TEEN CROWNED KING OF THE MODIFIEDS
Luke Baldwin Carries on Family Legacy with Historic Win at South Boston
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Martinsville, VA (March 25, 2024) - In just his third Tour-Type Modified race, 17 year-old Luke Baldwin has been crowned King of the Modifieds.
The third-generation Modified racer scored the $20,000 win in the Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds presented by Dominion Energy (March 24) at South Boston Speedway in Southern Virginia in the third race of the year for the SMART Modified Tour.
Baldwin took the lead from current Modified kingpin Matt Hirschman, as the two made contact on lap 98 of the 125-lap race. Baldwin was challenged by Hirschman in the final 27 laps, but the Pace-O-Matic / Stanley Law Group / Mohawk Northeast number-7va never faltered.
It was the first win in a high-horsepower Modified for the Racing Electronics Rookie of the Year contender.
“I can’t believe this. That thing was a rocket ship,” stated Baldwin in Pace-O-Matic victory lane. “Neal and the guys from PSR & S&S Racing did such an incredible job. He made the call to free it up at the pit stop and if he didn’t do that, I think we would have been a little too tight for the end.
“I have to thank Matt Hirschman for racing me clean. I know he had a chance to give me a shot there. I didn’t mean to get into him earlier in the race; I have a lot of respect for him for not giving it back when he very well could have,” continued Baldwin. “It’s a ton of pressure for me, but I always say pressure is privilege and it motivated me today while battling with him. I can’t believe we beat him.”
Luke Baldwin is the son of Daytona 500 winning crew chief Tommy Baldwin Jr. and grandson of “The Tiger,” Tom Baldwin, who is one of Top 50 greatest drivers in Modified history.
Baldwin was also quickest in Vista Installations practice and won the Pace-O-Matic Pole Award in qualifying at South Boston.
Hirschman, who won a SMART race at South Boston two years ago, picked up $10,000 for finishing second.
“He was just a little bit faster and we just weren’t good enough to win,” said Hirschman, who was the Jostens Lap Leader by pacing the field for 94 circuits in his SMART Ford of South Boston / Mitchell’s Store number-60 Modified. “This was a big event. We don’t come to finish second, but you won’t finish second and have a better day all year than we did purse-wise here. I hope this becomes an annual thing because it would be such a positive for Modified racing.”
With his laps led, Hirschman also picked up the Jerry Hunt Supercenter Stage Break (at the end of lap 30) and the Banker’s Life Halfway Leader awards. Hirschman also turned the MJ Printing & Graphics Fastest Lap of the Race on lap 4.
6-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby, who survived many skirmishes in the Dominion Energy number-7ny, ended up as the final driver on the Stanley Law Group King’s Court podium during the post-race celebration.
“This was pretty wild. This track is so fun, it’s so fast, but when they all check up on the backstretch, you really can’t do anything,” said Coby, who was involved in a massive pile-up in turn three late in the race. “We got some damage, so I couldn’t really get to the throttle there at the end. This Tour is really fun down here. These tires are racey; this track is racey, so it was a good day for us to come home with a third place finish.”
The Pace-O-Matic Hard Charger of the race belonged to Connecticut’s Anthony Bello. He drove his Sun Drop number-79 Modified from a 24th starting spot to finish 5th.
The Carolina Drilling Blast to the Front award goes to Jonathan Cash. His fourth-place finish was the best for a driver who has not yet won a Tour-Type Modified Series event.
The SMART Modified Tour will have no rest after the King of the Modifieds event. The tour will head to Tri-County Speedway in Granite Falls, NC, this Saturday, March 30, for the Cardinal 99.
Spectator gates open at 2:15pm ET when Pace-O-Matic Pole Award qualifying for the SMART Modifieds will commence. The 99-lap feature event is slated to go green at 4pm ET. Four other classes of racing will also be part of the racing entertainment during the evening.
As a whole, SMART fans will be treated to 15 races at 13 different facilities in the tri-state region of North and South Carolina, as well as Virginia. The season commences at the famed North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina on Saturday, October 19.
All races can also be seen on FloRacing, the official streaming broadcast partner of the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic.
To see the entire schedule for the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic, as well as all the latest news and information, please visit the series website at www.smartmodtour.com, and be sure to follow the series on social media (Facebook: SMART Modified Tour| Twitter: @SMARTMods_ | IG: @smartmods_).
