Comeback Story: Ed Puleo Back At Waterford Speedbowl Day After Massive SK Mod Wreck

WATERFORD – Those in the know when it comes to racing looked at that the remnants of Ed Puleo’s SK Modified Saturday at the Waterford Speedbowl and most agreed, he wasn’t coming back a day later with his car.

Ed Puleo’s rebuilt SK Modified in the pits Sunday morning at the Waterford Speedbowl

Sunday morning though, there was Puleo with his Vin Beedle owned SK Modified ready to compete in Sunday’s 63-lap Budweiser Blastoff SK Modified feature at the Waterford Speedbowl.

Contact with another car during his heat race, left Puleos’ ride crushed against the wall at the Speedbowl Saturday. By the looks of the car, Puleo’s only hope in getting back to the track for Sunday’s season opener would be with another car.

But Puleo’s team defied logic, spending the night putting a new front clip on the car to have it race ready.

“I was on the outside of a car, he made contact with us and sent us up in the wall,” Puleo said. “Some people say somebody got into him, other people say he did it himself. At the end of the day my car was wrecked and we had to thrash to fix it.

“My crew immediately, when we brought car in, was like ‘I hope you don’t make any plans for tomorrow because we’re going to come back and race.’ They didn’t stop. They did not stop working. I wasn’t even out of my firesuit and they were already working on making arrangements and making plans and parts list. I was taken aback a little bit by it.”

Beedle said the team worked from 7 p.m. Saturday until 7 p.m. Sunday before reloading the car and heading back to the track.

“Nothing was compromised,” Puleo said. “This car is probably as good as it was before it got wrecked. I don’t think we’re going to have any issues. No stone was left unturned.

“It’s really motivating for me. I’ve been racing for a long time and my core is pretty much the same people with some additions and some subtractions, but the determination is always there. It just keeps me motivated and keeps me wanting to race and fighting for every inch I can get. As long as I have that we’re just going to keep battling.”

Puleo, of Branford, is in his second season in the SK Modified division at Waterford.

“We’re starting last,” Puleo said. “We can only go one place from there and that’s forward. Really, there’s no pressure. It is what it is. Hopefully we got it all out of system.”