(Press release from Stafford Speedway)
After a hiatus of nearly 10 years, Pro Stock racing will once again hit the Stafford Speedway half-mile. The Granite State Pro Stock Series will make their Stafford Speedway debut Saturday, April 24th as part of NAPA Auto Parts Opening Day. The stars of the Series will hit the track for 75 laps presented by Casagrande Builders.
“We are looking forward to the Pro Stocks returning to our home track,” explained Rick Casagrande of Casagrande Builders. “We have been competing with the Granite State Pro Stock Series for a few years now and have been pushing to get the series back on the half-mile. Looking at all the teams that have already registered, it’s sure to be a great event and we are glad to be a part of it.”
27 race teams have already registered to compete in the Casagrande Builders 75 scheduled for NAPA Auto Parts Opening Day. Similar to Open Modified events, the field is a mix of Stafford Speedway regulars and outside invaders. Two defending Stafford Speedway champions plan to compete with 2020 Late Model Champion Adam Gray set to pilot the #29 car and defending SK Modified® champion Keith Rocco slated to drive the #48 car. Other Stafford weekly competitors that have registered to compete include 73-time Stafford winner and 6-time champion Tom Fearn and multi-time SK Light winner Alexander Pearl.
The Stafford locals will have their work cut out for them as some of the top Pro Stock drivers from New England have also registered to compete in the Casagrande Builders 75. Registered teams include former Oxford 250 winners Joey Polewarczyk [Pole] and Eddie MacDonald, multi-time Seekonk Speedway champion David Darling, up-and-coming Pro Stock star Derek Griffith, former Stafford Speedway champions Cory Casagrande and Jeremy Sorel, and past Granite State Pro Stock Champions DJ Shaw and Mike O’Sullivan. Click here for the full up to date entry-list.
“We’re over a month away from the event and the entry list for the Casagrande Builders 75 is already impressive,” explained Stafford Speedway General Manager David Arute. “We wanted to bring something new to the track in 2021 and with the support of Casagrande Builders, this event is coming together nicely. It will be great to see the Pro Stocks back on track at Stafford and will be interesting to see what driver adapts to the track the quickest.”
General Admission tickets for NAPA Auto Parts Opening Day, which includes the Casagrande Builders 75, are now available online at StaffordSpeedway.com/tickets. Stafford Speedway remains under reduced capacity per order of the State of CT due to Covid-19 restrictions. Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets as soon as possible to ensure a ticket to the event. Paddock passes will become available online two weeks prior to the event.
Wondering why no grumblings about Stafford ticket prices ? Everybody thought a $55 ticket for 3 day ticket at Thompson was robbery, just paid $85 for 2 days at Stafford ?
Because if you grumble about these ridiculous ticket prices you’ll get accused of not knowing how to run a race track. They say you’re paying $85 because you’re going to two separate events. The sizzler on Sunday and the pro stock event on Saturday, which is not the sizzler. Then you got $75 for the icebreaker. I don’t care if it’s a pandemic. The fans are getting screwed. But then they’ll say the tracks are just barely hanging on and need to make money. Besides the government is giving out free money. What else we gonna spend it on? Then again only idiots are buying race tickets and should be on indefinite lockdown. According to Dafella. And he’s very smart, very special and very beautiful.
Yeah the price was discussed in another thread. Everyone said Stafford was getting a lot of push back on social media too. Most people were not happy about it. I decided to skip the weekend because of the price and I was really looking forward to the return of the pro stocks to Stafford. Stafford is in a tough position given state mandated covid restrictions limiting attendance. Futhermore these restrictions can change at any time. Unfortunately Stafford had to or chose to increase the prices on what fans they can host. Is it right?. Probably not. Is it necessary? probably. It is what it is.
One of the benefits to being an Unmuffled subscriber is you can go back and listen to older interviews. I just listened to the Quickcast with TC, Stefanick and Potter. Listening after their deaths is haunting. Christopher reflecting on his reputation for not being approachable at the track saying he gets it but he’s there to race not socialize. Stefanick striking in his lack of interest in modified racing in retirement and excited about the new hobby that would eventually end his life. Potter at 77 looking forward to racing a car he said was being prepped for his return.
In the interview Mr. Courchesnes asked about the dwindling crowds and what Potter might suggest could be done to reverse the declining interest. Bob didn’t have any real ideas but it was a point in time that seems to have reversed to some degree or at least abated and strangely in the year of the pandemic.
25% capacity for a regular show is nearly typical for a regular show and 50% is not that bad for special shows especially if you have them on consecutive days. Add in streaming viewership and how do you know the final tally isn’t better then it has been in years.
