 Photo: Tom Morris Story by Stafford Speedway PR
After finishing 5th in points in his 2018 SK Light rookie season, Danbury, CT native Teddy Hodgdon and the #55 Montanari Fuel team returned to Stafford in 2019 as one of the championship favorites. When the dust settled Hodgdon was crowned the 2019 track champion after winning 5 races and holding the point lead for the majority of the season. 5 wins and a championship trophy sounds like a dream ending for Hodgdon but his season was anything but perfect. Hodgdon and the #55 team opened the year with a second place finish and took the point lead for the first time following the May 31st feature event. Hodgdon led the standings for nearly 2 months, but a 20th place finish on July 26 left Hodgdon 4 points behind Steven Chapman. Hodgdon and Chapman would swap the point lead several times during August and at the end of the month, Hodgdon trailed Chapman by 4 points. Hodgdon would go on to win the final 2 races of the season to take the championship by an 18 point margin over Chapman. “This is an unbelievable feeling with all the hardships that have happened this year,” said Hodgdon. “I’m really speechless right now. It feels great to be the champion and be among some of the greats in the SK Light division. Thanks to my Dad, my family, Montanari Fuel, State Cutters, Ness Auto, Jim’s Welding, Ultimate Restorations, Keith Rocco Racing for the awesome setups, R.A.D. Auto Machine, and everyone who has helped me over the last 2 years in the SK Lights.” With 2 wins in the final 2 races of the season, Hodgdon and the #55 team engineered a storybook ending to their championship run. Although Hodgdon and the #55 team were able to raise their game and put forth two A+ efforts to win the championship, his championship hopes nearly ended in disaster during the NAPA Fall Final feature event. Hodgdon entered the NAPA Fall Final with a 10-point lead over Chapman and a 24 point advantage over Alexander Pearl. If Hodgdon could record a 6th place finish or better, he would win the championship no matter where Chapman or Pearl finished. Hodgdon started the final 20-lap feature event from 14th place and he was on the verge of cracking into the top-6 on lap-8 when Bob Charland spun in front of him and nearly took him out of the race. Hodgdon had slight damage to his left front fender, but had to deal with another issue that was unseen by those in attendance. “When I got in the tangle with Bob [Charland] I went to push the clutch down to shift into third gear and there was nothing there so I had to start in fourth gear for the rest of the race,” said Hodgdon. “Luckily I got good enough restarts. At first I thought it was just damage and if I kept the engine cool we’d be fine. Then we had the clutch problem and I thought ‘oh my god, should I park it, should I do this, should I do that’? There were so many things going through my head and I was just trying to think about the next restart and hoping to not wreck everyone behind me. To be able to do that and hang with the guys up front and not get demolished on the restarts was pretty good and I knew once we got the motor wound up the car was pretty good. I told myself that we just had to go and hope it worked out and it did.” Hodgdon survived three restarts after developing the clutch issue, including a green-white-checkered restart to finish the race. On the final restart, Hodgdon lined up to the outside of Joey Ferrigno and with only 2 laps to go, Hodgdon was right where he needed to be to clinch the championship. But rather than playing things conservatively, Hodgdon saw an opportunity to get by Ferrigno and go for the win, a move that could have had disastrous consequences if his bid for the lead went wrong. “It’s a racer’s instinct to go for the lead when you have the opportunity and I knew the championship hopes were on the line but as a racer I did what I had to do and I’m glad we ended up in victory lane,” said Hodgdon. “Coming down the backstretch with 2 to go, I had to throw something at Joey [Ferrigno] because I wasn’t going to hang back. Even though we had the championship pretty much wrapped up at that point, I wasn’t going to sit behind him in second when I had a chance to go for the win.”
