WARNING: Some of the language in this video may be inappropriate for children!
LOUDON, N.H. -- Vermont Motorsports Magazine took in the 20th Annual Vintage Racing Celebration at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Wednesday. Although it was a bit cold and rainy, there was still plenty going on.
An afternoon press conference brought together NHMS Founder Bob Bahre, NHMS Vice President and General Manager Jerry Gappens, NASCAR Champion Bobby Allison, and New England favorites Ricky Craven and Brad Leighton to remember their favorite moments from NHMS and Bahre's first track, Oxford Plains Speedway.
Stay tuned to VMM for more updates!
Showing posts with label NHMS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NHMS. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
ACT Invitational Increases Starting Field, Distance, Purse at NHMS
LOUDON, N.H. -- The American-Canadian Tour went big in 2009 with its inaugural ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In 2010, it'll go even bigger.
ACT announced on Friday that the second annual ACT Invitational will see an increase in its starting field, race distance, and purse on September 18.
The field will be increased from 36 starters in 2009 to 43 this year. Ten laps will be added, bringing the distance to 60 laps around the 1.058-mile speedway, and the prize purse has been increased throughout the field, from just over $65,000 to more than $73,000. The 2010 ACT Invitational winner will receive a minimum of $4,000; inaugural winner Eddie MacDonald won $3,500.
The race distance was increased to offer race teams the choice to make a pit stop. A mandatory caution period will take place between laps 28 and 38, and teams will be allowed -- but not required -- to change tires and make adjustments.
"This format really sounds like a lot of fun," said Milton driver Brent Dragon in an ACT press release. "I think it will certainly add some strategy to the race and make for some tough decisions about whether to pit or not."
ACT also anounced that over 60 teams will be invited to test and "audition" for a starting spot in the Invitational in August; 2009 "At Large" invitees Nick Sweet and Brandon Watson both finished on the podium.
Like 2009, all 14 ACT Late Model Tour events and all 11 Serie ACT-Castrol Edge events will be Invitational qualifying races that award the winner an automatic starting berth in the race. Also like 2009, four special events will award starting berths: the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic (May 30) and CARQUEST Vermont Governor's Cup 100 (June 24) at Barre's Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, the TD Bank 250 at Maine's Oxford Plains Speedway on July 18, and the third annual Coors Light 200 Showdown at Autodrome Chaudiere in Quebec on August 28.
In addition, the 2010 track champions and/or point leaders at Thunder Road, Oxford Plains, Lee USA (N.H.) Speedway, Twin State (N.H.) Speedway, White Mountain (N.H.) Motorsports Park, Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway, Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl, Capital City (Ont.) Speedway, and Kawartha (Ont.) Speedway. Each point leader or champion will receive a $400 bonus for competing at NHMS, and a $400 bonus will be paid for each qualifying race win.
"The great success we had with the inaugural ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last year has given us the confidence to invite several more teams to make up the starting field for this year's race," said ACT president Tom Curley. "We will soon be announcing another great promotion for all the fans that attend weekly affiliate ACT tracks and all touring events during the upcoming season."
ACT announced on Friday that the second annual ACT Invitational will see an increase in its starting field, race distance, and purse on September 18.
The field will be increased from 36 starters in 2009 to 43 this year. Ten laps will be added, bringing the distance to 60 laps around the 1.058-mile speedway, and the prize purse has been increased throughout the field, from just over $65,000 to more than $73,000. The 2010 ACT Invitational winner will receive a minimum of $4,000; inaugural winner Eddie MacDonald won $3,500.
The race distance was increased to offer race teams the choice to make a pit stop. A mandatory caution period will take place between laps 28 and 38, and teams will be allowed -- but not required -- to change tires and make adjustments.
"This format really sounds like a lot of fun," said Milton driver Brent Dragon in an ACT press release. "I think it will certainly add some strategy to the race and make for some tough decisions about whether to pit or not."
ACT also anounced that over 60 teams will be invited to test and "audition" for a starting spot in the Invitational in August; 2009 "At Large" invitees Nick Sweet and Brandon Watson both finished on the podium.
Like 2009, all 14 ACT Late Model Tour events and all 11 Serie ACT-Castrol Edge events will be Invitational qualifying races that award the winner an automatic starting berth in the race. Also like 2009, four special events will award starting berths: the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic (May 30) and CARQUEST Vermont Governor's Cup 100 (June 24) at Barre's Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, the TD Bank 250 at Maine's Oxford Plains Speedway on July 18, and the third annual Coors Light 200 Showdown at Autodrome Chaudiere in Quebec on August 28.
In addition, the 2010 track champions and/or point leaders at Thunder Road, Oxford Plains, Lee USA (N.H.) Speedway, Twin State (N.H.) Speedway, White Mountain (N.H.) Motorsports Park, Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway, Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl, Capital City (Ont.) Speedway, and Kawartha (Ont.) Speedway. Each point leader or champion will receive a $400 bonus for competing at NHMS, and a $400 bonus will be paid for each qualifying race win.
"The great success we had with the inaugural ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last year has given us the confidence to invite several more teams to make up the starting field for this year's race," said ACT president Tom Curley. "We will soon be announcing another great promotion for all the fans that attend weekly affiliate ACT tracks and all touring events during the upcoming season."
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
The Juice: Ahhh, Racing Season!
-by Justin St. Louis
VMM Editor
One down, 70-ish to go. VMM took in its first race of the year at Waterford Speedbowl last weekend, and witnessed a decent show by the Modified Racing Series troops, the NEMA Midgets, and Waterford's Late Models, Mini Stocks, and Street Stocks.
The MRS race had 11 cautions, but we're willing to forgive that and chalk it up to first-race growing pains. That and the fact that one of those cautions was for a spectacular seven-car crash at the flagstand that sent Jimmy Dolan flying through the air. If you're gonna wreck, boys, make it big and do it in front of the grandstands so the paying fans can see. Job well done. (We wouldn't be applauding the crash, of course, if anyone got hurt. Thankfully there were no injuries reported.)
Doug Coby was clearly very strong and deserved to win the race, but it would have been interesting to see if Rowan Pennink could have beaten him. Pennink changed an engine Sunday morning and was forced to come from 25th starting spot to rap on Coby's back bumper with ten laps remaining. Under caution on lap 90, though, Pennink's car shut down. Initial reports were that the car's fuel cell ran dry, but that was later discounted by Pennink's team members, who instead cited an unknown mechanical failure.
