Renee chats with Ralph Sheheen - Versus' pit road reporter. Hodge photo.

On Friday, NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Tour competed at Stafford Motor Speedway (Stafford Springs, CT) for the 20th annual Town Fair Tire 150. Friday’s race marked the third of four visits to the .5-mile speedway during the 2010 season.

As customary, the teams in attendance began the day with a 90-minute practice session, followed by qualifying.

Following the WMT’s standard autograph session on Stafford’s midway, the green flag waved at about 9:40 PM.

The UNION Insurance Group Chevrolet started deep in the field, but steadily worked forward. When the first caution waved on lap 48, the team pitted for fresh rubber along with most of the field. The race resumed on lap 57, but was followed by a string of cautions – during which the team was awarded the Lucky Dog pass. During one of several cautions the team decided to pit for chassis adjustments. By about the lap 100 mark, the team restarted in a race-high of 11^th place. When the checkered flag fell 50 laps later, Renee crossed the line in 13^th. With the finish, the team remains 17^th in points.

“The guys did a great job in the pits and after the stops, the car was much better. It’s probably the best we’ve run at Stafford all season. But, I think that’s more a reflection on getting our brake situation finally solved,” offered Renee. I’m glad we’re leaving here in one piece – it’ll make this week a little easier.”

For those who weren’t able to make it out to the track, the Stafford race will be televised on Wednesday, August 11 at 7 PM ET on Versus.

As Renee alluded to, the team faces another tight turn around as they head to Thompson International Speedway (Thompson, CT) on Thursday, August 12 for another 150-lap feature. The Thompson event marks the third of four races in a span of 18 days.

“I’m looking forward to Thompson. It’s my favorite track and we ran really well in this race a year ago.”

The No. 90 takes to the track sporting a new UNION Insurance Group paint scheme. Howie Hodge Photo.

NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Tour kicked off the 2010 season this past weekend with Thompson’s (Thompson, CT) traditional 150-lap Ice Breaker Event.

The teams started off the weekend on Friday morning – completing the detailed tech inspection that accompanies the start of each new season. The UNION Insurance Group team easily passed engine, body and safety inspections.

On Saturday, the WMT held a 90 minute practice session. The team was unhappy with the car for much of practice, but made some minor chassis changes and dropped their lap times into respectable territory. Late in the afternoon, Renee turned in her fastest time of the day in time trails – recording the 18^th fastest time (out of a 37 car field) – during qualifying.

“It’s typical; the field is pretty tight,” Renee commented after her two-lap run. “Usually here – and Stafford – a couple hundredths or even thousandths of a second can easily be the difference between a dozen spots. With the exception of a few guys who are just way off the pace, this is war out here.”

With sunny skies and temperatures in the low 60s, the green flag dropped on the 2010 season at 3:15 PM on Sunday afternoon in front of a packed house. Lining up on the outside of the 9^th row, initially, the outside lane got the jump and Renee advanced several positions. The race went for 57 laps without a caution and during that time the car eventually faded.

“It didn’t help that Tomaino – who was clearly smoking for most of the green flag run – did a fabulous job of oiling down the track. But, we also missed a little on our setup. We caught a couple of cautions and pitted twice – once for tires and once for a wedge adjustment – and improved the car quite a bit.

Now headed in the right direction, on a lap 90 restart, Renee got drilled from behind going into turn one – spinning into the infield.

Obviously dissatisfied with the outcome, Renee offered her cutting opinion: “I’m not really sure what Robbie (Fuller, driver of the 71 car that re-stared behind Renee) was thinking. We had an awesome restart – I was glued to the car in front of me. The field was just stacked up two abreast a dozen cars deep. It’s just common sense, but in a situation like that you just have to wait it out – blasting the car in front of you certainly isn’t going to help the situation any. Plus, it’s like insult to injury because he was a lapped car. What’s he messing with a lead lap car for?  You know, I raced with Robbie back at the Park and, in fact, even bought my first Modified from him. Clearly the only thing he’s learned since those days is how to make money.”

The race resumed with about 50 to go, with Renee eventually working her way back up to the 13^th spot. She worked particularly hard – especially with some uncooperative lapped cars – for the last several laps; successfully holding off Burt Myers – the much hyped star of the History Channel’s reality show Madhouse. The official results can be found here.

Reflecting on the day, Renee remarked: “For us, it was, at times, a bit of a physical race out there today – but the bottom line is we’re just going to keep giving what we’re getting. We’ve got a good thing going on here this year – all of the puzzle pieces are falling into place for us as a team. We salvaged a respectable finish here today and now we’ll focus on Stafford.”

As Renee indicated, the WMT will next be in action on Sunday, April 25 at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway for the annual 200-lap Spring Sizzler. In the meantime, please visit our gallery for photos from the Ice Breaker race.

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.

With snow gently falling over much of the state and temperatures dropping into the mid-30s – and more bad weather in the forecast – Thompson International Speedway officials have postponed the World Series of Speedway Racing.

Originally scheduled for this weekend, the event has been postponed until Oct. 23-25. The schedule for the weekend will remain the same. This is just the second race during the 2009 season that has been postponed.

According to published reports in The Hartford Courant, Don Hoenig (Thompson’s track owner ) was quoted as saying:  “We desperately wanted to run the World Series event this weekend. But, when virtually every weather forecast is predicting a complete wash out, we felt we had no choice but to move everything to next weekend.”

Next Saturday’s schedule calls for Whelen Modified Tour qualifying at 2:30 PM, with the 150-lap Whelen Modified Tour race going off on Sunday at approximately 3:30 PM.

Renee's top-ten run ends in this multi-car accident. Accident courtesy of James Civali; Photo courtesy of Howie Hodge.

