Northern and Southern Whelen Modified Tours to merge!!!

Speedbowl14

Ryan Preece and short tracks
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What the absolute **** is this ****?

http://racedayct.com/2016/10/come-t...ern-mod-tour-to-merge-for-2017/#comment-78126

RaceDayCT has learned that NASCAR will announce today the consolidation of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour for the 2017 season.

NASCAR officials met with teams and drivers from the Southern Modified Tour this afternoon and also communicated with a number of Whelen Modified Tour teams on Wednesday.

“As NASCAR looks at the schedule for 2017 and beyond, we are looking at a number of options to continue growing the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour,” read a statement from NASCAR. “Our goal is to elevate the marque events on the calendar, strengthening the Modified brand along the East Coast. From Farmer and Allison to Evans and Cook, the Modifieds have always forged a unique identity and stoked intense passion among our fanbase. As we shape our future, we are focusing on what has made the Modifieds special and are committed to continuing that rich tradition.”

At this point much of the restructuring is a work in progress. The division is expected to have 17-20 events in 2017. It has not been finalized on whether or not events that land on the schedule at traditional Southern Modified Tour tracks will be points paying or non-points events. NASCAR has also not determined how the championship structure for the series will work.

The Whelen Modified Tour will still run its traditional highlight events at Stafford Motor Speedway (Spring Sizzler and Fall Final) and Thompson Speedway (Icebreaker and World Series). Beyond those events it remains unclear how many times the series will visit state tracks.


In 2016 the division has raced at Thompson three times so far and will close its season Sunday with the running of the Sunoco World Series 150. The division also visited Stafford Speedway four times and traditionally runs one event annually at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl.

The Whelen Modified Tour began in 1985. The division had a 17-event schedule this year. In addition to the nine events at the Connecticut tracks the series also visited New Hampshire Motor Speedway twice, Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway twice, Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H., Oswego (N.Y.) Speedway, Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway and Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The Bristol event was a combination event with the Whelen Southern Modified Tour. New Hampshire Motor Speedway also hosted an exhibition All-Star event in July.

The Whelen Southern Modified Tour began in 2005, taking over what had formerly been the Southern Modified Auto Racing Tour (SMART), which was not sanctioned by NASCAR.

It has been confirmed that the new 2017 schedule for the restructured Whelen Modified tour will not include events at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. and Caraway Speedway in Sophia, N.C, two of the cornerstone tracks of what is now the former Whelen Southern Modified Tour. Caraway hosted four of the 11 Whelen Southern Modified Tour events in 2016. Bowman Gray Stadium, one of the most well known short tracks in the country, hosted the Whelen Southern Modified Tour once in 2016.


So I know the Southern Tour had gone to ****, averaging 12 or so cars per race, but now they're gonna drag the Northern Tour into this!?!? Why should the good tour, the northern tour, the absolute cornerstone of Northeast short track racing, have to drive 1000+ miles on a somewhat regular basis to race at southern tracks where NO ONE CARES ABOUT MODIFIEDS!!! The K&N Tour came up to Stafford this year... first time the series has raced up north outside of Loudon in YEARS. Despite all the hype, and the fact that it was a good race, the general feeling of the crowd was "meh". Why? IN CONNECTICUT WE DON'T CARE ABOUT LATE MODELS! And why doesn't Bowman Gray get a date?!? That is the ONLY southern track that actually could've hosted a modified race where fans would show up. Why should dates be taken away from tracks up here so drivers can go to southern tracks where even less of a crowd will show!!! Why do teams have to drive across ten states to a show that would've paid just as much up north!

This is absolutely infuriating...no one benefits from this...zero. I haven't been so infuriated by internet racing news ever. And what the **** does this mean:
NASCAR has also not determined how the championship structure for the series will work.
. If some form of Chase gets dragged into this it'll just be an ancillary thing that'll piss me off.

I am so happy The Tri-Track Tour is going strong. Hopefully the Valenti Tour gets its **** together again. I am stunned, infuriated, and pissed beyond words. This is so hurtful to modified teams it's stunning to think even NASCAR could think this is a good idea.
 
