NASCAR announced the 2017 schedule for the Whelen Modified Tour on Tuesday, which includes eight events to be run at Connecticut venues.
The series will have 17 points events next season and also two special non-points exhibition events, spanning seven states.
It was announced in October that the Whelen Modified Tour would merge with the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour.
The season will kick off in the south on March 18 at Myrtle Beach Speedway in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The season will end on Oct. 15 at Thompson Speedway.
The series will visit Thompson Speedway four times, Stafford Motor Speedway three times and the New London-Waterford Speedbowl once.
“NASCAR is committed to growing and enhancing the profile of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour,” George Silbermann, NASCAR vice president of weekly & touring series said in a release. “The 2017 calendar is a mix of some of the best race tracks for the exciting brand of racing that Modified fans have loved for more than 60 years. We are looking forward to a championship season worthy of the likes of Richie Evans, Jerry Cook and others.”
The schedule includes companion events with NASCAR’s national divisions at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July and September, and Bristol Motor Speedway in August. The July weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will also once again include a special All-Star Shootout exhibition event.
The schedule will also include a special non-points exhibition event on the quarter-mile track at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. on Oct. 5.
“Whelen Engineering is extremely excited about the direction NASCAR is taking with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, and our commitment to the tour is unwavering,” Phil Kurze, vice president of motorsports for Whelen Engineering said. “We truly feel the racing is some of the best in NASCAR, and the tracks that the tour will visit will provide fans a great experience as the drivers fight for the 2017 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship.”
After opening the season at Myrtle Beach the tour will head to Thompson Speedway for the annual Icebreaker event on April 2. The tour will also run event at Thompson on June 14 and August 9.
After the Icebreaker the series will head to Stafford Motor Speedway for the NAPA Spring Sizzler on April 30. The series will also visit Stafford for a Friday night show on Aug. 4 and as part of the track’s NAPA Fall Final weekend on Oct. 1.
The division will visit the New London-Waterford Speedbowl on July 22, with that event moving from a May date the past two seasons.
A May 13 event at a Southern venue is still to be announced.
Thompson Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway, have all signed three year sanctioning agreements with the division.
A release from NASCAR stated: “In combining the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tours, NASCAR will offer competitors close to $500,000 in year-end point fund money through support from Whelen Engineering and contingency sponsors. NASCAR will also make available more than $230,000 in owner-plan money. As part of this, NASCAR has reallocated what was formerly the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour year-end point fund in the form of non-qualifier money and a champion/owners plan for the teams who competed in the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour in 2016.
“The visibility of the tour and the money available to the competitors is unmatched in asphalt Modified racing. In addition, NASCAR is continuing to look at other ways to help teams reduce costs from a competition standpoint.”
“It’s very important to us, as we bring these two tours together, to keep in mind the financial realities of racing on the touring series level,” Brandon Thompson, Senior Director of NASCAR Touring Series said. “Since the end of the 2016 season, we have met with drivers and owners across all series, and will continue to have an open dialogue to work to provide what is best for everybody involved in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.”
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour television broadcast schedule on NBCSN will be announced at a later date.
2017 NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR SCHEDULE
Date Track Location
3/18: Myrtle Beach Speedway Myrtle Beach, S.C.
4/2: Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park Thompson, Conn.
4/30: Stafford Motor Speedway Stafford, Conn.
5/13: TBA TBA (Southern race track)
6/14: Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park Thompson, Conn.
6/24: Riverhead Raceway Riverhead, N.Y.
7/14: New Hampshire Motor Speedway* Loudon, N.H.
7/15: New Hampshire Motor Speedway Loudon, N.H.
7/22: New London-Waterford Speedbowl Waterford, Conn.
8/4: Stafford Motor Speedway Stafford, Conn.
8/9: Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park Thompson, Conn.
8/16: Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol, Tenn.
8/26: Seekonk Speedway Seekonk, Mass.
9/2: Oswego Speedway Oswego, N.Y.
9/16: Riverhead Raceway Riverhead, N.Y.
9/23: New Hampshire Motor Speedway Loudon, N.H.
10/1: Stafford Motor Speedway Stafford, Conn.
10/5: Charlotte Motor Speedway* Concord, N.C.
10/15: Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park Thompson, Conn.
