A few years ago, Sammy Rameau hardly even had a thought that Modified racing would be part of his future.
On March 16 at Myrtle Beach Speedway in Myrtle Beach, S.C. the 16-year old from Westminster, Mass. will be starting off his rookie season competing with the best competition Modified racing has to offer with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
“My dad raced Enduro cars and Street Stocks his whole life,” Rameau said. “I never dreamed of racing an open wheeled Modified – nevermind on the Whelen Modified Tour with guys like Ryan Preece, Doug Coby, Justin Bonsignore and Timmy Solomito. Racing with these guys is a dream come true. I just can’t believe I’m doing it.”
Rameau will run full-time in 2019 on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour after spending the last two years running with the Valenti Modified Racing Series.
“Some stuff happened there [with the Valenti Modified Racing Series] and we just figured it was a good time to make a move and take another step up. Maybe this is our final step here. It’s a big jump but we’ve got some great supporters behind us in RaceChoice.com and Dennison Lubricants and All-State Asphalt and Rameau Family Motorsports. … I can’t thank all them enough. It’s not just me taking a big step, it’s everybody here.”
Rameau and his team have combined forces with former team owner Danny Stebbins, who won a pair of Valenti Modified Racing Series title teaming with driver Woody Pitkat.
“I’m extremely excited to have Danny by my side here as a my crew chief,” Rameau said. “We have a great relationship. We work very well together. We ran one race together and ever since we’re in the shop every night together. We get along great. I love working with him. He’s a great guy, very smart. I think we’re going to have a lot of success together.”
Rameau made his Whelen Modified Tour debut in the season ending Sunoco World Series 150 at Thompson Speedway last October. He started 25thand finished 17th.
His goals for 2019 are modest.
“I go into this year wanting to learn,.” Rameau said. “Wanting to gain respect from the guys I’m going to race against. I want to gain all the respect I can and learn all I can. We’ll worry about winning when we get close to that.
“The biggest thing is … when you’ve got a guy next to you like Doug Coby whose got [five] championships, you can’t get intimidated by him. You just have to run your own race every week and you’ve got to do the best that you can do. That’s what my main goals, our goals for this year. To win Rookie of the Year and get a top-10 in points would be absolutely huge. That’s like the biggest thing. You can’t get intimidated by these guys. And it’s just a lot of stuff on my part. I’m still in high school and high school takes a lot of my time. So does racing. I’ve just got to equal out the two.”
Rameau’s had two victories in with the Valenti Modified Racing Series in 2018, but his season – and his time with the series – ended in bitter fashion. Rameau went to the penultimate event of the season in October at Lee USA Speedway holding an 18-point lead at the top of the standings and looking to be on cruise to a series title. He was involved in a wreck early in the event at Lee. The weather plagued events was eventually ended under a cloud of controversy which led to a confrontation between Rameau’s crew and series officials. Valenti Modified Racing Series officials eventually took the shocking step of not only suspending Rameau for the final events of the season, but erasing all his record for the 2018 season with the division.
“It just drives me to do better,” Rameau said. “That was a steppingstone for me. That’s really it. You’ve got to lose one to win one. You’ve always got to learn from your mistakes. We’re just going to step on that and go to our next step.”
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