WINCHESTER, N.H. — In more than 75 years of racing in the NASCAR Modified racing, few cars have developed a reputation like Ole Blue.
Owned by Boehler Racing Enterprises, numerous legends like Ryan Preece, Tony Hirschman, Bugs Stevens and Wayne Anderson have taken trips to victory lane in the iconic blue No. 3 modified.
Despite this, Ole Blue had not taken home a checkered flag since Rowan Pennink won in the car at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in 2017.
Jake Johnson wrote another successful, if not overdue, chapter in Ole Blue’s proud story on Saturday evening at Monadnock Speedway. Reaching this milestone required Johnson to fend off a tremendous challenge from defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Ron Silk for what would also be his first series victory.
The significance of the moment was not lost on Johnson.
“There’s so many people behind the scenes when it comes to the No. 3 car that make this happen week in and week out,” Johnson said. “It’s just an honor to be here in victory lane with them and get that long awaited win.”
The momentum from Johnson’s season-ending runner-up carried over into the start of 2024. Prior to Saturday’s Granite State Derby, Johnson had yet to record a finish outside the top 10 and sat third in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings behind Silk and Justin Bonsignore.
Patience proved to be crucial for Johnson at Monadnock.
Starting sixth following a redraw of the top eight starters, Johnson methodically climbed his way to the front of the field before making the race-winning pass on Silk with 48 laps remaining.
Silk pressured Johnson tremendously over the closing stages until bouncing off the outside wall during the final restart of the evening on lap 134. That enabled Austin Beers, who started 17th after a poor qualifying effort, to claim second for himself.
Beers believed his poor track position would have been a major detriment on Monadnock’s fresh pavement, but was impressed with his overall speed and how many passing opportunities there were.
He was also grateful the Granite State Derby did not exceed its advertised distance.
“We were actually blowing up at the end,” Beers said. “It started clicking with three to go and I was losing power hoping it would hold on. It was really fun with this repave. I didn’t think we were going to have passing, but we proved there can be passing here.”
Patrick Emerling came home third Saturday evening, with Craig Lutz and Matt Hirschman completing the top five. Rounding out the top 10 were Justin Bonsignore, Brian Robie, Joey Cipriano III, Anthony Nocella and Silk.