It was announced Saturday that the Modified Racing Series has changed ownership.
The series was founded by Jack Bateman in 2004. It was announced Saturday that Bateman has sold the series to William Doucette.
Doucette has been the primary operator of the series in recent years.
“After conversations In late 2022 with [Bateman] about me buying the series we came to an agreement for the purchase of the series,” Doucette said. “I cannot emphasize enough how much I have learned from Jack and his passion for the sport he has instilled on me and the ideals to carry the series forward. Thank you Jack.
“I will continue to strive to make the Modified Racing Series the most racer friendly and competitive series in the Northeast, providing a cost conscious attitude for the teams.”
It was recently announced that Milton CAT will join the series in 2023 as a title sponsor.
“With the addition of Milton CAT as a title sponsor we will for the first time in a while have a point fund available to our competitors that attempt to qualify for all of our 2023 point races.”
Series management is expected announced a 2023 schedule next week.
Wow now new MRS Owner, more Modified races, MRS was trending down but sounds like this new owner will change that, More races for teams to choose from i still thinks waters down the Whole Product, WMT, MRS, ROC, TRI TRACK, STAFFORD OPENS, THOMPSON OPENS, RACING Guys, JDV opens, who is NEXT to jump in???
I find this all interesting as I have more time to get into racing. I wonder what a person actually buys and how much it is worth and sells for. Very interesting . . . . . . . I live in Wisconsin where there are a fair number of dirt tracks.
New ownership and especially Milton Cat sponsorship should help the series and car counts. I think there is enough differences in the rules where there will be “regulars” and “invaders” with each organization. Hopefully there will be enough of each to go around.
It would really help if MRS kept a website up to date with a schedule, standings, and an actual entry list.
@wmass01013 MRS used to run like 14 races a season. I wish I could find those old schedules to prove that but I know I’ve seen that somewhere. The last couple years they’ve only run like 7 or 8 races, and at a couple races there were very few entries. Whatever the reason for that it seems like it leaves a bit of room for more modified races by someone else. Everyone seemed really impressed by what JDV did so if they can grow their own series that brings lots of teams to the track that can only be a good thing.
It would be nice if they would recognize the previous 2 champions, Robie and Perry, by at least doing SOMETHING for their accomplishments. Really stinks for those two guys who won the drivers championships as well as those that won the owners championships. Not even an award or banquet. Kinda sad…..
Marshall and mw, I think the “then and now” change with the MRS schedule and championship was the loss of the Valenti Auto Group sponsorship. The bigger schedule was when it was the VMRS. Now with more Opens along with WMT and TTOMS events already confirmed, scheduling may this year’s obstacle for them.
Way too many Mod series. Imagine what could be if some of these resources were pooled.
How do I get a mrs decal.
Enlighten me please. How many modified groups are there? Which are better ones and why?
Whalen NASCAR mod
Monaco tri track
Milton cat mrs
Stafford opens
Thompson opens
jdv opens
Racing guys
Nhstra is a limited modified series between southern by trackz
Someone correct me if I missed any or iit any folded. There’s a lot
@csg Last year NHSTRA ran a series called Whitcomb 5 which I think was separate from their modified “battle for the belt” but I’m honestly not sure. Also haven’t seen whether or not that series will be back for 2023.
@Fast Eddie I thought MRS was still sponsored by Valenti last year.
Thanks. There is a lot. Are their rules similar like Sprint cars which have 410, 360, 305, etc. ? Although there are some slight variations in the 410 & 360’s mostly motor related. I think.
I might add:
ROC
SMART
New Smyrna World Series.
Riverhead tour mods
One offs like the Islip 300, Turkey Derby
How about the Bowman Gray tour mods?
Plus all the SK and Light modified iterations
PASS Modified
Florida Modifieds
It’s exhausting
Marshall,
The Whitcomb 5 deal was not a Tour Type Modified series.
Marshall,
It’s been a few year since Valenti was the title sponsor for the series.
Good for MRS, it really is the working man Tour Type Series, wont see many Stackers or million dollar teams attend. Unfortunately the schedule is soft and comprised of Northern New England dates, with all the other series picking off the premium venues, MRS is just barely hanging on.
