(Press release from Stafford Speedway)
With 81 career feature wins, Keith Rocco is one of the winningest drivers in Stafford Speedway history, trailing only Ted Christopher with 131 wins, Woody Pitkat with 83 wins, and Tom Fearn with 82 wins. Among his 81 career wins, Rocco has won just about everything there is to win at Stafford with the exception of the NAPA Spring Sizzler® and the NAPA SK 5k. Rocco has met with misfortune the last 2 years driving Mark Pane’s #57 M & M Stone Creations car which has prevented him from making the NAPA Spring Sizzler® starting field, but he is looking forward to turning his luck around in this year’s 52nd Annual edition of the “The Greatest Race in the History of Spring”.
“I’m happy and I’m excited,” said Rocco. “We’ve had horrible luck the last 2 years at the Sizzler® with this car and hopefully this will be the year that we can turn it around. We had a parts failure last year and two years ago it seemed like we were getting wrecked every time we went out on the track. We always come to Stafford with a stout piece and when things aren’t going your way, they’re not going your way. We’ll have to wait and see what the weekend brings.”
Rocco and the #57 team took their car to Thompson for the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series race that was postponed due to weather, but the car showed speed in the practice sessions and Rocco was able to nail down a third place finish in his qualifying heat. While Rocco didn’t get to race, the practice and qualifying heat sessions gave him and the team an idea of where the #57 car is and what they’ll need in order for Rocco to match or surpass his NAPA Spring Sizzler® career best finish of third place, which came back in 2012 while driving the ‘Ole Blue’ #3 car for Boehler Racing.
“We’re kind of past the point of worrying about practice times, but now we know what we need in the car and what we need to have for the end of the race,” said Rocco. “Winning the Sizzler® would be a career highlight for me.”
In addition to the #57 car, Rocco will also be starting his second season together with the #22 Horsepower Hill Farms team owned by Dan Avery. Their first season together saw Rocco claim back to back wins during the summer that helped propel him to a third place finish in the points standings and he is looking to go even better in 2024 with the #22 team.
“I think we’re looking really good,” said Rocco. “Things definitely got better for us, consistency-wise, in the middle of the summer last season when we clicked off two wins in a row. Obviously it’s a fast racecar and a great team, and it’s definitely nice to be having fun doing this again.”
The 52nd Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler® is set for Saturday and Sunday, April 27-28. Saturday, April 27th and will consist of two 40-lap NAPA Duel qualifying races for the Open Modified division. The 40-lap races will each pay $3,500 to win and will set the field for Sunday’s NAPA Spring Sizzler®. Stafford’s Late Model, Limited Late Model, and Street Stock divisions will complete Saturday’s racing program with qualifying and feature racing.
Order 52nd NAPA Spring Sizzler® Tickets
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Sunday, April 28th will play host to the $20,000 to win 52nd NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler®. Filling out Sunday’s racing card will be qualifying and feature racing for the SK Modified® and SK Light Modified divisions along with last chance qualifiers for the NAPA Spring Sizzler®.
For more information, visit staffordspeedway.com, follow Stafford Speedway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
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