For The Love: Zampieri Keeping Thunder Road History Alive

LOUDON, N.H. -- “Did you find a coil for that thing today?” bellows the thickly accented voice of an elderly man. It’s Harold Hanaford, 80, seeking shelter in a dry garage bay as the mist falls outside.

“Naw, I couldn’t find one. But I heard you can reverse the wires and still get it started,” replies Paul Zampieri. The two are standing in the infield at New Hampshire Motor Speedway hoping that the rain will stop before a barbeque party begins at 6:30 that evening.

It’s the 20th annual Vintage Racing Celebration at the track, and four 20-bay garages are packed with race cars from yesteryear -- everything from Modifieds to Midgets, from Indy Cars to an ex-Jeff Gordon NASCAR Winston Cup car that has been converted to SCCA road racing specs. NASCAR champion Bobby Allison is in attendance, too.

Zampieri, of Montpelier, purchased and painstakingly restored the car Hanaford drove to the 1964 track championship at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl in Barre, Vt., nearly a decade ago, and has been on tour with the car ever since, taking part in car shows and exhibitions all over the northeast. New Hampshire is the latest stop on his circuit.

“I bought the car for $500 back in 1998,” he explains. “It was in rough shape, but I’d done body work before and that was no big deal. But I needed help with the details.”

After two years of work and research, Zampieri brought the car to Hanaford’s garage in Plymouth, N.H., to “get it right.” By September 2002, the car was complete and on display for the first time at Thunder Road’s Milk Bowl, a race Hanaford won twice in the early 1960s. Hanaford took the car around the track for pace laps that day and has driven it on occasion in exhibition races with the New England Antique Racers club.

“It was a lot of fun and a lot of work,” says Zampieri. “We have to work on it a lot, though. I just put a new engine in a couple weeks ago.” The car’s flathead Ford engine, a staple of the early Coupes at Thunder Road, recently turned over for the final time. A “new” Offenhauser flathead was installed in time for the week-long NHMS celebration, which includes three days of on-track times, but the ignition coil burned out while Zampieri was loading the car on Tuesday night. Still, he brought the car for the show anyway.

He’s not stopping with the Hanaford car, either: Original pieces of a 1932 3-window Ford driven by Ronnie Marvin at Thunder Road and Northeastern Speedway near St. Johnsbury are being incorporated -- along with the rear deck of a 1930 Chevrolet -- into a replica of the original Marvin car. Once finished, the car will complete a restored team of three cars originally campaigned in 1962 by owner Andy Cote and drivers Marvin, Paul Martel, and Tony Colicchio.

Zampieri estimates his Hanaford project car has cost him a total of $7,000, and that the Martel car restored by another enthusiast has between $10,000 and $15,000 sunk into it.

“We have fun,” says Zampieri, looking around the garage at Hanaford and restoration buddies Cho Lee and Lloyd Hutchins. “That’s what it’s about.”

(PHOTOS: 1. Paul Zampieri (left) and Harold Hanaford with their restored Thunder Road Coupe at New Hampshire Motor Speedway; 2. Zampieri's next project will restore the #13 Ford driven by Ronnie Marvin in 1962. Justin St. Louis/VMM photos)

The Juice: A Bunch of Random Stuff. Seriously.

-by Justin St. Louis
VMM Editor

April what? Feels like June. I'm in shorts and a t-shirt as I write this column, and my lawn is as green as I've ever seen it this time of year. By the way, this week's "Juice" has no real direction, but rather it's just a mindless collection of thoughts and notes I've taken during the last few days. Then again, I guess that's pretty much what this column is every week anyway. Enjoy.

***

We continue to watch Kevin Lepage in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Since missing the cut at Daytona, the Shelburne native has easily made the starting field in all four events, qualifying no worse than 28th in Jack McNelly's #56 MacHill Motorsports cars.

Alas, Lepage is forced to "start and park" his car each week due to a lack of funding. A botched sponsorship deal with distributor Revolucion World Wide and its START Natural Energy Drink brand left the team scrambling for money to go racing. McNelly is funding the now-sponsorless operation out of his own pocket at this point, and can't afford the costs accumulated by completing the entire distance of each race.

On Wednesday, this post came from Lepage himself on a message board dedicated to his fan base: "First of all, the MacHill Team is a better team then what I'm showing," he wrote. "We need to take care of these two cars so I can be at the track each week. Second, until we get a sponsor we will continue to [start and park]."

***

Go support the Autism Puzzle Foundation's "Casino Night" fundraiser at the Barre Auditorium on Saturday. This is the fifth year that the benefit will have the stars of the American-Canadian Tour and Thunder Road on hand to deal Black Jack, Craps, and Roulette, and it's a great time for a great cause.

Over 150 items will be auctioned off, including trips to Ireland and Las Vegas, and $1,000 cash. The dealers will be ACT Late Model Tour champion Brian Hoar, "King of the Road" Jean-Paul Cyr, top dogs Phil Scott, Robbie Crouch, Dave Pembroke, John Donahue, Nick Sweet, Joey Laquerre, and Eric Chase, and ACT/Thunder Road president Tom Curley.

Click here for more information.

***
We got a nice response from Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl race director Scott Tapley regarding our comments on Keith Rocco's restarts on March 28. After suggesting that Rocco was kinda-sorta getting away with jumping the gun a little bit in last week's "Juice", Tapley responded with this:

"No special treatment for Rocco, in fact, his first three restarts were perfect. Our rule is that leader must maintain pace car speed and the leader, and only the leader, well be the first car to fire at the restart line in the middle of turn 3.

"His next restart, however, was a brake check at the line (I know because I race direct at the line), and I immediately told our spotter official to tell Rocco's spotter that that was his one and only warning on the brake check. He maintained his correct restarts for the remaining restarts with absoultely no question in my mind.

