Before the 2020 racing season, Modified veteran Ron Silk committed to an effort to run Open Tour Type Modified events at Stafford Speedway for team owners Tyler Haydt and Joe Yannone.
In 2021 that relationship will grow beyond Stafford to a touring series effort.
Silk will run all six Tri-Track Open Modified Series events for the Pennsylvania based Haydt/Yannone partnership in 2021.
The decision means Silk will be parting ways with longtime team owner Bob Horn, with whom he’s competed in recent years with on the Tri-Track Open Modified Series.
“[Haydt and Yannone] wanted to race more than we did last year,” Silk said. “I had already had a commitment to Bob Horn for the Tri-Track stuff [in 2020]. Over this winter Bob wasn’t sure how much racing he was actually going to be doing going forward, which opened the door to Tyler asking me to run the Tri-Track stuff. It came down to making a decision. Bob has been great to me. He’s a good friend of mine. It’s difficult to tell him that I wasn’t going to be able to drive his car because I really respect Bob and I have a good friendship with him, but this something that’s going set up for the future with Tyler and it’s something that I want to be part of.”
Silk said the Haydt/Yannone team will look at the possibility of adding other Open events to their schedule for 2021, but their focus will be the Tri-Track Open Modified Series.
Silk said he’s not surprised to see more and more teams committing to run the full season with the Tri-Track Open Modified Series.
“I think part of it is that it’s a more affordable series,” Silk said. “The races are closer to home. I think [series managing partners Wayne Darling and Ed Bennett] and everyone involved in that series does a really good job of taking care of all the competitors. I’m not trying to put down the Whelen Modified Tour. I think it’s great too. That’s my number one focus is [Whelen Modified Tour] racing. I feel like that’s the pinnacle of Modified racing. But the Tri-Track [Open Modified Series] is really trending in the right direction. They’re just really good people to deal with. It’s a little less stressful. I think with the [Whelen Modified Tour] you can do pretty well financially if you run good all the time and finish well in the points.”
The Haydt/Yannone team will get back to action in February by running the World Series of Asphalt Stock car racing at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway.
Silk said his primary focus in 2021 will be chasing a championship on the Whelen Modified Tour with Kevin Stuart Motorsports.
Silk, the 2011 Whelen Modified Tour champion, had two wins, five top-fives and seven top-10’s in eight starts on the series with Stuart in 2020. In 36 series starts with Stuart’s team since 2017 Silk has five wins, 20 top-five’s and 27 top-10’s.
“Our main focus is that if we do things right we’re capable of competing … to try and win the Tour championship,” Silk said. “So we’re going to focus on that. … Kevin has some interest in running some of the Open races at Thompson [Speedway], but we’re going to focus on the Tour with that.”
The Whelen Modified Tour season kicks off on April 8 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Thompson’s first show Open Tour Type Modified – the $10,000 to win Icebreaker 125 – event takes place on April 11. Silk said there’s a possibility he’ll compete at the Thompson event with the Haydt/Yannone team.
“To go from Martinsville to Thompson for that event it’s pretty tough to put your best foot forward with one team,” Silk said. “So we’ll look to spread the load a little bit and I’ll still get to run that race.”
That was probably a tough conversation with Horn. Wants Silk to stay committed but can’t promise a full run at Tri Track. Silk has another up and coming option. All handled very professionally based on this and Horns Facebook page.
We can learn a lot from Silk as fans. Here he makes the point that the NWMT is the premier modified series and pays well. Also stresses the strengths of Tri Track as affordable.. No losers.
No social media for Ron Silk. No banter, memes, political views or playground taunts. Just steady professional Ron Silk that seems to get along with everyone, never seems to lack for a good ride and never says the wrong thing. Well mostly unless he gets taken out in bone head moves that happened a couple times in 2019.
Would it be wrong to say Preece, Bonsignor and Coby relate and mention each other regularly as adversaries and friends but Silk doesn’t get mentioned as much among the top drivers?