TBH, I think this means there will be more Modified dates up North, and less dates down here in The South. I absolutely enjoyed the Whelen Modified race at Concord earlier this year, and I thought the car count was decent.
 
Good move. The NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour is basically dead. Hopefully Concord and Hickory still have dates moving forward.
 
Good move. The NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour is basically dead. Hopefully Concord and Hickory still have dates moving forward.

I hope they at least put a TV deal together for the new 2017 All American Whelen Modified Series.
 
I hope they at least put a TV deal together for the new 2017 All American Whelen Modified Series.

It's still just called the Whelen Modified Tour. The "All American" bit is just what they call the racing at local NASCAR sanctioned short trcks.
 
What the absolute **** is this sh!t?

http://racedayct.com/2016/10/come-t...ern-mod-tour-to-merge-for-2017/#comment-78126




So I know the Southern Tour had gone to sh!t, averaging 12 or so cars per race, but now they're gonna drag the Northern Tour into this!?!? Why should the good tour, the northern tour, the absolute cornerstone of Northeast short track racing, have to drive 1000+ miles on a somewhat regular basis to race at southern tracks where NO ONE CARES ABOUT MODIFIEDS!!! The K&N Tour came up to Stafford this year... first time the series has raced up north outside of Loudon in YEARS. Despite all the hype, and the fact that it was a good race, the general feeling of the crowd was "meh". Why? IN CONNECTICUT WE DON'T CARE ABOUT LATE MODELS! And why doesn't Bowman Gray get a date?!? That is the ONLY southern track that actually could've hosted a modified race where fans would show up. Why should dates be taken away from tracks up here so drivers can go to southern tracks where even less of a crowd will show!!! Why do teams have to drive across ten states to a show that would've paid just as much up north!

This is absolutely infuriating...no one benefits from this...zero. I haven't been so infuriated by internet racing news ever. And what the **** does this mean: . If some form of Chase gets dragged into this it'll just be an ancillary thing that'll piss me off.

I am so happy The Tri-Track Tour is going strong. Hopefully the Valenti Tour gets its sh!t together again. I am stunned, infuriated, and pissed beyond words. This is so hurtful to modified teams it's stunning to think even NASCAR could think this is a good idea.

Check the article on Speed51. It sounds like this is just NASCARs way of killing the South tour without actually having to say they are killing it... Bowman Gray isn't gonna have a race, the Caraway owner said that the purse is triple of what it used to be. They will have their successful race at Bristol which has been part of the North tour for years and maybe a couple other races... I saw one that article mentioned it isn't even a sure thing that the southern races will be points paying events. Probably won't have much effect on the north tour, probably not many tracks in the south are even going to be able to pay the new higher purse. I've been to some races in the South and the North. In the north the tickets are $30 - $40 and they pack the place. In the south tickets are like $15 - $20 and don't have huge crowds... I think the northern teams and tracks wont be too badly affected by this...
 
Check the article on Speed51. It sounds like this is just NASCARs way of killing the South tour without actually having to say they are killing it... Bowman Gray isn't gonna have a race, the Caraway owner said that the purse is triple of what it used to be. They will have their successful race at Bristol which has been part of the North tour for years and maybe a couple other races... I saw one that article mentioned it isn't even a sure thing that the southern races will be points paying events. Probably won't have much effect on the north tour, probably not many tracks in the south are even going to be able to pay the new higher purse. I've been to some races in the South and the North. In the north the tickets are $30 - $40 and they pack the place. In the south tickets are like $15 - $20 and don't have huge crowds... I think the northern teams and tracks wont be too badly affected by this...

