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MODIFIED MINUTE
EPISODE 10 -TIRE CHAOS! GLASS CEILING SHATTERED INDY 500 IGNORANCE?
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Modified Racing's Tire Controversy, Renee Dupuis' Trailblazing Career & Glen Reen's Racing Journey
Was Glen Reen destined to be a race car driver? Coming from a family with deep racing roots—including an IndyCar opportunity for his father—Reen looks back on more than 20 years behind the wheel and reveals what makes SK Modified competition at Stafford Speedway some of the toughest short-track racing anywhere.
Renee Dupuis broke barriers as one of modified racing's pioneering female drivers. Today, she's helping shape the sport's future as an advocate for women in racing and a key leader of the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series. Hear her remarkable story and her vision for the next generation.
The Whelen Modified Tour's switch from Hoosier to American Racer tires has sparked controversy throughout the pit area. Tire inconsistency complaints have sidelined several regular competitors. Ron Silk crew chief Phil Moran joins the show to explain what's really happening, who's being affected, and where the situation goes from here.
And in the "Ya Gotta Be Kidding Me!" segment, Jack takes aim at the modified racing community's surprising lack of knowledge about the Indianapolis 500. His comments may ruffle a few feathers.
Don't miss Episode 10 of the Modified Minute—featuring candid conversations, insider perspectives, and opinions you won't hear anywhere else.
This week on the modified minute.
SPEAKER_18Cross your fingers when you pick out your tires, really. That's the biggest thing. Uh I mean, we here again between Rahani and and Henry, our tire guy, Tyler, uh, they go over to that tire crowd and they barometer tires, they measure tires, they they do everything that you're supposed to do.
SPEAKER_12You know, it's just nuts to think of how much we've done in 20 years. And it's mind-boggling to see it's 20 years. Like, I swear to god, almost two years ago we start I met you.
SPEAKER_15Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_08Alumino is good for two tenths, right? So if you have a guy behind you, they're gonna go two tenths faster and try to get by you. And if you're trying to get by somebody, the guy in front of you is gonna go two tons faster so that you don't get by him. So, like, I I was I was good for another two tenths, I figure.
SPEAKER_05All that, plus a little outrage from the host of this podcast.
SPEAKER_15Come on, man, you're really killing me here. You're kidding, right? Only three modified drivers knew the winner of the greatest spectacle in racing. His name is Felix Rosenquist.
SPEAKER_05So get ready. This is gonna be a good one. The modified minute is next. They're called the Mod Squad. Ground pounders. The men that live by the grace of God and 600 horsepower.
SPEAKER_04Here they come to the strike, down to the minute, back flag in the air, hot senior up to hell.
SPEAKER_02Here comes Toledo to the inside. Here comes Tolpiti Jr.
SPEAKER_05And off the corner to the line they come. This is the Modified Minute. Go inside the world of modified racing with Jackaroo. Modified Minute is brought to you by Quadell Communications, the official track side radio supplier for the Mod Squad. By Mid-State Site Development, safety, knowledge, and innovation. By Wheelers Auto Services, the finest in top-level service of premier automobile makes and models. By Humble Brothers Quality Means. 100% quality since 1933. By Riverhead Building Supply. Build Smarter. Build better. By New England Racing Fuels. New England's authorized distributor of Tonoco Fuels and products. And by Ferguson contractors, building excellence since 1925. Here's Jack.
SPEAKER_15Hi everyone, I'm back, and so is Modified Racing Action. I took last week off to attend my 54th Indianapolis 500, and I was treated along with 350,000 other folks to the closest finish in the race's history. And a record setting, 70 lead changes. Before Felix Rosenquist edged David Malucas for the victory. But it's back to my first love now, Modifieds. And this past weekend had plenty of action and included career firsts and season firsts. So let's catch you up with this week's Up to Speed.
SPEAKER_05Time to get you up to speed in the modified world. Up to speed is brought to you by Mid-State Site Development. Mid-State, safety, knowledge, and innovation.
SPEAKER_01Colagonist is there on the lead. As he comes off turn number four, he will take down the win.
SPEAKER_10We waited a long time for this. We put so much work into this every single day. I loaded this up at 3 a.m. uh this morning and then went to work at five. And not knowing it's anything that we're gonna have. Total was totally wrecked last week, put the whole thing together. I asked me because I can't even uh begin to think what this means.
SPEAKER_15In the SK division, it was Tyler Chapman's turn to knock down his very first SK victory. It was the fifth different SK winner in as many races.
SPEAKER_04It's a snarling pack in the top 10 of this SK modified features of scar. Pearls in second, Calvin trying to hold strong from the outside to hold on to third, and he does so coming down in front of Islam. Oh, contact in turn two, Wesley Pucker spinning! He gets locked up with another car splittery who gets fucked up by somebody else, and we have a fucking mess on the back straightaway. Talvin works over. They racing by somebody coming off the two channel and has the energy with channel behind them.
SPEAKER_02They racing with channel channel channel opening for the pulley has been opening inside the pistol.
SPEAKER_01Is the Julio coming to one is a goes around, and the other car in low is the Mr. Rooter machine for JP Jonathan Julio. Lights are off, two by two, and side by side. No odd time favorite of this one. It's every man for themselves. Here they come. Green flag is back out. Pearl with a slight advantage on the outside.
SPEAKER_04Pearl had a really good lunge on that restart trying to get up Chapman, and he steps on it. Coming off of turn two, Alex Pearl takes the lead. Now it's Chapman having pressure on the outside. Here comes Ronco in the 22. Matt Baster spins in the 11th car, and we have another match. Megan Fuller's around. Anthony Flannery's around. Wesley Pucker's in it, along with Nick Huffy.
SPEAKER_02Green flags are up and we are back underway. Outside lane gets the jump. Chapman leads back to the court. In turn number three for the final time for Tyler Chapman looking for his first SK modified win. He's been close before, including last Friday night. Tyler Chapman takes the checkered flag and the win here this evening in card number 41.
