On March 31, 1985, six-time NASCAR Modified champion Jerry Cook saw his relentless mission to build a series for the discipline finally come to fruition.
Nearly three dozen of the best Modified competitors converged at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park for NASCAR’s inaugural Modified Tour event. After decades of weekly events around the northeast, Thompson served as the launch point for Modified veterans to battle for their own championship.
The Icebreaker 150 at Thompson on April 16 coincides with the 40th anniversary of that first race, a milestone Cook finds difficult to believe. The process of assembling everything for the Modified Tour’s maiden venture remains fresh in his mind, from outlining the rules to ensuring communication remained steady and effective.
With the trust of the competitors, Thompson and NASCAR officials on his side, Cook was confident the debut for the Modified Tour would be a successful one.
He was right.
“There was a whole lot going through my mind,” Cook said. “I was just trying to put a group together, but the racers knew me, and I knew all of them, so that helped a lot. They all wanted it to go, too, but the biggest thing was to be sure we put it all together and that everything went good.
“We got through that whole day.”
For Cook, the basis of establishing the Modified Tour was simple. As costs continued to appreciate for Modified competitors during the early 1980s, they needed a streamlined outlet separate from weekly racing that was both competitive and affordable.
Cook needed time to coordinate with drivers, tracks and NASCAR to enact upon his vision, which materialized in time for 1985. The first schedule comprised of 29 events featuring recognizable venues such as Martinsville Speedway and New York’s Riverhead Raceway, along with other tracks like Pocono Raceway’s short oval.
Thompson provided Cook a solid first challenge as series director. The track’s rich history, including Modifieds and the NASCAR Cup Series, meant high expectations were placed on everyone to have a clean, professional outing.
Cook enlisted the help of Thompson officials Dick Brooks, Bob Slade and Paul Cokley to help oversee inspection and enforce series rules. Any insight and knowledge by track officials during Year 1 was invaluable to Cook while he sorted through the resources at his disposal.
“I had been around for a little bit, so I knew what I had to do, but [the challenge] was doing it with a bunch of different situations,” Cook said. “There was working with track officials to coordinate tour procedures, which were more structured than track procedures. I had a small group of tour officials, but also utilized local track officials when I started out. We didn’t have all the people then that we have now.”
With officiating squared away, Cook turned his attention to what he knew would be a stacked entry list. Headlining the group was Richie Evans, a legend in the discipline whose accomplishments at that point included eight national championships and four Thompson track titles.
Joining Evans in the field were other notables like Tom Baldwin, Jan Leaty, Charlie Jarzombek, Mike McLaughlin, Brian Ross and Jeff Fuller.
The idea of a year-long NASCAR Modified series was enticing to Fuller, who possessed championships at Westboro Speedway in 1979 and 1981. With strong equipment and plenty of experience, Fuller believed he could be a contender for the inaugural Modified Tour title despite the challenge of dethroning Evans atop the pedestal.
“I had positioned myself at that time in my career with a guy by the name of Jack Neusner,” Fuller said. “He did everything he said he was going to do, and I was really excited when the tour came together, so I couldn’t wait.
“In my opinion, it was really good we had that. Jerry Cook did a great job getting it off its feet.”
Fuller’s confidence proved to be founded. Evans remained a significant hurdle to clear, but Fuller got an early advantage over the Modified stalwart by starting on pole while Evans lined up fourth.
Once the green flag waved, Fuller was tasked with fending off Evans for the 47-lap feature. The two engaged in an intense battle for the lead throughout the race, but Evans was the driver who parked his iconic orange No. 61 Modified in Thompson’s Victory Lane. Despite leading one more lap than Evans, Fuller settled for second.
The distinction of being the first Modified Tour winner would have been a tremendous honor for Fuller, but he found solace in placing behind Evans that day. Fuller knew the standard Evans had established for Modified competition, and that any opportunity to battle him for a win was an enthralling experience.
“There was a race I remember where I brought Richie high in I think [turns] one and two,” Fuller said. “We were battling, but when you run people clean, [you’re shown] the respect you want to be shown. I kind of knew that was a little bit too high, and probably a lap or two later, he hit the back bumper.
“Richie Evans was the man. If you could run with Richie, you could run with anybody.”
Cook could only pay so much attention to how the inaugural race unfolded; directing the event and keeping everything on schedule were his primary objectives.
Once he had time to compartmentalize the race itself, Cook could not help but be satisfied with the Tour’s first showing. Certain aspects of the maiden event could have been more refined, but Cook departed Thompson knowing the Modified Tour was only going to improve.
He exuded that confidence thanks to the existing chemistry with drivers and teams.
“We needed to move forward with consistency,” Cook said. “Every time you had a problem, you dealt with it right away. You didn’t wait a week or two. Everyone wanted [the Modified Tour] to work, so it’s a plus when you’ve got people working with you, and you could believe them when they told you we needed to do this or adjust that.
“That’s how we moved forward with it.”
As the Modified Tour proceeded through the rest of 1985, nobody could consistently match Evans. With 15 victories, Evans had the championship secured by the time the series reached its penultimate race of the season, also at Thompson.
Evans was never able to properly celebrate that milestone. He passed away in a practice accident at Martinsville three days before the Modified Tour finale at the same track.
The Modified Tour persevered through the tragedy that was Evans’ passing. Over the past 40 years, names like Mike Stefanik, Justin Bonsignore, Reggie Ruggiero, Ted Christopher and Doug Coby have become synonymous with success on the platform.
For Fuller, who would go on to win 31 Modified Tour events and the 1992 championship, nothing came easy during the first year. Going up against Evans, Jarzombek, Jimmy Spencer and more brought out the best in Fuller, who had to stay resolute to battle for victory.
Fuller sees the same respectful on-track principles from 1985 in the group of drivers today that includes Bonsignore, Ron Silk and Hirschman’s son, Matt.
“The first season I did [the Modified Tour], there were a lot of cars trying to make the show,” Fuller said. “When you showed up, you had to have your game face on. You knew you were racing the best of the best. [Even today], unless you’ve driven one of these beasts, nobody understands how hard it is to show each other that much respect.
“From when it started up to now, I still believe the cream rises to the top.”
On April 16, the current class of NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour drivers return to Thompson, which remains a fixture on the schedule 40 years after it hosted the series’ first race. In that timeframe, Thompson has been the site of 155 Modified Tour events, an average of almost four races a season.
Everything Cook set out to accomplish with the Modified Tour began on that first weekend at Thompson, where he sought to prove the discipline could become its own affordable, successful series on the NASCAR platform.
With hundreds of events and countless memorable moments in the record book, Cook’s belief in Modified racing was validated.
“When I started that tour, there were the naysayers that said it won’t last a year or two, and then it’ll be over,” Cook said. “Most of the people I remember telling me that are gone now, and the tour is still going.
“40 years later, this is still the best show, in my opinion.”