Against a stacked field, Matt Hirschman captured another Tour Type Modified New Smyrna Speedway World Series championship Friday, doing it in dominating fashion. Over five events Hirschman had two wins, a second and two thirds. So lets go back once again and ask the question that so often gets asked. Today’s Daily Poll question is, which active driver do you think is the best of his generation in Tour Type Modified racing. Vote below.
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I sure as heck won’t ever miss a race when all six are entered. It doesn’t happen often though. Even five out of six is worth a ticket. Bobby got my vote here.
Even though I would pick Santos at NHIS, Coby at Stafford, and Preece is a favorite, you can never count Hirschman out.
The results of this poll look real solid in my view. Maybe with the exception of Bonsignor. He deserves more credit then that doesn’t he? The guy has won a couple races I’ve seen with bold moves that were questionable but got him wins. A shame he couldn’t garner more support. Especially since his and Coby’s win records are very near equal over the last 10 years.
I voted Santos because he’s the only modified driver who I’ve ever seen mentioned in a national publication as a guy who should be an Indycar driver.
All on the list are top notch, and I agree with the comment above that Justin Bonsignore might also belong on the list. Maybe in a few years the list might include JB, as well as Chase Dowling.
Santos is the most versatile driver on the list. The rest combined could not carry his helmet. IMHO
BSIII easy pick on that list. Tho McKennedy would make it it a tougher choice.
Hirschman and Santos both should have Full time Mod Tour rides.The Tour needs more of them and fewer Rich kids.
I would love to see Santos in cars as good as Preece’s and Hirschman’s.
It was painful watching him in all those sucky #44 junkers. The couple wins did not erase all the pain.
I’d put Silky Smooth ahead of JB too. Silk has proven to run up front with different teams. Has Bonsignore done that? Proof of a top notch driver… beats you in his car then gets in your ride and beats you again.
Like the observation on Silk and agree on his versatility. It is true Bonsignor was very visible at New Smyrna out and about and hamming it up for the camera. It’s also true he didn’t have a car to drive whereas Silk landed a very good ride with a new team. We’ll see what Bonsignor has outside the 51 this year won’t we? He’ll be in Paige’s 00, a really good car and he’ll be expected to be a front runner.
Five out of the six drivers have a WMT championship. JB has two. DC has six. I’m not sure how the one guy without one can be the BEST. MH is only so-so when these other five are on track with him. Sure he got the best of Preece on Friday. MH has a few nice wins against these guys no doubt. You can argue JB stole a win from him at WMMP last summer too. However, if all six of these guys on the track MH is not my pick to win because more than likely he won’t. Same with McKennedy. He hasn’t beaten these other guys but once at MB. To be the BEST you have to have success against your natural rivals on some sort of regular basis. I also can’t select someone with zero wins at NHMS as the BEST.
Summary: No WMT championships, No NHMS wins equals you not being the BEST. To be the BEST you have to beat the BEST.
Happy Daytona 500 day.
MH is a bull ring guy. He’s a good bull ring racer, that is all. This run at NSS was extremely exciting for him because it was the equivalent of running on a super speedway for him.
MH is lucky Preece missed a race, Colby wrecked out, and others expired, or were wrecked. Like I said at the beginning, it was a battle of Gladiators, survivors. There were too many wrecked and hobbled cars, MH was lucky to remain unscathed while the rest were damaged. I will give MH credit for staying safe, he does that well. And after 5 nights of racing the same cars, that strategy can leave you standing while the rest have been taken out one way or another.
BTW, it has been reported that Preece had a tire going down in the last race, explaining why his car looked all wiggly.
Shawn, how many posters are using the screen name “JD”?
In particular, the post from a “JD” above at 9:34 AM makes some sense.
I’ve always been on the Santos bandwagon and will continue to do so. Midgets, Modifieds, ISMA, Sprint Cars, Silver Crown… he’s won in all of them excapt ISMA (only a couple of events), and the rest were multiple wins. I know this question is Modified motivated, but I think each division feeds and adds to the other division skill sets. To me that’s why he’s so good. I’d put McKennedy 2nd due his ISMA expertise and Coby 3rd due to having some Midget success.
