As KLAS Motorsports prepares to field two entries in an ARCA Menards Series event for the first time in their history, there are several details to plan out. One of the most important ones is for a car number to be chosen. The team will field their regular #73 for Andy Jankowiak at Watkins Glen International (NY) next week as well as a second entry for Glen Reen.
The choice of a second car number ended up being a natural one for team owners Kevin Lapierre and Andy Seuss. This week, it was confirmed with NASCAR that it will be #71.
Lapierre developed his love for racing as a young fan at the now closed Riverside Park Speedway (MA), where one of the track’s heroes was Bob Polverari – who ran his Modified as the #711 and then the #71.
“It is a real honor for this team to be able to run this number,” said Lapierre.
That honor doesn’t just stop with KLAS Motorsports though.
“This is quite an honor,” said Polverari. “The car looks beautiful. It is really sharp looking, and I just love it. All of this happening is quite a thrill. I love life anyways, but this makes me really excited. I dream every day of getting back into a racecar and I’m going to try to get to the track next week to see this car race.”
Polverari also shared the significance of the #71 and why it originally ended up on his racecar.
“At the old Springfield Airport, there were two brothers from Granville who developed the GeeBee airplane. It was a race plane. It was stubby and looked like it couldn’t fly, but it did amazing things. It had the 7-11 and a pair of dice painted on the side. That was the reason for the car number. I ran the 711 until we couldn’t run three-digit numbers any more and then it turned into the 71.”
Reen’s #71 at Watkins Glen will be a white car, which is also true to the number’s racing roots.
“Mike Joy used to come over to our garage and he came up with the idea for a pearl white paint scheme with the Chevy racing stripe on it,” said Polverari.
Polverari is a long-time friend to the Reen family, and Riverside Park is a place that Glen was bonded to before he was even born.
“I was due on a Saturday, but I wasn’t born on my due date,” said Reen. “My parents went to the track because they didn’t want to miss a race night. In the early hours of Sunday morning, my Mom went into labor. My Dad drove her to the hospital in Boston and a State Trooper tried to pull him over. He told him to follow them to the hospital. He did and made sure that my father was telling the truth. That’s when I was born as a Modified racer.
“Later on, Riverside Park was the best place in the world. I could spend a Saturday afternoon at an amusement park and then run from the roller coaster line to the racetrack. The track closed when I was 11 years old, but I have fond memories of the place and watching Bob Polverari race.”
Seuss raced against Polverari in the early days of the Modified Racing Series, so he is also a fan of the legendary driver.
“It’s such an honor for us to run the 711 that Bob Polverari made famous,” said Seuss. “I had the privilege of sharing the track with him at the beginning of my Modified career and near the end of his. Bob was the model of professionalism in short track racing. To be able to do this is a highlight of my year.”
The #71 is also a significant one to the Seuss family. It was also a number that both Andy and his father Steve raced with on the side of their own cars.
“When Kevin and I started talking about numbers, we both realized that we loved sevens and ones,” said Seuss. “So much of my own success has come in the #70 (SS Motorsports), #47 (Riggs Racing) and the #11 (Eddie Harvey Racing). All of those numbers had sevens and ones. I also grew up watching my Dad race snowmobiles with the #71. I took a lot of pride in running that as my number in my early days of racing. To have this come full circle is incredibly exciting.”
The tie-ins with the car number and the choice of Reen to drive for KLAS Motorsports are more than just happy coincidences though. Nearly everyone associated with the effort has ties to a certain type of short track racing.
“All of us are Modified guys,” said Reen. “We stick together.”
To obtain the #71, KLAS Motorsports needed the cooperation of part-time ARCA competitor Chris Werth who has used the number for the Watkins Glen race in past seasons. Werth, who has actually coached Jankowiak at the road course previously, allowed the team to take over the number and will now run the #72 entry at Watkins Glen.
The #71 KLAS Motorsports Chevrolet will be sponsored at Watkins Glen by New Wave Home, DaK’s Market, Acacia Energy and Automotive Consultants.
The General Tire 100 at The Glen is scheduled for Friday, August 8th. It will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 2 starting at 2pm ET.