Brad Lafontaine Named Race Director At New London-Waterford Speedbowl

Brad Lafontaine has served plenty of different roles in Southern New England racing.

Lafontaine was a championship winning NASCAR Modified Tour crew chief, a former car builder and at one point owned Northeast Race Cars & Speed.

Now the Rhode Island native will be moving into another facet of motorsports as a race track official.

New London-Waterford Speedbowl management announced Saturday that Lafontaine has been named the new race director at the historic shoreline oval.

“I’ve been out of the racing game for a while and I’ve had a lot of offers about going to run other race teams,” Lafontaine told RaceDayCT exclusively Saturday. “But I really didn’t wan to that, but I kind of missed the racing because once it gets in your blood you can’t get rid of it. This came about, they gave me a call and they said they needed some help up there. I thought it would be something that I could help the racers and help the race track at the same time because of the experience that I’ve had dealing with both. I’ve been on both ends of it.”

Lafontaine is a 2019 inductee into the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame.

He served as a crew for decades for some of the biggest names in Modified racing, including Mike Stefanik, Ted Christopher, Jeff Fuller, Rick Fuller and Keith Rocco. Lafontaine won NASCAR Modified Tour championships with Fuller and Christopher.

Lafontaine began Northeast Race Cars & Speed in 1992 and sold the business in 2019.

It will mark Lafontaine’s first time serving in an official’s capacity in the sport.

“I’ve been in the NASCAR trailer a few times,” Lafontaine joked. “As far as being on this end of the role, I have not. But I’ve been in racing all my life and I’ve seen all the ins and outs of it.”

For much more from Brad on his decision to take on this new role and much, check out our exclusive interview with him at the RaceDayCT Insider page