(Stafford Springs, CT)---As part of the 8th Annual CARQUEST Extreme Tuesday event at Stafford Motor Speedway, CARQUEST and Stafford teamed up to create a charity race, CARQUEST Champions For Charities. The result was a smashing success as over $44,000 was raised for the various charities that were represented by 14 open wheel champion drivers. CARQUEST and Stafford contributed $3,000 to the total with the other $41,000 plus raised through donations that were made by drivers, team members, fans, and businesses.

"We were thrilled with the response we saw for this event," said CARQUEST VP of Marketing Rich Pallai. "Everyone really got behind it and to raise over $44,000 for charity was a great accomplishment. We're looking forward to the 2012 edition of CARQUEST Champions For Charities and we intend to build upon the success of this year's event."

Special invitations were extended to 14 open wheel champions for the race and each driver selected a charity that they would be representing. Leading the way in the charity race was 2006 Stafford SK Modified® champion Frank Ruocco, who raised $18,885 for the Lustgargen Foundation to fight Pancreatic Cancer. Russ Wood was second with $5,795 raised for Racing Against Cancer, Keith Rocco raised $4,230 for the Connecticut Wishes on Wheels Program, Woody Pitkat raised $2,728 for Victory Junction Gang Camp, Richie Pallai, Jr. raised $2,425 for the Danbury Animal Welfare Socitety, Mike Stefanik raised $2,150 for the National MS Society, Stan Mertz raised $1,730 for the Connecticut Chapter of Autism Speaks, Todd Szegedy raised $1,178 for the Foundation For Life, Bobby Santos, III raised $1,067 for the USAC Benevolent Fund to benefit Eric Saunders, Ted Christopher raised $1,016 for the Connecticut Breast Health Initiative, Randy Cabral raised $937 for the Spalding Foundation, Bob Potter raised $881 for Compassion for Cats of New London County, Chris Perley raised $550 for the North Shore Arthritis Walk in honor of Katie Blouin, and Jon McKennedy raised $485 for the Relay For Life of Pelham, NH.

The 15-lap CARQUEST Champions For Charities event featured each open wheel champion driver behind the wheel of a Wild Thing Kart Senior Outlaw machine, which races on Stafford's Mini-Mile on Monday nights. The race was a thrill a second with a new leader virtually every lap in the first 10 laps before a caution came out for debris on the track. Defending NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Champion Keith Rocco took the checkered flag after a thrilling duel over the final laps with 2-time Modified Racing Series champion Jon McKennedy.

For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.

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