NHMS Short Track Extravaganza (Modified Christmas)

Speedbowl14

Ryan Preece and short tracks
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Get pumped!!!! :headbang:

The Short Track Extravaganza will be held Sept. 21 & 22.
Fall is the prettiest and most pleasant time of year in New England, and a late September short track weekend at NHMS is a great way to kick off autumn. The weather this time of year is perfect with a crisp, but not cold, feel in the air.

New in 2018, the Short Track Extravaganza will feature some of the tightest and competitive racing in the region. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will take centerstage with the longest race in series history, a 250-lap event. The Tripleheader will also feature a combined race with the NASCAR K&N Pro East, PEAK Mexico, and Whelen Euro series, as well as including a race from the NASCAR Pinty's Series, a Canadian series making its American debut.

Tickets are $40 for the weekend. $10 Friday, $35 Saturday if purchased separately. Based on the disparity in ticket prices me thinks everybody will qualify Friday and run all the features Saturday. I think $40 for the weekend is a steal, given Thompson has been charging $50+ for the World Series for years now, and Stafford charges $38 I think for the Fall Final and Spring Sizzler which are comparable two-day shows with WMT racing.

Of course, they could charge Cup prices and I'd still be there...
 
I don't understand what they mean by "will also feature a combined race with the NASCAR K&N Pro East, PEAK Mexico, and Whelen Euro series".
What does that mean? I assume they will just have a few drivers from the Mexican and European series run in the K&N race? A couple of the Mexico series already have K&N rides anyway, so if thats their plan, seems easy. Not really a combined race with the 3 series then though, just a few foreign drivers invited to run the race...
The Pinty's Series is an awesome series, though I think the car count may be a big issue for that race.. They have had several races this year with 15 car fields... NASCAR has got to give them some kind of tow money or really big payout for showing up to this thing or the field will be really bad. 15 cars looks bad on the normal 1/3 mile tracks they run, it would look a lot worse at the 1 mile track.
If friday is just group qualifying, i'll just skip it... I hate group qualifying, its the same as watching a practice session...
I really look forward to this weekend at NHMS! I've only been there one time before for a K&N race, but I will try to make this event since I really love all 3 of the series running there.
I hope its a success, the Modifieds, K&N, and Pinty's deserve a big weekend like this. The most recent big event with multiple series like this was those 2 Battle at the Beach races a few years ago.
 
Better deal than Cup if Pinty's can get 18-20+ cars and the Mods are 250 laps.
 
$25k to win...that's a good amount!!! It'll have to pay $2-4k to start though if they want to get a decent field.

This is so awesome....uncharted territory for modifieds and late models if you think about it...250+ miles. That's insane. The Winchester 400 is 250 miles...I can't think of any event that's longer milage-wise.
 
Holy **** they released the schedule with race distances...

Saturday, September 22
10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Driver autograph session (infield)
11:45 a.m.
Pre-race ceremonies (for all series)
12:15 p.m.
NASCAR Pinty's Series
100-lap race
1:45 p.m.*
NASCAR K&N Pro Series East
125-lap race
3:30 p.m.*
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Musket 250
That's 475 laps in one day at New Hampshire...:eek::eek2::partytime

I'm so pumped!
 
Holy sh!t they released the schedule with race distances...

Saturday, September 22
10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Driver autograph session (infield)
11:45 a.m.
Pre-race ceremonies (for all series)
12:15 p.m.
NASCAR Pinty's Series
100-lap race
1:45 p.m.*
NASCAR K&N Pro Series East
125-lap race
3:30 p.m.*
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Musket 250
That's 475 laps in one day at New Hampshire...:eek::eek2::partytime

I'm so pumped!

One week before Christmas too. That's a hell of an appetizer.
 
