THOMPSON SPEEDWAY MOTORSPORTS PARK ANNOUNCES NEW DATE FOR 46TH ANNUAL LIQUID DEATH ICEBREAKER WEEKEND

Posted by Wayne G. Barber &

Photo by Wayne G. Barber
THOMPSON SPEEDWAY MOTORSPORTS PARK ANNOUNCES NEW DATE FOR 46TH ANNUAL LIQUID DEATH ICEBREAKER WEEKEND 

THOMPSON SPEEDWAY MOTORSPORTS PARK ANNOUNCES NEW DATE FOR 46TH ANNUAL LIQUID DEATH ICEBREAKER WEEKEND

MAY 15th-16th TO TENTATIVELY OPEN RACE SEASON 

THOMPSON, Conn. -- After conversations with all stakeholders, Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park announced on Tuesday the new date for the 46th annual Liquid Death Icebreaker weekend. The prestigious event is now tentatively set to take place May 15-16, including the headlining NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Death To Plastic 150.  

Due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, the date is tentative, as the situation is fluid and changes are occurring across the motorsports industry daily. A full schedule for the event will be released once available. 

The original date for the Liquid Death Icebreaker, April 3rd-5th, was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but Thompson Speedway officials were committed to finding the right date and releasing it to the public as quickly as possible. 

“After working with all of the different parties involved, we feel this is the best weekend to run the Icebreaker and kick-off the Thompson racing season,” Terry Eames, the General Manager of Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, said. “Just like the entire racing community, we are disappointed that we can’t start the race season as originally scheduled. However, we will continue to abide by our Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont’s Executive Orders and CDC suggestions during this time. We fully expect to begin the season with the Icebreaker, May 15-16, and look forward to seeing everyone back at the track soon.” 

The health of our valued race teams, fans, staff and customers is paramount during the COVID-19 outbreak. We have cleaned the property thoroughly to do our part to stop the spread of the virus and will continue to do so in the future.  

For more information on Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, visit thompsonspeedway.com and follow the track on social media.  

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Kyle Souza

Director of Public Relations & Marketing

THOMPSON SPEEDWAY MOTORSPORTS PARK UPDATE ON COVID-19

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

THOMPSON SPEEDWAY MOTORSPORTS PARK UPDATE ON COVID-19 

THOMPSON SPEEDWAY MOTORSPORTS PARK UPDATE ON COVID-19

THOMPSON, Conn. -- Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park is closely monitoring the COVID-19 outbreak and how it will affect our 2020 schedule. Due to Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont’s newest Executive Order and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggestions, Thompson Speedway will not hold the scheduled NASCAR Test & Tune originally scheduled for Saturday, March 21.   

Also due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the 46th annual Liquid Death Icebreaker will not be completed in its regularly scheduled date of April 3rd-5th. After conversations with NASCAR and all stakeholders involved, Thompson Speedway is planning to announce a postponement date for the Icebreaker in a matter of just a few days. Competitors should note that there will be a practice day attached to the rescheduled Icebreaker, and any drivers who signed up for the March 21 test will be given top priority for a practice date that is to be determined.  

Thompson Speedway wishes to stress that we have not canceled any events on our 2020 schedule, however, some of which have been postponed, for the time being. We will work closely with all partners to come up with a necessary solution and hope to reschedule all events for a later date.  

The health of our valued race teams, fans, staff and customers is paramount during the COVID-19 outbreak. We have cleaned the property thoroughly to do our part to stop the spread of the virus and will continue to do so in the future.  

Effective immediately, our staff will work from home to whatever extent they can. Therefore, customers are asked to work with the track in understanding that phones might not be answered as rapidly as usual. To connect with Thompson staff, you may also email info@thompsonspeedway.com with any requests or concerns.  

Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park will continue to provide updates as they become available. 

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Kyle Souza

Director of Public Relations & Marketing

Stephen Kopcik Focused on Wins in 2020 SK Modifieds® at Stafford

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Stafford Springs, CT)---Stephen Kopcik enters the 2020 season at Stafford Speedway coming off of the best season of his 4-year SK Modified® career.  The 2019 season saw the Newtown, CT native and driver of the #21 Hocon Industrial Gas Chevrolet post career highs across the board with 2 wins, 8 top-5, and 12 top-10 finishes en route to a career best 6^th place finish in the points standings.  Kopcik is looking to pick up in 2020 right where he left off in 2019 and go for as many wins as he can accumulate.

“My goal is to go for wins this season and we’ll see what we can do from there,” said Kopcik.  “We had a good car last year and I think we should be good again this year.  Any time you can win at Stafford Speedway, it means something special.  Stafford has the best drivers beating the heck out of each other every week and we’re going to try to win everything that we can but if we can win 2 or 3 races again this season, I’d be pretty happy with that.  The last half of last season when we stopped messing around with things we were really good.”

Kopcik utilized Chassis Dynamics cars for his two seasons of SK Light racing from 2014-2015, including the 2015 championship as well as his first three seasons of SK Modified® competition before changing over to LFR Chassis for the 2019 season.  It was that change from CD to LFR that Kopcik credits for helping him to reach career high totals in wins, top-5s, and top-10s.

“Changing chassis made a huge difference for us,” said Kopcik.  “We updated some technology that was over 20 years old and we got onto the latest stuff which I work with every day on the Tour in some way or another.  All that work correlates to the SK and that’s a big reason why we were as good as we were last year.”

Another reason that Kopcik credits to his career best year last season is his work as a Whelen Modified Tour crew chief for the #64 car of Rob Summers.  

“Being a crew chief really helps me out because I can try whatever I want to try with R & D and learn from it,” said Kopcik.  “I couldn’t do that on my own but by being a crew chief, it gives me the opportunity to try out what I want and see if it works out or not.”

With Kopcik coming back to the SK Modified® division with the same LFR Chassis he ran last season, Kopcik will also have Hocon Industrial Gas returning as a sponsor and is welcoming a new sponsor.

“Hocon Industrial Gas is back on board with us for the 7^th year in a row,” said Kopcik.  “Those guys have been great to me and I’m pretty sure that they’ve bought every tire I’ve ever raced at Stafford between the SK Lights and SK Modifieds®.  Duke from Hocon is a great guy and we have a new sponsor coming on board this season with Jason Derwin and RSMPCO.com.  Everyone on the crew has stayed together and I think that really says something about our team.  All the guys I have with me are the same guys I had 10 years ago when I was racing go karts.”

With Kopcik and the #21 team focused on racking up the win count this season, getting off to a good start can be an important factor in how the remainder of the season will go.Source: Scott Running Stafford Speedway Media Press Release