LIA WINS A WILD ONE
Captures New England 100 in last-lap free-for-all
By Jason Christley, NASCAR
June 27, 2009 - 2:55pm

LOUDON, N.H. – The New England 100 ended with a wild scramble on the last turn of the last lap that wiped out two of the leaders and provided Donny Lia his second NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Points leader Ted Christopher led at the white flag, with Lia, Todd Szegedy and Ron Silk jockeying for position. Lia dove inside of Christopher as he headed into Turn 3. Moments after Lia took the lead, Szegedy swept underneath both to the front of the line. As they came out of the final turn heading to the checkered flag, all four bounced off each other, with Christopher collecting Szegedy into the wall as Lia slipped by to grab the win.

Ed Flemke Jr. wound up second, followed by Silk and Rowan Pennink. Christopher managed to gather the car enough to get it across the line and salvage a fifth.

It was the 12th career win for Lia, whose previous victory at New Hampshire came in 2007 en route to his tour championship.

The race had 16 official lead changes among eight drivers, with many more changes for the front position at a track with a reputation for Daytona-style drafting and passing for the NASCAR Whelen Modified cars. Szegedy led a race-high 53 laps.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Ryan Newman led 13 laps and swapped the lead back-and-forth with Szegedy in the early going before he spun on lap 64 and exited the race. The other NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver in the race, Kasey Kahne, was involved in a Lap 72 accident. Kahne finished 31st and Newman 34th.

Doug Coby, Richard Savary, Szegedy, Woody Pitkat, and Glenn Tyler rounded out the top 10. Christopher was able to extend his points lead to 53 over Szegedy, while Lia moved to third place, 72 behind Christopher.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will next race Saturday, July 11 at Spencer Speedway in Williamson, N.Y.

LIA TAKES 15TH AT STAFFORD
By Jason Cunningham, NASCAR
May 22, 2009 - 11:14pm

STAFFORD, Conn. – Jimmy Blewett was able to slow down Ted Christopher’s dominant start to the 2009 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season when he took home the checkered flag in the TSI Harley-Davidson Classic Friday night at Stafford Motor Speedway.

Christopher (No. 36 Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet) had won the first two races of the season, and earned his third-consecutive Coors Light Pole Award earlier on Friday, but Blewett (No. 12 TS Haulers/Snake Pit Enterprises Chevrolet) started on the front row on the redraw and led flag-to-flag for his fifth career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory.

Blewett survived six restarts during the race, including a green-white-checker finish, but would not be denied his second career win at the Connecticut half-mile.

Todd Szegedy (No. 2 Wisk/Snuggle Ford) ran up front the majority of the race with Blewett, and tried once to go around on the outside late in the race, but Blewett never relinquished the lead. Szegedy settled for a third place finish when Christopher got past him on the white flag lap.

Mike Stefanik and Reggie Ruggiero rounded out the top five finishers in the 100-lap event. Chris Pasteryak, Rowan Pennink, Woody Pitkat, Doug Coby and Ryan Preece brought home the top 10.

The fourth race on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule will take pace at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The New England 100 is set for Saturday, June 27 in Loudon, N.H.

LIA TAKES SIXTH AT STAFFORD
By Jason Cunningham, NASCAR
April 26, 2009 - 5:29pm

STAFFORD, Conn. – Ted Christopher, the dominant car for the first half of Sunday’s 200-lap NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race, survived a cut tire and an accident in the second 100 to earn his second trip in a row to Victory Lane in the Tech-Net Spring Sizzler presented by CARQUEST at Stafford Motor Speedway.

Christopher, of Plainville, Conn., piloted the No. 36 Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet from mid-pack with 70 laps to go to earn his 33rd career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory. The Coors Light Pole Award winner on Saturday, Christopher led 82 of the first 100 laps and appeared early to be the dominant car for the second week in a row. While under caution, Christopher had to come to pit road on Lap 121 with a cut tire and surrendered the lead on to Mike Stefanik. After rejoining the field, seven laps later he was skidding through the grass on the backstretch after getting caught up in an accident and a second-consecutive victory seemed unlikely.

