Stafford Motor Speedway is known for its family atmosphere.
The Arute family has owned the Connecticut half-mile for
more than four decades, and their name is no stranger to race fans. Some of
them race, while some of them are in management, and some do both.
When the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to Stafford on
Friday night, there is another family that will be at the track making a little
bit of their own history. The Catalano’s, including Tommy, Timmy and Amy, will
all attempt to compete together on the track in the Stafford 150.
It will be the first time in their Whelen Modified Tour run
that all three of them hit the track at once. They have done it before on the
Race of Champions Modified Tour, but, the experience of doing it on NASCAR’s
highest Modified level is going to be special. Both Tommy and Timmy will be
going wheel-to-wheel with their mother during the 10th race of the season.
“Both my husband and I used to race against each other,
so we met at the race track,” Amy Catalano said. “I have about 25
years of it.”
The family is already off to a strong start this season before Amy even hits the track. She’s been running B-Modifieds in New York, and has made a habit of having success at places like Chemung Speedrome, Spencer Speedway and Lancaster Speedway over the years. Tommy is the defending Sunoco Rookie of the Year on the Whelen Modified Tour and has one pole and three top-10 finishes this season.
READ MORE: Stafford 150 preview, entry list
Timmy, who is in his rookie season, earned his first career top-five at Wall Stadium Speedway in May. In total, there are five of the Catalano brothers. One of them runs B-Modifieds with Amy, another is going to be debuting a Super Stock in the near future, and one is in go-karts at just seven-years-old. He recently earned his first career win.
“Before I had all of the kids, it used to be a joke, but when I had the first four I said to people that I had four tire changes but I needed a spotter,” Amy said with a laugh. “It was never the joke that they were going to take over the racing and we were going to quit, but, I never anticipated they would all like it.
“They all have different personalities and they all deeply love the sport, whether it’s working on it or racing them. Every one of them was at the race track within a month of being born. The last one was born during the week and I raced that Friday night.”
Even though Tommy started on the Whelen Modified Tour in
2017, and took off last year winning the Rookie of the Year crown, Amy always
had other plans until he started having success.
“We started racing weekly and the very first time we chased a title, we had no idea, but someone told us we were going to win the NASCAR New York state title,” Amy recalled. “We never even looked at the points, but I lost it by three and the next year we accomplished it and won it. My goal was always to run the Whelen Modified Tour. Even when Tommy started, we were going to get our feet wet and I was ultimately hoping to run myself. But Tommy started doing so well, and Timmy started saying he wanted to do it, so I let them have it.”
Now, she’s kind of stuck in the middle of what might be a competitive race among the three on Friday night. Obviously, the bragging rights are going to be high for whichever of them finishes ahead of the other.
“They started begging me a few weeks ago that they wanted me to fill out my dream, they told me I had to do it,” Amy said. “They even said they were going to sit out for me, but I told them we had come too far for that. They convinced me that I am going to like Stafford. Last year they convinced me to run a Valenti Modified Racing Series race at Thompson and we said if I finished top 10 I would run a Whelen Modified Tour race. I finished there, and they are holding my feet to the fire now.”
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She also knows it’s going to be a major challenge, not only
while hanging left turns on the historic Stafford half-mile, but in the pit
area preparing the cars, and on pit road during the race.
“Even having two cars is a little bit stressful for us,” Amy said. “The problem for us is that we have a very small crew, with just three guys from up home. That’s really all we bring with us. We just try and get the rest of the crew from race-to-race. Stafford was strategically picked because it’s one tire per stop, and we won’t need five guys for each car over the wall.”
No matter what the results, it’s going to be a special night
for the entire family. But one of the major parts of the experience is going to
be the ride to, and from, the track. The family rides in the same hauler, with
three cars all in one.
“A 15th to a 10th place finish would be as good as a win after being completely blind to the track, I’ve spotted there, but I haven’t turned a lap on the track myself yet,” Amy said. “We used to have two double haulers, but we decided to sell all of it and get one so we could be together. We wanted to ride, talk, laugh, be disappointed — we wanted to through all of it together.”
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