Keith Rocco
Keith Rocco and Chris Our Motorsports may have quietly gone their separate ways as of late, but it doesn’t mean the Wallingford driver won’t be part of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season finale.
RaceDayCT has learned exclusively that Keith Rocco will enter the Oct. 18 Whelen Modified Tour Sunoco World Series 150 in an M&M Motorsports ride.
It’s a reunion of sorts for Rocco and team owner Mark Pane. Rocco drove a Pane owned multiple years at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. Rocco was driving the Pane owned No. 57 SK Modified the night he clinched his first NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Modified national championship at the Speedbowl.
“We’ve talked about going racing together lately but my schedule is so full there’s really not much on the table left to do,” Rocco said. “I do all the [Valenti Modified Racing Series] stuff with [John Rufrano] and the SK stuff is all filled up. So it’s hard to run any races with him, but this is a perfect opportunity for us to get together.”
Rocco replaced Tommy Barrett Jr. in the Whelen Modified Tour Our Motorsports ride in April after Barrett was released from the team after an arrest. But in August, Rocco was put on the sidelines with the Whelen Modified Tour effort after sustaining a broken wrist. Ted Christopher replaced Rocco in the car while he was injured.
Rocco had been scheduled to return to the team for the F.W. Webb 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 26 and he and Christopher were supposed to run as teammates at the event, but Rocco opted instead to put his focus that day on racing for an SK Modified championship at the Speedbowl.
Rocco was able to rally from a four-point deficit going into championship night to win his third consecutive Speedbowl title and fifth title in six years on Sept. 26.
Rocco made seven Whelen Modified Tour starts this year one top-five and four top-10 finishes. Overall Rocco has made 29 career Whelen Modified Tour starts dating back to 2008.
“The World Series is a fun race,” Rocco said. “Originally I was planning to run the World Series so I really don’t want to sit out of the [Whelen Modified Tour] race. I had it on the schedule so I might as well make something work.”
After the World Series Pane and Rocco will team up to run the same ride at the Turkey Derby in November at Wall Stadium in Wall, N.J.
good luck keith hope you the best …but it is real hard to pull off a last minute one race deal on the tour with any team ….but even harder with a team that never really raced on it …i think you kind of got a raw deal with the 22 …more of a loose loose than a win win even if you did like the past drivers…i said when you went there not to judge your driving by the car because it was so up and down …when you get guys like mike stefanik , the barret kid now teddy running like crap most of the time its never the car but the driver that gets the boot …everyone says chris our is a great guy ….that may be but i think he needs to look at who is running that race team at the shop and the track ….that is that teams trouble …not the drivers ….jmo
I never thought that it was that good of a car.
All cars are the same
Just drive it like you always do
You’ll be fine
Don’t see TC on the entry list.
Darealgoodfella , you do know that TC is married to a woman right ?
Darealgoodfella : Hopefully Ted Christopher enters the race so you will have something to whine about after the World Series besides Doug Coby !