Eddie MacDonald has to love the ACT Invitational at NHMS because he won it again last weekend. (Credit: NASCAR Home Tracks photo.)

Eddie MacDonald reigned supreme once again at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 24, taking the lead from Jimmy Hebert with five laps to go in the Eighth Annual Auto Parts ACT Invitational en route to his fifth career victory in the event. Continue reading →

Long Island’s Justin Bonsignore had what it takes to post a win in the NASCAR Wheen Modified Tour 100 at NHMS on Saturday.  (Credit: NASCAR Home Track photo.)

When Justin Bonsignore knows if he’s going to catch Doug Coby in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship race, he’s going to get need to all the points he can get in the final three races. And that means finding success at a place that’s long plagued him: New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Continue reading →

Rowan Pinnink changed crew chiefs at the beginning of he 2016 racing season at the Spring Sizzler and went onto win a total of six Sk Modified races at the Stafford Motor Motor Speedway in Connecticut which was enough to back his title winning run in 2015.  Credit: Stafford Motor Speedway photo.)

While an 8^th place finish is usually not cause for celebration, an 8^th place finish in last Friday night’s SK Modified® feature was all Rowan Pennink and the #99 Van Wickle Auto Supply / Independent Wheel team needed to clinch their second consecutive track championship. Continue reading →

Not that you need Lime Rock Park to tell you that this Saturday we’re expecting beautiful fall weather for the Ferrari Challenge (or maybe you do!), but here goes:

We’re going to have beautiful fall weather this Saturday, September 24, for the Ferrari Challenge!

Lu Wei (#99, from Vancouver) and Dave Musial (#23, Illinois) in the middle of Big Bend during Tuesday’s Test Day
Photos by Rick Roso

Many of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli and Coppa Shell teams were testing here yesterday (Tuesday) and we can tell you, their two races are going to be barn-burners.

But Ferrari Challenge at Lime Rock is much more than the racing; that’s what makes this event wonderfully different. It’s a feast of all things Ferrari.

For starters, there will be demonstration laps of Ferrari’s latest models, including the LaFerrari hybrid supercar.

In the Paddock will be a terrific Ferrari-owners Car Corral; Ferrari will have old and brand-new Ferraris on display; and Ferrari’s famed Merchandise Store will be set up and ready to go.

Plus, the race teams’ cars and drivers are easily accessed all day.

Tickets are $55 at the gate – and remember that anyone 16 and under are free, the parking is free, and active military and veterans are free.

So grab your lawn chairs, pack the coolers, charge the batteries in your cameras and head to Lime Rock Park Saturday morning.

The day’s full schedule is shown here.

Oh, to whet your appetite, below are a few more photos from yesterday’s test day, …

Think red!

Use #FerrariChallenge

Lime Rock Drivers Club member Joe Courtney, of New MIlford, Conn., is leading the Coppa Shell standings. GoJoeGo!
Use #JC177

From Beverly Hills, Calif., Karl Williams

Tuesday’s busy pit lane at Lime Rock’s Ferrari Challenge Test Day

Joe Vitagliano of Long Island and his gorgeously painted Ferrari 458C Evo

Source: Lime Rock Park PR

Note: If your track, tour or event is not posted on this blog send your press releases to: lmodestino@hotmail.com

Media awards announced for the 2016 NEAR installation banquet on Sunday, November 13.

The New England Auto Racers (NEAR) Hall of Fame has named Phil Whipple of the Lewiston (ME) Sun Journal and Richard “Big” Bigelow of St. Johnsbury VT’s Caldonian Record to share its annual Mitchell-Ratta Media Award for 2016. The honor will be presented at the NEAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Sunday, November 13.

Continue reading →

Race fans who follow sprint cars on dirt tracks will get an opportunity to get their final opportunity of 2016 to view those open wheel race cars on the infield dirt track at the Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, VT this Sunday, Sept. 25 starting at 5  p.m. (Credit: SCONE Sprint Car photo.)

