DONNY LIA HOPES HIS THIRD SEASON IS A CHARM
At the
end of the season, NASCAR will crown a champion for the
Whelen Modified Tour and that will be a huge honor for
the driver who receives it. The titlist will follow in
the footsteps of previous Modified champions such as the
late Richie Evans, Mike Stefanik, Mike McLaughlin and
Jeff Fuller. One of the active former champs (Tony
Hirschman, Rick Fuller and Jerry Marquis) are also
looking to add another NASCAR ring to their collection,
but so would third-year Modified Tour driver Donny Lia.
And after all, don’t they always say, “The third time is
a charm?”
Lia’s goal is
to produce a championship for himself and his #18 Lia
Motorsports, Inc. team, but he knows it will be a tough year
on the racetrack with the stiff competition he will be up
against. Yet, he believes because of that intensity, the
biggest winners this season might be the fans in the
grandstands.
“It’s going
to be a really good year for Modified racing,” said Lia.
“There are a lot of good cars and a lot of good drivers in
this series. They only got better from this past year.
It’s going to be tough to win the championship. I think
that this new tire is going to help us have better racing
too. We’ll be able to go out there and race harder because
it has a little more bite and the side grip that we’ve been
lacking.”
In 2003, Lia
earned Rookie of the Year honors on the Modified Tour. Last
year, he won the Bud Pole Award. In both seasons, he also
won a race. Lia led in several races during the second half
of the 2004 season, but bad luck bit him on occasion. In
2005, he hopes to contend for the championship, but he knows
that lady luck will have to be riding along with him.
“I think that
we are definitely a top-five team,” said Lia. “We
definitely have a shot to finish inside of the top five in
points. As far as the championship goes, I think that is a
possibility as long as the luck goes our way. Without that
luck, you can win as many poles and lead as many laps as you
want and nothing is going to happen.
“We are
trying to be in control of whatever we can be in control of
and hopefully our luck is good enough to put together a
really strong season.”
Lia has also
been analyzing his opponents and finds no shortage of
talented driver and team combinations.
“That #50
team is going to be strong,” said Lia. “That car is awesome
no matter who is in it and Chuck [Hossfeld] is a really good
driver. When you put together a good driver and a good
team, they are going to be tough to beat. [Tony] Hirschman
will be right up there and [Jerry] Marquis is always good no
matter what he drives. Teddy [Christopher] is going to be
tough this year because the new tire will help him a lot.
The #79 with Mike Christopher will be tough if they get
going right off the bat well. Mike is a good driver.”
2005 will
also mark a new page in Lia’s career since he is also going
to drive the #47 Clorox/Wisk SK Modified on Friday nights at
Stafford Motor Speedway (CT) in a quest for the regional
NASCAR Weekly Racing Series championship as well.
“I’m going to
run more races this year than in any year of my career yet,
between the SK Modified and the Tour car,” said Lia. “I’ve
set goals for myself that are pretty high, but as long as at
the end of the year I know that I did what I could do,
wherever I end up, I will be happy.”
And Lia has
plenty of support behind him.
“Both teams
are pumped up and excited,” said Lia. “They’ve been working
hard. My Tour team has been practicing their pit stops a
bunch and we feel that we have a good handle on that.”
Both of Lia’s
teams will be racing this weekend at The Icebreaker at
Thompson Speedway (CT). The weekend will kick off the 2005
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season as well as the SK
Modified season at Thompson. Although they will be racing
weekly at Stafford, the #47 team has entered Thompson as a
tune-up race.
In 2005, Lia
and the LMI team will return to action on the NASCAR Whelen
Modified Tour. For more information on Donny and the team,
please contact Matthew Dillner at (704) 231-7613 and be sure
to visit DonnyLia.com.
Source:
Matt Dillner/Donny Lia PR
Posted: April 8, 2005
