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MODIFIED MINUTE
THE MODIFIED MINUTE – EPISODE 19 CANCER WON’T KEEP ME DOWN!
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🔥 BEN DODGE — A legendary voice and influential force in Modified racing Fighting the biggest battle of his life.
📸 BRANDON RASHAN — The photographer giving Modified teams a new set of eyes during the race.
🏁 CURT BRAINARD — Seven-time Stafford SK Modified winner and 2000 Thompson Sunoco Modified Champion.
THREE GUESTS. THREE STORIES. ONE PASSION — MODIFIED RACING!
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THE MODIFIED MINUTE
Hosted by Jack Arute
#TheModifiedMinute #ModifiedRacing #BenDodge #CancerWontKeepMeDown #BrandonRashan #CurtBrainard #SKModified #StaffordSpeedway #ThompsonSpeedway #ModifiedTour
This week on the modified minute.
SPEAKER_11I do take a lot of pride in what I what I can do myself, but that takes a lot of time. And my focus was not necessarily on driving, it was on building the car. I started thinking about driving when I was driving driving the track, you know? And so I think maybe uh, you know, being able to concentrate more on racecraft and thinking about driving as opposed to just thinking about, hey, I gotta get this car to the track.
SPEAKER_10So we like to be live and in the moment. And it's it again, it kind of goes back to the conversation we just had about the data. It's all useful to everybody involved, and it's just again, it tries to be different. I would say New England right now probably has the most thriving content creator industry.
SPEAKER_08People are well aware of the fact that I have stage four cancer. It is the worst kind of cancer, if there is a worse kind, based on my ability to announce. I have throat cancer and I have tongue cancer that is stage four. I'm constantly fighting that battle, treating that situation, and and I will for a very long time, hopefully, in the pattern of it.
SPEAKER_02But all that, along with Hot Dog of the Week and throttle down. So tighten those belts because this week's modified minute is next. They're called the Mod Squad. Ground Pounders. The men that live by the grace of God in 600 horsepower. They are open-wheeled race cars flung low to the ground and ready to rumble.
SPEAKER_05What the hell? Stop stop, stop the corner, to the mod!
SPEAKER_02Go inside the world of modified waiting. Modified minutes is brought to you by Wadell Communications. By mid-case type development, safety, knowledge and innovation. By Windows Auto Services, the finest and top-level service of premier automobile makes and models to multiply Hubble Brothers quality needs. 100% quality since 1933. By Riverhead Buildings Apply. Build smarter. Build better. By Mr. Reuter Fleming. Expert Flumbing contractors you can trust. By SteinPro, exceeding your expectations. And by Ferguson Contractors, building excellence since 1925. Here's Jack.
SPEAKER_12Hey, welcome back. I'm glad that you are here. Now this week I've put together a mix of guests that have and continue to play a critical role in the sport we love. For more than 25 years, Kurt Brainerd has fielded his SK Modified. It's been some time since he visited Victory Lane, but it's independent runners like Kurt to keep SK modified racing healthy. You know, back in the day, track photographers concentrated on Victory Lane photos and those 8x10 shots of our favorite driver. But today, they play a crucial role in helping teams dial their cars in. Brandon Rashin is one of the best at this service, and we will visit with him and dive deeper into what his photos bring to a race team. And finally, he grew up in a trailer park, but that didn't stop Ben Dodge from becoming a voice both on the PA and TV, but also in the direction of the modified industry. For more than 60 years, Ben has impacted modified racing on many levels. Never lacking opinions, Ben offers his perspective and shares his struggle with cancer that has him facing the race of his life. But before we visit with Ben, we need to catch you up with the racing action. So let's get you over to Up to Speed.
SPEAKER_02Time to get you up to speed in the modified world. Up to speed is brought to you by Mid-State Sight Development. Midstate safety, knowledge, and innovation.
SPEAKER_12Things kicked off last Wednesday at Thompson when the Wheel and Modified tour gathered for the running of the Thompson 150. The undercard included the SK Lights, and it was a pass on Corey Kaddock with just two laps to go that earned Kevin Davis the win. In the Sonoko SK Modified, Brian Narducci streaked into the lead in the early laps and then held off Keith Rocco and Todd Owen to take down the 35 Lapper.
SPEAKER_00Car was really good all day, and it carried on to the feature, and here we are.
SPEAKER_12With the opening acts completed, it was time for the main event.
SPEAKER_07They fire the gun, and the shot has been fired down into turn number one. Oh, trouble! Right initially on the start. Things got crossed up in the mid-pack of cars, but we are still racing. Up to speed, Pierce leads at the turn. It's still Pierce running in this tire track. It is Herschman.
SPEAKER_04Here's Hirschman digging to the inside, doesn't have the grip and momentum on the bottom, and Pierce will hang on to the lead for now. It is as tight as it has been already. Herschman is there again. Putting that nose out of wide at the inside of Pierce may have been a little bit of contact there in turn two.