The Mini Stocks at Waterford are among the best four-cylinder divisions I've ever seen anywhere, bar none, and the Street Stocks going three- and four-wide around a track that isn't really built for that kind of racing was a lot of fun to watch. The Late Models were a bit strung out at times, but there were a few good battles and some key wrecks that changed the complexion of the race. The NEMA race wasn't much to write home about, but it took only five minutes from green to checkers, and it was cool to have a first-time winner in Chris Leonard.
All in all, it was a great way to begin the 2010 season, and we're looking forward to the American-Canadian Tour opener at Lee USA Speedway on April 18.
***
What was not great was the 60-lap, hour-long-plus SK Modified feature, one that featured no less than four different spins by Frank Mucciacciaro, and a ton of restarts that -- to this unbiased non-regular to the track -- looked a bit fishy.
Leader Keith Rocco jumped the start half the time, played jackrabbit half the time, and brake-checked the field before rocketing to the green the other half of the time. (There were so many restarts that there were actually three halves of the race. I counted.) I won't suggest that Rocco gets special treatment at Waterford, but it seemed fairly obvious that he was going to get away with whatever he wanted to when it was time to take the green flag.
Maybe that's the way Waterford does things, I don't know. It would be easier to point fingers if another driver had been the polesitter for any of the restarts, but Rocco led every lap and was therefore the point man the entire race. We just hope it was a one-race thing and that it's not a regular occurence.
For safety's sake, Mucciacciaro needs to either get a spotter, a mirror, or a big rubber ball to live inside. Maybe all three. I saw him chop down on other cars, I saw him drive directly into other cars, I saw him spin completely on his own, and I saw him end up in a pileup across the finish line when he was running in last place. And again, the officials need to say something. Let him ride around and make some laps and get seat time, but when he starts to ruin the race, put him on the trailer. Come back next week and try it again.
At the races I've always enjoyed seeing, there would have been one warning for Rocco's mind games, and no more than three strikes for Mucciacciaro's disregard for the race. Hopefully Waterford Speedbowl will catch on before I go back there in October.
***
At 6-2-2, the Habs have the best record in the East over the last ten games. We should just let those silly Bruins scoot by us for seventh place so they can get schlacked in four games by the Penguins in the playoffs, ya know, since the B's obviously won't put up a fight against them when it matters anyway.
And then there's Atlanta and the Rangers lurking back there just outside the cutoff. In reality, I said at the beginning of the season that I'd be surprised if my boys from Montréal made the post-season, so I'm pretty tickled that we're in a position to be there.
Hmm? What? This is a racing blog? Wow, my bad. Anywho...
***
The new three-track alliance between Bear Ridge, Canaan, and the new Big Daddy's Speedbowl can only be a good thing for dirt racers and fans in the area. With the headline Sportsman Modifieds running under a common rulebook, the popular Twin State Series has been recreated, and underwriting has been found in Gravco Janitorial Services.
With the momentum Bear Ridge Speedway gained last year in the Modifieds -- going from an average of 6 cars in 2008 to 25 by the end of 2009 -- and the promotional creativity of Canaan's Dick Therrien and the enthusiasm of Mike "Big Daddy" Rivers, we're expecting big things this season.
***
It was sure nice to be at a race track in March. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever witnessed a race in person during that particular month. I'm also not sure I'll ever want to again, at least not in New England. #freakingcold
Yes, that was a Twitter reference. #getonthebandwagon
***
The call by Mike Ford to bring Denny Hamlin out of the lead and into the pits was probably the gutsiest move a crew chief has made in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in a long time, and Hamlin's drive from ninth to the win in four laps was the paydirt. Don't ever again tell me short tracks don't belong in NASCAR. If you weren't excited about Martinsville you need your pulse checked.
***
We had heard some rumblings last year of Mike Bruno possibly coming back to ACT a little bit in 2010, and Saturday's open practice at Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, N.Y., confirmed that for us. The Bomoseen racer was behind the wheel of Jacob McGrath's #72 car, joining Jamie Fisher in his familiar S.D. Ireland #18. (Click here for a photo of the two in action on the Champlain Valley Racing Association website.)
Bruno told us that he, McGrath, and Barney McRae have put a team together to run a handful of events, beginning with ACT's first-ever trip to Malta in April, and the special 100-lap Late Model event at Devil's Bowl in West Haven on May 23. He also said he may run the car once or twice on Thursday nights at Thunder Road.
Bruno plans to race his dirt-style Modified full-time at both Albany-Saratoga and Devil's Bowl, and will bring the car to Airborne Speedway for the big events.
"I want to get back to racing ACT within the next two or three years," Bruno said. "I had been trying to get a ride for this season, but when the CVRA paved both Malta and the Bowl, I figured I'd race my Modified here in my own back yard at my two home tracks. The deal with Jacob is going to be good -- he's going to work for me this summer on the Modified, and I'm going to help him with the Late Model. He'll drive it a few times and I'll drive it a few times."
Bruno said the the thing he looks forward to most about the partnership with McGrath is having a crew chief in McRae.
"Barney's a funny guy and people joke about him sometimes, but the truth is he really knows everything about these cars," Bruno said. "Having him at Malta was great. It was really nice for me to be able to get in the seat and just be a driver, rather than have to think about what the chassis needs, or this or that. I'm happy we've got him to help us out."
***
THIS WEEKEND: Seventeen year-old Steven Legendre of Danville takes on Maine powerhouses Ben Rowe and Johnny Clark, NASCAR's David Ragan, and the stars of the PASS South Super Late Models for the Easter Bunny 150 at the legendary Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway on Saturday. The race is Round #2 of five in the PASS National Championship.
Legendre finished third in his last outing at Dillon (S.C.) Motor Speedway on March 13, and was 6th in the PASS National opener at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway in January. He sits fourth in National points. Brad Leighton of Center Harbor, N.H., won at New Smyrna and leads the National standings, followed by Clark, New Brunswick's Lonnie Sommerville, Legendre, and Preston Peltier of North Carolina. Strong, Me.'s Dale Brackett sits seventh with Rowe in eighth.