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 Story by Stafford Speedway PR
With the second half of the 2019 season underway at Stafford Speedway, Danbury, CT native Teddy Hodgdon sits at the top of the SK Light points standings. The top of the 2019 SK Light standings are filled with drivers who began their racing careers in Wild Thing Karts, which races Monday nights at Stafford. Hodgdon currently leads the standings with Steven Chapman second, Alexander Pearl fourth, Mikey Flynn fifth, and Bryan Narducci sixth. The five WTK graduates have each won a title during their time racing in the WTK ranks and Hodgdon says this is a main reason why the SK Light competition has been so close this season. “The Wild Thing Kart series is one of the most unique divisions out there,” said Hodgdon. “There’s not really anything else that compares to Wild Thing Karts. Wild Thing Karts was our starting point in racing and now running against these guys for the last 10 plus years we know what kind of moves each other makes and I think that’s been a huge catalyst with us all moving into the SK Lights. It’s really insane how we all got started in karts and then split out a little to different areas before all coming back together in the SK Lights. It’s really cool and it shows the dedication of everyone that they want to come to the best divisions in NASCAR and show that they can compete with anyone and win.” After finishing as the R.A.D. Auto Machine Rookie of the Year runner up to Narducci and finishing 5th in the points last season, Hodgdon and the #55 Montanari Fuel team have established themselves as the team to beat this season. Hodgdon has held the points lead since June 7 and through the first 12 races he has posted 7 podium finishes with 2 wins, 4 second place finishes, and 1 third place finish. Hodgdon’s focus for the second half of the 2019 season will be on duplicating his first half performance. “The first half of last year was a learning process to figure the car and the track out,” said Hodgdon. “Once we got going the last half of last year was good and this year we’ve been good for the entire season so our experience has definitely helped us get to the points lead this season. Knowing what to do with the tires and how to get through the field is very important in the SK Light division with the momentum you need to carry through the corners. Keeping the number one spot in the points would be great and we’re looking for more wins this season. We make sure nothing that we can prevent goes wrong and then whatever happens on the track happens. We’ve lost a couple wins this year just based on execution at the end of the race so if we can keep ourselves solidly on the podium every week, we should be there at the end.” Hodgdon is one of five SK Light drivers who have driven to NAPA Victory Lane thus far during the 2019 season. Narducci leads all drivers with 5 wins with Hodgdon, Korner, and Pearl each notching 2 wins while Mark Bakaj has a single feature win. Hodgdon says there are at least 10 cars capable of winning a race and with the level of competition in the SK Light ranks as tight as ever, Hodgdon knows it will be tough to accomplish his goal of winning several more races this season. “It’s incredibly hard to win,” said Hodgdon. “There’s at least 10 cars that can win on any given Friday night and it’s all about who can get to the front the fastest. It’s tough to run with these guys every week because they’re all really fast and if there’s one car that hits the stagger right or gets a good line going through the corners, they’re very tough to beat.” In addition to Montanari Fuel, Hodgdon and the #55 team have a host of sponsors as well as setup help from Keith Rocco to help keep them at the top of the standings for the final 9 races of the season. “I have to thank Montanari Fuel, Ness Auto, Keith Rocco Racing for help with the setup, State Cutters, Simpson Race Products, Jim’s Welding, Ultimate Restoration, Ceric, Pro Kart, my extended family and my crew members Pete, Robert, Trent, Tony, Serious Pizza, and my Dad, Mom, and sister for all their help,” said Hodgdon. “Keith is the premier driver in the SK Modified® division and he knows exactly what to do and what the track conditions are doing. It’s truly amazing to have him helping us out.”  Story By Stafford Speedway PR
Stafford Speedway SK Light driver and Danbury native Teddy Hodgdon is looking forward to getting back to racing and building upon his very successful rookie season. Hodgdon and the #55 Montanari Fuel team finished the 2018 season tied for fourth place in the SK Light points standings and was the runner up in the race for Rookie of the Year honors. Hodgdon’s on track performance saw him tie for the division lead in top-10 finishes for the season with 16 and he notched his first career win on Aug. 24. “I would give us either a B+ or A- for the season,” said Hodgdon. “I really didn’t have any expectations for the season, it was more figuring out where the seat went in the car and how the car felt on the track. We had some really good results and even though we didn’t get as many wins as we probably could have, it was still a good season for us. I’m very excited for 2019. I was impressed with what we were able to do in 2018 with winning a race and getting a couple runner up and podium finishes. We’re hoping that we can continue that success into next season. We’ve just started stripping the car down now and we’re busy gathering things up for next season and we’re all looking forward to it.” The 2018 season could be seen as a season of two halves for Hodgdon and the #55 team. The natural progression for a rookie driver is to improve their performance as they navigate their way through a season and Hodgdon was no different. While Hodgdon was only able to post 2 top-5 finishes in the first nine races, his experience began to show in the second half of 2018 as he posted top-6 finishes in 9 of the final 12 events, including his first career win on August 24. “The first half of the season we were working on getting used to the car and seeing what adjustments worked for us and what didn’t work,” said Hodgdon. “We struggled the first month or two really trying to set the car down and once we did that, we really focused on things like my line around the track and what adjustments we needed to make going from daylight into the night. With only getting one tire a week, we had to figure out how to keep the car consistent from week to week and not make the tires fall off too much. It was a lot of learning about the program and how to accumulate as many points as we could throughout the season.” Now that Hodgdon has a full season’s worth of experience, he is in a much better situation to begin the 2019 season than he was at the start of the 2018 season when