Our Story
Hi! Ricky Peterson Jr here, driver of the number 98 Chiapelli Motorsports 410 sprint car out of Central PA. I was introduced to racing at the age of 5 when my parents got me my very own flat kart. By the age of 15, we finally made the leap into sprint cars racing a 305 motor. After learning and gaining several years of experience and knowledge, we shifted our focus into 410s in 2019. It was a big learning curve with more power and bigger competition.
After a few years, we finally made our World of Outlaw debut locking into a couple of their main events. To cap off our 2024 season, we were able to capture two feature wins at Wayne County Speedway. Looking into the 2025 season, we are hoping to establish consistency, win a FAST Series Championship, lock ourselves into Central PA and WoO features and continue to build on our partnership!
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I'd like to thank my beautiful wife and team for always showing endless love and support. Long days and nights on the road, time at the shop making sure things are ready for the race weekend and for being my biggest fan. I am also incredibly grateful to our amazing partners for the endless support, allowing me to compete at the level I am at today and being able to do what I love each weekend. We hope to continue making each season bigger and better and especially make you all proud!​​
The roots of Chiappelli Motorsports, owned by Tom and Fran Chiappelli, began in 1976 with Tom racing a semi-late at Jennerstown Speedway. Tom made the huge jump to 410 Sprints in 1981 racing his own #53 and thus began their long association with the open wheel division. Tom and Fran stepped away from racing in 1993 to focus on starting their snack food manufacturing business, Old School Snacks, Inc. In 1998, they acquired the assets of the Golden Flavor Brand. Tom and Fran resumed racing in 2003 as owners of the #98 Golden Flavor Sesame Sticks Sprint car with hired drivers. The number of the car was chosen because of the year they acquired Golden Flavor and also 9/8 is Fran's birthday.
The Cairnbrook, PA based team has won numerous features over the years with track championships at Sharon Speedway and Clinton County Speedway. Winning the prestigious All Star sanctioned Weikert Memorial in 2013 ranks as one of their proudest achievements.
Tom and Fran have a passion for 410 Sprint cars that has translated to opportunities for some drivers and continued careers for others. Ricky Peterson now has his opportunity to wheel the #98. With Ricky's- burning desire to race and with Luke Wolford coming along to turn the wrenches, 2025 should be a major step in all of our careers.
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