Shawn Courchesne | Auto Racing

Call It A Day, Call It A Season At Stafford Motor Speedway

The racing season at Stafford Motor Speedway ended with a young face in victory lane and a champion celebrating hitting the trifecta.

Sixteen year old Dillon Moltz of Waterford won for the second time this season in the 40-lap Late Model feature, the closing event of the CarQuest Fall Final Sunday at Stafford Motor Speedway.

Moltz held off Tom Fearn of East Longmeadow for the victory.

Donny Lia Clinches The Whelen Modified Tour Title At Stafford; Mike Stefanik Wins The CarQuest Fall Final 150

Just call him the champ.

Donny Lia didn’t have a race winning car, but it was enough for him to clinch a championship.

Lia, of Jericho, N.Y. finished seventh in the Whelen Modified Tour CarQuest 150 Sunday at Stafford Motor Speedway to win his first Modified Tour title and the first championship for Mystic owner Bob Garbarino.

It was the first season together for Lia and Garbarino, a Modified Tour owner since the division's inception in 1985.

"It's unbelievable," Garbarino said. "We've been at this a long time. I can't tell you how much it means to have Donny do it his first year here."

Woody Pitkat Still “Dreaming” About A National Title After His SK Modified Win Sunday At Stafford

Woody Pitkat did everything he could do Sunday at Stafford Motor Speedway to try to win a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Championship.

Unfortunately for the driver from Stafford, there wasn’t enough he could do.

Pitkat came into Sunday mathematically eliminated from the chase for the national title, but even after winning Sunday’s 50-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified feature, Pitkat wasn’t willing to accept that he was out.

“This is an awesome year,” said Pitkat, who picked up his eighth victory of the season at Stafford Sunday. “Right now we should be the National Champion. We should be tied. We’ll just see what happens, see where the cards fall.”

Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Whatever It Is, Welcome To Stafford

Good morning (is there a such a thing?) from Stafford Motor Speedway.

I know it’s not even morning any more. It feels like it.

It’s another Sunday afternoon of racing and hitting the proverbial mental wall after a full afternoon of football yesterday.

Norm Sears Clinches Second Consecutive Stafford Championship Saturday

Stafford Motor Speedway kicked off its CarQuest Fall Final weekend Saturday with four feature races in three divisions, in addition to Whelen Modified Tour time trials.

In the 15-lap DARE Stock feature, Norm Sears of Manchester finished second to Tom Stirk of West Haven, in the process clinching his second consecutive division title (is there a 2-championship rule here?). Dan Flannery of Ellington was third.

Championship Contenders Donny Lia And Todd Szegedy Starting 1-2 Sunday At Stafford

The only drivers left standing in the battle for the Whelen Modified Tour championship will take the field to green side by side Sunday in the Carquest Fall Final 150 at Stafford Motor Speedway, the penultimate event of the Modified Tour Season.

Todd Szegedy of Ridgefield, the only driver left with a chance to catch points leader Donny Lia, will start from the pole. Lia, of Jericho, N.Y, who leads Szegedy by 155 points going into Sunday’s event, will start on the outside pole.

NHRA Founder Wally Parks Dies At 94

Wally Parks, the driving force behind the formation of the National Hot Rod Association died Friday at St. Joseph Hospital in Burbank, Calif.

Parks was 94.

Parks founded the NHRA in 1951. Today the NHRA is recognized as the largest motorsports sanctioning body in the world.

"Today is a sad day in the world of NHRA and the sport of drag racing," Tom Compton, president of NHRA said "Words simply can't describe the immeasurable impact Wally has had on the sport he created and the millions of people's lives he touched along the way. The name Wally Parks is synonymous with drag racing, and his vision and direction will guide NHRA for years to come.  Everyone in drag racing, and the industries formed to service the sport, will forever be indebted to Wally, his vision, his focus and his desire to create, build and grow NHRA."

Jeff Gordon No Fan Of A Jacques Villeneuve Cup Debut At Talladega

Jeff Gordon has nothing against the recent trickle of open wheel drivers finding rides at NASCAR’s highest levels.

But he is against one of those drivers making his Nextel Cup debut at one of the most pressure packed tracks on the circuit. One tiny mistake at Talladega Superspeedway can leave half the starting field mangled. On Oct. 7 Talladega could be the place where open wheel veteran Jacques Villeneuve makes his debut in the Cup Series for Bill Davis Racing.

Bill Davis Racing announced Friday that they will field a car for Villeneuve to make a qualifying attempt for the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega.

Villeneuve recently took part in a Car Of Tomorrow test session at Talladega, running more laps than any other driver during the session. Afterward NASCAR gave their approval that Villeneuve was ready to run an event at the track.

Could It Be A Title Clinching Weekend At Stafford For Donny Lia?

Donny Lia’s efforts this weekend at Stafford Motor Speedway could make the season ending Whelen Modified Tour race at Thompson International Speedway on Oct. 14 nothing more than a coronation event.

Lia, of Jericho, N.Y., needs only to finish ninth or better in Sunday’s CarQuest Fall Final 150 at Stafford to all but clinch his first Modified Tour title. Lia goes into this weekend’s event with a 155-point lead over second place Todd Szegedy.

A ninth place finish at Stafford would mean Lia would only have to take the green flag in the season’s final event at Thompson to clinch the series title. Lia could clinch the title outright at Stafford if he can gain 25 points on Szegedy in the standings. Szegedy is the only driver who still has a chance to catch Lia.

Denny Hamlin Does Some Explaining At Kansas

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was singing a much different tune Friday at Kansas Speedway than what he was spouting last week in Dover, Del.

Sunday, after a much publicized run-in with Kyle Petty at Dover International Speedway, Hamlin took some verbal shots at Petty, claiming Petty should get out of his way on the track because Hamlin is running for a championship and Petty is not.

“We know that he's fighting to stay in the top 35 as well as we're fighting for that championship,” Hamlin said. “Really, we've got two races within one."

Hamlin fell to 12th in the Nextel Cup standings after his wreck with Petty.