STAFFORD – The 2020 SK Modified season at Stafford Motor Speedway was one Tyler Hines spent the offseason trying to forget.
The North Haven driver had just one top-10 in 14 starts in 2020 at Stafford.
Saturday at Stafford Speedway Hines found the perfect elixir to ensure that the doldrums of 2020 were left far in the rearview.
Hines led every circuit to win the 40-lap SK Modified feature Saturday at NAPA Opening Day at Stafford Speedway.
It was the first career SK Modified victory at Stafford, for Hines, who is in his seventh season in the division but with a newly formed team for 2021.
“I was so excited to get on the track today,” Hines said. “And it’s such a sweet feeling to finally be [in victory lane]. It just makes it much so much sweeter after all the hard work we put in to get this ready.”
Keith Rocco of Wallingford was second and Ronnie Williams of Tolland third.
Hines is driving for a team launched for the 2021 season by the the Meyhoefer family, owners of the company Tick Mike’s Organic Tick and Mosquito Spray.
“For the last two or three years he’s been driving a car that he couldn’t drive,” Mike Meyhoefer said “So people said ‘Oh he’s a bum, he can’t drive.’ So … we got together and said ‘You know what, we’re going to see if this kid can drive.’ And we put that thing together with help of a lot of people and here it is. And it wasn’t just like everybody was wrecked and he got an easy win. He held off [Todd] Owen, [Keith] Rocco and [Ronnie] Williams. He did a good job and I’m glad for him.”
Said Hines: “Mike put this car together after watching us struggle last season. We have some new crew members and we’ve got a new car, a brand new motor, just a ton of work over the winter getting this car ready to go. Really it comes down to all the work and effort that’s done in the garage. My job is easy once you get on the track with a car like this. I can’t believe it.”
Hines had to fight through four restarts over the final 10 laps, holding off division dominators Rocco, Williams and Owen at various moments.
“That was incredible,” Hines said. “I’m shaking right now. That’s awesome. Those last ten laps, I never had so many restarts in my life. But these guys did an unreal job to get this car where it is today. … Right out of the box we had speed. I can’t thank these guys enough for all they’ve done. … The whole Meyhoefer family because they believed in my when nobody else did.”
Quite a shock wasn’t it? And Hines winning every bit of it with all those cautions and restarts. Beating the best in the process. Way to go Tyler.
Besides the winner outstanding races include Rocco the beneficiary of all those cautions plus good driving of course. Dowling struggling, pitting, adjusting and rallying back to a sweet 4th place finish that seemed very unlikely early on. Narducci starts with a top 10 after playing race car dodge ball very successfully.
Disappointments include the Williams. A new car, great times in practice and positioned perfectly for an easy win it appeared. Not so fast. Looked to me like a bad push coming out of 3 that he couldn’t overcome plus the 50 just can’t run the outside that well. Kopcik positioned well for a top finish and there’s no other way to put it. A lost opportunity. Biggest disappointment has to be Owen charging to contention then slipping like you’d expect a guy like the winner to. But Hines didn’t and he won.
A shocker and this fan loves it seeing new blood in the winners circle.
In Victory Lane, Did Tyler Hynes say that his car was supplied and/or prepared by Keith Rocco Racing?
Rafter Fan,
I don’t think Keith owns it but I think he helps them through KRR support.
This is Stafford right? Only 26 cars. No consi? Must be the covid.
I personally would like to thank some people for a special day at Stafford Speedway. Besides our crew and spotter who did a tremendous job, i want to thank Keith Rocco for all his help, John Rufrano, Rory West ,and Mike Pettit ‘the king’ for the awesome power without your help we are not in victory lane today , again thankyou.
It was an incredible race, only Stafford could have a car lead every lap in a feature and still have it be a great race.
Shawn ! what was the top ten finishing order ?
I went back to the replay, he said “I gotta thank Keith Rocco Racing for the car.” Great job of driving the thing, what a refreshing way to start the year. Really fun to watch.
Carl Block,
Go to the RaceDayCT results page.
Congrats to Tyler Hines and your team for your first ever SK Modified win. I’m sure many more will come. Great job.
You want to find out who owns the car go to the Stafford site, click on teams, the division and the helmet shown for each driver. George & Christine Hines are shown as owning the 85. KRR owns cars like the 33 and 35 but offers all kinds of services for a lot of SK teams as well as Meg Fuller and Cassandra Coles SK Lights.
Total cars KRR has it’s hand in unknown but it’s a whole lot. It’s probably the smartest short cut to getting more competitive and we saw evidence of their ability fixing the heat damage in short order and delivering a car that could march to the front. He knows everything about race cars from the engines and every part in them to the benefits and draw backs of incalculable shock and spring combinations.
Tyler was beyond impressive yesterday. Great restarts every time, and solid driving every single lap.
I agree with Rob A. that having a single leader and still having a great race to watch is rare indeed! It’s gonna’ be a great season at SMS!
Incredible race???…LOL…1 leader on a 1 groove race track…. Watch Video of Stafford in 1990 and tell me that compares to what they race on now. I miss the old surface where a car could pass 5 cars on the outside on a restart…. The BLIND loyalty some fans have is unreal. I should’ve stayed home and did yard work…..The changes the Tracks and the Mods have gone through in the last 20 years has not been good.
Stafford SK Mods are an incredible series. Very competitive.
Anything an happen.
Doug the car Tyler is driving is not owned by George Hines the 25 is. The Ghost 85 is owned by Petty Cash Motorsports. We got the car from Keith and he helped us a bunch.
The only car that couldn’t be passed on the outside all day was the 85 great drive off. back in the field the Narducci kid and Dowling had no problems passing on the outside.
Watched it on TV. Race wasn’t that great. I guess you had to be there. Hope Puleo is ok.
Any word on Jon Puleo? He took a pretty hard shot.
I got to say the most exciting thing I seen Saturday afternoon was all the guys working on Rocco’s car and they got that thing back together as bad as it was junked, good job by the crew an driver, hell of a race from the back of the pack passing all the super stars, Good job by the Tick team
Barry,
Check this link: Jon Puleo Out Indefinitely After Crash In SK Modified Opener Saturday At Stafford
You can be a lazy fan and wait to be wowed about something that happened at the front of the field that just happened to fall into your field of vision. Or you can really pay attention to the entire field and see there is more to racing then passes for the lead.
My experience is the first to complain about a race being uneventful are the folks paying the least attention.
Keith Rocco continues to extend his reach as Top Dog in the SK world. In addition to building engines (as a Pettit employee) for some of his key competitors, owning cars which he rents to others and providing support to several cars which he doesn’t own, it sounds like he’s now a re-seller of TFR chassis(?). Great work.
Awesome, Awesome job Tyler! Kept cool through all the restarts and Kieth closing in on the final laps. Very impressive. What a fun race to watch.
Keith had nothing to do with building or setting up the 85. In time it will come out.
i’m starting to like this bill guy…
Is the “drop 1” approach re: points in place at Stafford this year? I think I heard Paul Arute mention “drop 1” awhile back(?). Based on the latest/final episode of Sid’s Speedbowl history series, it appears that the “drop 2” approach was not popular the year is was used at the Bowl.
Rafter Fan,
There’s no drop 1 rule for Stafford that I’ve heard about.
no dropping at all that I’ve ever heard about at Stafford. Please let me know as I delay all vacations until October due to racing and a planned week off would be nice. Of course that being said I am going tonight to the track even though we are not racing at all.