(Press Release from NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications)
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Burt Myers at the World Series of Speedway Racing at Thompson Speedway in October
Two former NASCAR modified champion drivers will be back in Whelen Modified Tour competition in 2018.
In an announcement made by champion car owner Eddie Harvey on Friday morning, Burt Myers and Brian Loftin will team with Harvey to compete in a partial schedule next season, planning to run 8-10 races. Both drivers are former champions of the Whelen Southern Modified Tour and Harvey was a multiple-time championship car owner on the Southern Tour as well.
“It’s pretty neat having two Southern Modified Tour champions come on board to our team,” Harvey said. “Being that we had two in the past with George Brunnhoelzl III and Andy Seuss, it’s neat to keep champions in the stable.”
Myers was the final champion of the Whelen Southern Modified Tour in 2016, posting three victories and nine top five finishes in 11 races. He also won the series title in 2010 while winning two races. He had 19 career victories on the Southern Tour and 30 pole awards in 12 years of competition. Myers competed with Harvey in the season-finale at Thompson this year, qualifying seventh and finishing 13th — that is where the deal first started.
“All the stars lined up, it’s just about a perfect pairing,” Harvey said of his deal with Myers. “We just started kicking ideas around on lap two at Thompson. When we were loading up to leave Thompson, it was just about what we needed to do to make this permanent. Burt has a committment to his sponsors to run at Bowman Gray weekly every year but we are going to run the Tour races before Bowman Gray opens and we are going to run the races after Bowman Gray concludes. It all depends on how the schedule looks, we will be running some races next year. We plan to run around 10 races.”
Loftin is a former champion of the Southern Tour, winning the crown in 2008 after scoring four victories that season. In 86 career Southern Tour starts, Loftin scored 12 wins, 40 top fives and 53 top 10s in 10 years of competition. He was also able to post 11 Coors Light Pole awards behind the wheel. His most recent NASCAR modified victory came in 2012 at Caraway Speedway in a race where he defeated L.W. Miller.
“Brian is a good friend of ours, he is a cousin of one of the key people on my race team,” Harvey said. “Everyone knows Brian went through an unfortunate time with the loss of his wife several years back and he had to step away for a while. But this an opportunity for him to get back in a race car. All the stars lined up for this.”
Welcome aboard! Glad to have ya on the tour in 2018.
So they are using Eddy’s cars then? He has 2 cars I believe. They are beautiful. LFR equipment. Burt’s would be back up? 2 cars is a lot of work! Best of luck guys!
From a big Burt Myers fan – A good old civil war – North vs South. Welcome addition to the NWMT
Thought he was teaming with Fuller with Dowling driving ,or is that a whole other deal ?????
Good news, 2018 season is off to a great start already.
Great to hear that two more good teams will be on a part-time schedule! Hey gang, C’MON UP!!
Is chase dowling still racing full time with Harvey next year. Thought I read rob fuller and Harvey where teaming up.
From the Dareal Lionel Train Engineer File:
“Hey Paul, you know the old cliché, you are involved in a battle of wits and you are totally unarmed. I have no interest or desire to meet you or your son. This isn’t a conversation, it’s an education and you’ve been schooled.”
Dareal’s too busy eating his cornflakes to accept the challenge but not too busy to lay some serious condescension on one of the many perceived underlings he must educate.
Hes a joke!!!!! watch his videos on you tube MANY ENEMIES DOWN SOUTH. He makes my boy TC LOOK LIKE AN ANGEL! Bowmen gray allows stuff (and i’ m being nice) that we would never allow up here! NO WONDER HE SUCKS UP HERE IN THE NORTH. HE’S A BUTTHOLE!!!!! WHO CARES!!!!
Not sure about the Fuller pairing but with Bonsignore going LFR next season the LFR camp is looking mighty strong. Those cars are the benchmark of technology in this industry and that’s what this aging dibision needs Good for them. Technology is king and it won’t come from a 30 year old chassis manufacturer. You go Eddy and team!
You guys still believe Fuller is running full time. That’s funny. Has anyone spoke with him on this full time schedule? Hmmmm. Has anyone heard a peep from the RFM or LFR camp on a full time schedule. Coincidence? I have a direct line from NC and haven’t heard any rumblings off a championship run. They are selling some cars so if they are smart business comes first. Either way Eddy will have a strong team and driver. Should be a great Mod season.
LFR is just a copy of troyer CD and RaceWorks all put into one chassis they didn’t reinvent the wheel there genius!!!
They will be lucky to get a top 5 all year. Must have a lot of money to burn.
I so love the southern haters, any new teams are GOOD for competition, would you rather have 12 cars a race, wowwwwwwwwww
Perhaps poster Reggie would prefer a few more Melissa Fifield type entries next year instead of the Harvey team running part time. I’m not Myers fan but he’s certainly going to be more fun to watch than someone getting lapped multiple times every week. Of the current mod drivers in the south he’s probably one of the top 3 choices Harvey could make.
Bowman Gray is just that….. Bowman Gray. It’s a show not a race. Most real mod fans down here know that. There was a time that teams there wanted to travel….now it seems most are content to run there. The SMRS hasn’t been able to shake the “10 car tour” label all season so poor support for a southern tour wasn’t a NASCAR problem as much as it was a lack of interest problem.
Now we wait for the NWMT schedule…..I’m sure that will invoke more discussions in the weeks to come.
Yes racer. anxious to see the WMT schedule, any southern races besides Bristol?, any new tracks?
the 250 lap race at NHMS, WILL Nascar add anything to make more teams show up and we can forget the MTS and any other NEW MOD SERIES!!!
Relax guys, let’s show Mr. Myers some good ol’ northern hospitality. Loftin used to run up here, no?
Hopefully they get some good crew chiefs, and initial set up help, so they can be competitive, and not spend the season just learning how to setup for the northern tracks. They are running LFR, right? Well those LFR guys all share setup info, so that won’t be a problem. (For those that didn’t get it, that was MAJOR sarcasm.) Find out what the 2 uses for a flux capacitor and how they massage it. The 2 uses Bruneau power, and those #2 car SPEC engines sound like nothing else on the Tour. Maybe that’s the flux capacitor effect. I want the same flux capacitor the 2 car gets.
Are you old enough to remember “North Vs South” Radford ,Worley, Couldn’t touch Evans, Bodine, DeSarro, Stevens (I could go on) Brunnhoelzl had to go to south from NY to win. Those are pretty expensive demolition cars at Bowman Gray. I understand what you are saying. its a shame the division has come to this.
So Bobby, where did you get the intel on Bonsignore going LFR?
LFR is the best in technology it’s a troyer copy he even said I went to troyer to improve his car with different materials and Troyer turned him down so he started LFR. I work on SK at Stafford and I don’t know where you think best is because most of the LFR cars at Stafford had so many issues especially with welds breaking ALOT of welds breaking along with other issues. All modified chassis’s are the same except mounting points but if you stripped all of them down and put in a room it would be hard to tell. But anyway congrats to Burt and good luck…