Well, I guess that means no date in North Carolina for 2017. :(
 
Well, I guess that means no date in North Carolina for 2017. :(

It's a shame Bowman Gray isn't gonna have one. Thats the perfect place to have it. I guess they think it will be more profitable to run local shows rather than pay for the increased purse. I'd like to see the series back at Concord... I almost made it to that race this year. Have been trying to get to a race at that track for years but it has never worked out. Anyway, if you are able to make it out to a Tour race next year, its gonna be a MUCH better show! I went to 3 north Tour races this year (Waterford, Oswego, Seekonk). They get awesome fields, and put on great races. Much better than the 3 south Tour races i went to. The race at Seekonk was amazing.
 
It's a shame Bowman Gray isn't gonna have one. Thats the perfect place to have it. I guess they think it will be more profitable to run local shows rather than pay for the increased purse. I'd like to see the series back at Concord... I almost made it to that race this year. Have been trying to get to a race at that track for years but it has never worked out. Anyway, if you are able to make it out to a Tour race next year, its gonna be a MUCH better show! I went to 3 north Tour races this year (Waterford, Oswego, Seekonk). They get awesome fields, and put on great races. Much better than the 3 south Tour races i went to. The race at Seekonk was amazing.

I went to the Concord race earlier this year, the Spring Explosion 150. It was an amazing race. It was action pack from start to finish. I especially love the three-way battle for first place late in the race.

The problem with the Southeast getting less dates in 2017 is that while I do love Modified racing, I don't love it enough to travel all the way up to the Northeast to see it. I'm hoping that the Southern Modified Racing Series presented by PASS will still be around in 2017.
 
I was hoping what NASCAR would do to help the south tour survive is really cut down on any travel at all, cut out tracks like South Boston, etc.... maybe make it a pretty much 100% NC series (maybe add another race or 2 at Bowman Gray, keep the 3 or 4 races at Caraway, Concord, Charlotte, Hickory... and make that the full schedule until the series became healthier ), try to get most of the Bowman Gray full timers to follow the tour. It was obvious they had to do something, they had as few as 11 cars this year and usually had 12. Thats gotta be a pretty tough sell to track promoters, and its a tough sell for fans too. If I am thinking about going to a race, and I check the NASCAR Home tracks site and see 12 cars on the entry list, i am not gonna bother going...
It sucks that guys like Burt Meyers wont be chasing a touring championship. I'm sure he will still be at Bowman Gray full time...
 
I was hoping what NASCAR would do to help the south tour survive is really cut down on any travel at all, cut out tracks like South Boston, etc.... maybe make it a pretty much 100% NC series (maybe add another race or 2 at Bowman Gray, keep the 3 or 4 races at Caraway, Concord, Charlotte, Hickory... and make that the full schedule until the series became healthier ), try to get most of the Bowman Gray full timers to follow the tour. It was obvious they had to do something, they had as few as 11 cars this year and usually had 12. Thats gotta be a pretty tough sell to track promoters, and its a tough sell for fans too. If I am thinking about going to a race, and I check the NASCAR Home tracks site and see 12 cars on the entry list, i am not gonna bother going...
It sucks that guys like Burt Meyers wont be chasing a touring championship. I'm sure he will still be at Bowman Gray full time...

I'm pretty sure teams like Myers Racing can afford to travel up North, they're pretty much a Modified Royalty down here in the south. However, the smaller teams that don't have the Myers sponsorship or money are going to suffer as they can't afford to travel to the Northeast every month or so to race.
 
I'm pretty sure teams like Myers Racing can afford to travel up North, they're pretty much a Modified Royalty down here in the south. However, the smaller teams that don't have the Myers sponsorship or money are going to suffer as they can't afford to travel to the Northeast every month or so to race.

I betcha the Meyers wont follow this tour if it only has 3 or 4 southern races like it sounds... I hope i'm wrong, but i don't anticipate seeing him up north.
 
The problem with the Southeast getting less dates in 2017 is that while I do love Modified racing, I don't love it enough to travel all the way up to the Northeast to see it.

