Mike Christopher Sr., John Holland, Phil Moran, Kevin Lepage Highlight Latest New England Auto Racers Hall Of Fame Inductee Class

Press Release from New England Auto Racers

The New England Auto Racers (NEAR) President April May Preston-Elms is honored and pleased to announce the 2026 NEAR Hall of Fame Class. This year’s historic 28th class will consist of eight honorees for the region’s most highly regarded motorsports shrine who will be formally inducted into the NEAR Hall of Fame on Sunday, November 1, 2026, at the Log Cabin in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

A wide-ranging group of competitors, car owners, crew chiefs, fabricators, promoters, racing business owners, and track operators, Mike Christopher, Jerry Dostie, John Holland, Kevin Lepage, Phil Moran, Stan “Sly” Szaban, Maynard Troyer, and Dick Williams will join the NEAR Hall of Fame, raising the total to over 290 members enshrined.

Mike Christopher Connecticut native, competitor, car owner and engine builder is credited with six SK Modified Championships from 1987 through 1998 at Thompson and Stafford Speedways. The first driver after Bugsy Stevens NEAR HoF 1998 to win three championships at each track during his career. He is 5th on the all-time win list in SK Modifieds at Stafford Speedway. With feature wins also recorded at New Smyrna Speedway and Waterford Speedbowl. His winning ways has helped him to be instrumental in the support of his son Mike Christopehr Jr’s career as car owner and engine builder who has 23 wins at Stafford plus wins at Thompson in SK Modifieds and Waterford in Legend Cars.

Jerry Dostie Maine native, a Guilford, CT-based competitor, highlighted his career with a 1965 Trenton Speedway victory in Art Barry’s No. 909, becoming one of only seven New Englanders to win there. A standout of Modified racing’s “Golden Age,” Dostie won at Waterford, Thompson, Stafford, Norwood, and Monadnock, where he was a frequent winner and champion in the RGM Mota Chevrolet. He also drove for owners Ted Marsh NEAR HoF 2023 and Bob Johnson NEAR HoF 2007. He fielded the memorable “Crown Seven” Mustang-bodied car and helped introduce automatic transmissions on Daytona’s road course.

John Holland Connecticut native, competitor, car owner, and racing business owner, is best known as co-owner of New England Racing Fuels (NERF). After success on dirt, he co-owned a DIRT Modified team with Al Heinke before joining his father, Charlie, and Mike Joy NEAR Hall 2019 in purchasing New England Racing Fuels in 1995. For more than 30 years, Holland has helped supply race fuel to tracks and dealers throughout the region, including longstanding support of Stafford Speedway’s contingency program. His commitment to the sport also extends to NEAR, where NERF served for several years as the organization’s first and only corporate sponsor, supporting the mobile museum, with T-shirt sales, and other needs.

Kevin Lepage Vermont native, competitor is the only Green Mountain State native to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series. After beginning in the Catamount Late Models and NASCAR North Tour in 1980, he developed into a top ACT competitor, winning the Milk Bowl three times, including a 1993 sweep winning both the three-segment ACT main event and the two-segment Late Model race making him the only Thunder Road driver to win two classes on the same day. Lepage moved south in 1994, bringing the Vermont Teddy Bear Company sponsorship to NASCAR. He won Busch Series races at Homestead-Miami and Bristol, and earned Cup Series Top 5s with Roush Racing, a 1999 Atlanta pole, and 2005 Daytona 500 Top 10. He wrapped up his NASCAR national series career in 2014 with a combined 558 starts in Cup, Busch, and Trucks, one Cup pole and four Busch poles. He earned two top 5’s and nine top 10’s in Cup and two wins, 19 top 5’s and 51 top 10’s in Busch.

Phil Moran Connecticut native, crew chief, began racing as a teenager in Art Barry’s shop and has worked full-time on race cars since 1985. A winner across five Modified sanctions, Moran earned early NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victories with Brett Bodine, Jeff Fuller NEAR HoF 2017, and George Kent Jr. He built championship-winning success with Todd Szegedy, Doug Coby, and Ron Silk leading the three drivers to the most wins in five seasons. His résumé includes 7 NASCAR Modified Tour championships, multiple Spring Sizzler wins, victories at New Smyrna, Stafford, Thompson, Riverhead, Oswego, Monadnock, and other major venues, and continued success through 2026, including a SMART Modified Tour win at South Boston.

Stan “Sly” Szaban Massachusetts native, crew chief, built a championship résumé across Pro Stock and Modified racing, earning titles at Riverside Park, Stafford, and on the NASCAR Modified Tour. His championship credits include the 1982 Riverside Park Speedway Pro Stock title as co-owner and crew chief; the 1986 Stafford Speedway Modified title; NASCAR Modified Tour championships in 1989, 1991, 2006, all with NASCAR Hall of Famer Mike Stefanik NEAR HoF 2018, and in 2013 as crew chief for Ryan Preece. Szaban was an integral part on the championship team with Austin Beers the 2025 NASCAR Modified Tour champion. Szaban also helped lead marquee New England victories, including the Stafford Spring Sizzler, Stafford Fall Final, Thompson IceBreaker, Thompson 300, Thompson World Series, and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events at New Hampshire.

Maynard Troyer New York native, Modified racing standout, NASCAR Cup Series competitor, and influential chassis builder, left a lasting mark as both a driver and businessman. He won eight championships at Spencer, Fulton, and Lancaster, amassed 265 feature wins, and scored major victories at Utica-Rome, Oswego, Trenton, Pocono, Richmond, Monadnock, and Stafford, where he captured the Stafford 200 and three straight Spring Sizzlers from 1977 to 1979. After making NASCAR Cup starts in 1971 and 1973, including three Top 10 finishes and surviving a 15-flip crash in the 1971 Daytona 500. In 1977, Maynard founded a Race Car Manufacturing Firm known as Troyer Engineering helping revolutionize asphalt and dirt Modified chassis design. He built this into the premiere race chassis business in the Northeast. Now known as “Troyer Race Cars”, it remains the standard of the industry.

Dick Williams, a Westerly, R.I. native, promoter and track operator, began as a crew member on NEAR HoF 1998 Bill Slater’s V-8 team and later served as Stafford Speedway’s handicapper before moving into promotion. In 1978, he formed the Coastal Racing Association (CRA) to lease Waterford Speedbowl, later expanding to Westboro, Monadnock, and Thompson to make CRA a 4-track sanctioning body. Known for competitor support, big-purse extra-distance Modified events, and attracting top stars such as Ron Bouchard NEAR HoF 1998, Williams returned in 2014 as co-creator and promoter of the Tri-Track Open Modified Series, which grew from three races to six by 2019. Williams has since promoted races under the “Racers Honoring Racers” banner and hosted events at Waterford Speedbowl, Star Speedway, Monadnock Speedway and Claremont Speedway.

Complete bios for each of our inductees will be available later this year. The New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame held its first induction ceremony in 1998. The 28th annual NEAR Hall of Fame induction dinner will be held for the Class of 2026 on Sunday, November 1, at the Log Cabin in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Still to be announced are recipients of NEAR’s annual special awards including the Mitchell-Ratta Media Award, the Ron Bouchard Award, and others. Induction dinner tickets are available now. Seating is limited so get your order today. The form and more information can be found on our website and Facebook page, or you can email [email protected] to request a form. If you would like to congratulate an inductee in our HoF coffee table booklet, please send us an email and we will get you the information.

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