*non-points, special events
SCHEDULE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
Interesting schedule, hope there are enough well funded teams around to fill the field.
NASCAR said: “In addition, NASCAR is continuing to look at other ways to help teams reduce costs from a competition standpoint.”
Please, stop doing this. We can’t afford your cost reductions.
NASCAR, bring in sponsors. Use your brand equity to bring in sponsors.
Love it! First race only 3 months away. Not too different from this year really. Early race in March. The only other southern event is in May and it’s the only event all month. My guess is it’s the Bristol short track deal announced last week. Huge point fund increase. I’ve always thought Charlotte was stupid (still do) buts it’s a non point event thankfully. Bring on 2017.
Dareal we all would like more for less but right now I think this is still the best MOD deal,I’m sure the owners aren’t doing everything they can to bring in sponsors either,not a poor man’s sport
Not a huge difference for the northern teams, but NASCAR pretty much stuck it to the southern teams. Guess the car count at local tracks down south may go up, which is good for them for the weekly shows. Wait and see, I guess.
What a joke! 20 cars tops ! Series is over after this year. Super disappointed. Hey that’s NASCAR! How many teams dropped out already ? You have got to be an idiot to be excited about this ! Coby 9 wins Justin 8. Coby wins by 2 points. 2018 will see a new series and it will kick ass ! 25 races , 35 cars ! Let’s go . New era of the mod squad in 2018 !
Also, Bristol? Are you serious ? Never goes the distance, mid-week joke ! Can’t believe NASCAR is this stupid . Oh I do , look in the stands at xfinity races and cup races ! Stands pretty empty ! Hey NASCAR means your doing well ! Nice job on mod schedule. Unreal ….
Mod Man- Answer 2 things for me please:
1. What you expected the 2017 schedule to look like.
2. What you wanted the 2017 schedule to look like.
More suggestions. Less angry rants.
Actually, not that bad. I was concerned their would be several southern events on the schedule. It is basically the North schedule with a few southern races mixed in. I doubt there will be any southern teams following the tour, it would be pretty tough on them. I wonder what thompson thinks about losing the opening event and no longer book ending the tour. What did we lose, monadnock, and 1 stafford. We added myrtle beach, 5/13 southern track tba with week off before and after and a non points event at Charlotte.
Mod Man, if there was ever a track made for Modifieds, it’s Bristol. I only wish we did more racing there so the teams would get better and better.
The lack of experience and expertise for many teams causes the problems. But the cars that run well are exciting like no other.
Ah yes, Mod Man is back. Haven’t heard from ya since you were telling everyone Coby wouldn’t win the championship. How did that work out for ya? I also recall you saying Bristol wouldn’t be back on schedule. So wrong again as it will be a staple on schedule for at least three more years.
I can’t believe people are complaining. Nascar increases point fund and replaced Monadnock and Stafford with two southern races. Same amount of races, limited additional travel, more money for northern based teams. Lots of off time built around southern events. Nascar champion banks close to $100,000 now. People are just hating to hate now. The tour is better today than when the World Series ended in Oct.
Nice to see Oswego back again
cg, well said. It looks like a northern tour with excursions to southern venues. The southern tour is definitely dead. If they want to race, they will have to tour or find another series. This is a northern tour with two southern tracks added.
The northern guys love Bristol, that is a given.
As long as Charlotte is a non-points race, it probably won’t happen unless there is HUGE funding. Maybe a couple cars will run, but it will be a very low car count.
surprised people actually thought there would be lots of south races
none of those tracks would go from a 20 K to 75 K purse
schedule LOOKS good
LETS RACE
Now if only all 17 races paid 10k to win…
Glad to see the farce at Daytona is history.Schedule looks good,purse looks better. Hope the race teams think so too.Looks Like a short winter ahead,Santa saw his shadow.
Not bad, definitely good they actually put some extra point fund money in. Anyone know if Seuss, Brunnhoezel, Civali or K.Bonsignore will run the new “combined” tour?
The Northern guys do not love Bristol. Everyone I have talked to complains about the purse, time and monitory investment they have to make everytime they make the trip.
The southern teams are not going to travel north to get their butts kicked race after race. And if there are DNQs, the DNQs are going to hurt the southern teams, further discouraging southern teams from participating in northern venues.