SPEAKER_00To be honest, it took longer than expected. Uh coming off that championship here in SK Lights. I thought it was gonna be a breeze, and uh they definitely kicked our butts here for the last couple years. I'm happy to get it.
SPEAKER_15At the Franklin County Speedway Friday night, this smart modified tour saw Jake Crumb score his first career win.
SPEAKER_06Not only has it been a long time coming, but uh to pick the win up, where the first time we came here we had a two-lap penalty while Franch makes it uh that much more worth it. But uh just shout out to uh all my guys.
SPEAKER_15After the London Waterford's people, Sammy Anderson bounced back from a crash the night before at Stafford to take down the 25-lap SK light feature, which by the way was their fourth career and first of the season at the Shoreline Oval. Then at Riverhead Raceway, it was time for the modified tour. And the career first continued.
SPEAKER_02Green flag off of turn number four, and we are underway with the third. Mark Stewart in third, Monsignor back to the fourth line of the leaders get together! Fun pro come together on lap two, cop six does a three sixty. Everybody will be chasing Mark Stewart at the point, rated up with back underway. Side by side behind them, a high-speed pace lap here to complete lap number 67.
SPEAKER_19Stewart edges ahead. He'll leave that lap over to Monsignor. As he's coming out of turn two, he'll look to clear he will. Wrecking behind them, it's deep opposite point leader around.
SPEAKER_02Monsignor trying to go to the outside and perhaps get Stewart out of joke. And he'll do just that. Stewart saves the car and maintains the lead. Stewart with a run in the outside lane. Monsignor not letting him get away, though, on the bottom in car number 51. Great part of our racing at the front. And it's Stewart. Mark Stewart back to the point by a half the car length, and now a full car length on the back, stretched over Justin Monsignor. Final 30 lap here tonight at Riverhead Stewart and Monsignor. Justin and Matt. Whoops, I guess you could call it the preferred line. On starts and restarts tonight, and a wild run for Ripkuma on the back straightaway. That car on top of the wall comes back down on all four wheels, but we will go under a caution flag here for the seventh time. And a wild incident for Tyler Ripkama. He's in good position. Monseigneur is there, stopping his every move with two laps to run.
SPEAKER_19Mont Senior to the back up first. Mark Stewart pulls a bit down the back straightaway. It's a three-and-four for the final time. And out of third four, Mark Stewart will take his first career next door wheel and modify door with the infrared.
SPEAKER_11Just to be able to run with these guys, um, and be as good as them. And I even think Justin was a little better than I was. We just got better at restarts. Um, it means everything for a small team like this. I mean, there's there's nothing better than this. I hear home track winning on the tour. I mean, this is just incredible.
SPEAKER_15My first guest this week had his racing future predetermined, even before he was born. You see, both his mother and his father were road racers, and his dad actually had an offer to try out for an indie car ride. But there was one problem. Glenn Reen was on his way into this world. But the Wilverham, Massachusetts native has assembled quite a resume, winning a wheel and modified tour race early in his career, and more than 16 victories in everything from late models to SKs and SK mods. Let's meet Glenn Reen.
SPEAKER_05This is SK Soundings. News from the SK crate and SK lights. SK Soundings is brought to you by Wheelers Auto Services. The finest in top-level automobile makes and models specializing in European, Japanese, and domestic vehicles.
SPEAKER_15Hey Glenn, it's good to see you, and thanks so much for joining me here on the Modified Minute.
SPEAKER_12Glad to have uh glad to be back on, man. It's been a while since I've seen you.
SPEAKER_15Listen, uh I'm interested in how you got all engaged in the sport of motor racing. Did you start as a young kid? Talk me through your journey.
SPEAKER_12So a lot of people may or may not know this. My mom and dad both started racing um much younger, and then they met at a racetrack. So I didn't have you never choice. Yeah, I was gonna say, I didn't have an old operator like, you want to play soccer? I was like, you're gonna race a car whether you like it or not. So um at uh I think they met at LimeRock, believe it or not. My mom was doing some stuff with SECA, and my dad was bringing his Formula Ford there at the time, I believe, or it might have been his Formula Atlanta car. And uh he was on a race, and somehow he got introduced to my mom, and then the rest was history, and it was it's kind of funny. Um he kept going, he climbed the ladder a little much like myself, but he got all the way up to indie cars, um, was working with the GM Goodrench, Danny and Guys team, and um had a shot to drive on, and then of course I was born, and that was out the window.
SPEAKER_15So it's all your fault, Rain. He could have won the won the Indy 500. Sorry, man. He could have been Felix Rosenquist, right?
SPEAKER_12Yeah. That was a wild race, man.
SPEAKER_15Indeed it was. And you've been chasing your dream in modified country for how long?
SPEAKER_12Well, it was funny, I was doing that the other night. So we started when in 2006, when SK Lite started at Stafford Motor Speedway. So uh we were in the first season. We we I was thinking about it now, I'm like, if I could go back and tell 20-year-old younger Glenn, right, hey, just so you know, in 20 years, you're gonna make it to the top realm. You know, like it would just that's kind of how I've been looking at life lately. Like it's so wild. Even though we get caught in a grind, and even all the pros do it, and people look at him, especially Kyle Bush, right? Like Kyle Bush, everyone looks at him like, oh, he's he's so cocky, you saw this, you so that no, he's so focused on winning this week and next week, and he believes that he should be winning. Well, you know, when you're not having fun, and a perfect example, like at Stafford, we're running ninth right now, and we're frustrated. You have to somehow ground yourself and remind yourself that 20-year-old younger Glenn would have been so pumped to finish ninth in an SK race. You know what I mean? So you don't ever want to lose sight of your goal as far as okay, we want to win, but you have to ground yourself and say, okay, ninth, yeah, we don't want here, but like you still gotta not be, you know, a joke about it. So um you know, it's just nuts to think of how much we've done in 20 years, and it's mind-boggling to see that it's 20 years. Like, I swear to God, it was two years ago. We started I met you.