"[At] our season finale last year ... Keith's team argued for "extra" caution laps when the rule is four laps no matter what ... because of our pit in/out blending problems. (Editor's note: Waterford has a very odd pit road; the only entrance from the track surface is a swinging gate on the backstretch that can only be opened by an official during a yellow flag period.) We went green at our normal four laps and it took the Rocco team 18 laps to complete the change. A broken track bar braket cost him the title, as he entered the event the leader. The team claimed that we could have provided a "courtesy" [lap] but I my opinion it would nullify any rule ever made.

"If you dont have ruling consistency than you have no crediblity, and I'm proud of the fact that I and our officials have shown that in our first year of operation, much different than the Speedbowl I attended when I first moved to Connecticut in 2005."

So there you have it. Thanks to Scott Tapley for reading VMM, and thanks even more for the response.

***

Sad news comes with the passing of pioneer racer Ronnie "Satch" Hunt on Easter Sunday. Despite his youth, Hunt was a top driver in the barnstorming days of the open-wheel Coupes in Vermont and New Hampshire, winning multiple features in the #59 and #60 cars at Barre's Thunder Road and Northeastern Speedway near St. Johnsbury. At the time of his first win at Northeastern in 1960, he was just 19 years old.

Satch owned and operated Hunt's Auto Repair and AKM Recycling in his native Franconia, N.H., and was an active member of the community; he had roles with the Franconia Board of Adjustment and the Franconia Planning Board, was a town selectman and firefighter, and was a member of the LaFayette Lions Club. He also attended the Northeastern Speedway 50th reunion last July.

Satch was 68.

***

That NCAA title was one of the best basketball games you'll ever see. And thanks to Duke, I won a basketball hoop of my very own. #bracketology

***

There's something about Dale Brackett that you can get behind. Most small teams -- especially when they're based more than a thousand miles away from most of the action -- don't make it in the big leagues of NASCAR. I don't know whether or not Brackett's new NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team will, but at least he's got the right attitude about it.

"We're trying to make our own opportunity here," he said after failing to qualify for his debut at Martinsville on March 27. "It's a huge jump from where we've been, and we know that. There's no real way to prepare for it. But you've either got it or you don't."

Amen, fella.

***

Some numbers from the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East this year. Just for fun.

Races: 2
Winners: Darrell Wallace, Jr. (Greenville), Max Gresham (South Boston)
Oldest winner: Gresham, age 16 years, 11 months, 4 days
Number of starters: 30 (Greenville), 26 (South Boston)
Number of rookies: 16 (Greenville), 16 (South Boston)
Average age of Top 10 finishers: 22 (Greenville), 21 (South Boston)
Average age of Top 10 finishers at South Boston without Matt Kobyluck (age 40) and Eddie MacDonald (age 29): 18
Drivers younger than Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., (age 20) at South Boston: 13

My, how this sport has changed.

***

Our many thanks to Dave Parker and Subway of Barre, Montpelier, Waterbury, and Northfield for the live updates at Hickory Motor Speedway's Easter Bunny 150, part of the PASS National Championship series. Dave made it possible for us to get photos, interviews, and mid-race updates from North Carolina (much as he did for us at New Smyrna in January).

Unfortunately our northern drivers didn't fare too well overall, but what can you do?

Tarheel racer Preston Peltier won the race over Jay Fogleman and young Ryan Blaney. Maine's Cassius Clark led a bunch of laps before finishing fourth and Ben Rowe turned in a "miracle" performance to finish in eighth place, but that was the best we could get. New Brunswick racer Lonnie Sommerville was 25th, with Maine racers Johnny Clark 26th and Ryan Moore 28th, New Hampshire's Brad Leighton -- who entered the race as the National point leader -- 30th, and Danville, Vt.'s Steven Legendre a crashed-out 31st.

We had it all covered on our Twitter page on Saturday, including quotes from Moore and Legendre, and photos of guys like David Ragan and Max Papis, who were moonlighting from their regular gigs as NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers to have a little short track fun.
If you're not on Twitter, you'll be missing some good stuff this year that you may not find on the VMM homepage, like in-race updates, photos, quickie interviews, contests, and who knows what else!

***

WEEKEND SCHEDULE:

Saturday, April 10
Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Malta, N.Y. -- 1:00pm (Open Practice)
Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 2:00pm (Open Practice)

TOURING SERIES:

NASCAR Nationwide Series: Fri., April 9 -- Phoenix Int'l Raceway, Phoenix, Ariz. (9:00pm)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Sat., April 10 -- Phoenix Int'l Raceway, Phoenix, Ariz. (7:30pm)

Sad News for Northeastern Speedway...

(From The Caledonian-Record)

WATERFORD - A Vermont Environmental Court order specifically prohibits property owners from hosting a commercial event at the former Northeastern Speedway, a stipulation that is in force for three years.

The order issued by Judge Thomas Durkin Jan. 5 includes a list of things property owners Paul and Lise Bellefeuille are not allowed to do.

And if the town provides evidence that they plan to, the court will issue a temporary restraining order.

To continue reading this article from The Caledonian-Record, click here: VEC Judge Sides With Waterford On Speedway

The Juice: Best '250' Ever?

-by Justin St. Louis

We're not going to speculate about the entire history of the competitiveness of the Oxford 250, because, frankly, we've only been to eight out of the 36 run and are quite unqualified to make such projections. While any guess that we made about how the 2009 edition ranks compared to the rest would be farcical, but of the 250s we've seen, Sunday's race was far and away the best one ever. We've witnessed the race as a NASCAR Busch North Series event (1992), an ACT Pro Stock Tour race (1993), an open Pro Stock show (2001, 2004-06), and an open Late Model event (2008-09), and there is just no question that this year's TD Banknorth 250 was the best in terms of competition and race-long excitement.

Three-wide racing has become sort of a common thing at the previously one-groove Oxford Plains Speedway these last two or three seasons, but three-wide racing for the lead -- a lot of it -- is unheard of pretty much everywhere. And for the biggest race in the country? Get out.