Have you ever checked out the Super DIRTcar Series big block modified races? They race mostly in New York, Ontario and Quebec, but they do go down south to Charlotte and Volusia every year. Those guys are awesome! IMO, much better than any pavement modified races. I'd say, equal to or better than super late models on dirt. If you have not seen them, you owe it to yourself to go out to the World Finals in Charlotte. They also have World of Outlaws sprints and late models on the same night, so its a great show all around. Though I think the Super DIRTcar Series big blocks only run about 25 or 30 laps at the southern events. Up in New York and Canada, 100 laps for 6k to win is the norm. Specials are 200 laps (like the 50k to win Super DIRT week this past weekend). Best modifieds anywhere!
 
Bowman Gray isn't gonna have a race, the Caraway owner said that the purse is triple of what it used to be.

Caraway Speedway runs the Southern Modified Racing Series.

They only had like 12 cars at East Carolina. And it was probably the worst race I've ever seen at East Carolina, a track I normally love.

I went to the Concord race earlier this year, the Spring Explosion 150. It was an amazing race. It was action pack from start to finish. I especially love the three-way battle for first place late in the race.

I'd love to see Concord and Hickory stay on the schedule. Would like to see Myrtle Beach on there as well.
 
They only had like 12 cars at East Carolina. And it was probably the worst race I've ever seen at East Carolina, a track I normally love.

I had originally considered going to that race, with the K&N race on the following Monday at Greenville. East Carolina ended up getting rained out anyway... but I was not impressed with the entry list at all. I kept up with the series results all season. Same deal at almost every event. If you don't count Bristol (which was also a points event for the North Tour), Concord had the best field with 17. I think another race or two had 15 or 16. The rest had 12 and one or two had 11... Pathetic... Too bad they had to kill it off, but its kind of a joke having a big NASCAR touring series showing up with barely more than 10 cars...
 
I had originally considered going to that race, with the K&N race on the following Monday at Greenville. East Carolina ended up getting rained out anyway... but I was not impressed with the entry list at all. I kept up with the series results all season. Same deal at almost every event. If you don't count Bristol (which was also a points event for the North Tour), Concord had the best field with 17. I think another race or two had 15 or 16. The rest had 12 and one or two had 11... Pathetic... Too bad they had to kill it off, but its kind of a joke having a big NASCAR touring series showing up with barely more than 10 cars...

I went to Southern National the night before. Because I'm crazy, I went to East Carolina on 9/11, mainly for the Late Models though. I had no obligation to cover the Modified race, so I focused on Late Model content (Matt Bowling winning, essentially clinching the national).
 
I wish I could do it more often. Unfortunately, tracks in the Carolinas and Virginia think there is only one day in a week.

I have not done many multi track weekends in the south, doesn't seem like a ton of opportunities for it. I think my best was earlier this year, 3 tracks in 2 days. Saturday All Star Circuit of Champions 410 sprints at Waynesfield, Ohio. Sunday early afternoon ARCA at Madison, WI, Sunday night DIRTcar Summernationals Hell Tour super late models at Wilmot, WI. Stayed til the checkered at Madison, arrived at Wilmot way before hot laps even started. That was a nice weekend! Always great to do a multi track weekend, especially if you are travelling pretty far.
 
Have you ever checked out the Super DIRTcar Series big block modified races? They race mostly in New York, Ontario and Quebec, but they do go down south to Charlotte and Volusia every year. Those guys are awesome! IMO, much better than any pavement modified races. I'd say, equal to or better than super late models on dirt. If you have not seen them, you owe it to yourself to go out to the World Finals in Charlotte. They also have World of Outlaws sprints and late models on the same night, so its a great show all around. Though I think the Super DIRTcar Series big blocks only run about 25 or 30 laps at the southern events. Up in New York and Canada, 100 laps for 6k to win is the norm. Specials are 200 laps (like the 50k to win Super DIRT week this past weekend). Best modifieds anywhere!
i like big blocks.jpg
 
Apparently a lot of Tour Modified cars just went up for sale. Not a good sign.
 
Apparently a lot of Tour Modified cars just went up for sale. Not a good sign.

Well its too bad they had to kill the series, but at least these cars can still run at Bowman Gray. Hopefully the south will end up getting more Tour races than just Bristol.
 