Looks to be many variations of the car rules. I watched the Bowman Grey series on Discover. Sorry it was cancelled. Does any of the stuff on Streaming have anything like it?
@Shawn Valenti was still on their website and on a bunch of cars as their logo, but maybe that was just a leftover legacy thing.
As for the Whitcomb 5 series, it was run by NHSTRA which csg had on his list, so I figured I’d mention it. I had assumed in the past that “touring mod” largely referred to the body type, as there are other modified race cars like the PASS mods and all the various dirt mods. I know Tri Track has rules for teams running SK mod in their races, so the car itself must be pretty similar.
Marshall,
The Modified Racing Series removed the word Valenti from all series releases and social media posts following the conclusion of the 2019 season. The new series logo, removing Valenti from the series name, was introduced in February of 2020.
There might have been some cars still around with old decals on them, but series management has not used the name Valenti in anything since November of 2019.
The Whitcomb 5 was not run by NHSTRA. It was founded and run by Greg Whitcomb. The events were run solely at NHSTRA tracks, but the series was not overseen by the NHSTRA.
Great to see Doucette stepping up. With the addition of Milton Cat as a title sponsor. This gives the modified teams yet another option.
more complete list
Whelen NASCAR mod TT/spec East coast FL to NH
Monaco tri track TT/spec/sk New England
Milton cat mrs TT Northern New England
Stafford opens TT/no spec. Stafford CT only
Thompson opens TT Thompson CT only
jdv opens TT new this year southern NH
Racing guys TT maybe SK New England not sure what the plans are now.
Nhstra is SK or SKL NH
Whitcomb 5 SK or SKL run primarily at NHSTRA tracks NH
Dougs adds
ROC TT primarily NY
SMART TT Carolinas
New Smyrna World Series. FL one week festival of racing
Riverhead tt and crate mods run weekly on Long Island NY
Islip 300 RIverhead NY, Turkey Derby Wall NJ a few of our bigger races
Bowman Gray tour mods? weekly racing in NC
SK and SK Light modified iterations weekly racing at CT(Stafford Thompson waterford) NH(Hudson and Monadnock) NY/NJ (Chemung spencer Riverhead Wall)
PASS Modified Different style more IMCA style than North east style
Florida Modifieds IMCA style more like midwest dirt track mod
The engines from most expensive to least
TT can be aluminum block 4 barrel carbs.
Spec is a Nascar creation to save the teams money and is really specific to Whelen tour where the spec is given a rules advantage
SK steel block 2 barrel carbs. cost limits on shocks
SK light 602 GM spec engine sealed by track approved engine builders.
Based on last years coverage, if you subscribe to FLO you will get the Nascar Whelen tour, Smart Tour, Riverhead, Bowman Grey Stafford SK SKL TT. There were a couple of tri track shows as well but it was whether or not the track and FLO could negotiate a deal.
Readers, please feel free to correct anything incorrect in this post. I am just a fan and by no means an expert on these things.
Just a thought.
Whether you’re in Wisconsin or anywhere in the country for that matter, enjoy this site including participating in the banter regarding races consider signing up for FloRacing. If you’re mainly a dirt fan you’ll get plenty of content on that score for sure. Stick your toe in the water watching the tour modifieds starting February 11th with five more races in the following week and see if it’s something you could be interested in. If you can you won’t need to be an outsider when we debate the latest results and dust ups in an event and you can bet that will happen for sure. Get more familiar with it and perhaps join in for the Pick 6 contests.
Thanks for the updated list and thoughts above. I likely spent way to much time pondering getting FloRacing than I should, It is not expensive in my opinion. I just know that not being able to skip commercials and FF thru lulls in the action will make me crazier than I am. I’m spoiled by the Direct TV DVR. It was tough watching NFL football playoffs not being able to skip the commercials and worthless show promos on the network broadcasts. It helps to mute the audio and listen to music. I’m not a big football fan and really only watch the playoffs.
What do you think about Dirt Vision?
It is to bad that Modified race cars do not seem to have the same or similar rules for race cars in the various groups like Sprint cars sort of do. Fewer sanctioning groups might help. A small part of the reason I’m not so interested in them. I’ll think about your suggestions as I like dirt track stuff.
