A LOOK BACK AT THE 1999
STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY SEASON

By: Scott Running

1999 was the 15th season of the Stafford Motor Speedway / CARQUEST Auto Parts relationship. CARQUEST Auto Parts was once again the title sponsor of the Whelen Modified Tour Spring Sizzler and the CARQUEST 300 as part of the CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend. CARQUEST also continued their support of the Busch North Series with the CARQUEST 150. After six seasons, the CARQUEST Quest For Success Award was done away with, but CARQUEST became the charter member of the newly founded Stafford Motor Speedway Contingency Program, offering the winner of each SK Modified® feature event a $150 bonus. CARQUEST has since expanded their contingency involvement to include a $125 bonus to each Late Model feature winner and a $100 bonus to each Limited Late Model feature winner.

The Whelen Modified Tour made four stops to Stafford during the 1999 season with 4 different event winners. Rick Fuller was the winner of the CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler, Tim Connolly was the winner of the May TSI Harley-Davidson 150, Ed Flemke, Jr. was the winner of the August Town Fair Tire 150, and Tony Hirschman was the winner of the season ending CARQUEST 300.

The Busch North Series made two visits to Stafford during the 1999 season with Brad Leighton winning the CARQUEST 150 and Dennis Demers winning the NASCAR 150 event.

The SK Modifieds® entered their 18th season of competition with Jerry Marquis taking the track championship behind the wheel of the Rob Chowansky and Joe Santoro owned #57. Mike Christopher started the season on a hot streak with 3 consecutive second place finishes and he scored 5 wins during the year, but he missed two races and couldn't match Marquis' consistency as he also scored 5 wins to go along with 14 top-5 and 17 top-10 finishes. Marquis locked the championship up with several races to go. Curt Brainard came on strong during the second half of the season and was as high as second in points, but ended the season third in the points standings behind Marquis and Lloyd Agor. Marquis and Christopher's 5 wins each led the division, while other multiple feature winners included Willie Hardie with 3 wins, and Jeff Malave and Brainard each won twice. Single event feature wins were taken down by Todd Szegedy, Bob Potter, Agor, and Ted Christopher.

The 1999 season was the 13th season of Late Model competition at Stafford and it was Chuck Zentarski who was finally able to secure his second career Late Model championship at Stafford after coming so close since his first championship season of 1991. The 1999 season was a season of parity in the division with 15 different winners in 20 races. Although Zentarski only won a single race all year long, he led the division with 10 top-5 and 16 top-10 finishes. Zentarski took the points lead early on in the year and he kept himself at the head of the points standings for the remainder of the season, with Jim Peterson and Ryan Posocco finishing second and third in the final points rundown. Mike Quintiliano led the division with three wins, with Peterson, Jamie Sommer, and Tom Butler each winning twice. Single event feature wins were scored by Larry Vassar, Zentarski, Tom Keller, Bill Davis, Dennis Botticello, Posocco, Donny Travaglin, Scott Foster, Jr., Bob Botticello, Scott Garrity, and John Yale, Jr. Of the 15 different feature winners during the 1999 season, 7 were first time winners.

The ProStocks entered their 10th season of competition at Stafford Motor Speedway, with Chuck Docherty winning the track championship. Docherty won the season opening CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler feature event and he led the standings from start to finish. John Leger and Doug Coby were the big winners of the year with 6 victories each, but they could not match the consistency of Docherty. Todd Owen scored 3 wins, with Wayne Bellefleur and Docherty each winning twice. Jim Mavlouganes scored one win during the 1999 season.

The 1999 season was the 7th season of DARE Stock competition and leading the way was Nick Bazzano, who scored 3 victories. Jose Rodriguez, Rick Lanagan, Gary Spinnato, and Tony Hurd each won twice with single event wins going to Peter Kesilewski, Gary Zelonka, Tony Hurd, Jr., Stacey Botticello, Jeff Luginbuhl, Kevin Nichols, and Tommy McNamee.