In 2024 the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series ran an eight event schedule, which was the largest slate of events ever in the 11-year history of the division.
And the growth trend will continue for year No. 12 for the series.
The Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series will run a 10-event schedule for the 2025 season with new events added at Stafford Speedway and Thompson Speedway. The division will visit four states in 2025 with five of 10 events to be held at Connecticut venues.
“With a 10-race schedule in 2025, we’re excited to announce our most ambitious season yet,” said Renee Dupuis, Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series director of series development. “With scheduling, we’re sensitive to what works best for our teams, while also always taking into account existing/traditional dates for other series and tracks. But, ultimately, we also need to cooperate with what track owners and operators are willing to offer. Our 2025 schedule is very much a reflection of this balancing act.”
In 2024 the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series ran its first event ever at Thompson Speedway. The division will make its return to the as part of the Icebreaker weekend on Saturday March 29.
It will be a quick return engagement at the historic venue for the division with a new event scheduled for Wednesday May 14.
As had been previously announced, the division had added a second event at Stafford for 2025. The Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series will run the Modified Masters event at Stafford on Wednesday July 16 and and then anchor the NAPA Fall Final on Saturday Sept. 27.
The division will return to Vermont for Memorial Weekend for a Sunday May 25 at Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt.
The Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series ran its first event at White Mountain Motorsports Park in 2024. The division will return to the North Woodstock, N.H. venue on Saturday June 7.
The division will make the first of two trips to Seekonk Speedway in Seekonk, Mass with the running of Open Wheel Wednesday on Saturday June 25. The second trip to Seekonk will be for the traditional season ending USNEPower Haunted Hundred on Saturday Oct. 27.
Star Speedway in Epping, N.H. will host the division for a Saturday Aug. 2 event. A visit to the New London-Waterford Speedbowl comes for the division on Saturday Aug. 23.
“We anticipate 2025 will again be a crowded season of Modified racing, but the July 16 Stafford date was an open Modified date, so we don’t view that so much as adding a race, but rather absorbing an existing event,” Dupuis said.
Additional details – including revised race distances, purses, race sponsors, companion events, and more – will be announced in the coming weeks.
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will be interesting to see how it works out for them. Expanding after having their worst car count in a decade sure wont help that metric.
Will be interesting to see if they have a response to the tour’s increase in funding, too.
Looks like a great schedule, THANK-YOU TriTrack!! Perfect for a Modified chaser like me, all except one are a day trip. Hopefully this will provide opportunities for all the New England tour-type Modifieds a place to race without needing six+ people, 12+ tires, and lots of travel $$$ to compete.
@zig other than Thunder Road (19 cars) and White Mountain (21 cars) the car counts were pretty solid. Star was 26 and everywhere else was over 30. I am a bit surprised they decided to go back to Thunder Road and White Mountain. The second Thompson date concerns me because it seems everything mid-week Thompson has tried to do the last couple years has disappointed. The new Stafford race is just one of Stafford’s events from last year that had 26 entries, so that’s probably a safe bet.
This is what we have been wanting for a few years now, more races in Ma & Ct along with NH …. They are filling a void left behind by the Nascar Mod Tour …. I was calling for a 10 race schedule a few years ago to get in these tracks close to home for alot of our teams…It is ABSOLUTELY GREAT that Tri-Track is stepping up and expanding their excellent product to more places ..!!! Could not be happier for the Leadership of Renee & the Owners for taking this step… Tri- Track puts on very well run , low stress shows that are always entertaining , We feel like we get our money’s worth with the HEAT RACES & CONSI’S …. That beats single lap qualifying anyday…. Excellent news…!!! 10 races is a perfect number to commit too as a Team with races closer to home… Best of LUCK to this team and Owner’s !!!
I didn’t say they weren’t solid. I said it was their worse year.
Their high car count average was 39.8 in 2015. it was ~28.7 this year.
Still fine. But nowhere near the old days of 4-5 heats and 1-2 lcqs and just absolute massive fields.
