Todd Douillard Eyes First Win In Stafford Speedway SK Light Modified Division 

(Press Release from Stafford Motor Speedway)

Todd Douillard (Photo: Stafford Speedway/Driscoll MotorSports Photography)

With the dawn of a new season just over the horizon, Stafford Speedway SK Light driver Todd Douillard has been busy preparing his #16 Marcotte Ford machine in hopes of recording his first feature win.

Douillard got started in the SK Light division in 2013 and in five seasons his best career finish has been a pair of second place efforts during the 2016 season. Douillard feels like he has everything he needs in place in order to score his first victory at Stafford.

“We’re looking forward to getting back on the track,” said Douillard. “We had the entire car redone and now are building on it to make it even better. We’re going to take things one week at a time and see how things go. We want to win some races this season. Chris Kopec is helping us out and he gives me some good advice and I know I need to be a little more aggressive on the track. We bought a backup car in case it’s needed. We noticed a lot of other teams were going that route so we have to do the same to stay on top of the game. With a backup car in place, I can afford to be a little more aggressive in trying to go for wins. We have Marcotte Ford, Collision Plus Auto Body, and Kopec’s Auto as our sponsors this year and I also have to thank Grandpa and Grandma Lusty, and my car owner Fred Silliker. Also I’m excited that my cousin Hunter Duquette will be starting in the Cubs division in Wild Thing Karts on Monday nights with the same paint scheme as we have on the SK Light car.”

As Douillard prepares for the upcoming season, he has an extra confidence about himself thanks to his team’s off-season maintenance work on the #16 car. Douillard’s team purchased their car from NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Eric Goodale.

“We sent the car to Jason Shepard, who is Eric Goodale’s crew chief because that’s who we bought the car from,” said Douillard. “The car was fast at the start of last season and then it got wrecked and we tried some things ourselves and it wasn’t as good so we sent it back to him this winter. We actually just picked it back up before they left for SpeedWeeks at New Smyrna. Now that the car has gone to Jason, we’re real confident that the piece we’re bringing to the track is the best that we can bring.”

The 2017 season saw Douillard get off to the best start of his Stafford career with top-10 finishes in three of the first four races. A wreck in the big money Dunleavy’s Modifiedz night feature sidelined Douillard for several races but he still ended the season in 10th place in the points standings.

“In the beginning of last year the car was fast,” said Douillard. “We had to take a provisional at the Sizzler and we came from the back up to seventh and after that I was putting my experience to good use. We were fourth in points last year when we wrecked the car during the Dunleavy’s night and then had some money issues and had to miss a few weeks. It was really disappointing. We were running up front and things were looking pretty good and then we had the wreck.”

After having been so close to reaching NAPA Victory Lane for the first time during the 2016 season, Douillard knows he has what it takes to win race, it’s just a matter of making it happen on the track. It’s often said in racing that the first win is the hardest win to get.

“A win would mean the world to me,” said Douillard. “Stafford to me is the most prestigious track in the country. People down south want to know what happened at Stafford just like us up north like to know what happened at Bowman-Gray. We’re a family run team and we put all we have into the car. They always say the first win is the hardest to get and I think if we can get that first win, they’ll come a lot easier after that.”

The 2018 SK Light season kicks off with the 47th Annual NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler® on April 27-29. Tickets for the “Greatest Race in the History of Spring” are on sale now at the Speedway Box Office.

Tickets are priced at $40.00 for adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 and under are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult. Reserved seating is priced at $42.00 for all ages. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available.

All tickets are good for both Saturday and Sunday admission. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax. Discount Spring Sizzler® tickets will be available beginning in March at participating NAPA Auto Parts stores. For a list of the participating NAPA stores for the 2018 season, please go to http://staffordmotorspeedway.com/participating-napa-auto-parts-stores/.

For more information contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.

Comments

  1. GOOD LUCK TODD hang in there that first one is always the hardest to get you’ll get it soon.

  2. A deeper dive into Todd’s profile shows only one year in kart’s before moving to the Lights. It’s a familiar story. Streets are just not the stepping stone they were. These guys want to get to the modifieds ASAP. Goodale’s crew chief fine tuning the chassis. Chris Kopec is Todd’s crew chief. A backup car. SK Lights are just flat out thriving and well funded teams seem plentiful.

