ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Just months after formally announcing his retirement from racing, asphalt modified ace Chuck Hossfeld has become the latest TQ Midget entrant in the NAPA Know How Indoor Auto Racing Series events inside Boardwalk Hall.
“When I made the announcement to retire I could not believe the attention I got,” said Hossfeld. “It has been very flattering and it is something that I will never forget.”
When the Indoor Auto Racing VP Series storms into Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, Hossfeld will buckle up behind the wheel of Joe Brainard’s No. 98 Tim Nye-built TQ Midget.
It will be the first Indoor Auto Racing Series start for Hossfeld, whose racing legacy includes four Race Of Champions Modified titles achieved 21 years apart (1997, 2011, 2014, and 2018). His last RoC Series win came this past summer, in July, at Lancaster (N.Y.) Speedway.
Hossfeld finished second once and third twice in the points on the on NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on the strength of seven wins.
He also has made 10 career NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck SEries starts between 2000 and ’01 driving for Jack Roush, with one top-10 finish.
Andy Jankowiak, Ryan Flores and Erick Rudolph, the last three winners of the headline Gambler’s Classic TQ Midget races in the building come to Atlantic City, are pre-race favorites.
Jankowiak still savors his 2019 Gambler’s Classic win as the highlight of his driving career and he wants nothing more to do it again.
After two rounds of Indoor Auto Racing Series action fueled by VP Racing Fuels, Matt Janisch is the current leader in the championship standings. Janisch had Allentown finishes of third and seventh.
Janisch leads upstate New York dirt Modified driver Ryan Bartlett in the TQ points heading into Atlantic City by ten points. Bartlett made his first start behind the wheel of a new-to-him Lafler built TQ Midget.
Allentown opener winner Erick Rudolph is third, 17 markers out of first and Briggs Danner is fourth, 20 points out of the lead. Jankiowiak completes the top five, 24 points out of first.
The wild and crazy Slingshots and darty Champ Karts will make up the tripleheader program as they have in the past.