Donny's News

Any trip to race at New Hampshire International Speedway is a special one for the competitors of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. It’s their biggest track, the race has a very healthy purse and there are plenty of NASCAR Nextel Cup fans in the grandstands for the event. But Donny Lia has even more to be excited about this week as he heads to the Magic Mile. He’s got a new sponsor for the race, a successful test at the one-mile track behind him and he plans to pull a double-duty Modified day that will end Friday night at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway.

Lia will drive the #18 Wisk/Snuggle Modified in Friday’s race at NHIS and he knows that it will be one of the biggest shows all season long.

“I’m excited, that’s for sure,” said Lia, who already has one Whelen Modified Tour victory already this season. “This is definitely one of the most prestigious races for us to run. If you think about the biggest race to win all season, it’s between winning at Loudon the Thompson 300 or the Spring Sizzler. Those are our biggest races.”

Lia has proven to be one of the fastest drivers on the Modified Tour. He won the 2004 Bud Pole Award in Modifieds and already has two pole awards this season. The one-mile at Loudon is right up his alley.

“To win would be huge. It would be really big. Ifyou can win at Loudon, you can win at any racetrack where the Modified Tour runs and it

can propel you to even higher levels of racing.”

There would be plenty of fans to celebrate with as well.

“Even though it’s a Friday race, it will probably be our biggest crowd all year. That means a lot as well; to put on a good show for the fans and to keep giving them a reason to come and see the Modifieds. I think that it’s the best racing that anyone can watch.”

Lia will have the backing of Wisk and Snuggle for the New Hampshire race. The two household names already sponsor the #47 SK Modified, which he competes with at Stafford on a weekly basis. Having the company join the Modified Tour is a winning situation for everyone.

“We can hopefully give them a little bit more exposure and it helps our team out. It will be a good deal for everybody.

“Sponsorship has been pretty sparse in the Modifeds for the years that I’ve been involved with the Tour. There have been a few big sponsors in the past, but not lately. Maybe this can show other companies that putting money into the series is a smart thing. They’ll see that it’s a good place to get exposure and the people who follow the Modifieds are probably the most loyal fans in the country. The Modified fan-base is so strong. There are a lot of people who travel to every race. It’s unbelievable. We put a great show on and hopefully we can do that at Loudon for Wisk and Snuggle. “

Lia recently tested at New Hampshire and his #18 team had some promising results.

“We had a really good car in the test I think that the speeds we ran that day were really competitive and we’ll be good this weekend. We should be good right out of the box.”

And when the checkered flag waves, Lia will be heading quickly to the exit. On Friday night, he’ll race the Wisk/Snuggle SK Modified at Stafford as well.

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” said Lia of his races in New Hampshire and Connecticut. “We’ll race at one o’clock at Loudon and finish up by mid afternoon. I’ll drive straight down to Stafford after that and probably not even miss any practice.”