New England Antique Racers (NEAR) Hall of Fame in its ranks. Skip Matczak has been involved in racing since the late 1950s. Towing supermodifieds all over the northeast for decades, his car won three straight track championships and an Oswego Classic with Doug Didero at Oswego Speedway. After viewing a midget race at Whip City, Matczak got the itch to go racing again and is one of the driving forces of the DMA. His Seals-It Racing Team have won the past three championships in the series with Will Hull in 2019 and Seth Carlson in 2020 and 2021. Hull is a Vermont native who excels on a fast, heavy track. Carlson is an alumnus of Whip City Speedway, winning the 270cc mini-sprint championship there in 2010 before turning his attention to pavement midgets with NEMA. Winning in both NEMA Lites and NEMA, Carlson made the switch to dirt racing with Matczak in 2017. Ray Miller made his name racing asphalt modifieds at Stafford Springs and Thompson Speedways against the likes of Richie Evans and Geoff Bodine but when Miller was a child, his father co-owned the Lataille/Miller midget in the post World War II midget boom. Like Matczak, Miller also got the itch to get into racing again after attending a race at Whip City Speedway. Miller came out of retirement and raced several
Miller Racing teammates Justin Phillips (left) and Joe Krawiec discuss the set up
years with the DMA and said “it was a lot of fun racing on the dirt”. Now he and his friend Zettie Shookus own several midgets that race with the DMA. The group operate as one big family. Justin Sheridan elaborated. “I’m very fortunate to be able to race for Ray Miller and Zettie Shookus. They treat our whole team like family and it’s just a great group of people to be around.” Two-time series champion Joe Krawiec also mentioned the team concept after an early season victory. “I have some amazing teammates and we bounced some ideas off each other, made a few adjustments to the car and it all came together in the end.”
Josh Sunn (76), Joe Krawiec (1b) and Jeff Horn (A1) in a tight race.
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DIRT EMPIRE MAGAZINE • ISSUE 07 - 2021
Another NEAR Hall of Fame member is 2021 inductee Jeff Horn, 76 years young, still fast and a series regular in 2021. 1971 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Denny Zimmerman even wheeled a midget for Matczak in 2011 and 2012 at Bear Ridge. While the Hall of Famers get the most attention, the club has dedicated members from throughout New England. Among them are Wayne Koehler who tows 440 miles round trip with his wife Patricia from Jewett, New York to Bear Ridge Speedway. Manny Dias is also a “long hauler” with a round trip of over 400 miles. With eleven or twelve races a year at
