Ron Yuhas Nearly Steals NHIS Modified 100

The Whelen Modified Series races twice a year at NHIS, and their combination of restricted engines (they run the plates like the Winston Cup and BGN cars), high downforce (between wedge-shaped bodies and large spoilers), ample tire, and a powerful draft has consistently proven by far the most raceable package for tracks like New Hampshire. For July 2006 the Mod Tour's 100-miler had extra spice from Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards, Winston Cup interlopers looking for extra track time for the NHIS weekend.

NHIS Mod Tour events are usually intense push-drafting brawls that combine Daytona/Talladega-style drafting, side-drafting, and push-drafting with Pocono-style crossover passing in the corners; with the draft as strong as it is and ample grip on the racetrack, there isn't much impediment to passing.

But the 2006 Mod Tour New England 100 was ferocious even by Mod Tour standards at NHIS, from Jimmy Blewitt's wreck on the 17th lap that brought out the red flag onward. The fight up front began with Donny Lia, Ted Christopher, Reggie Ruggerio, Todd Szegedy, and Doug Coby, but as the race went on Mike Stefanik, damaged in the Blewitt melee early on, clawed into contention, and after Carl Edwards wrecked out it was left to Tony Stewart to serve as spoiler from the outside, but Stewart proved little match for the Tour regulars as John Blewitt III came into the fray.

Tony Stewart got one shot for the win after Robbie Summers' wreck set up a six-lap shootout. Stewart's bid got derailed when he got hit by Jerry Marquis, lost it on the backstretch, got off the ground, yet got it back and finished ninth - a ride largely unnoticed amid an increasingly savage push-drafting brawl for the win that got derailed when Steve Whitt blew up and the yellow flew on the last lap - which led to further controversy when Stafford grad James Civali was initially declared winner and went to victory lane, only to see the decision reversed and John Blewitt III awarded the win.

And hardly noticed by many was the sparkling effort of Ron Yuhas. A native of Groton, CT, Yuhas drove Richard Marquadt's #6 Chevrolet and started 28th. As the race wore on he drafted into the top ten, and surged into the top five, but in the mad scramble for the win he was squeezed out and ultimately clotheslined to 15th, disappointing after a potential victory bid.

"We had a good run there," Yuhas said. "It kind of got washed up. We didn't pit and that got us track position. We kept working our way up and the car was good, but we got washed up in the corner."

The racing "saw a lot of give-and-take, but in the last 25 laps they began driving in too hard. The groove moved up two or three lengths from when we started, and we were real loose off, we had to ease it in and let the car roll off the corner. We actually like that high groove a lot better. The cloud cover didn't change the racetrack."

Yuhas, 29, raced at Waterford Speedbowl for several years and is taking his Mod Tour season "one setp at a time. We started at Thompson and ran Stafford, we're just taking it one race at a time to see where we end up. We have to concentrate on Waterford next week, and we might be back here in September, we might not, we don't know yet."

One should hope Ron Yuhas can get a full Mod Tour season in and return to NHIS and elsewhere, because his calmness in traffic all day was striking and a good sign for a strong racing career. It certainly was a highlight of NHIS's July Winston Cup weekend.