Glen Reen made it back to the track this past week at New Hampshire with a little…well, make that a lot….of help from some friends.

The 2008 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Rookie of the Year had been sitting idle for much of this season due to a short budget.  For the Tour's marquee race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway though, Reen enjoyed the support of family, friends, fans and his hometown of Wilbraham, Massachusetts to make it to the racetrack.

“Friends, family and local businesses are who got me to the track,” said Reen.  “Their support was huge - even if it was just for one tire.  At New Hampshire, it's all about tires

and your tire bill is big.  This time, we got to

compete and had three sets for the weekend.  That helped us get back on top.  We were in the top 10 for every practice session and we showed that we can still run up front on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.”

The most impressive thing about the support that Reen enjoyed was that it came from people outside of the sport.

“None one of them were involved in racing,” Reen said of his backers. 

Unfortunately, Reen's race did not have the storybook ending that it should have, after he was involved in a multi-car wreck not of his own doing on lap three.  That left him with a 34th-place visit.

“I watched that all unfold right in front of me,” said Reen.  “Rob Fuller's car got very loose right in front of me and he spun.  That caused a few other good cars to get caught up.  We hit pretty hard.”

Hard enough to bent up Reen's car and bounce him around, but not break his spirit.

“The car is hurt pretty bad.  It's stripped down and hopefully, it won't need a new clip.  I'm sore.  I definitely felt that, but I'll heal up.”

The wreck changed Reen's plans of trying to make the next race on the WMT schedule, at the Lime Rock Park (CT) road course, but he is eyeing the July 19th show at Monadnock Speedway (NH) as his next race.”

“We won't make it to Lime Rock now,” said Reen.  “If we did real well at New Hampshire, we would have been going.  We'll be at Monadnock though.  Right now, we're using what we win from one race to make it to the next one, so we aren't sure what our schedule for the rest of the season is going to look like.”

Reen Races at New Hampshire With a Little Help From Some Friends

Early Wreck Drops Him to a 34th-Place Finish

Glen Reen goes for a wild ride at New Hampshire.  (Rick Ibsen Photo)