SPEAKER_07No question about it, obviously. Pierce got rattled just a bit by a little tap of the bumper. That gives Herschman the opportunity to take over the lead. Matt Hirschman. The Bar Harbor Bank Machine is about to make a deposit. And some big money on the line, the win of the NASCAR Wheel of Modified tour, with less than one left to go.
SPEAKER_04Working his way through turns three and four, off the corner, he comes a truly dominant night here at the Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. Checkered flag is out, and Matt Hirschman wins the Thompson 150 presented by ThompsonSports.com.
SPEAKER_12It was Matt Hirschman's first Thompson Wheeler modified tour victory in his career.
SPEAKER_01I look like I'm pretty good here, but there's been times before where people didn't think I'd ever I don't I don't have this place figured out, but it was always such a good track for my dad. I mean, I said in my Victory Lane interview on the flow I probably look like Tony Hirschman out there tonight.
SPEAKER_12Friday night, Stafford's modified cart was washed out by nearby lightning and severe thunderstorms, delaying the Sine Code Triple Crown, the SK 5K, and the Stafford SK Light speakers. It was less lightning and heavy downpours that KO'd the Baldwin Amateur Gomback 77 at the Riverhead Raceway. Down south, weather may have compressed the schedule, but the Smart Modified Tour got their race in at the Pulaski County Speedway. It was called the Radford Race, honoring the Baron Flash, Paul Radford.
SPEAKER_05The Commonwealth of Virginia welcomes back the Smart Modified Tour. Burt Myers, Ryan Newman, leading him to the green flag here today for the Radford race. So by the grace of God at 600 horsepower, we are racing in Virginia. Let's see what Newman can do on the outside of the top group. He's got a little bit of run, but the preferred line down the bottom, the one of Myers watches up the track, almost gets into Newman. They continue to beat side by side, but Bert Myers leads that first lap. Here comes McIlerney to the inside of Bert Myers. McIlerney going for the top spot. He has never led a lap in smart modified tour competition. And that's a line too close to call. It's still says Myers on the scoring sheet. Now it changes. John McIlerney leads his first lap in smart modified tour competition. McIlerney does not come up to speed. Crumb grabs the top spot. Here comes Burt Myers on the outside. Danny Bone inches out in front. Who's gonna get the run coming up off the corner? Burt Myers does a little flip up by Danny Bone coming off the corner. Here comes Danny Bone in the 25. Looking for the lead. Burt Myers still out front at that cross line. Jake Crumb's a second. White flag is out for Jake Crumb. Newman in second. Newman second again with the smart modified tour. If Jake Crumb does not falter, up on some lap machines, they pull over for Jake Crumb. Newman closes in. Jake Crumb will win his second of the year. And this one comes at Pulaski County Motorsport Park.
SPEAKER_09We've had the speed everywhere we've been, uh, especially after the win. We've had a lot of speed and everybody knows it.
SPEAKER_12Saturday night, the Waterford people hold their SK Light division, and Anthony Racillo scored his very first SK Light victory. In the 35-lap SK modified meeting, Keith Rocco searching for his first win of the season, he went from the outside of the front row to lead every lap and score the victory. Jonathan Pulio took second with Anthony Flannery finishing third. So consider yourself officially up to speed.
SPEAKER_02Here's a look at the championship chases. Brought to you by Steinpro, exceeding your expectations.
SPEAKER_12After the wheel and modified tour stops at 150, the gap between factor emeralding and Austin Beers is just 13 points. Plus even topic 163rd squad are 44 points behind the wheel. Next up for the mod squad is the Modegan Sun 100 on Saturday, August 22nd. The Smart Modified Tour is Danny Bone, leading Ryan Newman, and the Radford Race winner Jake Crumb. They are off until September 5th with a race at the Carteret County Speedway. The Monaco Modified Tri-Track State remained the same with Ronnie William, Jonathan McKennedy, Line Still in the top three spots. Next up for the Tri-Track is Seat Club Speedway on Saturday, August 15th. On the local track front Thompson Speedway's SK Light Station, show Kevin Davis with an 11-point lead over Austin Goff. While in a Sinoco modified standing, Keith Rocco holds a 14-point margin over Todd Owen and a 35-point lead over Danny Case. Rain at Stafford on Friday get their points, chased the same from last week, where Nick Anglais enjoys a 32-point margin over Tyler Barry and the SK Lights with Dylan McCarthy staying in third. In Stafford's SK modified division, Keith Rocco holds a 10-point lead over SK champion Jonathan Julio with Glenn Reed holding down the third spot. The Sign Pro Triple Crow will be decided this Friday night with one leg left. Glenn Reed holds a two-point lead over Jonathan Julio and Keith Rocco, four tied for second place. AJ DeSantis sits atop the Riverhead Raceway trait modified points, Chase, with Michael Berner and Richard Davidowicz rounding out the top three. On the tour-type modified front, it's John Beattie Jr., followed by Chris Young and Timmy Salamito. At Waterford, RB3, Robert Fox in the third, enjoys a 40-point margin over Kevin Cormier and 43 ducats over Keith Davis. Well in the SK Modified, Anthony Flannery is a 15-point leader over Todd Owen. Jimmy Jordan, Nicholas Hovey, and Adam Gaylor filled the top five. Modified Racing is Ben Dodge's life. It's his passion, and he has given much to the sport and asked very little in return. His influence stretches well beyond the 50 years behind the microphone. Industry leaders and teams seek his counsel and opinions. He's a true modified hall of famer, and I can think of no one better to be in this week's Racer Spotlight.
