In car No. 7, in his seventh night out in his seventh year in the division, Ben Chukuske hit the jackpot. He won his first IMCA modified feature at Worthington Speedway in Minnesota.
Chukuske selected No. 7 because his father, Jamie Chukuske, ran it on his stock car. The elder Chukuske chose No. 7 because of when his son was born — on 7-7-87. The sevens don’t stop there. At his birth, he weighed 7 lb., 7 oz.
Before racing modifieds, Chukuske competed in sport mods.
“I won a handful of features — maybe seven — when I decided I needed a change of scenery,” Chukuske, of Welcome, Minnesota, said. “I knew the modified division was definitely tougher, and I was on a limited budget. I never thought it would take seven years to win a feature.”
Chukuske races on a budget. He works as a sales associate for a family-owned carpet-and-flooring company.
“It takes a lot of money to keep a modified going — just in fuel and tires alone,” said Chukuske. “We have a couple of good sponsors that were with us since the beginning. We’re so appreciative of that.”
Chukuske drove a used Skyrocket chassis until this season.
“We were able to buy the new Skyrocket by putting away a little money every week for a few years,” Chukuske said. “The crate engine is easy to maintain. We change the oil and valve springs periodically. Longevity makes it affordable.”
He; his father; wife, Shari; baby daughter, Joslyn; and friend Tyler Schleininger make up his team. Chukuske and crew compete weekly at Worthington Speedway. In the spring and fall, they’ll travel to specials.
With his first modified win under his belt, Ben Chukuske is ready for win number two. He hopes it comes quicker than it did with the first.
“I don’t know when the number 7 will come up again,” Chukuske said. “But, I’m sure it will. It’s always been my lucky number.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
