Reggie Ruggiero Is Not A Fan Of Ron Silk's Driving; Or Ted Christopher's

Reggie Ruggiero may have been one of the first drivers to congratulate Ron Silk in victory lane at Thompson International Speedway after the Norwalk driver won the Whelen Modified Tour Modified Mania 150 for his first career victory in the division.

But Ruggiero wasn’t at all happy with the way Silk got physical to retake the lead from him late in the race.

In the press box after the event Ruggiero, the second winningest driver in Tour history, expressed his feelings about how Silk took the lead from him and the aggressive nature of many of the younger drivers he races against these days on the tour.

“It’s what the younger kids are doing, it happens every time we come here,” Ruggiero said. “They drive it in so hard on the bottom [of the corners] and the car just can’t stick. If he drives in as far as I do and I’m on the outside I know he’s going to come up in front of me.

"That’s just poor judgment on his part. The problem with the racing nowadays is that the drivers have no respect for the others drivers and equipment. They’ll do whatever it takes. You can’t race like that. We never raced like that years ago. Now it’s gotten down to be like that. They’re so hungry or aggressive and that’s what causes a lot of trouble.”

Silk didn’t seem too pleased hearing of Ruggiero’s comments.

“He’s entitled to his own opinion,” Silk said. “I didn’t see Reggie drive when he was 20 or 22. Maybe he never touched anyone. There’s no doubt about I got into him in the center of [turns] 1 and 2, I’m not going lie about that, but I don’t think I was ever in jeopardy of putting him the wall or spinning him out. We can go out there and just ride around and follow each other if that’s what everyone wants to do but I don’t think that’s the way it is.”

Ruggiero didn’t reserve his comments only for the young drivers. He also commented on the move Ted Christopher made that put Ed Flemke into the wall and resulted in NASCAR officials black flagging him.

“Teddy just never learns,” Ruggiero said. “He’s told old to learn.”

Shawn Courchesne, 12:24 a.m.

Comments

[Rabbit504]

Does Reggie forget junking Kenny Berry when he was ready to score his first Tour win a few years ago?
I watched Reggie when he first started racing at Plainville Stadium.
He Junked more cars than anyone in his time.
Great run for Silk.
He was the best car and the best driver Sunday!

[Denise]

Reggie doesn't like aggressive drivers??? Does he forget about this year's Ice Breaker at Thompson when he threw it in low to make it 3 wide and caused a wreck? That's just one of MANY wrecks I've seen him cause. It was also hypocritical of him to "be the first to congradulate Ronnie Silk in victory lane" but to bad mouth him in the press box before Ronnie even came upstairs.

[MARK ALDEN]

REGGIE FORGETS WHEN HE DUMPED KENNY BARRY ON THE LAST LAP SO HE COULD WIN?

[Racearena]

That's unfortunately just sour grapes on Reggie's behalf. Ronnie is one of the cleanest drivers on the Tour and doesn't use his bumper too move people out of the way unlike some others - youngsters & vets included.

Congrats to Silk and the # 19 team!

[Ed J]

I was at Wall and have seen the video. I have also stated this other places before. The 41 did not hit the 21, he did it to himself. Let it go ! Ruggiero is no saint by any means, but Barry cost himself that paticular race.

[ThE sHaDoW]

what was reggie looking at when he ran the 99 over during the caution? Yellow flag is out and here comes the reg, slam!! hey reggie, is this the first Thompson race you finished this year?

[Flawless]

I'm sick of everyone bringing up the Reggie/Barry wall situation. You can watch the video all you want. What you won"t see is for about 20 laps the 21 chopping down on the 41 every lap. On the last lap, Reggie just didn't lift. Congrats to Ronnie and the 19 team. Hey at least he didn't stuff Reggie the way TC stuffed Flemke