A LOOK BACK AT THE 1993
STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY SEASON

By: Scott Running

1993 was the ninth season of the Stafford Motor Speedway / CARQUEST Auto Parts relationship. CARQUEST Auto Parts was once again the title sponsor of the CARQUEST 150 Whelen Modified Tour event for the fifth consecutive season as well as the CARQUEST 150 for the K & N Pro East Series, known then as the Busch North Series. The 1993 season also introduced a new wrinkle in the CARQUEST / Stafford relationship. The CARQUEST Quest For Success Award was born, awarding a weekly $100 bonus to the driver who made a special effort during the night. The CARQUEST Quest For Success Award was rotated between the SK Modified®, ProStock, and Late Model divisions each week and the media that was on hand for that night would vote on which driver would receive the award. The 1993 season also saw the debut of the DARE Stock division at Stafford. The DARE Stock division was established as the "rookie division" for drivers who had little or no racing experience to gain the necessary racing aptitude in order to move up the Stafford ladder to more complex racing competition.

The Whelen Modified Tour made four stops to Stafford during the 1993 season with Reggie Ruggiero taking the CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler and Connecticut Classic 150, Jeff Fuller was the winner of the CARQUEST 150, and Mike Stefanik was the winner of the season ending CARQUEST Fall Final.

Mike McLaughlin was the winner of the CARQUEST 150 Busch North Series event.

The SK Modifieds® entered their 12th season of competition with Mike Christopher taking down his third career Stafford track championship. The championship fight was a brotherly duel between Mike and his twin brother Teddy. Teddy led the division with a whopping 6 feature victories, but in addition to scoring three wins himself during the season, Mike scored 3 more top-5 and 6 more top-10 finishes than Teddy, which gave him the advantage in the championship chase. Steve Chowansky scored three victories during the season and Bo Gunning nailed down 2 wins, while single feature event wins were scored by Rick Donnelly, Tom Tagg, Dennis Gada, Bob Potter, Frank Wainwright, and John Anderson.

The 1993 season was the 7th season of Late Model competition at Stafford and it was George Greco taking the championship ahead of Scott Foster and Chuck Zentarski. Greco only reached victory lane once during the 1993 season, but he scored 12 top-5 and 16 top-10 finishes in 17 starts. Larry Vassar led the division with 5 wins, while Zentarski was right behind Vassar with 4 wins. Tom Butler, Leo Adams, and Foster each won twice while Dennis Doyle, Cliff Stakey, and Jim Peterson each took home a single feature victory.

The ProStocks entered their fourth season of competition at Stafford Motor Speedway, with Tom Fearn taking the championship ahead of Willie Hardie. It was a year of parity for the ProStocks with 6 drivers tied for the division lead in victories with 2 each. Brad Bennett, Hardie, Fearn, Tony Sylvester, Dennis Doyle, and Mark Forino each won twice, while Brad Boissonneault, Tom Rosati, Jim Mavlouganes, Tim Ladyga, Mike Kovacs, and Dave Etheridge each reached victory lane once.

The DARE Stock division did not have a points system and the feature winners from the inaugural season of its competition included Dean Casagrande and Mike Marinelli, who each won 3 races, Ryan Posocco and Jeff Daggett, who each won twice, and Scott Bennett, Chet Burdick, and Jeff Soukup, who each won once.