 The
33 car field is set for the opening NASCAR Whelen
Modified Tour event. The Icebreaker at Thompson
International Speedway will be led to the green flag
by defending champion Bobby Santos in the Bob
Garbarino Mystic Missile. The Franklin, MA driver
recorded a 18.237 second circuit around the .625
mile oval besting his own track record of 18.418
from one year ago to win the Coors Light pole award.
“It feels really good to start the season like
that,” said Santos. “I think we had to start the
season good because it’s important to keep
everyone’s morale up and keep everyone excited for
the season. I think it’s great to keep the guys
pumped up and start the season right. I’m having a
lot of fun working with these guys, I’m excited to
keep going.”
“I thought for sure we had a car that we could put
on the pole. Ummm, I didn’t think we were going to
break the track record by 2 tenths, that’s pretty
exciting. Everybody was fast, I think the track was
fast today.” To Santos point, Ted Christopher and
Justin Bonsignore both bested Santos time from one
year ago and will start second and third
respectively.
“It’s the way we started last year and it carried us
through the whole season. It’s very important and
I’m happy we did it.”
While it may have been what they hoped to do, win
the pole, the time was a surprise for Bob Mueller,
crew chief for Santos. “It’s really pretty much what
we planned on doing, but we didn’t plan on running
quite as quick as we did today.”
“Bobby is a very special talent, it’s a joy to work
with him,” said Mueller. “He loves to race, his mind
is into racing, his family is racing orientated,
everything is just right. We have the complete crew
back from last year except for the spotter, we have
a new one this year. Other than that, it’s the same
group of guys- second trip around for them, second
trip around for Bobby. The competition is good this
year, there’s probably 6 or 7 guys that could win a
race on any given weekend. It just kind of all fell
into place today.”
A right hand that felt ‘stiff’, Ted Christopher
didn’t let recent surgery from his metacarpal
ligament fracture slow him down any. “I should have
my cast on,” Christopher shrugged his shoulders
looking at his middle and ring finger taped together
and the near 2x2 bandage covering the sutures. Still
not sure how this particular injury happened when
caught up in a tangle three weeks ago at Caraway,
Christopher held nothing back during qualifying
crossing the line .137 seconds behind Santos, the
Plainville, CT driver will start the Icebreaker on
the front row.
Christopher is teamed up this season with crew chief
Brad Lafontaine. “We won a championship together, I
think it will be good.” The off season was a busy
one for car owner Eddie Whelan. “Eddie stepped up
the program,” said Christopher. “He bought two new
cars, totally redid this car, redid the motor and
bought two new motors. We ran this same car for four
years. This thing has been like a workhorse. It’s
still the same car this year, but they put a new
front clip on, rail and new body- all new stuff on
it - so he’s updated, everything’s been updated. You
can only run stuff for so long and felt that was a
good thing. He’s really making an effort to make
sure we’re 100%.”
Christopher’s attitude going into the new season?
“I’m hungry everywhere we go. My attitude never
changes. Once I strap in, I’m all set. I’ve already
won five features this year and two championships,
so I’m pretty happy.”
If you’re a modified fan, chances are you feel good
about coming to the season opener at Thompson and
seeing the familiar Ferrante Racing #31. “Remember
the season used to open and close at Martinsville?”
asked Tony Ferrante, Jr. who started the Tour in
1989. “That’s 22 years ago, it goes so fast.”
 Why
Thompson? “It’s where I run the best, I enjoy it the
best. When I started my career, I started at Wall
Stadium,” said the New Hyde Park, NY driver. “It’s a
high banked fast track like Thompson. Because of
where I started, you enjoy what you like. I enjoy
coming here, I like the pit area here, the track’s
not too far away, there’s a couple of grooves here
you can pass. I guess it just fits into my style of
racing.”
Ferrante, who starts the Icebreaker 25th, has cut
back significantly on his schedule in recent years,
this season will be the same. “Don’t know yet (about
2011) Might be back here in the fall, maybe
Riverhead. We’re just really busy at work.”
Ferrante, who owns a body shop, for now will enjoy
the weekend and his part time race schedule. “We
want to have a good time and be competitive. If
you’re not competitive you’re not having fun. You
get down on yourself, you question what you’re
doing, I’ll be happy just being competitive. It’s
not that I’ve forgotten how to turn the car left, I
just don’t have the latest technology on the car to
be really competitive. The guys that have been
helping me have been helping me for the last 20
years. I enjoy seeing everyone, we have so many
friends here. My dad loves it. So when I come here
and I see he’s having a good time, then I’m having a
good time. People walk up to talk to you- Bob
Garbarino came over to say hello- it’s so rewarding.
Not that you made an impact, but that people
remember you. And I think 95% of them have nice
things to remember. Ferrante’s best finish at
Thompson? “We had a second in the 300 here one time-
we were so close!”
It’s not uncommon for a driver to have some variety
in his racing season. Chuck Hossfeld takes that
variety to a whole new level this year.
“We’re going to try racing dirt this year, more or
less for fun at Ransomville a handful of times. We
have a 2010 Troyer car I got from Jimmy Phelps, we
went through it in my garage. We’re kind of going
into it with a fun attitude. I don’t know if I’m
going to fall in love with it and be good at it or
not good at it. We’ll see what it’s like and what
it’s all about and try to enjoy ourselves.”
 But
that’s only one piece of Hossfeld’s racing season.
“I plan on doing a bunch of ROC races with my car,
race Ed’s (Bennett) car a little bit and try to be
competitive in every race we run in.” Hossfeld, who
lives in Ransomville, NY, will miss a ‘handful’ of
Tour races this year.
“The problem is for me, is I’m so far away from the
races, it’s not because I prefer to do other races,
just time wise and money wise it just makes more
sense to run closer to my house.” Plus, Hossfeld is
starting a new business having just bought a car lot
with his friend that should be opening up in a few
weeks. “I’m going to try and balance all that with
racing and just do the best I can, be successful
with all of it.”
Like everything else in Hossfeld’s world right now,
look for him to move forward when he takes the green
flag 27th.
During practice, Jimmy Blewett walked away from a
hard hit coming out of turn four, the incident
reported to be the result of a broken hub. The
Richard Barney entry is officially scratched from
the event.
The other tough break in practice was when Richie
Pallai blew a motor. The team loaded up and left
before time trails heading back to the shop to swap
out the motor from their other car. Pallai is
expected to start the Icebreaker 33rd, the final
position on the grid.
If you can’t make it to Thompson, be sure to ‘watch’
Denise Dupont’s live updates during the day and
coverage of the Icebreaker 150 on The Chrome Horn.
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