Donny Lia Ready to Break Up Winter by Racing at New Smyrna
Tour Doesn’t Start Until April, But Florida Speedweeks Sprints Can Fill That Void
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season doesn’t officially start until April’s Icebreaker at Thompson International Speedway (CT). Right now, Thompson and most of the other tracks in the Northeast are blanketed with snow. Racing in the region is completely out of the question for the time being.
But that doesn’t mean that the raciest competitors on the Tour are sitting by the fireplaces and sipping hot chocolate. If there is a race, they will find it and that is exactly what Donny Lia is getting ready to do as he and his #18 Lia Motorsports, Inc. team prepares for the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida.
“You can’t ask for anything more than to go to New Smyrna to race for a week and a half in February,” said Lia. “It’s a fast race track; it’s a great racetrack. It’s a challenge.”
The racing at New Smyrna is spread out among nine nights, with Modifieds hitting the track for eight features. With the exception of the flagship race of the week, the Richie Evans Memorial 100, and another 50-lap race, all of the features are only 25 laps in length. That makes it entirely different than the NASCAR Tour.
“You go into the races with a different mindset,” said Lia. “ Whether it is a 25- or 50-lap race, you need to go. The car needs to have a set-up that will work for 25 laps. You have to start off freer and it’s a different deal than the Tour although. But it’s fun and that’s what it is all about.
“It’s like SK Modified racing, but even shorter. I ran 40-lap features with the SK at Stafford. It’s an all-out, time-to-go deal all of the time.”
The shorter races don’t mean that a driver doesn’t have to worry about points at all though. A Modified champion is decided at the end of Speedweeks, so a checker or wrecker mentality won’t pay off when the week is over.
“I think, to an extent, later in the week you start to worry about points. It depends on where you are at. It’s hard to think too much about points though when you have a 25-lap race.”
Speedweeks 2007 at New Smyrna Speedway kicks off February 9th and runs through the 17th.