he came into the SK Lights with zero knowledge of his car or the competitors around him. “I knew before last season started that I wouldn’t know what to expect jumping in the car, but now that I have a year of experience and I know what drivers are going to do around me and how the car will react in certain situations, it’s definitely a big confidence booster and it should help a lot having that experience under my belt,” said Hodgdon. “I think we showed everyone else that we’re one of the top dogs in the field with our win and top-5 finishes.” Hodgdon’s victory this past season has raised the bar for his expectations and he is looking to make a run at the SK Light championship in 2019. Hodgdon has identified the areas where he feels he was the weakest in 2018 and if he can improve his consistency as well as his performance in late race restart situations, he feels like he and his team can be championship contenders. “We didn’t finish a lot of races like we wanted to last year so our focus for 2019 is to have a car that we can hold guys off with over the last 5 laps of a race,” said Hodgdon. “I feel like I got beat on a lot of short green-white-checkered type of situations. We were in a winning position in a lot of races and we just couldn’t close the deal so I need to work on hammering down my restarts. Our goal is to run for the championship this year. With the experience we gained last year, if we can stay consistently in the top-5 every week I think we’ll have a good shot at winning the championship with the car that we have. Thanks to Montanari Fuel, Ness Auto, Jim’s Welding, State Cutter, Tony Mottola, Trent Markovitz, and my Mom, Dad, and sister for all their support and I also have to thank Keith Rocco for helping us out with the car setup throughout the year.”  Story by Stafford Speedway PR
As teams are buys preparing for the 2018 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season, one driver who can’t wait to get started is Danbury native Teddy Hodgdon. The 16 year old driver will make the move from Legend Cars competition into the SK Light division where he will challenge for R.A.D. Auto Machine Rookie of the Year honors. “I’m all fired up and I’m ready to get started on the next chapter of my racing career,” said Hodgdon. “We did pretty well in the Legend Cars and hopefully we can do just as well as we did in the Legend Cars with the SK Light car. I would like to win Rookie of the Year this season and if we could get a win, that would be amazing. I’m not really setting high goals for myself, I’m more focused on learning the car and trying to set my plans for the future.” Instead of his familiar #28 that he has carried throughout his entire racing career, Hodgdon will race in the SK Lights with the #55. Hodgdon has sponsorship from Montanari Fuel and Champion Spark Plugs and it was the connection through Montanari Fuel that saw Hodgdon land the number 55 for the 2018 season. “It’s a pretty cool story about how we settled on the number 55,” said Hodgdon. “Back in the day when my father was going to races at Danbury Arena, Andy Montanari was his favorite driver and he drove the #55 car. My dad still has a photo of him and his sister standing next to Andy’s #55 car and with him coming on board with us this season, we’re going to run the #55 as a tribute to Andy. Montanari Fuel has a rich racing history and I’m glad to be partnered with them this season along with Champion Spark Plugs. It’s pretty cool to come full circle and have Montanari Fuel supporting me this season and to have their name on the car. I also have to thank Ness Auto, State Cutters, and my entire family for all of their support. It’s been my dream to go racing and they’ve been able to support my dream.” Although Hodgdon enters the SK Light ranks with 9 seasons of competition under his belt at Stafford, the 2018 season will be the first time he turns laps around the half-mile. Hodgdon’s Stafford experience has all come driving around the mini-mile in the Wild Thing Kart ranks as well as with the Legend Cars from 2014-2016. Hodgdon has several championships to his name with a Wild Thing Karts Tiger Sprint championship in 2011 and this past season saw Hodgdon win the Road Course World Championship in the Legend Cars ranks. Hodgdon knows he faces a big learning curve, but with his past experience he is ready to tackle the challenge of moving into the SK Lights for the 2018 season. “We took our Legend Car over to Finland to compete against the best drivers in the world and we had a blast,” said Hodgdon. “I’ve been in open wheel my whole life so it’s not really going to be anything different, it’s just a bigger car and a different challenge. It’s going to be an exciting year for sure trying to learn all I can about modifieds. The modifieds are all tire while the legend car is all about throttle management, so it’s going to be a completely different turnaround in my driving style. I’ve seen guys come up from the Legends to SK Lights and run up front in their first couple of races, so why not me too?” In order to help prepare for his rookie campaign, Hodgdon will be looking to the virtual world of iRacing to help him get a head start on how to best get around Stafford behind the wheel of an open wheel modified machine. “I’m going to fire up my iRacing here in a couple of weeks to start practicing so hopefully that will be a big help for me,” said Hodgdon. “It’s such a huge advantage to be able to do that. I remember my first year of Legends I was going down to Charlotte for a Summer Shoot-Out race and I fired up that track on iRacing and once I got down there, it was just like it felt on the computer, the iRacing was so realistic. I’m also going to be watching some YouTube videos of Stafford to see what I can learn. The iRacing only helps so much and with video, you can see where guys are letting off and getting back on the gas and Stafford is such a unique track you can’t really compare it to any other half-mile track across the country.” If the iRacing and YouTube videos don’t give Hodgdon all the assistance he needs, he has two more aces up his sleeve. The car that Hodgdon and his family bought was the #6 machine that Cory DiMatteo drove to the 2017 SK Light championship and they will have 2017 SK Modified® champion Keith Rocco helping them out with car setup. “Since we know how good Cory ran with the car we should have a good piece underneath us and especially since we’re working with Keith Rocco, he’s going to give us a lot of help and that should be a big advantage for us going into the Spring Sizzler,” said Hodgdon. The little things that he can do to the car that we don’t really know about yet should be a big help so hopefully he can steer us in the right direction.” |
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