Very true JD on MH. While I understand that in the last few years the multiple options in the modified racing scene can make it difficult to compare drivers that race different series with different set of rules however the Mod tour was the undisputable king of mod racing for years and years. If you didn’t race the tour 15-20 years ago there would be zero chances of someone calling you the best mod driver around. If you don’t race what the race fans consider the best on a regular basis it’s tough to convince fans your the best. If you just started watch mod races in the last 5 years of course you might think MH is the cat’s meow but if you’ve been a mod fan for 30 years you may struggle with thinking MH is the best cause in your mind if you don’t race the tour how could you possibly be the best. Very interesting discussion for sure.
The question for me is an easy one . If you had a $200,000. Modified and a 300 lap Race at Thompson and you had your pick of One Driver in this poll, who would you put in the seat.??? With all the factor’s to consider I would not hesitate to put the Wheel in Bobby Santos’s hands..!!! Easy Choice for me ….
Suitcase, I agree 100 %.
Suitcase Jake, good points, but you must, *MUST* consider it a package deal… that is the driver and crew chief pairing. I’ll take Bobby Santos III with his Dad as Crew Chief any day and every day.
Like Stefanik and Kuehnel, Moran and Coby. Stefanik had his best years by far with Kuehnel, Coby has had his best years with Moran.
There is no wrong answer. One perspective puts weight on the ability to win in different types of cars. One places the greatest weight on championships in the highest level of modified racing and one narrows it down to one race. All good ways to look at it.
You have to put in the time in my view. Perhaps Santos is the best pure driver but if you’re not in races how are you proving it. Coby and Bonsignor have an array of premier wins. Both accumulated on teams that most would agree have been the two best in all of modified racing for years and years. They put in their time. Hirschman has put in his time as well. He wins the New Smyrna championship and more often then not the Tri Track Championship. Aside from that if you just look at the shear number of races he runs that he’s not only competitive at but finishes it’s astounding. Last year 17 wins, 5 seconds, 3 thirds, 1 forth, two sixths, two sevenths and an eleventh. Only one DNF in the last race at Caraway last year. A DQ in 2019 but no DNF’s and no DNF’s in 2018. One thing we pretty much never say with Hirschman is he had bad luck getting collected in a wreck because it almost never happens. We don’t say his car isn’t ready because it almost never has a mechanical issue.
You could say a lot of the races he wins are not at premier events and you’d be right. Much like Richie Evans, Jerry Cook, Flemke and others did in their hay day.
The Modified Cllassic 81 at Stafford last year was the highlight of a screwy season. Coby in the 25 and Bonsignor in the 00 for the first time. Great cars cars with many laps at Stafford and wins.. Hirschman shows up with no recent experience and does what he does. A wreck filled race and finishes in the money. Coby collected in a wreck, Bonsignor a nice 4th behind Hirschman.
Santos not there. Not at New Smyrna, not at Tri Track events and only a couple NWMT events. You have to be in modified races to be considered the top driver in the modified division.
“Which Active Driver Do You Think Is The Best Of His Generation In Tour Type Mod Racing?” That’s the poll question and I don’t think Santos qualifies to be on the list.
This is the one Santos likely wins.
Which Active Driver Do You Think is the Best Pure Driving Talent of His Generation That Has Raced in Multiple Classes Including Tour Type Modifieds”
There is a wrong answer. MH, your have been voted off the island.
Doug wrote, “There is no wrong answer.”
That’s funny, coming from one of the plethora of screen names that has appointed himself as the judge of all that is right or wrong. 😑
I’ll take the Hirschman thing further. My view he should be the “Balboa” driver in the SRX Stafford event.
Talk has Coby and Rocco as favorites. Santos mentioned by the fans as well. Santos an obvious choice but better served probably as a balboa in one of the heartland racing events. Rocco a pillar of Connecticut modified racing and we love the guy. The Roc is however what he is. Arrogant and aloof as far as fans are concerned. He’d be fine there are just better choices.. Coby being one with the boat load of championships. But if you look closer his social media presence can be petty, juvenile and vulgar at times plus he’s a real estate agent. A profession that falls between bankers and lawyers on the trusted profession scale. The racing real estate agent is not a good prime time hook for the up a close segment.
My current vote is for Hirschman his only deficiency being he has no Stafford connection. This however should be more of a regional choice and not a Stafford choice and Hirschman is regional racing.
The guy may have a rare emotional outburst in the cockpit but outside the car he is always professional. Even after emotional races he is thoughtful in his analysis. Frequently interpreting the competition level through the fans eyes but in any event making some kind of connection with the fans watching it.. Carefully explaining why he goes where he does, the logic behind the decisions and saying good thinks about the races he can’t get to. Thoughtful, cerebral and almost never uses vulgar words in public. He’s known from Florida to Maine, people have opinions on him in favor and against and he’s famous but only in a weekend racer context.
