(Stafford Springs, CT)—Over the last two seasons of SK Light racing at Stafford Speedway, Ellington, CT native Tyler Chapman has piloted his #41 Chapman Apartment Homes car to 8 wins, scoring 4 wins each in 2022 and 2023. As good as Chapman has been on the track, he is missing a track championship having finished second by only 8 points in 2022 and third in the 2023 standings. Ahead of the 2024 season, Chapman is feeling good about his chances and is very motivated to take home a piece of championship gold.
“We’re feeling pretty awesome for this season,” said Chapman. “We were third and second in the points the last two years and we’ve won a lot of races, we’ve just missed out on winning the championship. We definitely feel motivated to keep on pushing for the championship this season. We’ve gone through the car this winter and made sure everything was straight and we freshened up some things to make the car look nice. Thanks to my crew, Dad, Mom, my two brothers, Rick, Robby, Chris, Glen, Jim, Jimmy, Kurt, All My Buddies, Brian, Mark, and Ted. Also thanks to all our sponsors Chapman Apartment Homes, Arcari Motor Sales, Earth Light, Centurn Machine, Smith Auto Body, Ceric, IMC Manufacturing, J. Regos, Backroads Smokin’ BBQ, Napa Of Tolland, and Baps.”
Although he has yet to claim a championship, Chapman and his #41 team have shown that they aren’t affected by any late season pressures by winning the last two races of both the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Should Chapman once again be among the championship contenders in 2024, he can lean on his end of season experience that has led to mixed emotions at the conclusion of each of the last 2 seasons.
“We’ve ended the last two seasons happy as possible with those wins and that helped take our minds off of the championship a little bit, but it still sucks to not win it in back to back seasons,” said Chapman. “This has been four years now and we haven’t been able to win a championship yet. We’re definitely motivated to keep on pushing along and winning the last 2 races the last 2 years has been awesome but I’d trade those last 2 wins for a championship if we could.”
Chapman has set a very high bar for himself and the #41 team to clear in 2024, but he knows it will be almost impossible to make that goal a reality with the level of competition in the SK Light division.
“I’d like to go for the all-time SK Light wins record and try to steal that away from Chris Matthews,” said Chapman. “That’s going to be tough to do this season because we’d have to win at least 10 races so that’s our high goal but we’d like to win as many races as we can this season. When there’s 40 or 45 cars showing up every week, it’s definitely not easy. There’s probably around 10 to 15 cars that are really fast and can win on any night. It can be tough to get back to the front if you ever get spun out or wrecked with only 20 laps, so it’s definitely challenging and I’d say it’s one of the hardest divisions for sure. I love the SK Lights and I have a lot of fun in the division.”
While one could argue that Chapman and the #41 team’s performance has been one of, if not the best in the SK Light division over the past 2 seasons, he and his team are always looking for ways to improve their car.
“There’s always room for improvement,” said Chapman. “Every time we get back from the track we always look at the car and make sure nothing is broken or bent and then we look at things like why we didn’t win the race or why we weren’t fast enough. We’re always striving to be faster and if you’re not improving, then you’re not trying hard enough.”
The first SK Light feature event of the 2024 season will be held as part of the 52nd Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler®, set for April 27-28. The NAPA Spring Sizzler® kicks off on Saturday, April 27th and will consist of two 40-lap NAPA Duel qualifying races for the Open Modified division. The 40-lap races will each pay $3,500 to win and will set the field for Sunday’s NAPA Spring Sizzler®. Stafford’s Late Model, Limited Late Model, and Street Stock divisions will complete Saturday’s racing program with qualifying and feature racing.
Order 52nd NAPA Spring Sizzler® Tickets
Sponsor a NAPA Spring Sizzler® Lap
Sunday, April 28th will play host to the $20,000 to win 52nd NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler®. Filling out Sunday’s racing card will be qualifying and feature racing for the SK Modified® and SK Light Modified divisions along with last chance qualifiers for the NAPA Spring Sizzler®.
For more information, visit staffordspeedway.com, follow Stafford Speedway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
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