THOMPSON – For 10 years Eric Berndt wasn’t seen by fans on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
Wednesday at Thompson Speedway the Cromwell driver made sure he was noticed by those fans that hadn’t seen him in a decade.
Berndt, who made his first Whelen Modified Tour start since 2013 in Wednesday’s Thompson 150, put on a can’t miss show over the first half of the event.
Driving for team owner Rob Fuller in the LFR house car, Berndt started 16th in the 23-car field and rocketed to the front over the first 65 laps.
“That was probably one of the best cars I’ve ever driven,” Berndt said. “I’ve to go thank Rob Fuller and the LFR guys for what they brought here. This thing was an absolute rocket. It came out of the pit stop just as fast as it was before the pit stop. It felt really good out there. It was a great feeling to run a car like that.”
Said Fuller: “I was happy with the way the car performed, which is the biggest thing for me. Showing the customers what to do. That’s what I do it for. A customer comes to me struggling and I say ‘Hey, this is what I do and it works.’ It’s one thing to talk, but you let your actions speak louder than words with something like that.”
“It’s important to me to bring a car out of [the LFR] shop. A car that I’m familiar with. A lot of the LFR teams don’t have full time employees on the [Whelen Modified Tour]. They don’t have the resources that the top two or three teams have. It’s important that I go out there and display what the product is capable of doing if it’s in the right hands.”
Despite Berndt not having run with the series in 10 years, Fuller said he was confident in him from the start of the day.
“At the end of the day a driver is a driver is a driver is a driver,” Fuller said. “You can either do this or you can’t. Eric showed he knows what he’s doing out there. It gets frustrating sometimes when you’re working with a guy who can’t do it because you’re questioning your equipment. But I knew after the first couple laps of practice that was going to be fine.”
Berndt was up to sixth by lap 50 and then put on a show following a lap 56 restart. On lap 63 Berndt went by Bobby Santos III for third, a lap later he passed Eric Goodale for second and then on lap 65 he blasted by Doug Coby for the lead.
“When he took the lead he was more than three-tenths of second faster than the car in second place,” Fuller said. “I was telling him to back it down because I knew we had such a good piece that there was no need for him to push it like that.”
Things went bad for the team when caution flew on lap 68 and the leaders headed to pit road. A miscue on pit road dropped Berndt to 15th place.
“We just had a miscommunication between me and the crew,” Berndt said. “I thought the crew was done. I popped it in gear and it fell off the jack. … It put us behind the eight-ball.”
Said Fuller: “The crew was taking way too long. Unfortunately [Berndt] was watching all the cars he had just passed passing him on pit road.”
Berndt had worked his way back to 11th after the pit stop, but on a lap 91 he was part of a group of at least seven cars caught up in a chain reaction wreck that began when fifth place Eric Goodale slowed off of turn two. The wreck knocked him out of the event, forcing him to settle for a 21st place finish.
Berndt said he’s hoping to get a chance for redemption when the series returns to Thompson for the Sunoco World Series 150 on Oct. 8.
“We’ll see what we can put together,” said Berndt, who put the deal together to run for Fuller through the Ferguson Motorsports team he runs with full-time in an SK Modified at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. “We definitely want to do more.”
Fuller thinks it’s a likely scenario that Berndt will be back with him at Thompson in October.
“We’re going to see if we can put something together for the World Series,” Fuller said. “And obviously we’ll do three or four pit practices before we get to that.”
On Thursday Fuller said he believes the Whelen Modified Tour should eliminate live pit stops to help the growth of the series and level the playing field among teams. The 23-car field Wedesday was the smallest starting field ever for a Whelen Modified Tour event at Thompson Speedway. Wednesday’s event marked the 151st Whelen Modified Tour event at the track since the series’ inception in 1985.
“I’m not a fan of the pit stops at all,” Fuller said. “It’s hard enough to get four guys to come to the race track these days, let alone nine. The [Whelen Modified Tour] is not designed for pits stops. This day and age, it’s very difficult to get help and to spend all of this money and do all of this work and put a race in the hands of guys that don’t even come to your shop or barely have anything to do with your race team, it’s a tragedy, it’s horrible. There should be a halfway break and you’ll save teams 20 or 30 thousand dollars in pit equipment and $15,000 in entry fees a year and just be done with it.”
