Without missing a beat, Todd Szegedy offers his opinions on everything from the health of NASCAR to the future of the Whelen Modified Tour, from his fellow competitors to the variety of tracks where Modified racing succeeds.
He’s on point with virtually all of them, too, but there is apparently one topic that gets him to clam up.
“Do you remember a point in your career where you realized you’d become a veteran voice in Modified racing?” Szegedy is asked as he pokes at a plate of pasta salad between practice sessions at Monadnock Speedway recently.
He pauses, and looks up.
“What I don’t like is being called a veteran. I think that’s crazy,” Szegedy said. “I haven’t earned the right to be called a veteran yet. I’ve won a championship, sure, but I haven’t earned that right. If I’m still racing in my 40s, sure, you can call me a veteran, but I don’t consider myself that at all.”
The 34-year-old driver from Ridgefield, Conn., then takes a stab at defining “veteran” status in racing. He said it’s a combination of factors.
“I think it’s a little bit of both — you’ve got to accomplish things and you’ve got to have some longevity and be around for a while,” Szegedy said. “That classifies you as a veteran, because you’ve done some things and you’ve seen a lot.”
What’s interesting is that while Szegedy may loathe the notion of attaining veteran status on the Whelen Modified Tour before celebrating his 40th birthday, he is — by every criteria on his list, save for his age — a veteran. He’s both been in the series long enough (130 career starts) and accomplished enough (with 13 career wins, the 2003 Whelen Modified Tour championship and four straight top-five finishes in the final standings) to serve as one of the Tour’s respected personalities.
He’s the kind of driver who was once a shining young star on the fast track to NASCAR fame and is now one of the most trusted veteran voices in the series’ garage.
“There are some guys that have leaned on me and asked me questions, and I’m actually honored by that,” said Szegedy, who sits third in this year’s standings with five top-five finishes through the first seven races of the season. “I still consider myself a rookie sometimes, I really do. I consider myself really young in racing.
“I look at Teddy (Christopher) in his 50s — that guy can still whoop up on most of us. Mike Stefanik, same thing. Eddie Flemke. They can still wheel the hell out of a race car.”
So, too, can Szegedy, which he proved at a very young age.
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