All that didn’t deter the defending series champion from returning to Victory Lane, however, as he quickly moved up through the field and finally got by Todd Szegedy on Lap 182. The result was his fourth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Spring Sizzler win and his ninth career tour triumph at the Connecticut half mile.

Szegedy (No. 2 Wisk/Snuggle Ford) finished as the runner-up and led three-different times for 33 laps in the race. Ryan Preece (No. 3 Mizzy Construction/Logan Steel Chevrolet) posted a third-place finish while Stefanik (No. 16 Diversified Metals/Sanderson-MacLeod Pontiac) and Chris Pasteryak (No. 52 Furnace & Duct Supply Chevrolet) rounded out the top five.

The rest of the top 10 finishers on Sunday included Donny Lia, Woody Pitkat, Ron Silk, Jimmy Blewett and Ed Flemke Jr.

The third race on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule will also take place at Stafford Motor Speedway. The TSI Harley-Davidson Classic, the first race under the lights in 2009, is schedule for Friday, May 22.

LIA TAKES THIRD IN ICEBREAKER
Official Release
April 5, 2009 - 3:49pm

THOMPSON, Conn. – Ted Christopher capped his 2008 championship with a win at Thompson International Speedway, and he begun his title defense Sunday in similar fashion. Christopher’s No. 36 Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet led 106 laps en route to capturing the Icebreaker, the season-opening race to the Silver Anniversary season of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

Christopher had to hold off a final challenge from runner-up Jimmy Blewett (No. 12 TS Haulers Chevrolet) as a green-white-checkered finish extended the race to 154 laps.

Donny Lia (No. 4 Mystic Missile Dodge) finished third, followed by Ryan Preece and Todd Szegedy.

Jamie Tomaino, who became the first driver in tour history to make his 500th career start, led twice for 27 laps. Pit strategy, however, left him with a 13th-place finish.

The win was Christopher’s eighth at Thompson and his third in the track’s Icebreaker. He also won the traditional season-opener – which hosted the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s first race in 1985 – in 2004 and 2005.

Christopher also moved into sole possession of fourth-place on the tour’s all-time win list with his 32nd victory. He trails only Mike Stefanik (69), Reggie Ruggiero (44) and Tony Hirschman (35).

Blewett briefly passed Christopher for the lead following a lap 147 restart. But Christopher was able to use a cross-over move to slide back under Blewett in Turns 3 and 4 to move back in front.

Christopher received the first commemorative Tissot wrist watch, which will be presented by NASCAR and tour sponsor Whelen Engineering to each of the 14 race winners throughout the 25th anniversary season.

Christopher won the Coors Light Pole Award in Saturday’s qualifying.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will return to action with the Tech-Net Spring Sizzler presented by CARQUEST at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway on April 26.

 

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
When NASCAR began more than 50 years ago, teams were permitted to “modify” their passenger cars for better performance. In fact, NASCAR’s very first event, held on the beach-road course in Daytona Beach, Fla., was a Modified race. During the 1950s and 60s, these cars developed innovative suspension systems, better engines, sophisticated bodies and soon, the cars looked and drove like nothing else in NASCAR. That tradition of innovation continued throughout the 70s and 80s, culminating in today’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, which was officially founded in 1985.

Whelen Engineering, a Connecticut-based manufacturer of emergency lighting and signaling devices, becomes this division’s title sponsor in 2005.

As the only open-wheeled division of NASCAR, the cars in this popular tour are unique in many ways. NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour cars weigh 2,610 pounds and have a wheelbase of 107 inches. Whelen Modified Tour cars drive on wide Hoosier bias-play tires, while power is provided by “small block” 350 to 360 cubic-inch engines.

The Whelen Modified Tour has competed throughout Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York, on tracks ranging in size from a quarter-mile, to the 1.058-mile oval at New Hampshire International Speedway.


Notable Modified Tour graduates include drivers – Jimmy Spencer, Steve Park, Geoffrey Bodine, Jeff Fuller and Mike McLaughlin, to name a few – and crew chief Tommy Baldwin Jr.