If they can manage the same car count this upcoming year, it would be a great success for them.
They only had 8 drivers attempt each race this year. As we know with the tour, once you skip 1, it starts being a lot easier to skip the next one. more shows and more weekday shows is making it easier and easier.
I think 2k to start tour races is going to convince a lot of these smaller teams to try their hand at more races on that side. If you are responsible, that’s enough to cover the tires and fuel.
you had to get a top 5 to get to 2k at the haunted 100 this year.
Zig,
Almost every race on the Whelen Modified Tour this year was at least $2,000 to start based on what “last place” paid for all but a few events.
My thinking that two races in a row at Thompson is not a good start – they should only count your best nine finishes towards the point championship – just thinking outside the box. I like the rest of the schedule
lets see the minimum guaranteed that you would get for finishing last in each race based on the amount of cars that actually entered.
NSS: $1,500 (assuming the added places paid whatever 32nd was to pay)
richmond: $1,500
TSMP-1: $1,200
Monadnock 1: $1,000
riverhead-1: $750
seekonk: $800
NHMS: $1,550
Monadnock-2: 1,000
Lancaster: $2,000 + $200 from FLO
TSMP-2: $1,100
oswego: $1,900+$200 from FLO
Riverhead- 2: $1,000+ $200 from FLO
Monadnock-3: $1,000
TSMP-3: $1,200
Wilkesboro: $1,700+ 200 from FLO
Martinsville: $1,500
2 races ended up being 2k to start by my count.
the actual finishing spot needed to reach 2k between the stated purse + flo awards.
NSS: 30th
richmond: 20th
TSMP-1: 8th
Monadnock 1: 5th
riverhead-1:5th
seekonk: 5th
NHMS: 30th
Monadnock-2: 5th
Lancaster: 26th
TSMP-2: 8th
oswego: 20th
Riverhead- 2: 7th
Monadnock-3: 5th
TSMP-3: 8th
Wilkesboro: 19th
Martinsville: 20th
yes, there is the owner plan that would lower these somewhat for certain team. But not every team will be eligible to that. And when times are “good”. Most wont.
and now lets look at what last would pay if a full field showed up.
NSS: $1,500
richmond: $1,200
TSMP-1: $1,000
Monadnock 1: $1,000
riverhead-1: $750
seekonk: $750
NHMS: $1,500
Monadnock-2: $1,000
Lancaster: $2,000
TSMP-2: $1,000
oswego: $1,250
Riverhead- 2: $1,000
Monadnock-3: $1,000
TSMP-3: $1,000
Wilkesboro: $1,200
Martinsville: $1,200
Now, 2k to start isn’t going to bring back the hey days by any means. its not going to bring back the top tier of car owners. but now that its very clear and stated ahead of time. I think it will gain a lot more teams eyes. being able to plan weeks/months in advance that you should be able to race for that kind of purse should help alot. You won’t have to wait for the entry blank a few weeks before, and then again for the entry list a few days before, to make a choice on where you genuinely believe you stack up.
not everyone goes to a race expecting to win. and thats ok.
Zig,
I’m in no way discounting the commitment to adding money to the purse, I just think that when it comes to the Whelen Modified Tour, it’s not so much the money that is paid out that is keeping teams away. And no, I don’t own car so I’m not privy to all the details that go on as far as team financing, but I feel like the teams that find themselves faced with a decision about running Whelen Modified Tour races are not making that decision based on the possibility of making an extra $600 or $700.
When I talk to people about why they’re not running part-time on the Whelen Modified Tour I get a lot of different answers, most of which don’t directly involve how much money the series pays. Some of the things I hear … It costs too much to get their car Tour legal. They can’t find crew help or crew help will cost them too much. They don’t have time to deal with the additional work that comes with extended travel planning. The individual event schedules at the track are too long. NASCAR is not cooperative or welcoming when they’ve shown up at events previously. They don’t like constricting tire rules if you’re not a full-time team.