Seekonk, 1/4 mile track, was built in '46 for midget race cars. Mods run maybe once a year or so, they can't even go half throttle. A freakin' parade. I see basically the same thing at Bowman Gray. These cars need to run on banked 3/8 mile tracks at a minimum. My 2¢
 
Seekonk, 1/4 mile track, was built in '46 for midget race cars. Mods run maybe once a year or so, they can't even go half throttle. A freakin' parade. I see basically the same thing at Bowman Gray. These cars need to run on banked 3/8 mile tracks at a minimum. My 2¢

Agreed, Concord is a banked 1/2 mile tri-oval & that was one of the best Modified races I've ever seen.

Right now, I'm waiting to see if the Southern Modified Racing Series will have a 2017 season.

@toledo47 I actually am going to the Charlotte dirt track next weekend to see the World Short Track Champion. It'seems supposed to have a dirt modified races in it.
 
Right now, I'm waiting to see if the Southern Modified Racing Series will have a 2017 season.

Southern Modified Racing Series (PASS Modifieds) will be back. Probably a lot of Concord and Caraway dates but they had a good season. Not sure the Southern Modified Race Tour will be back. They just cancelled their Carteret race date.
 
Southern Modified Racing Series (PASS Modifieds) will be back. Probably a lot of Concord and Caraway dates but they had a good season. Not sure the Southern Modified Race Tour will be back. They just cancelled their Carteret race date.

Yea, the SMRT seems to be poorly run & they seem to have problems securing finances and sponsorship.

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk
 
I actually am going to the Charlotte dirt track next weekend to see the World Short Track Champion. It'seems supposed to have a dirt modified races in it.

Meh, its not the Super DIRTcar Series big blocks. Not the same thing at all. Thats like comparing Sprint Cup to local street stocks and saying "They have stock car races". For the most part, the stuff running at Charlotte next week is the stuff you will see at any local short track. Not any premier touring classes there. The 360 sprints might put on an decent show.
That event will be a cautionfest IMO. ESPECIALLY the modifieds... Anytime I see UMP style dirt modifieds listed as a support race for an event i'm going to, i dread it... More yellow laps than green...
 
Seekonk, 1/4 mile track, was built in '46 for midget race cars. Mods run maybe once a year or so, they can't even go half throttle. A freakin' parade. I see basically the same thing at Bowman Gray. These cars need to run on banked 3/8 mile tracks at a minimum. My 2¢

I've been to 8 tour races. 2 at South Boston, 2 at Daytona, Caraway, Waterford, Oswego, and Seekonk.
TBH, except Seekonk, the races were mostly pretty crappy...
The Daytona and Waterford races were wreckfest... All of the others were follow the leader parades, they didn't wreck, but they made no attempts to pass either...
Seekonk had awesome battling throughout the entire thing... There are a lot of racy 1/4 mile and 1/2 mile tracks. Bigger doesn't always mean better though. But I do agree about Bowman Gray, I watched the K&N Pro Series there once, it felt like I was watching them in slow motion. The Modifieds at Seekonk had some speed and could race...
 
Yea, the SMRT seems to be poorly run & they seem to have problems securing finances and sponsorship.

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

Randy Myers is a good dude, one of the few promoters who has the best intentions. The KOMA deal was a mess and they've never been able to recover from it.
 
Randy Myers is a good dude, one of the few promoters who has the best intentions. The KOMA deal was a mess and they've never been able to recover from it.

Well that sucks, maybe he'll have better luck with the series in 2017. I really did enjoy going to the SMRT races.
 
Seekonk, 1/4 mile track, was built in '46 for midget race cars. Mods run maybe once a year or so, they can't even go half throttle. A freakin' parade. I see basically the same thing at Bowman Gray. These cars need to run on banked 3/8 mile tracks at a minimum. My 2¢

Got to 13:00 or so...

