Hello, I’m Dan Hodgdon. For as long as I can remember, racing has played a significant role in my life. Members of my family have raced at Thunder Road and other New England tracks since the 1970s, and my dad, uncles and cousins have restored classic cars and served on pit crews since they were kids. I was born into this sport and always knew I wanted to make a living in it.
In my childhood, I played with diecast cars on our braided living room rug and pretended to be Ken Squier. I watched VHS tapes of close finishes over and over, and I begged my parents to stop every time I saw a race car in a parking lot.
I love cars and I love competition. And I Iove cars in competition. But none of this would be possible without the people who are the best part of this sport. That’s what Track Times is about. Even if you're not a diehard racer, I hope you can still enjoy the human side of these stories.
I’ve been fortunate enough to travel the country working full-time in this industry. I’ve worked in the performance aftermarket, represented manufacturers and served as a PR rep. For years, I’ve also been a freelancer writing technical articles, long-form features and race recaps. I’ve worked at the professional level and the grassroots level. I’ve met good people and found good stories everywhere.
My goal with Track Times is to share interesting stories from around the motorsports world. Some will have a news hook; many will not. I may cover races on occasion, but even in that context, I’m looking to tell compelling tales beyond the results. However, while this is a passion project, I take great pride in journalistic integrity, and each of these stories will be proofread, copyedited and treated like a newspaper or magazine feature.
Many of these stories will focus on pavement Late Models and Modifieds because that is simply what I'm around most often. But the name of this website (thanks Mom) is meant to be all-encompassing. You’ll see occasional stories on dirt racing, drag racing, sports cars, NASCAR and more.
This site is dedicated to my good friend, the late Craig Murto, who edited and published Late Model Racer for many years. I wrote dozens of features for his magazine and made lifelong friends. Now, I’m hoping to help carry on his legacy. Thank you for everything, Craig.
I hope you like what you see, and if you know of a good story or just want to talk about racing, drop me a line. After all, the people make this sport.
Sincerely,
Dan Hodgdon