|
10/01/2014 |
SOLOMITO
SECURES NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR ROOKIE HONORS
Long Island Racer Is
2014 Sunoco Rookie Of The Year Award Winner |
Not
many rookie race car drivers already have a
nickname, let alone two, but Timmy Solomito has done
his best to live up to both.
The moniker applied depends on which side of Long
Island Sound you’re on. On the south side at New
York’s Riverhead Raceway, you’ll hear Timmy “The
Natural” Solomito, a tag that was coined by former
street stock driver Frankie Cole and carried on by
track publicist and announcer Bob Finan. On the
north side at the three Connecticut short tracks,
longtime announcer and wordsmith Matt Buckler refers
to the 22-year-old driver as Timmy “The Torpedo”
Solomito.
It turns out each are applicable. Solomito has taken
to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in such a natural
and quick fashion that he’s clinched the 2014 Sunoco
Rookie of the Year Award with one race left on the
schedule.
Solomito has posted five top-10 finishes through 12
of 13 events with six Sunoco Rookie of the Race
Awards. With a 13-point lead on Tommy Barrett Jr. in
the rookie standings, the tour’s first-year-driver
honor returns to Long Island for the first time
since 2010 when Holtsville native and fellow
Riverhead alumnus Justin Bonsignore captured the
award. The maximum points a driver can earn in a
race is 10 for being the highest finishing rookie.
In its 30th season of competition, the Whelen
Modified Tour began recognizing top rookie
competitors in 1999. Solomito’s cousin, Eric
Goodale, is among the 15 previous Sunoco Rookie of
the Year Award winners (1999).
Solomito’s story starts in his hometown of Islip on
New York’s Long Island, where the famed Islip
Speedway operated for the better part of four
decades. The .2-mile oval’s claim to fame is that it
was the smallest track to ever play host to the
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (then Grand National), but
it was the modifieds piloted on a weekly basis by
the likes of Charlie Jarzombek and Richie Evans that
attracted Solomito’s father, Jerry, to the sport.
Jerry raced mini modifieds at Islip until it was
shuttered in 1984, then migrated to Riverhead to
continue competition. He eventually moved from the
role of driver to that of owner and crew chief role
for his three sons: Jerry Jr., Shawn and Timmy.
Shawn won the modified track title at Riverhead in
2012.
A standout in the legends division coming up at
Riverhead, the youngest Solomito found immediate
success when he eventually made the leap to the
venerable modified division. With favorable results
in cars very similar to those of the Whelen Modified
Tour, and against a similar make-up of experienced
veteran racers, Solomito jumped the opportunity to
branch out.
Wayne Anderson, the 1994 Whelen Modified Tour
champion as a driver, decided to return to the tour
as a car owner with Solomito in the seat and his
father turning the wrenches. The original intent was
to run about half of the schedule, but the team’s
success right out of the box turned the previous
plan into a pursuit for the Sunoco Rookie of the
Year Award.
Solomito credits Anderson’s laid back philosophy as
a key to the success of the first-year team, which
ranks ninth in the overall championship standings.
“It was always a no-pressure deal. It’s kind of been
to just go out and have fun and do the best you
can,” Solomito said. “He wants us to finish the best
that we can, but he really didn’t have any
expectations for this year, which made it easier on
me when I strap into the seat. He took the pressure
off of me and just told me to go have a good time.
“For a car owner to do that, that’s huge for me, and
I think that’s allowed the season to go the way it
has so far.”
Solomito’s best run this year came in the Icebreaker
150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, a
fourth-place effort. The Connecticut oval is also
the site for the season finale, where he hopes to
contend for a first trip to Victory Lane.
“I’m pretty happy with the performance so far this
year. There are always things you can look back on
and think that you could have done better, but I’m
really feeling strong about Thompson,” Solomito
said. “We had our best finish of the year there in
the opener, and we were running pretty strong in the
Thursday night race, so I think we can have a pretty
good run there to finish off the year.
“I think we’ll be within striking distance, and
hopefully we can pull one off before the end of the
year.”
Solomito will be recognized as the 2014 Sunoco
Rookie of the Year for the Whelen Modified Tour at
the NASCAR Touring Series Awards on Dec. 13 in the
Charlotte (North Carolina) Convention Center at the
NASCAR Hall of Fame.
The 2014 Whelen Modified Tour season will conclude
at Thompson on Oct. 19 as Doug Coby and Ted
Christopher vie for the championship in the Sunoco
World Series 150 presented by Xtra Mart. |
|
|
Source: Jason Cunningham / NASCAR
Posted: October
1, 2014 |
|
|