Gary Putnam has poured the whole lot he has into NASCAR.
A local of Vernon, Connecticut, he’s spent 30 years grinding away in storage areas throughout the nation working with a who’s who of drivers and group house owners together with Richard Petty, John Andretti, Invoice Elliott and Jamie McMurray, amongst others.
Nonetheless, Putnam has all the time maintained one real love: Modified racing.
He grew up attending occasions at Stafford Speedway, Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park and the New-London Waterford Speedbowl, the place he watched Modified drivers like Richie Evans, Fred DeSarro and Rod Spalding compete for supremacy on a weekly foundation.
Even whereas he labored on the high ranges of NASCAR, Putnam’s coronary heart stayed with the Modifieds. That’s why he dabbled on the aspect as a driver on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, making 34 begins between 2014 and 2025.
Now Putnam, who resides in Harmony, North Carolina, will be capable to focus all his consideration on the division he loves as the brand new Modified Tour sequence director.
“Rising up in Connecticut, (Modifieds) had been the premier division within the Northeast. So I used to be an enormous fan,” mentioned the 55-year-old Putnam, who turns into the fifth sequence director within the historical past of the fashionable Tour. “I grew up at Stafford, Thompson and Waterford spending each race evening there. I keep in mind getting my first autograph at 6 years previous at Thompson once I walked as much as Fred DeSarro. I believed that was the best factor on the earth.”
Putnam is a first-generation member of the motorsports trade. He needed to persuade his father to deliver him to races, and as he grew, he discovered inventive methods to get into storage areas at tracks within the Northeast with the objective of ultimately touchdown on a crew.
That dedication paid off when he landed a job engaged on the Modified Tour for Charlie and Carl Pasteryak.
“I began sneaking into the pit space once I seemed sufficiently old,” Putnam admitted. “I helped out wiping down the automobile of Corky Cookman after races, after which I began working for Ed Spires, who was an area Danbury man who raced at Stafford and Waterford weekly.
“I helped Rod Spaulding on the Modified Tour in ‘87 and ‘88; then I received to know Charlie (Pasteryak) somewhat bit at Riverside Park. I helped Charlie on the races as volunteer assist, and ultimately the chance arose to truly go work for him and Carl in 1993.”
Putnam spent the subsequent few years working for and studying from the Pasteryak household. He relocated to North Carolina in 1996, and with the assistance of Tommy Baldwin Jr. and Kevin “Bono” Manion, he landed his first job in NASCAR at Larry Hedrick Motorsports working with Ricky Craven.
Within the years that adopted, Putnam labored for and with quite a lot of groups and drivers, together with Bahari Racing, Invoice Elliott Racing, PPI Motorsports, NEMCO Motorsports, Petty Enterprises, Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.
By the point Putnam landed at Petty Enterprises in 2002, he had labored his strategy to crew chief. In that place at Petty Enterprises, he labored with a robust listing of drivers that included John Andretti, Christian Fittipaldi, Jerry Nadeau and Jeff Inexperienced.
Putnam departed Petty Enterprises for PPI Motorsports in 2006 to function crew chief on the No. 32 Tide Chevrolet pushed by Travis Kvapil. Nonetheless, his best success got here throughout the 2010 season whereas working as automobile chief on the No. 1 Chevrolet pushed by Jamie McMurray.
The group started that 12 months by successful the largest race of all, the Daytona 500 at Daytona Worldwide Speedway. To today, Putnam considers it his favourite second from his greater than twenty years in NASCAR.
“That’s in all probability my spotlight,” Putnam mentioned. “2010 was fairly the 12 months. We received three Cup races, and Bono (Manion) and I received three Modified races, each Loudon races and Bristol, with Ryan Newman driving.”
The success at NASCAR’s high ranges didn’t scratch the itch, nonetheless, that was his need to contain himself in Modified racing. In his early 40s, he lastly tried his hand behind the wheel.
“It was my lifelong dream to drive a Modified after rising up idolizing them,” mentioned Putnam, who turns into the primary Modified Tour director who has additionally competed within the sequence as a driver. “The chance arose to purchase certainly one of Bob Garbarino’s previous vehicles. I did that, put it collectively, put my seat in it and went and tried it to ensure I may do it.”
In 2010, Putnam made his debut on the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour. He went on to make 63 begins within the southern sequence, incomes a finest end of fifth.
4 years later, he made his debut on the NASCAR Whelen Whelen Modified Tour. In 34 begins unfold throughout 11 seasons, Putnam scored a pair of top-10 finishes.
Now, many years after his infatuation with Modified racing started, Putnam will be capable to focus all his consideration on rising the division he’s cherished since his youth.
It’s nothing wanting a dream job for Putnam, who’s suspending operations of his personal Modified group to place one hundred pc of his effort behind rising the Modified Tour.
“This chance got here on the proper time in my life and profession,” Putnam mentioned. “I’m tremendous excited. This division has all the time been a ardour of mine, from infancy in all probability. I’m wanting ahead to this quite a bit.”
