— Story Originally Published On RaceDayCT On Sept. 8, 2023 —
STAFFORD – It’s a night at Stafford Speedway that has been six years in the making for the Goff family.
The SK Light Modified that Jay Goff and his son Aaron Goff previously raced at Stafford Speedway has been sitting in the garage for six years.
Though it wasn’t as if Jay Goff didn’t have plans for the car while it sat unused.
Aaron’s son and Jay’s grandson Austin has spent the last 10 years racing in various divisions as part of the Monday night Karting series at Stafford Speedway.
The minimum age for competing in the SK Light Modified division at Stafford is 15 years old.
“I’ve been telling Austin that he could have my car when he turned [15],” Jay Goff said. “His birthday is today so he’s in the car.”
And Austin Goff will have a history making birthday at Stafford tonight. Austin Goff will be the youngest driver ever to compete in the division. And he will become the first third generation driver in the SK Light Modified division at Stafford. It’s also believed that the Goff family will be the first family to have a father, son and grandson compete in the same division at Stafford.
“It feels pretty cool to know we’re the first family out there doing something like this,” Austin Goff said. “It feels pretty good. I don’t even know how to put it into words. It feels so unreal that it’s happening. I was so excited to get away from Monday nights to move to Friday nights at Stafford and even more exciting to do it in one of the biggest divisions here.”
Said 46-year old Aaron Goff: “The coolest thing I think is that all three of us have driven the same car.”
The 67-year old Jay Goff began his racing career at Stafford in 1978. He ran in various divisions locally before stepping away from driving in 1989. He returned to racing in the SK Light Modified division at Stafford in 2007. He recorded three victories in the division between 2012-2014. Aaron Goff had a victory in the Street Stock division at Stafford in 2004. Over the years Jay and Aaron split time racing in the SK Light Modified at Stafford. Jay Goff and Aaron Goff last ran the car during the 2017 season.
The family has been busily preparing for a return to the track for much of the summer.
“Austin has been totally ecstatic about it,” Aaron Goff said. “He’s just kept saying ‘Hey dad, let’s go work on the race car.’”
Aaron Goff got the car back out on the track for a shakedown in last week’s SK Light Modified feature at Stafford. Austin Goff got his first time behind the wheel during testing on Friday afternoon at Stafford.
“He ran about 100 a laps today,” Jay Goff said. “A lot of learning. First time for him in a Modified, first time in a standard shift. I was really pleased with his progression out there. … He doesn’t show a lot of emotion but when he was getting out of the car today I could see the smile on his face. Even in the Karts, he gets in and races his car and just does his thing. He’s always very even keel.”
Aaron Goff said he expects to be overwhelmed with nerves watching Austin make his feature debut.
“He’s picked up a lot of pace today,” Aaron Goff said. “That made me happy. We’re just here for seat time tonight. We’re not looking for speed tonight I want him to hang out in the back and learn and get a feeling for everything. I’ve told him if he can keep it in one piece we can do it for the rest of the year.”
Back in the 1980’s a driver by the name of JJ Goff hooked the back gate at Stafford doing a very violent 360. Extraordinary because it was so violent the car disintegrated with the engine and transmission ending up sitting on the track. The crowd hushed thinking the driver must have been hurt badly or worse.
The driver exited the car as I recall shaken but mostly OK and they used that experience to reconfigure the back gate eliminating the protrusion that made a routine wall encounter life threatening. If that was Gramps Goff it kind of gives this story a bit more depth. If it isn’t then it’s an anecdote from Stafford history that could have been a memorable tragedy but thankfully ended up not particularly noteworthy unless you happened to see it.
Thank you for remembering Doug
Yes, that was me. It was a very bad crash, taking me out of competition for the rest of the season. It also put a strain on my family, thinking the worst had happened as they sat in the stands waiting for the news.
The next season went better for us, winning our first late model race at Thompson speedway.
Thanks for confirming that memory. Escaping it was one of the most extraordinary racing related events I’ve ever witnessed.
Also noteworthy it was a different time, the cars OEM based race cars and far less safe then anything racing at Stafford these days.