Race Cars Planet

When most people think of NASCAR, they think of the Sprint Cup Series, the Nationwide Series or the Craftsman Truck Series. There is another series out there that many people think is more exciting than any of these. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour was established in 1985 and races at some of the most famous short tracks in the northeast. In 2008, The Whelen Modified Tour has a 16 race schedule that includes tracks as short as the ¼ mile Riverhead Raceway in Long Island and as long as the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. The cars, themselves, bear little resemblance to their Sprit Cup cousins. They are open-wheeled cars (meaning they don’t have full fenders) that weigh about 2,600 pounds and use 15 inch wide slick tires. The NASCAR Whelen Modified cars are much lower to the ground and slicker than the Sprint Cup Cars. While they carry names like Chevy Corvette and Ford Mustang, the only part that actually has to be stock is the roof. They have a 107 inch wheelbase and get their power from small block V-8 engines that are capable of creating up to 600 horsepower.veral of the biggest names in NASCAR over the past 20 years, including Geoff Bodine, Brett Bodine, Jimmy Spencer and Steve Park started their professional racing careers in the modified division. In addition, many of today’s top drivers including Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman have driven modifieds either on Sprint Cup off days or when the Sprint Cup and Whelen Modified Tour come together for race weekends at Loudon. Most of the Whelen Modified Tour races are staged in a single day. However, there are several opportunities to spend a weekend enjoying the mighty modifieds. The season begins each year in April at the Thompson Speedway in Thompson, CT with a weekend of racing called the Icebreaker and culminates with the World Series of Short Track Racing also at Thompson. Free camping is available at Thompson Speedway so pack your tailgating gear and have a great weekend!

If you’d like more information on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, and a schedule of the races, simply Google NASCAR Modifieds. There are many quality sites out there you will find very interesting.