Troy Talman
But Talman is smart enough to know that these days in grassroots racing, finding perfect is rare.
What he does understand is sometimes trying to make less than perfect better than expected can help further down the road.
So Talman will go into Sunday’s season opening Whelen Modified Tour Icebreaker 150 at Thompson knowing that he has a ride with Wade Cole’s team for at least the first three events of the season.
“Anytime you get in a racecar I think you’re always going to learn something new and it will only help my career going forward,” Talman said of taking the part-time opportunity. “You’re not going to get any better just watching in the stands.”
Talman started 11 of 15 events last year on the Whelen Modified Tour for Boehler Racing Enterprises in the iconic No. 3 Ole Blue car last season. He had a season best finish of fifth at Monadnock Speedway, but that run marked his only top-10 effort of the season.
“Last year I think there was self put on pressure running Ole Blue,” Talman said. “There was pressure I was putting on myself to perform. This year there’s no added pressure. I can just go out there and have some fun.”
Talman said he’s looking forward to what he can show with the Cole ride. Cole has been a fixture on the Whelen Modified Tour since its inception in 1985 and Talman understand that veteran leadership can only help him.
“It’s an old No. 36 from Ted Christopher a few years ago,” Talman said. “It’s a good car. Brad [Lafontaine from NorthEast Race Cars & Parts] actually recommended it. It’s got an open motor. Wade has always had really good motors. It’s kind of a top of the line open motor. It’s pretty stout. We had it set up at [NorthEast Race Cars & Parts]. Maybe we’ll surprise a few people I think.”
“I’m really excited. We went to the open practice a couple weeks [at Thompson Speedway] and that went pretty well. We’re not going to light the world on fire, we’re running with older Troyer technology. But I think we might turn a few heads with the car. Its capable of getting some good finishes.
“Heading into the Icebreaker, I think we’ll [time trial] Ok and then for the race strategy, it’s a long race so I’ll think I’ll just take my time and let everything set itself out and race at the end.”
The 20-year old Talman, who turns 21 Wednesday, said he is dedicating his racing efforts this year to raising awareness to Lymphoma. His 26-year old brother Matt was diagnosed with Lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin’s lymphoma on March 1.
“We just want raise awareness for cancer,” Talman said. “[Matt] had his first round of treatments last week and that went well. He’s in good spirits.”
Talman will be running a lime green ribbon on his car at Thompson to recognize the fight against Lymphoma and is asking fans to wear lime green to the track in support.
In addition to the efforts with Cole’s team, Talman said he’s hoping to run his family owned Modified in events this year.
“It was an [SK Modified] a while back,” Talman said “We bought it from Richard Savary so it had been a Tour Type Modified when we bought it. We’re going to plan on bringing that out for the [Tri-Track Open Modified Series] races anyway. I want to bring it out for some [Valenti Modified Racing Series] shows too. May 20, the race at [Stafford Speedway], it would be nice to debut it there. We purchased a motor for that over the winter from Wayne Anderson and that looks good.”
Best of luck to you and more importantly to your brother
best of luck to you and your brother.
Best of luck to you Troy and hope for the best for your brother. The Cole team is a good bunch of people. Turn some heads in that 38 this season!