Title Time: Tom Fearn Clinches Stafford Late Model Championship With Rainout



Tom Fearn celebrates victory in the Late Model feature on Aug. 2 at Stafford Speedway (Photo: Fran Lawlor/RaceDayCT)

STAFFORD – How good has Tom Fearn been at Stafford Motor Speedway in 2019? 

Even when there’s no racing he still wins. 

With a wet forecast expected for the evening, Stafford Motor Speedway officials made the decision to cancel Friday night’s racing card. That decision clinched the 2019 Late Model division championship for Fearn. 

With two events remaining now Fearn holds a 122-point lead over second place Michael Wray in the Late Model standings. A driver gets 50 points for a win in the Stafford Speedway points system. 

Fearn, of East Longmeadow, Mass., would have likely clinched the title simply by starting Friday’s event. 

“I wanted to race tonight,” Fearn told RaceDayCT. “We had such a pretty good point lead that I guess you could just say we were just waiting for it to be official.” 

In 18 starts this year Fearn has eight victories, 17 top-five’s and 18 top-10’s. 

It marks the second consecutive Late Model title at Stafford for Fearn and third overall. He won his first title in the division in 2016. Fearn also has three championships at the track in the former Pro Stock division (1993, ’95 and ’98). 

Fearn is the track’s all-time winningest Late Model driver with 56 victories in the division dating back to 2004. He’s had 40 victories in the division since 2015. 

“I’ve been racing for 30 years and this is probably the best team I’ve ever had,” Fearn said. “A lot of the guys I more or less hand selected. It’s just the way things go. Guys come and go, but I’ve got some pretty good guys that have helped me over the years and have stayed with me. We just gel even more as time goes on.” 

Fearn’s team is owned by his cousin Stu Fearn. The Fearn Motorsports organization also fields cars for Stu Fearn’s son Ryan in the Late Model division and his daughter Alexandra in the Limited Late Model division. Ryan Fearn had one victory in his rookie year this year in the Late Model division. Alexandra Fearn has four wins in the Limited Late Model division.

Tom Fearn said one of the unsung hero’s of his team is car chief Keven Soper.

“The last five years one guy that really stands out is … Keven Soper,” Tom Fearn said. “Him and I really communicate well with the car and that. He does a lot of the work and I trust him and he takes some of the burden off of me so I can concentrate on driving. [Car owner Stu Fearn] is always involved, but he’s got three cars to worry about so. He works on the car, but he also works on the other two. He’s spread so thin sometimes. So Kevin has just been able to take a lot of burden off of me. He’s learned a lot from us.”

Tom Fearn sits third on Stafford’s all-time win list overall with 73 victories. The late Ted Christopher tops the list with 133 wins. Woody Pitkat is second with 77 victories. 




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Comments

  1. CONGRATS to Tom, Stuart and the whole Fearn Motorsports team on back to back championships. Just goes to show how important preparation is. And with 2 races left.

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