I haven’t seen the pushback on social media at all and frankly I don’t see why there would be. It is two shows with the SK’s in each show a premier division in their own right at a track they turn out for with strong fields. It’s a big, extra distance race for the GSPSS and Sunday is the NWMT unlike at the Icebreaker.
The money the government has been sending us over the last year has been mentioned and it’s fair to question the wisdom of that for a host of reasons. However it doesn’t change the fact it’s happened. The greatest likelihood for the overwhelming majority of us is that we do have or at least will soon have several thousand dollars that we were literally given out of the blue.
OK so you think the prices are inflated. I don’t think so but say they are. So what. The point of the money the government is handing out is to be a stimulus to the economy so stimulate the economy already.
Last year Lisa Arute joined her son Paul for a podcast as the pandemic and shut down were washing over the country and no one knew what the future held. She was unflappable stating they’ve had challenges before, overcame them and would in this case as well. Looking back at 2020 they did overcome them quite nicely it would appear and never complained at all based on what I’ve read.
I would say the vast majority of the fan base gets all that and aren’t complaining for the most part because there really is almost nothing to complain about. There’s no getting screwed going on here. It’s an entertainment choice that unlike taxes you are not being forced to participate in.
Shawn Courchesne and Bob Potter were lamenting the absence of people in the stands a few years ago. It’s still an issue but clearly that trend in the last year has turned around a bit. It may be the lack of entertainment choices or fans seeing what life is like with no racing at all and not liking it so much.
Chose to go or not but if you’re lamenting $10 or $20 dollars when you’re being handed thousands of dollars with no strings attached all I can say is………..COME ON MAN!!!
Last year was 25% capacity – I got yelled at a couple of times during the year for sitting too close – it was impossible to find a seat 6 feet apart at the Tri track race (in the pits and stands). At 50% it will be crowded for sure. Stafford should drop that will call fee or drop the price $5
For me I just dont find the racing as entertaining as I have in the past. Perhaps I miss some of the drivers that no longer race there. Really the only thing I miss are the friends I made at the track over the years. I have only been to Stafford 3 or 4 times over the past two years down significantly from being a season ticket holder in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Each time I went it seemed to be a long drawn out show waiting for the SK’s. One race started in the afternoon and I left around 7pm when rains came before seeing the SK;s. Who knows, perhaps I consistently picked bad nights over the past few years. I Have no problem spending money on something i find value in. I do have an issue spending money and being bored most of the night and missing the event I really wanted to see. For racing, I have subs to speed 51 flo racing and lucas oil tv for the past couple of years. i pick and choose Dirtvision and NBC grassroots monthly memberships.I probably spend around 400 or 500 dollars on racing entertainment over the year. I watched more racing last year during the pandemic than any other year. It was just online. I just find it way more convenient. I can watch a different race when there is a division I dont care about or when there is a delay in on track activity. Perhaps watching Stafford on Flo will reinvigorate my enthusiasm to go back to stafford. Like I do every year, I will give Stafford a show at the beginning of the year to win me back. I am like a jilted lover who keeps coming back to try find that spark again. At some point, you would think I have to realize its over and move on for good. Honestly, they could probably get me back simply by moving the SK’s up in the running order. It would solve most of the issues I have. Up until last summer I still went to a handful of races each year at tracks like LVS , Albany Saratoga, Seekonk, Thompson, Monadnock, and Star. We will see what 2021 brings. I hope this virus subsides and we can all go see some more racing. A couple of races live in person is not good enough. I am going to shoot for 1 to 2 shows per month. In the old days. I was shooting for 2 per week. So it is sate to say I have slowed way down over the years. Enjoy the races. Stay healthy.
I’m going Saturday and I don’t think the prices are that bad. I’ve paid $30 just for GSPSS at Claremont, $35 for Stafford with SK’s and the return of Pro Stocks to Stafford is a no brainer. Then look at the entries, these are some of the best full body racers in New England with a full field. Guys could get sent home, GSPSS normally only starts 24 and they’re over that already.
Sunday I’m going to Claremont because it’s my home track and it’s opening day there.
Getting back to the prostocks – Not really the same prostocks of yesteryear… but this show should be good,
Hope a Stafford regular wins.
Prices may have gone up at Stafford, don’t forget there’s a couple more family’s to support now ,Paul wife and child, David and wife , they have to eat too and they should be allowed to make a profit,
I hope you’re being sarcastic Elect. I’m supposed to happily pay $85 plus food to support Paul and his family?
