(Press release from Souza Media)
Modified champion Jon McKennedy announced today that he will drive in over 15 Tour-Type Modified races across the New England region in 2024.
Competing for his own team, McKennedy will mix between Outlaw Open Modified Series races at Thompson Speedway, Open Modified races at Stafford Motor Speedway, select NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events and a few Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series races to make out a robust calendar for 2024.
“We’re excited to get the ball rolling in our FURY race cars and go chase some trophies,” McKennedy said. “I feel this is a great opportunity for me to go out there and continue to show we can win races. We did have some other opportunities for rides, but felt this was the best route for this season. We have picked some of the higher profile events at my favorite tracks for the 2024 season and feel the competition is going to be stout at all of them.”
A full sponsor lineup for the car and paint scheme will be released in the near future.
McKennedy’s season will begin at Thompson Speedway with the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series during Icebreaker weekend on Saturday, April 7, followed by the Open Modified event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s Northeast Classic on April 13.
He will follow that up with seven more Thompson events during the 2024 season (May 27 – Outlaw Mods, June 13 – Outlaw Mods, June 27 – Outlaw Mods, July 25 – Outlaw Mods, August 7 – Outlaw Mods, August 14 – NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and October 12 – Outlaw Mods). Thompson Speedway will continue to be operated by the American-Canadian Tour and Pro All Star Series for 2024, keeping short track racing alive at the Connecticut oval.
McKennedy will compete at Stafford Motor Speedway for the NAPA Spring Sizzler (April 27-28), Open Modified Mountain Masters (July 17) and the Fall Final with the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series on September 28.
His NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour starts will take place at Monadnock Speedway (May 4 and July 20), Seekonk Speedway (June 1) and New Hampshire Motor Speedway (June 22). McKennedy will compete in the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series at Thompson (April 7), White Mountain Motorsports Park (July 27) and Star Speedway (September 15).
The 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion, McKennedy is no stranger to winning races and championships. On top of the 2022 title, McKennedy finished second in the 2020 Tour standings driving for Tommy Baldwin Racing. He also picked up his first career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win at Myrtle Beach Speedway in 2018, and has another victory at Claremont Motorsports Park in 2022, which helped lead to his title.
McKennedy is a former ISMA Supermodified champion, 4-time ISMA Star Classic winner, 4-time ISMA Ollie Silva Memorial winner and 4-time Modified Racing Series champion. He has multiple Star Speedway championships to his resume, a North-South Shootout with Tommy Baldwin Racing (2018) and a championship in the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series (2014), along with many karting titles in his early years and additional race wins in multiple divisions. McKennedy was also named the 2016 North East Touring Series driver of the year.
For a full tentative schedule for Jon McKennedy’s 2024 season, see below.
2024 Schedule *Subject To Change*
April 7 – Thompson Speedway – Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series
April 13 – New Hampshire Motor Speedway – Open Modifieds
April 27-28 – Stafford Speedway – NAPA Spring Sizzler
May 4 – Monadnock Speedway – NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
May 27 – Thompson Speedway – Outlaw Open Modified Series
June 1 – Seekonk Speedway – NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
June 13 – Thompson Speedway – Outlaw Open Modified Series
June 22 – New Hampshire Motor Speedway – NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
June 27 – Thompson Speedway – Outlaw Open Modified Series
July 17 – Stafford Speedway – Open Modified Mountain Masters
July 20 – Monadnock Speedway – NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
July 25 – Thompson Speedway – Outlaw Open Modified Series
July 27 – White Mountain Motorsports Park – Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series
August 7 – Thompson Speedway – Outlaw Open Modified Series
August 14 – Thompson Speedway – NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
September 15 – Star Speedway – Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series
September 28 – Stafford Speedway – Monaco Modified Tri-Track NAPA Fall Final
October 12 – Thompson Speedway – Outlaw Open Modified Series
Excellent news, my favorite Driver will be back at it in 2024, another reason for me to make the 1.5 hr drive to the High Banks at Thompson and 2.0 hr drive to Stafford Speedway, I am sure both tracks will be happy to see him pull into the PITS on their open shows….Having a multi- time Champion in your lineup only adds to the show… Jon is definitely a Man of few words, but He come off as quite Humble weather he Wins or Loses…He has quite a lot of experience as a Driver & also Chassis set up guy ,so I think he will be competitive in the new FURY CHASSIS…..See what happens….
Gee, looks like he’s staying in the northeast… wonder why? 🤔
Dareal, please explain.
Great to see Jon back in a tour type(real) mod. Another champ chooses to run Tour Type (real) mod outlaw and open events with very few NASCAR WMT (template, spec, expensive) events.
The open events seem to be gaining cars as the WMT counts dwindling away.
Rob P., explain what?
One of my favorite racers, glad to find out he’ll be back behined the wheel! Reads like a real independent schedule, no allegiance to any series, running the ones he likes.
I like that, Money Matt like – would love to see Matt and Jon roll into big money shows like the days of old… Evans / Cook showing up, chasing points.. now it’s prestige and money.. Matt’s on top of the modified world, I think he needs a legit rival…
Dareal explain why he’s staying in the northeast. Is he trying to move up?
McKennedy has put together an “All New England” schedule which would work great as a “tour”, if all races were associated with a common organizer. Perhaps Ronnie Williams is considering a similar schedule for 2024?
I’m a bit surprised that the Tri-Track event at the Bowl is missing from McKennedy’s schedule. Maybe New London is too far south??
Rob P. wrote, “Dareal explain why he’s staying in the northeast. Is he trying to move up?”
Maybe he’s staying in the northeast because of the high cost of traveling? That high cost is talked about frequently.
What do you mean by, “Is he trying to move up? What does that mean? Move up from where to where???? What are you talking about?
10 races at Thompson , so he will be dialed in, 2 at NHIS will also be interesting…Lots of these tracks he has won races at, Either in a Modified
or a Super Modified…I wonder if he will make some starts in a Supermodified Driving for another Car Owner….That would also be cool…He’s record in Supers is STELLAR to say the least… Like 12 or 13 Wins in a row… if not more… memory is a little beat up…. LOL…. I loved
watching Jon wheel a Super.. It’s a controlled high Speed run to the front when he decides it’s go time , it’s a thing of beauty as he fly’s through traffic to the front….We will see if a Super Owner puts Jon in a seat …????
His schedule is “Subject to Change” so maybe with some early season success he’ll add a few more dates. He may be leaving himself open to other events for different car owners or different divisions….
Good luck to Jon!