Hey Dareal………where you setting up that car because according to you Fuller is a joke. Lets hear you BS your way out of that. Hahahahahaha
Whaaaa!!!!
Whaaaaaa!
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭
There’s no crying in racing.
If your pit crew screwed up, it’s not the fault of the rules that have been used in racing for decades and decades. Your team screwed up the pit stop.
Most teams staff a full squad, and some teams don’t. If you can’t bring a competent team to the track, look in the mirror.
There are plenty of crew available. If you can’t get them to show up, you are the problem.
Hot pit stops have nothing to do with the number of competitive cars running the NWMT.
Hot pit stops are not limiting or keeping the NWMT from growing. Hot pit stops have been around for decades. If an owner can’t get a team assembled, then that is the owner’s problem, not the fault of the racing protocol that has been around for decades and decades.
Do you suppose that the hot pit stop is why Stafford and Thompson are no longer hosting 8-9 NWMT races per season and the NWMT now has to go up and down the eastern seaboard to find tracks willing to run them? That is very expensive to haul around all those crew, even a reduced number of crew.
There have been and are plenty of well staffed teams. If an owner doesn’t want to pay the bill for a properly staffed team, then that’s his decision, and not a problem with the way the sport has been run for decades and decades. If nobody wants to work with/for a particular owner, that’s all on the owner. Get a mirror 🪞 that works.
It was an awesome and exciting part of the race when the field came in for hot pit stops on Aug 16 at Thompson. All the wrenches screaming at the same time, sounded like a bunch of jet engines.
Hey, there’s that guy that has been going around saying he only hires the best people. 🍊 😆 😝 Be like that guy. 😝 😆 Hire the best people. When people don’t want to work for you, you are the problem.
Hot pit stops are an integral part of the competition.
Racing interruptus is fading out, is no longer practiced as it was over the last couple years, because it sucks.
Dennis, do you have a full crew of mechanics and chase vehicles for your bicycle racing team?
What was checked in post-race tech?
Ok só the LFR house car slowly drove to the lead as everyone’s cars were way … to loose after long run. Eric’s Car couldn’t turn all day in 10 acres field and had no SPEED. Time trials was BoMB. Night time track frees up and he looks magical. When last time LFR car won pole … test to true speed ?! It’s been years ….. Eric did do a good job must say . Pit stop whole different topic. Bunch of guys running around making noise with air guns coached by some one who supposedly did pit crew coaching in his nascar south career but won’t mention that . Just blame nascar and
All expense it takes to do it . Always some
One to point finger at . Nascar does need to think about tire allotment and some of change races . Tire bill this year will be around 40 thousand I estimate. Little ridiculous. Hope Matt recovers quickly .
I think a lot of us would agree Fuller is spot on. He’s totally correct for local level race teams, it’s almost impossible to get 4 people to crew a car that really know what they are doing! The days of a lower budget car getting 7 or 8 guys to stay dedicated weekly are long over. He’s right the M3 team, Baldwin racing, and others can really outspend the average with paying for talent in the crew department…
What a rocket, Fuller can really pump out a fast car when he puts his magic too it! Props to Bernt for wheeling that thing so good.
Nascar should take note to Fullers advice and perhaps the Whelen car counts will improve.
Racedayct poll? I see both sides. No doubt that no live pit stops would save teams money. I do think it would increase the car count at least some. And it would level the competition between teams with all different levels of crews. BUT i think it would reduce the entertainment value for the fan. No more strategy. No more having guys come from the back like Berndt last night or Hirschman at Lancaster.
My BS meter is flashing on those numbers.
Let’s take “15k in admissions”
Tour license is ~300. Admission is $30 per race. 11 change races.
300+(30*11)= $630.
15000/630 = 23.8
fuller is claiming he needs about 24 guys every single race to do a 5-man over the wall pit stop
If that’s how he does math, there’s no wonder there is all this talk about his business.