SPEAKER_15That's right. That's right.
SPEAKER_12Twenty years ago, I met you.
SPEAKER_15Let me ask you this question. Um a lot of people may not remember because it was oh so many years ago. You went to Thompson Speedway with a makeshift crew and uh a Frankenstein car, entered it in the wheel of modified tour, and scored a victory. Tell me the backstory.
SPEAKER_12That was wild, man. So we actually it all came from we're racing uh spring or the fall final at Stafford Motor Speedway, and we were running, I want to say we're running third or fourth, and I got spun with three to go. And I was so angry because I'm like, did we finally I could see it? It was right there podium finish almost, and I got spun and I was so angry. And my uncle Ralph, Ralph Ridgway, said, Um, what do you think about going to Thompson? And I'm like, What are you nuts? I'm like, the motor's got 1800 laps on it. Like, we're not he's like, Well, I'm not too worried about the motor. He's like, We have to change the gear, and you know, the clutch is pretty thin, and and I was like, you know what? What the hell? What what's the worst that's gonna happen? It's gonna blow up, we gotta always gonna fix it anyways. So we entered it, and like you said, we found ourselves a skeleton crew, and uh it's wild off, like not to branch off the subject, but that skeleton crew that we had, my crew chief back then, who was 18 years old, is now the past uh cup chief or cup cup engineer. He won the championship last year with Kyle Arsenal.
SPEAKER_15Amazing, isn't it?
SPEAKER_12So pretty wild.
SPEAKER_15Well, talk about pretty wild. Let's talk a little bit about I call I call the Northeast and uh Stafford Speedway in particular the the master's degree. When you look at the number of people in all forms, whether it's engineering, crew chiefing, tire experts, truck drivers, and even lo and behold, announcers, they've all come through and haveten their feet wet and their education, as I like to call it, here in the Northeast and specifically at Stafford.
SPEAKER_12I I still, and I'll argue this to probably the end of time, that Stafford Motor Speedway is probably the most competitive and best short track racing you're gonna see, and I'm gonna say in the country. I just there's not a track out there that you're gonna go to that A has the most beautiful facility that they continue to put money into it. You know, the fans' experience is second to none. I mean, you're just shy of going to a damn cup race. Um but not only that, but like I mean what cup race have you gone to that there's TVs in the bathrooms? I don't you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_15You know, honestly, I've been to almost all of them and there aren't any.
SPEAKER_12That's what I'm saying. So like you guys are doing a fantastic job.
SPEAKER_15You know, well, don't don't give me listen, don't give me any credit. You've given Paul, David, Mark, Lisa.
SPEAKER_12You're doing a phenomenal job there. The the big screen, um, it's just it's a great place to go every Friday night, and um blessed to be a part of a tiny ass piece of it that you know either 50-50, you either absolutely love me or you absolutely hate me.
SPEAKER_15So um Well, there's not Glenn, Glenn, there is nothing wrong with that. Uh, you know, I I have always adhered to the people that stand out in athletics, in politics, in arts and science. You ask people in a random fashion, well, what do you think of um Albert Einstein? Oh, I love him. He's the greatest thing since sliced bread. And the other cat goes, I hate him. Nobody says, he's okay. Yeah, yeah. He came up with the theory of relativity, and it's the same for race car drivers, it's the same for any type of if you want to excel at something, you are gonna polarize people. You do a good job of that. Tell me about tell me about your most memorable victory.
SPEAKER_12I would have to say the first SK victory at Stafford was probably it it has to be tied with the World Series win, because the World Series win is just its own identity. Yeah. You know, like it's on I don't want to say it's even on a bigger stage. It was just like it was so long coming. But then again, like I started racing SKs in 11 and we didn't win until 2015. So that's still four years that every single Friday night. You're you're I mean, and lots of second places, as you know, when you're down in tech saying, hey, nice job, and it's like, dude, one away. You know, if a caution had fallen different, if this had people don't realize, I don't think, in the stands, how hard it is to win at this level. Like you and I both know 15 guys could win any Stafford or Stafford any Friday night. I don't care what anyone says. There's 15 drivers that are capable of winning in a 25-car field. So you take that. I mean, that's those cards are great, you know, and then everything has to go right. If your stagger opens or closes by a quarter, it takes your car from a perfectly good winning race car to finishing 10th now. Like back in the day in 06, that might only have brought you to 5th. It's so unbelievably tight right now. Um, I mean, you look at the lap times. What? A couple tenths is is the difference between you know first and twenty.
SPEAKER_15Yeah.
SPEAKER_12You know, it was first, second, third, fourth, and it was like a 112, a 115, a 117, a 119. I'm like, holy crap! Like thousands and hundredths of seconds.
SPEAKER_15You know, I have a I have a theory and it intersects with what we saw at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. People tend to forget. The SKs are about 20 years old, right? And for the most part, the SK division has pretty much remained the same entity and the same animal as when my dad first conceived of it. Now, there's been some evolutionary changes, but the but but the box itself that you all operate in is pretty much what started back then. You know what? It's the same thing at Indianapolis. Those cars are between I think I think the DW-12 is now fifteen years old. And they've got the same situation. And I all of a sudden, I was not a fan of spec racing. I thought, well, I like the originality. You know, I grew up in that era where there were fuel injectors and there were, you know, guys trying all sorts of stuff. But that spec side of things allows everybody to get closer and closer, and the box gets smaller and smaller. So now instead of a half a second, you're dealing with five tenths of a second separation.