  3. Sorry. Best of luck Todd. It’ll be fun seeing how all your great preparation pays off.

  4. Oh so true Doug nowadays the kids go from karts or quarter midgets straight to modifieds. In a way the SK LITE division is good it let’s these kids get some experience before moving to an SK or full blown modified. But the lites we’re originally tagged as being an affordable way to go modified racing where you buy a used modified a crate motor and go racing. Now guys are building purpose built cars and some even have back up cars so much for affordable. At the same time the full fendered divisions suffer because the kids skip right over those divisions. What’s weird is if you go down south late models and super late models are thriving.

  5. All good points as usual Rob but couldn’t you argue that Late Models in some parts of New England are thriving as well?

  6. weeklyRacer says

    This is where I lose you Rob P
    “What’s weird is if you go down south late models and super late models are thriving.”

    Find me one weekly program in the South that thriving. Its all one off shows, all special events.
    Also, Modifieds arent the headliner in the south…so what do people run? Late Models! Cmon man, stop complaining about EVERYTHING and think about it

  7. Paul Pytko says

    What a nice article Todd is a fine polite hard working young man and his crew are just as nice. Always willing to help Nathan at the track or when he’s broken down in a dump truck on the road, You could not ask for a better fellow competitor who drives everyone clean and is s great person.
    The entire team works hard and always seem to come back from the worst of wrecks, we all seem to forget a few years back when Todd almost burnt to death in a wreck on the back stretch. Let’s not be critics and judge him by how many years he was in karting, judge him by the hard worker and gentlemen that he is!!!
    Best of luck Todd to you and your crew and keep the rubber side down!

  8. When did Rob ever suggest modifieds were headliners in the south?

  9. No one event remotely suggested that Todd was deficient in an way, shape or form with regard to any aspect of his career. Mentioning skipping Street Stocks in the chain of experience is simply a fact of which he is an example.And along with that fact that is a current phenomenon good wishes were rendered. Critique what’s said, not what you think you are reading between the lines.

  10. I went to race-monitor.com and clicked around to a few southern tracks I knew of. Late models are thriving down there. We saw them at New Smyrna during Speed Weeks. They love their Late Models down south and all full bodied cars on asphalt. They also like Late Models in some parts of Northern New England. If fact when they say we are modified country it sure doesn’t mean New England. I don’t even know where modified countries borders are they are so muddled. It’s more like pockets. A bunch of modified pockets. And the pockets don’t even seem like they are on the same pair of pants most times.

  11. Fast Eddie says

    Here’s my version of “the map”:
    Modified country: Connecticut (the capitol state!), Long Island, southern & middle NH
    Doorslammer country: Vermont, northern NH, Maine
    I don’t know what to call Massachusetts; were a bit of a mongrel. Our one racetrack is primarily a doorslammer track BUT they have two TriTrack races and a WMT race, which I think are three of the better Modified events in New England. We need the VMRS back there too!
    Hard to label NJ also. They have Wall Speedway along with some good dirt tracks.
    Dirt country: Immediately west of New England

  12. Well that was impressive. What Mass is as far as racing goes is mostly close to Stafford, Thompson, Claremont and some other tracks up north. My two cents is Seekonk made their choice and they are a doorslammer track. Just because the traveling circus comes to town now and again doesn’t change anything. I’d finish by saying Supers aren’t modifieds taking Star and Lee out of the “country” although that opinion will be shared by close to no one.

  13. Fast Eddie says

    Doug, I think you have to give Lee and Star some Modified credit though. Lee has run 2 or 3 VMRS events a year for quite a while now. Hopefully Norm Wrenn will add to that. Star has had their SBM 125 for while also, the second oldest big money race after Seekonk’s Open Wheel Wednesday. For me, Supers are a close second to Modifieds, which is why I had them included in Modified country.

  14. OK Eddie fess up. How on earth do you have such a broad knowledge of Northeastern tracks? Here’s the deal. If you say it I’m defaulting to agreement since you seem to his the target most times. So I’m board with Lee and Star in modified country or pocket as the case may be. But Supers are Supers. All race cars are modifieds small m but only Modifieds are Modifieds. No overhead wings, no convertibles, must have the engine near the centerline of the race car and must not be a blur when they go by. Sheesh.