Watching Patrick Laperle, John Donahue, and Brent Dragon go at it for the lead was thrilling. Watching Dragon, Ben Rowe, and Joey Polewarczyk doing it was thrilling. Watching the leaders slice through lapped traffic three- or four-wide was thrilling. Watching Eddie MacDonald slingshot his way up the outside was thrilling. Get the picture? Unbelievable action.

"What a cool track to race on the way they've got it right now," said Brian Hoar, who finished fourth in the race after leading 39 laps just past the halfway point. "It's pretty incredible, actually, it just makes you smile. I was watching heat races just smiling, I mean, watching Eddie MacDonald come three-wide up through there in the heat race. And you can just do that, there's a groove out there."

"It's intense, it's fun," said third-place finisher Donahue. "It was good from the second and third groove. In the beginning I was gonna go chase down Brent, and we got into the top three there, Patrick was in there, running three, four, five-wide when I took the lead, that was fun. Man was that fun."

Hoar said that the give-and-take shown at Oxford lately -- and at the 250 especially -- has been outstanding.

"Now everybody accepts and understands that it's [not] unacceptable to go three-wide," he said. "That mentality has to take place because, you know, somebody gets pissed sometimes when you go to a track and somebody goes three-wide and they go, 'What the hell are you doing?' And then they do something stupid to stop you or cause you not to be able to complete that deal. But [at Oxford], everybody respects that right now and is conscientous of it.

"[They're thinking] 'Gotta run the middle, I gotta stay here, don't move too high, don't move too low.' And the guy on the inside is saying, 'Don't slip up, I've got two guys out here.' And the guy on the outside goes, 'Give me some room, don't get too high.'

"The racing was fun out there."

It was fun from the grandstands, too. Congratulations to every one of the 71 drivers at Oxford Plains Speedway on Sunday for putting on a show that no one there will soon forget. Congratulations to Tom Curley of the American-Canadian Tour for getting the current northeastern Late Model rules program to the point it's at right now. And congratulations to Oxford promoter Bill Ryan for taking a huge chance back in 2007 and putting this type of car in the Oxford 250. We'll admit that even as a lifelong Late Model fan, the changeover from the Pro Stock division was scary and caused some skepticism. We now know that it was done for a reason, and the payoff was Sunday's event.

Just plain awesome.

***

Speaking of awesome, Saturday's Northeastern Speedway revival was something to behold. The 1/5-mile track in Lower Waterford, just outside St. Johnsbury, was dusted off for the first time since 1966, and brought together some of the greatest collections of memories in New England stock car racing history. We were honored to share moments with great drivers like Glenn Andrews, Johnny Gammell, Harold Hanaford, Paul Martel, Skip Easter, Glen Gadapee, Paul Belknap, and more, and would like to thank owners Paul and Lise Bellefeuille for their efforts in restoring the track to the beautiful condition it is in now.

We visited the place on a whim on Milk Bowl weekend in 2007, before the Bellefeuilles purchased the facility, and saw shadows of what used to be a great little race track hiding in a thick forest of . About eight months later, we received word that Northeastern had been purchased and was to be renovated. Instantly, we circled the date "July 18, 2009" on the calendar, and were glad to take part in its re-christening.

Here's a video (thanks to our Senior Correspondent, Ron St. Louis) of part of the parade laps that included restored and re-created coupe racers that actually raced at Northeastern Speedway from 1959-1966. We've got a photo album posted, too.



***

If you thought Jean-Paul Cyr never had a chance to contend for the Thunder Road championship this season, you thought really, really wrong. Cyr was his classic, winning self last Thursday, and we're only halfway through the year. Watch that #11 car, he's probably not done yet.

***

AROUND THE REGION:

Time to take a look at the top Vermonters from the past weekend...

Airborne Speedway (Plattsburgh, N.Y.): Todd Stone of Middlebury finished fourth in the Modified feature on Saturday night, with Aaron Bartemy of Sheldon sixth. Richie Turner of Fairfax was the runner-up in the Tiger Sportsman feature with Milton's Larry Underwood tenth. Mike Terry of Grand Isle won the Renegade feature with Swanton's Dave Rabtoy second, Lance Rabtoy of Fairfax sixth, and Milton's Rob Gordon eighth.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway (Malta, N.Y.): Friday's races were rained out.

Bear Ridge Speedway (Bradford): Saturday's event saw double features for all regular weekly divisions, including the double-points Mekkelsen RV Mid-Season Championships. In the double-point features, Travis Shinn of Groton, N.H. scored the victory in the Sportsman Modifieds over Thetford Center's Wayne Stearns and Gary Siemons of Orford, N.H., while other winners were Melvin Pierson of Topsham (Sportsman Coupe), T.C. Forward of Lyme, N.H. (Limited Late Model), Andy Johnson of Wilder (Fast Four), Bradford's Tom Placey (Hornet), and Melissa King of Corinth (Hornet Queen). In the regular Clifford Concrete/Robbins Property Maintenance features, Chris Donnelly of Piermont, N.H. was the Sportsman Modified winner over Corinth's Bryan King and Ryan Avery of Thornton, N.H., while other events were won by Josh Harrington of Topsham (Sportsman Coupe), Strafford's Shane Race (Limited Late Model), Mitch Durkee of Sharon (Fast Four), and Placey again in the Hornet class.

Canaan Dirt Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Friday's program was rained out.

Canaan Fair Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Kris Lyman of West Hartford finished third in the Pro Stock feature on Saturday with South Royalton's Kevin Menard eighth. Bradford's Arnie Stygles was third in the Super Street race with Colby Hodgdon of Windsor seventh. Jamie Hodgdon of Ascutney was the Pure Stock winner, while Chris Riendeau, also of Ascutney, was third. Josh Sunn of White River Junction won the Outlaw Mini race over Chris McKinstry of Thetford, Chris Lyman of Hartland, Bobby Prior of White River Junction, and Robert Gioia of East Thetford. Quechee's Kyle Small won the Bandit feature over Ascutney's Tyler Lescord, with Bruce Jaycox of Hartland fourth and Mike Parker of Bradford fifth.