The tour used to have halfway breaks at some of the bigger travel races. People hated it. They tried to make it 3 person stops at some tracks. People hated it. Thompson didn’t have pit stops because of how the race play out last world series, people hated it. the tour (and mod racing in general) sustained 30-40 cars making pit stops at these tracks all its life.
20k for equipment?
A one pump jack is about 2k. 2 thunder guns is ~1.2k. pit crew gear is probably 6-700 brand new per person. looks like ~7-8k to me, and that’s all brand new. could probably get all that for half that amount at a swap meet.
All this is, is sour grapes from a person that doesn’t have enough friends to pit his car.
When numbers that outrageous are thrown out there, they really should be fact checked.
8 non competitive pit stop races were scheduled, now it’s 7. Why doesn’t Fuller race in one of those events? Go the entire distance like at Riverhead there’s nothing to complain about is there? What’s preventing them from going to any of the other opens where more modest crews are the rule and pitting not even a factor in some races.
My question is if they eliminated competitive pit stops all together would that increase Tour car counts? There’s other things in play isn’t there like the raft of race opportunities the Tour competes with.
It just seems curious that he’s making this an issue now. Langley, Oswego, North Wilksboro and Martinsville coming up. How inconvenient is that to peoples work commitments, the travel expenses and all the planning it takes to put that off?
Sure have fewer races with competitive pit stops it’s safer as well. But don’t pretend like it’s the only issue in play when it comes to degreasing car counts.
Form a committee after the season, lay out all the issues, get opinions on what could help then act like businessman and have a plan.
Does NASCAR even care?
About 5-10 years ago, during the time car counts were slim during an economic slowdown, and again the topic of cutting costs came up, tires were on the chopping block, as they always seem to be. There was an effort to run races with no tire changes allowed, except for flats. This was sort of an honor system deal. A couple teams abided by the goal and did run the race with one set of tires, others used that as a competitive advantage and changed tires. It didn’t work. Furthermore, that racing sucked, it wasn’t racing, it was pacing, saving tires, and hoping the car had some tire left for a 20 lap run at the end. It was racing tires, not very exciting.
That didn’t work.
The only way to do this is with shorter races that can be run on one set of tires with enough tire to run all out for all laps. That puts us back to weekly Saturday night shootout type races.
But if you want adult racing with 150+ lap events, then tire changes are required to prevent pacing and boring freight-training. And tire changes have to be done under racing conditions. Taking a powder break in racing is just not right.
As far as the 1 car goes, that car had straightaway speed like no other. You could hear it. Remember, we are in the age of SPEC motors. No SPEC motor should be more equal than everybody else. That was not a setup result. That motor ever shows up at a track again, it needs a very close look. The way that car came alive for no apparent reason was shocking, more like sandbagging.
And the numbers thrown out there are a heaping pile of fresh 💩.
Just because the guy has no friends and can’t get a crew is no reason to play the victim and blame everything else.
Wow. Not many team owners comment here apparently. Fullers number are low. WAY low. Every over the wall team member needs a fire suit, shoes, gloves, helmet, radio, ear plugs and equipment. Not only that they need food and travel. His figures are way low. When he said 20k in equipment he is about half way there. You need nitrogen, regulators for 2 guns, pit box, fuel cans, fire smock and full face helmet for fuel guys. I wish people would keep their mouths shut unless they have experience. This dareal guy is the worst btw. Talk about a keyboard warrior. Like Fuller cares about this persons opinion on his friends? Come on. Yea. Ok. The engine purchased from Yates is illegal now? Hey dareal. When you drove to school in the short bus and they made you wear a helmet it wasn’t because your bus was fast. How did the windows taste by the way? Go get a life dude.
decent run … and it’s like OMG . The LFR cars are greatest and the people behind the scenes are key. The set ups is the magic “ ROB” that a boy … keep rubbing your self and convincing your self how good you are. Why have all the great drivers and owners separated themselves for you ..?
