Area stock car racing: Stone gives EMS chassis a thumbs-up

When Nick Stone got a call from Rocky Warner about going to the Gater Racing News car show in March, Stone decided to go along for the ride. Although he never planned it, he ended up buying a new race car at the show, but it wasn’t an HRD chassis, which he had used since he started racing. It was an EMS chassis which was something totally new and totally different than what he was used to.

It didn’t take Stone long to become accustomed to the new car, as he won the pro-stock feature at Fonda Speedway in only his second time out in the car.

“I had no plans to go out to the show in Syracuse, but I really wanted to try one of the offset chassis and see how different they really were,” Stone said. “I was going to have Bernie Companion build me a new car, but he wasn’t going to be able to have it ready for me by the start of the season, and I

really wanted to start out the year at Fonda with a new car.”

As Stone walked around the Gater Racing News show, he saw the EMS car on display, and decided that was what he wanted.

“As soon as I saw the car and the workmanship that was involved in it, I knew that I wanted one,” Stone said. “I’m sure that Bernie’s car would have been a good one, too, but after I stopped and talked to the guys at the EMS booth at the Syracuse show, I decided to buy the car that they had on display there.”

Stone figures that he saved over $2,000 buying the car at the show because they were running a

special that included powder-coating, which is usually an extra $600.

“It was just a spur-of-the-

moment deal for me to buy the car,” Stone said. “I saw the EMS cars up at Super DIRT Week in Syracuse last fall, but I really had no interest in buying one until I looked at it, and saw how different they really were.”

“The EMS Chassis is an offset flex chassis, and has a lot more left-side weight, where the HRD Chassis is more of a perimeter chassis,” Stone said. “The EMS car has a little different configuration back where the fuel cell is mounted in the car. It was just time for me to go new school instead of staying with old school.”

Stone started his racing career in 1998 in the pro-stock division in a kit car that Kenny Martin Jr. and Chris Fain of HRD Chassis put together. Stone has used an HRD car ever since.

Stone was very successful in the HRD car at Fonda, and accumulated 19 feature wins in the pro-stock

division. He hopes that his 20th win, in the EMS car, is just the beginning.

Stone enjoys competing in the pro-stock division, and doesn’t see himself moving out of the class.

“I really hope that the car counts pick up in our class,” Stone said. “It hurts the newer guys in our class, like my brother Tony and Sheldon Martin, who need the seat time, when we don’t have enough cars to run heat races because I feel that you learn more in a heat race, running side-by-side with your competitors, than you do in warmups for a couple of laps.”

Stone is also running in the pro-street stock class at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, and hopes to continue to do so in his EMS/Noel’s Machine Shop-powered No. 27.

“We decided to try something different this year, and run at

Albany-Saratoga to try and get a win at a track other than Fonda,” he said. “We will continue to run at Malta, as long as we are not jeopardizing our points at Fonda.”

Stone plans on going to Syracuse in the fall for Super DIRT Week, but has no plans on running in any of the DIRT series shows.

“I can’t run the DIRT shows with the motor that I have in the car now, but I have another Noel’s engine that I will save for use at Syracuse only.”