Devil's Bowl Speedway (West Haven): Kenny Tremont, Jr. of West Sand Lake, N.Y. won his fourth 358 Modified feature of the season on Sunday over Ray Hoard of Granville, N.Y. Tim LaDuc of Orwell finished third, one spot better than Brandon's Vince Quenneville, Jr. Todd Stone of Middlebury was fifth, Rob Langevin of Londonderry was seventh, and Brian Whittemore of Florence was tenth. Robert Bublak of Fort Edward, N.Y. won the Budget Sportsman race over Whitehall, N.Y.'s Frank Hoard, Jr. and Frank Hoard, III of Manchester. Cullen and Seth Howe of South Londonderry were fourth and sixth, respectively. Cale Kneer of Troy, N.Y. won the Pro Street Stock feature over Jeff Washburn of Benson and Carl Vladyka of Fair Haven. Chuck Towslee of Manchester seventh with Lori Langevin of Londonderry ninth. Dan Older of Ballston Spa, N.Y. won the Limited feature over Brandon's Mike Clark, and Kayla Bryant of Rutland won the Mini Stock/Duke Stock race.

Monadnock Speedway (Winchester, N.H.): Putney driver Dana Shepard finished 10th in the Super Stock race on Saturday with Vernon's Heath Renaud 14th. Joe Rogers of Ludlow was 11th in the Mini Stock feature. Dick Houle of West Brattleboro was second in the 4-cylinder Enduro with Vernon's Josh Houle third.

Oxford Plains Speedway (Oxford, Me.): John Donahue of Graniteville finished third in the TD Banknorth 250 on Sunday night behind Eddie MacDonald and Patrick Laperle. Williston's Brian Hoar was fourth, Brent Dragon of Milton was sixth, and Cris Michaud of Northfield was eighth.

Riverside Speedway (Groveton, N.H.): Derek Ming of Island Pond won the Outlaw Sportsman feature on Saturday night with David Ofsuryk, Jr. of Newport Center fourth and Dan Sidney of St. Johnsbury sixth, while Dilyn Switser of West Burke won the Super Stock feature with Lyndonville's Ben Bedor seventh. Hardwick's Andy Fecteau won the first of two Street Stock features over Derby Line driver Brendan Hunt and West Burke's Jesse Switser, while Swister and Kyle Pembroke of Montpelier finished second and third, respectively, behind Brandon Lambert in the second feature. Ernie LaPlant of Lyndonville was third in the Dwarf Car feature, while Cabot's Johanna Christman posted finishes of first and second in the two Angel features.

Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl (Barre): Late Model driver Jean-Paul Cyr of Milton scored his first win of the year in Thursday's Times Argus Mid-Season Championship, over Dave Pembroke of Middlesex, Doug Murphy of Tunbridge, Craig Bushey of Cambridge, and Phil Scott of Montpelier. Kris Grout of Waterbury won the Tiger Sportsman feature, with Plainfield's Matt Potter, Joey Roberts of Georgia, Pete Ainsworth of Middlesex, and North Wolcott's Brendan Moodie in tow. Tunbridge driver Gary Mullen won the Street Stock feature over Graniteville rookie Travis Hull, Mike Martin of Crafstbury Common, Garry Bashaw of Lincoln, and East Haven's Michael Moore, while Waterbury's Josh Erwin inherited the Junkyard Warrior win in the tech line over Barre's Kevin Dodge, Donny Yates of North Montpelier, Lance Donald of Williamstown, and Keith Fortier of Hinesburg.

True Value Modified Racing Series: Dwight Jarvis of Ascutney finished second in the Maine-ly Action Sports 100 at Oxford Plains Speedway on Saturday night, with brother Peter Jarvis, also of Ascutney, in sixth. Point leader Jon McKennedy of Chelmsford, Mass. was the winner.

Twin State Speedway (Claremont, N.H.): Ascutney's Chris Riendeau finished sixth in Sunday's Late Model feature with Rutland's Dallas Trombley seventh and Dola Holland of Ludlow ninth. Ascutney rookie Joey Jarvis scored his first Modified win with Riendeau fourth, Leo Martin, Jr. of Windsor seventh, Nate Kehoe of Windham eighth, and Peter Jarvis of Ascutney tenth. Russ Davis of Cavendish was second in the Super Street race with fifth Mendon's Chris Wilk third. Tara Tarbell of Springfield won the Strictly Stock feature with Michael Burke of Bellows Falls sixth and Josh Lovely of Barre seventh. Kyle Small of Quechee won the Wildcat race over Jeremiah Losee of North Springfield and Cody Small of Hartland.

White Mountain Motorsports Park (North Woodstock, N.H.): Stacy Cahoon of St. Johnsbury was second in the Late Model feature on Saturday night with McIndoe Falls driver Bernie Lantagne eighth. Stevie Parker of Lyndonville finished third in the Strictly Stocks with Milton's Gordie Stone eighth, while Concord driver Rubin Call was the Strictly Stock Mini runner-up.

***

Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre is back in action on Thursday night, while the True Value Modified Racing Series is at Thompson Int'l Speedway in Connecticut. The Jake McDowell Memorial Street Stock 100 is at Riverside Speedway on Friday night while regular events will be held at Albany-Saratoga, Canaan Dirt, and Twin State. The ACT Late Model Tour is at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Me. on Saturday, while the PASS North Super Late Models are at Riverside, the SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars are at Bradford's Bear Ridge Speedway, and regular events are held at Airborne, Canaan Fair, Monadnock, and White Mountain. Devil's Bowl Speedway in West Haven will have the Empire Lightning Sprints on Sunday along with a regular program.