A couple of maybe-not-completely-correct thoughts. I think Riverhead and Wall are tour type mods, which is why some of their locals make it into WMT races there. Wall has their Wall Modifieds, which might be similar to SK’s. NHSTRA cars are similar to SKL’s in CT, but they allow 604 crate engines as well as 602 crates.
I think we all use tools to avoid commercials to the extent we can. I know I always pay more for the commercial-less versions of Netflix, Hulu and others willing to pay more to avoid seeing them. In viewing races on FloRacing if there’s a caution or some other delay in the action I’m more the happy to view a commecial since sponsors help make access possible.
Don’t get FloRacing for any reason you like but having to watch commercial is not one of them. After an event it’s all in the library that one can bring up at one’s leisure to watch. The viewer having the freedom to navigate the event as they wish. For controversial wrecks in a race we frequently view what happened over and over before rendering an interpretation of what happened.
@Shawn thanks for the knowledge!
@Fast Eddie Riverhead has a “Crate Mods” division. They definitely look like touring mods but at the race I saw in November they looked like they were running narrower wheels.
My time is very precious to me. There are to many commercials shoved at us. The typical hour program has about 15 minutes of commercials and promos. Often times the same ones over and over. Discover and many of the other cable networks have extended the shows window to fit in more commercials and keep you watching past the half and top of the hours. Hoping to keep you as a viewer and count in the ratings world. I’m almost never going to buy a product advertised on a tv show. Sorry advertisers. I’d prefer fewer commercials and much higher quality ones. Remember the old less filling, tastes great ones? The Budweiser Clydesdales?
The other thing I’m paying attention to is if the event I want to see turns up on MAVTV or CBS Sports Net. The Chili bowl midget races did. Well at least the parts I really wanted to watch. As did the Knoxville Sprint Car races last time. I also like Ken Stout so I listen to his commentary.
Dirt Vision has some races I think I’d like to see. Anyone watch their stuff?
I prefer Flo to Dirtvision. There is much more of a variety on Flo. Pavement racing and dirt racing. FLO series include Nascar, SMART, Lucas Oil DLM, All Star Sprints, USAC, FLO high limit Sprints, Castrol DLM series, various off road/road racing and drag racing and several weekly tracks pavement and dirt. Dirtvision has WOO DLM and Sprints, SuperDIrtcar NE style modifieds, the Hell tour. various dirt tracks Williams Grove, Knoxville etc. There is probably 2 to 3 times more broadcasts on Flo than Dirtvision. Flo is less expensive 150 compared to Dirtvision 300 regular price, (200 deal around the holidays. Not sure if its still available). They are both good as far as production value goes Dirtvision may be slightly better because they have substantially less broadcasts. Flo will be great for their big events and National series and good everywhere else. It really comes down to which series interest you more. I have had both and will not go without Flo and pick and choose when to subscribe to Dirtvision. I typically get Dirtvision for a month during the hell tour.
The commercials aren’t that bad. They are necessary, they help keep the cost down. there are far less commercials than you would find on a television broadcast. the commercials rarely if ever interrupt the live broadcast of racing action. They typically run them when there is a delay. If you start the races 30 to 45 minutes late. You can then fast forward through anything you are not interested in. You can definitely do that on the computer. FLO provides a 30 second fast forward and rewind buttons in their media player which makes it easy. Not sure on the tv ap as I typically watch on the laptop. You can also watch the races on demand the next day. They typically break up the broadcast and separate the features into different video files. So you can go right to what you’re interested in. I don’t think the commercials will be as big a problem as you anticipate.
If you are a race fan and by being on this website, you probably are. I can guarantee you will be happy with Flo assuming you dont have any issues with internet. I know dirtvision has a monthly (28 day) option for about 40 dollars. I believe Flo also has a monthly option. Perhaps try one or both for a month see if it works for you then get the yearly pass. With speed weeks starting up end of this week and running through Feb18 there will be a lot of racing to check out. You will save a lot of money with the yearly pass. For Flo it comes out to 12.50 per month. Best of luck.
Marshall, thanks for the info!
