{"id":10524,"date":"2018-01-31T08:12:30","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T13:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/suprs.net\/site\/?p=10524"},"modified":"2025-06-23T16:50:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T20:50:20","slug":"punxsutawney-phil-keeps-suprs-racers-guessing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/suprs.net\/site\/punxsutawney-phil-keeps-suprs-racers-guessing\/","title":{"rendered":"Punxsutawney Phil Keeps SUPRS Racers Guessing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Punxsutwaney Phil Predicts Weather, SUPRS Race Format<\/em><\/h2>\n

January 30, 2018 – Goshen, IN…<\/strong>Letting the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil decide the format for a night of supermodified sim racing may sound a bit odd, but the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), figures if he can predict the weather, he can also predict the Groundhog Day Derby chain of events on February 2 at Lee USA Speedway<\/a>.
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Even Punxsutawney Phil knows that you can predict your marketing future when you use BreezeGraphics.com.<\/p><\/div>\n

It’s All about Phil<\/strong><\/p>\n

While Phil and his Groundhog Club Inner Circle<\/a> at Gobbler’s Knob may not know it, his yearly prognostication determines whether the race uses a standard format with time trials, heats and the feature, or a random start. And while doing it this way can prove to be just as vexing to the SUPRS racers as predicting when winter will end, it’s been the course of action since Bud Flath won the first Groundhog Day Derby in 2005.<\/p>\n

New Venue for SUPRS is Long-Time venue for Real Supers
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The site of this year’s race is Lee USA Speedway<\/a> in Lee, NH. Lee was once the home of the New England Supermodified Racing Association, (NESMRA). More recently it has played host to the International Supermodified Association, (ISMA<\/a>), and is the only weekly NASCAR sanctioned supermodified race track in the country.<\/p>\n

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The 21 supermodified owned by Pam and Lee Vinal at Lee USA Spee dway. (Jim Feeney photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

But while Lee has long been  a hotbed of real supermodified racing<\/a>, SUPRS has never raced on this historic venue before. Even so, during on pre-race testing, the virtual supermodifieds turned the 3\/8 mile in nearly identical lap times as their mighty real world counterparts. So it seems like the 40 lap race could be over faster than Phil can crawl back into his hole.<\/p>\n

Only One Repeat Winner<\/strong><\/p>\n

Letting Punxsutawney Phil decide the format for the night may sound a bit odd but SUPRS has done it that way for this race since Bud Flath won the first one in 2005. Most noteworthy, and probably due in part to the nature of the uncertain format, there has been just one repeat winner of this race.<\/p>\n

Here’s a look at the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series Groundhog Day Derby History:<\/p>\n