PHOTOS: Northeastern Speedway Reunion

Northeastern Speedway roared back to life on Saturday after more than 40 years of dormancy. Paul and Lise Bellefeuille purchased the facility and began renovations in 2008, and were able to re-open the track exactly 50 years from the date of its first-ever event in 1959. Memories of the 1/5-mile race track were conjured up by an adoring crowd. Click here for a photo album.

(All photos by Justin St. Louis and Ron St. Louis/VMM)

TD BANKNORTH 250: We'll Be There, Not Here

The MotorMag is headed east this weekend for the biggest show of the year, the TD Banknorth 250 at Maine's Oxford Plains Speedway, with stops at Northeastern Speedway and the New England Forest Rally (and, most likely, the Oxford Plains Fun Park for some go-kart racing) along the way.

As we're not totally up on technology's latest advancements, we're probably not going to be able to do the live-update thing, but rather we'll bring you a full recap of the weekend's events after they're over. That is, of course, unless something unexpected happens where we'll have a computer or web-accessible phone that becomes suddenly, magically available.

In the mean time, we highly recommend hanging out at Green-White-Checker and The Backstretch. Travis Barrett and Shawn Courchesne are not only buddies of ours (actually, VMM is more like the annoying younger cousin that only shows up at family reunions), they're the clear-cut leaders in northeastern short track racing coverage, and are sure to be on top of things as they happen.

But, hey, check in here every now and then, too, we might get lucky.

And by the way, thanks to all of our readers out there in the Green Mountains and beyond. According to our stat counter, these last few days have been some of the most successful that this little blog has ever seen. VMM is not quite six months old, but we're encouraged by the positive feedback we've received so far. And we've been very happy (believe it or not) to get the negative feedback, too -- it'll only make us work harder.

So thanks a lot, racers, we love ya!

The Juice: A Crazy Weekend, And Some Unsolicited Advice

-by Justin St. Louis

Well, we've finally lost it. Yours truly has drafted a couple of nostalgia-loving parents, a toddler with an increasing affinity for loud race cars, and perhaps most importantly, some daffy friends with reliable transportation, a camper, and a tolerance for me, for one completely bizarre weekend of racing.

Thursday, it's off to Thunder Road in Barre for the annual Times Argus Mid-Season Championships. Friday, we'll live a regular life with responsibilities and work and all that boring stuff. But Saturday, we're headed with the family to the tiny town of Waterford, just between St. Johnsbury, Vt. and Littleton, N.H., for the 50-year reunion and grand re-opening of Northeastern Speedway. After kissing the family goodbye at Northeastern, said friends and I will head to Berlin, N.H. for the second day of the New England Forest Rally, where we'll see the Vermont SportsCar factory-supported Subaru team in action with the likes of Travis Pastrana, Ken Block, and Dave Mirra driving gravity-defying, Colchester-built WRX STis, plus top racers Antoine L'Estage and Andi Mancin (we'll admit that we didn't even have to research those names -- following Rally America is a guilty pleasure of ours here at VMM HQ).

A few hours later, we'll complete the trip across Route 2 and down Route 26 to Maine's Oxford Plains Speedway for the True Value Modified Racing Series, Strictlies and Minis, and hopefully, some Late Model practice if we get there in time. Practice, of course, is in preparation for the mother of all short track events -- Sunday's TD Banknorth 250.

A list of 109 "probable" entries was released Wednesday at the event's annual Media Day in Westbrook, Me., and half of the drivers in attendance picked 20 year-old Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. to win. Polewarczyk, of Hudson, N.H., has been riding a huge wave of recent momentum that has even shown up on the national racing radar, and will look to improve upon his third-place finish in last year's race. Entries are expected from eight U.S. states plus Québec and Ontario, including NASCAR's Kenny and Steven Wallace, gunning for a purse that guarantees the winner $25,000, plus lap money.

If you haven't yet been to an Oxford 250, do yourself a favor and go. Just go. You have to. It's one of those special events where you'll find yourself mouth agape after a last-lap pass for the final transfer spot in one of the six heat races. You'll thrill to see your favorite driver beat his or her rival on the outside, three- or four-wide in Oxford's top groove. You'll get goosebumps when a local racer comes back from a heat race wreck, beats the touring stars to win one of the 'hooligan' races, then turns down the $1,500 winner's prize in favor of a starting spot in the main event, proudly proclaiming, "I'm racin' the 250!" over the microphone.

We can't wait to see what happens this year, and we've felt that way since the checkered flag fell last year. You should be there, too.

***

Quick things:

1. Apparently, C.V. Elms hasn't lost his touch behind the wheel. The promoter of Bradford's Bear Ridge Speedway took his second "Ridge Runner Series" victory of the season at Devil's Bowl Speedway in West Haven on Sunday.
2. Jeremy Mayfield simply needs to disappear.
3. Congratulations to Danville youngster Steven Legendre on his first career PASS North Super Late Model top-ten finish, a sixth-place effort, at Connecticut's Thompson Int'l Speedway on Saturday.
4. Kenny St. Germaine may be the toughest guy in America right now. The Airborne Speedway racer lost his home, a family member, and most of his belongings in a devastating fire last week, then, with a lot of help from the Airborne community, finished third in the Renegade race on Sunday. That takes some grit, and our hat's off to Kenny, and to the supporters of Airborne for rallying behind one of their own.

***

Here's our take on Thunder Road's Street Stock and Junkyard Warrior merger/split: The drivers that are complaining about it should just shut up and race their cars already. That's it.

At the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon here, this crying and whining business didn't happen in the old days. We were there on the track and in the pits a decade ago when the Street Stocks at Thunder Road were pulling in 50 to 60 cars a night, when half of the field was going home without qualifying for the feature. There wasn't a Warrior division, there wasn't a 'reserve' feature where we got to race a feature's worth of laps and gain a feature's worth of experience, even if it wasn't the main event. There weren't two winners, two sets of trophies, two purses, two champions. There were four or five drivers that had a great night, and 45 that took their lumps and came back the next week with higher hopes.