There are plenty of pretty good drivers, northern transplants at that, now available. Let’s hope this schedule keeps teams in operation.
It will be interesting to see how many northern teams travel to MB and TBA this season.
15 is my guess. Shoulda made the NSS opener a Tour race.
NH mark came out of retirement just for you ! Tour is not better than last year. Love mods . Is what it is. 20 plus races and Bristol live on tv and maybe I would be ok with it. Will still attend , just hope it’s more than 20 cars. Go #51
Great Point Fund, Great Bonus Plan for the owners and good purses all around. the first year will be bumpy, but good.
Their is no Modified Tour coming in 2018 that can replace the WMT and replace the money being paid out. Not even close.
The MRS, MTS and ROC point fund is a joke. they take Modified racing purses back to the 70’s.
What do you want you rather race for the WMT $130,000 TO WIN THE POINT FUND or $5,000 to win a point fund. Not even a choice for real Modified Teams.
The WMT will pay a point fund of $500,000
Also it will pay out $127,000 in sponsorship bonus money for the 19 races.
And it will pay out more than $209,00 in car owners bonus money for the 19 races.
Please tell me what Tour will even come close to that kind of Money.
This is a WIN-WIN for the Modifieds.
Glad to see most of the northern events still on the schedule! Very curious to see what this means:
“NASCAR will also make available more than $230,000 in owner-plan money. As part of this, NASCAR has reallocated what was formerly the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour year-end point fund in the form of non-qualifier money and a champion/owners plan for the teams who competed in the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour in 2016.”
My translation is WSMT points money now becomes a separate southern team owner’s fund to entice southern teams to come north. Good opportunity for the northern teams that ran the WSMT to make extra money. Hopefully some southern teams will travel because of it as well.
Mod Man, let me get this straight. If the schedule had 3 more races and Bristol was on live TV (which hasnt been noted yet) then you wouldn’t have posted those childish rants?
Crazy – I agree, it would seem a race at New Smyrna would make for a nice start of the season.K&N series did so last year
JRH ? Really it’s called an opinion! Wake the hell up , geez. 17 races isn’t great and car count will be down, fact! Childish? Been going way longer than you. Opinion! Look up the meaning . Another Coby fan . Keep in touch . Were is Liz ?
JRH do you like a shortened Bristol race pretty much every year lately ? Tour guys get crapped on down there. Rain causes them to get pushed back the whole night. Would you give up your time to go to that race ? Been a joke last few years . Shortened race doesn’t interest me dude.🏁🏁🏁
Chris- I would not want to travel all the way to New Smyrna to start the season. K&N teams have alot of full time guys as many are associated with Cup teams nowadays. Mod tour teams mainly consist of volunteer crew members that already have to take roughly 12 days off work. Plus the extra cost for travel and hotel rooms for a New England team to go all the way to New Smyrna.
JRH I’ve tried this already. Mod Man: Once again… Nobody will take you seriously if you spew insults. Opinions and suggestions are fine but throughout your tirade the only problem you (sort of) mention is “never goes the distance”. The rest is uneducated bad mouthing. Beyond that, saying things like “you have to be an idiot to be excited about this” and “another coby fan”… is arrogant. Come on, figure it out.
Craig you can tout the Tour all you want on here but the car counts on your
“best” tour don’t match the hype. TTOM had 40 for their finale and the Tour had what? 22 at Oswego? How many will head south for the big $$ point fund? You need to tell the owners that are bailing how great the Tour is.
This is now a tour for well funded teams, most teams will have at least one full time employee and a 3-500,000 budget. The tour we all used to know is no longer, it’s a fact. Just hope there are enough to teams to put on a good show.
RIP wsmt the north is next. Sad
I’ll be surprised to see southern teams running this tour.It’s going to have to happen with northeast teams.Hope it never gets to the point where we think 20 cars is acceptable.I wonder if it’s not the purse at all,rather the time away from work and home and inconsistent calls made by nascar.At this point all we can do is see how it shakes out after a few races.
