Episode 19 of Unmuffled was packed with highlight comments from all four guests this week.
Veteran New London-Waterford Speedbowl SK Modified driver Rob Janovic Jr. talked about blocking out the turmoil that has surrounded the track over the last decade.
“In all the years that I’ve been there … I’ve been there through every one of its incarnations, I’ve been there through every one of its management teams and ownerships and everything and the one thing that remains constant is that it’s a paved track and there’s a flagman and he throws a green and he throws a checker and you go around in circles,” Janvoic said. “And that’s what we go there to do regardless of who’s running it or who’s owning it. Yeah, you get a little numb to it, but the track always seems to find a way to open itself, as crazy as it sounds.”
On the track’s all-time winningest driver Keith Rocco Janovic said:
“Keith and I started off … I mean, he came in like a bull in a china shop and some of us at Waterford weren’t used to that, nor were we appreciative of it. So Keith and I started off definitely on the wrong foot. And for some reason, and I don’t know why, it kind of festered for a while until he walked up to me and he said ‘Why don’t you like me?’ And we ended up having a nice long talk and since then we’ve been very good friends.”
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Craig Lutz sits third in the series standings, five points out of the lead, after three events this year. He talked about the advantage of running the final nine races of the 2017 season with his Jeff Goodale owned ride.
“It was huge just to be able to get races together before we kicked off the full tour season,” Lutz said. “I think that was definitely a big advantage and we’ve been able to grow together.”
Stafford Motor Speedway SK Modified veteran Eric Berndt, who had a second place finish last week, talked about bouncing back from a winless 2017 season.
“Racing is a very humbling sport,” Berndt said. “One week you can be on the top, the next week you’re on the bottom. It seems like if you get started on the wrong foot at Stafford, especially with the Sizzler, and then if you can’t climb out of that hole quick it just gets to be a bigger hole and that’s what kind of happened to us last year where nothing went right. It’s just one of them years, you chalk it up and rebuild and try to reboot for next year. And that’s what we did over the winter and so far, knock on wood, it seems to be working. If we can keep continuing the momentum we’ve got hopefully we can rack up a couple wins.”
Berndt also talking about the magnitude of being in his 24th consecutive season competing in the SK Modified at Stafford:
“It makes me feel like I’ve been doing it a really long time. I did start at 16 and been at it a long time. And I’ve had a lot of ups and a lot of downs. But that’s part of racing. It’s in my blood and it’s something you can’t shake out of your blood it seems.”
Reigning Valenti Modified Racing Series champion Anthony Nocella talked about returning to Stafford Speedway Friday holding the series points lead after three events in 2018.
“I’m very excited to go to Stafford,” Nocella said. “The last couple years I’ve got more and more comfortable there and we’ve got better runs, especially last year, we were able to win this race. I’m really looking forward to going there. I think it’s an awesome track to run at. There’s a lot of prestige when you win there. The way the car’s been running the last couple races here to start the year, with two thirds and a win and I think we had a car with those two thirds that was capable of winning. So I’m really looking forward to going into Stafford and hopefully having another strong run.”
And there was plenty more said by all four guests on the latest episode of Unmuffled.
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