Matt Hirschman is the perfect “balboa”. .
MH might be the best bull ring racer of his generation… no way the best overall mod driver of his generation.
“Well, I hate to say it again, but I WAS RIGHT!!!!! I’M RIGHT AGAIN!!!!!”
STARRING: DAREAL (JUMBOTRON) GOODFELLA
EPISODE 72: WARNING!!!!! GAS LIGHTING IN PROGRESS
darealgoodfella says
February 14, 2021 at 11:58 am
MH is a bull ring guy. He’s a good bull ring racer, that is all.
darealgoodfella says
February 16, 2021 at 11:12 am
MH might be the best bull ring racer of his generation… no way the best overall mod driver of his generation.
THIS LITERALLY IN THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH OF MATT HIRSHMAN WINNING HIS SECOND WEEK LONG CHAMPIONSHIP AT A FAST, HIGH BANKED ½ MILE TRACK AGAINST PREMIER COMPETITION.
Doug you idiot, someone else also explained that MH can’t be an overall mod driver because he picks and chooses tracks, he does not run tours with a variety of tracks other than bull rings, and win consistently and frequently on those non-bullring tracks.
He ran NSS everyday for a week you idiot, of course he’s gonna get good on *THAT* track running it all week, and I understand he might have been there for a couple days earlier for ADDITIONAL practice. So it is reasonable to expect he would get pretty good at running that particular track, you idiot.
🃏 🃏 🃏 🃏 🃏 🃏 🃏 🃏 🃏 🃏
“ hate me because I’m beautiful and smarter than you.
STARRING DAREALGOODFELLA
EPISODE 73:: THE 2021 DAREALGOODFELLA INSULT COUNTER
DAY 47
1. We know idiots
2. their idiot leader losing the election
3. Our very own forum jester idiot
4. profound stupidity and idiocy
5. Qs, conspiracy idiots
6. Nobody tells these idiots
7. Wearing a mask to these idiots
8. And these idiots are too damn stupid
9. You idiots still do not acknowledge
10. . Idiots you are, one and all.
11. . petulant idiot morons
12. And you, and all your other screen names, are an idiot.
13. Chas, you’re an idiot
14. Some of you have taken idiocy
15. common idiot
16. adult idiots.
17. I have no problem calling idiots idiots.
18. That’s pure idiotic.
19. Anybody that doesn’t call him an idiot
20. therefore an idiot.
21. Words matter you idiots
22. it appears women can be just as idiotic as men.
23. These people truly are stupid idiots.
24. 2020, I’m not going to call you an idiot. You did it yourself.
25. Bunch of idiotic sore losers.
26. irrefutably and conclusively idiots.
27. MAGA’ts really put your idiocy
28. Idiots are being played
29. and the idiots did it out in the open.
30. I don’t have to call you an idiot. You do that yourself.
31. Okaaaaaay, I will not call them idiots.
32. Earl, you’re an iDJT
33. Earl, there is no such thing as “giving the outside lane” you idiot
34. Wow wrote, “Idiots like you Doug are part of the problem…” Apparently I’m not the only one that sees it.
35. JD, stupid is as stupid does
36. JD bellowed
37. Stupid is as stupid does. JD, you’ll never understand that.
38. Doug, you are such an idiot.
39. 2020, you are an idiot
40. privileged, fragile, toxic, white males doing more white-on-white crime.
41. {For the idiots, that was major sarcasm.}
42. given the cobwebs, rustiness, and idiocy.
43. a bunch of beer swilling Deplorables
44. if there were A and B mains with a split field, this idiocy would happen
45. size does not protect from idiocy
46. JD , don’t try to understand that, you’ll hurt yourself.
47. To those idiots that say something like, “I have daughters
48. That the other turds stood by laughing
49. Doug you idiot
50. He ran NSS everyday for a week you idiot
51. get pretty good at running that particular track, you idiot.
INSULTS ON DAY 47 OF 2021 TOTAL 51 FOR A DAILY AVERAGE OF 1.09 PER DAY. THAT REPRESENTS A 9% INCREASE FROM DAY 40.
Duhreal……..speaking of Idiots
13 straight podiums for MH at NSS
Multiple wins at Oswego(ROC and WMT wins)
Also multiple wins at Lancaster……..let’s throw in Richmond, Concord and Myrtle Beach too
Wow what a bunch of bullrings
Idiot of the century.