By Bob Dillner - Twitter: @shorttracklife_
SMART Modified Tour Race #3 - 3/34/24
Unofficial Race Results - Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds pres. by Dominion Energy
South Boston Speedway - South Boston, VA - 0.400 mile
Race Length: 125 Laps - 50 Miles - 80.467 KM
Finish - Start - Car # - Driver - Sponsors - Laps
1 - 4 - 7VA Luke Baldwin Pace-O-Matic / Stanley Law Group 125
2 - 1 - 60 Matt Hirschman SMART Chevy / Boykin Spaniel Rescue 125
3 - 11 - 7NY Doug Coby Dominion Energy / Mohawk Northeast 125
4 - 18 - 16VA Jonathan Cash Pace-O-Matic / Aggressive Hydraulics 125
5 - 24 - 79 Anthony Bello Sun Drop 125
6 - 6 - 1 Burt Myers Citrusafe / Peanut Patch 125
7 - 15 - 04 Brandon Ward Q104.1 / KevinSaysYes.com 125
8 - 22 - 21 Jimmy Wallace Carolina Drilling 125
9 - 28 - 22 Jason Tutterow Carolina Drilling 123
10 - 23 - 51 Jayden Harman K.D. Wolfe Trucking / Harman Funeral Homes 118
11 - 25 - 8NY Tyler Barry West Wind Tree Farm / RGR Services Inc. 118
12 - 16 - 02 Joey Coulter TORCH Eyewear / Airshock 117
13 - 3 - 23 Carson Loftin L&R Transmissions / Le Bleu Bottled Water 117
14 - 9 - 4 Jason Myers Greg Butcher Trucking / QRC HVAC & Refrigeration 109
15 - 2 - 12PA Jake Crum Cherokee Unlimited / All American Roofing & Restoration 107
16 - 10 - 88 Woody Pitkat Dunleavy's Truck & Trailer Repair / Brookfield Glass 107
17 - 5 - 77L Will Lambros Skip Barber Racing School 107
18 - 21 - 25 Tom Buzze Jr. Mark III Financial / UNITS 107
19 - 14 - 24 Danny Bohn Ameri-Fast Supply 107
20 - 17 - 99 Caleb Heady 107
21 - 27 - 18 Daniel Yates Yates Grading & Paving 107
22 - 12 - 27 Blake Barney D-Mac Pools / Scott Kar Engineering 107
23 - 8 - 2 Ryan Newman SHITI Coolers / Aggressive Hydraulics 105
24 - 19 - 66 Austin Kochenash L-O-I Kits / Industrial Services 105
25 - 13 - 9NJ Andrew Krause Supreme Mfg / Oval Speed Unlimited 105
26 - 20 - 45 Gary Young Jr. Ideal Comfort Heating & Air 104
27 - 7 - 1PA Stephen Kopcik Harry's U-Pull It / Frazosa Trucking 99
28 - 30 - 21VA Jim Gavek 88
29 - 29 - 73 Paul Hartwig Jr. Ace in the Hole Landscaping / Jersey Shore Contracting 78
30 - 26 - 23NY Bryce Bailey K2 BBQ Sauces / Ken Tibbles Roofing 27
Did Not Start: Jimmy Blewett, Brian Loftin, Chris Pasteryak
Time of Race: 1h:56:19 | Margin of Victory: 0.415 | Cautions: 7 for
Lap Leaders: Matt Hirschman 94, Luke Baldwin 28, Jake Crum 2, Brandon Ward 1
Pace-O-Matic Pole Award: Luke Baldwin - 13.610 seconds (105.805 mph)
Jerry Hunt SuperCenter Stage Break Winner: Matt Hirschman
Jostens Lap Leader: Matt Hirschman
Bankers Life Halfway Leader: Matt Hirschman
Pace-O-Matic Hard Charger Award: Anthony Bello
Carolina Drilling Blast to the Front: Jonathan Cash
MJ Printing & Graphics Fastest Lap: Matt Hirschman - 14.248 seconds (Lap 4)
SMART Modified Tour
The SMART Modified Tour captures the essence of one of the most legendary forms of racing in America, pavement Modifieds. Born in 1988, these ground-pounding, 600-horsepower missiles for the SMART Tour are a must-see for any racing fan.
In 2020, Chris Williams brought SMART Modifieds back to prominence after a brief hiatus. Due to the overwhelming popularity from its fan base, a four-race schedule in its initial year has given birth to an adventurous 15-race schedule in 2024.
This year will mark the fourth full-season of SMART Modified Tour racing since its return. Many of Modified racing’s best drivers, from all over the country, will compete with the series, which visits 13 different racetracks in three different states in the Mid-Atlantic - North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
SMART Modifieds compete on grueling asphalt oval short tracks, embedded in quaint local communities, each spring, summer and fall.
Pace-O-Matic
Pace-O-Matic develops, produces, and licenses fun and entertainment in the form of skill games in various states, including Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kansas, South Carolina, Texas and Wyoming, among others. Since its founding in 2000, the organization has built a talented leadership team and a culture defined by integrity, innovation, and compliance. Learn more at www.paceomatic.com.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Martinsville, VA (March 25, 2024) - In just his third Tour-Type Modified race, 17 year-old Luke Baldwin has been crowned King of the Modifieds.
