Racing against your Dad is a memorable experience and one that Pro Stock racer Michael Brightman experienced at LEE Octoberfest in 1997. A close second for memorable experiences is winning the 2005 Seekonk Late Model Track Championship in 2005.

 “But each race is an experience.” Says Brightman “especially when you compete against drivers like Rick Martin and Fred Astle at Seekonk.”

There is a lot of history that goes with Michael Brighton. He was awarded Seekonk’s track 2004 “Rookie of the Year” then followed that up with a Championship year in 05. Brightman was also a 3-time D.A.V. feature winner and finished 06 as the highest Rookie in Seekonk Pro Stock. With a new season on the horizon look for good things from Michael Brightman in the Seekonk #27 Pro Stock.

“ARTS” is a traveling division in the Northeast that race twelve to fourteen races each season at five different tracks. Waterford Connecticut resident, Chris Correll, is the 2006 season division Champion, 200 points in the lead of second place Andy Linderman.

A twelve-year veteran racer, Correll, an auto tech by profession, enjoys New Hampshire’s Monadnock Speedway because it’s a “hard track to race” and Connecticut’s Thompson International Speedway because “It’s fast” says Correll.

If ever there was a positive & upbeat short track driver, “Stormin” Norman Sears is it. Sears, the 2006 Dare Stock track Champion at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway, has an everlasting smile and welcoming attitude.

Car #8 owner, Dave Secore Jr, openly raves about Sears driving ability, proven by his 2006 season record. “Stormin” Norman had thirteen top five finishes in the #8 Dare Stock of which eleven were top three finishes. Technically, the Championship was a “done deal” after the second to last race of the season though Sears did need to start the season’s final race to secure the Championship. That he did, and in his usual style, he raced hard finishing in 4th place in a race he only had to start to become the track Dare Stock Champion.

Maybe it is because he is left-handed (it is said that “lefty’s” have special talents) but “Stormin” Norman is a short track driver that goes above and beyond.

The 2006 racing season began with a bang for Dave Trudeau when he checkered flagged Thompson International Speedway’s season opener (Icebreaker) Late Model Division race.
The explosion continued throughout the 06-season as Trudeau, with 16 starts, racing to three wins with an additional seven top ten finishes.

Trudeau and the #97 Late Model competed hard often challenging Cory Hutchings in the #36 and top runner Late Model Track Champion Marc Palmisano in the #03.

Trudeau, an auto body tech by profession, was awarded “Most Improved Driver and “Rookie of the Year” in previous seasons. He thrives on competition and is sure to be a tough competitor on his quest to the SK Modified Division.

The beginning was eight years back, when at age eleven Cory Cleary caught the racing bug. It wasn’t too unusual as Cory came from a racing family so he began his career in Karts at Sugar Hill Speedway on the Northeast Pavement series. In 2001 Cory was “Most Improved Driver” followed by a Junior Road Course Championship in 2002, both at Sugar Hill Speedway. That Championship season, Cory won thirteen of fifteen races.

Cory’s goal leans towards a Nascar career. During the interim period, “The Cleary Clan” supports his racing career in both the Northeast Midget Association (NEMA) and Pro4 Mods Divisions. Both are traveling divisions. At age nineteen, Cory has flipped a NEMA car at Stafford Motor Speedway and won a Pro4 Mod race at Star as well as much racing action in between. His nickname is “The Cub” a jacket he won’t be carrying much longer.

Ten years of auto racing hold a lot of great memories for Kenny Springer in the Strictly Stock Division at Monadnock Speedway, New Hampshire’s fastest quarter mile racetrack. The 06 season was “A best season yet,” with a sixth place points finish. His points finish was seventh in 2004 and eighth in 2005.

Springer won one feature in the 06-season, with numerous great finishes. A popular driver with both the race fans and race teams at Monadnock, his fiery red Strictly Stock butterflies through the high-banked turns with ease much like its’ driver maneuvers the pits easing himself amongst the competition. His three teammates and car owner, Chuck Fontaine, jostle him much like he jostles his competitors on the track. It is all-good. Springer recalls a fond memory of his first win saying “It was memorable because they’re were 23 cars behind me and zero in front.”

Though this East Swanzey New Hampshire resident is a truck driver by trade, racing nut by love of sport, Springer is a hunter and fisherman by choice and for pure pleasure.