CSG – THANK YOU! I exchanged an awful lot of emails with a Flo’s customer service person. It was like playing 40 questions. Never was it explained nearly as well as you have. Flo only offers a year subscription which amounts to $12.50 a month. My internet is now fast enough to support streaming. I have set up my big Sony TV with an hdmi cable from my desktop computer which I have set to mirror the screen output. I played with my Apple TV and found nothing I wanted on it. So I will cancel it near the end of my free 90 days subscription of sooner. My 22 year old mechanical engineer son spotted my Firestick and installed it on the other big Sony TV my wife and he mainly watch. We have Amazon Prime so that is what they are using.
My interests are dirt Sprint Cars and Midgets. WOO, IRA 410. 360 sprint cars, Wingless Sprints with Midgets last. The High Limit Sprints could be very interesting. I’m not familiar with the other Sprints available and the paved ones I can take or leave. There have been some on MAVTV from down under and Lucas”s track. I attend the WWO and IRA 410 Sprints in Wisconsin. Plymouth Dirt Racing (3/8 mile) has 360’s weekly and usually 4 sprint car special events which I like to attend. Beaver Dam, WI and Wilmont sprint car races I try to make also. There are two tracks in Beaver Dam, WI. Longer one is 1/2 mile. I find the 3/8 mile more interesting.
How long are the events available after the initial broadcast on Flo? I often don’t watch stuff timely and keep the good shows for a couple weeks. Sometimes watching several times.
Thanks again!
Thanks for the correction Fast Eddie. I thought Wall ran the SKs regularly and the tour types for the turkey derby maybe a special here or there. Riverhead is definitely Tour types weekly, they also run a crate mod division.
Pete Flo/Dirtvision(DV) discussion
I think they are stored on FLo forever. I just looked and they have Stafford speedway races from 2021 which I believe was the first year Flo broadcast racing at Stafford. So, at minimum it’s over a year. If live action isn’t a big concern look into setting up a free vault account with Dirtvision. They have a catalog of races available to watch. At minimum it will give you an idea of what the coverage is like before putting down some money. I don’t know how quickly the races show up in the vault after the live broadcast. I know it wasn’t what I would consider timely for the Hell tour a couple of years ago. I missed the end of a race and went to dirtvision the next day to watch it and it wasn’t available. They redid the system recently. I have to resign up and haven’t yet. There is a vault pass and a fast pass. Make sure you are signing up for the free vault pass which will not ask for credit card info. The fast pass is for live broadcasts and they will ask for a credit card.
There is a lot of sprint car racing on Flo with USAC all series, All Stars, high limit series and weekly racing from Lincoln PA and Port Royal PA. Dirtvision will have the WoO Williams grove, Knoxville IA, and a couple of other weekly tracks which run winged sprints.
If you still have Apple tv I would recommend checking out Ted Lasso before the free sub lapses. That is the only show I remember from my short tenure as a AAPL tv subscriber. You can download Flo and Dirtvision to the firestick as well. I would suggest buying your subs from the Flo and Dirtvision website though. They lose money if you go through a third party like AAPL AMZN or ROKU. They might have a better deal online, DV offered a discount through their website around the holidays but you couldnt get it through the 3rd parties.
best of luck
Thanks for the information and suggestions. I do not watch live often due to my schedule and not wanting to watch commercials. Again it is better use of my time.
Is there a website of all the dirt track racing in the country? I suspect there is not. Looking at several tracks and associations so I can start planning on attending some live events in Wisconsin it is apparent many of them do a lousy job at this point of the year.
How about a simple explanation of the various modified classes. My search results confused me.
I subscribed to the Dirt Vision Vault. I watched a little of it. The fast talking sometimes screaming announcers sound like they are doing radio and trying to generate excitement. YAWN! A picture is worth a thousand words so are they trying to keep up? One of the greatest all time announcers is Bob Uker. He talks way less than the TV announcers do and he is doing radio baseball.
Thanks for the tip on Dirt Vision Vault. Quality is decent when I set it to 1080 and full screen. They are not using the top of the line HD cameras or they are encoding it more to save bandwidth compared to my satellite and over the air tv. Most likely both. Dirt Vision at $300 a year/$25 a month is twice the cost of Flo and not likely I will buy it. But that could change. So Flo is still a possibility.
Thanks all!