Don Wagner - Modified driver 2003 article

By Robin  Ervin

Don Wagner started racing micro stocks when he was 12 years old at Pine Brook Speedway in Pine Brook, NJ and won countless features in his many years racing there.

 Wagner joined forces with his then car owner Bill Fitze in 1989 and formed Labrador Racing.

They successfully raced the street stock car they built, at the track then known as

Evergreen Raceway. Wagner won the Rookie-of-the-Year title that year as well as second

place in the final points standings. The following year he moved up to the Modified

Division and once again was awarded Rookie-of-the-Year and finished third in points.

 He switched to Wall Township Speedway, NJ, for a year of Big Block Modified Racing. Posting many strong finishes before returning to Evergreen in 1992.  That year he won six features, finished second in points and won the first ever Sportsmanship Award at Evergreen Speedway. The many years of strong finishes inspired Wagner and his team to move up to bigger venues.

 He ran for two years in the NASCAR Sportsman Division from 94-96. Wagner quickly adjusted to the Super-Speedways at Charlotte, and Pocono. Wagner and his team experienced no DNF’s, eight top 10’s, and a fourth place finish at Pocono. Unfortunately, the series was discontinued to make way for the newly formed Craftsman Super-Trucks

 He returned to the Modified and raced for a number of other owners at the many local

tracks before buying his own Modified in 1998 and reforming Labrador Racing.

He did well and finished inside the top 20 in points at both Evergreen Raceway and Mahoning Valley Speedway in Lehighton, PA within his first 18 races.

 Uncertain about the future of Evergreen Raceway he switched to Flemington Speedway for the 1999 season. In the Tar-Car division, the team competed in every Flemington show as well as the newly formed Penn-Jersey Modified series (which ran at Flemington and Mahoning Valley speedways). The finished fifth in points at Flemington and was won the Outstanding New Regular award, as well as a fourth place point’s finish in the Penn-Jersey Series. He returned to Flemington for the NASCAR 2000 season and at season’s end, his Crew chief Matt Balliet was named 2000 NASCAR True Value ‘Mechanic of the Year’ Award for Flemington Speedway.

 In 2001, they returned once more to the Mountain Speedway (formerly Evergreen) in St John’s, Penn and this year Wagner added a limited number of NASCAR Featherlite Modified Races to his normal schedule and changed his car number from the infamous #24 to #22. Wagner credits his long-time friend Bill Fitze’s engine building experience for a lot of his success.