Surprised the Pinty's series race is so short. They always run longer races than K&N and the modified tour. I know the modified race is special and longer than normal, but i didn't think the K&N race would be longer. They typically run 300 laps on the 1/3 mile and less tracks and 200 on the 1/2 mile and larger tracks, though they used to do 300 laps at the 1/2 mile out in British Columbia before it fell off the schedule. They do 200 laps at Cayuga as well.
Should be a good show but I hope NASCAR gives some incentives for the Pinty's Series teams to show up. Some of the Quebec and Nova Scotia races had rough car counts lately. 15 or 16 has happened at a few of their shows.
 
Race week! Track has really stepped up their game and is treating this like a Cup weekend, imo. Lots of hospitality options and upgrades and the like. Advertising for this weekend has been HUGE. I've seen billboard ads at Stafford and Monadnock. The local racing site, Racedayct.com has had this event on the top of their page for a month or so (paid for the track I'm sure, it's an ad).

Lot's of concerns about cost for the teams with tires/gas and concerns about the attrition rate. Entry lists will probably be released tomorrow or Tuesday. Best comment I've heard is, "Either this will be the start of a great event, or a one-time deal never to be ran again". Either way...you're gonna want to be there.

Weather for Saturday looks partly cloudy and temperatures in the upper 60s. Tickets are in hand. Just need to pack the cooler!
 
33 cars entered for the Mod race, 36 start if there's any late entries. Burt Myers, Gary MacDonald, and Ryan Preece notable part-time entries. One 5 minute break at lap 100 for tires/fuel. At least one live pit stop has to be made between 100-250 to make it all the way.

19 cars entered for the K&N race with 2 breaks at laps 40 and 80. No one is expecting the "taxi cab" divisions to put on a good show but with 2 breaks in a 125 lap race I guess NASCAR thinks the same way and want to bunch the field back up.

No entry list for the Pinty's division but they're limiting it to 20 starters. 100 lap straight-up race on a new track for them in front of a bunch of new fans (myself included) hopefully they put on a good show.
 
For anyone who can't be in New Hampshire

 
Would be funny if they drew a crowd similar to the July Cup race, wouldn't be shocked. lol
 
***No finish/results spoilers as the race has not aired on TV yet***

It was finally here Saturday! The biggest day in the Northeast racing scene! This event lived up to expectations and exceeded them. The Pinty's race wasn't that good, but quick, as expected. The K & N race was much better. Cars were rubbing up against each other. The Modified race...spectacular. They kept things much cleaner than people expected. There wasn't the major mechanical attrition people though would happen. What an endurance race! Even with only 5 cautions the race took over 2 1/2 hours.

Non-racing things....
Attendance was way above what the track expected, according to the GM himself. 15k is the number I've heard thrown around. Food lines were very long all day. They sold out of souvenirs on Friday. Traffic leaving was pretty bad, even though Route 106 was made 2 lanes southbound leaving the track. Camping surprised me the most. There were a ton of RV's. Looked like a Cup weekend walking through the lot. While I did not make it down to the infield, people were praising the access they had this weekend. The Fan Zone was over the Cup weekend driver/owner lot and they had a lot of vendors and carnival rides.

For next year...
They're going to need more cars in the Pinty's and K&N series. Fields of 17 each in races that were very long by themselves didn't cut it.
More food, more souvenirs.
I don't want them to shorten the races but...things were VERY clean all day....1 caution in the Pinty's, 4 cautions in K&N, 5 cautions in the Mod race...even so...things didn't end until 6:15 and sunset was in 30 minutes. Racing started at 12:15 and they moved VERY efficiently between races. Maybe make the Pinty's 75 laps, K&N 100 laps.
Put the damn thing on live TV as a lead-in to the Richmond night race. Makes sense to me.

