Faces In The Crowd: Meeting Pat C. At Stafford Speedway

Faces In The Crowd is a semi-regular feature from RaceDayCT’s Denise DuPont visiting with fans in the grandstands at local short tracks.

When it comes to covering short track racing in New England, there are always plenty of stories to tell from the track or in the pits. But there is a whole other part of the racing community – the race fans – that have stories to tell. RaceDayCT’s Denise DuPont offers Faces In The Crowd as a way to tell those stories.

Faces In The Crowd: Meeting Race Fan Pat C.

Race fans come in all shapes and sizes from a wide variety of back grounds. Returning to Stafford Speedway this week we found another top row occupant who weekly makes the commute to the race track after finding an interest in racing for a personal reason.

Pat C. needed to make a change in his life after years of being a musician. In the world of music, certain venues are conducive to partying and put pressure on the crowd and band members to drink alcohol. After years of being a band member, Pat made the decision to stop drinking in the mid 1980’s. When you need a life altering change, an outlet has to be found that will help you shift gears. Pat found a comfortable place in the sport of racing and its dedicated fans.  Joining the racing community, Pat filled a certain void in his life. Today he is comfortable with just being a race fan supporting and cheering racing from his seat.

Being a part of a popular sport, fans are both passionate and dedicated. When you hear the thunder of the race cars on the track, Pat is now a part of the roar emanated from the grandstand crowd.

I reached out to Pat before race time at Stafford Speedway. Here is a little bit about another member of the race community’s story:

How long have you been involved in following racing? 
Only since the early 90’s, 1991 to be exact. But I’ve been playing music all my life. After I stopped drinking in the mid-80s, I had to find an outlet. And I found racing. But I didn’t find Stafford [Speedway] until early 90’s.

Which track do you like going to the best?
Stafford Speedway. It fits me, and definitely the best show. They give the bang for the buck. It’s very sad what’s going on with the other tracks. They don’t have car counts. [Stafford] has everything going for it.

Is there any particular division that you like most?
SK Lights and SK Modifieds are just my favorite. It’s the exciting speed of competition. It’s the close proximity of the cars. It’s like mind-boggling how close they race and the speed.

And if you had to do it all over again, would you?
Yes, I would. I am glad I got involved in racing and it’s a racing community. We’ll know one another and see one another, and share things.

Would you change anything?
No, I would not change anything, everything’s good.

Do you travel to races outside the Northeast?
No, unfortunately not recently. Years ago I went to Richmond Raceway, and a dirt track – Virginia Motor Speedway. In [recent] years, the furthest I have gone is West Lebanon in New York and the tracks in New Hampshire (Lee, Star, Monadnock, Claremont, New Hampshire Motor Speedway) mostly, and tracks in Maine (Beech Ridge , Oxford). So, racetracks in the New England area. I used to travel a lot in the early 90’s. In 1993, I went to 126 auto races in one season. I’ll never see that again.

As far as with music, what instrument did you play in a band?
I played Congas, Timbales and Drums in bands all my life till late 1980’s. I played with a Babe Pino Band from Worcester, Mass. We did a lot of touring in Northeast. And the other bands were just basic local bands, playing clubs. … Now, racing is a my outlet.

Sitting here in the grandstand as a fan, have you made a lot of friends?
Oh, yes. I look forward to coming here because the people at the race track are just really friendly. You know, they are just a different breed, race fans, as opposed to when you go back in the city and what’s going on there every day of life. But coming to the track and the race fans, you just can’t beat it. Since I have been coming to Stafford Speedway for years, I know all these people here. We all talk and share our day or night out together.”