VMM's favorite sandwich man, "Subway Dave" Parker will be at Hickory, and we'll have periodic updates as they are available on our Twitter page. Yup, I said it again. Twitter. #justdoit
Closer to home, New Hampshire Motor Speedway is holding an open house on Saturday and offering fans a chance to drive their own cars around the 1.058-mile speedway in the FANtasy DRIVE. Many racing oragnizations will be taking part in displays and fan-friendly promotions including the American-Canadian Tour with drivers John Donahue and Brent Dragon (that oughta be fun... Milk Bowl memories anyone?), Thunder Road's Nick Sweet, and Lee USA Speedway's Wayne Helliwell, Jr. Legendary media men Ken Squier and Dr. Dick Berggren will also be on hand for a fan Q&A session. Visit www.nhms.com for more details.
(PHOTOS: 1. Waterford's Street Stocks were fantastic; 2. Keith Rocco (#57) got this much of a jump more than a couple times; 3. Mike Bruno's gonna be busy this year. All photos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)
VMM Editor
One down, 70-ish to go. VMM took in its first race of the year at Waterford Speedbowl last weekend, and witnessed a decent show by the Modified Racing Series troops, the NEMA Midgets, and Waterford's Late Models, Mini Stocks, and Street Stocks.
The MRS race had 11 cautions, but we're willing to forgive that and chalk it up to first-race growing pains. That and the fact that one of those cautions was for a spectacular seven-car crash at the flagstand that sent Jimmy Dolan flying through the air. If you're gonna wreck, boys, make it big and do it in front of the grandstands so the paying fans can see. Job well done. (We wouldn't be applauding the crash, of course, if anyone got hurt. Thankfully there were no injuries reported.)Doug Coby was clearly very strong and deserved to win the race, but it would have been interesting to see if Rowan Pennink could have beaten him. Pennink changed an engine Sunday morning and was forced to come from 25th starting spot to rap on Coby's back bumper with ten laps remaining. Under caution on lap 90, though, Pennink's car shut down. Initial reports were that the car's fuel cell ran dry, but that was later discounted by Pennink's team members, who instead cited an unknown mechanical failure.
The Mini Stocks at Waterford are among the best four-cylinder divisions I've ever seen anywhere, bar none, and the Street Stocks going three- and four-wide around a track that isn't really built for that kind of racing was a lot of fun to watch. The Late Models were a bit strung out at times, but there were a few good battles and some key wrecks that changed the complexion of the race. The NEMA race wasn't much to write home about, but it took only five minutes from green to checkers, and it was cool to have a first-time winner in Chris Leonard.
All in all, it was a great way to begin the 2010 season, and we're looking forward to the American-Canadian Tour opener at Lee USA Speedway on April 18.
***
What was not great was the 60-lap, hour-long-plus SK Modified feature, one that featured no less than four different spins by Frank Mucciacciaro, and a ton of restarts that -- to this unbiased non-regular to the track -- looked a bit fishy.
Leader Keith Rocco jumped the start half the time, played jackrabbit half the time, and brake-checked the field before rocketing to the green the other half of the time. (There were so many restarts that there were actually three halves of the race. I counted.) I won't suggest that Rocco gets special treatment at Waterford, but it seemed fairly obvious that he was going to get away with whatever he wanted to when it was time to take the green flag.Maybe that's the way Waterford does things, I don't know. It would be easier to point fingers if another driver had been the polesitter for any of the restarts, but Rocco led every lap and was therefore the point man the entire race. We just hope it was a one-race thing and that it's not a regular occurence.
For safety's sake, Mucciacciaro needs to either get a spotter, a mirror, or a big rubber ball to live inside. Maybe all three. I saw him chop down on other cars, I saw him drive directly into other cars, I saw him spin completely on his own, and I saw him end up in a pileup across the finish line when he was running in last place. And again, the officials need to say something. Let him ride around and make some laps and get seat time, but when he starts to ruin the race, put him on the trailer. Come back next week and try it again.
At the races I've always enjoyed seeing, there would have been one warning for Rocco's mind games, and no more than three strikes for Mucciacciaro's disregard for the race. Hopefully Waterford Speedbowl will catch on before I go back there in October.
***
At 6-2-2, the Habs have the best record in the East over the last ten games. We should just let those silly Bruins scoot by us for seventh place so they can get schlacked in four games by the Penguins in the playoffs, ya know, since the B's obviously won't put up a fight against them when it matters anyway.
And then there's Atlanta and the Rangers lurking back there just outside the cutoff. In reality, I said at the beginning of the season that I'd be surprised if my boys from Montréal made the post-season, so I'm pretty tickled that we're in a position to be there.
Hmm? What? This is a racing blog? Wow, my bad. Anywho...
***
The new three-track alliance between Bear Ridge, Canaan, and the new Big Daddy's Speedbowl can only be a good thing for dirt racers and fans in the area. With the headline Sportsman Modifieds running under a common rulebook, the popular Twin State Series has been recreated, and underwriting has been found in Gravco Janitorial Services.
With the momentum Bear Ridge Speedway gained last year in the Modifieds -- going from an average of 6 cars in 2008 to 25 by the end of 2009 -- and the promotional creativity of Canaan's Dick Therrien and the enthusiasm of Mike "Big Daddy" Rivers, we're expecting big things this season.
***
It was sure nice to be at a race track in March. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever witnessed a race in person during that particular month. I'm also not sure I'll ever want to again, at least not in New England. #freakingcold
Yes, that was a Twitter reference. #getonthebandwagon
***
The call by Mike Ford to bring Denny Hamlin out of the lead and into the pits was probably the gutsiest move a crew chief has made in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in a long time, and Hamlin's drive from ninth to the win in four laps was the paydirt. Don't ever again tell me short tracks don't belong in NASCAR. If you weren't excited about Martinsville you need your pulse checked.
***
We had heard some rumblings last year of Mike Bruno possibly coming back to ACT a little bit in 2010, and Saturday's open practice at Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, N.Y., confirmed that for us. The Bomoseen racer was behind the wheel of Jacob McGrath's #72 car, joining Jamie Fisher in his familiar S.D. Ireland #18. (Click here for a photo of the two in action on the Champlain Valley Racing Association website.)
Bruno told us that he, McGrath, and Barney McRae have put a team together to run a handful of events, beginning with ACT's first-ever trip to Malta in April, and the special 100-lap Late Model event at Devil's Bowl in West Haven on May 23. He also said he may run the car once or twice on Thursday nights at Thunder Road.
Bruno plans to race his dirt-style Modified full-time at both Albany-Saratoga and Devil's Bowl, and will bring the car to Airborne Speedway for the big events."I want to get back to racing ACT within the next two or three years," Bruno said. "I had been trying to get a ride for this season, but when the CVRA paved both Malta and the Bowl, I figured I'd race my Modified here in my own back yard at my two home tracks. The deal with Jacob is going to be good -- he's going to work for me this summer on the Modified, and I'm going to help him with the Late Model. He'll drive it a few times and I'll drive it a few times."
