Ted Christopher Not Speeding To Firm Up Any Whelen Modified Tour Plans For 2015

Ted Christopher Wide CheckeredOne of the biggest mysteries of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour during the offseason after the 2013 season was where Ted Christopher would land.

It wasn’t until just before the start of the 2014 season that Christopher announced he would team up with Bob Katon Jr.’s Berkley Racing team for the year.

So not surprisingly, with the sun just recently setting on the 2014 season, Christopher isn’t getting too worried about what he will be doing in 2015 with the Whelen Modified Tour, or if he will even be running with the division.

“We’re not racing for five months, but everybody wants to know,” said Christopher, the division’s third winningest driver of all-time. “That’s the way it is now. Everybody wants to know what everybody is doing.”

Christopher, of Plainville, thought he may have had his plans set early after Ryan Preece announced he was leaving the Eric Sanderson owned Flamingo Motorsports Whelen Modified Tour team on Oct. 20.

“I was in the hunt for the [Flamingo Motorsports] deal,” Christopher said.

It was announced this week that Timmy Solomito, who was the 2014 series Rookie of the Year, landed the ride with the Flamingo Motorsports team.

“That one came out of the blue for a lot of people,” Christopher said. “Oh well. So I’m not sure what I’m actually going to be doing.”

In 2014 Christopher had a shared deal with Katon, with Christopher and Katon each providing cars to get through the 13-race schedule. Christopher, the 2008 Whelen Modified Tour champion, went into the season finale on Oct. 19 at Thompson Speedway in second place in the standings. An accident that day relegated him to a 20th place finish and dropped him to fifth in the final standings for the season, 31 points behind series champion Doug Coby.

Christopher said he would like to return to working with Katon’s team in 2015, but he’s unsure he could provide on his own half of the operation. Christopher’s longtime team manager Mike O’Sullivan suffered a stroke in late July and is still recovering and unable to work full-time readying for the 2015 season.

“Unfortunately that happened, but we got through it,” Christopher said. “It was two-thirds of the way through the season and we were able to get through. So now we’ve got to rebuild stuff, we’ve got to build new cars. I really don’t know what I’m going to do.

“[Katon] still wants to do it again next year, but the deciding factor will probably be me and what I want to do. He definitely wants to do it again and I would love to do it again, but you can’t do it if you don’t have people and you don’t have time to do it. That’s the hardest part for me with not having Mike O’Sullivan here working on stuff. Right now he’d be putting stuff together and getting ready for next year.”

Christopher said he would be interested in talking to team owner Bob Garbarino about the opening with his Mystic Missile team. Donny Lia announced recently that he was walking away from that ride. Garbarino said Tuesday that he’s unclear what his plans are for the 2015 season.

“Who know’s what Bob is doing, if he’s even going to race,” Christopher said. “I would be interested if he was racing. That would free me where I wouldn’t have to do anything. I can bring a motor and I have one car that if they wanted to race some races with my car, it’s been a proven car. It ran up front [at New Hampshire Motor Speedway], it ran up front [at Stafford Motor Speedway]. It’s a really good racecar. That’s an opportunity if it comes that way.”

Christopher said his plans are definite to run full-time in his SK Modified at Stafford Speedway in 2015, where he won his ninth division championship in 2014. He also said he plans to run again for Doug DiPisa’s Prestige Motorsports SK Modified team at the Waterford Speedbowl.

Christopher said if he’s not racing on the Whelen Modified Tour in 2015 it will not be a huge disappointment for him.

“The Tour is not what it’s cracked up to be by a lot of people any more,” Christopher said. “You know it and I know it. It used to be a great thing to run. I’m glad I won a championship there, but it’s not what it’s cracked up to be. So even if I don’t run it and race at Stafford full-time and race Waterford full-time with the SK [Modified], that wouldn’t even bother me. Even if I did a partial thing with the Tour, it wouldn’t bother me. I love going to Stafford and I love going Waterford on Saturday nights. I have fun there.”

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Comments

  1. how about thompson?!

  2. Good Luck to T.C. whatever he decides to do.

  3. Nathan,
    I don’t think anything at Thompson is in his plans for now.

  4. Forget the mod bore tour that series is becoming a lost cause, I would like to him at the bowl every week,and do what ever needs to be done the #13 so he can compete, don’t if its motor or handling but that car is missing something. He may be an old timer now but if he has the car we all know he can still drive it. The bowl needs someone that can run with rocco and if givin the car TC is the man for the job

  5. I am a bit surprised that TC doesn’t plan to return to Thompson, given that he’s so close to 100 wins there – I think he’s at 98?

  6. Been watching this guy a long tiime .. Mike when he ran as well.. (apple doesn’t fall to far from the tree… your boy has some talent) .Hope 4 team owner at least contacts Teddy.. Thought I heard a while ago former team owner was getting back into racing?

  7. After watching Thompson race, TC should be looking for a couch not a ride. He wasn’t on camera much because he was a bomb but when he was, he tried to wreck Lia on a caution, wrecked Civali and wrecked himself trying to wreck Barrett. Your time has past

  8. Love him or hate him you have to appreciate his attitude.

  9. Rafter fan says

    Shawn –
    Any recent news regarding TC’s 2015 Tour and/or VRMS plans?

  10. Rafter,
    Nothing new to report there.

  11. darealgoodfella says

    He has to run his own operation if he wants to run the Tour.

    He’s just too much of a liability. Too much wrecking.

    The sun has set. The window closed.

  12. Andy Boright says

    The Whelen Modified tour just isn’t a big deal anymore. Too few races + too high expenses = a series dying a slow death.

    When drivers like Ted Christopher & Matt Hirschman don’t consider the series a priority, that should tell you something.

    NASCAR just doesn’t get short track racing, and more discouraging, they just don’t care. It’s clear this series is being carried by the efforts of Thompson and Stafford Springs, not by NASCAR.

  13. darealgoodfella says

    The NWMT is still the best modified racing. When a driver says the priorities are elsewhere, it means he can’t get a ride in the NWMT. The grapes are sour.

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