SPEAKER_02Today, it's Racer Spotlight time. Brought to you by Riverhead Building Supply.
SPEAKER_12From a racetrack promoter to a racetrack announcer to a race team owner, Ben Dodge, over the course of four decades, has been there, done that, got the t-shirt, the souvenir bumper sticker, and oh yeah, the black and white photo. Ben, how are you?
SPEAKER_08Good thanks, Jackie. How are you? It's always a pleasure to uh talk to somebody who's been around as long as I have, by the way.
SPEAKER_12Well, I knew you were gonna you were gonna talk about that. Hey, I want to go way back because you and I share a lot of the similar pathways to where we are today.
SPEAKER_08Well, the real true story is my dad was just an average working guy. And based on the fact that he was an average working drive, he drove truck, he didn't have a lot of money. We were poor people. I guess, Jackie, the best way to describe it, I lived in a trailer park, people would call me trailer trash. Of course, I didn't know that. To me, that was the most exciting world to live in. There were so many unique people that were coming and going in my neighborhood. But one of the ways that my father had of raising some extra grocery money was raising at Stamford. And he met Clarence Benton, who was a guy who was in the trucking business, small trucking business, like my dad. And Clarence Benton told my dad, listen, you can make 25 bucks or 50 bucks a week if you come out and be a field pillar on the new track that I own, the old horse track right down the street from where I live. Well, my father decided to do that. And uh that was where it kind of began. But the interesting part of that story, Jackie, is this women were not allowed in the pit area, as you know in those days. It was taboo. Well, the only person that my dad had to help him was my mother. And my father plateaued, and for those of you who are listeners who don't understand what that is, you just had a tow bar and a clip-on bumper head that you bought at your local Western Auto store. And the only person that he had to help him was my mom, like I said. The car he towed with had no reverse, so we could only go forward with towing this whole race car, not on the trailer, just clip it to the back end of the car. I was too little and we were too poor. So my father came up with the idea. It was a convertible to stick me in the boot area where the convertible top went down and covered me with a blanket. So as a kid, my first introductory to Stafford Speedway and dirt racing is I would get peek up and watch my father race. Now, my father's nickname, and you know this, Jackie, was Berylyn Van Dyke. He was famous for one thing. He started on the poll every week, and by the time he got to turn number two, he was running dead last. But the craziest part is he was one of Stafford's all-time most popular drivers in those days. The kids loved him, he related well to the fans and everyone else. And that's how it really all started. And one day, Clarence Benton said to my father, What the hell is that little kid doing in the back of that car? And my father looked at him sheepishly and said, We don't have enough money to get him in the grandstand. He said, Well, you tell that kid he's gonna come on the other side and we're gonna give him a job and he's gonna earn his keep. So I go to the other side. I must have been about eight at this particular point. And my job was the best job in the house because in those days, if you were Catholic, you could not, or you did not, eat anything but fish on Friday, and stamper race on Fridays, of course. My job was putting olives on the tuner rolls. At the end of the night, I would go to the announcer's tower steps, set on the steps, and honest to goodness, I would mimic what the announcer was saying. And that's really how I got that niche that I wanted to do something. And you know, I'm not gonna babble on for an hour here, but I want to tell you something. You were one of the very first people that made that a reality for Ben Dodge. You were one of the first people that I saw. You wore this white leisure suit. You were so, so sharp at what you did. You started on the starter stand. You were good. I was so pissed at you when I was young. You were good at everything, and I sucked at everything back then.
SPEAKER_12No, you didn't.
SPEAKER_08You allowed me to come to Stafford and to be a part of the broadcast team. And you said, listen, kid, it's only gonna be for a couple of nights, so don't think you're gonna stay here. Well, guess what? Jackie, you were wrong. Yeah, I've been there for seven years.
SPEAKER_12Not the first time, my friend.
SPEAKER_08We had such creative characters. We like that today. We had Mo Gurns. Remember Big Mo? He was always good. Moneybags.
SPEAKER_12Moneybags Mo. Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, he was good to our kids. Good. That we were young people, and you know, and that we were the future of the sport back then. So, you know, those are really how it how it all began. And and it wasn't glamorous, and we weren't, you didn't come from a background of being from a wealthy, wealthy family that had everything given to you. The structure of what your old man did, he made you work for everything you did. And he wanted you the best at everything you did. Your father was instrumental in helping me over the years, and that's a fact. He really was. But he busted my balls too, by the way.
