NASCAR FEATHERLITE MODIFIED SERIES DRIVER CHUCK HOSSFELD TO CHALLENGE FOR 2004 SK MODIFIED® TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY

(Stafford Springs, CT)---Mike Smeriglio and RJR Enterprises, with Joe Santoro and Rob Chowansky, have announced that they will chase the 2004 SK Modified® track championship at Stafford Motor Speedway with NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series competitor Chuck Hossfeld as the driver of their Chassis Dynamics car powered by a Billy the Kid engine.

The joint effort will carry primary sponsorship from Wisk and Clorox, and additional sponsorship will come from Litchfield Packaging Machinery. The car will be numbered 47 to mirror the Wisk-Clorox Clean Team NASCAR Busch Series car of Robert Pressley, who drives a #47 Clorox/Wisk Ford Taurus for ST Motorsports.

Hossfeld has an extensive modified background, racing at various modified tracks throughout New York, and he has posted four career wins in the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series in two seasons, finishing third and second in points in his those two seasons. Hossfeld has also enjoyed a great deal of success at Stafford Motor Speedway, posting an average finish of 7.25 in his eight FMS starts at the Connecticut half-mile. “I’m pretty excited about this deal,” stated Hossfeld. “Stafford is a great facility to race at, and I haven’t been dominant there, but I always seem to be in the top-5, so this is a win-win situation for me. Mike and RJR have put together a great team with great equipement, and with Wisk-Clorox as the sponsor, we’re all looking forward to racing at Stafford this season.”

Car owners Smeriglio, Santoro, and Chowansky are no strangers when it comes to the SK Modified® division at Stafford. Smeriglio has worked with Frank Wainwright as car owner for the past several seasons, and RJR has fielded a New England Regional Championship winning car for Jerry Marquis in 1999 in addition to collecting 22 feature wins with driver Steve Chowansky from 1990 to 1997. “Rob and myself were looking to get back into SK Modified® racing this season, so we put together a deal with Mike and Chuck, and hopefully we can make it work,” said Santoro. “We have the best combination of everything you need, car, motor, driver, and team, and with Mike bringing the Wisk sponsorship to the team, I think this has the potential to be something really great for everyone involved with this team. We’d like to win the track championship, and we’ll keep an eye on the regional championship.”

“I knew Joe and Rob were putting a team together and they were looking to get back into racing, so I had a meeting with them, and we put a deal together for Chuck to run our car,” said Smeriglio. “With the total package we have put together, we’re all pretty excited about the season. I think that Chuck will be able to adapt to the car rather quickly, and we’re hoping to be contenders for the championship. We have a great sponsor in Wisk, and we’re looking to give them the most bang for their dollar. Wisk has seen first hand the benefits that other sponsors have received with involvement at the Nextel Cup Series level, and we’re looking to get Wisk the same type of exposure on a local level with Stafford’s NASCAR New England television coverage. Wisk realizes the benefits of the television coverage, and the passion that NASCAR fans have for NASCAR sponsors, which makes the NASCAR New England coverage a real benefit for Wisk as well as our team.”

Any time a driver makes a move to a new division, a new car, and a new track, there is sure to be a learning curve. But Hossfeld thinks his learning curve will be minimal, and the team can be a contender right away. “I’m sure the [SK Modified®] car will handle a little differently, and there will be less power than the Tour car,” said Hossfeld. “The biggest thing might be the distances. The races are only 40-laps long, where the Tour races are usually around 150-laps, so you can’t wait as long as you can in a Tour race to get to the front, which I’ll have to get used to. It’s a new car, new motor, and new team, so there’s going to be a little learning curve for sure, but I don’t foresee getting used to the car taking too long. I think we can be contenders right off the bat. Our goals are to win as many races as we can, go for the championship this year, and gain as much exposure as possible for our sponsor Wisk.”

Between his SK Modified® commitment and his FMS commitment with the #4 Bob Garbarino Mystic Missile team, Hossfeld will be logging a good deal of miles traveling from his Buffalo, NY home to Stafford and the FMS tracks located throughout New England as well as Pennsylvania and New Jersey. “It’s going to be a lot of travel this year, but I think racing at Stafford every Friday night will benefit me,” said Hossfeld. “Most of the Tour races are pretty close to Stafford, which is a shorter drive than driving from Buffalo to the tracks. Who knows, maybe I can share a couple helicopter rides with Teddy [Christopher] this year.”

Hossfeld will be a busy man when the 2004 season at Stafford Motor Speedway kicks off with the 33rd annual Tech-Net Spring Sizzler on April 23-25, 2004. Hossfeld will be racing in twin 35-lap SK Modified® features, as well as the 200-lap Spring Sizzler. The Late Models and DARE Stocks will also be on hand to add to an action packed weekend. Tickets are now available and can be ordered by calling the Speedway Box Office at 860-684-2783. Tickets are $35.00 for adult gen. Admission, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 & under are free. Reserved seating is $38.00 for all ages.