Ron Silk has started defense of his 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship in style this season. Sunday’s victory in the Miller Lite Salutes Wayne Anderson 200 at Riverhead gave the Norwalk driver three victories in the first five events this season.
The series record for victories in a season is 13, set by Mike Stefanik over a 22-race schedule in 1998. While that number is likely out of reach for Silk with just 16 events on the schedule this season, Silk could challenge Stefanik’s record for winning percentage for a season, which is 59 percent set in 1998.
Today’s poll question asks, how many wins will Silk finish the Whelen Modified Tour season with. Vote below.
and the Tour goes on and on …
I don’t claim to be any sort of math whiz, but yeah, after doing the math I would surmise that people who chose four only expect him to win one more time this season.
So anybody know what happened to Matt Hirshman at Riverhead?
Just Saying,
Matt Hirschman ran in the Race of Champions Series event he was committed to at Mahoning Valley on Sunday.
Seems like NASCAR doesn’t want the 1 car to run up front and challenge the 16 and 51 for some reason. If I was the owner of that car I would demand a sit down or stop supporting that series.
Richmond – Black flagged while leading
Thompson – 16 clearly jumped restart while 1 car leading and driven up track
Riverhead – black flagged to pull tape off bumper running 3rd
If they want a match race between the 16 and 51 just say so. Stop wasting team funds for your BS show NASCAR. This is ridiculous. Good job taking care of new team owners. Big surprise your car counts are dropping like a stone.
The last 2 crowds have been pathetic for the WMT and Thompson wasn’t exactly a good crowd either but it was way more than Monadnock and Riverhead got. No way tracks keep booking the series if this continues.
The mod tour needs to get rid of counting caution laps . I’m not the only fan to get irked at watching almost half a race at times under caution. Look at Riverhead , 10 cautions totaling 81 laps , c, mon man we paid for 200 not 120 . Talk about single file !
The weather was a factor this weekend, but the crowds at Riverhead were terrible for all 3 races last year, even when the weather was good. The tour faithful just keep making excuses, which isn’t helping anything. Crowd at Thompson for the Icebreaker was weak. And Monadnock maybe had 600 people in the grandstands a few weeks ago and it was a beautiful day. It’s concerning that crowds aren’t showing up for this series at a lot of northeast places any more. Guarantee Stafford management looks at the car counts and crowds at Thompson and Monadnock and it’s an easy decision for them to not bring the tour back anytime soon.
81 laps under caution of a 200 lap race and one guy led almost the whole race and was untouchable. Maybe don’t take 9 laps of caution for a 1 car spin. Not what a lot of fans want to buy a ticket to see.
I’m wondering if it’s going the way of the big 3 at NASCAR. They keep trying to bring in more people but don’t seem real worried about it. I wonder how much income from the streaming side of things the WMT tracks get, hopefully enough to offset the small crowds.
These last 2 races might be the worse attended WMT events since 1985,and plenty since then had weather, something is changing. It could be the T.V dynamic, too many Mod series, price for a family to attend, lack of intrest among younger groups, the economy?
Rich , since Dale Sr passed away …all of NASCAR has seen a steady downtrend that continues to this day… Car counts are continuing to drop along with attendances.. Dirt Racing may be the only motorsport that has had any growth the last 10 years… hardly anyone knows what a consi or last chance qualifier is any more.. You show up and you are guaranteed a spot in the Feature…. Years ago you had 20 cars trying to get 2 – 4 spots in a Consi to just make the Feature.. those Consis were like going to Battle .. you would be lucky to just survive those all out wars…. It was a huge relief to qualify in the heat races…
SUITECASE- Some of the best racing I’ve witnessed came by the way of a Consi, B main or last chance qualifier race. Whether it be the asphalt of Thompson or Danbury to the dirt of OC and LV speedways you earned your way into that feature event! Recently at Accord Speedway a 1/4 dirt track in southeastern NY hosted a Brett Deyo STSS race on a Tuesday evening. With the chance of rain being at 45 to 67 percent though out the evening they still managed to pull in 56 Big Block MODIFIEDS, 36 Sportsman and 20 Street Stocks? (PROMOTE) and don’t ever forget to take care of the guys putting the show on.
Flo does remove fans in the seats… not sure if Flo subscriptions offset the empty seats and concessions but if it does then the Mod Tour will survive
Steve,
I think the flaw in your premise involves long term growth of attendance. Flo is a fantastic option for people who are already fans of short track racing, but not a great platform for cultivating new fans. New short track racing fans need to be cultivated by having them walk through the gates at a track and sit in the grandstand. There is no family of five who have never been to the races who would be sitting at their home in Stafford on a Friday afternoon and say “Hey, let’s subscribe to FloRacing and watch Stafford on our television tonight.” But, that family of five that has never been to a track before could very well see experiencing an event in person as an entertainment option, and that choice may turn them into regular fans. It’s no knock on streaming, I think it’s great for the sport in a lot of ways, but it’s not the answer for refilling the grandstands at race tracks.
Shawn,
No doubt that Flo is hurting the stands. It might bring in new fans just like the cup series or baseball. Most people watch a sport on TV before becoming a fan and actually go to the Venue. I watch the wild thing series on monday on Flo – I would never go to the track to watch them but I’m a new fan of them, and it’s great for Grandparents and friends to watch.
Steve,
The difference between what you described with people watching baseball and Cup Series racing is that those things are broadcast on traditional broadcast networks. So, yes, the average person who might not be a race fan might stumble into watching a Cup Series race while channel surfing. But that facet of viewing doesn’t exist when it comes to streaming. I hightly doubt anyone who has never been to a short track before is going to subscribe to FloRacing. That’s what I’m trying to say about how streaming could hurt the overall growth because it’s not a way that you’re going to cultivate many new fans. It’s fantastic for the people who area already fans, but not really entryway for new fans to be found.
Doe’s Stafford still throw that barbeque the evening of the SK-5K race ?