photo by Norm Marx
Eddie MacDonald will face a stern test this weekend as he competes in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut on Friday night June 17, then will have to hustle to Speedway 51 in Groveton N.H. on Saturday morning to battle for the American Canadian Tour win that night. A few hundred miles separate the two venues but the preparation of two cars for the events has been demanding.
“We really have been working hard in the shop to get ready and I know everyone will breathe a little easier when this weekend is over,” said Eddie Mac. “We were in pretty good shape with our K&N car but when the ACT car got wrecked at Waterford, we had to essentially rebuild it once we got the car back from Dale (Shaw) so now the guys in the shop had to do double duty. Everyone really pitched in and I have to give huge thanks to everyone involved especially Joe St. Jacques for hanging the new body on Freddie’s (Peterson) car. The #17 EXIT Realty/Hancock Electric Chevy looks fantastic thanks to him. Sometimes good things happen unexpectedly and that is what happened with Joe. He just got laid off so he was at the shop early every day to get this done. Things have been hectic but we are ready for both races. This is our second K&N event this season and we are really looking forward to this race.”
The Stafford 150 will mark the K&N Pro Series East return to the half mile oval since 2009. The series began racing at the Connecticut facility in 1987 and ran 29 features. Eddie Mac posted a win in 2008 to go along with seven top tens including a fifth place finish in 2008 with the Rowley, Mass. veteran saying, “Stafford is a lot of fun to drive and we are happy to be returning there. We have had success there in the past and that win in 2008 was a tremendous feeling. We had a solid eighth place run at Bristol in our first K&N race of this season in our #71 Grimm Construction Chevy and hope to build on that. This is a very tough series with all the great teams so hopefully I can use my experience to my advantage. We will have a day of practice on Thursday since none of the other drivers have ever run at Stafford. It should be fun and I am looking forward to getting back together with our Grimm Racing crew.”
Early the next morning Eddie Mac begin the three hour trek to Groveton N.H. from the Newburyport, Mass. shop to compete in the American Canadian Tour’s Generation Next 151 with a post time of 5:30 pm. Eddie Mac slipped to second place in the championship point’s race after posting a 17th place finish while driving a back-up car the last time out saying, “We had the point’s lead after our second place finish at Waterford Speedbowl but wrecked our primary car at the start/finish line in the process and had to run our old flame car at Devil’s Bowl. We didn’t have a great run there but we only lost one spot so it was not as bad as it could have been. We have had good runs at Groveton and the track is a lot of fun to drive, Joey has done a great job with the track and I hope to add another ACT win this season (Airborne). We will all need a couple of days off to recover but this is what racing is all about. You just have to love it.”
Final practice on Friday at Stafford runs from 3:00-4:00 with qualifying at 6:00. The green flag is scheduled to wave for the Stafford 150 at 9:15. Gates open at 1:00 on Saturday with post time for the Generation Next 151 at 5:30 at Speedway 51.