Welcome to the 2007 Whelen Modified Tour (WMT). Although my ramblings will periodically contain subject matter that is relevant to the Whelen All-American Series (WAAS) and other forms of racing, the WMT is my home. My plan this year has been to get back into the [crap] where I am once again working shoulder to shoulder, thrashing away with everyone else in the pits.

Practice and qualifying for the Icebreaker at Thompson took place last weekend. That was an interesting situation to say the least. Our team’s owner, Eddie Partridge, had decided to campaign two Sunoco Modifieds this season as a part of Thompson’s WAAS in addition to the Modified that he will enter in all of the WMT events.

Let’s just say that no one was mentioning “Hurry up and wait” in our camp. Tasks sprung from each car in rapid fire succession. From simple tasks like changing tires and adding fuel to replacing broken items like transmissions and brake masters, the TS guys were up to the task and rarely was there a chance to catch a break.

On behalf of every member of the racing community, I would like to thank the staff and management of the Thompson International Speedway for determining that there would be no way to complete the event last Sunday on Saturday afternoon. This allowed all of us, especially those who were traveling from a distance, to get home before the bad weather hit. Driving home on Sunday morning would have been a pain in the [butt] at the very least and arguably quite dangerous. It also allowed some teams to save some money on their accommodations.

Traveling is when many of the funnier things we all encounter happen. A few weeks ago, we had an interesting time going back and forth from a WAAS race at another track. Ed chose to ride with me to the hotel. En-route, our driver bump drafted us down an interstate highway, pulled a cross-over move on us at an exit ramp and feigned that he was going to run us off of the road at another exit ramp.

Jimmy questioned me later. “Walt, when I turned away from you at that ramp, you didn’t turn back right away. What were you thinking?” I told him, “I was looking at the grass. I knew if I couldn’t get the car turned by the time I hit the grass that I was going to have to go straight.” He replied, “Straight! That would have put you right into the guardrail!” I told him, “Hey, my car has airbags, we would have been safe. Just imagine my car rolling over with two guys as big as Eddie and me. We both would have been wearing halos, figuratively or literally.”

When we got back from Thompson Saturday night, there was a surprise at the shop. Ed’s new pickup had arrived. It is huge. I’m pretty sure this was designed as a military vehicle. It makes a full-sized Hummer look like a toy. Partridge’s previous personal vehicle was a Ford pickup with big wheels and tires. This thing makes that Ford look like a sports car.

Perhaps the biggest news from qualifying day was that four engines were taken from teams for analysis at the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, NC. Apparently, NASCAR wanted to find out what all of the hubbub has been about between the Ford and Chevy engines. Of the four engines that were taken, I was told by Ed Cox that the biggest difference was eight horsepower without a restrictor plate and six horsepower with the plate. What does that work out to? Is it four thousand dollars per additional horsepower?

For most of the past several years I have ventured to the various tracks of the WMT on my own. This week I took part in the TS Haulers ride along program. The trip was comfortable…with one notable exception.

We wound up parked on the Ferry where the only way to exit was through the camper window to the top deck. It had all of the danger of a kid sneaking out of a second floor window without any of the reward. At least the cameras weren’t rolling.

The next encounter perplexed me so much that I didn’t eat for the rest of the day. I asked for a breakfast special with two eggs on a roll, the cashier charged me eight bucks. I couldn’t believe it until I heard she had charged Stanley sixteen dollars for two.

We arrived at Thompson with just enough time to unload before the driver’s meetings started. When the WMT meeting was pushed back about forty-five minutes, it meant that the Tour and track drivers meetings were run concurrently. Let’s start cloning drivers so they can be in two places at once.

Ed Cox announced some rule changes in the way that races are conducted at the WMT meeting. Some of those changes include; Lead-lap cars start to the front of all lapped cars on restarts. Drivers will no longer be allowed to pull-up to the leader to pit. The time at which the beneficiary of the free pass is allowed to get their lap back was clarified. These rule changes have been made so that races in all of NASCAR’s regional touring series are congruent.

Ed then introduced Phil Kurze from Whelen Engineering who proudly unveiled the new Whelen Modified Tour championship trophy. It is a beautiful cut crystal bowl that fits into a permanent base. The base heralds every previous Modified champion back to Red Byron. Somehow I feel that Phil wanted to create an award with the provenance that the Billy Fiske trophy has for bobsledding. It is a splendid piece of hardware that celebrates our history and distinguishes our champions.

When I look at the race results, I hadn’t remembered that there had been that many caution periods. One thing is certain; the WMT officials seem to have a better grasp of getting the race back to green this season. Whether the rule changes contributed to this or not, there was great action all over the track including some epic battles for the lead.

Life is better in the pits. For the past few years, I have been privileged with the opportunity to watch all of the WMT races from the press boxes. It’s fair to say that I was the most interesting person in those press boxes and perhaps the least exciting person in the paddock area. Simultaneously, by moving from the press box to pit road I have reduced the average enthusiasm in both areas.

At Thompson, the food is definitely better in the press box. The humor however is in the pits. We forgot our pit sign. One was later fashioned from a belly pan that slid down pit road under caution. Our guys had a great pit stop despite one of our tire changers taking a header going over the wall. And when your car is the ninth one onto pit road and you beat the first car on, off of pit road, there certainly is reason to smile.

Saturday morning I got an email from Jim DuPont. Jim’s wife Denise, who had planned on doing the Live Updates, would be traveling on Sunday. Fortunately, Rich or as we know him from the board, “Racechaser”, was available to phone in the updates to Shopgirl. I thought they did a great job. Thanks for pinch hitting!

Oh yeah, congratulations to James Civali on his victory. He showed them all who was boss out front. Civali made some awesome moves in battles for the lead. Chuck Hossfeld brought the Hillbilly gang home second. It is my understanding that Roger Hill was there. I didn’t get a chance to see him but it’s great to have him back.

Ronnie Silk grabbed his first career top-five finish on the podium in third in a photo-finish over a late charging Jimmy Blewett. Ironically, Silk piloted the car that Blewett drove to victory at New Smyrna in February. Matt Hirschman and Tony Ferrante, Jr. rounded out the top-six.

Several of the favorites for the 2007 Whelen Modified Tour crown had less than stellar finishes. Mike Stefanik, Tony Hirschman, Ted Christopher and Eddie Flemke all finished outside of the top-twenty. The Spring Sizzler beckons and it will be a different week. We hope to see you at Stafford.