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09/27/2011 |
STAFFORD
SPEEDWAY HOST ANNOUNCER BEN DODGE NAMED AS GRAND MARSHAL FOR
39TH ANNUAL CARQUEST FALL FINAL WEEKEND |
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Ben
Dodge, Stafford Motor Speedway’s host announcer, has
been named as the Grand Marshal of Stafford Motor
Speedway’s 39th annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend.
With the 39th Annual CARQUEST Fall
Final Weekend, Dodge will wrap up his 41st season as
part of the Stafford Motor Speedway announce team.
Dodge will give the command to send the Whelen
Modified Tour on its way with the most famous words
in motorsports.
“I was shocked to get the call from Mark Arute
asking me if I wanted to be the grand marshal, but
I’m totally honored and excited to be the grand
marshal of this year’s CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend,”
said Dodge. “I have to thank Rich Pallai from
CARQUEST and the Arute family for giving me this
opportunity. I have a great respect for Rich Pallai
and everything he has done for motorsports and I
have had a great relationship with the Arute family
throughout the year. Stafford Speedway has been part
of my family for most of my life. I used to come to
Stafford as a kid and I sold popcorn at the track.
Once I was done selling my popcorn, I used to sit
outside the announce tower and I thought that would
be something I’d like to be able to do one day.
Stafford definitely has a special place in my heart
and I can always call Stafford home.”
Not only has Dodge been part of the announce team at
Stafford, but he has also owned and raced cars at
Stafford.
“A lot of people don’t know this, but I used to race
at Stafford,” said Dodge. “I believe it was 1973 and
I ran in the All-American Sportsman division. I
quickly figured out driving wasn’t for me and went
back to announcing and between announcing, driving,
and owning cars, I’ve been on all sides of the coin
at Stafford. I learned a great deal from Jack Arute,
Sr. If he didn’t like something, he would pull me to
the side and tell me he didn’t like what I was doing
and what I needed to do to correct it.
Several weeks later he would pull me aside again and
he’d say ‘You finally got it’. I’ve worked with some
great people in the Stafford announce tower over the
years, Ken Squier, Eli Gold, Jack Arute, Jr., Mike
Joy, Mark Garrow, Pat Patterson, Mike Massaro, and
many more. There’s some that can say they worked
with a couple of those guys, but I can say I’ve
worked with them all. I’ve been able to take what
I’ve learned at Stafford and use that at other
tracks I’ve worked at. I still enjoy announcing at
Stafford the best and the Arute family has always
made me feel like I’m a part of the track and I
can’t say that about all the tracks I’ve worked at.”
The 39th Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend kicks
off on Friday, Sept. 30 with pit gates opening at
12:00pm with a practice session running from 2:00pm
to 6:30pm for Stafford’s weekly divisions. The
General Admission grandstands will be open to the
public at no charge for the practice session. The
G.A. Grandstands will open at 2pm.
Action continues on Saturday, Oct. 1 with Coors
Light Pole Qualifying for the Whelen Modified Tour
cars at 2:15pm, followed by heat and consolation
races for Stafford’s weekly divisions. Saturday’s
events wrap up with feature events for Stafford’s SK
Light Modified, Limited Late Model, and DARE Stock
divisions. Closing out the Saturday feature events
will be the Paradiso-Muska DARE Stock Shoot-Out, a
special 8-lap shoot-out all-star race for this
season's DARE Stock feature winners and several wild
card entrants. The CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend
continues on Sunday, Oct. 2 with the famous Stafford
CARQUEST Belts & Hose Pit Party kicking off the
day’s activities from 11:00am to 12:00pm, with the
final SK Modified® and Late Model feature events of
2011 being accompanied by the Whelen Modified Tour
150-lap CARQUEST Fall Final.
Tickets for the CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend are
available and on sale now at the Stafford Motor
Speedway Box Office. Tickets are priced at $35.00
for adult General Admission, $5.00 for children ages
6-14, and children ages 5 & under are free. Reserved
seating is $38.00 for all ages. All tickets cover
both Saturday and Sunday admission to the Fall
Final. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers
free parking with overnight parking available.
Tickets can be ordered by calling the Stafford Motor
Speedway track office at 860-684-2783.
For more information, or to order tickets, contact
the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at
www.staffordspeedway.com. |
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Source: Scott Running / Stafford Motor Speedway
Posted: September
27, 2011 |
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