Let’s talk about stafford and New Hampshire ..! Haha mid pack sleds. Keep pulling down , keep on changing shocks , keep the hooks out for your next easy victim. You’ve exhausted over half the Whelen Modified tour garage with your Bs. Phil Moran and Ryan stones Strings and tape measure seem to work just fine . 1/8 of your prices and 10x more respect from garage area.
On to the next victim. pathetic ….
Look, the Whelen tour doesn’t have the luxury anymore of attracting say 35-40 cars on a consistent basis. For that matter with the 25ish you may attract on a really good day present a mixed bag of speed.. It’s not like you’ve got 15 or so that can really contend like you did years ago.
Fuller is right the live pit stops present serious costs not only from an equipment standpoint but a personnel standpoint.
Also maybe taylor the schedule to the” bread and butter ” tracks of New England and the upper mid Atlantic. Save teams costs on traveling so far etc …
And you wonder why TriTrack is such a hit??🤔 Besides the fact they pay so well…
Mike, half that stuff you listed they need anyway, live pit stops or not.
Taking away live pit stops doesn’t magically stop teams from eating, using nitrogen, needing fuel cans, needing radios etc. that’s just racing. Not even specific to the tour. Using that stuff for a live stop causes almost no extra cost.
Like, what do you think cheaper series do? Have a driver bring his car by himself and roll out there with a cardboard box of tools?
I have a keen sense of the obvious.
I called BS on the Ryan Newman 77 long before it was finally impounded and caught cheating. Since then, Ryan Newman has been mere mortal, and a non-factor in a modified.
I also called out another favorite for cheating. He was caught in a very dramatic way. Called in for a triple secret tech and nailed. I was calling that one out for a very long time before something was finally done.
It was shocking how the #1 came alive, after it fell backwards like a rock in the beginning of the race. It looked like it was hobbled, only to come alive and have extremely unusual straightaway speed. No chassis or setup can compensate for a weak motor, but an extra potent motor can compensate for a lesser chassis or setup.
Fenders, you just discovered racing?
You are very special.
Look at the schedule… why does a series such as the NWMT travel to New Smyrna Beach Florida, Richmond Raceway, Oswego, Lancaster, Langley, North Wilksboro and Martinsville? That’s almost half the schedule to very distant tracks. The NWMT used to have a very New England-centric, “bread and butter” schedule, but only recently took to this absurd travel that is very expensive. It is preposterous to now go after hot pit stops as a cost reduction when the schedule has incurred massive cost increases with all the long distance and multi-day venues. Why doesn’t NASCAR return to the “bread and butter” tracks of Stafford and Thompson, which historically had about 8-10 races of the season.
Winners focus on winning. Losers focus on winners. Keep up the good work Fuller.
You guys are so funny with comments, you all want the WMT back as a New England Series.
NHMS 1 race with Cup Series weekend, we all saw stand alone race was tried, would they ever try again Doubtfull.
Stafford, dropped NASCAR totally, while this yr except for Sizzler has been down i dont see a WMT future anytime soon.
Thompson, we all love Big T but with the Hoenigs hogging weekends and the ? of whether May/Mich continue lease can anymore the 2 races be expected
Waterford, NO NASCAR sanction and no racing will happen with current ownership if most likely 100%
Beech Ridge Done
Mad Dog, Lee, Claremont all JDV tracks, doesnt seem actual ownership wants races the Only close to sure thing might be Mad Dog.
Seekonk 1 race may continue but always here rumors that this yr last yr for WMT racing there.
So where do you want the WMT to race in NEW ENGLAND?
The MRS has some smaller tracks up North, again dont see Oxford or Thunder Road likely, White Mountain would be fun but again if ever happens 1 race max a yr.
DADUMB u say why WONT NASCAR go back to 5 races at STAFFORD n Thompson? It’s NOT ALLLLLLLLLLL THEIR CHOICE, the Arutes, Hoenigs, May/Mich have to want AND PAY for the WMT to race their!
I have said dozens of times If TRACKS, Rich, Mart, Lang, NW, Smyrna, Wall want and pay WMT races will happen there.
