race lengths and tire allocation rules. Cars can’t race without tires, they have to pace to save tires. The mandatory intermission to refuel the SPEC engines. So NASCAR appears to care, but what they do is purely idiotic.

    Your second paragraph is a thing of beauty. Coby isn’t that good, he’s terrible and terrifying in traffic. Loudon, Loudon, Bristol… spectacular examples. A friend said something interesting about Coby, he said that Coby is TCs replacement. The sun is setting on TC, and Coby is at that point where TC was making his mark early on the Tour. It also took TC a very long time to make a splash in the Tour, just as with Coby. Coby is not that good, Moran is not that good. If Moran was that good, he should have produced more championships and competitive cars with other drivers and all the other excellent equipment he has had to work with. If Coby was that good, he should have done better with all those other cars and teams. It doesn’t add up.

    And your third paragraph is so true. Coby isn’t that good. He’s lucky he has a car that can get him away from other cars quickly. He’s terrifying in traffic. In traffic is where a driver earns his/her reputation as a great driver. It’s not that hard to drive alone. People have been bringing up Evans and Stefanik… well, they were able to drive through traffic without taking out the other cars. Think Loudon, Loudon, Bristol. The wreck that Coby did in the opening couple laps in Bristol was just stupid. And then the Loudon restart wreck, and the last lap wreck at Loudon. Stefanik and Evans were great drivers, that is what made them so superior. If TC didn’t wreck as often as he did, he would have won a few more championships and be in the class of the great drivers. That 2 car is good, a goat could have driven it to a top 3 at the Fizzler.

    Let’s go back to the cost containment aspect. Just about all forms of racing are imposing some sort of cost containment as a means to enable parity and have enough cars show up to conduct an event. NASCAR Cup racing has eliminated pit row lug nut inspectors, eliminated the qualifying engines, and limited on-track testing time, as examples of cost containment measures. If cost containment is not imposed successfully, then a championship is being bought, not competed. Now I have no problem with spending, people can do what they want with money. But this is not about controlling money, it is about establishing and maintaining parity. Track testing is expensive. Very few teams do it. Shaker testing and development is expensive. Using data capture in a car is expensive. It is illegal to instrument a car during an event, so in-car data capture must be done during a private test session. This kind of testing and development will only continue to prohibit the establishment of parity.

    NASCAR cut into the testing allowed to the big leagues, and they need to do the same with the Modifieds. Private track sessions need to be limited, say one preseason session and witnessed by NASCAR to make sure illegal testing/instrumentation is not employed. Shaker table testing/development is to be prohibited, totally illegal. Substantial penalties when caught to then make it impossible to win the championship.

  60. Chris D;

    Why don’t you tell us about that time you thought you were a chassis builder? Oh wait…..

    It’s a 7 post btw
    Or
    A “pull down rig”
    Btw, not a chassis dyno.

    There’s other teams on the tour that have the means to figure out what they call “loads” on each wheel going through out the corner.

    Btw. What the 2 is doing is simple. Nothing illegal, just smart thinking and it can be done on any car for that matter.

  61. this is true.. I just watched a youtube video of a Porsche 996 get shaker tabled.. There also was shaker table videos with NASCAR cars, open wheel indy cars, and I have have seen a Lexus too..

  62. Holy crap I have a headache,why even bother with the race why don’t you guys just post the next race results now

  63. Jeff Williams says

    Joe,

    As I was reading through the comments I was waiting to see this before I replied. You are not kidding about that!!!!

  64. darealgoodfella says

    BTW, a shaker table is a legit title. And as David D said, a “pull down rig”, It started out as a four post, then added more posts. F1 is using 11 posts. More posts allows the addition of more loads. The goal is the same, to tune the chassis. Seven is a good number of posts, and probably the common application.

    Now how long have Mods been around… decades. And they have been “chassis tuned” by on-the-job-training, during practice and the race, which is why they continue to try different caster, weight placement, camber, pitch angles, springs, shocks, torque arms, radius rods, and of course, the mystical, magical, unicorn roll center. That’s a lot of factors, and if you can imagine, results in thousands and thousands of possible combinations. Then throw in tires that vary like crazy and that skews what the crew thinks they are learning from a particular set up. This is all why what was old suddenly becomes new again for a little while until it still doesn’t work.