SPEAKER_12It's frustrating at times when you're on the right end of it, but at the same time, like you gotta respect. I mean, look at the difference. And and I don't know if people in the stands know that. Like, oh, they're watching this car, and it's like, man, I just wish I could go a little faster. Like, you don't realize that guy is doing everything in his power to get tenths of seconds out. And I was showing my girlfriend's youngest the other day of how quick the difference was between one time when we were racing Nashville and the Xfinity car, and I missed it by four hundredths. And this was a one-year reunion or one year anniversary of last year when I missed it. So she was like, you know, trying to fathom how much we missed it by. And I showed her on a stopwatch, and I can't even go like that was that was nine hundredths. Like, I can't even get four hundredths. And uh she, you know, it was like mind boss. She's like, that's it, and I'm like, yeah, we're talking an inch at the at the start. Finish line is probably all that 400th was. So uh people don't realize how close this stuff is. I mean, it is way closer than you think.
SPEAKER_15You have an amazing capacity to if it's got wheels, I'm interested in it. You have, you know, you have uh uh run and and raced very well in ARCA races. I didn't realize you were a road course warrior, but now that I know where your DNA came from, I can understand that. It makes a lot of sense to me. But you know, you take you you take any opportunity that comes your way, be it in the O'Reilly series, be it in ARCA. Is that about chasing a dream? Because I know you had that dream at one time, or better yet, is it about just going out there and being a racer?
SPEAKER_12So there's two sides of it. Um there's kind of like the dream, I don't want to say the dream's faded, but the dream is not as important now as it is to I've had a lot of my family sacrifice a lot for me to go and chase that dream. So for me to go and say, we didn't make it, I feel like I've let everybody down. My uncles, my mom, my dad that have sacrificed so much. So I always am kind of chasing, like, okay, I want to get to at least the Xfinity O'Reilly series to prove that I can play on the big stage, and not to anyone other than myself. I only want to prove, I don't care, I'm not here to prove to anyone else. I'm here to prove that to Glenn to Glenn, I can do this. And unfortunately I've proved it, but now I've proved it where I want to go to the racer in the taste, and now it's like dope, right? Right, exactly. Yeah, I get it. The needle's back in the vein, and it's like great.
SPEAKER_15And there's no tourniquet and there's no cure. I get it. Listen here. You and I have known each other for a long time. I know you have an abiding passion, as do I, for open wheel and specifically modified racing. And I do appreciate you uh stopping by and uh filling in our fans a little bit on the background of uh Glenn Reen. Love him or hate him, he's there every Friday night.
SPEAKER_12I was looking at the picture the other day up at Haskell's of you with the indie car getting pulled over, and that's still the best picture of all time. Like we need to have that brought up and blown up on the jumbo tron for one week.
SPEAKER_15It's a story for another day, my friend. Hey Glenn, best wishes and thanks, and I'll see you Friday night.
SPEAKER_05Thanks, guys. It's now time to reveal this week's modified minute hot dog of the week. Someone who stood above the rest. Brought to you by Hummel Brothers, Quality Meets, the top dog in modified racing. 100% quality since 1933.
SPEAKER_15Chris Matthews is the all-time winningest driver in Stafford Speedway's SK Light. It's winner this year's Sizzler bank, which is 26. But it's not just winning, it is Odeo finished as well. After that Sistler victory, Matthews is finished second in every race this season. This past Friday failed to qualify in the handicap and started 27th on the grid. But at the end of 20 laps, he was second for the fourth straight week in a row.
SPEAKER_01And here comes Matthews! Matthews is a late bloomer in this one, but he is now up on the podium. Started in the parking lot, but he is now into 7 deep to the turn number three. Color Donis is there on the lead. As he comes off turn number four, he will take down the win. Chris Matthews in for second.
SPEAKER_15This early season performance leaves him atop the division's point standing and earns for Chris Matthews this week's Hot Dog of the Week award. Here's a question for you. How many race car drivers do you know that have had two Smithsonian Museum exhibits? Renee Dupuis holds that honor. But wait, there's more. How about a Pro 4 championship? Or the only woman to win a modified feature at the Riverside Park Speedway. Or the highest female qualifying and female finisher in a wheel and modified tour event. And now she advocates for female racers while also playing a crucial role in the Monaco Modified Tri-Track series. Time to sit down and visit with Renee Dupuis.
SPEAKER_05It's racer spotlight time. Brought to you by Riverhead Building Supply. Build better.
SPEAKER_15Build stronger. Well, Renee, before you came on as part of the introduction, I I kind of rattled off all of the accomplishments that you've had. And the one that stood out for me is I can't think I can't think of many people I know that have had one Smithsonian Institute Museum exhibit. You possess two. You've led quite the quite the life in terms of motorsports and the impact that you've had on it.
SPEAKER_09Thank you. Um I I I don't know what to say about that other than thank you.
SPEAKER_15The journey started at a very young age. Typical for an awful lot of people. But for you, it was in a period, you know, it's only 50 years ago that we celebrated the first female to attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Now, since then, I would say the you know the glass ceiling has a lot of cracks in it, but I don't know if it's totally been shattered. And you and I know Lynn St. James and you know the Women's Sports Foundation worked awfully hard to uh to make or pave the way for future female drivers. And I think we're starting to see it now, even on the local short tracks. What say you?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I'm super proud to be uh founding board member of Women in Motorsports North America. Um that's uh 501c3 that was founded by my dear friend Lynn St. James um and Beth Perata. Um we're now in our fourth year, and so um I get to see a lot of um collaboration that didn't happen in my career um now that that's happening in the sport. And so um being able to be a part of this foundation has been incredibly rewarding. Um, we still have a lot of work to do in terms of that glass ceiling. Um I've found that the higher up you go in the feeding chain, um, the better women are treated, but their uh misogyny is alive and well um at your local short tracks. Um it's very frustrating for me. Um not only now trying to to run a series, you know, from that perspective, but I see all of these young women that um you know are have a career as drivers. Um and and and I know what that was like when I tried to do it in the late 80s and early 90s when I when I got out of quadrant racing and went into you know full-size cars. Um so it's it's um it's been very rewarding, but it's still very frustrating because we have a lot of work still to do.
