Good deed gets racer back on track

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Prospect's Nick Salva got back on the race track following a recent wreck thanks to the help of a rival racer. –CONTRIBUTED
Prospect’s Nick Salva got back on the race track following a recent wreck thanks to the help of a rival racer. –CONTRIBUTED

Prospect’s Nick Salva was looking forward to this season at Stafford Motor Speedway with good reason.

The 23-year-old was coming off a second-place finish in Stafford’s SK Lights division last summer in his first full season of racing. He also had well more than 100 years of combined racing experience behind him thanks to support of his uncle, Bo Gunning, and the nucleus of Gunning’s race team that has been winning championships and races for decades at Stafford.

All he needed was good fortune to ride alongside him as it did last season when he was relatively incident-free.

But then while starting this season at the Spring Sizzler, one brief moment of overzealous aggression by another driver drastically changed the season. With Salva racing door-to-door for the lead with D.J. Burnham, racer Joe Ferrigno ran right up the back of Salva’s car and pushed him hard into the wall.

“It is a major setback,” Salva said. “To have this happen in the first race is disheartening. But all we can do is keep our chin up, get the car back together as quickly as we can and then get after it.”

Despite having what Salva considers the best crew at the track, it could take him three weeks to get his car race-ready because he couldn’t immediately come up with the thousands of dollars needed to repair it. By then, the season, or at least his hopes of a championship, could be over.

Then something inspiring happened. Burnham, the Spring Sizzler winner, made a gracious gesture of sportsmanship. He offered to let Salva use his backup car May 1 and longer if need be, just so that Salva could keep in the running for the season title.

“We would want someone to do that for us if we were in that situation, and I just felt it was the right thing to do,” said Burnham, of East Hartford. “He has always raced me clean. I don’t know him that well, but it is worthwhile because he has always been a good competitor. To see him sit out would be a shame. He is good friends with a lot of people who have helped me, and they all stuck up for him. So I feel good doing it for him.”

Salva said he didn’t want to take any undue risks in someone else’s car by racing for a top finish May 1, but he cautiously picked up spots near the back of the pack and finished 13th in a field of 20. It’s enough to keep his spirits up as he hopes to find a little more sponsorship and get his own car ready for next week or the week after.

He said he is grateful for the sponsors he already has in J.G. Poulin Drywall of Hartford, T.S. Haulers of Calverton, N.Y., Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Branford, Dell’s Vinyl Siding of Cheshire, Roose Motorsport of Watertown, R&R Fabrication of Cheshire, Jensen’s Auto Center of Waterbury, H&H Transmission of Wallingford and Northeast Race Cars of Rhode Island.

More importantly, he believes he has the right crew behind him led by his stepfather, Tom Gunning of Bethlehem, and his uncle, Bo Gunning, a three-time track champion with the second-most SK Modified wins (47) at Stafford. There’s also crew chief Bob Buffington of West Haven, George Buffington of Prospect, Glenn Jensen of Wolcott, Paul Quantro of Wallingford and Jim Newmark of Manchester.

“I’m still encouraged because of how fast and how good a car we have had,” Salva said. “All last season we were very fast, then we did homework over the winter and made a lot of improvements and brought more things up to par than we have ever had before. We have a very good team behind me that gives me a very competitive car, and I have faith in them putting the car back together.”

Salva, an aerospace machinery calibrator by trade, believes he can still win a championship, but once he gets his own car back, the focus will be on winning races. He said his uncle was in a similar predicament in 1998 and returned from a bit of misfortune to win six straight races and the track title.

Salva began going to the track or his uncle’s race garage at age 5. By the time he was 11, he was there every night. He learned a lot about cars, but also became inspired to race himself one day.

“Because of those guys at the shop, who are like family to me, I always had the desire to drive,” Salva said. “Once I got the opportunity, I feel in love with it, and I will do all I can now to keep racing.”