Joey, not meant to be taken the wrong way. Passionate about the mods and was hoping for something huge in 2017 so little disappointed. Yet who are you to judge? Your a die hard fan like me so I can be unhappy . Wanted more races and so did all of You simple! See what the future holds ! I do love that we are all passionate about the mods . Best series in the USA ! Boom 🏁🏁🏁🏁
Car counts weren’t an issue in 2016 until the stretch run when they went two and half months without a week off and had all that travel. Teams not in the points fell off. They had 31 at Loudon in July. The tour was over 30 cars a few times early on. The southern guys were way below that. The MRS had zero cars run every event. The ROC lost teams to the Tri Track deal which to me is really three individual open shows more than a series. Part timers is just how things are nowadays.
What is Matty H running in 2017 with that peewee racing team. The Truax kid will be running a partial schedule. The 4 and 44 will be there at some level. Woody has the new deal. Emerling will be at least part time. The Myer brothers will show a few times at the beginning and end of season. The NJ based southern teams will be around in 2017. All will be fine kids. There are worse things in life than racing in SC in March. Look how many northern teams would run Caraway in March in seasons past. I’m fired up for 2017. Should be a great points race.
Toms….. thank you ! I agree
I would think if there is a tour to compare to it would be the Lucas Dirt Late Model tour. I don’t know the details but I would say the Dirt cars get paid at least 3x better and all the races r on tv… maybe I’m way off base?
You can add Ryan Preece back on to the WMT FULL TIME IN 2017.
Driving the #6.
Shawn, any word on where Ryan preece is racing next year. Jayski said he left Jd motor sports for a new opportunity. Is he coming back to the wmt full time next year.
steve- you are saying it costs 300k-500k to run the Nascar modified tour. Where did you get that number? If that number is anywhere near correct I am surprised the car counts are as good as they are. I was thinking it would be around a half of the lower range of your number. Then again, I am just a spectator and really don’t know the true costs of running one of these teams. I just find that number to be shockingly high. I guess that is why we are seeing a lot of teams reconsidering their commitment to the tour. One thing is clear it is going to cost more this year than it did last year and I am not going to be starting a Nascar tour team for half a million dollars.
Hard to believe anyone could say this: “The tour is better today than when the World Series ended in Oct.”
How someone can make that statement considering all the teams that have either left the series entirerly, or dropped from fulltime down to parttime is beyond me.
How many new teams have announced they are running the series fulltime in 2017?
Crickets!
This schedule now has enough Northern races to discourage all the southern teams from running the series, while at the same time having enough travel to the south to cut the number of northern teams running full time.
Hats off to NASCAR for pulling off the double.
You know which team this schedule plays into the hands of?
01 – Melissa Fifield.
Also, scratch Jamie Tomaino from the list of NWMT regulars.
Who cares how many are running fulltime? Why does it even matter? I just gave you a list of teams running partial schedules. As long as you get a good field each week does it matter how many are running for points? There are still tons of mods out there. With Preece and Woody’s new deal you are looking at a stacked top 8 or 10 running for a championship. I still think the 4 will be back weekly with a new driver. Matty H is always a threat when he runs. The first half of schedule is very easy from a travel standpoint given all the off weeks.I heard all this last year when 22 and 88 left. Teams do leave each year. Drivers do retire.Some teams scale back their schedules. Turnover is a natural part of the sport.
MB is 3 months away. They announced a testing session in Feb for teams heading to Florida. Almost time to go racing baby!
NH Mark,Your certainly right about hearing the same broken record over and over but people get carried away.I’m looking forward to following the WMT and some of the open shows.Mod fans will see great racing once again this summer.Then it will be on to big carbs,bad calls,and Melissa.
NH mark…. 8-10 teams could win the championship? What ? Wow don’t see that being the case at all. Andy B. Couldn’t had said it any better. I will still attend but setting the bar very low . Still mod racing so we all will see how it plays out .
Ryan back makes it a 3 horse race for the title …. that we must all agree on.
Sypher getting a new driver and crew chief?
It’s silly what Ryan is doing but it’s a huge plus for the tour next season.
Could possibly be very competive tour coby preece solomito bonsingore (not sure on spelling lol) goodale running good Andy suess just to name a few. Would be cool to see some southern guys run but they seem to be in slower class. Fire up the engines and let em race. Give it a chance before you bash it. Just saying
Hey NH Mark:
The car counts have been dropping every year for the past several. When teams drop from fulltime to parttime it does have an effect on the tour – a negative one.