SPEAKER_15And and to the in that regard, you know, you came in during an era where I'm sure you weren't embraced. Okay. You were you were you were that girl. And I I think people and fans that sit in the stands forget that just it takes such a commitment. Well, and and I'll never forget my good friend Sarah Fisher once said to me, said Jack, a race car does not know what gender is strapped into it.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. Um, and my my old engine builder, so Norman Case, who has since passed on, but he he used to like to say that you're not carrying the race car, right? So as long as you're not carrying it, a woman should be able to do the job just as well as a man. But yeah, um that it is it is hard, and and to your point, um definitely was not embraced. I think that for a lot when I was younger, and I was pretty young, I was 15 when we when we stopped racing quadrants and got into full-size cars. And I sometimes I felt like a zoo animal. Like, you know, people were like, what is that? Like what what's going on over there? Um, so it just it was really kind of um not a very welcoming experience back then.
SPEAKER_15Did did it ever change for you during during your career as you begun as you began to you know win polls, win races, and did the acceptance ever come?
SPEAKER_08Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_15Wow.
SPEAKER_08No, I no, and um, and I don't I don't know if I said this or if um if Ed and I came up with this saying, but I always said that like a woman a woman was good for two tenths, right? So if you have a guy behind you, they're gonna go two tenths faster to try to get by you. And if you're trying to get by somebody, the guy in front of you is gonna go two tenths faster so that you don't get by him. So like I I was I was good for another two tenths, I figure, uh, a lot of the time. So um that's how I chose to look at it. But no, no, I mean like and and I still see that today, right? Like, so that it's it's just it's really easy. Um it's really easy to what a woman does well, I think that um they get a lot of attention, right? That's great. But when we do something poorly, you also get a ton of attention. So it's it's kind of a double-edged sword. But um, I think we're a long way away from acceptance.
SPEAKER_15What what do you think needs to happen?
SPEAKER_09That's a really good question.
SPEAKER_08If I knew the answer to that, um I would I would try to address it, but I I don't I don't know. It's just um listen, we're never gonna be, we're never going to be in terms of numbers, we're never gonna be equal, right? There's never gonna be, you know, it's never gonna be a 50-50 sort of deal. I don't ever that's I don't think that's a realistic goal. Um But I I think that um, you know, the more women, I mean there's a ton of women that are competing at Stafford, right? Like uh SK Lights, you know, all the all the different divisions. There's just a ton of women. Now you've got Megan in a full-blown SK. Like, um, so I think as we get more numbers and that they start to be competitive and and win races, like I think that that helps with acceptance. But um I don't know, it's just a struggle. It's still a struggle.
SPEAKER_15I I must confess, I have a personal opinion that um that's great. The competitive nature of the females at Stafford are is just phenomenal. And I think I think there's some of the very best drivers out there. But as you climb up the ladder, as you alluded to, then all of a sudden it's you know, you see some of them that are that that are, I guess, delivering the wrong message might be the w best way to put it. And it it's too they become too easy of a target.
SPEAKER_09Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I mean, and so like we're not saying it, right? But you're probably like you're in in your mind, you're probably thinking like the Natalie Decker situation that's just recently come to light, right?
SPEAKER_14Like, I mean You guys, I'm trying my best to hold my shit together, but I don't want to keep doing this. You're okay, you're okay.
SPEAKER_08Like, I mean, that's probably like the easiest target.
SPEAKER_15Um, but it's not it's not just her, it's like the even the way they the attention that they put put on female drivers is like all of a sudden, believe it or not, you are expected to carry the car.
SPEAKER_09Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_15I mean, there are look out in the Midwest, there are some incredible midget and sprint car drivers, and and and you know, the female brigade out there is even stronger than at Stafford. And I I just I I for one am one that never quite understood you know the whispers. You know, this is a chauvinistic world that we still live in, and yet I think that the the the best look I feel blessed. I was I was in Motegi, Japan when Danica Patrick you know broke down the barrier. But yet the after effect was always even today. Well, you know, she won it on a fuel mileage strategy. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_08You know, well there's all there's it's a re it's always really easy to discount somebody's accomplishments, right?
SPEAKER_15Yeah, yeah. Let's talk about your accomplishments though, and with Ed, with you guys coming up with the Monaco Modified Tri-Track series, which undoubtedly has emerged as one of the, I think, one of the top New England touring series for the Mod Squad. Uh it's the it's the right mix of rules, drivers, and the right mix of uh of events. Tell me a little bit about how that all came together.
SPEAKER_08Well, it's it's it's pretty easy how it came about. Um and definitely not anything that I had ever aspired to be involved in, never pictured myself in this role, um, just wasn't ever on the radar. Um but uh we ended up buying a horse farm together, and so that kind of we uh my focus kind of switched a little bit onto that um and stopped driving. And then Ed got um so he and Wayne Darling had split a season on the Wayland Modified tour with Matt Hirschman as their driver, finished second in the points, uh, had a really successful relationship. Wayne became involved in the ownership um part of the Tri-Track series back then, and uh was involved with Mark Penick. And when Rowan had some back injuries and was gonna get out of the sport, Wayne needed a partner, and so he reached out to Ed and said, and said, Hey, is this something that you're interested in? And so for a few years, Ed was involved with Wayne, and I just I wasn't comfortable. Like I I didn't have I didn't have a place, I didn't have a function. Like I had been driving for so many years and that went away. And so I felt like really out of place, even just going to the racetrack. Like it was very uncomfortable for me. And so then finally, like I was like, Well, what is wrong with you? Like, this is your husband, this is what he's involved in.
SPEAKER_16Go support him.