And as far as running full-time, here’s something I don’t quite get that has been mentioned to me by so many people directly involved in short track racing. The CIA level secretiveness of the point fund money payouts. Let’s say someone owns an SK Modified team and they have aspiration of transitioning to become a Touring Open Modified team. Well don’t you think they might be more inclined to do that if the point fund money was actually something accessible and shared publicly? And this is what I hear from people involved directly with grassroots teams that long ago might have entertained the idea of going to the Whelen Modified Tour. What they say to me is, if NASCAR is so secretive about the point fund money it must be because the payouts aren’t good.
When you look at the recent announcement of the increased financial commitment to the series for 2025, the crux of NASCAR’s public relations push was on the 250 percent increase in the point fund money. But anyone in the media who asked them to put a number on the points fund was rebuffed. So in the end, at least publicly, 250 percent of “We’re not telling you” ultimately equals 250 percent of we don’t know.
The couple thousand dollars you are talking about to start or finish last is a pittance, near negligible in the total view of what it costs to run an event.
Travel is the big cost. Travel and multi-day events are HUGE costs. The haul, hotels, meals, transportation, flights, rental vehicles, care and feeding a crew for a multi-day event is expensive, a cost that does not exist when an event is a single day at central tracks such as Thompson and Stafford.
Remember that the southern teams don’t travel up north, they won’t travel across the street.
So that $1,000 to finish last is noise, negligible, almost totally insignificant pocket change. That $1,000 is not a factor in car counts at all. It costs over $10,000 to run a travel event, well over $10,000. Look at the schedule.
That Fuller guy was advocating cold pit stops to minimize crew size, to reduce cost. It costs a small fortune just to get the car and team ready to roll out of the shop for a remote travel event. That $1,000 for a last place finish is not the determining factor in running an event.
Most events, first place does not pay the full cost of running the event. Sponsorship is crucial. That is well known.
Look at the pics, look at the size of the crews for the 51 and 16 teams. I doubt they are all volunteer. The crew chiefs are paid, it is their jobs. It costs a fortune to finance that. It isn’t just about gas and tires, there is far more that the common fan has no idea, or no access to see.
Please, stop trying to be forensic accountants, stop obsessing over $1,000, and enjoy the racing.
And Shawn’s point about the CIA level secretiveness is a total ?. I wouldn’t be surprised if NASCAR imposes NDAs on the teams to prohibit discussing the point fund. If the point fund was any good, many, many more cars would run the whole schedule. I’ve been around NASCAR Modified racing for decades, and just bringing up the point fund in casual conversation is a huge taboo.
Has tri track considered riverhead?
BigOrange61,
To my knowledge, I don’t think there’s ever been much talk about the series going to Riverhead.
And let me remind you that NASCAR stopped posting individual race winnings and accumulated season winnings many, many years ago. Why? Because at the end of the year, a top team won something like $70,000 over the season. That’s maybe an engine and a refresh or two. Or a good part of a tire bill, depending on the number of races that season. That’s it. Where’s all the rest of the financing coming from to cover all the other expenses?
Some of you think that $1,000 is a real determining factor when the actual cost to run a single event is for a competitive team is well over $10,000 and far more when it is a travel event. It costs $$$$$ to send a team on the road. Want more than 2 cars competing for the championship? Let NASCAR know you want the Tour based in CT around Thompson and Stafford so more cars can actually spend $$$ on competing and not traveling.
Zig, this is far more complicated than deciding to buy beer, cigarettes, or chicken wings with that $10.
“And as far as running full-time, here’s something I don’t quite get that has been mentioned to me by so many people directly involved in short track racing. The CIA level secretiveness of the point fund money payouts”
welp not any more.
Jimmy Wilson sent out the 2025 WMT Point Fund payout by position as well as each race payout by portion. The Flo Racing Connecticut Challenge payout was also included.
Can’t say everything is so secret now.
Shawn, if I send it to you, maybe you could post it somewhere
Just Me – The Original,
All of what was sent out was posted on the RaceDayCT Insider Page on Tuesday.