  15. Fast Eddie says

    Thanks for the compliment! And although I’m only a fan, I go to as many WMT, TriTrack,and VMRS events as I can. Last year including the MTS, I went to 21 Modified races. I’d say my average has been 15-18 per year for at least the last ten years.

  16. Sonny Beech says

    Todd all the famous people helping in the world WONT beat Narducci special motor good luck.

  17. This is the second time I heard of a special motor in Narducchi’s car… please do tell

  18. Sonny Beech says

    Look the special motor, ran at Waterford like a rocket around EVERYONE, and would have one the first race as well if the kid could have passed on the back stretch wall! By the way the motor was found to be illegal at Waterford. Then he wins by a full S T A I G H T A W A Y at Thompson dont give me this they checked it out crap cuz they never turned the crank. The special otor would have won at stafford to if he didnt get behind cars without a special motor. Lets see how it goes at stafford this year cuz people will be screaming if it goes like last year!!!!!

  19. In The Know says

    Sonny I think you need to go to a beach and get your bearings straight. That was one of the most clueless statements I think I’ve seen in quite some time. And by the way Sonny the motor wasn’t deemed illegal at Waterford I don’t know where you get you’re information from. And on a side note the motor was teched at Thompson after Bryan’s victory and was found to be very much legal. If you want to talk like you know what your talking about get your facts straight first. You made a statement about how he went around everybody at Waterford and won by a straightaway at Thompson do you think that maybe handling had anything to do with that. Have a clue Sonny before you make stupid statements that have no merit. Anybody that knows anything about racing which obviously you don’t corner speed translates into straightaway speed which is exactly was you saw at both Waterford and Thompson. Plus the kid is a wheel man which enhances the whole package. Give credit where credit is due. Todd Owen and Butch Shea are masters setting up a chassis.

  20. WeldingWonders says

    At the early stages of Narducci’s modified career to label him a wheel man is premature at best. It was only last year that he made several bonehead moves in the LLM’s.
    What young Narducci has is potential, the right attitude but mostly resources. Nothing makes any driver appear brilliant more then a long list of sponsors, the best equipment and a racing brain trust. That is second to none starting with the Pearl’s and Owen and even including Tommy Baldwin for crying out loud.
    The Stafford Lights are not Waterford or Thompson or the Stafford LLM’s. The field is loaded with cars, experienced drivers, money and talent. They’ll pull Narducci’s motor in a nono second and dyno it if he is dominant like they did to John Walker in the Streets. I don’t expect him to be dominant. I expect him to do well and compete for the championship. I expect his to get frustrated at times and maybe even make some bonehead over aggressive moves as part of his learning curve. But I know he’ll learn from it and if there is any funny business on the engine it won’t go unchallenged.

  21. Lightsout says

    With an increasing number of drivers choosing to go with already existing teams like KRR or with Owens shop for chassis and/or set-up like the 6, 38, 01 and a few others, the tables would be turned massively if everyone did their own work rather than just dishing out checks with a bunch of zeros on them. The real talent would be very easy to identify. Stafford already had pulled motors from several Lites last year to have them dyno’d with all motors being within a few HP of each other. It’s not the motors kids, get over it. If we want to discuss money spent in this division, let’s start on who’s housing and maintaining these cars first because that’s where the real $$ goes. And if my memory is correct, that 01 was nearly passed on the OUTSIDE at the Waterford closer. It’s not a magic bullet.

  22. WeldingWonders says

    Agreed it’s not the motors except for the fact the big spenders can legally spend more money on enhancements that get them a little edge HP wise. It’s the entire package. The best of everything, put together by super knowledgeable people. The tables wouldn’t be turned if the people did their own work. The SK Light field would be cut in half. It’s just the way it is now and it’s great. Full fields mostly of great equipment that handles well with low buck teams still having a chance when the stars are aligned and they nail the setup. Experienced guru’s in charge means safe equipment and who could be against that.

  23. Lightsout says

    @WeldingWonders, I always thought that the lights were always about learning and not just jumping in some car that has hundreds of man hours of someone else’s work in it, someone else’s set-up and someone else’s note book. The only thing I see being learned here is how to sign checks and after this class graduates to another level, will this continue or will they actually LEARN something when they get to the SK’s and beyond?

  24. WeldingWonders says

    What can I say Lightsout. You nailed it. Agree completely. The only response I have is it’s just the way it is and the rules still allow a clever Mr. Do-it-all to be competitive at a significantly lower cost.

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