    It takes a very careful selection of weight, spring and shock to get a chassis to respond like the 2 car. That doesn’t happen randomly. And the shaker table is the tool to determine those factors.

  65. Interesting discussion. Let me pose this. Does it not always go in cycles in all forms of racing? Somebody finds that little something and everyone is upset? Elliott at the big tracks in the 80’s, John Force everywhere in the 90’s, Michael Schumacher in F1, Stefanik in the X-6, the Toyotas of Joe Gibbs today in cup. The list could go on. If they are deemed legal then what can you say? Push just that little bit and you/your team may be the one everyone is chasing.

  66. I’m just looking to see if we can get to 100 comments for this article! Keep it going, don’t stop! 🙂

  67. darealgoodfella says

    Mazda, good point, but you mention all the top tier leagues where the sky is the limit on spending. And as far as John Force goes, he had a special deal with the manufacturer of the best and most predictable clutches. He bought out the warehouse of these clutches when the company closed up. So he had a couple years worth of these unicorn clutches, which were crucial to his success. Interestingly, the NHRA cars can carry on-board data collection during race events.

    We are in the small track local scene, where $$$ are not unlimited. So what could be bought to get that edge by one or a couple well endowed teams but is not affordable for the rest becomes a wedge that separates the field into groups, and destroys any chance at parity, or creates the 2 car that is all by itself. The 2 has been on an ascending trajectory since early last season. It is far above the rest of the field, in its own league, and nothing is close. What is going on with the 2 car is not a lucky, random collection of chassis set up factors. We have a far better chance at winning the Powerball with quick picks than the 2 car had hitting this set up by trial and error without something like a shaker table, and/or extensive on-track data collection. Over the years, legal things were deployed only to be declared illegal, and teams were told to never do that again. This looks to be one of those situations. What is going on here is not the driver, as you listed drivers in your post, this is the car. Coby is not this good at all. Moran has been at this too long and was never this good. Put any other body that has a healthy pulse in that car and it will dominate. And the Beal & Bacon X-6 was a homemade, Stefanik designed chassis. Not sure if that was so for the entire X-6 run, but it was for several years.

  68. Hey JR,heres my contribution to the effort.We steal the flux capacitor outa the 2 and hook it up to the paddock food stand.the dogs and fries will be coming out on rails.Happy day for everyone.

  69. So tuning a chassis takes time to make a note book. Wow. You really shine with that statement. How did the 2 car do in the FIRST race with a LFR chassis? Oh yea…. They dominated it! Not a whole lot of time spent there. You really should be banned from this site. You kill its credibility. To come on here and state opinions is fun. No one here wants to read your garbage anymore.

  70. darealgoodfella says

    Yeah, why was one side of the paddock concession stand closed, with excessively long lines on the other side? I know I didn’t buy anything because of the long lines.

  71. You’d think the Southern WMT drivers would have easier access to the 2 ‘s magic dust, including George Brunnhoelzl, so they should run away from all the Northern drivers in the same events.

    But they don’t…

  72. I think it is safe to say Coby is the best ever in modifieds
    It is the driver all day long
    I once saw him drive a dare stock
    And win
    This guy is the jordan of racing

  73. LongTimeFan says

    @Jeffreyt1258

    That’s a little premature, no? Sure Coby is a talented driver but the best ever is a stretch, at this time anyways I think.He’s not quite in the league of Evans, Flemke Sr, Cook, Stefanik, McLaughlin, Jarzombek and others who have preceded him.

  74. darealgoodfella says

    Hi Mark! You need to read the comments in this thread, many more people are sensing the smell emanating (there’s another big word for you) from the 2 car. Let me remind you, I was railing the 7NY and 36 when they were running over the field with all those “wins”. I called it then, and I was right. This stinks. It may be legal, and nothing more than a case of outspending, but that still doesn’t help parity. And it ruins the Tour as shown by comments in this thread, other than mine. The Sizzler wasn’t a race. It is expensive to shake a car. Shipping the car with a support crew, then shaker time gets expensive. And then there is the tuning that happens, new custom springs and shock tuning.

