It was a little bit of everything for TC last week. Two poor qualifying efforts at New Hampshire International Speedway on Thursday were disappointing. He then drove back to Thompson and earned a solid top-five finish in the Sunoco Modified feature. On Friday afternoon a strong finish in the Modified 100 left the Mystique Motorsports team smiling. The reprehensible actions of another driver at Stafford on Friday night were definitely the bitter note of the week. Then on Saturday a decent run in the Busch North Series race soured at the end to add to the disappointment.
In practice for the Modified at NHIS the Mystique Ford was consistently one of the quickest cars. The Busch North car was a challenge but crew chief Ralph Solhem kept making adjustments. In Modified qualifying Teddy was the third to take time and as always that cost him valuable tenths of a second, relegating him to 14th fastest. The BNS car continued to be a puzzle and could only muster enough speed for the 17th starting spot. Then a quick ride back to Thompson netted Ted a decent fourth place finish.
In Friday afternoon’s FMS 100 at Loudon Ted was on the move early but the car was too loose to go the distance. On an early caution he came down pit road and Barry and the crew went to work on tightening the car up. It picked the #13 up to the point where he was able to lead one lap and battled for the win before settling for second behind John Blewett.
He then headed to Stafford for the night’s SK Modified main event. TC was back in contention for the championship with two races remaining, but apparently that situation did not sit well with Bo Gunning. He was vocal in saying he would “take care” of Teddy’s championship hopes and proceeded to do just that. Both Ted and Gunning ended up with wrecked racecars and Gunning added the finishing touch – physically assaulting Ted while he still sat in the cockpit. It earned Gunning an “indefinite suspension” from Stafford but ended any title hopes once and for all.
On Saturday it was back to Loudon for the BNS 125. Despite a lack of motor TC battled his way into the top-ten and was still in contention for a top-five finish when a late race spin after contact with another car relegated him to a lackluster 17th place result.
“At Loudon the Modified was strong in practice,” TC notes. “I think we would have qualified in the top-five put going out early for time trials killed us. Still, the car was strong in happy Hour and we were pretty confident for the race the next day. Then we drove back to Thompson and got a top-five.
“In the Modified race had no real plan in mind – the car would dictate that. We were too loose right from the start and there was no way we could win like that, so we pitted to tighten up the car. After that it was a lot better and I was able to drive to the front. We’re still lacking a little up off the corner with the Ford motor but by using the draft I was able to overcome that and get to the lead. The car was a little too tight and Blewett was able to drive back by me, but we stayed in the draft. At the end I was hoping that Kenny Woolley would line up behind me so we could use the draft to pass Blewett, but I guess he had other ideas and we had to settle for second. But it was our best finish in a while and kept us alive in the points. It’s a longshot but there’s still three races left and anything can happen. I’m not about to give up until it’s over.
“Friday night at Stafford was almost beyond belief. Bo was telling people he was going to “take care of the championship” and even the officials were aware of it. And he did just that. He started ahead of me but was falling back to where I was. He spun when he was a couple of cars ahead of me and as I went to the outside to miss him, he just took his foot off the brakes and sent us both into the wall. To add insult to injury, I had just taken off my helmet when he reached in the car and started punching me. He broke my glasses and cut up my face. There was no call for that and I’m glad the officials gave him a suspension because he deserves it. But that still doesn’t give us our shot at the championship back.
“On Saturday in the Busch North race the car was handling well but we were down on power. I was up to seventh and still had an outside shot at a top-five with a few laps to go. I tried to make a pass under the car ahead of me and he crowded me down and I spun out. It was a lousy way to end the weekend.”
This week Ted will be back in action at Thompson on Thursday night, driving the #13 SK and the Pro Stock. Then he’ll be teaming up once again with Joe Brady to chase what has become almost a crusade for him – winning the Sunoco Race of Champions at Oswego. He’s come close a few times and hopes this will finally be his year. Joining him as a teammate in a second Brady Bunch car will be Winston Cup driver Ken Schrader. Hopefully we’ll have some good news to report next week.
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