Another Chilly Willy first-timer comes from the Centennial State and has close ties to last year’s event winner.
A year ago, Eddie Vecchiarelli turned in a dominant season at Colorado National Speedway, taking victory on nine different occasions and capturing the track championship.
Nevertheless, when it comes to Tucson, he has yet to take a lap behind the wheel.
“I’ve been there with my dad when he ran a Grand American Modified years back and when Preston (Peltier) has raced, but I’ve never been on the track itself,” the Brighton, Colo., driver remarked. “I don’t think the track has changed much so I’ll probably lean on (Ed, Sr.) for advice there and on the way while he’s driving the hauler out, and my crew chief (cousin, David Vecchiarelli) has always worked well with Preston.”
Although Peltier, who led a majority of last year’s 150-lap feature, will not be back to defend his win, in part due to a family wedding taking place the same weekend, Vecchiarelli has been seeking pointers from one of the discipline’s most successful competitors throughout the country over the last decade and a half.
“The guy’s just an all-around racing expert, whether it’s setup advice, driver coaching, making adjustments,” Vecchiarelli indicated. “The car is in Vegas at his (the Sigma Performance Services) shop being prepared right now. He definitely plays a big part.”
Prior to last year, the 38-year-old did not have much seat time in a Super Late Model and utilized the slightly abbreviated season to get better as a driver.
The spectacular performances certainly serve as positive momentum for someone who has only traveled far to start such a major event once, that being the Summer Showdown at Evergreen in which teammate at the time Peltier won.
“If nothing else, it gives us some confidence,” the defending winner of the annual season-ending Challenge Cup event at his home track noted of the No. 18 he’ll be piloting. “It’s the (Rowdy Manufacturing) car we ran last year at CMS and we sat down and had Preston go through it, put the Tucson setup in it, which will give us good baselines. We had no bad luck or mechanical failures last year and even though fields were kind of short at times, I feel we could’ve run the same with 50 cars.”
Regardless of all the latest achievements and resources supporting him, Vecchiarelli remains cautiously optimistic heading into the race weekend.
“I’m setting my expectations realistically as I certainly don’t think it’s going to be a walk in the park,” Vecchiarelli, who doesn’t have any definite plans beyond Tucson in place, believes. “If we qualify in the top two to lock ourselves into the show, nail the setup, and get a top three finish I’ll be all smiles. If we can make it all happen, it will pave the way for more races in 2021.”
The eighth annual Chilly Willy 150 commences with an optional practice on Thursday followed by three days of on-track action for Super Late Models and Legends cars.
Friday evening is headlined by a preliminary 50-lap competition that is independent from Sunday afternoon’s $10,000-to-win main event.
Saturday afternoon’s festivities include single-car qualifying in which the fastest two teams automatically transfer to the Sunday headliner. The remainder of the field will be set by two 50-lap qualifying races, in which the top 10 finishers advance into Sunday’s show.
A last chance qualifier is planned for the remaining six starting spots on Sunday, while the Legends run a 50-lap feature preceding the Chilly Willy 150 green flag.
No grandstand spectators are currently permitted to attend, per Pima County regulations, but a pay-per-view stream of all three days of racing will be available through Low Budget TV, a member of the SPEED SPORT Network.