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Stafford Motor Speedway is a 1/2 mile paved oval located in Stafford Springs, Connecticut. Stafford Speedway holds weekly racing every Friday night May through September. This track is known as the home of the SK Modifieds and drivers such as Ryan Preece and Ted Christopher. The track hosts weekly events throughout the season previously including 3 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events yearly. Stafford Motor Speedway is the track that had hosted the second most ever races in the modern era of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour with 135 races from 1985 to 2021.
| Stafford | |
|---|---|
 Start of the 2019 Fall Final 150 | |
| Location | Stafford Springs, Connecticut |
| Time zone | Eastern |
| Coordinates | 41°57′19″N 72°19′13″W / 41.9553°N 72.3204°W |
| Capacity | 10,000 |
| Operator | Mark Arute |
| Broke ground | 1868 |
| Opened | 1870 |
| Former names | Stafford Springs Agricultural Park (1870 - 1945) Stafford Springs Speedway (1946 - 1958) Stafford Springs Motor Speedway (1959 - 1978) Stafford Motor Speedway (1979 - 2022) Stafford Speedway (2023 - Present) |
| Major events | Spring Sizzler Fall Final Camping World SRX Tour |
| Oval | |
| Surface | Paved |
| Length | 0.500 miles (0.805 km) |
| Turns | 4 |
| Banking | 9° (turns 1-2) 7.5° (turns 3-4) |
The speedway also had hosted 5 NASCAR North Tour events from 1979 until 1985 and 30 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East races, between 1987 and 2016.
Stafford Motor Speedway was the site of the first ever Superstar Racing Experience event on June 12, 2021. The main event was won by track regular Doug Coby.
In December 2020, the track announced that it would end its 60-year affiliation with NASCAR, "due to a conflict regarding ownership of streaming and broadcast rights of weekly racing events".[1] Stafford began live streaming on FloRacing in 2021.[2]
History
editOriginally known as the Stafford Springs Agricultural Park,[3] the facility was used as a half-mile horse racing facility up to the end of World War II when it switched to automobile racing.[4] The facility became a NASCAR track in 1959 as a dirt track, under the ownership of Rockville auto dealer Mal Barlow, Barlow paved the track in 1967. It was purchased by the Arute brothers, Chuck and Jack Arute in 1970. Jack's son Mark Arute continues to own and manage the track.[5]
Notable drivers
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References
edit- ^ Running, Scott (21 December 2020). "Stafford Speedway Leaving NASCAR Weekly Racing Series in 2021; Track to Race Independently; Modified Tour Events Unaffected for 2020 season". Stafford Motor Speedway. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
- ^ "Opening Night". Stafford Motor Speedway. April 24, 2021. Event occurs at 13:54. FloRacing.
- ^ Wollschlager, Mike; Ofgang, Erik; Yuravich, Albie (18 May 2018). "Summer Fun 2018: Outdoor Family Entertainment". Connecticut Magazine. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
- ^ Courchesne, Shawn (25 April 2003). "STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
- ^ "Whelen Modified Tour Stat Advance: Stafford - NASCAR Home Tracks".
- ^ "Stafford Motor Speedway".
- ^ "Geoff Bodine – a photo on Flickriver".
- ^ a b "New England Antique Racers". Archived from the original on 2011-02-09. Retrieved 2010-06-30.
- ^ "SMS Online: A Look Back in Time at the 1974 Stafford Speedway Season". Archived from the original on 2011-01-08. Retrieved 2013-01-14.
- ^ "August 6: Dale Earnhardt Smokes the Competition in Stafford". Today in Connecticut History. 6 August 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
- ^ Bourcier, Bones. RICHIE!: The Fast Life and Times of NASCAR's Greatest Modified Driver (1st ed., 2004). Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA: Coastal 181. ISBN 0-9709854-6-0.
- ^ "Driver Jimmy Spencer's NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results at Stafford Motor Speedway – Racing-Reference.info".
External links
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- Stafford Motor Speedway website
- Stafford Motor Speedway archive at Racing-Reference