Northeastern Modified Stock Car Racing

The author, Steven Kennedy, grew up in Plainville, CT, in the 1960s. Plainville was home to the Plainville Stadium, a quarter mile flat asphalt track that featured modifieds as the main division. Kennedy began attending races with his dad in 1970, and began shooting photos later that year with a Kodak Brownie instamatic box camera.  He also began the habit of collecting photos the same year, buying photos from the track photographer Phil Hoyt. Kennedy eventually got his first 35 mm camera in 1973, and began traveling to other Connecticut race tracks that featured the modifieds, like Thompson and Stafford Speedways. He began writing for the magazine Prospeed Revue during that time, then took a job at the Waterford Speedbowl as the track photographer, a position he held until 1982, when he began a career as a professional artist. He still shoots at the Waterford Speedbowl for Racedog photography’s Keith Cyr and the track, and also contributes to the NJ based weekly racing paper Area Auto Racing News. Over the years he’s freelanced to many racing publications such as Trackside, Shorttrack and New England Speedway Scene.