SPEAKER_12Constantly. Well, because that's I always told Teddy Christopher this. Because he'd say, Why is my why is your father always busting my balls? And I said, Teddy, it's because he considers you part of the family. And then one day, Teddy overheard my father busting my balls. And he went over to me and he says, Oh, okay, I get it now. Right? So feel privileged that you're part of the family. Look, before we run out of time, I want to move forward because start-finish productions, and I've had a lot of your former drivers on talking about what a what a critical role you played in their careers, whether it was supporting them or supporting them with sponsorship, etc. But the thing that I think you can pass judgment on probably better than anybody is the progression of the sport that we love from the coupes and the international harv international scout chassis that you turned backwards and you created to now where everything is bought off the shelf and it's either it's either an LFR or you know it's it's a manufactured chassis. Is the sport in your estimation still healthy?
SPEAKER_08I think the sport is healthy, Jack, but it's not healthy in the same way that we grow up with it. We grew up with it. Simply this, because you take a guy like Bob Judgment, he saw something in what was a car on the street, which was a pinto. He transformed that to his own vision and started a revolution of cars. You can't be an individual with your own style, your own setup, your own chassis, your own all of those ingredients. It doesn't happen today. Does that make it wrong what we do today? I'm not so sure of that. What I do know is that the footprint of the drivers, the way they drive the cars, the groove that they run on the racetrack is all the same. And the reason it's the same is that they all have cookie-cutter race cars. You have to agree with me on that, Jerry.
SPEAKER_12Oh, yeah, wholeheartedly.
SPEAKER_08And that's a problem. That is a problem because you just buy it. You in most cases, you don't even know how to set it up. You don't know anything about it. You know, that was not the case in the era that you and I grew up with. It was never the case. You had to outsmart the guy, you went to the junkyard, you looked for a better component, and you were able to put that component to either work or not work. We have lost that spark in the creative side of the sport. And I'm not just not just talking about the race cards themselves, the personality. Have changed in the way that we look at them because of social media.
SPEAKER_12I've always believed, I believe you would agree with me, you gotta have white hats and you gotta have black hats. Oh, absolutely. You gotta have cowboys and you gotta have Indians. You gotta have heroes and villains. And we had our share of both when we were growing up. All you had to do is go sit in the stands at Riverside Park, and depending on whether they were introducing Danny Galulu or they were introducing Giacomo Giacomo, it was either jeers or cheers.
SPEAKER_08And the best rivalry that I can remember of that was Bow Gunning and Teddy Christopher. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_12Absolutely.
SPEAKER_08You know, Bow Gunning was the guy that was a mechanic, a little rough around the edges, you know, a graspy voice and so forth. And Teddy Christopher was a witty, sharp guy. They both had all the talent in the world, but when you put them on the racetrack, no one knew what to expect, and that sold tickets. And we need to sell tickets today.
SPEAKER_12You created a firestorm on uh social media a couple of weeks ago with a little aside to your cohort, Kyle Rickey, before the start. And I it didn't bother me because I knew what you were talking about.
SPEAKER_04On the front row with one of the newcomers here in this class to his right elbow in Dylan Houghton's second season here in the SK Light Modifies. I believe it's year two coming from the Wild Think Cart program. In fact, he uh continues to double dip a little bit in Wild Think Carts on Monday night, picked up a feature win just a couple of weeks ago. We'll start in the second spot here.
SPEAKER_07And don't forget, he wants that alternative career of being a broadcaster here at Stafford. He does. And there is gonna be a seat available coming up soon. Here we go. Are you kicking me out as we go off turn number four?
SPEAKER_12Can you set the record straight so we can be done with this?
SPEAKER_08I'm 74 years old, and it's not easy.
SPEAKER_12I mean, people are well I agree. I'm very aware of it.
SPEAKER_08People are well aware of the fact that I have stage four cancer. It is the worst kind of cancer, if there is a worse kind, based on my ability to announce. I have throat cancer and I have tongue cancer that is stage four. I'm constantly fighting that battle, treating that situation, and and I will for a very long time, hopefully, in the pattern of it. But the key thing with all of this is social media and the young people, and some of the young people that I work with, and I know you know the the names of those people, by the way, but some of those young people, they all of a sudden think that because they've been in the business for a few well, a short time, and they've made some good connections, and that they are all of that in a nutshell, okay? And they don't want to work with an old guy like me. The the younger race fans, they don't like old guys like me. They don't like old guys like you, Jack, either. So don't think you're getting off the phone.
SPEAKER_12No, no, no, newsbreak. Right.