I'm telling the 45 drivers right now that aren't taking their lumps like they should, to grow up and get over themselves. If you're racing an entry-level four-cylinder car at a local short track, you need to realize that, no matter what you might want to believe, Jack Roush and Rick Hendrick aren't gonna come calling any time soon. Take a deep breath, race to your potential given the circumstances you've been handed on a particular night, don't take everything personally, and -- gasp! -- JUST HAVE FUN.

Listen, in 2000, I had a pretty great car, one that was much better than its driver, and I failed to qualify seven times out of 16 events. Seven times. In 2001, I missed nine out of 18. Nine! Half! And you know what? I had a blast. We all did.

The disparity was as bad then as it is now with the Streets and Warriors running together. Back then, there were 25 cars that could win, and 25 cars that had no chance at all. The key was that we all got along because we knew our fate and accepted it. More often than not, I was in the "no chance" group during those first two years, but I took advice and learned as much as I could. The veteran drivers offered a helping hand to the young kids like me. Guys like David Allen, Tommy Smith, Joe Fecteau, Lloyd Blakley, and a bunch more. By 2002, I was quite a bit better, winning races, contending for titles, and getting to the point where I could give a bit advice while I still listened to the more experienced drivers. Allen, Tommy Thunder, and Super Joe are still there and still helping, but it seems like some of the younger drivers -- in both divisions -- have stopped listening. If that's the attitude a racer is going to have, that racer shouldn't have a car at all.

If you're stuck in traffic behind some slower cars, either deal with it and try to outsmart your opponents like a sportsman would, or pull it onto the hauler. If you're in position to win, go for it. But for God's sake, don't just wreck a guy because he's slower than you, then complain that the system is flawed and you got screwed. You don't see Jeff Gordon or Mark Martin or Tony Stewart running over Dave Blaney or Joe Nemechek, you see them using patience. It works. Accept your fate, finish 24th, and keep in mind that the handicap system will reward you the next week with a better starting spot.

But taking a very positive thing like the two-division merger -- which provided the excitement it was intended to provide for race fans (which are more important in this business right now than they've ever been), and which began to lay the groundwork for the future survival of both classes -- and ruining it in six weeks is a shame. Tom Curley was beat up all year about it by the whiners, and finally he had to do something or he was going to start losing race teams. But I'll tell you this: Curley should have stuck to his guns and kept the divisions together, and here's hoping he goes back to the way it was two weeks ago. If the whiners want to quit, let 'em quit. Let 'em go somewhere else and run single-file every week and have a great time finishing sixth over and over if that's what they want. When they decide after a couple years of boring "racing" that they really did like Thunder Road, but they come back and the divisions are gone because a solution couldn't be found to appease every last driver, then they'll realize that they made a mistake by taking things for granted and throwing a tantrum.

No one is bigger than the show.

***

AROUND THE REGION:

Time to take a look at the top Vermonters from the past weekend...

ACT Late Model Tour: Point leader Scott Payea of Milton finished third at Kawartha Speedway's Summer Sizzler 200 on Sunday behind New Hampshire racers Brad Leighton and Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. Williston's Brian Hoar was sixth, and Chip Grenier of Graniteville finished tenth.

ACT Tiger Sportsman Tri-State Series: Shawn Duquette of Morrisonville, N.Y. won the series' opening round at Airborne Speedway on Sunday in a 100-lap race. Jason Bonnett of St. Albans was awarded the runner-up position after Tylor Terry failed inspection. ACT Late Model Tour regular Joey Becker of Jeffersonville was seventh, Joey Roebrts of Georgia was ninth, and Shawn Fleury of Middlesex was tenth. Former Daytona 500 winner Geoff Bodine finished sixth.

Airborne Speedway (Plattsburgh, N.Y.): Aaron Bartemy of Sheldon earned his first career Modified feature win on Sunday night with Don Scarborough of Brandon fifth. Kevin Boutin of Swanton finished fourth in the Renegades with Lance Rabtoy of Fairfax sixth, Milton's Rob Gordon eighth, and Mike Terry of Grand Isle tenth. Curtis Demore of Milton was ninth in the Bomber feature.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway (Malta, N.Y.): Todd Stone of Middlebury continued a strong season by finishing third in the 358 Modified feature on Friday night, while Rob Langevin of Londonderry finished second in the Sportsman event. Frank Hoard, III of Manchester was tenth in the Budget Sportsman race. Londonderry's Lori Langevin was fifth in the Pro Street Stock race with Castleton's Ed Thompson sixth and Fred Little of Salisbury eighth.

Bear Ridge Speedway (Bradford): Saturday's Mid-Season Championship races were postponed by rains that moved in during qualifying heats.

Canaan Dirt Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Gene Pierson of East Corinth finished fourth in the Sportsman Modified event on Friday night, while Dave Lacasse of Thetford Center was fifth. Street Stock top guns Will Hull of East Montpelier and Dan Eastman of Thetford Center stuggled, finishing eighth and ninth, respectively. Josh Sunn of White River Junction was third in the Mini Stock race with Wilder's Andy Johnson fourth and Ryan Dutton of Bradford fifth.

Canaan Fair Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Chris Wilk of Mendon finished fourth in the Pro Stock feature on Sunday, then won the Super Street race over Bradford's Arnie Stygles. Chris Riendeau of Ascutney was the Pure Stock winner, while Jamie Hodgdon, also of Ascutney, was fifth. Chris McKinstry of Thetford won the Outlaw Mini race with Robert Gioia of East Thetford third and Bobby Prior of White River Junction fourth. Bruce Jaycox of Hartland won the Bandit feature over Quechee's Kyle Small, while Ascutney's Tyler Lescord was fourth.