It’s a trend NASCAR refuses to address, except make the tour more expensive to run for teams filled with volunteers.
The tour isn’t stacked 10 deep, there are about 3 teams with a legitimate shot to win the championship and that is it.
It’s to the point now that a majority of the best Northeast modified drivers either don’t run the series at all, or run very few races.
That last fact/reality says all that needs to be said about the direction the tour is taking.
The 2,6, 16, and 51 obviously . Then you add Zachem, Woody, Goodale and possibly the 4v. That’s 8 teams that will make a show of it every week. Any one of them could be championship material if things go right for them. Silk and Pennik are two more shoes. In terms of a top 10 that is solid and makes for a very interesting points race. Nobody went into 2016 thinking 16 and 51 would run with Coby all season. Emerling, Hirshman, Andy J, Newman, Lia, Myers Bertucci, Bohn just a few that will be showing up at least now and again if not more who are capable of winning. Still a lot of drivers working on 2017 WMT plans whether it be full or part time. Again, 33 cars were at Loudon this past July. There are plenty of tour cars out there still. Let’s see what it looks like on the track.
Myrtle Beach here we come! I’ll be staying in one of the fine OceanWatch Villas at Grande Dunes.. Maybe one of the bartenders can muddle my mint!
Has anybody seen any comments on plans for any southern teams now that schedule out? Myers bros wont go anywhere on a sat when MADHOUSE running, but I am sure some southern teams might try a few northern races!
Andy Boright, do you ever say anything positive about modified racing?
NHmark…. not seeing your vision. Matt and other guys showing up now and then isn’t really a promising outlook for the season.we will all see the car count when season starts . It’s a 3 horse race and don’t dig so deep that you think it could be 8-10. Not happening. Would be great to see a Cinderella story. Have to do something different in 2018. NASCAR created this mess years ago and it’s just gotten worse . Losing a stafford race is what made me a little upset. Best track on the tour. Waiting on Liz to join us ….
NH Mark, your optimism is admirable, but experience and wisdom need apply.
I think we start every season saying 10 or more teams have a chance, but by the middle of the season, about 3 cars have pulled away and that’s the race for the championship. Look over the 2016 results, the 2 and 51 owned the wins.
As far as the 51 goes, that team just lost its crew chief, so we’ll have to see how that affects things.
Changes have been made……Be quiet, let them play out in 2017 then reasess…Know matter what happens, some will never be happy.
wmass01013 – not lately, why should I? Tour type racing is on the decline. Someone crowing about 33 cars at Loudon is proof of that.
I’m not saying we will have 10 cars competing for the title in October. I’m saying there are 8-10 cars capable of a title. Luck and good fortune play a big roll. Some will fall off the points along the way. Anyone of them could get on a run and pull it off though. All of them are certainly capable of winning races which is exciting. Maybe the bad blood between 2 and 6 leads to some bent sheet metal. Who knows. Gotta let it all play out. Outside of a few it sounds like most fans are fired up about 2017 and that is awesome. It’s going to be a fun season.
Liz is looking for love in 2017 ! Who will the lucky guy be . Liz just be safe out there ! Anyway in time we will see how it all plays out . Again NASCAR did nothing impressive here and I will live with it ! Let’s just go racing! Ps- all the rants about Ryan should stop he is a top notch driver and a great guy .so I wish him well ! And another guy who can end this Coby thing….and Coby isn’t even in the same league as Evans , with all that said I hope everyone has a safe holiday 🌲🎅🏻🏁
Mod Man if you were looking for a 30 race schedule yur nuts, the teams wouldn’t do it, they complain now about travel and days off for crews so why would they double the expenses and time off, Nascar HAS DONE SOMETHING FROM WHAT I SEE with the purse and point fund, now lets see who shows up and how good the racing is.
I never expected them to put ANY more $$$ INTO THE SERIES
TEAMS biggest complaint last 10 yrs is NASCAR not caring enough about series and teams, so AGAIN LETS see.
Same to you and yours Mod Man,and Merry Christmas and a happy new year to one and all!
Simple … we all love the mods and we all want to enjoy a great 2107 ! Let’s all agree to disagree. In the end we are all passionate fans and that’s pretty cool. So again enjoy your family’s and the holidays and let’s go racing 🏁🏁🏁