Paul French’s SK Light Modified ready for a return to the track on Thursday evening (Photo: Courtesy Paul French)
When what was left of Paul French’s No. 76 SK Light Modified was carted off the track at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl Saturday, many fans in the grandstands probably thought it would mean at least a few weeks off for the team to repair the mangled mess.
French never had any doubts that he and his Horsepower Hill Racing team would be back at it this week with the Gino Difilippo Jr. owned car. In addition to the No. 76 car, the Horsepower Hill Stable oversees Joey Ferrigno’s No. 87 Stafford Speedway SK Light Modified and the No. 2 SK Light Modified that competes at both Stafford and Waterford.
During last Saturday’s 25-lap SK Light Modified feature French was wrecked seemingly intentionally by driver Chris Correll. A later interaction between Correll and French’s team saw Correll taken out of the track in handcuffs and charged with breach of peace by Waterford Police.
French said the team had the car back to race ready by Wednesday evening.
“Joey prepped us for weeks like this,” French joked.
“It was actually done Wednesday night,” French said. “We were waiting for it to get vinyl. It looks sexy. I’m pretty proud of these guys. They just refuse to lose. After the dust settled and the assailant got taken in away in cuffs, we were all standing around laughing and joking and I had a guy from another team come up and say ‘You guys are all walking around laughing, what’s the deal?’ Even one of the Waterford cops said that. I told them, ‘It’s just a car. We’ve fixed far worse than that in a far shorter time period.’ It’s just a car. … Everybody with this team knows what they have to do.”
French will have the No. 76 car looking for victory in the SK Light Modified feature as part of the Wings & Wheels show Saturday at Waterford. French will also be competing in the No. 2 SK Light Modified tonight at Stafford. Ferrigno will be in the No. 87 tonight at Stafford and in the No. 2 Saturday at Waterford.
Glad to see they got the car fixed in time for what most likely will be the biggest crowd of the year at the Speedbowl. Now here is a thought. Since it was obvious that Correll’s intention was to wreck the 76. How about making Correll reimburse French for the damage he had to fix in addition to the end of the year suspension. Sort of an eye for an eye approach to discipline at the racetrack. IMO these kind of incidents seem to happen way to much at both the local and national level. Sooner or later someone is really going to get hurt.