AND Fenders, Tri track pays well Yes, but on average WMT races pay more every race! Why do people still think Tri Track pays more??????????
Mike, the teams need all that stuff even if they don’t do hot pit stops. You still have not made a case against hot pit stops.
If you want to get rid of expense, stop the NWMT from traveling to Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, etc. on those multiple day, very expensive trips. Make the NWMT a northeast regional series, like it was.
NASCAR must be run by a bunch of idiots. They mandate the SPEC engine as a cost reduction (which is debatable), then almost half the schedule is multiple day, long distance events. The travel expenses are HUGE.
The 1 car boinked the pit stop, so all of a sudden pit stops are evil. If an owner can’t get a bunch of guys together to field a top notch team, looks like nobody wants to work with/for that owner. He’s his own problem. Hot pits are still wonderful. Maybe he should have Kopcik and Dowling run the car again, and they can bring their buddies.
The problem is that the 1 car boinked the pit stop because that team couldn’t assemble the personnel for a competitive pit crew. End of story.
Joey brings up a great point.
The top four cars this season have been the 51, 16, 58, and 22. The common denominator is that they run FURY Race Car Chassis. The 58 and 22 have to get better at staying out of trouble.
FURY Race Car Chassis. Get one today.
Fuller’s concerns about live pit stops is just one more iron in the fire of problems that the Whelen Tour has…
Pit stops add cost- This is bowl ring racing, it’s really not necessary to have a race off pit road or out the “back 40” and up the ramp to backstretch at a place like Monadnock. Back in the day it was different, more cars, more money clearly..
Travel- Is an obvious killer to the tour
Pay- Is ok, but when extensive travel and etc.. are factored in it’s really not that great…
You can argue that the Whelen Tour has been doing these things for decades, guess what times have changed.. They don’t attract 45 cars like they used to for a race at Thompson or Loudon.
Bottom line they need to make economical changes in general, that entice more average or lower budget teams to join the series. Otherwise the Tour will really become a “laughing stock.”
So it’s no wonder why other series like Tri Track or Stafford Open 80’s are hits… Your average team travels under 100 miles to Seekonk, Monadnock, or Stafford and they run a typical short track style format. Which is how it should be for these cars..
This is all about a team that boinked a pit stop, didn’t have what it takes to do a competitive pit stop. That does not mean there is anything wrong with pit stops. The 1 car team screwed up. There’s no problem with pit stops. The problem is with the team and failure to prepare. What do you expect from a car that is expected to rarely run? It’s impossible to get a top talent crew to commit under those conditions. Do you really expect to have the Rainbow Warriors on call for when the owner decides to run that rare race? IJBOL!
The 1 car is less than part-time, and how do you expect to have a top talent pit crew under that condition?
Will someone please come up with the real, actual costs of hot pit stops, above and beyond what the team has to do even if it did not do hot pit stops? Right now, there has been nothing believable. Just a bunch of crying.
The Tour has been doing hot pit stops for decades. The higher car counts of way back then have nothing to do with car counts and hot pit stops today. Nothing.
MMTTS and Stafford Opens are popular because the teams do not have to travel. Get it? The NWMT teams have been very vocal regarding the HUGE travel in recent schedules, this season is absurd. Having to fly your crew around the eastern seaboard for what is supposed to be a regional series is absurd.
The SPEC engine was supposed to be a low cost option for the shoestring budget teams to become competitive. How’d that work out? It didn’t. The top talent teams are still on top, the other teams are still back markers. And the cost of the SPEC is up there where the built motors were. The cost to maintain a SPEC is more than the built. And the cost to transition from built to SPEC was HUGE. It has been said many times before, the owners can’t afford the NASCAR cost improvements.
NASCAR needs to get Stafford and Thompson back online immediately. Then the Tour will not have to travel up and down the eastern seaboard. That will be a HUGE 💵 💰 improvement. Just look at how few cars are running the ENTIRE schedule. You can’t deny that. You can’t try to make like hot pit stops are a top issue, or an issue at all when travel costs with the current schedule are HUGE. The teams that are not running the entire NWMT schedule said in the beginning that they are staying close to home, not doing the traveling, not incurring that cost. LISTEN to those teams.