Devil's Bowl Speedway (West Haven): In a 50-lap Ridge Runner Series race won by C.V. "Butch" Elms on Sunday, Middlebury's Hunter Bates finished sixth in the Budget Sportsman division, with Cullen Howe of South Londonderry ninth. Lori Langevin of Londonderry was third in the Pro Street Stock feature with Carl Vladyka of Fair Haven fourth, Fred Little of Salisbury fifth, Chuck Towslee of Manchester sixth, and Jeff Washburn of Benson tenth. Mike Clark of Brandon was the Limited winner over Hydeville's Bill Duprey. Kayla Bryant of Rutland won the six-cylinder Mini Stock race, Nathan Woodworth of Essex Junction was the top four-cylinder Mini, and Chris Murray of Poultney was the Duke Stock runner-up.

Monadnock Speedway (Winchester, N.H.): Vernon's Heath Renaud finished 11th in the Super Stock race on Saturday, one spot better than Putney driver Dana Shepard. Joe Rogers of Ludlow was ninth in the Mini Stock feature. The Modified feature was rained out, as were the four- and eight-cylinder Enduros.

PASS North Super Late Models: Rookie Steven Legendre of Danville finished a career-best sixth on Saturday at Thompson Int'l Speedway in Connecticut, then finished 23rd at Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire on Tuesday night. Derek Ramstrom won at Thompson, while Johnny Clark was the Lee winner.

Riverside Speedway (Groveton, N.H.): Mike Paquette won Saturday's rain-shortened Late Model feature. Paul Schartner, III of Lyndonville was fourth with St. Johnsbury's Bob Ailes, Sr. fifth. All other features were rained out.

Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl (Barre): Grant Folsom of Waitsfield earned his first career Late Model win on Thursday over Montpelier's Phil Scott, Jean-Paul Cyr of Milton, Mike Bailey of South Barre, and Middlesex's Dave Pembroke. Eric Badore of Milton took his first career Tiger Sportsman victory over Northfield's Jeff French, Barre's Cody Blake, Ray Stearns of East Corinth, and Mark Barnier of Essex Junction. Hyde Park rookie Tucker Williams took his second Street Stock win of the season over Williamstown's Mike MacAskill, Gary Mullen of Tunbridge, Jason Corliss of Danville, and Tommy Smith of Williamstown. Ken Christman of Cabot raced to his first career Junkyard Warrior win over Montpelier's Alex Whitcomb, Waitsfield drivers Troy Kingsbury and Kevin Streeter, and Mark LaFleche of Williamstown.

True Value Modified Racing Series: Dwight Jarvis of Ascutney finished eighth in the Laticrete/Port City 100 at Lee USA Speedway on Saturday night. Veteran driver Jimmy Kuhn, Jr. took his first career TVMRS win.

Twin State Speedway (Claremont, N.H.): Dallas Trombley of Rutland was the Late Model runner-up on Friday night, with Ascutney's Chris Riendeau fifth. Zach Jewett of Perkinsville finished fifth in the Modified feature, while Ascutney rookie Joey Jarvis beat his father, Peter Jarvis, for sixth. Nate Kehoe of Windham was eighth. Russ Davis of Cavendish was third in the Super Street race with fifth Mendon's Chris Wilk fourth. Tara Tarbell of Springfield was second in the Strictly Stock feature with Michael Burke of Bellows Falls fifth, West Hartford's Jeremy Blood sixth, and Josh Lovely of Barre seventh. The Wildcat finish was a carbon copy of the week before, with Jeremiah Losee of North Springfield winning over Cody Small of Hartland and Cavendish driver Rob Leitch.

White Mountain Motorsports Park (North Woodstock, N.H.): Stevie Parker of Lyndonville finished third in the Strictly Stock race on Saturday night with Milton's Gordie Stone seventh. Concord's Rubin Call won the Strictly Stock Mini feature. The Late Model event was rained out.

***

Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre is in action on Thursday night with the double-points Mid-Season Championships. Regular events will be held at Albany-Saratoga, Canaan Dirt, and Twin State on Friday. Saturday has the grand re-opening of Northeastern Speedway in Lower Waterford, while the True Value Modified Racing Series at Oxford Plains Speedway, Granite State Mini Sprints and previously rained-out Mid-Season Championships for the weekly divisions are at Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford, Late Model Triple-25s are at White Mountain Motorsports Park, and regular events are held at Airborne, Canaan Fair, and Riverside. Devil's Bowl Speedway in West Haven will have kids rides on Sunday, while Oxford Plains Speedway hosts the $25,000-to-win TD Banknorth 250.

Don't Forget: Northeastern Speedway Re-Opening on Saturday

We're headed to the grand re-opening of Northeastern Speedway in Lower Waterford on Saturday, July 18, and we suggest you might do the same.

If you're headed to Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine for TD Banknorth 250 weekend, we highly recommend that you make the four-mile detour off Route 2 and witness a piece of New England racing history. Northeastern is a 1/5-mile bullring that operated from 1959-1966 as both a dirt track and an asphalt track, and was the catalyst and sister speedway to Barre's Thunder Road. Vermont's first organized auto racing sanctioning body and promotional team was spearheaded at Northeastern Speedway.

Paul and Lise Bellefeuille have purchased the facility and done a total renovation over the last 18 months, and will re-open the speedway exactly 50 years to the day after its first race, which was won by eventual track champion Johnny Gammell of nearby St. Johnsbury.

Gammell is expected to be in attendance at the gathering, along with 1960 champion Glen Andrews and many great drivers of the Northeastern era. As many as 50 vintage race cars from the New England Antique Racers (NEAR), Senior Tour Auto Racers (STAR), and Maine Vintage Race Car Association (MVRCA) clubs will be on hand, including a handful of original Norteastern Speedway cars.

Northeastern Speedway is located on Route 18 in Lower Waterford, Vt., just five minutes from St. Johnsbury. Festivities begin at 9:00am, with parade laps starting at 2:15pm. Click here for more information.

