(Stafford Springs, CT)---Richie Pallai, Jr. will return to competition in Stafford Motor Speedway's premier SK Modified® division, racing a partial schedule in a car owned by 7-time Stafford SK Modified® champion Ted Christopher. What began as a joke between the two drivers will now play out into a reality during the 2012 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season at Stafford Motor Speedway with Pallai behind the wheel of the #93 Christopher owned SK Modified®.

"I've been joking with Teddy for a while that I would someday drive a car for him," said Pallai. "Over the winter, Teddy got in touch with my father and we ended up putting a deal together to drive an SK at Stafford. It's not too often that a guy like Teddy comes to you and says that he would like you to drive one of his cars, so it's a pretty cool deal. Teddy has top notch equipment and his shop is right across the street from ours, so we're hoping to have a lot of fun in the SK car this year."

Plans call for Pallai to race Christopher's SK Modified® car between 5-8 times during the 2012 season with a focus on the premier events of the 2012 SK Modified® season at Stafford.

"The plans is to do between 5 and 8 races this season," said Pallai. "We're not going to do any SK races that interfere with the [Whelen Modified] Tour car. Our plan is to do run big races and the week before the big races."

And the SK Modified® plans are not all Pallai has in store for himself this season. Pallai has plans to race on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for his third season as well as traveling to different race tracks throughout New England for open Modified races. Pallai and his Bosch Spark Plugs team have made some changes to their equipment for the 2012 season and have two cars ready to go.

"Our plans are to do at least 10 Tour races this season," said Pallai. "Our main goal is to have some fun again on the Tour this year. We really enjoy racing on the Whelen Modified Tour, but we struggled with our car last year, so that kind of took away from the fun. We have a new motor program with Bob Bruneau doing our engines, and we have two cars that are put together. We're a lot further along with our program than we have been in years past. We're also looking at doing some races at Riverhead this season as well as traveling to some of the open Modified shows across New England. If everything turns out like we have it planned, we should be doing about 25-30 races this year. I'm ecstatic about our plans for the year, I'm looking forward to getting back racing and it will be nice to be able to do some other shows."

Pallai will get his 2012 Stafford season started with his Whelen Modified Toru car in the 41st Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler, scheduled for April 27-29, 2012. Tickets for the CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler are available and on sale now through the SMS Box Office. Tickets are priced at $38.50 for adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 and under are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult. Reserved seating will be priced at $42.00 for all ages. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available.

For more information on the 41st Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler, or to order tickets, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.

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