Bruno said the the thing he looks forward to most about the partnership with McGrath is having a crew chief in McRae.
"Barney's a funny guy and people joke about him sometimes, but the truth is he really knows everything about these cars," Bruno said. "Having him at Malta was great. It was really nice for me to be able to get in the seat and just be a driver, rather than have to think about what the chassis needs, or this or that. I'm happy we've got him to help us out."
***
THIS WEEKEND: Seventeen year-old Steven Legendre of Danville takes on Maine powerhouses Ben Rowe and Johnny Clark, NASCAR's David Ragan, and the stars of the PASS South Super Late Models for the Easter Bunny 150 at the legendary Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway on Saturday. The race is Round #2 of five in the PASS National Championship.
Legendre finished third in his last outing at Dillon (S.C.) Motor Speedway on March 13, and was 6th in the PASS National opener at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway in January. He sits fourth in National points. Brad Leighton of Center Harbor, N.H., won at New Smyrna and leads the National standings, followed by Clark, New Brunswick's Lonnie Sommerville, Legendre, and Preston Peltier of North Carolina. Strong, Me.'s Dale Brackett sits seventh with Rowe in eighth.
VMM's favorite sandwich man, "Subway Dave" Parker will be at Hickory, and we'll have periodic updates as they are available on our Twitter page. Yup, I said it again. Twitter. #justdoit
Closer to home, New Hampshire Motor Speedway is holding an open house on Saturday and offering fans a chance to drive their own cars around the 1.058-mile speedway in the FANtasy DRIVE. Many racing oragnizations will be taking part in displays and fan-friendly promotions including the American-Canadian Tour with drivers John Donahue and Brent Dragon (that oughta be fun... Milk Bowl memories anyone?), Thunder Road's Nick Sweet, and Lee USA Speedway's Wayne Helliwell, Jr. Legendary media men Ken Squier and Dr. Dick Berggren will also be on hand for a fan Q&A session. Visit www.nhms.com for more details.
(PHOTOS: 1. Waterford's Street Stocks were fantastic; 2. Keith Rocco (#57) got this much of a jump more than a couple times; 3. Mike Bruno's gonna be busy this year. All photos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)
Monday, March 15, 2010
BREAKING NEWS: Stremme in Latitude 43 Car at Bristol
Driver change comes at Said's urging
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Vermont-based Latitude 43 Motorsports will see its first-ever driver change as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series hits Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend. David Stremme, a veteran of 108 NSCS starts, will take over for Boris Said at the controls of the #26 Ford for Latitude 43 at the Food City 500.
The Food City 500 is the fifth race of the season, and Jenkins sits 37th in owner points, just 24 points out of 35th place; after Bristol, all cars outside the top-35 will have to qualify on speed during time trials without the benefit of a provisional.
South Bend, Ind., native Stremme, an accomplished short track racer, has been tabbed to drive the car at the treacherous Bristol half-mile. The change, says Jenkins, was Said's idea.
"Boris came to me last week and said he thought we needed a different driver for Bristol," Jenkins told Vermont Motorsports Magazine. "Boris is as big a part of this team as anyone, and I can't thank him enough for his willingness to help the whole program. We need to put all of our chips on the table at Bristol, and we need to come out of there strong and inside the top-35. Boris thought putting Stremme in the car was the right move, and I stand behind his decision."
Stremme, who has been idle in NASCAR's three national series since being released from Penske Racing's #12 NSCS Dodge last November, has an average finish of 22.8 in six NSCS starts at Bristol, and his most recent top-five finish in the NASCAR Nationwide Series came at the track in 2008.
Said has a best finish of 25th in the season-opening Daytona 500. In 39 career Sprint Cup starts, Said has only raced once at a track shorter than 1.5 miles in length, at Loudon, N.H., in 2007.
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Vermont-based Latitude 43 Motorsports will see its first-ever driver change as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series hits Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend. David Stremme, a veteran of 108 NSCS starts, will take over for Boris Said at the controls of the #26 Ford for Latitude 43 at the Food City 500.The Food City 500 is the fifth race of the season, and Jenkins sits 37th in owner points, just 24 points out of 35th place; after Bristol, all cars outside the top-35 will have to qualify on speed during time trials without the benefit of a provisional.
South Bend, Ind., native Stremme, an accomplished short track racer, has been tabbed to drive the car at the treacherous Bristol half-mile. The change, says Jenkins, was Said's idea.
"Boris came to me last week and said he thought we needed a different driver for Bristol," Jenkins told Vermont Motorsports Magazine. "Boris is as big a part of this team as anyone, and I can't thank him enough for his willingness to help the whole program. We need to put all of our chips on the table at Bristol, and we need to come out of there strong and inside the top-35. Boris thought putting Stremme in the car was the right move, and I stand behind his decision."
Stremme, who has been idle in NASCAR's three national series since being released from Penske Racing's #12 NSCS Dodge last November, has an average finish of 22.8 in six NSCS starts at Bristol, and his most recent top-five finish in the NASCAR Nationwide Series came at the track in 2008.
Said has a best finish of 25th in the season-opening Daytona 500. In 39 career Sprint Cup starts, Said has only raced once at a track shorter than 1.5 miles in length, at Loudon, N.H., in 2007.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
VIDEO: Scott Payea 2010 Season Preview
A look inside the garage with American-Canadian Tour driver Scott Payea and crew chief Chris Companion, as Payea talks about his team's goals for the 2010 season. Video produced by Justin St. Louis/Vermont Motorsports Magazine, © 2010.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
The Juice: The All-Star Showdown Ain't About All-Stars Anymore
-by Justin St. Louis
The season-long hype surrounding the inaugural ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was a pretty cool thing for the fans and teams of the American-Canadian Tour. The pressure bearing down on 300 or so Late Model drivers to win a race and get invited to compete at the "Magic Mile" nearly broke some of the toughest men in the sport, while for others, the feeling of overcoming that pressure, getting that big win, and stamping their tickets to The Big Dance was pure utopia.
It reminds us of something: The NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, in the glitz and glam of suburban Los Angeles, live on SPEED TV. A national stage for the local heroes. The Super Bowl of NASCAR short track racing. The highlight of the whole year.