SPEAKER_08But the truth is, and this is how I look at it, I've been doing this for 50 years. And you're right. I've been blessed to be able to do it in all aspects of it. Was my favorite thing announcing in the beginning? Is my favorite thing today announcing? I try my hardest, but based on my situation, it's not always that easy.
SPEAKER_12Hey, Ben, I gotta run. This is very, very this means a lot to me, and and you know where we stand, you and I, and I look forward to uh visiting with you each and every Friday night when you're at the Pitgate and we share stories, and they they're not gonna get rid of us, my friend. Thanks, Ben.
SPEAKER_08Jackie, thank you so much. It's an honor. You're one of the best in the business. I've always said that, and people need to respect what you have done because nobody has done what you have done in this business.
SPEAKER_12You know, good things come to those who wait, but for this week's hot dog of the week, it's been 21 years. But he finally checked a box that he has wanted from the beginning of his modified racing career.
SPEAKER_02It'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_12Matt Hirschman has been trying to win a wheel and modified tour race at the Thompson Speedway for more than 20 years. You see, his father Tony was a master on the Thompson 5-8 mile. But for Matt, it was a thorn in his side until this past Wednesday night. He started on the front row and stalked Austin Beers until Turstman is there again.
SPEAKER_04Putting Matt nose title line at the inside of Beers may have been a little bit of contact there in turn two.
SPEAKER_07No question about it, obviously. Beers got rattled just a bit by a little tap of the bumper. That gives Herschman the opportunity to take over the lead.
SPEAKER_12From there it was clear's tailing, and Herschman finally joined his dad as a Thompson Wheeler modified tour winner. The victory was sweeter than most for sure.
SPEAKER_01I look like I'm pretty good here, but there's been times before where people didn't think I'd ever, I don't, I don't have this place figured out. But it was always such a good track for my dad. I mean, I said in my Victory Lane interview on the float, I probably look like Tony Hirschman out there tonight, because I mean he used to just go through the corners and off or whatever. I mean, I I was either in the grandstands on the pit box and whatever. He was he was always just awesome here. It's one of his best tracks. I and obviously he's not gonna go down as one of my best, but uh at least I've won some races here, some big races, including a wheel and tour win, which is what he had a bunch of.
SPEAKER_12Congratulations, Matt. You are modified minutes hot dog of the week. At the very top levels of the motorsports industry, teams have mobile command centers on pit road. They're filled with video feeds, computers, and a plethora of data. But on the modified circuit, crew chiefs rely on their eyes to help them decide on any changes they may make during the course of a race. But there is a new tool out there that a lot of top teams have started to employ. It's real-time photos of their car on the track during the race. One of the photogs providing this service is Brandon Rashon. Let's meet him in this week's Crew Call.
SPEAKER_02It's Crew Call, brought to you by Ferguson Contractors, building excellence since 1925.
SPEAKER_12So, Brandon, how long have you been shooting race cars?
SPEAKER_10Uh I actually started in 2020 uh Stafford Motor Speedway when they started their season up in late June. It was actually the day after my birthday. I got my first camera, and I just headed up there, and then now we're here.
SPEAKER_12Tell me a little bit about because people wag in in your bags, and you you put more steps in than anybody I know around the racetrack. Tell me what your approach is to photography and the relationship specifically with modifieds uh in terms of providing them with valuable data on how to repair or to better yet how to uh make their race car go faster.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, it's um it's a lot of fun, honestly. So with modifieds, I started working closely with them about in 2022 uh for driver to approach me to work with her, and it's exactly like you said, they just like the fans, they see it as just pictures and videos, but to the drivers, it is useful data. Uh, I've had drivers message me uh asking to do zoom ins on certain parts of their cars to see if shocks or something like that are moving around. Uh, I've had, you know, whenever there's an incident, I'll usually send the footage the next day after, and they're immediately in the shop, just taking the car apart, uh, looking at the video to see where they went wrong or what needs to be fixed. Maybe something can't be diagnosed. And um, it's just it's cool to just have like big names like uh Mike Christopher Jr. and um John Plulio, Meg Fuller, all these big names like come up to you and say that they want you to represent them and work with them.
SPEAKER_12I I I see you each and every week, specifically at Stafford, and you know, you before the car goes out, generally put your head inside the window and have a little bit of a discussion. Tell me what those discussions are like.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, I mean, so that's the thing that I've always wanted to be different, is I think a lot of photographers and videographers, they just go there, they get their credentials, and they kind of just do their thing. And there's definitely nothing wrong with doing that. But what I like to do is I'm not just like the standard photographer or videographer. I like to be a friend to the drivers. I don't want to just see them as clients. I consider every single person I work with a friend of mine. So there's something about you know, practices or heat races, but a lot of times it's honestly just us having fun, you know, talking about anything else other than racing when you're at the track all day. You know, we love to talk about music, video games, whatever. It's really we just we like to have a lot of fun. And like I said, the you know, I never refer to any of my clients as my clients. To me, every single person I work with is a friend of mine.
