(Press release from Stafford Speedway)
When the Open Modified 80 at Stafford Speedway takes the green flag next Friday night, May 24 as part of Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night, perhaps no driver will be looking to get to victory lane more than Chase Dowling.
Dowling started fourth in the NAPA Spring Sizzler®, led the most laps, and looked to be one of the contenders for the checkered flag, but a mechanical issue sidelined him with 31 laps left to run. Dowling will be looking to rebound from that disappointing finish behind the wheel of the #00 Jimmy Paige Plumbing & Heating machine that he has already piloted to one victory earlier this season at Thompson Speedway.
“We had a really good start to the year winning at Thompson and the #00 car has some great people working on it,” said Dowling. “I’m always excited to come back to my home track, especially with how well I ran at the Sizzler. When mechanical issues happen late in the race, like what happened at the Sizzler, it’s frustrating but there’s not a lot I could have done in that situation. Hopefully next Friday night all the pieces of the puzzle will line up for us and we can finish the race in victory lane. When we unload the car, all we’re thinking about is winning the race. I have a really great team on the #00 car with Jimmy Paige as the owner and Steve Lemay as the crew chief so I know they’ll give me the best chance at winning the race.”
In addition to rebounding from his disappointing Spring Sizzler® finish, Dowling is also craving a win after he finished second in both of the Open Mod 80 events held last season at Stafford, finishing behind Tommy Barrett, Jr. in the Twisted Tea Open 80 and Eric Goodale in the Bud Light Open 80.
“A win would be huge for us,” said Dowling. “I know how much money, effort, and time all the guys put in to the #00 car and they eat, sleep, and breathe racing. They’re not going to do anything but give me the best opportunity at winning and hopefully things can pan out in our favor.”
The Open Mod 80 at Stafford is 120 laps shorter than the NAPA Spring Sizzler® and drivers will have the ability to pit for two fresh tires during the race rather than having to change one tire per stop. Dowling likens the Open Mod 80 to a sprint race where drivers don’t have to hold anything back and can run as hard as they can for 80 laps around the Connecticut half-mile.
“The thing I really love about the Open 80’s is we get two tires and that gives us the strategy that we can pretty much drive hard for the whole race and we don’t have to ride and save tires,” said Dowling. “It’s kind of like an extended SK Modified® race only with more horsepower in the cars. It’s a fun race from a driver’s standpoint and I’m sure it’s going to be a great race for the fans to come watch.”
Dowling also likes the wide variety of drivers that are on the entry list for the May 24 Open Mod 80.
“You might think it would be a bunch of local guys but these races bring guys from all over like Long Island, New York, Massachusetts, and North Carolina,” said Dowling. “Drivers like Tommy Barrett, Eric Goodale, and Richard Savary, that’s the cool thing about these races. It’s drawing a lot of attention to Stafford and hopefully these open 80 races can continue into the future.”
The Open Mod 80 will share the spotlight on May 24 with Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night being the longest and biggest race of the 2019 SK Light season with over $10,000 in total posted awards up for grabs. With contingency bonuses, the winner of the Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night feature will take home $2,025. Tickets for the May 24 Open Mod 80 / Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night are $30.00 for adults, $5.00 for kids 6-14, and as always 5 & under free. Reserved seating is priced at $32.00 for all ages. All tickets include 10% CT Admission Tax. General admission gates open at 5:15pm, with qualifying races beginning at 6:00pm and feature races to follow.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
29 cars, not too shabby aye racedayct nation? Hoping they’d break 30 but better then last year.
Probably means what, 24 or 25 with show.
Combined with Modifiedz Night might make it a long night with the longer distance plus SK Light heat races and consi’s. Very long night.
Should be interesting to see what the consensus is on the quality of the field among the regulars that comment here.
29 cars 28 drivers. It looks like Andrew Mueller registered 2 cars. My guess is around 22-3 show wiith the postponement and change to a holiday weekend. I am thinking a few drivers that pre registered may have other plans. There aren’t any conflicts that I know of which is good. It looks like a good mix of drivers. I will probably check it out if the bruins aren’t on and the weather looks good.
Then again, friends are trying to get me to go tomorrow. It looks like weather may be an issue, if its another marathon show and they don’t move up the SKs, I may give up on Stafford all together. Having gone 2 times to see the SK’s at Stafford and not seeing them will be disappointing.
Friday morning. I live about 20 miles north of the track. It is cold at 51° damp and dreary. Weather calls for afternoon and evening showers. Not looking good. Hope next Friday turns out better.
CG, last saturday’s show was pretty efficient. Did you miss the Sizzler?
This is New England, it has weather, get used to it.
This should be a great event, with Open and SK events, a great day for Modifieds and fans.
Rob P.
At 9:30 am it was 65 degrees in Stafford. Yes the forecast has a less than 50 percent chance of showers from about noon until about 2 pm. Not sure how that effects a racing event that begins at 6:15 pm. And the forecast is for partly sunny and in the mid 60’s the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Man I remember when it had to be a full-on monsoon out for people to talk about rain outs or say it wasn’t looking good. Now it’s like everyone is looking for a reason for them to rain out. So odd.
I second that for next weeks big show.
Tonight appears to be a crap shoot. Showers, thunder storms possibly but deeper you go into the evening the better it looks. My money is they give it a go with an eye on the radar.
It’s just so hard to get crowd drawing weather this time of year.
dtwin. I missed last Saturdays show. I went to the 6 hours of Stafford the week before. In my opinion, that was not a good example of an efficiently run show. I only made the first 5 hours and missed the SK’s. I just checked the weather, Its showing 80 percent at 5pm 20% at 8pm. It gets better as the night progresses. If I had any confidence that Stafford would run the SK’s earlier in the program if they were running late I would chance it but given their track record I will probably pass. Best of luck tonight. This weather is ridiculous.
Shawn, my guess is that in OLDEN days you either went to the race or stayed Home, nowadays so MANY options available to do so many things that people make quicker choices and don’t take chances to get rained on or sit thru a track drying delay, time is soooo rushed in the world today that just wait and see no longer is the NORM!