SPEAKER_08And so I did. And um I was at Stafford uh one uh one Monday night at a go-kart race, and I ran into David Monaco. And I I've known David for years. Uh, I grew up in in Glastonbury where their one of their dealerships is, and I started talking to David, and he's like, I really want to be involved at Stafford. And this is all like when COVID was happening, and we had had that, we had had that really big race. I think it was the fall final that we that we ran, I think in 2020. And I knew that we were coming back, we had made the deal to come back the following year. And and so David, I was like, Well, if you want to be involved here, like we're gonna run here next year. My husband is an owner of this series, and he's like, Yeah, let's talk. And so I I remember like walking away and going over to it, and I'm like, I think I might have gotten your sponsor. And so we ended up meeting with David, I don't know, like you know, in in the ensuing months, and um we walked out of the meeting, they agreed to sponsor us, and I walked out of the meeting, and I'm like, Well, who's gonna do all that stuff that we just promised them? And I was like, Well, I guess that's me. And uh, so that that's how the ball got rolling, and it's it's just um gotten a little out of control since then.
SPEAKER_15And yet you've uh you've instituted some, I think, really positive initiatives. The one that comes to mind for me is the Mr. Rooter Cids Club, because I and I you and I had this conversation. If if we don't get kids enthusiastically embracing the sport, we're gonna all be old people, and there's gonna be nobody to take our place when we're worm food.
SPEAKER_08So yeah, yeah, it's something that um I had wanted to do for a really long time. Um uh Vinnie Beadle, Mr. Reuter, got involved with us last year. We did a salute on the um the GF Roofing uh night, the Wednesday night show at Stafford, and we did this salute where we had um we paired a bunch of cart kids up with our drivers on the uh on the starting grid. Um, gave them a really nice plaque that Sign Pro had done up, and like the the our drivers posed for pictures is like a really cool deal. And I ran I and I've and I've wanted to do a kids' club for a number of years. It's been a goal of mine, um, but you can only take on so many different things each year, right? Like I don't do this full time, so I only have so much time to devote to this. Um, but I ran into Vinny at New Smyrna this winter. And um I said, Hey Vinny, we'd really like to do that program again with the car kids. And he's like, 100% count me in. And I was like, Oh, you know, awesome, thank you so much. It's a great program. And he said, I'd do anything for the kids.
SPEAKER_16Uh huh.
SPEAKER_08And so I said, I said, Oh, that's my opening. And I said, You mean that? And he said, Yeah. And I said, Well, I want to do a kids' club. And he said, Well, what do you need? And I told him, and he said, You got it.
SPEAKER_15That's the way Vinnie Beatle is. That's the way Vinnie Beatle is.
SPEAKER_08Awesome man. He's been so supportive of everything that I've wanted to do. Um, and and we wouldn't have the program without him. So, and and we've only had one race because we got rained out at Waterford this year. Um, but it's it's something not only do I feel really strongly about like you know, what you had said about getting kids involved in the sport, but I also feel that track operators can't have this sport be just a streaming event, right? Like we still have to get people to want to go to the races and sit in the stands and sell those tickets. And so if I can give a family another reason to want to come to the racetrack, we can make these kids feel special, then I feel that I'm providing a value to not only our series, but that these tracks that we're fortunate enough to race at. Um, so it's kind of a like multifaceted sort of idea that I had. Um and the first one turned out great. And uh, you know, we have a lot of interest. I had had a goal of having, I think, like 350 kids. Like if I could get 350 kids this year, I thought that that would be great. We have about 125 after our first race.
SPEAKER_15I'd say that's a good that's a good startup.
SPEAKER_08I think I'm gonna hit my goal.
SPEAKER_15Yeah. Renee, I could go on and on and on discussing things with you. You have an abiding, you and your husband have an abiding passion for the sport that I grew up in and that I still love. I know you do as well. And I have a sneaky suspicion that you are like me. You got a little bit of promoter in you, you're not afraid to speak your mind, but also you'll tackle things that say that people say, well, that can't be done. Well, watch me. And I've watched you operate, and I and I thank you for joining me tonight on the on the modified minute.
SPEAKER_08Well, thanks for having me. That can that competitive spirit that I had as a driver didn't go away.
SPEAKER_15You know, every driver has his preferences when it comes to what he wants to hear from his spotter. Some want minimal information, and others, well, they want non-stop info. That's what Hummel Meets driver Matt Fasser wants, and he gets it. And this week, so do you in this episode of Throttle Down.
SPEAKER_05This is Throttle Down Time, where you get to ride along inside a modified. Brought to you by Waddell Communications, your Northeast track side dealer for radios and repair. You ride with Matt Master at the Stafford Motor Speedway.
SPEAKER_03Okay, it's alright. You did a good job. You recovered. You got it. Done one of the best you could. What do you gotta do?
SPEAKER_15As I mentioned at the top of the show, I was at the Indianapolis 500 last weekend. And it was my 54th Indie 500 that I've attended or worked at. And earlier this week, my colleague Sean Corsane from Race Day CT asked Stafford competitors if they knew who won the Indie 500.
SPEAKER_17Do I have to answer this question?
SPEAKER_13Who won the Indy 500?
SPEAKER_15No idea.
SPEAKER_13Who won the Indy 500?
SPEAKER_15I don't know his name, but I don't remember, but it was a great finish.
SPEAKER_11I can't pronounce his freaking name. I watched it and it was a great race, but I have no idea.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, right. I don't know.
SPEAKER_11Not me.
SPEAKER_07To be honest with you, I didn't even watch. Oh, uh, the underdog. He was in a um uh I usually don't watch any, but he got it they got him out of turn four. I don't know the guy's name. I think he was German, but he beat the other guy, Malucas, I think. It was a total upset win, right? Yeah. Who won the ND500?
SPEAKER_13Just passed me again? I know who lost it. I know uh Malukas lost it, but I know uh the weird guy's name, but I can't quite mention his name or pronounce it correctly. Felix uh Rosenquist Rosenquist? That's why I didn't say it.
