Modified Plans: Jay Goff Rolls Out Of Retirement For New Stafford SK Light Mod Special Event

Jay Goff Saturday at Stafford Motor Speedway (Photo: Shawn Courchesne/RaceDayCT)

STAFFORD – Last fall at Stafford Motor Speedway Jay Goff went through the emotions behind the wheel that come for a driver hanging up the helmet after decades of competition.

But retirement from racing for the 61-year old SK Light Modified division driver was short lived. It really never actually started.

This weekend Stafford Motor Speedway kicks off the 2017 season with the running of the NAPA Spring Sizzler and back in the paddock at the track with his car was Goff.

When Stafford Speedway announced in December that they would host the Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night on May 26, featuring a $2,000 to win SK Light Modified feature, with a guaranteed $10,000 purse the racer in Goff couldn’t resist.

“Personally there was emotion for me last year, “ Goff said. “Getting to the last few races I kept saying to myself that this would be the final events of my career, and I really did plan on hanging it up. But that one race really attracted me. We’ve never had that notoriety in this division. When I ran the Late Models we used to have those big 100-lappers, but since I’ve been in the SK Lights we’ve never that big kind of race. I appreciate what Doug is doing and I wanted to give it an opportunity.”

Goff said focusing his efforts on his grandson’s burgeoning efforts in karting led to his decision to retire last year.

Goff began his racing career at Stafford in 1978 and has been running in the SK Light Modified division since 2007. He stopped racing in 1989 and returned to action in 2007. He has three career victories in the SK Light Modified division.

“For the years that I’ve been racing, I always said I would retire at 60,” Goff said. “I just thought it was a number where I looked at things and thought I’ve had a good career and a lot of fun. I’m getting to the point where there’s a long of younger racers out there. I just thought it was about time and focus on my grandson running go-karts.”

His 8-year old grandson Austin runs in the Monday night karting series at Stafford Speedway.

“He’s been running since he was five,” Goff said. “He seems to enjoy it and I want to concentrate on that.”

The rules for the new event state that a driver must start two of the first four regular events of the year to run the special event, which will be the fifth race of the season.

Goff said his only commitment right now for this year is running the first four regular events and the Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night.

“I had planned on just running [May 19] because I just wanted to check everything out,” Goff said. “Pretty much I was just going to run those two races. It is costly to run this and I don’t have a big team. I have a couple that help me out, my son [Aaron Goff] and Troy Hazan. I was just going to concentrate on two races. But since they put the rule on how many races you had to run I decided I’ll probably just run these five. I might do [some] after that, but my priority is these five.”

And what if he’s in contention for a division title after that fifth race?

“One of my crew members said the same thing,” Goff said. “If you’re in the top-three in points what will you do? I don’t plan on doing the full season regardless of where I am in points. If I’m that fortunate to have those types of finishes over the next five weeks, obviously that decision would be there, but I don’t see myself doing that.”

Comments

  1. “This weekend Stafford Motor Speedway kicks off the 2017 season with the running of the NAPA Fall Final weekend and back in the paddock at the track with his car was Goff.”

    Attention edit department.

  2. Doug,
    Thanks, brain is still stuck on the extended forever lasting Fall Final weekend that only seemed to last a month.

  3. This is a busy weekend for you and once again we all appreciate your articles. Glad to see you in the Courant as well.
    Wow, 27 cars in the SK Light Feature compared to 17 last year. I don’t know if it’s due to the Speedbowl situation but it’s so nice to see a bulging field of cars.

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