By Evan Canfield
SUSQUEHANNA, Pa. – After a long off-season and months of planning, the newly-formed NY-Penn IMCA Modified Series is ready to set sail on the 2021 season. With a full schedule set to see eight events at five different tracks, drivers are eager to begin the inaugural season of the series. With nearly 30 cars registered for the year, large car counts and great racing are on the horizon for a big year.
Kicking off this year’s campaign will be one of the biggest races of the season, the Sean Lias Memorial at Susquehanna, Pa.’s Penn Can Speedway slated for May 30.
This event will pay homage to one of Pennsylvania’s own who was a multi-time champion across tracks and the Northeast region under the IMCA sanction in the 1990’s and 2000’s, scoring 231 feature wins in his career.
The race will be 37 laps in honor of Lias’ car number that he was famously known for throughout the years. In that spirit, the race will pay a hefty $1,037 to the winner, as well as $137 to take the green flag.
With the payout being over $1,000, that makes the Sean Lias Memorial a Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifier. In addition to the big payday, there is also $1,367 worth of lap money to be randomly distributed throughout the field.
There will also be sponsored bonuses for the halfway leader, last place, and longest haul. There are also bonuses for the whole season for hard charger of the feature and heat race winners. But the payout window isn’t where the money and prizes stop. Over $2,500 in contingency products will be given out to the top five finishers from various sponsors in addition to the winner scoring custom Sean Lias Cornhole boards.
Series Director Jake Maynard is looking forward to the start of the season as the series sets up for its first event.
“I’m excited to get this race started and under the belt. I’m very excited to get the series going as I want to see all my peers and competitors have fun and go for some money which, the class well deserves after a few years of no big money races,” Maynard said. “I feel pretty good from the support I have in registrations and the talks around the pits at The Hill Speedway for practice. I expect 20 cars, but hoping for a full field to have a great showing for the first race and show we are still a strong group in the Northeast.”
Pit gates open at 5 p.m. with hot laps at 6:30 p.m., followed by racing at 7 p.m. For those unable to make it to the event in person, the race will be streaming live on floracing.com.