SPEAKER_15Who won the ND500? Rosenquist. Come on, man, you're really killing me here. You're kidding, right? Only three modified drivers knew the winner of the greatest spectacle in racing? Where do you think the traditions of the Sizzler winner drinking milk came from? Or the winner's wreath for the spring sizzler. His name is Felix Rosenquist. Pay attention next year. Okay? Just last week, Cal Bonsignor let his fans know that he was taking time off from the tour due to, and I quote, tire inconsistencies. Then two days later, Ronnie Silk and his team followed Bonsignor's lead, reducing their tour schedule. In both cases, though, it was issues with the American racer tires. So I turned to Silk's crew chief Phil Moran to better understand the situation.
SPEAKER_05Time to drop into the race shop and get the dope from the guys that twist the wrenches. It's crew call. Brought to you by Ferguson Contractors, building excellence since 1925.
SPEAKER_15Will he's considered probably one of the most well-respected chief mechanics in all of modified racing. And with all the news that's been breaking, both including his team specifically, I thought it'd be appropriate to bring Phil Moran back on. Phil, uh, the news broke last week that after uh returning, at least at the beginning of the season, for full-time wheel and modified tour competition, your car owners and Ronnie Silk and yourself have decided to uh cut back a little bit. Can you give us some background and some details as to why?
SPEAKER_18Yeah, uh the biggest problem we have right now, Jackie, is just the the tires were uh just the consistency or I should say inconsistency with the tires. Um, you know, you look at it, New Smyrna. We ran well, got crashed out early, so we really didn't get a good feed on the tires there. Uh went to Thompson and Martinsville, finished second on both of them. Um even though we did finish second, we struggled with the tires quite a bit. And the uh the real capper, we you know, we went to Seaconk and uh you know, we were racing for 21st, and we were racing against Matt Hirschman and Doug Kobe, who uh happened to go around Seaconk pretty good. And uh just the the tires were just way out of whack. And we had a hard time with them. And uh we decided that we were gonna cut back because we had fallen back out of the points quite a bit. Um I'm fortunate enough with with Tyler Hayde with Future Homes and Joey Knone with uh Blue Mountain Machine. Uh they're our main sponsors, so we don't have any big corporate sponsors that we have to please. We just have to please ourselves. And we're not happy right now with the tire situation. So we decided to just cut back and uh go to races that we know we can hopefully be competitive at and uh have some fun.
SPEAKER_15W when you say inconsistent, is it like from one set to the next the reaction to what you do stagger-wise, heat-wise? I mean, I'm no tire expert, but uh certainly you guys have got a have got a black book, but unfortunately it has Hoosier written all across it. Everybody's like the monkey on top of the first rocket ship this year with the American Racer.
SPEAKER_18Yeah, yeah, very true. Um, you know, a perfect example of Seaconk. We went out on uh older tires and practiced well. Uh we felt the car was pretty good, and everybody does a mock run, uh simulated time trial run. And we went and did that, and the car did a 180 flip. Totally, totally, totally opposite of what we thought it would have done. Uh took a crapshoot at it for time trials, and uh, you know, we were lucky enough to time trial six, which we felt was pretty good, but that was only two laps, and you know, on our mock run, we did like seven laps, and the car went to loose towards the end. So of course we start the race with hopefully the right stagger, the right air pressures, the right setup that we had in the car, and we were loose from lap to ten. Wow, and it just consistently got worse and worse and worse. So it's just yeah, inconsistency between set to set, um, the tires growing differently from set to set. Uh so that's been the main problem.
SPEAKER_15Well, and you're not the only team that's encountered this, uh, not at all. And and before uh you your owners made their announcement, Cal Bonsignor decided that he was gonna take some side time off as well, and cited this inconsistency. So I wonder if we have to deal with this inconsistency between sets, is there anything that the competitors A can do, B that NASCAR could do, or C that American Racer could do to improve this?
SPEAKER_18Cross your fingers when you pick out your tires, really. That's the biggest thing. Uh I mean we've here again between Rahani and and Henry, our tire guy, Tyler, uh they go over that tire crowd and they derometer tires, they measure tires, they they do everything that you're supposed to do. And it's it's you know, I'm not I'm not I'm not trying to put down American Racer. You know, they're trying. I hope they're trying their best that they can. Uh, you know, they did test at Riverhead yesterday after the race. Um Steven Kopchak and Matt Hirschman, I think, tested um with hopefully a a compound change. I think some of it needs to be in a construction change to stop the inconsistency in the tires, the way they're built.
SPEAKER_15Um are we still dealing with the bias ply application on these tires?
SPEAKER_18Yes. Yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_15That in and of itself uh creates a lot of challenges.
SPEAKER_18Sure, sure. Um I can remember back in the day when when Goodyear, when we had Goodyear's and Hoosiers, Goodyear turned around and built a tire. It was basically a radial tire, but it wasn't. It was built with a Kevlar belting. And that was a fantastic tire, but back then that tire cost $250. So it was like, you know, we can't have that. And they pretty much just scrapped that. And then when Goodyear moved their biosply uh outfit or manufacturing to Chile, that really killed it. So yeah, we've been playing with biospy Radio World. Uh, we're not ready for that. I shouldn't say we're not ready for it. We're expense-wise, we're not ready for it.
SPEAKER_15Yeah, it's a price point. Yeah, yeah. Let me ask you this, uh, because you also, like a lot of your fellow uh Wheel and Tour uh teams, compete in the other available open modified series that still have elected to stay with Hoosier. Most recently you got to run the Spring Sizzler where you pretty much had your foot on the neck of all the competition till late in the going. What has been the your your measurement uh of the Hoosier situation? Because it's not that many years ago that Hoosier was facing a lot of the same manufacturing challenges in terms of consistency. I know a lot of SK competitors were uh were whining uh about it, but they seem to have corrected it now. What's your feedback been on the Hoosier side of things?
SPEAKER_18I think a lot of the problems that we had with the Hoosiers and and you know it had a lot to do with with COVID, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_15Yeah.