It was a simple and wonderful concept in 2003: race your heart out all year long, and if you finish in the top-15 in points in what are now the K&N Pro Series East and West divisions, you'll get rewarded with an invitation to race on national television at what may be the nicest short track facility in the country. No points on the line, just money, bragging rights, a really nice trophy, and a chance to maybe turn yourself into the next hot prospect in the NASCAR garage.
Californian Austin Cameron stole the hearts of America as he came back from cancer to win the inaugural 125-lap event. In 2004, Massachusetts underdog Mike Johnson set the world on its ear with his victory. David Gilliland won in 2005, and just another year later found himself winning a Nationwide Series race at Kentucky and a Sprint Cup Series pole at Talladega. Matt Kobyluck brought the trophy back to New England in 2006. Everyone gathered around their TVs to watch -- even us East Coasters who had to stay up way past our bedtimes. The were times when the racing got a little chippy and cars got torn up, but the idea was that we were watching the 30 best short trackers in the country.
Then NASCAR went ahead and ruined it.
Beginning in 2007, ten starting spots and 100 more laps have been added to the race (only 225 laps for this year's edition, however), and qualifying is open to anyone approved by NASCAR to run on a half-mile or longer track. The top-15 from both the East and West divisions are still invited, but only the champions and race winners are automatically qualified for the race. In addition, the champions from the northern and southern Whelen Modified Tours, the Canadian Tire Series, the Corona Mexico Series, and the Whelen All-American Series (read: drivers that have nothing to do with the East and West divisions) are guaranteed starters, provided they can find a ride. And since the only East/West drivers guaranteed to start are the champions and winners, the potential exists for a championship runner-up to travel to California only to not qualify for the All-Star (!!!) race.
"That race had tremendous potential when it was first announced," said reigning American-Canadian Tour champion Brian Hoar, a three-time Toyota All-Star Showdown participant. Hoar, of Williston, ran full-time in the Busch North/Busch East/Camping World East/K&N Pro Series East/What'll It Be Next Year Series from 2001-2006, and was a top-10 finisher in all three of his starts at Irwindale.
"When it first started, that race was huge for our group of drivers that, at the time, was still centered here in the northeast, and it was just as big for the group of guys regionalized out west. The East versus West thing was a neat format, and we beat those guys on their own turf two out of the three years I went out there. It's totally different now, and not only do I not have the answers for [why NASCAR changed it], I don't care. It still has the potential to be great again if they fix it."
Hoar points to NASCAR's recent penchant to seemigly try and reinvent the wheel as the blame for the change in the Showdown. "NASCAR changed the event when they changed the series [from Busch North to Busch East in 2006]," he said. "By 2006 things had really started to change, and by 2007 everything had changed. Now anyone can get in the race and win. Look at Joey Logano last year."
Logano, the 2007 Busch East Series champion (and eventual 2009 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year), won the Showdown following his championship season. In last year's event, he brought his Joe Gibbs Racing Nationwide Series team to Irwindale and was dominant -- in his one and only race in the East/West divisions the entire year, mind you -- before ultimately being disqualified from the win following a last-lap wreck with Peyton Sellers, who at the time was a high-talent, low-budget full-timer with the East Series. Multi-time Camping World Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday was also in the race and wrecked several cars. Matt Crafton, another Truck Series racer, finished fifth, one spot better than Hornaday.
Logano has a ride (and backing from his Sprint Cup sponsor The Home Depot and Nationwide crew chief Kevin Kidd) in the Fadden Racing entry fielded by ACT driver and former Busch North/Busch East champion Mike Olsen of North Haverhill, N.H. Olsen will also enter a car for -- get this -- 18 year-old Willy Boucenna, a road course racer from France who has zero history with NASCAR.
"It's all buy-a-ride now," says Hoar. "You can't blame Mike for taking the money that [Logano and Boucenna] bring with them, he races for a living and has to do what he can to survive. But it's sad that the regulars of the series can go out there and get their butts handed to them [by outsiders]. Say they have a bad qualifying lap, that's it. They can support the series all year long and look forward to [Irwindale], and then not make it in. It's too bad. I'm excited to see this year's race, I always am, but I'm not excited to see guys like [Logano] in the race."
Hoar also said that in the formative years of the Showdown, the East and West series regulars really were the stars, and that having drivers like Logano and Hornaday in the race now takes away from the original purpose of the event. "We had all kinds of support and exposure from NASCAR for the whole week we were out there. The TV crews were there, and their job was to make us stars, and they did it. Last year it was all Joey Logano, and he wasn't even part of [the series]."
The similarities between the first Irwindale event and September's ACT Invitational at NHMS were many, says Hoar, and going through the same type of experience brought back a lot of memories. It also reminded Hoar of the changes the old Busch North Series went through once the Loudon, N.H., mile became a part of the series. "Absolutely, to a great degree," he said. "We had exposure all year, and it was all anyone talked about, just like Irwindale [in 2003]. Will the second one be the same feel? I don't know. But I hope the race doesn't get out of control. As long as ACT stays on top of it, I think it will be good.
"Running races at Loudon singlehandedly changed the Busch North Series [in the early 1990s], and everyone thought they had to go out and get superspeedway bodies and superspeedway cars and spend lots of money. Then the series became what it is now. And it's already started in ACT -- Patrick Laperle had a car built specifically for Loudon before he was even invited. Ricky Rolfe tested well there in August, and put his car up on jackstands and pulled out a back-up car for the rest of the races until the Invitational. Guys are figuring out that aerodynamics have never been as important on a Late Model as they are at Loudon. It's up to ACT to clamp down on it."
Brian Hoar is right. The Toyota All-Star Showdown was an outstanding event at one time, and it still could be if it went back to the basics. Now it's just another race. For that matter, the K&N Pro Series East was an outstanding series at one time, too.
Let's hope the ACT Invitational doesn't go down the same path. We don't think it will.
***
Speaking of the Showdown, there's a touch of local flavor headed for L.A. this weekend -- Colchester's Sam Caron, a part-time ACT competitor, will head to the event as crew chief for driver Steve Park and owner Bob Torriere's NDS Motorsports, working under the #35 Whelen Engineering team based in Georgia, Vt., and Barre native Matt Goslant will be the crew chief for two-time West Series champion Eric Holmes and the #20 NAPA Toyota, fielded by California powerhouse Bill MacAnally Racing.
Catch the Toyota All-Star Showdown live on SPEED TV or Sirius NASCAR Radio at 10:00pm, Friday and Saturday.
