Stafford Speedway (formerly known as Stafford Motor Speedway and Stafford Springs Motor Speedway) is a paved oval located in

Stafford Springs, Connecticut Stafford Springs is a census-designated place located in Stafford, Connecticut, United States. The population was 4,780 at the 2020 Census. The village was a borough until November 1991, when it was disincorporated. Located near the source of ...

. 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 Ryan Preece (born October 25, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 60 Ford Mustang (seventh generation), Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing. Preece previous ...

and

Ted Christopher Theodore Christopher (June 5, 1958 – September 16, 2017) was an American professional racing driver and business owner who raced and won in many different types of race cars, including Modifieds, SK Modifieds, ISMA, Camping World East Series, ...

. The track hosts weekly events throughout the season previously including 3

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) (previously the NASCAR Winston Modified Tour and NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series from 1985 until 2005) is a modified stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR in the Modified Division. The Mod ...

events yearly. Stafford Motor Speedway is the track that had hosted the second most ever races in the modern era of the

with 135 races from 1985 to 2021. 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 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. Stafford Motor Speedway was the site of the first ever

Superstar Racing Experience Superstar Racing Experience (SRX), officially known as the Camping World SRX Series, was an American stock car racing series founded by Tony Stewart, Ray Evernham, Sandy Montag and George Pyne (business executive), George Pyne. The formation of t ...

event on June 12, 2021. The main event was won by track regular

Doug Coby Frank Douglas Coby III (born August 18, 1979) is an American professional racing driver who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and the SMART Modified Tour, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for Tommy Baldwin Racing. He has also ...

. In December 2020, the track announced that it would end its 60-year affiliation with

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

, "due to a conflict regarding ownership of streaming and broadcast rights of weekly racing events". Stafford began live streaming on

FloRacing FloSports is an Over-the-top media service, over-the-top subscription sports broadcaster and streaming service. The company is based in Austin, Texas, United States, and was founded in 2006. FloSports streams live sporting events to audiences aro ...

in 2021.

History

Originally known as the Stafford Springs Agricultural Park, 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. The facility became a

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 Jack Arute III ( ; born September 28, 1950) is an American former sportscaster for the NFL and college sports for Sirius XM Radio. He was formerly an auto racing pit reporter and college football sideline reporter for ESPN and ABC, and covered t ...

in 1970. Jack's son Mark Arute continues to own and manage the track.

Notable drivers

Geoff Bodine Geoffrey Eli Bodine (born April 18, 1949) is an American former motorsport driver and bobsled builder. He raced at the NASCAR Cup Series from 1979 to 2011, earning 18 wins and a best season finish of third in 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 1990. ...

Brett Bodine Brett Elias Bodine III (born January 11, 1959) is an American former stock car racing driver, former driver of the pace car in Cup Series events, and current NASCAR employee. Brett is the younger brother of 1986 Daytona 500 winner Geoff Bodine a ...

Ron Bouchard Ronald Rodgers Bouchard (November 23, 1948December 10, 2015) was an American NASCAR driver who was the 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. His brother Ken Bouchard was the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. His father-in-law, E ...

Ken Bouchard Kenneth Bouchard (April 6, 1955) is an American former NASCAR driver and the 1988 Rookie of the Year. His brother Ron Bouchard was the 1981 Rookie of the Year. Modified career Before he came to NASCAR, Bouchard was a modified racer in the Nor ...

Greg Sacks Greg Sacks (born November 3, 1952) is an American former stock car racing driver. He is married and has three children. He lives in Ormond Beach, Florida. He and his sons are partners in Grand Touring Vodka. Sacks has spent most of his career a ...

Jerry Cook Jerry Cook (born June 20, 1943) is a NASCAR modified championship race car driver. He began racing at the age of 13 and won the track championship at Utica-Rome Speedway in 1969. Racing career He eventually went to become a six-time champion i ...

Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional Stock car racing, stock car driver and racing team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Serie ...

Richie Evans Richard Ernest Evans (July 23, 1941Bourcier, Bones, "61 at 61", ''Speedway Illustrated'' (ISSN 1528-4182), Volume 3, Number 8, August 2002. – October 24, 1985), was an American racing driver who won nine NASCAR National Modified Championships, ...

Bourcier, Bones. ''RICHIE!: The Fast Life and Times of NASCAR's Greatest Modified Driver'' (1st ed., 2004). Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA: Coastal 181. . *

Jimmy Spencer James Peter Spencer (born February 15, 1957) is an American former racing driver, team owner, talk show host and television commentator. He is best known for competing in NASCAR. He hosted the NASCAR-inspired talk show, ''What's the Deal?'', o ...

Mike Stefanik Michael Paul Stefanik (May 20, 1958 – September 15, 2019) was an American professional stock car racing driver. He competed mainly in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, but also made appearances in the Busch Grand National series and the Cra ...

Don McTavish Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name * Don, Benin, a town in Benin * Don, Dang, a village and hill station in Dang district, Gu ...

Donny Travaglin Donnie or Donny is a familiar form (hypocorism) of the masculine given name Donald, Donal, Don, or Donovan. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Donny Baldwin, American drummer best known as a member of Jefferson Starship and Starsh ...

* Martin Truex Jr. *

Steve Park Stephen Brian Park (born August 23, 1967) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He won races in NASCAR's two top Northeast touring series ( Modified and K&N East) and all three national divisions (Truck, Busch, Cup Series ...

References

External links

Stafford Motor Speedway websiteStafford Motor Speedway archive
at Racing-Reference {{Valenti Modified Racing Series racetracks NASCAR tracks Motorsport venues in Connecticut Stafford, Connecticut Sports venues completed in 1870 1870 establishments in Connecticut