SPEAKER_12Brandon, you're part of an emerging uh, I'll call it industry, whereas I said before we introduced you, that gone are the days of Victory Lane photos and my eight by ten glossy photograph of my hero. But some of your peers are actually providing input in real time during the course of a race. Do you do any of that?
SPEAKER_10So we like to be live and in the moment, and it's it again, it kind of goes back to the conversation we just had about the data. It's all useful to everybody involved, and it's just again, it's trying to be different. I would say New England right now probably has the most thriving content creator industry. It's there are so many of us at so many different tracks just doing so many different things, and to be working alongside great people like Tom Morris, Noah Watts, uh, who were at Stafford before me in a couple of my earlier years, and I have Tom at Fence Line who I work extremely close with. And then I have friends like Liam Flynn and Sean Petlock who help me out every week. It's it's a whole group of us, and none of us see it as competition. We're all good friends, we all talk to each other, we all help each other when we can.
SPEAKER_12Where do you think this is all headed? You know, when you go to the upper tiers, uh be it IndyCar or NASCAR, uh, you have so much data coming in, video monitors, I mean, it's a plethora, you know, out there. Where do you see this industry headed?
SPEAKER_10Honestly, uh, Formula Drift, when they came to Stafford, that opened up a whole new world to every single one of us. The equipment they brought in was absolutely incredible. There is not a single inch of that track that wasn't covered in some sort of camera or some sort of data. And to see how they have like equipment that can just in real time measure data, not just cameras, but things off the cars, all that. It opened up a lot of our eyes for some stuff maybe we want to try out. I mean, that week after I ordered some stuff. Um, it's the industry is just it's gonna keep going up and up. And I think what's cool is that we have an industry that it's always gonna be human-made. You know, you can throw in a little AI here and there, but all of us that work on it ourselves, we know that's not the way to approach it. And I think that's what's cool is that this is always gonna be an art form. And that's what I think just makes it so unique, is there's always gonna be a human touch to it. And seeing all this new technology, whether it's you know, these giant video boards or these smallest microscopic cameras that you can put in on the driver's divisor, like you see in Formula One, it's just there's so much new technology, it can be overwhelming at times to keep up with it. But uh, when you get your hands on some of that new technology and you take the time to learn it, it's just it's so unique, and that's what I try to do. I always try to provide just such unique content that you're not gonna find anywhere else where if you see it online, you know it's coming from me.
SPEAKER_12Dale Hedgequist, when he was on, mentioned that while from his standpoint, the in-car camera isn't as helpful as he would like. He said the basically the thing that I he said he looked for vis-a-vis the in-car camera was hand positioning by the driver. Um, do you get any feedback from other folks about what they would like to see on the in-car camera?
SPEAKER_10Oh, absolutely. So there's pretty much weekly, I'm swapping around at least somebody's camera positioning just a little bit. Uh, I've had a lot of guys tell me, like, oh, can we just move it over to an inch a little bit just to see those hands a little bit more? Uh, there's actually a couple guys I work with where they don't want to see uh their hands. They actually only want me to put the camera on the roof as kind of more of an entertainment purpose, which is actually the next point I was going to bring up, is that it is that type of deal where the in-car cameras are valuable, of course, to the drivers to the teams to see the data they need to see. But then we'll occasionally put cameras on the roof where that's just pure entertainment. You know, the track will have seen stuff like that, the fans will have seen stuff like that. It's it's kind of that balance of you have a couple guys that will come up to you saying, We need to see this positioning. I've even had guys have me set up cameras pointing towards their feet to see their pedals. So yeah, there's a lot of stuff we see that maybe the public doesn't see, but uh that I do provide for the drivers. That it's just all about getting the hand positioning, the foot positioning, uh, even sometimes just looking at where the seat is in relation to the dash. Maybe a driver can't really uh talk about that to their team owner. So I they have me set up a camera a certain way so they could kind of get eye-level.
SPEAKER_12Well, you do a great job. You're a very, very busy guy, and you're a part, you're the tip of the spear of what I believe is the future in motorsports at the local level, and that's as you say, videography and photography, and it's more about helping the teams better prepare their cars. Thanks so much for joining me here on the Modified Minute.
SPEAKER_10Thank you. Uh anytime you want me on, I'd happily be able to do it. It's nice to finally get down and sit down and talk with you. You know, I've seen you riding around all these years as Stafford, always thought you're such a cool guy, and it's just it's been such a ride. Like I never thought when I first started here in June 2020 that it would lead me to opportunities like this, or working at Cletus, working at Formula Drift, working with Bobby Earnhardt a couple weeks ago. It's just, it's like you said, it's kind of been a lot of us on the New England side of photography are starting to kind of rise to more of that national level stuff. And we've just been working so hard at it. But I mean, no matter what, Stafford's always gonna be my home, and I'm so thankful that the roots give me the opportunity that they give me.