    And the background of the SPEC was to stop what was allegedly being spent to make built motors faster, which was limited to just a couple teams. So the SPEC was an attempt to curtail spending that was limited to a few to contain parity. And there is little to no parity with the SPEC. I’ll go as far as saying that there was better parity with the built motor. There isn’t much more to be done with the built engine, just control the carb. There is no rule limiting spending to get more out of the built engines, as long as it was legal. And much was done to come up with better built engines, even though the carb was the single point choke. Only a few teams had the resources to pursue better, and better built engines. So the SPEC was an attempt to induce parity. It turned out to be not much of a cost saver at all, and the parity stinks.

    So Mark, you are a big fan of the 2 car, I get it. All the fans of the 7NY/Newman are still seething over the conspiracy. lol! And the TC fans are still crying unfair treatment of the 36 when it was caught with that carb. LOL!

    And for those of you that think Coby is some super legendary driver, he should be able to wheel that car even when they don’t nail the perfect setup. Any goon can drive a perfect car. When the set up on the 2 is not perfect, put any other top 5 driver in there and he can bring it home to a P1.

    Barry, BGIII ran pretty good for a while and then faded. Not enough of that pixie dust I guess. And GBIII was running a Troyer, not one of those magical LFR chassis.

    Let us not forget that the groupies here are claiming that the success of the 2 car is exclusively due to the LFR chassis, while ignoring that there are other teams running the LFR that still suck.

    The pressure on the 2 team to share the shaker tunes with the LFR ‘team’ is building. LOL!!!! Yeah, like that’s gonna happen. If two cars are identical, one driven by Coby, the other by Szegedy, the one driven by Szegedy will win every time.

    Any team can go and shake their cars. The shaker facilities provide the engineering expertise to instruct how to use the shaker testing data to complete the tune. Coby and Moran do not possess engineering expertise. All it takes to shake is $, $, and more $, which is contrary to the spirit of short track racing.

    Bullring coming up… magical chassis and shaker table doesn’t help drive in close confines and traffic.

  75. Mark Fisher says

    Since were talking about great drivers that once dominated the sport let’s not leave out “Greg Sacks” In 1982 Ernie Wilsberg
    picked up his new Troyer three days before the World Series of Asphalt Racing series in New Smyrna, Fla. Sacks won the eight-night series, winning each of the first three races and six overall, placing second and fourth as well.

    “That was indicative of how that season was going to go, Sacks had a phenomenal year, winning 28 of 38 starts, including two 11-race winning streaks. He won 15 races and took the track championship at Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut.

  76. Dareal has a whopping 22% of the comments on this article, when will you all learn to stop arguing with him? He is NEVER WRONG. Just ask him!

  77. @dareal – All you do is speculate, where’s the proof. You have been speculating all last year about the 2 car’s carb yet they have never been bounced for an illegal carb. Now this year, shaker, shaker, shaker, where’s your proof? I believe Chris D asked in an earlier thread where this mystical article is and I don’t see where you responded. Other than your opinion, do you have any proof? Is it possible that the 2 team has just hit on something that fits Coby’s driving style? You don’t have to answer the question as I already know your response, all I have to do is re-read your comments above, it’s repeated way too many times already.

  78. darealgoodfella says

    BTW, there is another way to achieve the shaker table result with on-board instrumentation, but that requires running the car and doing lots of track time. This would have to have be done at track rentals. Puts lots of laps on the car, uses up tires, and it’s not quite the same. There is noise from the tires and other factors that can fog the results. The shaker table isolates certain key elements, and that is a good thing.

  79. Just some things to think about most of the nascar officials dont know nothing about cars.How many times have they weighted a car after a race i can tell you never in five years i have been on tour.The officials are nice guys but clueless.

  80. 77 comments with this post! 🙂

    Coby best ever in the modifieds?! He’s talented, and has some good wins and a couple of titles, I’ll give him that. But he’s not even in the top 10. He’d tell you that himself….I think.

    And we will not count the Stafford Pro Stock title as, he won it with the help of an enhanced ignition box…

    Hasn’t done much at all in that NEMA midget either. Nor an SK either.

    But “Colby”, as Ken Squier calls him 🙂 is a very good driver, and generally takes care of equipment.

    Art – I’ll see ya on 5/6 at Turn 1 fence, with a Killian’s, hot dog and some fries!

