(Press Release from NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications)
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour drivers will have an extra incentive in their search of pole awards during the 2019 season.
Mayhew Tools, a Massachusetts-based company that produces tools that serve the industrial, automotive and hardware industries across the globe, will sponsor the pole award in 2019 for the Whelen Modified Tour.
Drivers will chase the top qualifying spot in 17 championship points events, but the drivers won’t be the only ones to benefit from winning a pole award. Mayhew is bringing the crew chiefs into the fray by announcing they will produce a “Big Stick” to each crew chief who turns the wrenches on a pole winning car.
The “Big Stick” is the largest pry bar that Mayhew has ever created.
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“We have a patented line of these pry bars, and sometimes the mechanics can abuse the tools, but these products have a system with a medal cap on the end so they can beat on them with a hammer,” John Lawless, the President of Mayhew Tools, said. “We ended up taking it up to five-feet long at one point, but now, we are making one that is a heavier weight than all of the others.”
Mayhew Tools is no stranger to success on the Whelen Modified Tour. The company sponsored Bob Garbarino’s famed Mystic Missile with Jimmy Blewett behind the wheel in 2016, before making the move to Mike Smeriglio Racing as the primary sponsor of then four-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby at the beginning of the 2017 season. In their first year as partners with Coby, they were celebrating Coby’s fourth straight title and fifth overall – and they were also on the car for Coby’s third-place finish in the 2018 championship standings.R
“It’s a tight-knit group,” Lawless said of the Whelen Modified Tour community. “It’s a lot of fun. We have only been around for a short period of time, but it has made a big difference for us. People are recognizing the Mayhew name more, and still it’s a long journey. Even though people know Mayhew, they need to know what we make.”
Lawless is also excited about the opportunity to continue to increase brand awareness for Mayhew – a company that provides tools to mechanics throughout the garage area. For Mayhew, the chance to give something to each pole winning crew chief was one of the most important parts of the deal.
“NASCAR has been great to work with. This will be a good opportunity for us to get more visibility,” Lawless said. “The drivers get the awards, but we make the tools for the guys that work on the cars. We would like to give some sort of a reward to the crew chief because he is very involved in the whole process.”
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season begins on Saturday, March 16, at Myrtle Beach Speedway in South Carolina. The first event of the season, the Performance Plus 150, will be followed by the return of NASCAR Whelen Modifieds to South Boston Speedway on March 30.
This is great!
How did Mayhew get involved with the NWMT?
Great to see The Pole Award back! Nice touch to give the crew chief a “Big Stick”.
Every crew chief wants a big stick.