(Press release from Stafford Speedway)
The full 2020 Stafford Speedway schedule is slated to be released Wednesday, November 13th but the Stafford Speedway management has released a sneak preview highlighting the first month of events on the 2020 schedule.
The 2020 season kicks off April 24th, 25th, and 26th with the 49th running of the NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler®. The weekend will kick-off Friday, April 24th with practice and will continue Saturday, April 25th with qualifying for all divisions as well as feature racing for the Street Stocks, Limited Late Models, and Vintage All-Star series. The 49th running of the “Greatest Race in the History of Spring”, the NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler®, is set to be held Sunday, April 26th with 200 laps for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Stafford’s star studded SK Modified® division, Late Models, and SK Light Modifieds will also be on hand Sunday for feature racing.
Super Late Model racing will return to the half-mile Friday, May 29th as an exciting new addition to the 2020 schedule. The event will feature a similar format to the Open Modified 80 events Stafford has hosted for the last 2 seasons. Ted Christopher won the last Super Late Model race held at Stafford Speedway in August of 2012.
“Fans and drivers have been asking us to do a Super Late Model show for a few years now,” explained Stafford General Manager David Arute. “We spoke to some race teams and are working on putting together a program that will showcase the Super Late Model talent in the region.”
Open Modified racing returns to Stafford with their first event of the season on Friday, May 15th. The May 2019 edition of the Open Modified 80 saw Keith Rocco win a thriller over Todd Owen, Matt Galko, Eric Goodale, and Chase Dowling. All 5 drivers are expected to return to the event in 2020.
“We’re opening the 2020 season with a busy month of May,” explained Stafford V.P. Lisa Arute. “We come out of the gate with 2 weekly shows including one of my favorite events, Kids Night and go into the second half of the month with an Open Modified and Open Super Late Model event. The schedule diversity provides race fans a taste of what’s to come in the summer months.”
The action packed month of May kicks off Friday, May 1st under the lights with opening night for Stafford’s 5 NASCAR Weekly Racing divisions. Stafford’s 5 divisions will headline 2 additional events in the month of May including May 8th and May 22nd. Friday, May 8th will also mark the return of Kids Night with plenty of action for the kids on the midway and big-wheel racing on track. Same as in 2019 all kids 14 & under will be admitted free of charge to all 2020 kids night events. Kids will also be admitted free of charge throughout the month of May for the 28th season of Youth Organization Month.
For more information, visit www.staffordspeedway.com, checkout Stafford Speedway on Facebook or Twitter, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
If Stafford wants to do the Super Late Model thing right then host a PASS race on a Friday night or on a Open Modified night. GSPS are not Super Late Models, more like Pro Late Models that rin in the south.
Super Late Models at Stafford on the 29th and Modifieds at Beech Ridge on the 30th. Some very nice thinking outside the box is afoot meithinkst in the New England racing scene.
Bravo Stafford. Fans want specials and this is a whooper.
Calling all Late Model experts. Will this be an Open combining all the various LM iterations including Staffords or is it an SK vs tour type deal that in most cases (but not all) are separate animals.
A sub plot that would be epic for Stafford fans is the Stafford regulars lead by Tom Fearn vs the invaders.
Exact rules to be determined right now. Pretty sure align with PASS or GSPS right? Think open 80 with fenders
Doug, Super Late Models are much different than Stafford or Thompson Late models. ThInk Pro All Star Series, Granite State Pro Stocks, Seekonk Pro Stocks, Beech Ridge Pro Stocks. The same Seekonk Pro Stocks which just ran with PASS a few weeks ago there.
Roger that.
Thompson is ACT, Stafford a unicorn with built engines. Similar bodies doesn’t mean they can race together. Got it.
Here is this fan’s perspective. For years and especially the last two we’ve been seeing Tom Fearn and the Fearn clan be excellent. So excellent that it kind of sucks the interest out of the division. Our home boy vs the invaders would peak the interest of we modified fans for sure. A show when we can see the SK’s and Lights and root for our home track hero against the best Supers in the region. Not gonna see that apparently.
What we will see is 5 regular divisions including the Stafford LLM’s and LM’s and a special with the Supers. For this fan it takes it from a no brainer to a race day decision. I get it but it just seems like a missed opportunity unless Stafford regulars lead by Tom Fearn can get rides and be in the big show.