SPEAKER_18Um getting the chemicals right, uh getting the help to actually build the tires. You couldn't get guys to to come into the shop and build the tires for the guys. So they were they were getting far behind in that part of it. Um but here lately I want to say Hoosier is has gotten their game pretty straightened out, pretty good. Uh in the Sizzler, yeah, like you said, we had them recovered and we had a tire that didn't do what it was supposed to do after we changed, and you know, it caused us to get tight, tight, tight. And we just rather than wrecking a car, we just decided to pull out and just uh take it easy. So um but with the American racers, uh I think it's a production they just need to check into you know how the tires are built and and to get the consistency that way.
SPEAKER_15I I don't know if a lot of fans realize that each of those tires is basically hand fabricated. Uh you know, and I know I know in the past in a lot of the tires, and you've got a tire expert, you read the codes, and I remember when I was at Junior Johnson's, somehow we got the Goodyear codes, and we literally could match up who built the tire to the code.
SPEAKER_18Oh yeah. We we had the Hoosier part of that figured out really well.
SPEAKER_15Uh so who do you have to kidnap an American racist?
SPEAKER_18We gotta pay somebody off to get that book. Uh Irish was the one that always carried the book with Hoosier. So um I don't know. They say they've been telling us that the codes don't matter, it's just a production number. But uh they wouldn't be putting on there if it didn't matter.
SPEAKER_15Well, so it's it's it's a bit of a discouraging news, but also on the encouraging side of things is you still have a full schedule, right? Of uh open and uh and uh wheel and modified tour races just just going back and focusing on the tour on racetracks that you have a pretty steep book at that you can maybe compensate for the inconsistency. Am I correct there?
SPEAKER_18Yes, very much so. Yeah, I mean we'll be doing you know the Safford Tri-Track race, Thompson Tri-Track, um a couple other we may go to Waterford. We Ronnie and I have been talking about that. Um so you know, around town, keep it local, have some fun, um not stress ourselves out so much about this about the tire part of it, you know.
SPEAKER_15Look, you know, you've been at this almost as long as I have. The one thing going all the way back to the MH's and Mario Rifkin and then the the Firestone tires, you name it. Tires have always been the nemesis of every racer. And just when you think you get it all figured out, this is what happens, Phil. They change they change the game.
SPEAKER_18But I do appreciate you can sit there and and uh you know do all your homework with your shocks and your springs and your sway bars and your pan art bar, and it's those four pieces of rubber that uh you know dictate what that car is going to be like. So um hopefully they get it figured out and uh you know we can get back to some good racing again, you know.
SPEAKER_15Well, I I certainly appreciate your transparency. I know this is a sometimes it can be a touchy subject, but I think you know we've tried to look at it fairly, and let's face it, it's nothing new. We've we've seen this movie in black and white and have the souvenir bumper sticker. That's so true. Bill, best wishes, look forward to seeing you down the road. And uh look, the the competitive side uh of you and uh and Ronnie, I think will rise to the top and we'll see you in a lot of victory lanes this year.
SPEAKER_18Yeah, man, we hope so. And uh, you know, telefans to come out to the Tri-Track and open races and catch us at the tour races that we're at. There you go.
SPEAKER_15All right, ma'am. Thanks, buddy. Thank you, Jackie. Okay, you take care.
SPEAKER_05You too. It's either or where our guest must choose one or the other. Brought to you by New England Racing Fuels, New England's authorized distributor of Sonoko fuels and products. Sonoko, the official fuel of NASCAR.
SPEAKER_15Well, against his will, I have convinced Ryan Newman to stand by for what is rapidly becoming the most humorous and also the most popular part of the modified minute. Ryan, it's called either or, and all you're gonna be asked is to choose between one thing or the other. Let's get to it, okay?
SPEAKER_17Okay.
SPEAKER_15Either French fries or baked potato.
SPEAKER_17French fries.
SPEAKER_15Okay. You'll like this one. Either winged sprint cars or non-winged sprint cars. Non-winged sprint cars. Right up your alley, this next one. Bass fishing or marlin fishing. Bass fishing. None of this has surprised me so far, Mr. Outdoorsman. Okay, Uber Eats or DoorDash?
SPEAKER_17Hell, I don't know, there's a difference.
SPEAKER_15And finally, okay, seeing how we're at that point in the season, either Formula One or IndyCar.
SPEAKER_17I have to say IndyCar at this point because the Speedway and the Indianapolis 500 is right around the corner. And they have been doing a good job of putting on some pretty good races there, especially. And it's crazy to see what Roger Penske's done at the Speedway and the quantity of fans that have uh re-engaged um in IndyCar that um you know for a little bit there became non-existent, and I can only hope that NASCAR can can uh straighten the straighten their program out and um and and make that recovery as well.
SPEAKER_15Ryan, we appreciate you.
SPEAKER_17Thank you.
SPEAKER_15Well, that's it for this week. My thanks goes out to Renee Dupuis, Phil Moran, and Glenn Reen. Please make sure you come back next week and please subscribe to help me grow this podcast. I'm Jack Aroot, and I will see you again next week for yet another episode of Modified Minute.
SPEAKER_05This has been the Modified Minute. Modified Minute has been brought to you by Wadell Communications, the official track side radio supplier for the Mod Squad. By Mid-State Site Development, safety, knowledge, and innovation, by Wheelers Auto Services, the finest in top-level service of premier automobile makes and models. By Hummel Brothers Quality Means, 100% quality since 1933. By Riverhead Building Supply. Build Smarter. Build better. By New England Racing Fuels. New England's authorized distributor of Stunoko Fuels and Products. And by Ferguson Contractors, Building Excellence since 1925. Video provided by NASCAR, Monaco Timecraft, NESTN, and Flow Racing. Want to get in touch with us? It's easy. Email us with your comments and suggestions. Our email address is modifiedminute at email.com, or you can instant message us at modified minute. Video versions of the modified minute are available on YouTube and Facebook. Be sure to subscribe to post and grow the show. I'm Guy Abraham. We will see you again next week for another episode of the Modified Minute.