***
How does anyone not love Robby Gordon?
***
Remember those old commercials with the egg and the frying pan?
"This is your brain." ---SMASH!--- "This is your brain on drugs."
Well that's what I feel like when I watch Madhouse. It's not real racing. It's WWE with nerf bars and a southern accent.
Here's my expert analysis after three shows:
1. Burt Myers is a moron. And a hot-head. I can't imagine what's gonna happen to that poor little baby he has at home the first time he spills his Cheerios.
2. Chris Fleming is a moron. Some people get it, some people don't. Guess which category he falls under.
3. Junior Miller is a total moron. I have nothing else to say about him.
4. Jason Myers might be a moron, but they don't show him enough for me to be able to tell.
5. Tim Brown isn't a moron, but he is a total jerk. His wife hates him, but hey, look at the publicity Michael Waltrip Racing is getting from that crew shirt!
6. Eric Stigall is a special kind of moron. Far and away my favorite character on television right now. In fact, his personality is so addictive, even I twitch when he talks.
7. I am a moron, because I can't freaking wait for the next episode. And I guaran-damn-tee you I'll buy the DVD after the season is over.
***
By the way, Irwindale isn't the only place running this weekend. The Pro All Stars Series heads for sunny... er, not... Florida this weekend for the first annual WinterFest 150 at New Smyrna Speedway.
VMM will have a correspondent at the track in Dave Parker, who will be taking notes all day and giving us occasional updates during the event. It looks like rain might play into the schedule, which may postpone the event from Saturday to Sunday.
The WinterFest 150 is the first PASS National Championship event for 2010. Drivers expected to compete include 2009 PASS North champion Johnny Clark, Danville youngster Steven Legendre, Québec native Mario Gosselin, and the new teams pairing owner Richard Moody with driver Brad Leighton, and owner Scott Mulkern with driver Ben Rowe.
We're not entirely sure how close to the computer we'll be all weekend -- ya know, real world commitments and all -- but we can Tweet with the best of 'em! Keep a watch on the VMM Twitter page at twitter.com/VtMotorMag, or "@VtMotorMag" for those of you that already know what the heck a Twitter is.
The season-long hype surrounding the inaugural ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was a pretty cool thing for the fans and teams of the American-Canadian Tour. The pressure bearing down on 300 or so Late Model drivers to win a race and get invited to compete at the "Magic Mile" nearly broke some of the toughest men in the sport, while for others, the feeling of overcoming that pressure, getting that big win, and stamping their tickets to The Big Dance was pure utopia.
It reminds us of something: The NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, in the glitz and glam of suburban Los Angeles, live on SPEED TV. A national stage for the local heroes. The Super Bowl of NASCAR short track racing. The highlight of the whole year.
It was a simple and wonderful concept in 2003: race your heart out all year long, and if you finish in the top-15 in points in what are now the K&N Pro Series East and West divisions, you'll get rewarded with an invitation to race on national television at what may be the nicest short track facility in the country. No points on the line, just money, bragging rights, a really nice trophy, and a chance to maybe turn yourself into the next hot prospect in the NASCAR garage.
Californian Austin Cameron stole the hearts of America as he came back from cancer to win the inaugural 125-lap event. In 2004, Massachusetts underdog Mike Johnson set the world on its ear with his victory. David Gilliland won in 2005, and just another year later found himself winning a Nationwide Series race at Kentucky and a Sprint Cup Series pole at Talladega. Matt Kobyluck brought the trophy back to New England in 2006. Everyone gathered around their TVs to watch -- even us East Coasters who had to stay up way past our bedtimes. The were times when the racing got a little chippy and cars got torn up, but the idea was that we were watching the 30 best short trackers in the country.
Then NASCAR went ahead and ruined it.
Beginning in 2007, ten starting spots and 100 more laps have been added to the race (only 225 laps for this year's edition, however), and qualifying is open to anyone approved by NASCAR to run on a half-mile or longer track. The top-15 from both the East and West divisions are still invited, but only the champions and race winners are automatically qualified for the race. In addition, the champions from the northern and southern Whelen Modified Tours, the Canadian Tire Series, the Corona Mexico Series, and the Whelen All-American Series (read: drivers that have nothing to do with the East and West divisions) are guaranteed starters, provided they can find a ride. And since the only East/West drivers guaranteed to start are the champions and winners, the potential exists for a championship runner-up to travel to California only to not qualify for the All-Star (!!!) race.
"That race had tremendous potential when it was first announced," said reigning American-Canadian Tour champion Brian Hoar, a three-time Toyota All-Star Showdown participant. Hoar, of Williston, ran full-time in the Busch North/Busch East/Camping World East/K&N Pro Series East/What'll It Be Next Year Series from 2001-2006, and was a top-10 finisher in all three of his starts at Irwindale.
"When it first started, that race was huge for our group of drivers that, at the time, was still centered here in the northeast, and it was just as big for the group of guys regionalized out west. The East versus West thing was a neat format, and we beat those guys on their own turf two out of the three years I went out there. It's totally different now, and not only do I not have the answers for [why NASCAR changed it], I don't care. It still has the potential to be great again if they fix it."
Hoar points to NASCAR's recent penchant to seemigly try and reinvent the wheel as the blame for the change in the Showdown. "NASCAR changed the event when they changed the series [from Busch North to Busch East in 2006]," he said. "By 2006 things had really started to change, and by 2007 everything had changed. Now anyone can get in the race and win. Look at Joey Logano last year."
Logano, the 2007 Busch East Series champion (and eventual 2009 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year), won the Showdown following his championship season. In last year's event, he brought his Joe Gibbs Racing Nationwide Series team to Irwindale and was dominant -- in his one and only race in the East/West divisions the entire year, mind you -- before ultimately being disqualified from the win following a last-lap wreck with Peyton Sellers, who at the time was a high-talent, low-budget full-timer with the East Series. Multi-time Camping World Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday was also in the race and wrecked several cars. Matt Crafton, another Truck Series racer, finished fifth, one spot better than Hornaday.
Logano has a ride (and backing from his Sprint Cup sponsor The Home Depot and Nationwide crew chief Kevin Kidd) in the Fadden Racing entry fielded by ACT driver and former Busch North/Busch East champion Mike Olsen of North Haverhill, N.H. Olsen will also enter a car for -- get this -- 18 year-old Willy Boucenna, a road course racer from France who has zero history with NASCAR.