The third-generation Modified racer scored the $20,000 win in the Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds presented by Dominion Energy (March 24) at South Boston Speedway in Southern Virginia in the third race of the year for the SMART Modified Tour.
Baldwin took the lead from current Modified kingpin Matt Hirschman, as the two made contact on lap 98 of the 125-lap race. Baldwin was challenged by Hirschman in the final 27 laps, but the Pace-O-Matic / Stanley Law Group / Mohawk Northeast number-7va never faltered.
It was the first win in a high-horsepower Modified for the Racing Electronics Rookie of the Year contender.
“I can’t believe this. That thing was a rocket ship,” stated Baldwin in Pace-O-Matic victory lane. “Neal and the guys from PSR & S&S Racing did such an incredible job. He made the call to free it up at the pit stop and if he didn’t do that, I think we would have been a little too tight for the end.
“I have to thank Matt Hirschman for racing me clean. I know he had a chance to give me a shot there. I didn’t mean to get into him earlier in the race; I have a lot of respect for him for not giving it back when he very well could have,” continued Baldwin. “It’s a ton of pressure for me, but I always say pressure is privilege and it motivated me today while battling with him. I can’t believe we beat him.”
Luke Baldwin is the son of Daytona 500 winning crew chief Tommy Baldwin Jr. and grandson of “The Tiger,” Tom Baldwin, who is one of Top 50 greatest drivers in Modified history.
Baldwin was also quickest in Vista Installations practice and won the Pace-O-Matic Pole Award in qualifying at South Boston.
Hirschman, who won a SMART race at South Boston two years ago, picked up $10,000 for finishing second.
“He was just a little bit faster and we just weren’t good enough to win,” said Hirschman, who was the Jostens Lap Leader by pacing the field for 94 circuits in his SMART Ford of South Boston / Mitchell’s Store number-60 Modified. “This was a big event. We don’t come to finish second, but you won’t finish second and have a better day all year than we did purse-wise here. I hope this becomes an annual thing because it would be such a positive for Modified racing.”
With his laps led, Hirschman also picked up the Jerry Hunt Supercenter Stage Break (at the end of lap 30) and the Banker’s Life Halfway Leader awards. Hirschman also turned the MJ Printing & Graphics Fastest Lap of the Race on lap 4.
6-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby, who survived many skirmishes in the Dominion Energy number-7ny, ended up as the final driver on the Stanley Law Group King’s Court podium during the post-race celebration.
“This was pretty wild. This track is so fun, it’s so fast, but when they all check up on the backstretch, you really can’t do anything,” said Coby, who was involved in a massive pile-up in turn three late in the race. “We got some damage, so I couldn’t really get to the throttle there at the end. This Tour is really fun down here. These tires are racey; this track is racey, so it was a good day for us to come home with a third place finish.”
The Pace-O-Matic Hard Charger of the race belonged to Connecticut’s Anthony Bello. He drove his Sun Drop number-79 Modified from a 24th starting spot to finish 5th.
The Carolina Drilling Blast to the Front award goes to Jonathan Cash. His fourth-place finish was the best for a driver who has not yet won a Tour-Type Modified Series event.
The SMART Modified Tour will have no rest after the King of the Modifieds event. The tour will head to Tri-County Speedway in Granite Falls, NC, this Saturday, March 30, for the Cardinal 99.
Spectator gates open at 2:15pm ET when Pace-O-Matic Pole Award qualifying for the SMART Modifieds will commence. The 99-lap feature event is slated to go green at 4pm ET. Four other classes of racing will also be part of the racing entertainment during the evening.
As a whole, SMART fans will be treated to 15 races at 13 different facilities in the tri-state region of North and South Carolina, as well as Virginia. The season commences at the famed North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina on Saturday, October 19.
All races can also be seen on FloRacing, the official streaming broadcast partner of the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic.
To see the entire schedule for the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic, as well as all the latest news and information, please visit the series website at www.smartmodtour.com, and be sure to follow the series on social media (Facebook: SMART Modified Tour| Twitter: @SMARTMods_ | IG: @smartmods_).