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I went as well, good crowd! Pretty cool event. I don’t think the K&N and Pintys races need shortened, they were already quite short (the Pintys race felt really short compared one of their normal races). I think maybe they could make the start time an hour earlier would be better. They definitely ran an efficient show! Car counts for Pintys and K&N were rough... TBH I don’t think the Pintys series is the right fit for the event. The series has been having a rough time with car counts the past few seasons and the border is a huge hassle for these guys. A lot of the sponsors are Canadian and so the US race doesn’t benefit them. Also, NHMS was a boring track for these guys, may not be the greatest fit for their cars. I have been to dozens of Pintys series oval races, usually Pintys races are some of the most exciting short track races out there, but this race at NHMS was definitely in the top 2 worst oval Pintys races that I’ve been to. Wasn’t a great showing for their first USA event .

Even before the races I heard lots of modified fans trashing K&N and Pintys saying modifieds are the only good racing, etc...
The track may be better off with ACT or PASS... maybe SK Modifieds.
The modified race was really good though I thought 250 laps with a little long. Overall it was a nice event. Hopefully they bring it back!
 
I went as well, good crowd! Pretty cool event. I don’t think the K&N and Pintys races need shortened, they were already quite short (the Pintys race felt really short compared one of their normal races). I think maybe they could make the start time an hour earlier would be better. They definitely ran an efficient show! Car counts for Pintys and K&N were rough... TBH I don’t think the Pintys series is the right fit for the event. The series has been having a rough time with car counts the past few seasons and the border is a huge hassle for these guys. A lot of the sponsors are Canadian and so the US race doesn’t benefit them. Also, NHMS was a boring track for these guys, may not be the greatest fit for their cars. I have been to dozens of Pintys series oval races, usually Pintys races are some of the most exciting short track races out there, but this race at NHMS was definitely in the top 2 worst oval Pintys races that I’ve been to. Wasn’t a great showing for their first USA event .

Even before the races I heard lots of modified fans trashing K&N and Pintys saying modifieds are the only good racing, etc...
The track may be better off with ACT or PASS... maybe SK Modifieds.
The modified race was really good though I thought 250 laps with a little long. Overall it was a nice event. Hopefully they bring it back!

I'd also be open to a different full-fendered division supporting the mod race. I'm sure PASS would put on a good show and get a good car count.

An SK race would be interesting...maybe do a 25 lap race? Unfortunately Stafford is the only place with healthy SK's now. Waterford has struggled to draw cars this year tremendously. When Thompson runs it's mostly made up of Stafford/Waterford guys. I'm kinda doubtful you'd get a lot of interest of these guys coming up from CT to race at NHMS, especially when all three CT tracks still have points events to run.

The best solution to the time-constraint issue is putting up some goddamned lights as has been talked about for the past 10 years...but of course that won't happen as Bruton is still salty he WAYYYY overpaid for New Hampshire back in 2008. What upgrades have happened since then? A new scoring tower. Exciting.
 
Definitely if it was a PASS or ACT race it would be prestigious for the teams and I think they would get good car counts. I personally don’t like SK modifieds but since the crowd around there is so hardcore into modifieds they might like it. If they did a big purse, plus the prestige of running at NHMS I bet they would get good fields. I personally would be most likely to attend with the current line up because I really love the K&N, Pintys and modified tours. But the Pintys and K&N don’t put great races on there , would rather see an extra race at a real short track for those 2 than an NHMS race. The modifieds are awesome There though. The mod race in July was really great! I like seeing a big nascar track try something like this.
 
I take it NASCAR will bring this race back?

Yep! Already on the track calendar for next year! September 20-21 (Friday/Saturday show again). No details on the racing but infield camping is already available for purchase!

As I said, they got a huuuuge turnout that exceeded everyone's expectations. The cars were much more durable than people thought (including myself) and it'd be hard not to consider the event a big success.
 
I'm definitely going next year, I think the Pass tour would work there, and agree if you make the purse big enough you would easily draw 30sks. Any news on Waterford getting their NASCAR sanction back?
 
I'm definitely going next year, I think the Pass tour would work there, and agree if you make the purse big enough you would easily draw 30sks. Any news on Waterford getting their NASCAR sanction back?