Part-time teams are going to have a hard time attracting and establishing a top talent crew, that should be obvious. It’s what I do. The 1 car has run how many times? How can that “team” expect to have a competitive crew under those conditions? IJBOL!
So will every yellow flag be a racing interruptus event? Will all yellow flags prohibit teams from changing tires or making adjustments, or will things like this only be allowed when racing is interrupted? You really gotta think this through.
An owner that can’t get a few friends together to crew is the problem.
Nothing wrong with hot pits.
Fury Race Cars owns the NWMT this season.
This crying over hot pit stops by a car that runs less than part-time is completely laughable. A part-time car simply can not attract and retain a competitive crew. Even worse for a less than part-time car.
Nothing wrong with hot pit stops for a properly staffed and talented crew.
Thanks for bringing this up, I’ve been laughing since I read it.
😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂
Got crew?
😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂 😝 😆 😂
Hey, maybe LFR will come up with the technology for a car that will refuel itself and change tires all by itself. NO PIT CREW REQUIRED!!!!
technology technology technology technology technology technology technology technology technology technology technology technology technology technology technology technology technology technology
“NASCAR needs to get Stafford and Thompson back online immediately. Then the Tour will not have to travel up and down the eastern seaboard”
ah there it is. only caring about yourself in CT.
i have to ask a few questions, though. If travel is the only factor, and staying in CT is the answer to perking up the car counts, why are event in CT on the struggle bus right now too? 26 cars on staffords entry list tonight at the time of posting.idk if they all showed. And thats with the desperation tactic of putting the front row of the fall final on the line. Outside of like 5 guys, its the same people the run Stafford in various divisions.
26 is not bad. But hardly thriving. no where near what it was a few years ago. And i dont think is functionally different than most tour fields. cant ignore 17 at the last race either.
Should we even talk about how well Thompson is doing with their modified races?
Should we talk about how massively the tri track car count fell off this year?
there are currently 11 teams that made every tour race. There are currently 15 that attempted each (of the only 4) tri track races so far. Is that really a functional difference?
And I have to ask what value is there in a tour that can’t leave CT? Why would NASCAR keep the headache at that point?
Maybe the tour has tipped a little too far with travel. but turning back into the 8 CT+2NH+2LI series isn’t the answer either.
And we all know Stafford and NASCAR aren’t making up anytime soon, and Waterford is just as unlikely. i do think adding another race (ice breaker) with the tour/Thompson in exchange for Langley could be good for all involved, but i dont think that moves the needle for the tour.
If the tour disappeared tomorrow, how many teams just vanish for good instead of racing in CT?
“Maybe the tour has tipped a little too far with travel”
Wait, am I reading that right? The Zig, zagged on steadfast support for the Tour’s direction.
“And we all know Stafford and NASCAR aren’t making up anytime soon, and Waterford is just as unlikely”
Yes we do and that could of been your only sentence in the comment and you would have been spot on.
Wmt has bunch of issues . No cars . 7 full time . 250 thousand to run season . Purses are joke . Squeeze way to much in day . Everyone runs around like
Crazy people from the time they blow horn til the time they loud and go home . They paid more 20 years ago in purses and it was quarter expense . Tire bill like 60 thousand in tires for the season. Tire prices are ridiculous now and quality of them are horrendous. Does anyone ever wonder why the cars are so SLOW these days . Tires ….! 30 laps into a run the sk modifieds are just as fast with 450 horse. POlE speed … 19.1 pole speed at the big Thompson . Half way into run they are 19.7-20.0 wtf is going on … Hello … teams ! speak your MIND for once !
i think ive been fairly consistent with saying that langley probably doesnt need to be a race on the tour schedule. i like the track, but its hardly a cant miss one. and its during a very hard time of the year for most. the tour wouldnt miss it if as an entity if they dropped it, nor would the teams IMO
Hot cup rumor these days is that Richmond will be a double header cup event to free up an extra off week for the Olympics. Would likely be during the NBC portion (post July 4th basically) meaning the April/march date wont exist.
