Buffalo, NY: A weekend that started out hectic for Chuck Hossfeld hit fever pitch thanks to Mother Nature. The Buffalo, NY driver had been planning to participate in both the New Hampshire 100 presented by Lowe's for the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series at New Hampshire International Speedway on Friday, September 17, 2004 and the Sunoco Race of Champions at Oswego Speedway on Saturday.

Things started out well enough. On Thursday, Hossfeld qualified the Bob Garbarino-owned Mystic Missile #v4 in the ninth position with an average speed of 126.278 MPH during time trials. And his own team, the DeLange Racing Team, was prepped and ready for the prestigious Race of Champions.

Chuck also was able to squeeze in some quality time with his new sponsor, Atlantic Video Systems, at a "Meet and Greet" at the Makris Restaurant on Route 106 in Loudon on Friday. The morning was spent with owners Joe Clouatre and Don Goodings and 35 of their employees and customers.

"I was able to meet some really great people," said Hossfeld. "Many expressed a real interest in racing and they all were genuinely interested in my racing efforts. It was a great way to relax before the race."

But there would be no race on Friday afternoon for Hossfeld or his fellow Modified Series competitors. The remnants of hurricane Ivan stormed into New Hampshire just hours before the scheduled start of the Featherlite Modified Series race; forcing the postponement until Saturday afternoon.

"Running the Tour race on Saturday meant I would miss the Race of Champions," said Hossfeld. "I was personally very disappointed but I really felt bad for my team," continued Hossfeld. "They had worked very hard to get the car ready for this race."

On Saturday morning with heavy rain still falling there left insufficient time to run the Modified race that day. Once again, NASCAR officials were forced to postpone the Modified Series event, this time until Monday morning. Much to Hossfeld's delight, the announcement was made early enough in the day for a bonsai trip to Albany, NY and a shot at the 54th Annual Sunoco Race of Champions.

The #22 was ready to go when Hossfeld arrived at Oswego Speedway just in time for heat races. After the seven-hour trip from Loudon, NH, Hossfeld strapped into his own Modified and finished fourth in the fourth heat race. He would be placed in 22nd position on the starting grid for the 200-lap event.

Hossfeld started making headway very early in the event, by lap 20 he had moved into the 12th position. The crew had a great pit stop on lap 54 to set up the run into the top ten. Hossfeld ran comfortably in the top ten for the remainder of the race, moving into the top-five shortly after the halfway mark. A good race strategy had him in contention over the final stages of the race.

"It took my car about 5 or 10 laps to get going, so we struggled on restarts," said Hossfeld. "Unfortunately, we could not get a long enough green flag run to make a serious bid on the leaders."

Eventual winner Eric Beers came charging through the field with fresh tires bumping Hossfeld off the podium. After the pace of the weekend and no practice time, Hossfeld was happy with his fourth place finish.

"I cannot thank my team back home enough," said Hossfeld, with obvious pride. "They did this all without me this weekend. They prepared the racecar, they got it here, and they worked on it while I was in transit. They gave me a great car and a tremendous amount of support. I am very fortunate to have such a great group of people on my side."

Satisfied with his work at Oswego, Hossfeld headed back to New Hampshire to finally compete in NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series competition. Hossfeld took the green from 8th position (after the #41 withdrew) at around noontime on Monday under clear blue skies.

Hossfeld fell back to eleventh on the initial start. Any progress was thwarted several times as the caution flew often in the early going. During the first stage of the race, Hossfeld's position fluctuated between 10th and 15th position. He fell as far back as 16th in the running order when his lane failed to come up to speed on a lap 13 restart.

With a number of teams struggling to find help during a weekday, NASCAR opted to mandate a competition caution at lap 33 to allow adequate time for teams to head down pit road. Although, it was feasible to lose a lap in the pits (teams had to beat the pace car out) the running order was retained upon resumption of the event. With new rear tires, Hossfeld restarted the race from tenth.

The Mystic Missile was tight when the race resumed. Just shy of halfway, Hossfeld was locked in a battle inside the top ten with Tom Bolles and Eric Beers. On lap 40, he grabbed ninth from Bolles and set his sites on Beers. Hossfeld dove low on Beers a number of times but could not make the car stick on the bottom. Wisely, Hossfeld settled back in line in ninth.

Hossfeld ran in ninth through halfway. A slip in turn two on lap 57 had Hossfeld battling back through some traffic from the 12th position. At lap 67, Hossfeld was in the midst of a huge pack of traffic all battling for position that included Mike Stefanik, Bolles, Doug Coby, Zach Sylvester, Mike Christopher, and Eddie Flemke.

The climb toward the front started from that point. Hossfeld worked his way back into the top ten by lap 77. A car that had been tight most of the day was finally coming to Hossfeld.

"The car was real fast with twenty to go," said Hossfeld. "I could put the car anywhere."

Hossfeld came out on the fast side of a battle for ninth with Jerry Marquis and Tom Bolles on lap 79. He ran by himself in the 8th position and was gaining on Stefanik in seventh. He took the spot with 15 laps to go. Hossfeld then began to reel in Beers for sixth. It appeared that the laps might run out before he could get the Mystic Missile in position; however, on the while flag lap, Hossfeld motored by Beers to finish the event sixth.

The weekend covered several states and ended with two top-ten finishes for two quality teams and one tired but excited driver.

This weekend Hossfeld heads to Stafford Motor Speedway for the 32nd Annual CARQUEST Fall Final with the Garbarino Featherlite Modified Series Team. Hossfeld would like nothing more than to turn his luck around at the Connecticut oval. For a track that has been consistently good for Hossfeld in previous seasons, Stafford has been uncharacteristically difficult in 2004 with only one top-ten finish in the three starts at the facility. Hossfeld hopes to continue with his recent trend of top finishes. Since posting his first win of the season at Seekonk Speedway on July 31st, Hossfeld has collected five top-10 finishes in seven starts.

Bud Pole qualifying for the Fall Final will commence at 1:30PM on Saturday, September 25. Currently, 42 cars are entered for the event. The fastest 27 cars from time trials will earn starting positions with four provisional starting positions based on 2004 FMS car owner and driver point standings are available. A past champion's provisional is also available to make up the 32-car starting field.

A complete race weekend schedule is available by logging on to the Stafford Motor Speedway website at www.staffordmotorspeedway.com. Visit www.chuckhossfeld.com for a comprehensive look into the 2004 season and beyond of Chuck Hossfeld.