Arguably Max Zachem was the driver to beat at the Turkey Derby in modifieds. While a lapped car ended a winning run on Friday, he came back with a tour-type modified victory on Saturday at Wall Stadium Speedway.
Starting on Friday, Max seemed destined for victory lane, leading the 100-lap modified feature from lap 18 until two laps to go.
“We were in a conga line — myself, Steven Reed and Matt Hirschman,” Max, of Preston, Connecticut, says. “As I passed a lapped car driven by Dakota Kessler, it moved up and I hooked the back bumper. Steven got into my back bumper and around I went. With two laps to go, you don’t lift.
“Of course I was disappointed,” Max continues. “Losing to a lapped car is no comparison to losing to a fast car that moved you out of the way.”
On Saturday, Max put Friday behind him and focused on the 150-lap tour-type modified feature that paid $15,000 to the victor. He’s been close to victory before, finishing second the year before to Timmy Solomito.
“Everything was running through my mind on Saturday,” Max says. “Would I have enough gas? Could I miss a shift? Would another lapped car take me out? There are so many variables a driver has to think about. I told myself the race is in my control and I had to run as hard as I could for the last 10 to 15 laps to get to the checkered flag.”
This time Max beat Timmy, but by just .080 seconds. The victory brought Max back to when he competed at Little Wall Stadium in .25 midgets.
“I grew up there with my dad, Ken, making the trip once a month,” Max says. “There was a whole range of emotions, especially when my dad gave me a big bear hug in victory lane. It felt so good.”
This was just Max’s third win in a modified. His others came in 2017 in a tour-type modified at Riverhead Raceway and this past summer in an SK modified at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Max Zachem, who has a wife, Megan, and two children, Sophie and Parker, leads a busy life.
“I raced 20 times this season — balancing life, racing and family time is challenging,” Max says. “As for next season, there are so many opportunities that it comes down to sponsorship dollars. Marketing is not easy.”
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.
