Mike Stefanik shows no signs of slowing down at age 54.
Mike Stefanik shows no signs of slowing down at age 54.
Mike Stefanik can think of no better way to start on a path toward a 10th NASCAR touring series championship than by winning the opening race of 2013.
Stefanik will have plenty of competition all thinking the same thing as the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour kicks off its schedule Sunday at Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway. Much like the Daytona 500 in the Sprint Cup Series, the Tour begins its year with one of its trademark events – the Icebreaker.
“A win is a win. Whenever it comes, it’s always good,” Stefanik, a Wilbraham native, said in a phone interview Wednesday. “It’s good for (team) morale. It’s certainly good to start the season off with a win because it kind of sets the tone points-wise and that you’re one of the guys they’re going to have to contend with.”
The No. 22 team had a chance to get that early boost in the exhibition race in February at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, but Stefanik was involved in a late-race incident that took him out of contention but landed him some mainstream publicity.
When told by Speed TV pit reporter Ray Dunlap that Steve Park called the wreck a simple racing deal, a visibly livid Stefanik stared out into space and said “Yeah, right. It’s bull(bleep).”
“They wanted raw emotion, they got it,” Stefanik said, adding that he warned Dunlap of what could happen putting him on live television.
A few days later, the clip wound up as part of Jay Leno’s monologue on “The Tonight Show.” Stefanik’s angry mug was placed into clips purporting to be his kids’ birthday party, winning the lottery and his wedding day.
(The Stefanik stuff starts at the 53-second mark)
The clip of the original interview had already gone viral before Leno jumped on it. However, getting on a premier late-night talk show is the most exposure anyone from the Tour has ever received.
“I laughed along with everybody else,” said Stefanik, who resides in Coventry, R.I. “It was pretty comical, actually. If you can’t laugh at yourself, you can’t laugh at all.”
Stefanik, 54, created “Yeah, Right” T-shirts to capitalize on the moment and to raise money for charity. He is ready to put it behind him, although he would love to get one thing out of the deal.
“I’m trying to get an invite to see Jay Leno’s car collection,” Stefanik said. “I’ve got a call in to him on that. Seeing that I supplied some material for his show, maybe some time – I’m a car guy, he’s a car guy – I can check out his collection.”
When it comes to NASCAR championship trophies, only the late, great Richie Evans can match Stefanik, who has seven WMT and two Busch North titles and is the only non-Sprint Cup driver with 70-plus NASCAR touring series wins.
At 54, he feels as though he still has a lot left for the younger drivers on the Tour.
“It’s not like a huge, physical thing to drive a race car,” Stefanik said. “I think, nowadays, people keep themselves in a little better shape perhaps, and maybe some of the other drivers did back in the day. Everyone lives longer and lives a healthier life now.
“It’s good. I know I’m getting pretty close to calling it a career. I’m not too far away from that, but I’m still pretty competitive. I’m still winning races.”
Stefanik hopes a little consistency at the top of his team goes a long way this year. Gone is last year’s arrangement in car No. 66, in which Ed Marceau and Chris Our split ownership. Instead, Our is the sole owner, and the car number is now a third of its old one.
Brad Lafontaine returns as Stefanik’s crew chief, giving the No. 22 team one of the top veteran driver-crew chief combos on the circuit. Stefanik raves about Lafontaine’s approach to setting up race cars, especially since it’s yielded tremendous results.
“I raced against Brad. We were fierce rivals,” Stefanik said. “He’s had good drivers, and he’s always had fast race cars. I’ve always admired the way his cars handled and how they were good on tires. He had a lot of good setups and he won an awful lot of races.
“I thought it would be pretty cool to eventually end up in one of his race cars with him calling the shots, and, lo and behold, that’s kind of what happened here.”
If Lafontaine can give Stefanik one of his usual cars that needs very little practice time because it’s good as soon as it’s unloaded, the duo could be one of the contenders at the Icebreaker.
“We’ve got to go out, ring the bell, and win some races,” Stefanik said.
Jason Remillard can be reached at jremillard@repub.com