"It's all buy-a-ride now," says Hoar. "You can't blame Mike for taking the money that [Logano and Boucenna] bring with them, he races for a living and has to do what he can to survive. But it's sad that the regulars of the series can go out there and get their butts handed to them [by outsiders]. Say they have a bad qualifying lap, that's it. They can support the series all year long and look forward to [Irwindale], and then not make it in. It's too bad. I'm excited to see this year's race, I always am, but I'm not excited to see guys like [Logano] in the race."
Hoar also said that in the formative years of the Showdown, the East and West series regulars really were the stars, and that having drivers like Logano and Hornaday in the race now takes away from the original purpose of the event. "We had all kinds of support and exposure from NASCAR for the whole week we were out there. The TV crews were there, and their job was to make us stars, and they did it. Last year it was all Joey Logano, and he wasn't even part of [the series]."
The similarities between the first Irwindale event and September's ACT Invitational at NHMS were many, says Hoar, and going through the same type of experience brought back a lot of memories. It also reminded Hoar of the changes the old Busch North Series went through once the Loudon, N.H., mile became a part of the series. "Absolutely, to a great degree," he said. "We had exposure all year, and it was all anyone talked about, just like Irwindale [in 2003]. Will the second one be the same feel? I don't know. But I hope the race doesn't get out of control. As long as ACT stays on top of it, I think it will be good.
"Running races at Loudon singlehandedly changed the Busch North Series [in the early 1990s], and everyone thought they had to go out and get superspeedway bodies and superspeedway cars and spend lots of money. Then the series became what it is now. And it's already started in ACT -- Patrick Laperle had a car built specifically for Loudon before he was even invited. Ricky Rolfe tested well there in August, and put his car up on jackstands and pulled out a back-up car for the rest of the races until the Invitational. Guys are figuring out that aerodynamics have never been as important on a Late Model as they are at Loudon. It's up to ACT to clamp down on it."
Brian Hoar is right. The Toyota All-Star Showdown was an outstanding event at one time, and it still could be if it went back to the basics. Now it's just another race. For that matter, the K&N Pro Series East was an outstanding series at one time, too.
Let's hope the ACT Invitational doesn't go down the same path. We don't think it will.
***
Speaking of the Showdown, there's a touch of local flavor headed for L.A. this weekend -- Colchester's Sam Caron, a part-time ACT competitor, will head to the event as crew chief for driver Steve Park and owner Bob Torriere's NDS Motorsports, working under the #35 Whelen Engineering team based in Georgia, Vt., and Barre native Matt Goslant will be the crew chief for two-time West Series champion Eric Holmes and the #20 NAPA Toyota, fielded by California powerhouse Bill MacAnally Racing.
Catch the Toyota All-Star Showdown live on SPEED TV or Sirius NASCAR Radio at 10:00pm, Friday and Saturday.
***
How does anyone not love Robby Gordon?
***
Remember those old commercials with the egg and the frying pan?
"This is your brain." ---SMASH!--- "This is your brain on drugs."
Well that's what I feel like when I watch Madhouse. It's not real racing. It's WWE with nerf bars and a southern accent.
Here's my expert analysis after three shows:
1. Burt Myers is a moron. And a hot-head. I can't imagine what's gonna happen to that poor little baby he has at home the first time he spills his Cheerios.
2. Chris Fleming is a moron. Some people get it, some people don't. Guess which category he falls under.
3. Junior Miller is a total moron. I have nothing else to say about him.
4. Jason Myers might be a moron, but they don't show him enough for me to be able to tell.
5. Tim Brown isn't a moron, but he is a total jerk. His wife hates him, but hey, look at the publicity Michael Waltrip Racing is getting from that crew shirt!
6. Eric Stigall is a special kind of moron. Far and away my favorite character on television right now. In fact, his personality is so addictive, even I twitch when he talks.
7. I am a moron, because I can't freaking wait for the next episode. And I guaran-damn-tee you I'll buy the DVD after the season is over.
***
By the way, Irwindale isn't the only place running this weekend. The Pro All Stars Series heads for sunny... er, not... Florida this weekend for the first annual WinterFest 150 at New Smyrna Speedway.
VMM will have a correspondent at the track in Dave Parker, who will be taking notes all day and giving us occasional updates during the event. It looks like rain might play into the schedule, which may postpone the event from Saturday to Sunday.
The WinterFest 150 is the first PASS National Championship event for 2010. Drivers expected to compete include 2009 PASS North champion Johnny Clark, Danville youngster Steven Legendre, Québec native Mario Gosselin, and the new teams pairing owner Richard Moody with driver Brad Leighton, and owner Scott Mulkern with driver Ben Rowe.
We're not entirely sure how close to the computer we'll be all weekend -- ya know, real world commitments and all -- but we can Tweet with the best of 'em! Keep a watch on the VMM Twitter page at twitter.com/VtMotorMag, or "@VtMotorMag" for those of you that already know what the heck a Twitter is.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Hoar, Gappens, Cyr Honored at ACT/Thunder Road Banquet
NHMS' Gappens "humbled" by MacTavish Award
SOUTH BURLINGTON -- A crowd of some 500 honored Brian Hoar of Williston on Saturday night at the Sheraton-Burlington Hotel & Conference Center, celebrating Hoar's sixth American-Canadian Tour championship.
Hoar, 37, captured his first championship on the series since 2000, driving for RPM Motorsports and car owner/crew chief Rick Paya. Paya previously won seven ACT championships with driver Jean-Paul Cyr; Cyr left the team after 2008 to drive for Joey Laquerrre and challenge for the track championship at Barre's Thunder Road, which he did successfully.
"The irony behind it all is that probably if [Cyr] hadn't decided to go with [Laquerre], I might not have the opportunity to be where I'm standing right now," Hoar said during his championship speech.
Jerry Gappens, Executive Vice President of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, was presented the prestigious Don MacTavish Award by ACT President Tom Curley, for the speedway's contributions to ACT racing.
Dover, Mass. native MacTavish, the 1966 NASCAR National Sportsman (present-day Nationwide Series) Champion, was killed in a crash at Daytona Int'l Speedway in 1969. MacTavish won his national title racing weekly at places like Catamount Stadium in Milton, and New York tracks including Airborne Speedway and Albany-Saratoga Speedway. Past recipients of the award include NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr., Thunder Road founder Ken Squier, Curley, and drivers Robbie Crouch, Jean-Paul Cabana, Hoar, and Cyr.
