This past weekend NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Tour rolled into Thompson International Speedway (Thompson, CT) for the World Series of Speedway Racing presented by Xtra Mart. The 150-lap event marked the close of the 2009 race season for the WMT.

On Saturday, persistent rain showers caused the cancellation of all on-track activity. As a result of Saturday’s washout – practice was cut to 30 minutes and qualifying was canceled (the field was set according to points).

On Sunday, the WMT teams ran in a brief practice session. Following the practice all WMT drivers participated in an autograph session for the fans in attendance.

At approximately 4:35 the green flag waved signifying the start of the final event of the WMT’s 25^th season. The UNION Insurance Group/SpaceFitters Chevrolet started the race from the 25^th starting spot. When the caution came out on lap 43, the team brought the car to pit road for tires and fuel and adjustments. Shortly thereafter, on lap 82, Renee spun her ill-handling car trying to stay in front of the leaders. Eventually, the No. 90 car would find its way back onto the lead-lap (via the Lucky Dog) – but with about 20 to go – the car developed an electrical problem. After losing several laps in the pits, the team remedied the situation and returned the car to the track. In the end the electrical problem forced the team to finish the race three laps down from the leaders.

Teddy Christopher won the race and Donnie Lia captured the Championship. The No. 90 car was credited with a 16^th place finish.

“We had all sorts of problems today,” recounted Renee. “We were loose from the start. Then we lost the brakes. We seemed to fix all that during our many stops – then we lost power with an electrical problem. It’s certainly not how we wanted to end the season.”

With the 2009 season in the record book, we look forward to keeping your updated with off-season news and notes. Please check back for frequent updates.

NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Tour made the second of two stops to New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Loudon, NH) on Saturday, September 19^th. The 100-lap race aired from 1-2:30 PM on SPEED (garnering a .5 rating; meaning 349,000 total households – or 442,000 viewers – tuned in).

A field of 40 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour cars take the green at NHMS. Dupuis Photo.

Long before the cameras rolled, after arriving at the Speedway on Wednesday evening, for the WMT faithful, the extended event began at the crack of dawn on Thursday; after registration and inspection, an early afternoon practice session was followed by qualifying. In the end, Renee qualified the No. 90 UNION Insurance Group/SpaceFitters Chevrolet to the 17^th position (in total, 40 cars participated in time trials).

With no WMT activity scheduled for Friday, the team returned to the track on Saturday – for an 8:30 AM practice and 12:45 PM green flag. The No. 90 machine started the caution-filled race from the inside of the ninth row. When the caution flew on lap 35, the No. 90 was scored in the 13^th position. On lap 50, when some of the leaders pitted, they restarted from the 9^th spot.

“After the caution we started to get loose and began dropping like a stone,” explained Renee. “There had been so many cautions, I figured we would quickly catch another and pit for tires. However, the race went green for 20 laps.”

When the caution finally flew on lap 70 the team brought the No. 90 car into the pits for a three tire change and fuel. During the caution just a few cars pitted so, despite a great stop by the pit crew, the car returned to the track all the way back in the 28^th position.

The crew enjoyed a traditional New England treat - courtesy of Crew Chief Jason and City Fish (Wethersfield, CT) - on Friday.

“Donnie (Clifford – the team’s tire expert) came across the radio and told me that – with just 8½ pounds in the left rear – we clearly had a tire going down. As a result, the stagger had drastically opened up to 4¼ inches. I guess we got lucky because, in my opinion, losing a tire here would be catastrophic. Regardless, the 4¼ inches made it pretty clear why we had gotten so loose.”

With their problem solved, Renee began to pick off spots and by the time the caution waved again on lap 87 she had made it back to the 16^th position. When the checkered flag was unfurled Ronnie Silk was credited with the win, with Renee crossing the line 14^th.

“There were three or four really big wrecks that happened right in front of us today and I have to hand it to Brian (Kingsbury – the team’s spotter) – for keeping us out of those accidents. I had a pretty good seat to see all the action, but I’m looking forward to watching the SPEED coverage to see just how close some of those actually were.”

While the WMT will next be in action at Martinsville Speedway (Martinsville, VA) on Sunday, September 27, the No. 90 team will return to action on Sunday, October 4 for Stafford Motor Speedway’s (Stafford Springs, CT) annual Fall Final event.

In the meantime, please be sure to visit our gallery for photos from the New Hampshire event.