I almost went this past year. Just couldn't afford to make the trip.

I'm hoping to get to some Modified races next year. Wall Stadium, Tour Mods at Riverhead, SK Mods at Stafford, Modified Christmas at NHMS and Oswego are all on my bucket list.
 
I almost went this past year. Just couldn't afford to make the trip.

I'm hoping to get to some Modified races next year. Wall Stadium, Tour Mods at Riverhead, SK Mods at Stafford, Modified Christmas at NHMS and Oswego are all on my bucket list.

Can't say i'd recommend SK Mods at Stafford... I've seen SK modifieds at Stafford, Thompson and Waterford... They are always just wreckfests.... Nice car counts though...
Worst was Stafford lol. Went to the Stafford NASCAR tour show in April. The whole day was very rain delayed. They still decided to run the SK mods and the late models before the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. I should have taken a nap out in the car. The race was around 40 laps and took an hour. Late models were almost as bad...
Anyway, if you wanna see SK modifieds, just go to a Whelen Modified Tour show at Stafford or Thompson. I think they pretty much always have SK modifieds as a support class. Probably the same for the K&N race at Thompson as well. Expect to pay though, unless you can get media credentials. Whelen Modified Tour shows go for about $40 to $50 in that region and they pack the places. I've seen the NASCAR tour 3 times at Riverhead, really awesome. Highly recommended. Be prepared for the worst drive to a race track ever when going through NYC though. NASCAR tour is back at Wall next year as well. That one is on my list...
Oswego Classic weekend on Labor day weekend is awesome! The 200 lapper for the wingless supermodifieds is great! Saturday they have the winged ISMA supermodifieds and the NASCAR tour as well. Kinda a boring track for the NASCAR tour, but I consider it just a bonus on the weekend. Worth it just for the 200 lap race on sunday.
 
Opinions are opinions...but it has been opinionated that the Stafford SK and SK Light divisions make for one of the best weekly shows in the nation... :owquitit:
Unfortunately there's been a big talent vacuum the past couple years, but it's still a great division. 3-10 years ago when you had Pennink, Pitkat, Preece, Rocco, and Teddy Christopher all battle it out weekly...man...in an age with serious economic depression and a racing world that was shrinking by the day we had some great nights at Stafford.

Now the SK Light division is really taking off and they're sending cars home weekly.
 
Opinions are opinions...but it has been opinionated that the Stafford SK and SK Light divisions make for one of the best weekly shows in the nation... :owquitit:
Unfortunately there's been a big talent vacuum the past couple years, but it's still a great division. 3-10 years ago when you had Pennink, Pitkat, Preece, Rocco, and Teddy Christopher all battle it out weekly...man...in an age with serious economic depression and a racing world that was shrinking by the day we had some great nights at Stafford.

Now the SK Light division is really taking off and they're sending cars home weekly.

I do realize that the SK modifieds in CT are considered some of the best local racing out there. They had nice big car counts, quality looking field of cars. When they can't get a green flag lap in, it sucks. I'm sure they have some good nights. But all three nights I went, they sucked... The local LMSC at South Boston, Myrtle Beach and Dominion are much better shows IMO...
 
I do realize that the SK modifieds in CT are considered some of the best local racing out there. They had nice big car counts, quality looking field of cars. When they can't get a green flag lap in, it sucks. I'm sure they have some good nights. But all three nights I went, they sucked... The local LMSC at South Boston, Myrtle Beach and Dominion are much better shows IMO...

Not to bash...but "all three nights I went" says enough...:D

Come back sometime and they'll get a good show in for you. I wish we had better late model races up here.
 
Not to bash...but "all three nights I went" says enough...:D

Come back sometime and they'll get a good show in for you. I wish we had better late model races up here.

Well, Thompson is about a 10 hour drive for me so 3 times a lot.
I’m sure I’ll be back for a Whelen modified tour race someday.
 
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