NHMS hosted the first-ever ACT Invitational in September during Sylvania 300 weekend for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. As a result, NHMS saw an increased Saturday crowd of 40,000 spectators, and ACT and its drivers gained national attention throughout the year.
"(The ACT Invitational) was a win-win for both parties," said Gappens, who grew up around the short tracks of Indiana. "Any time you get an award with Bill France, Sr.'s name on it, and all the other great people that have contributed to the success of short track racing, is quite an honor. I appreciate short track racing and haven't forgotten where I learned the sport from the grassroots up, so to get what I consider the highest honor, other than being the champion of the series, is very humbling and very much appreciated."
Shawn Duquette of Morrisonville, N.Y., was crowned with his first ACT Tiger Sportsman Series championship. Duquette earned the title after a tie-breaker with St. Albans driver Jason Bonnett.
John Doiron of Berwick, Me., was given the ACT Crew Chief of the Year Award; Doiron coached his son, 16 year-old Joey, to the ACT Rookie of the Year title.
Tucker Williams of Hyde Park won the Dr. G.R. Nielsen Rookie Achievement Award as the top-performing freshman driver across all ACT/Thunder Road divisions; Williams, 18, was a four-time Street Stock winner at Thunder Road in 2009.
Cyr, of Milton, was honored with his first Thunder Road Late Model "King of the Road" championship in the track's 50th season. Thunder Road's support division champions were also honored: Jimmy Hebert of Williamstown (Tiger Sportsman), Gary Mullen of Tunbridge (Street Stock), and Donny Yates of North Montpelier (Junkyard Warrior). Rookies of the Year were Dylan Smith of Randolph (Late Model), Erik Steel of Barre (Tiger Sportsman), and Williams.
ACT/Thunder Road announcer Troy Germain was given the Ken Squier Award for his decade-long contributions to the sport.
Seth Leavitt of WCAX-TV Channel 3 was named the winner of the first-ever Pete Hartt Memorial Media Award. Mike McCune, Leavitt's colleague, accepted the award on his behalf. Hartt, the Sports Editor at the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus, passed away in March.
Sportsmanship and "Most Improved Driver" awards were also given out in each division. Sportsmanship award winners were Chip Grenier (ACT Late Model Tour), Brooks Clark (TR Late Model), Brendan Moodie, Jr. (TR Tiger Sportsman), Mike Martin (TR Street Stock), and Ken Christman (TR Junkyard Warrior). Most Improved awards went to John Donahue (ACT Late Model Tour), Craig Bushey (TR Late Model), and Derrick O'Donnell (TR Tiger Sportsman).
SOUTH BURLINGTON -- A crowd of some 500 honored Brian Hoar of Williston on Saturday night at the Sheraton-Burlington Hotel & Conference Center, celebrating Hoar's sixth American-Canadian Tour championship.
Hoar, 37, captured his first championship on the series since 2000, driving for RPM Motorsports and car owner/crew chief Rick Paya. Paya previously won seven ACT championships with driver Jean-Paul Cyr; Cyr left the team after 2008 to drive for Joey Laquerrre and challenge for the track championship at Barre's Thunder Road, which he did successfully.
"The irony behind it all is that probably if [Cyr] hadn't decided to go with [Laquerre], I might not have the opportunity to be where I'm standing right now," Hoar said during his championship speech.
Jerry Gappens, Executive Vice President of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, was presented the prestigious Don MacTavish Award by ACT President Tom Curley, for the speedway's contributions to ACT racing.
Dover, Mass. native MacTavish, the 1966 NASCAR National Sportsman (present-day Nationwide Series) Champion, was killed in a crash at Daytona Int'l Speedway in 1969. MacTavish won his national title racing weekly at places like Catamount Stadium in Milton, and New York tracks including Airborne Speedway and Albany-Saratoga Speedway. Past recipients of the award include NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr., Thunder Road founder Ken Squier, Curley, and drivers Robbie Crouch, Jean-Paul Cabana, Hoar, and Cyr.
NHMS hosted the first-ever ACT Invitational in September during Sylvania 300 weekend for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. As a result, NHMS saw an increased Saturday crowd of 40,000 spectators, and ACT and its drivers gained national attention throughout the year.
"(The ACT Invitational) was a win-win for both parties," said Gappens, who grew up around the short tracks of Indiana. "Any time you get an award with Bill France, Sr.'s name on it, and all the other great people that have contributed to the success of short track racing, is quite an honor. I appreciate short track racing and haven't forgotten where I learned the sport from the grassroots up, so to get what I consider the highest honor, other than being the champion of the series, is very humbling and very much appreciated."
Shawn Duquette of Morrisonville, N.Y., was crowned with his first ACT Tiger Sportsman Series championship. Duquette earned the title after a tie-breaker with St. Albans driver Jason Bonnett.
John Doiron of Berwick, Me., was given the ACT Crew Chief of the Year Award; Doiron coached his son, 16 year-old Joey, to the ACT Rookie of the Year title.
Tucker Williams of Hyde Park won the Dr. G.R. Nielsen Rookie Achievement Award as the top-performing freshman driver across all ACT/Thunder Road divisions; Williams, 18, was a four-time Street Stock winner at Thunder Road in 2009.
Cyr, of Milton, was honored with his first Thunder Road Late Model "King of the Road" championship in the track's 50th season. Thunder Road's support division champions were also honored: Jimmy Hebert of Williamstown (Tiger Sportsman), Gary Mullen of Tunbridge (Street Stock), and Donny Yates of North Montpelier (Junkyard Warrior). Rookies of the Year were Dylan Smith of Randolph (Late Model), Erik Steel of Barre (Tiger Sportsman), and Williams.
ACT/Thunder Road announcer Troy Germain was given the Ken Squier Award for his decade-long contributions to the sport.
Seth Leavitt of WCAX-TV Channel 3 was named the winner of the first-ever Pete Hartt Memorial Media Award. Mike McCune, Leavitt's colleague, accepted the award on his behalf. Hartt, the Sports Editor at the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus, passed away in March.
Sportsmanship and "Most Improved Driver" awards were also given out in each division. Sportsmanship award winners were Chip Grenier (ACT Late Model Tour), Brooks Clark (TR Late Model), Brendan Moodie, Jr. (TR Tiger Sportsman), Mike Martin (TR Street Stock), and Ken Christman (TR Junkyard Warrior). Most Improved awards went to John Donahue (ACT Late Model Tour), Craig Bushey (TR Late Model), and Derrick O'Donnell (TR Tiger Sportsman).
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