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09/21/2012 |
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JAMIE TOMAINO
NAMED GRAND MARSHAL OF STAFFORD SPEEDWAY'S
40TH ANNUAL CARQUEST FALL FINAL WEEKEND |
 Stafford
Motor Speedway has named 1990 NASCAR Whelen Modified
Tour champion Jamie Tomaino as the Grand Marshal of
the 40th Annual CARQUEST Fall Final on Sept. 30.
Tomaino joined the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for
its very first race in March 1985 at Thompson, and
he has participated in all but 5 of the 557 races in
Tour history since that first race, making him the
Ironman of the Tour. Tomaino's first career Whelen
Modified Tour victory came at Stafford in the 1986
Fall Final, and he will have the honor of sending
the field on its way with the most famous words in
motorsports for the 150-lap CARQUEST Fall Final
feature event.
"I've never been a Grand Marshal before," said
Tomaino. "I always thought in order to be a Grand
Marshal, you were done racing. But the more I
thought about it, I remember Darrell Waltrip and
Richard Petty saying gentleman start your engines
from inside of their racecars."
In addition to being a stalwart of the Whelen
Modifed Tour, Tomaino has been making the trek
across the George Washington Bridge and up I-95 to
Stafford Speedway since the early 1980s. In addition
to running the Whelen Modified Tour events at
Stafford, Tomaino was a weekly modified competitor
for the 1985 and 1986 seasons, taking three wins.
Tomaino says that he chose to race at Stafford to
help make him a better driver.
"The first time I raced at Stafford was 1979 or
1980," said Tomaino. "I was a regular every Friday
night at Stafford in 1985 and 1986. I've probably
crossed the GWB more than a thousand times back and
forth to Stafford, which is quite a bit. I remember
when I first started racing, gas was only $.25 or
$.35 a gallon and now its $4.50. One of the reasons
why I chose to race at Stafford every week when I
was younger for two years was to help make me a
better driver because Stafford is such a challenging
track."
While Tomaino being named the Grand Marshal of the
CARQUEST Fall Final, it is only fitting that his
first career Whelen Modified Tour win came in the
Fall Final 26 years ago. Tomaino's memory of his
first Tour was spot on as he recalled beating Jimmy
Spencer to the checkered flag.
"I had to beat Jimmy Spencer to win that race," said
Tomaino. "I haven't won many Tour races, but 1986
was a real good year for us both at Stafford running
Friday nights and on the Tour. If I was going to win
a race at any track that year, it was going to be
Stafford and we beat Spencer to win that race. Back
then, as far as drivers go, he was a good one to
beat."
While Tomaino would like for nothing more than to
take another victory in the CARQUEST Fall Final, he
acknowledges that a victory is an unlikely scenario,
but he still has the passion and desire to keep on
trying to win races.
"What else am I going to do?" said Tomaino. "I'm 56
years old and this is the only thing I've ever done.
I don't have the finances behind me like three
quarters of these guys, but neither does Wade Cole
and a couple of other guys and they don't quit. You
just do the best you can with what you have. It's
all about the love of the sport. I probably couldn't
explain what it would be like to win. The odds are
definitely stacked against me, I'm older and I don't
have the team I used to when I was younger. It's
pretty much a family operation now with my son and
my daughter running my team, so for us to pull off
something like that, it would be a gigantic upset
like the Cleveland Browns winning the Super Bowl. We
give 100% every race, unfortunately we know we're
between the top-10 and top-15 cars, but on any given
day anything can happen, you never know."
Tickets for the September 29th & Sept. 30th 40th
Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend are priced at
$38.50 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 will be priced at
$42.00 for all ages. All CARQUEST Fall Final tickets
are good for admission on both Saturday and Sunday.
All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax and
Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with
overnight parking available.
For more information on the 40th Annual CARQUEST
Fall Final Weekend, or to order tickets, 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: September
21, 2012 |
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