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Seekonk Speedway's
Pro Stock Team 57 |
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TO PURCHASE TEAM 57 MERCHANDISE SUCH AS T-SHIRTS JUST EMAIL HEIDI BY CLICKING HERE
WE WOULD LIKE TO GIVE OUR SINCERE THANKS TO ALL OF OUR SPONSORS BOTH PAST AND PRESENT. WITHOUT THEM WE WOULD NOT BE RACING. 2002
Team 57 Sponsors 2003
Team 57 Sponsors
WEBSITE
DESIGN BY: |
2007 Sponsors Freetown Sand And Gravel Toyota of Dartmouth Fleet Environmental Litchfield Art and signs Mozzone Lumber Inc McElroy Logistics
The Crew at the Banquet 07
Good Friend and Fellow Racer Scott Fournier
The next generation Colby Fournier
Deano's Street Stock 1994
2005 - 2006 Street Stock champion
The Islander
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Driver:
Dean Pettey (Deano) Birthday: September 12,1969 Hometown: Assonet, Ma
Crew
Chief:
Kris Swain (Skirt) Hometown: Dighton, Ma
Special Thanks To: Mom and Dad Pettey Jenn, Skirt,and Heidi Mike Timberlake DB Fabrication -" Berg" Brian, McElroy Logistics And To All Our Sponsors and Fans. HISTORY August
1993 Seekonk Speedway first feature win street stock division
(l/4 mile track) Dean Pettey: Pro Stock Championship Contender By
Todd Baptista While a lot can happen over the course of a 20-week season, fans and competitors can’t resist making lists of those likely to contend for the championship. Without a doubt, one name near the top of everyone’s list is Dean Pettey. A former standout in the Street Stock and Late Model ranks, the 35-year old Assonet, MA racer has established himself as a consistent front-runner in the top tier class since winning the Rookie of the Year honor in 2002. With a brand-new DB Fabrication chassis and GM Circle Track Crate Motor, race watchers can expect to see the #57 up front on a regular basis. The Pettey family has been competing at Seekonk Speedway for six decades. Dean’s father, David, was a regular here, and at the old Norwood Arena, for many years. David’s brother, Mark, also turned his share of laps at the Cement Palace as well. “My uncle Mark raced here in the A and B divisions when they had the ‘cut-downs’,” Dean explains. “My dad got a lot of my uncle’s hand-me-downs.” Mark became the first Pettey to visit Seekonk’s Victory Lane in August of 1963. Despite the family’s racing history and a penchant for driving fast, Dean didn’t become interested in the sport until he reached his early 20s. “I wish I had started earlier,” he confesses. “My father said that if I wanted to drive fast, I should try it on a race track.” Soon, he began competing at a go-kart facility in Pomfret, Connecticut. In 1991, he moved up to a Seekonk Street Stock. “Doug Moreau helped me get started,” Dean recalls. “Right away, I was hooked. I loved the power of the V-8. You know, it’s kind of funny, since I started racing in 1991, I haven’t even had a traffic ticket. I always drive with my seat belt on and I’m a lot safer driver now. On Sunday, I find I drive really slowly. I guess I’ve gotten out all my aggression on Saturday night. By Friday, though, I’m ready to go racing again!” A lot has changed within the Street division since Pettey began in the early 1990s. “Back then, we had 110 cars every week and there were two features. Twenty-four cars started the heats and you had to finish in the top twelve to make the feature. There were no consis. If you had a problem in the heat, you were done for the night.” By the
summer of 1993, Dean and his brother, David Jr., had established
themselves as front-runners in the class. The night of August 7,
Dean found himself pacing the field as the laps wound down. “I had
lapped a good portion of the field, and all of a sudden, here comes my
brother. He blew right past me. I did just about everything
but wreck the car trying to catch him, but I couldn’t.” One week
later, on August 14, Dean wheeled his #119 to Victory Lane for the first
time. “It was awesome,” he remembers. “You’re so
pumped up when it happens, because you don’t know if you’ll ever be
able to do it again. I had finished second three or four times, but
when I nailed that first one, it felt like a weight was lifted off my
shoulders.” Pettey made the jump to the Sportsman/Late Model division in 1995 and immediately made his presence felt. He earned two feature wins as a rookie, and captured a total of five checkered flags in his first three seasons. The most prestigious of these victories came on October 13, 1996, in the 50-lap D. Anthony Venditti Memorial. “That’s the race that sticks out the most for me,” the driver recounts. “My grandfather had passed away, and I had a friend of mine practice the car. I showed up for the feature, and got into the car with no warm-up at all. I think I started 10th. By lap 7, I was in the lead.” Once out front, Pettey never looked back, holding off a strong pack of contenders including track champion Scott Estrella to capture the victory. “It was a good payday, but it was also one of my best wins.” Pettey took most of 1998 and 1999 off to concentrate on building a new garage to house and work on his race cars. “The space we were using was just too small, so we worked on building