SPEAKER_12You know, Marcello Rafrano is nicknamed the Pride of Italy. In fact, he has a line of merch that toutes that nickname. So let's go throttle down this week with the Pride of Italy, Marcello Rafrano.
SPEAKER_02This is throttle down time.
SPEAKER_12He's a seven-time Stafford SK modified feature winner. He captured the 2000 Thompson Sonoko Modified Championship and continues to compete in Stafford's SK Modified Division. From the highly competitive SK modified fields of the 1990s through his championship years at Thompson and into today's SK Modified Division, Kurt Brainerd has been part of the story. Let's meet him in this week's SK Soundings.
SPEAKER_02This is SK Soundings, brought to you by Wheelers Auto Services, the finest and top-level service of Premier Automobile makes and models, specializing in European, Japanese, and domestic vehicles.
SPEAKER_12Well, Kurt, welcome to the modified minute. Uh I I gotta ask you, how long have you been engaged in this madness?
SPEAKER_11Okay, so engaged means working on cars also, right? Oh yeah, I'll give you that.
SPEAKER_12Yeah.
SPEAKER_11Yeah, okay, so I guess I started probably 72, 71. So I started working on a really side hard car that was driven by 50 high, and then I moved on into the old one that ended up being a wife driver for a while, and then regularly and then kind of got a driver for a while before I actually started driving myself. You know, I really enjoy working on my car, which is you know, I feel bad for somebody that doesn't because it's so much work. But I was looking for a car to work on that would be convenient and kind of local to me. And you know, I could I couldn't find one, and then I thought, wait a minute, I could have a car, and then I thought, well if I have a car, maybe I should have driving and that's kind of how it transpired all the transpired and I just wanted to be working on a car and I could afford it. So you know you you don't need to think that uh you don't have everybody more than you can drive for anything for me never hear it. Yeah, very cool cards, but nothing more informal stuff.
SPEAKER_12The FK provided you, I think, with a wonderful platform, but I want to take you all the way back. Because you were you were driving in the FK Division at the other when there were some really terrific, well known names that were winning on a regular basis. What do you remember about May 15th, 1998, in your first trip to Victory Lake?
SPEAKER_11Uh well I I had finished second a number of times, right? And I kept, you know, overdriving those last couple of laps. And I can remember Mike Christopher and Steve Cwansky being in in the mix. I don't know who the I I remember their the top four I think were shown on the scoreboard. I don't I don't remember who they all all were, but what I what I can remember is just uh you know like it it was really emotional because it was the culmination of a lot of work to get there. And uh, you know, I was an older I started as an older older driver, you know, so it was a probably a bigger challenge for me. And I don't remember a lot of the actual specifics of the race, other than my crew chief at the time, Jerry Markowski screaming at me for the last like three or four laps, protect the bottom, protect the bottom. That was the error I had been making uh previously, right? And so uh I wish I could recall every move in that race. I I don't, right, but I recall the emotion after the race and uh I'm not ashamed to admit I was crying and pretty pretty excited that uh that that all happened.
SPEAKER_12You put together a pretty good three-year run there where you visited Victory Lane on a regular basis. What was the secret sauce for you and your car?
SPEAKER_11Um I had real good motors at the time, I have to say, and and there was you know several times that you know, like I got I got my motor torn down, protested. I don't know nobody had protested before, and I don't know anybody's protested since. Right, but uh one night in particular I remember getting protested and uh it was by Mike Christopher, and and he was shocked that my motor was legal. And so I I had the motor program figured out. You know, the car I had a race works car at the time and it handled good enough. And uh, you know, those those two combinations I think are what put me in victory line those five times, I think it was.
SPEAKER_12You uh take a lot of pride in the fact that you build your own motors, you fabricate, you do all the things, and now I better understand it because it's all about the passion that you have for building and maintaining race cars. Uh it it to me, can you explain what that allows you to do that maybe heretofore, especially now when you're racing, when you have to go out and you have to go buy a purpose-built engine and everybody's getting the latest and greatest thingamajiggies from chassis builders. How much pride do you take in the fact that I'm gonna call you a privateer, but I mean that in the very best sense of the word.
SPEAKER_11Yeah, so you know, uh times have changed, right? So now our motors are more spec based. So I'll just stick on the motor for a moment. You know, the the when the rules were more open and we had the two-barrel intake manifold, that that would be an example. So I had, I don't know, 30 or 40 two-barrel intake manifolds, not not to get one, right? And flow tested all 30 or 40 of them because they're all different, and there's all kinds of uh German folklore like, oh, this Canadian intake manifold, this EGR manifold, this, this, this, that. No, it was the other they were they were all over the place. And so I was willing to put in the effort, you know, to go out and find every two-burrel intake manifold I could find. I tested, and you know, things like that. And I put I put a lot of work into those motors just to tweak any area I could tweak. And and there's no one area that gives you 10 horsepower or something, it's like a horsepower here or a horsepower there. So, you know, I put that extra effort into it. And and probably the thing that hurt me because of that is I do take a lot of pride in what I what I can do myself, but that takes a lot of time, and my focus was not necessarily on driving, it was on building a car. I started thinking about driving when I was driving driving to the track, you know. And so I think maybe uh, you know, being able to concentrate more on racecraft and thinking about driving as opposed to just thinking about, hey, I gotta get this car to the track, and and uh that that would have that would have helped me more. But I grew up in a time when like the first car I worked on was straight axle, flinky front end on a 53 Chevy uh frame. You know, next car, okay, we went to independent with a 57 Chevy frame and Lincoln uppers and pricer lowers and torsion bars, and but all that stuff came out of the junkyard.
