Glen Reen celebrates his first SK Modified victory Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway (Photo: Stafford Motor Speedway/Driscoll MotorSports Photography)
STAFFORD – On Oct. 16, 2011 at Thompson Speedway, Glen Reen had a night for the ages, pulling off one of the biggest underdog makes good stories in the history of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour when he won the division’s season finale.
Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway, the Wilbraham, Mass. driver put together another evening of racing to rival the drama of that night at Thompson.
Reen got behind the of his SK Modified Friday night at Stafford Motor Speedway riding the emotion of making history for himself only moments before in winning his first career Late Model feature at the historic half-mile oval.
When the checkered flag flew for the SK Modified feature it was Reen celebrating history for himself and an accomplishment thought to be unmatched in track history.
Reen, of Wilbraham, came from the 22nd starting spot to win the 40-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified feature Friday at Stafford.
It was the first career SK Modified victory for Reen, who is thought to be the first driver in track history to score his first career victory in two different weekly divisions on the same night.
Jeff Baral of Southington was second and Woody Pitkat of Stafford third. Rowan Pennink of Huntingdon Valley, Pa. finished eighth to clinch his second consecutive SK Modified championship with one event remaining this season.
Reen’s story Friday was remarkable in multiple layers. It was his first start in the SK Modified division since blowing a motor in his car in May. He also became the first driver in history to win in an SK Light Modified, an SK Modified and a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour car. And Reen pulled off the feat in the same car.
“This was awesome,” Reen said. “I never thought for starting 22nd, – I knew we’d be fast. The car was good. We were second in practice last week. Unfortunately we blew a motor in May. Come last week and broke a valve on lap seven of practice. I just put the motor together. We fixed the valve this week and I was just like ‘I hope this works.’”
And it work it did. Reen was up to sixth for a lap 22 restart. Then leader Ronnie Williams seemed to miss a shift on the restart, backing up the inside lane and allowing Baral to go to the lead. But it was Reen who saw the lane under Baral and grabbed the top spot off of turn two.
From there Reen left the field deep behind, rolling away easily to the checkered.
“I think [Williams] missed a shift or something like that and I just saw a hole and I went for it,” Reen said. “The car was so good I could put it anywhere I wanted. If I wanted to go outside or inside, it didn’t matter. Once I saw the hole open I was like ‘This is it.’ As soon as I got there I just had a feeling. I was like ‘This is going to be the night I do a double. I was already on cloud nine from the Late Model. I was like ‘There’s no way. This is going to be unbelievable.’ I don’t know how far it was to second place. I never looked in the mirror once.”
How many times has this guy gotten DQ for heads? Shows up out of the blue and makes everybody look foolish. Great night to tech tread width and wheelbase!
Was the wheelbase ok?
The natural progression is to win in SKs before moving to WMT. Too many tour drivers who have never won anything, anywhere. Good for Reen, he did it the opposite way but it’s not the preferred way if you ask me. Good win though last night.
Quite the Bad crash coming out of turn 4. Alot of bent up cars. Hope everyone was OK.
Hey doggy
Wa wa wha wa wa wa
All the best
TAC
Inconsistent Stafford Tech Again. Reens car was too low for post race ride heights. So Jay the tech guy slams the rod under and they had to lift the car to get it out. I was shocked. Tech let him go and said fix that for the Fall Final. I’m sure Williams wished he had that offer. Good thing for Reen that Owen was not in second!! Ha ha
Why doesn’t someone just pull out their phone and take video of what’s going on in tech? Use that as “evidence”
“Why doesn’t someone just pull out their phone and take video of what’s going on in tech? Use that as “evidence””
Great question!
I will admit that I”m not one to accuse just anyone who achieves success of cheating, but when I see a car yank all the other reliably fast cars in essentially a spec class down straightaways, I do start to question things…
It’s one thing to see a driver take different lines through corners, gaining time each lap through genuine smoothness and taking the shortest way around, but killing the others in a drag race is different.
Maybe, sometimes, it’s just your night!
a fresh engine, 4 stickers might have something to do with it