NEW SMYRNA, Fla. – After weeks of buildup and anticipation the green flag falls tonight on the Tour Type Modified division action at the World Series of Asphalt Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway.
The Tour Type Modified division kicks off its slate of events with a 50-lap feature tonight at New Smyrna. The division runs a 35-lap feature Tuesday followed up Wednesday by the John Blewett III Memorial 76 lap event. Another 35-lap feature on Thursday sets up for the final event on Friday, the 100-lap Richie Evans Memorial event.
RaceDayCT’s Denise DuPont caught up with some Tour Type Modified division competitors Monday to ask them what their strategy is for the night one 50-lap feature.
Ronnie Williams
“It will be nice to start up front. Qualifying of course is key. Saving a little throughout the race. Then hopefully at the end we can get off the corner and be in the right position at the right time.”
Ryan Preece
“Right now I know that we have a good car. So we will be out there working on what it likes and does not like. I guess we will see. In years past it can’t be too loose but we do not know what it is going to take yet so we shall see.”
Eric Goodale
“Whoa, qualify good is No. 1. We have to find a little bit of speed to qualify good in this car for qualifying to make sure that we start up front.
“There are a lot of cars here so it is not like in years past where you can get some forgiveness for a bad qualifying run. There are a lot of good cars here and it is going to be hard to pass out there, especially on the first night. So you have to qualify well and make sure that your setup for the race. That is the most important thing for the race. Make sure you start upfront and stay out of the crap. Hopefully it is not too bad out there, if there are any incidents, hopefully it will not be too bad.”
Doug Coby
“Who knows? There are a lot of cars here. I do not think we know how we stack up here yet. We went out on old tires for practiced on Thursday. I do not know how the car will be with new tires on it. Obviously you will have to be able to race on old stuff. So we will see how it goes.
“Hopefully we qualify well and get in the redraw. And then go at it for 50 laps. I really do not know. Right now we are all going to have to figure out the engine rules, tires and what the car wants. And then go from there.”
Burt Myers
“Well, we really do not have one at this point. We went out on our scuff tires to shake the car out and get an idea of where we were because we have not been here in so many years. We had a problem with the clutch at the end of the first practice, so we missed the second practice. Preparing for qualifying is the first time we had any stickers on it.”
“We are going to give it our all. The car was good on the scuff tires, but for race start we do not know where we are at.”
Dave Sapienza
“The plan is to just stay out of trouble. We really were not that fast in practice so we made a few changes to the car. We just have to qualify well and see how the longevity of it runs. There are no tire changes so I will just take it easy for a little bit and I will have something at the end to be at least be a top car.”
Leave a Reply