Seekonk is a fine place for modifeds. Not the best, but I've seen some pretty good shows there. This year they put on one hellova Pro Stock race as well. Long track or short track you're gonna get parades or barnburners depending on the track surface. Riverhead, a high-banked 1/4 mile track puts on great modified shows. Waterford has the best two-groove track that I have ever seen. The surface is nearly 30 years old ,and they're doing everything they can to preserve it so they don't have to re-pave. Stafford is pretty lackluster, imo, but according to you it should be good because it's a half-mile. Single-groove and narrow.
 
Well that sucks, maybe he'll have better luck with the series in 2017. I really did enjoy going to the SMRT races.

I was hoping to see them come to Carteret this year. That track seems to put on a good show more times than not.

Like I said about the Southern Modifieds, I was very disappointed with the race at ECMS, thought it would've been a good one. And I'm glad that wasn't the reason I was there.
 
This already sucks

http://racedayct.com/2016/10/monadn...-whelen-modified-tour-from-schedule-for-2017/

Quote from the track owner highlights the piece:
Cirillo said he’s not happy with the direction the Whelen Modified Tour is headed.


“The Whelen [Modified] Tour is in serious trouble,” Cirillo said. “… They’re planning on taking the North to the South. That’s not going to work. And they’re going to try to make the guys from the South to the North and that’s not going to work. Those are Saturday night racers down there. Those aren’t people that can take three days off from work.”

What we already knew just put into words by an important mouth.
 
Maybe it's time for NASCAR to let the regional touring series handle the short track racing and they can focus on the big three.
 
This already sucks

http://racedayct.com/2016/10/monadn...-whelen-modified-tour-from-schedule-for-2017/

Quote from the track owner highlights the piece:


What we already knew just put into words by an important mouth.

I wouldn't panic about the series too much at least until we know more details and see what the schedule looks like...
Maybe NASCAR is raising the purse for all of the races and Monadnock's owner doesn't wanna pay more. Who knows? It could be a good thing for the teams. Its still all speculation at this point.
 
I wouldn't panic about the series too much at least until we know more details and see what the schedule looks like...
Maybe NASCAR is raising the purse for all of the races and Monadnock's owner doesn't wanna pay more. Who knows? It could be a good thing for the teams. Its still all speculation at this point.

See, this is why I hate announcements like this. They announce that they are combining the Modified Tour Series and that some tracks here in the South won't get a date for 2017, and it's all vague as ****. Why don't they hold off on the announcement until they have more details that they can give us?
 
See, this is why I hate announcements like this. They announce that they are combining the Modified Tour Series and that some tracks here in the South won't get a date for 2017, and it's all vague as ****. Why don't they hold off on the announcement until they have more details that they can give us?

Well, the only thing I can guess is, they wanted to give teams (especially the ones in the south) a heads up, so they can prepare for next year. The season for the southern guys ended just last weekend. It would be pretty crappy for them to spend a lot of time and money preparing for running the 2017 Southern Modified Tour, and then the 2017 Modified schedule comes out and they find out they no longer have a series to race in. Waiting would have just screwed those southern teams over worse than if they are told now.
And if NASCAR would have just told teams behind the scenes, and not made it public, the rumors and info would have gotten out there anyway, and there would have been all of this speculation by fans anyway...
I think it is just their way of killing of the Southern series without saying they are killing it. None of the tracks in the south will be able to afford the higher purse anyway. Like I said before, in the northeast, they fill the place at $30 - $40 per ticket. In the south, the places are half empty or more at about $15 - $20 per ticket. Definitely doesn't make sense for the tracks in the south to pay the same purse for the amount of fans that show up... Bristol I'm sure is a lock, that has been a part of the northern tour for a while anyway. I wouldn't be surprised to see Charlotte stay, obviously they can afford to have the tour there, even for the higher purse. Who knows what else might happen. A February speedweeks race would be nice, like they had at that Battle at the Beach at Daytona before. Maybe New Smyrna would be a good place for a Tour race in the south.
 
If nascar was smart, WTH am I saying???

ok, if nascar has a single viable brain cell they would put Mod racing on TV just as they do cup, BUSCH, and trucks.
 
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