a new one,” the driver explains. In 2000, Pettey picked up right where he left off, scoring three Sportsman/Late Model wins en route to a fifth place finish in the point standings. In 2001, Dean decided to try his luck in the Pro Stock class at Thompson’s 5/8-mile oval. “We thought we knew a lot more than we actually did,” Pettey laughs. “Money was tight, it was our first year in the Pro Stocks, and I was a rookie on Hoosier tires. It can be very frustrating trying to compete there without horsepower.” Although Dean’s #01 was involved in its share of skirmishes and spins, the team learned a lot in their lone season at Thompson. “There’s really no time to correct when you make a mistake there because of the speed. You’re better off spinning into the infield because hitting that wall is tough. We learned a lot about Pro Stock racing, though. I learned that it takes a lot of guts to run at those speeds right next to the wall. I always felt a little uncomfortable in turn four.” The following season, the Pettey Motorsports team returned to Seekonk with a brand new Pro Stock. Armed with the lessons learned at Thompson the summer before, Dean finished seventh in points and captured the Rookie of the Year honor. The following August, the #57 scored its first Pro Stock win at the Cement Palace en route to another seventh place points run. Last year, Pettey was one of the few who accepted the 75-pound weight penalty in order to continue running his custom-built engine. “We had won races without a crate motor before, and we thought we’d be OK. But after three or four weeks went by, I realized we were in trouble. We tried to make it work, but we just couldn’t keep up with the crate motors. They were tough to beat, especially on the outside.” Still, Pettey was able to manage his best ever points showing, finishing fourth, with nine top 10 finishes. In 2005, however, things will undoubtedly be different. “This is an entirely new car,” Pettey impresses. “This car has a lighter snout and coil over springs. We went the whole route. We’ll keep the other car as a backup for the twin 25 (lap features) if we need it. The only thing we took out of that car for this one was the rack (and pinion).” The blue and yellow Chevrolet is sponsored by Freetown Sand and Gravel, the family-owned excavating firm that Pettey manages. Umi’s Japanese Steakhouse, located on Route 6 in Swansea, joins Simmons Concrete and Toyota of Dartmouth in the associate sponsorship role this season. Dighton, MA’s Kristopher Swain owns the #57, serves as its crew chief, and handles chassis setup and maintenance. Josh Bowley of Berkley is the team’s electrician. George O’Neil, Bob Avilla, the crew chief on Scott Fournier’s #57 Late Model, Heidi Swist, and Jenn Pettey also comprise the Pettey Motorsports team. Dean sends his special thanks to his parents, David and Sandy, his wife, Jenn, friend Mike Timberlake, and the entire #57 crew for their support and assistance. “There are a lot of nights that they work on the car without me because I’m working at my business. We usually spend three nights during the week and Saturday morning working on the car.” Another crew member is Brad Pratt of Boston, who comes to the track on Saturdays to offer his assistance, and has helped to create and maintain the team’s website, www.petteymotorsports.com. Away from the speedway, Dean enjoys hunting and fishing, and leisure time at the ocean with his wife, Jenn, and their two dogs. “The days that we have to enjoy those things are few and far between right now, though,” he admits. “Jenn reminds me of that, too. But she’s really good about it. When I retire from racing, we’ll have more time to do those things.” The team is also grateful to the fans that turn out each week to support their efforts and the action at Seekonk Speedway. “We appreciate our fans very much,” Dean emphasizes. “I’d like the people watching the races to know how hard we all work at this. From the Street Stocks to the Pro Stocks, there’s so much work and effort involved in racing.” While Pettey would love to contend for a Pro Stock title, he admits that his focus is on winning races. “If you win races, the points will come. I can’t say we were unsuccessful if we didn’t win the championship. That’s not me. But, I have become more of a points racer. I’ve found that points racing requires more discipline. This track takes discipline. You can’t force things here. Most of the time when I’ve had a wrecked race car, it’s because I had a good car, but I pushed it too far. So, it really takes a lot of patience. I’ve also found that if you wreck the car, you can only get it as good as it was before the wreck, not better. So, I try to race everybody cleanly. Each week is a new week. The cars are lighter than they’ve ever been before, and there has to be some give and take. Occasionally, you have to lift and let people in. You’ve got to finish races to win a championship. But, I’ll tell you, when your car is right, and you can get under someone and make a pass, or drive by on the outside and leave them scratching they’re head, it’s such a nice feeling.”
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