By Jim Clarke, Clarke Motorsports Communications
As the leaves change colour and the weather turns colder, Todd Stewart is looking to heat things up with a series of strong, late season runs behind the wheel of his DIRTcar small block modified racecar. The 39 year-old father of 2 from Bath, Ontario is planning to close-out his 2009 campaign with a pair of ‘satellite’ shows at Can Am Speedway and Rolling Wheels Raceway Park (October 7th (Rained out!) and 9th, part of the 38th edition of Super Dirt Week) before an appearance at the first ever Northeast Fall Nationals, October 17th and 18th at Brockville Ontario Speedway.
For the first time in a number of seasons, Stewart and his #72 Penny Blake-Re/Max TEO Pro Car ran 2 shows every weekend, earning a 3rd place point’s finish at his Friday night stop, Mohawk International Raceway. A second place finish to Quebec’s David Hebert in the track’s Lucas Oil stop laid the foundation for a solid run in the Mr. DIRTcar series show a month later. While holding a straightaway advantage with 18 laps to go, a power steering line failed, sidelining his machine for the night. At Brockville, the team’s Saturday night home Stewart was 4th in points. With 2 feature wins at The BOS, he was one of only 5 drivers to find their way to victory lane – and the only runner other than 2009 track champion Danny O’Brien to earn multiple feature wins. Another highlight of his ’09 season was a 9th place finish in Brockville’s annual big block modified tour event Thursday, July 9th.
“It wasn’t a perfect season, but we’re very happy with the way things turned-out,” says Stewart. “Work commitments kept us from running as much as we might have liked for a number of seasons, but with Mohawk switching to Friday nights, we decided to run there in addition to Brockville. The new owners of that track did a great job with their upgrades. It’s like an entirely different place since the last time we ran there regularly. To run consecutively in the top 10 both there and at Brockville is exactly what we’d hoped for when the season started.”
Stewart also followed a number of the Mr. DIRTcar 358 modified championship series trail events during the season and says that after the October 18th show at Brockville, his current ride – a 2008 TEO Pro Car – will be mothballed and used as a back-up for his own program and that of his nephew, Lucas.
“We’ll be ordering a 2010 TEO from Bobby Hearn within the next couple of weeks,” Stewart continues. “We’ve been incredibly pleased with what the current car has done, so upgrading the equipment for next year makes perfect sense. Luke hit pretty hard at the end of the season and Glenn (Stewart’s brother and crew chief, Glenn Stewart) decided it wasn’t worth fixing. They’ll get a car the guys at TEO took as a trade and my car from this year will be in the garage in case either of us needs it.”
RAAL Motorsports would like to thank Red Line Synthetic Oil, RW Electric, OSSO Electric Supplies, McCoy Bus Service & Tours, Contractors Rental Supply, M.A. Barr Service Station Maintenance, Stewart Speed Supplies, Fort Glass, Southeastern Telecommunications, Kwik Kopy Print & Design Centre, Finish Line Web Design and Clarke Motorsports Communications for their continued support. Todd Stewart’s 2009 team t-shirts are available trackside at all the team’s events.
For updates on Todd Stewart’s 2009 season, visit www.toddstewart72.com
Photo attachment: (Jim Clarke – Clarke Motorsports Communications): Reflecting on his 2009 DIRTcar season, Todd Stewart is pleased with what his team was able to accomplish.
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