  81. humphry,
    if you calculate the word count percentage i’m sure it’s over 75%

  82. People are still going on about a 200 lap race at Stafford being a parade?(and it was worse the few years they ran the Fall Final as a 300 lapper) I can’t imagine if something truly controversial really happens.

  83. Jeff Williams says

    As an aside, Phil Moran honed a lot of his expertise at Waterford and Doug does extremely well at that track, plus enjoys the track. Gonna be hard to beat them with their track record of previous races recently and the ability to set up and drive a car at that track.

  84. darealgoodfella says

    @Tom, there is no speculating. Read Szegedy’s comments, he said the 2 has drive. That means HP. Watch the car… it pulls away with ease. If not just the carburetor, the entire engine. Even under green, it pulls away on the straight with even exit speeds.

    As Justafan said, it’s all about the ¢ar$ today. Lesser drivers can have success in better cars.

    Tom said: “Is it possible that the 2 team has just hit on something that fits Coby’s driving style? ” No. See above. You have far better odds at picking the winning Powerball numbers than “hitting on something”. There are too many variables with too much range to just happen to hit on them track after track, race after race.

    I do not save or bookmark everything I see and read.

    Just watch the car. It’s obvious to the trained eye. That chassis tune does not happen by intuition.

    Education is the biggest nemesis to intuition.

  85. Comment #85 right here, baby!

    Yeah i agree, dareal, the 2 even last year had visible to the eye (as opposed to stopwatch) better drive off the corner and down the straights – especially at Thompson.

    I wasn’t at the Sizzler, so can’t comment on that, but sounds like it could have been a same deal.

  86. darealgoodfella says

    JR, the last race of the 2015 season at Thompson was a great example of how fast the 2 is down the straights. Under restart or green flag, the 2 opened up the lead on the straights with ease. By the time the 2 was at the end of the straight it added at least a car length over whatever was behind. Consistently. No car could hang with it.

    Equal SPEC motors? Apparently, some are more equal than others.

  87. darealgoodfella says

    And for those of you thinking that there are set up secrets being shared among the LFR ‘team’, think again. Don’t hurt yourself. Remember some 10 years or so ago at Thompson, under yellow flag conditions, Lia searched out Coby and walled him. Crushed him.

    There is no sharing of the secret sauce recipe with the 8, no way, no how. Ain’t ever gonna happen. The 2 just loves watching the 8 flounder.

  88. Fast Eddie says

    I think there is a mix of car and driver with Coby’s restarts. If he’s leading, he’s controlling the restarts. The field comes around slow and then he slows a little more. Everyone else has to slow down a little, and while that’s happening he takes off, gaining at least a car length or more with a dragrace type “holeshot”. His timing on the restarts at Thompson was about perfect last year, which helped their domination there. As long as he didn’t spin the tires, it worked every time. From the beginning of the front straight, it was easy to see it happen.

  89. The 2 had nothing for the 16 @ thompson.Thats not to say the 2 isn’t the hot rod to beat, but I think its going to be a very competitive season.We’re almost to our goal of 100 comments on this.i still say lets watch and enjoy this season.There will be great racing to watch all year.Not unusual to have a few run a way sleepers.Have a hot dog and have fun already guys!

  90. I found out what publication darealgoodfella read about the 2 being shipped down south to be put on the “shaker”. It was the National Enquirer.

  91. The closest I can come to associating Coby’s car with a 7 post shaker rig is the following Rob Fuller quote from an LFR Press Release re: Coby’s championship season (dated 10/20/15): “Moving forward, we have two 7-post dates and a K+C rig date in December to analyze the data collected from this season”.

  92. darealgoodfella says

    Good find Rafter fan, but I don’t read the LFR press releases, so what I saw was from another publication.

  93. Comment 93 is right here!

    I was glad to see the 16 got back in the win column, actually. Kinda shocked to ]he 2 did not win Thompson. i really hope the 44 can find some of that secret sauce, that team is underrated, but is starting with a new chassis this year so they’ve got some hill to climb.

  94. darealgoodfella says

    JR, the 44 is part of the LFR Team, and as such, gets to be on the receiving end of the sharing. I’m sure crates of notes and hard drives with all sorts of test and setup data have been showing up at the 44 shop.

    Next race or so, the 44 will be swapping the lead with the 2.

    LOL!!!

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