On Thursday, September 3 the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returned to Thompson International Speedway for the running of the Budweiser 150.

The 33 teams assembled in the pit area began the afternoon with an hour long practice session. The No. 90 team concluded the session posting mid-pack times – but were confident they had a better than mid-pack car.

Despite an early draw (the car went out 9^th for qualifying) Renee topped the leader board – maintaining the pole for some time. When it was all said and done, she posted the 8^th fastest time of the day.

Following time trials, Renee – along with the rest of the starting lineup – participated in an autograph session on the track’s midway.

When the green flag dropped, the No. 90 team started the race from the 6^th spot (the top-ten cars redraw for starting position). Renee ran inside the top-ten for the first 72 laps – and was running in the 7^th position when the caution flew on lap 72. Pitting along with the rest of the leaders, the car came to pit road for tires and no adjustments.

“The guys did an excellent job in the pits – getting us back out onto the track in 7^th,” recalls Renee.  “They did a great job all day long – the pit stop was just something else that went right for us today.”

When the track went green again, the No. 90 car continued to race in the top-ten. On a lap-91 restart Renee was in the 8^th position – behind the No. 1 (Rob Summers) car and outside the No. 17 car (Glen Reen). Coming off of turn two, James Civali (car 79) pulled the pin and attempted a three-wide move on the bottom that ended up putting Summers in the wall. With absolutely nowhere to go, Renee became airborne over the 1 car – riding the top of the wall and narrowly missing the catch fence. When the cars came to rest – Renee’s left front was literally sitting on Summer’s carburetor. With the racing surface almost completely blocked, an extended red flag period ensued.

“I’m actually sick. We had a great run going and we flat out got wrecked by Civali’s stupidity. He wasn’t faster than us…he had been running behind us prior to the restart…he just threw it in there and wrecked a lot of good cars in the process. We ran strong all day long, we were running a smart, competitive race and we have zero to show for it. Actually, it’s less than zero because we’ll have to shell out the money to put the car back together.”

“On the bright side, we’ve been running really strong. Ed has been giving us great set-ups in the cars, the fresh Billy the Kid engine we have in there has some serious power, our tire guy (Don Clifford) is hitting the stagger just perfect and our crew guys have had excellent stops. Things have really come together in those areas and I’m thankful to everyone involved for all their efforts.”

Next up, the team will compete in the September 19^th event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway during the Sylvania 300 Sprint Cup weekend.

Due to light yet persistent rain at the track, and with more in the forecast, NASCAR officials – in conjunction with Thompson International Speedway – postponed Thursday, August 13th’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Budweiser 150 presented by New England Dodge Dealers until Thursday, September 3rd.

The rescheduled Budweiser 150 will mark the second of three trips for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour to Thompson in 2009.

The September race at Thompson is the next event on the No. 90 team’s schedule, as the team has elected to skip the Bristol date – mainly citing financial concerns.

“Bristol just doesn’t make any sense for our team,” Renee recently explained. “The purse is pathetic. In fact, with the purse structure, the team that finishes in second place won’t cover their expenses. Plus, the mid-week scheduling makes it difficult for our crew members to attend without having to take too much time off from work. It’s a shame because we would all love to compete at track like Bristol. Unfortunately, at this point in time, it’s just not going to work for us.”

The 25th season of NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Tour opened with Thompson International Speedway’s annual Icebreaker event on Sunday, April 5 (Thompson, CT).

Renee signs autographs during Thompson's Icebreaker

Before the season got underway, on the previous weekend, the No. 90 team participated in some pre-season testing at Thompson. Unfortunately, after running just a handful of laps, an axle broke abruptly ending the team’s day – and leaving them under the gun facing substantial repairs.

After some late nights in the shop, the team arrived at Thompson on Friday morning to submit the car for NASCAR inspection. On Saturday, despite an unfavorable weather forecast, practice and qualifying went off without a hitch – with Renee qualifying into the tight field with the 21st fastest time of the day (a mere .317 seconds separated the top 25 cars).

Starting the 150-lap race from the inside of the 11th row, Renee initially dropped back. Once she found an outside lane, she worked her way forward. When the caution waved on lap 49, the No. 90 was scored in 14th place. Along with most of the leaders, the team pitted for tires on lap 52. A miscue during the pit stop dropped the car back to the 25th position.

Following a red flag period, for a crew member who was seriously injured during the pit stop action, the field remained under green until lap 115. During that time, Renee worked her way forward, then dropped back during the final run of late-race cautions. In the end, she posted an 18th place finish. For photos from the weekend, please visit our 2009 gallery – all pictures are courtesy of Howie and Mary Hodge.

We learned a lot today. Hoosier has a different tire this year and I think, going forward, we know what changes we need to make in order to keep the car from falling off, explained Renee. I don’t think our finish is indicative of how strong our car was, at times, during the race. We’ll know better for next time.

Actually, all things considered, I think we’re in pretty good shape. Back in January I had some knee surgery, which resulted in a completely unexpected two-month recovery period. My being out of commission for two months really jammed us up – there were a lot of unknowns as the season grew real close.

But, all that’s behind us and things are looking up now. As a team, we have a stronger crew of dedicated and knowledgeable guys than we’ve ever had. As of late, we’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to have some really strong engines under our hood. And, I’m working on some sponsorship deals that should provide us with some additional resources that we haven’t had in years. I’m excited for the possibilities.

Next up, the team moves on to the flat, ½-mile Stafford Motor Speedway (Stafford Springs, CT) for the running of the 38th annual Tech-Net Spring Sizzler presented by CARQUEST. The 200-lap event is scheduled to go off at approximately 2:30 on Sunday, April 26. For more information, please visit Stafford’s website.