The Super Late Model show is certainly unexpected. The return of the Pro Stocks to Stafford Speedway. They ran Pro Stocks weekly from 1990-2000 with someone by the name of Doug Coby being the last Pro Stock Champion. That TC SLM race win was a PASS show which included Dirt Style modifieds I am going to make a point to try to get to this show. I applaud Stafford for trying something different and hope it works out for them.
I think the better move would have been to bring in Granite State. There just isn’t a large pool of Super late models or Pro Stocks to pull from now as most tracks have dropped them. You currently have Granite State, Seekonk, Beechridge, PASS and Oxford which run the division. Seekonk gives the Nascar divisions a week off for their monthly thrill shows. If this Stafford show coincides with a Seekonk week off and there aren’t any conflicts with PASS or Granite State they could pull a good field. If the other programs are running that weekend it will be difficult. Either way for the first time in a few years I am genuinely excited about a new event at Stafford. Stafford really doesn’t like tours, this is another example of them keeping the program inhouse. It seems to work with their Stafford tour type series, perhaps it will work with the Stafford Super Late model show.
I just looked at Seekonks website. While their 2020 schedule has not been released yet they did release their Phils Propane triple crown series. A series of 3 extra distance money events for each of their weekly divisions. The Sportsman division has a triple crown event on May 30th indicating the stock cars are running the 30th which will more than likely include the pro stocks. So assuming pro stocks are on Seekonks May 30th card, they may not want to risk their equipment the night before supporting Staffords open SLM May 29th show.
To CSG’s point, I think an event like this would do better Sizzler weekend or Fall Final Weekend. By doing it in May you run the risk of all these other series being elsewhere that weekend. Seekonk guys aren’t running less than 24hrs before their Sat night feature. It’s not like Stafford has been welcoming to the Super Late Modelast guys either. If it’s an average purse the task of drawing cars will be that much harder.
Whatever happened to that Doug Coby Pro Stock guy?
Unfortunately you almost have to have an extra distance race sanctioned by PASS or the Granite State Pro Stocks to draw Super Late Models in New England.(and even they have a couple tracks with short fields) A good example is the DAV race at Seekonk. The 2018 race was essentially an open show that paid a lot more than the standard PASS or Granite State race, but only around 12 or 13 cars showed up. For 2019 they made it a Granite State race, paid substantially less to win but about 27 cars tried to qualify.
I believe Seekonk and GSPS cars are what is considered Pro Late Models, not Super Late Models. PASS cars are the only Super Late Models in New England.
Most of the PASS guys are running the GM 604 for Ford Crate engines for good chunk of the season now too. In the past many of them did have engines similar the NASCAR Truck and Xfinity cares, but that is pretty much in the past. Oxford is the key track for the series now and the surface is so slick at this point that having a higher HP engine would just result in the driver not being able to get the power down much of the time.
Chris I will bite. What is the difference between a PASS SLM and a Granite State/Seekonk Prostock? I know several Seekonk Pro Stocks ran the PASS race held at the Haunted hundred event. They didn’t win but they were certainly competitive. thanks in advance.
This is kind of a repeat of when Stafford announced the tour type modified open. Maybe a bias to the skeptical. I’d suggest Stafford has done their homework, perhaps talked to teams, gone over the rules that could attract the most cars and believes this could be a winner.
I tried looking at the rules for engines. Seems like the tracks and series try to accommodate numerous engines. Oxford Plains has 10 options. Seekonk has options as well. Bodies and chassis aren’t engines so that’s another kettle of fish.
Very confusing. Like the tour modified open it all depends on the rules and how big a tent Stafford is trying to put up. I hope it’s a big tent.
I believe thw motors are the biggest difference between them, the Pro Stock primarily run 604 crate, Supers do not.
This brings us back to Seekonk not being a HP track. Engine rules will be everything at a big track like Stafford. I guess my biggest question is what is the incentive to get cars to show up for a non sanctioned , non point race in Connecticut?
And I beleive that Super Late Models at Stafford is a great idea; I hated that they scrapped the Pro Stocks years ago. I beleieve someone mentioned above, why not work with PASS for a race during the Sizzler or Fall Final weekend or even try getting CRA or ARCA Midwest Supers a race in PASS back yard.
I think with any kind of tour race there is a fee of some kind that needs to be paid to the sanctioning body. No touring organization; no sanctioning fee.