“The Greatest Race in the History of Spring” returns this weekend with the running of the 51st NAPA Spring Sizzler at Connecticut’s crown jewel half-mile, Stafford Motor Speedway. As the track and the competitors continue to prepare for the event, Stafford Motor Speedway officials have released a massive entry list stacked with talent.

Nearly 50 of the best Tour-type Modified drivers and teams from all over the Northeast are preparing to descend upon the legendary half-mile oval to compete in Sunday’s 100-lap main event. To be exact, 49 cars are entered for the weekend’s affairs.

Headlining the entry list, as he does on any entry list he’s ever on, is Northampton, Pennsylvania’s Matt Hirschman. Hirschman is the defending winner of the Spring Sizzler, a win that was one of the biggest of his illustrious career if his emotions in victory lane are any indication. Hirschman is once again off to a hot start this season with a handful of wins already under his belt.

Up next is six-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion and four-time Spring Sizzler winner, Doug Coby. Coby is driving the legendary No. 7NY for car owner Tommy Baldwin. Though they haven’t visited victory lane together yet this year, Coby helped Baldwin win the NWMT owners points championship by scoring three wins one year ago. Coby scored his very first NWMT victory way back in the 2006 Spring Sizzler. Since then he’s drank the milk and worn the wreath in 2012, 2016, and 2019, and collected a total of 31 victories at Stafford. Coby currently sits 18th on the all-time wins list at Stafford. His four Sizzler triumphs have come with three different car owners. It would surprise nobody if Coby added a fifth win with a fourth car owner this weekend.

Hirschman and Coby are the two most recent winners of the Sizzler that are on the entry list. With Patrick Emerling (2021) and Ryan Preece (2017 and 2018) not on the entry list, we’re now brought to Stafford Springs’ own, Woody Pitkat.

Pitkat is a true ladder-climber in every sense of the expression, and one of the best to ever compete at Stafford. He started his Stafford Motor Speedway racing career in Dare Stocks (Stafford’s Street Stock equivalent), scoring his first win back in 1996. He climbed every rung of the ladder before eventually getting to sip on the most refreshing glass of milk he’s ever tasted when he won the Spring Sizzler in 2015. Pitkat owns 81 career victories at Stafford across every division in which he has competed, which has him second on the all-time wins list.

One of the most versatile drivers to ever win the Spring Sizzler has to be Franklin, Massachusetts’ Bobby Santos III. Santos has won three Spring Sizzlers to date, doing so across a four-year period between 2011 and 2014. Santos won in 2011 driving the famous Mystic Missile, and then won two in a row in 2013 and 2014 driving his familiar black No. 44 for Tinio Racing. 

While those drivers have all gotten to experience the weight of the victory lane wreath, the glass of milk, and all of the spoils of Spring Sizzler victory, there’s a bunch of extremely talented drivers entered for the 51st Spring Sizzler that are still dreaming about what it would be like to win it for the first time.

Howell, New Jersey’s Jimmy Blewett has gone to Stafford’s victory lane four times throughout his racing career. He’s scored one SK Modified win, at the Fall Final in 2005. He’s also won three NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races at Stafford, most recently in August of 2016. Blewett finished fifth in last year’s Sizzler.

Norwalk, Connecticut’s Ron Silk has yet to win a Spring Sizzler, but he’ll still be one to contend with on Sunday. Silk finished third behind Hirschman and Preece in last year’s Spring Sizzler, but he’s been to victory lane a total of eight times across all divisions at Stafford. His most recent win came in the Fall Final last September. Silk has also already won this season, scoring a massive win in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour opener at New Smyrna Speedway back in February.

Then there’s Keith Rocco out of Berlin, Connecticut. Rocco is a multi-time track champion in the SK Modified division. He’s fourth on the all-time wins list across all divisions, visiting victory lane a total of 78 times. But not a single one of those 78 victories has come in the headlining division at the Spring Sizzler. It’s the one win that has eluded Rocco for so long. In fact, last year Rocco failed to even qualify for the feature event in one of the most disappointing weekend’s Rocco has ever had at Stafford.

The festivities for the 51st Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler at Stafford Motor Speedway kick off Saturday, April 29 with two 40-lap “Duels” for the Open Modifieds, plus a 75-lap ACT Late Model Tour event, and features for the Limited Late Models and Street Stocks.

Then on Sunday, April 30, the SK Lights, Late Models, and SK Modifieds will all open their seasons before the two Last Chance Qualifiers that will determine who takes the final starting spots in the 100-lap Spring Sizzler feature for the Open Modifieds.

Race fans can watch all of the action from the 51st NAPA Spring Sizzler, and the entire 2023 season from Stafford Motor Speedway live on FloRacing. Fans can subscribe to FloRacing by clicking here.

51st NAPA Spring Sizzler Entry List