After their dismal performance at Thompson, TC and the #36 Modified team were hoping to rebound with a strong run at Stafford on the Fourth of July. Despite some obstacles along the way, they were able to garner a solid sixth place finish in the Connecticut Classic 150.
After practice they felt they had a good setup in the car. As they prepared to lineup for qualifying, they fired up the Modified and found the motor was not running an all eight cylinders. The crew went to work and changed the motor in record time. But having missed qualifying, Teddy was relegated to a provisional starting spot in the main and would line up in the 29th position.
From the drop of the green TC was steadily moving forward. He climbed into the top-ten and was ahead of eventual race winner John Blewett III. But Teddy got caught up in a bit of a skirmish with Mike Stefanik and Blewett was able to go on past and found himself in Victory Lane at the end of the race. TC was never able to make it by Stefanik and took the checkered in sixth. While not a victory, it was a solid run that got the team back on track.
“After practice I thought we had a racecar capable of winning,” recalled TC. “But when we fired up the motor for time trails it was skipping. The crew went to work and changed motors in less than two hours. It just shows how dedicated these guys are to racing. We had missed qualifying so we had to start in the back as a provisional. NASCAR gave us five laps to make the sure the car was ok and scuff our tires and it was time to race.
“The car was pretty good and I went to work trying to get to the front. I got up into the top-ten but when I caught up to the #16 (Stefanik) he just wouldn’t give me a lane. I don’t think we had a winning racecar but I think we were capable of finishing in the top three. But we never did get by the #16 and we ended up sixth. We were disappointed but the most important thing was that we finished the race. Now we will head to Loudon and I think we’re going to be very competitive there.”
The next race for Teddy and the #36 team will be the WMT New England 100 at New Hampshire International Speedway on Saturday afternoon, July 15.
|