I wonder (1) if the mods would even have an available time slot for that weekend in Richmond in the dead of summer. I’m sure they would want trucks and xfinity too.
And (2) if they can’t race at Richmond, if Langley (or any other southern track) would have a home in that March/April date. I think most teams are more tolerable to traveling during that time of year when race season essentially hasn’t started here yet and there is alot of time between races.
Subtract Richmond and, by the sounds of rumors, the May Riverhead race.
Go south in march/april, Langley or south boston or where ever. And add in a 3rd Thompson, preferably icebreaker and i think you improve the schedule alot, without actually losing much at the same time.
i would also replace lee with a race that has a smaller tire bill, but that’s another discussion entirely.
I, for one, can’t wait for the schedule rumors to start flowing in a month or two.
The topic is a car that runs part part-time, and said car proclaims that hot pit stops are bad, dangerous, too expensive, causes the plague, causes blindness, makes your teeth fall out, and all sorts of other diseases and tragedies.
Tawk amongst yourselves…
I’m so glad you are enjoying the internet, I invented it. And electricity.
For those of you that want to see where there is huge expense, just look at the NWMT schedule:
New Smyrna Speedway FL
Richmond Raceway VA
Monadnock
Riverhead
Lee USA Speedway
Seekonk MA
Riverhead NY
Wall NJ
NHMS NH
Lancaster PA
Thompson CT
Langley Virginia
Oswego NY
Monadnock
Riverhead
North Wilksboro NC
Thompson
Martinsville VA
That’s a tremendous amount of travel. Years ago, Bristol was THE long distance track, and there was tons of whining and complaining about that. So what does NASCAR do? A schedule with far more travel, far more cost. This travel cost is keeping many cars from running the entire NWMT schedule.
So the Schedule you want is????????????
Stafford
Thompson
Stafford
Thompson
Stafford
Thompson
Stafford
Thompson
NHMS
Stafford
Thompson
Stafford
Thompson
Stafford
Thompson
“We’re going to see if we can put something together for the World Series,” Fuller said. “And obviously we’ll do three or four pit practices before we get to that.”
😝😝😝😝😝😝
It’s gonna take more than three or four pit practices!!!!!
🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭
“I’m not a fan of the pit stops at all,” Fuller said. “It’s hard enough to get four guys to come to the race track these days, let alone nine. The [Whelen Modified Tour] is not designed for pits stops. This day and age, it’s very difficult to get help and to spend all of this money and do all of this work and put a race in the hands of guys that don’t even come to your shop or barely have anything to do with your race team, it’s a tragedy, it’s horrible. There should be a halfway break and you’ll save teams 20 or 30 thousand dollars in pit equipment and $15,000 in entry fees a year and just be done with it.”
That does not look like a problem with pit stops, but a problem getting people to work for that team.
The 1 car has run 3 races this season. It has no place whatsoever saying what is wrong with modified racing, or what needs to be changed.
There’s no crying in racing.
😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭
Look at the victory lane pictures for the 51, 16 and other cars… many, many people on the crew on those teams. No problem with staffing.
Dennis, I’m still wondering if you have a full crew of mechanics and chase vehicles for your bicycle racing team?
Again DRGF, what’s the alternative?
Years ago, it was 4 at Thompson, 4 at Stafford, 1 at riverhead, 1 at monadnock, 1 at waterford, 2 at nhms and 1 at bristol.
Even if NHMS 2, Stafford and Waterford magically become options again, from a NASCAR perspective, what benefit do they get from just running those tracks?
and thats also ignoring how much un healthier thompson is these days too.
sure, youll end up with 30 car fields maybe. tires and other costs still went up a ton. and fans at wall, oswego, lancaster, martinsville, smyrna etc all lose out.
all the people that focus on travel conveniently ignore how most of the other non travel options are down big as well
People always say nascar doesnt like the mods and tries to hide them. but this type of schedule is how you grow the following.
im not saying a 15 car race at Langley is growing the series. but i do think the following is growing more as a whole then 10 years ago. but those people arent in CT so they dont matter.