The final Sprint Car event of the Vermont racing season is at Devil’s Bowl Speedway on Sunday, September 25 at 5:00 p.m.  The second annual Fabian Earthmoving “Green Mountain Sprint Car Nationals” is ready to hit the 3/10-mile Dirt Track at Devil’s Bowl with the stars of the wild, winged, and wicked-fast Sprint Cars of New England (SCoNE) tour. Continue reading →

The point spread between just three driver is part of the excitement in determining the 2016 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion.

Separated by just 36 points at the top, the top three drivers in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings are putting on a show as the season roars through its stretch run into the F.W. Webb 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, this weekend. Continue reading →

New Hampshire Motor Speedway has been the host of NASCAR playoff racing since the inception of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship more than a decade ago. This year, NASCAR: New England Style means a pair of playoff races, as the Camping World Truck Series will run its inaugural Chase race, the UNOH 175, on Sept. 24, joining the Sept. 25 New England 300 Sprint Cup race.

The two national series playoff races will be two of four races run over the Sept. 24-25 weekend. The UNOH 175 (1:00 p.m.) will be the first race in a Tripleheader Saturday of racing that includes the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour F.W. Webb 100 at 3:30 p.m. and the American-Canadian Tour Bond Auto Parts ACT Invitational at 5:00 p.m.

The New England 300 on Sunday will be the second of three races in the opening Round of 16 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

Sprint Cup Chase Fast Facts

• Kurt Busch (2004) and Tony Stewart (2011) both won the Sprint Cup Series championship after winning the Chase race that season at NHMS.
• Matt Kenseth has won two of the last three Chase races at NHMS.
• With his win in July, Matt Kenseth joined Jimmie Johnson (2003) and Kurt Busch (2004) as the only drivers in NHMS history to win back-to-back Sprint Cup Series races.
• Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski enter the Chase as the top seeds, having both won four races during the regular season.
• Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Jamie McMurray are the only three drivers in this year’s Chase to have never won a race at any level at NHMS.
• Only two drivers, Jimmie Johnson (39th in 2006 and 25th in 2010) and Kyle Busch (37th in 2015), have finished outside the top-10 in a Chase race at NHMS and gone on to win the championship that season.
• Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott mark the first time two rookies have made the Chase in the same season.
• Eight different teams are being represented in the Chase.
• Toyotas have won 13 of the first 26 races this season.
• Five of the last 10 and eight of the last 15 winners at NHMS have won from a starting position outside the top-10.

Camping World Truck Chase Fast Facts

• New Hampshire Motor Speedway will be the first-ever Camping World Truck Series Chase race.
• With one regular-season race remaining (on Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway), 18-year-old William Byron (five wins) will enter the Chase as the top seed.
• William Byron won last year’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race en route to the series championship in 2015.
• Matt Crafton, the 2014 and 2015 Camping World Truck Series champion, will be a favorite to pick up his third title in four years, but has never found Sunoco Victory Lane in 13 starts at NHMS.
• Cole Custer will be the only driver in the UNOH 175 field that has previously won a Camping World Truck Series race at NHMS.
• Each of the last four Truck Series winners at NHMS have won the race from the pole position.
• Toyota has won three straight and eight of the last 10 Camping World Truck Series championships.

For more details and ticket information on events at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, or to purchase tickets to next week’s September New England 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekend, please stop by our ticket office, visit the speedway website at www.nhms.com, or call our ticket hotline at (603) 783-4931.

Source: NHMS PR/Kristen Leestock

Eddie MacDonald of Rowley, MA is having a very successful 2016 racing season. (Credit: NASCAR Home Tracks photo.)

For the fifth time this season, Eddie MacDonald, starting on the pole, finished second in the Fall Foliage 150 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine on Saturday. The scheduled two day event reduced to one day due to predicted inclement weather on Sunday also reduced the American Canadian Tour’s 200 lap feature to 150 laps.

Continue reading →