Mancini Adds Spec Modified to Double Duty Plans Again in 2022

Paul Mancini is coming off his second and most successful season in the 602 Crate division and making the move to 358 Spec modified for the 2022 season.  After running both sportsman and 602 crate last year, Mancini decided to try to keep the double duty going into 2022 and continue to run 602 Crate as often as possible and at a minimum give chase to the Short Track Super Series South Region 602 Crate Championship.

With two seasons in 602 crates; Paul had his best season in 2022 with a 6^th place finish in the New Egypt 602 Crate points standings and a 7^th place finish in the NES sportsman points standing.  Paul was able to seize a unique opportunity and race in two classes in one night with the same car at New Egypt during the weekly 2021 season.  He also recorded two 602 crate wins in three weeks at New Egypt during 2021.   

Paul reflected “We had a solid and consistent season in 602 crate and sportsman this year and we only finished out of the top 10 twice when we broke.  I had only one top ten finish last year at the Short Track Super Series; but we were in contention for a couple of wins when we got knocked out late in the race by bad racing luck.  Late in the season we had a solid run at Bridgeport with a heat race win and a second-place finish in the cash dash.”

Paul continued “I have always been friends with Justin (Grosso), Ryan (Simmons) and Anthony (Tramontana).  It makes a difference when you are friends with the guys you are racing.  When a red flag comes out, we often pull up all together when we stop and start talking and telling some jobs until the red flag is over and then we go back to racing hard and clean.”  I’m really that Justin and Anthony are also moving to modified with me and still running the STSS South region tour also.  It is great racing with your friends.”

“It was a great experience to be able to run two heats and two features with the same car on the same track in the same night at New Egypt last year.  We got to run on the better track with the crates before the modified feature and then got to see how the track changed after the modifieds ran on it.  I really feel like we learned a lot about setups and changing track conditions by running two features in the same night on the same changing track.”  

After making a few laps in Mike Butler’s modified last season; and some careful consideration; Paul and his dad made the decision at the end of last season it was the right time to move to spec 358 modified division.  Paul is 17 years old and part of the modified youth moment as more and more young drivers move to the modified division sooner rather than later.

Paul stated “Our modified is a 22 Bicknell with a Morrison spec 358 motor that we plan on running at New Egypt weekly and at Bridgeport whenever we can.  My goal with the modified is to qualify and finish every race we enter in 2022.  We’re not getting rid of our crate car and we are going to race the crate car in the STSS South region in pursuit of a top 5 finish in the South region 602 Crate division points standings.  We hope to run a total of around 40 races.  We also have a 3^rd Bicknell chassis that will serve as an emergency backout to both the modified and crate.   I would love to do double duty again with both the modified and crate at New Egypt if I can race both classes in the same day.    I also plan on running Jason Dunn’s 305 sprint care at New Egypt when the sprint cars are at New Egypt.  This will be my first time in a sprint car and my goal is to get a top 5 this season”

“I wouldn’t be able to do this without my dad putting in countless hours on the car and Katy letting us be in the shop all the time.  Jason Dunn and Bruce Floystad helped me so much all season and I couldn’t have gotten through the last two races when Dad was hurt without them.”

“We are able to do all this because of a great group of sponsors that I can’t thank enough:

Mancini Custom Homes

Mancini Realty

Fireplace Plus

Amon Construction

Cramer Junk Yard

Avalon Flooring

84 Lumber

Potts Excavating

Brick IT

Better House keeping

Barlow GMC

Coastal Insulation”

Mancini Racing plans on moving their racing onward and upward to the next level of the STSS South Region 602 Crate racing tour and the modified division at New Egypt. With a little help from their friends and some racing luck they just might exceed their expectations for the 2022 season.