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03/29/2012 |
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STAFFORD
MOTOR SPEEDWAY CARQUEST
CHAMPIONS FOR CHARITIES DRIVER SPOTLIGHT:
RANDY CABRAL |
 Stafford
Motor Speedway has again lined up an impressive
field of current and former open wheel champions for
its CARQUEST Champions For Charities Event as part
of CARQUEST Super Saturday on June 30th. During the
coming weeks, SMS will offer a profile on each of
its championship winning drivers and the charity
they will be racing for and this week’s CARQUEST
Champions For Charities spotlight falls on 3-time
NEMA Midget Champion (2008, 2008, 2011) Randy
Cabral, who will be racing to help support The
Spalding Foundation.
The Spalding Foundation provides monetary support
for drivers, crewmen, and racing officials who have
sustained injuries in a race related accident at a
NASCAR, dirt or local licensed track in New York
State and around the United States.
In 1988, Rod Spalding was seriously injured while
racing at Rougemont Speedway in North Carolina.
Spalding was a well-known and popular driver at the
Shangri-La Speedway, Owego (Tioga Motorsports Park),
as well as a member of the NASCAR Modified division.
Immediately following Spalding’s accident in 1988,
Betty Sherwood from Owego, NY organized an event
that was held at Quinlan Park, Waverly where fans
helped her raise more than $25,000. The following
year Sherwood formed the Spalding Foundation and
serves as president. Diane Crooker of Horseheads, NY
and Pam Olenski of Maine, NY completes the
three-member board. Since its formation in 1989, the
Spalding Foundation has donated over $100,000 to
more than 130 individuals and families.
“Being partnered with The Spalding Foundation is a
good fit that really hits home for me,” said Cabral.
“A few years ago at Thompson we lost Shane Hammond
and he was one of my best friends, so it’s nice to
be able to work with the Spalding Foundation to
reach out and help those who have gone through
similar circumstances. I was able to meet with them
last year at Stafford and they’re great people to be
associated with.”
Cabral joined the CARQUEST Champions For Charities
field last year as a fill in as a substitute for
Stuart Friesen. In only a short amount of time,
Cabral was able to raise nearly $1,000 for The
Spalding Foundation, which placed Cabral 11th in the
starting lineup for the 15-lap feature. Cabral
finished 10th in the race, but he says that he had a
blast and is looking forward to getting back out on
the Stafford Mini-Mile this year.
“Last year I got to race against some guys that I’ve
never raced against before, which was a lot of fun,”
said Cabral. “We’re working on some fund raising
ideas right now, we’re thinking we might do a
motorcycle ride, and I’ve got some stuff going on at
Plymouth South High School where I teach. I was
pretty happy with how much we were able to raise
last year and if I could get just $1 from everyone I
know this year, that would be a pretty good total
and get us a nice starting position for the race.”
When it comes to CARQUEST Super Saturday, Cabral
will be one of the busiest drivers at Stafford. In
addition to racing in the 15-lap CARQUEST Champions
For Charities feature, Cabral will race in the NEMA
Midget feature and he has hopes of racing in the
Pro-4 Modified feature as well. While Cabral does
not have an ISMA Supermodified ride lined up, he
says that he would jump at the chance to drive one
of the open wheel behemoths.
“We’ll be racing the NEMA, Senior Outlaw Kart, and
hopefully the Pro-4 Modified features,” said Cabral.
“I’ll have to check with my car owner and see if
it’s ok. The Pro-4 guys are a great bunch of guys to
race with. I ran Jim Darlington’s car at Thompson
last year and Jim got to the track a bit late, so I
had other Pro-4 drivers helping me get the car ready
to race.
Norm Wrenn, who was in my heat race, was helping me
change the tires and getting the stagger set. I’d
love to try out a super someday. I’ve been looking
around, but I haven’t really put myself out there
yet. I’ve had a few calls here and there, but
nothing has materialized yet. I don’t think I’ve
ever turned down a ride yet, so if something were to
come along, I would definitely jump at the
opportunity to drive a super.”
While Cabral will be busy ride hopping during
CARQUEST Super Saturday, his bread and butter
remains his NEMA Midget ride with Tim Bertrand.
Cabral won his third NEMA championship in the past
four years, and after a great off-season, he and his
team look to be on track to be a contender for their
fourth NEMA Midget championship.
“I think this year we’re starting out better than we
ever have,” said Cabral. “Everything we had on the
car was 5 years old, so we went through the car and
swapped everything out for new parts and pieces.
Hopefully we’ll be as good this year as we’ve been
the past couple of years. I have a great team behind
me, we just have to make sure that the driver keeps
his head and doesn’t make any mistakes on the track
and I think we should be pretty good.”
The starting lineup for the CARQUEST Champions For
Charities feature eventwill be determined by how
much money each driver raises for their selected
charity. The starting grid will be set with the
drivers who have raised the most money starting up
front. Fans are encouraged to get involved in the
event by donating to their favorite driver or
favorite charity. To make a donation to The Spalding
Foundation on behalf of Randy Cabral, and for more
information on the event, please refer to the
CARQUEST Champions for Charities donation page
located at www.staffordspeedway.com. Stay tuned to
www.staffordspeedway.com for more driver spotlights
and exciting information regarding the CARQUEST
Champions for Charities event.
CARQUEST Super Saturday will take place on Saturday,
June 30, 2012 and will feature the ISMA Super
Modifieds, NEMA Midgets, and Pro-4 Modifieds in
addition to the Senior Outlaw Wild Thing Karts.
Tickets for CARQUEST Super Saturday are on sale now
at the Speedway Box Office and are priced at $33.00
for adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for
children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 and under
are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an
adult. Reserved seating is priced at $35.00 for all
ages. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission
Tax. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free
parking with overnight parking available.
For more information, or to order tickets to the 9th
Annual CARQUEST Extreme
Tuesday event, 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: March
29, 2012 |
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