By Bob Dillner - Twitter: @shorttracklife_
SMART Modified Tour Race #3 - 3/34/24
Unofficial Race Results - Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds pres. by Dominion Energy
South Boston Speedway - South Boston, VA - 0.400 mile
Race Length: 125 Laps - 50 Miles - 80.467 KM
Finish - Start - Car # - Driver - Sponsors - Laps
1 - 4 - 7VA Luke Baldwin Pace-O-Matic / Stanley Law Group 125
2 - 1 - 60 Matt Hirschman SMART Chevy / Boykin Spaniel Rescue 125
3 - 11 - 7NY Doug Coby Dominion Energy / Mohawk Northeast 125
4 - 18 - 16VA Jonathan Cash Pace-O-Matic / Aggressive Hydraulics 125
5 - 24 - 79 Anthony Bello Sun Drop 125
6 - 6 - 1 Burt Myers Citrusafe / Peanut Patch 125
7 - 15 - 04 Brandon Ward Q104.1 / KevinSaysYes.com 125
8 - 22 - 21 Jimmy Wallace Carolina Drilling 125
9 - 28 - 22 Jason Tutterow Carolina Drilling 123
10 - 23 - 51 Jayden Harman K.D. Wolfe Trucking / Harman Funeral Homes 118
11 - 25 - 8NY Tyler Barry West Wind Tree Farm / RGR Services Inc. 118
12 - 16 - 02 Joey Coulter TORCH Eyewear / Airshock 117
13 - 3 - 23 Carson Loftin L&R Transmissions / Le Bleu Bottled Water 117
14 - 9 - 4 Jason Myers Greg Butcher Trucking / QRC HVAC & Refrigeration 109
15 - 2 - 12PA Jake Crum Cherokee Unlimited / All American Roofing & Restoration 107
16 - 10 - 88 Woody Pitkat Dunleavy's Truck & Trailer Repair / Brookfield Glass 107
17 - 5 - 77L Will Lambros Skip Barber Racing School 107
18 - 21 - 25 Tom Buzze Jr. Mark III Financial / UNITS 107
19 - 14 - 24 Danny Bohn Ameri-Fast Supply 107
20 - 17 - 99 Caleb Heady 107
21 - 27 - 18 Daniel Yates Yates Grading & Paving 107
22 - 12 - 27 Blake Barney D-Mac Pools / Scott Kar Engineering 107
23 - 8 - 2 Ryan Newman SHITI Coolers / Aggressive Hydraulics 105
24 - 19 - 66 Austin Kochenash L-O-I Kits / Industrial Services 105
25 - 13 - 9NJ Andrew Krause Supreme Mfg / Oval Speed Unlimited 105
26 - 20 - 45 Gary Young Jr. Ideal Comfort Heating & Air 104
27 - 7 - 1PA Stephen Kopcik Harry's U-Pull It / Frazosa Trucking 99
28 - 30 - 21VA Jim Gavek 88
29 - 29 - 73 Paul Hartwig Jr. Ace in the Hole Landscaping / Jersey Shore Contracting 78
30 - 26 - 23NY Bryce Bailey K2 BBQ Sauces / Ken Tibbles Roofing 27
Did Not Start: Jimmy Blewett, Brian Loftin, Chris Pasteryak
Time of Race: 1h:56:19 | Margin of Victory: 0.415 | Cautions: 7 for
Lap Leaders: Matt Hirschman 94, Luke Baldwin 28, Jake Crum 2, Brandon Ward 1
Pace-O-Matic Pole Award: Luke Baldwin - 13.610 seconds (105.805 mph)
Jerry Hunt SuperCenter Stage Break Winner: Matt Hirschman
Jostens Lap Leader: Matt Hirschman
Bankers Life Halfway Leader: Matt Hirschman
Pace-O-Matic Hard Charger Award: Anthony Bello
Carolina Drilling Blast to the Front: Jonathan Cash
MJ Printing & Graphics Fastest Lap: Matt Hirschman - 14.248 seconds (Lap 4)
SMART Modified Tour
The SMART Modified Tour captures the essence of one of the most legendary forms of racing in America, pavement Modifieds. Born in 1988, these ground-pounding, 600-horsepower missiles for the SMART Tour are a must-see for any racing fan.
In 2020, Chris Williams brought SMART Modifieds back to prominence after a brief hiatus. Due to the overwhelming popularity from its fan base, a four-race schedule in its initial year has given birth to an adventurous 15-race schedule in 2024.
This year will mark the fourth full-season of SMART Modified Tour racing since its return. Many of Modified racing’s best drivers, from all over the country, will compete with the series, which visits 13 different racetracks in three different states in the Mid-Atlantic - North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
SMART Modifieds compete on grueling asphalt oval short tracks, embedded in quaint local communities, each spring, summer and fall.
Pace-O-Matic
Pace-O-Matic develops, produces, and licenses fun and entertainment in the form of skill games in various states, including Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kansas, South Carolina, Texas and Wyoming, among others. Since its founding in 2000, the organization has built a talented leadership team and a culture defined by integrity, innovation, and compliance. Learn more at www.paceomatic.com.