Steve, there is a 0.0% chance a Stafford regular wins.
GSPSS tickets for May 8th @ Star are $21.
That’s the intriguing part of this race. You’ve got the guys that do this full time laser focused on this race. Rocco, Gray and Fearn are the Stafford guys with the best shot but they all have busy weekends. Gray and Fearn have a points race in the Late Models to worry about. Rocco is up to his eyeballs in SK’s and Tour Modifieds to get ready for the weekend and season.
Still the distance is not one the GSPSS teams are used to and the Stafford crew is as well as knowing the quirks of a quirky track like the back of their hands. They eventually came to be favorites in the tour modified opens. I don’t know about winning. I have Griffith penciled in for that but I’m pretty sure the 92, 48 and 29 will compete in the top 10.
Still waiting on Owen. An old Riverside Pro Stock guy was scheduled to be in the original teaming with Polewarczyk if memory serves. A successful Late Model driver now forgotten with SK success but it would have been interesting.
Dave Darling has 7 Pro Stock championships at Seekonk and not even a mention from Doug. I guess we know what Doug will be doing today. Firing up the Google machine.
It will be the Joey Pole, Griffith show. Maybe the two best drivers in New England. I suggest folks youtube their finish at Star last Sept. Best 20 laps of racing I have ever seen.
Don’t worry about the ticket price for the weekend. Our president just sent out the COVID relief checks to those eligible so that will provide a few extra bucks for the tickets. Come on man!
The owners of said tracks in ct are NOT DUMB, they know a big hunger for racing along with the just plain overall hunger for entertainment in general so why not separate days and make people pay to see what they want, is it right Not really but it is what we all should come to EXPECT
Rob don’t forget that 5 dollar processing fee to get you up to 40 for the granite state Stafford s Saturday show. I don’t think the sk lights are running that day too. Like I said before I will give them a pass due to state restrictions but I will also pass on attending. Enjoy the faces stay healthy
I’m staying at home in protest of the $5 processing fee. I hope it rains four times and they have to process everyone’s tickets three extra times. I hate ATM fees too, in case you were wondering.
Value is in the eye of the beholder. If you think you’re not getting good value there’s no arguing about it. If your perception is that Stafford is not giving good value for the opening event they at least give fans an alternative that is a great value. FloRacing is cheaper for the 18 or so races they’ll end up having in 2021 then the abbreviated 2020 schedule and by a lot.
Thanks to JD for mention Darling. He is in fact a Seekonk notable so a closer look was in order. No Pro Stock events at Seekonk in 2020 for obvious reasons, nor in PASS or ACT. Appeared in the last three GSPSS races last year, a win and a third at the Speedbowl and a fifth in the other race. In 2019 he raced the GSPSS at his home track taking down a 5th and never being able to get a lap near the eventual winner. Frankly I don’t see him winning but he’s a star and a credit to the event. His big chance to get a really big payday is not in this race but on July 28 when he races what will be an epic field on his home circle with $10,000 to win.
Speaking of Seekonk it’s confirmed. Some special events will be streamcast but no weekly TV will be offered. And you can thank NASCAR for that seeing as how they own the rights to the weekly racing there. Seekonks words not mine.
JD the forum savant says that Griffith and Polewarczyk are “head and shoulders” faster then the field and perhaps MacDonald as well. Darling fast but usually gets beat by the others. Actually that’s not really true. In the Polewarczyk/Darling head to head in the last 3 GSPSS races last year they each had a win and came in almost exactly even in the three race results.
Griffith is my favorite to win and I’m now putting MacDonald up there as well based on the Thompson PASS performance in the World Series plus he’s heavy hitter. Polewarczyk is a great strategic points racer but there is no reason to believe he will stand out at Stafford nor can it be assumed he will be fast on a track he has no record of being fast on.
I’m also putting Shaw and Christian back in the front runner mix based on their big track speed at the Thompson World series.
Some of us are blessed with innate intelligence such as yourself JD and can cruise to predictions effortlessly. Myself mind numbingly average and always having to work harder to keep up and not ashamed to use my “Google machine” to help.
I put a pin in your Rocco will struggle to stay on the lead lap prediction. That’s pretty much the only thing you’ve written that appears to reflect a lack of understanding of all things Rocco, Stafford and Late Models. If that was customary JD hyperbole and you’d like to amend it the clock is ticking. If not we’ll be revisiting the Rocco deal for a chops busting session for sure with a clear winner either way.
The more I dig into this race knowing zero about these Pro Stocks the more it seems this race contains a very strong cast of A list cars.