SPEAKER_12Right.
SPEAKER_11And so you know, you had to build everything. And and uh nowadays it's quite the opposite, but uh but I'm still hung up on the uh the I'm more proud to build things myself, and and it gives me the opportunity to do something different, right? If you if you do the same thing as everybody else, you don't have an advantage. You know, if I bought the same engines that everybody else had, I got the same horsepower, nothing more. And uh so you know that was my secret sauce, and then that started going away with you know tighter, tighter and tighter rules, and ultimately the like the spec engine that we have now.
SPEAKER_12And yet you're still hammering away at it. Each and every week you're at the speedway, each and every week you're out there competing with now a lot of guys that are probably um a lot younger than you, now probably a lot of guys that have worked a lot more than you've been able over your two decades on their racecraft. So, where do you get the enjoyment now, Kurt, in when you go out there and you race?
SPEAKER_11The enjoyment is still in working on the car and the pride in working on my car. Now, when I got wrecked a couple weeks ago and the roll cage got crushed and all that, you know, there was a lot of people. I took a lot of pride in getting the car back there. And I couldn't have done it without Eddie Flamkey, you know, either, right? But I got that car back and people are coming up to me, oh this must be your backup. I said, No, no, this is the this is the car that I was driving last week, and I took pride in being back up there and and not uh you know, feeling sorry for myself or dragging out a backup car or whatever. I mean, that that was the challenge for me. You know, that was like kind of winning the race, right?
SPEAKER_12Like just being back there in that car was you know, I got enjoyment out of Well, I for one enjoy seeing you, uh, and I appreciate your visiting with us tonight. And look, there's still the fire in the old Brainerd belly. I can tell by just talking to you.
SPEAKER_11Yeah, that uh that three tenths that I'm off now, you know, the field's so tight now, and if I can just you know, hey, uh you know, I'm realistic, right? I just want to be up there battling for a tenth or whatever. And and so um I'm still working at it and uh plan on working at it uh next year also. So it's still fun.
SPEAKER_12Well, as long as it stays fun. I said that to you the other Friday night. Thanks so much for joining me today, and uh best wishes for the rest of the season.
SPEAKER_11All right, thank you, Jack. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_12Last week you heard from Anthony Flannery as he shared his passion for modified. Well, this week he joins me for this episode of Either Or.
SPEAKER_02It's either or, where our guest must choose one or the other. Brought to you by Mr. Rooter Plumbing, expert plumbing contractors you can trust.
SPEAKER_12All right, Flannery, you're the next victim for either or. I'll give you two choices. You pick one. You ready? Yep. Either Reese's cups or Oreo cookies.
SPEAKER_13Uh, Reese's Cups out of the freezer.
SPEAKER_12Oh how about Craftsman Trucks or O'Reilly Auto Parts series?
SPEAKER_13Craftsman's Craftsman Trucks.
SPEAKER_12Why?
SPEAKER_13I think they just put on a show. Those guys got nothing to lose and everything to prove.
SPEAKER_12That's true. All right. During caution, is your helmet visor up or down?
SPEAKER_13Always up. I'm too fat and hot for not to leave that thing down.
SPEAKER_12How about chrome wheels or painted wheels?
SPEAKER_13Oh, chrome wheels look good, but chrome don't get you home. Painted wheels are lighter. My crew team like to hear painted wheels.
SPEAKER_12Alright. And finally, a good workout or a great nap.
SPEAKER_13Oh man, I mean, a guy my size is a great nap, so it was a good way to go.
SPEAKER_12I like the way you think, my friend. Hey, thanks for thanks for participating in this little boot doggle we call either or. Well, that puts a bow on this week's episode. I hope that you leave with a deeper appreciation for the sport of modified racing. Special thanks goes out to Kurt Brainerd, Brandon Rashin, and of course Ben Dodge. My thanks go out to all of you as well. Without you, there would be no modified minute. So keep supporting the show, but also share your passion for the sport with others. That way, we can keep modified racing healthy for years to come. I'm Jack Aroot, and I'll see you again next week for yet another episode of the Modified Minute.
SPEAKER_02It has been the Modified Minute. Modified Minute has been brought to you by File 2019. The official for the mod squad.