Positive Processing: Ryan Fearn Tops Late Models At Stafford Speedway

STAFFORD – On August 16, 2019 Ryan Fearn scored his career Late Model feature win at Stafford Motor Speedway. 

And while the victory proved splendid for the then division rookie, there was just a little something missing from the night for Fearn. 

Friday at Stafford the 21-year old from East Longmeadow, Mass. got to add that one missing element.

Fearn passed his cousin Tom Fearn on a lap 14 restart then held off Adam Gray over the closing laps to win the 30-lap Late Model feature Friday at Stafford Speedway. 

Gray, of Belchertown, Mass., was second and Tyler Leary of Hatfield, Mass. third. 

Tom Fearn is the all-time winningest Late Model driver at Stafford with 56 career victories. 

“It might be my first win of the year but it feels like the first victory of my career because that was probably the first and only time I’ve been able to make a move on Tom Fearn and make it stick,” Ryan Fearn said. “Other times he’s always been able to fight back. It just feels pretty great, especially after the last few weeks.” 

For Ryan Fearn the victory helped temper the emotions of his disappointment over the first two events of the season. He finished seventh in the season opening event on June 26 and 12^th in the July 17 feature.

In victory lane Ryan Fearn mentioned driving with a bowl of onions in his car over the first two events. In 2018 while still racing in the Limited Late Model division Ryan Fearn talked about controlling his emotions on the track through a plan he calls Trust The Process™.  

“Spongebob [Squarepants] was an influential show in my childhood,” Ryan Fearn said. “And there was this one episode where for some reason there was a like a bowl of onions being placed near people and they’d just like start crying and whatever. That’s one of my weaknesses. I don’t do good with showing negative feelings sometimes I guess. I’ll talk about it, but people don’t really like to talk about that. 

“I’ve stepped on [myself] the first two races. I get sick of myself when I do that. It’s kind of like you dig a really deep hole and you didn’t bring a big enough ladder. The more I race here the longer the ladder gets for when I do dig those deep holes. It’s just what I’m working on Trust The Process™. The same deal.”