As Donny Lia gets ready to head to New Hampshire International Speedway for Friday’s Sylvania 100 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event, he also has something else on his plate to look forward to. Lia will enter the companion NASCAR Busch North Series event at the track as the driver of Ralph Solhem’s #00 car.
In doing double duty, Lia will be looking to join other notable Modified drivers such as Mike Stefanik, Mike McLaughlin and Jerry Marquis who have won in both series on the same day. Lia had tested the #00 car at NHIS earlier this season and had a positive experience.
“They called me up to see if I wanted to run that car and I definitely accepted it,” said Lia. “We tested together earlier this year [when the team’s former driver Nevin George had a scheduling conflict that didn’t allow him to test for the team at NHIS] and it went really well. I just told them what I thought the car was doing, they worked on it and it went very well. I don’t have much experience in cars like that and the test went really well, so I’m looking forward to racing with those guys now.”
Lia has expended his racing horizons in 2005 by entering the USAR Pro Cup event at Lonesome Pine Speedway, where he qualified third and finished a solid 13th in his only career event driving a car with fenders. Now he welcomes the chance to try out a Busch North car.
“This is something that I want to do, so that I can get experience and become a better-rounded driver. This is all about seat time; it always makes you a better driver. It’s going to be a learning experience and I expect to learn a lot from it.”
Lia likes what he has seen so far of the Busch North Series.
“I haven’t been to a lot of Busch North races. I know that there are some great drivers like Andy Santerre and Mike Stefanik. There’s a lot of talent there. I know it’s good racing and it’s clean racing. I think that it might be cleaner than Modifieds.”
Lia's only start in a full bodied car was an impressive one. He qualified third for a USAR Pro Cup race.
Lia might be new to the Series, but his goals are just as high as they are when he straps into his more familiar NASCAR Modified.
“My goal is always to win. It doesn’t matter what, where or what the situation is; I’m there to win. However, we need to finish the race. A top-five or top-10 finish would be like a win for us and that’s what we are going to try and do. But personally, I really want to win.”
Lia is also gunning for his first victory at NHIS in a Modified. If he pulls that off on Friday, it will be a significant win.
“The Thompson 300 and NHIS are our two biggest races in Modifieds. I messed up and couldn’t get it done last week [in the Thompson 300], but I’m lucky enough to have another chance in another prestigious race. I let my team down last week and I really want to make up to them for that by winning at New Hampshire.”
As he heads to NHIS to do something that he loves, Lia’s thoughts are with the people affected by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast region of the United States. Lia’s family business, Huntington Honda, has raised more than $20,000 for the relief effort.
“We are lucky enough to be out there doing what we love while people in the Gulf Coast had their world destroyed. Here we are going to a beautiful racetrack and having fun while they are going through what they are going through. I appreciate what we have and want to help those out who aren’t so lucky.”