(PHOTO: Northeastern Speedway owners Paul and Lise Bellefeuille are ready to open their nostalgic track in Lower Waterford for its 50th anniversary reunion on Saturday. Photo courtesy Northeastern Speedway)

The Juice: Finally, Thunder Road Opens

-by Justin St. Louis

O... M... G... Thursday, June 11 can't come fast enough, and as this is being written, it's less than 24 hours away. There isn't much to really say, other than 'Hurrah!' or maybe 'Yippie!', because Thunder Road opens its weekly Thursday night season, and that means the rest of summer can finally get underway. Not sure if you know this, but there's a law in Vermont that no fun is allowed to be had outside of the Thursday racing season. So, yeah, sorry about the last, um, nine and a half months.

Here's what's on tap: the Late Models kick off their championship campaign, while the Tiger Sportsman class tries for a race somewhere between the flag-to-flag run on opening day and the carnage that took place on Memorial Day, the Street Stock/Warrior combo (finally) provides a healthy portion of rollovers and twisted race cars, and the New England Antique Racers celebrate the T-Road 50th in style.

"Kings of the Road" Phil Scott and Cris Michaud will each try to become the first-ever four-time Late Model champion, but have to fend off other past title winners in Dave Pembroke, Jamie Fisher, Dave Whitcomb, and defending champ Eric Williams. (Is Pete Fecteau gonna be there or what?) Plus, seven-time ACT champion Jean-Paul Cyr has thrown his hat in the ring, Joey Laquerre says he's running for the title, and you can't forget guys like John Donahue, Trampas Demers, Robbie Crouch, and the youngsters like the ever-improving Brooks Clark. We've also heard that Rich Lowrey, who ran at Twin State Speedway a couple weeks ago, is back for the full go, and Tour driver Eric Chase is running the entire Thursday night schedule, too.

Throw the freakin' green already!

***

As I sit here this morning munching on strawberry frosted Pop Tarts, sipping berry Juicy Juice, and listening to Road Apples, I can't help but still get a chuckle over Guitargate. The fans hate him and the media can't figure out what to make of him, but I'm here to tell you that Kyle Busch is just awesome.

Sam Bass, the legendary NASCAR artist, was a bit disappointed that his gorgeous Gibson Les Paul guitar-trophy, specially painted to commemorate the Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville Superspeedway, was smashed rock star-style by Busch following his win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Saturday. Granted, Bass put a reported 150 hours' worth of work into the piece, and his creations are always something to behold, plus, a Les Paul with or without artwork on it is an iconic piece of equipment, held by many in a holy light. (If I had one, the last thing I'd do is smash it. Heck, I'd probably be too afraid to even play it.) There's no doubt that some feelings were hurt by Busch's celebration.

But honestly -- and you've read this same opinion by dozens of columnists across the country by now, and twice as many opposing views -- NASCAR should be giving its least-favorite son a big ol' pat on the back and reserving the best motorcoach spot in the 'A' lot for Kyle Busch. In a financial struggle that an already-slumping NASCAR so desperately needs to pull itself out of, and fast, Busch is the EMT paddles shocking the heartbeat back into the once-unstoppably growing beast that an all-too-blah NASCAR has recently become.

It's sickening that the only two guys you read about anymore are Busch and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. For crying out loud, I'm writing about them right now. Everything they do (but little else, save for our favorite meth-head, Jeremy Mayfield) draws headlines to the sport: Busch Wins, Junior Struggles. Junior Gets a New Crew Chief, Busch Criticizes. Busch Ignores Media, Junior Finishes 12th. Busch Smashes Guitar, Junior's Probably Unhappy About It. Jimmie Johnson? Who's that? Three championships you say? Never heard of him.

And as much as NASCAR has defrocked its drivers for making any sort of PR-unfriendly waves lately, it needs to change its stance on that and emphasize tenfold a villian like Kyle Busch. They promote Earnhardt, Jr. to no end, despite the fact that he's been nothing more than an also-ran for two years. He's still popular, so they capitalize. Well, NASCAR, if Junior is God, then consider Busch the anti-Christ and use that to your advantage. Who cares if people don't like him? Rather than skirt an Earnhardt-Busch rivalry and any possible controversy, tell your pro-Dale fans to show up and root against the jerk. Create a souvenir line promoting their dislike for each other. Do something.

It's classic promotion, and NASCAR is missing the boat by not calling every race a "showdown between two legends in the making" or some stupid thing. Twenty-five years ago, that's what they would have done (see: Dale "One Tough Customer" Earnhardt, Sr. vs. Darrell "Jaws" Waltrip). Until NASCAR realizes that old-school promotion still works, it will continue to struggle, it will continue to be 40,000 seats short of a full house at one of its best tracks, Dover Int'l Speedway, and it will continue to see interest wane.

***

The MotorMag has been to ten races this season, and we've been impressed by quite a few racers. Of course, there are a lot of races and drivers we haven't seen, but for our money, this is who's at the top of heap so far this season. Here's the Top Ten Through Ten:

1. Scott Payea, Milton, Vt., ACT Late Model Tour -- A win and three thirds out of five starts is pretty impressive anywhere. To do it against 40 stout Late Model teams on a touring series brings it to a whole different level.
2. Chris Donnelly, Piermont, N.H., Bear Ridge Speedway -- It'll be a surprise if anyone else takes the Sportsman Modified championship at Bear Ridge this season. Donnelly is on fire with two wins, a second, and a third in four starts.
3. Jon McKennedy, Chelmsford, Mass., True Value Modified Racing Series -- In the two TVMRS races we've seen young McKennedy in this season (Monadnock and Thunder Road), he was robbed of two wins -- one by a stuff job into the wall, the other from a bad radiator. The kid is good.
4. Quinny Welch, Lancaster, N.H., ACT Late Model Tour -- Unless things have changed, The Q is still taking his ACT season one race at a time. For a guy that's run only weekly events at, what, two tracks in his life, he's sure getting it done on the Tour. Can't think of anything that would be sweeter than Welch winning the ACT show at White Mountain in two weeks and getting that invite to Loudon.
5. Martin Roy, Napierville, Qué., Airborne Speedway -- Again, a guy I've only seen twice this year, but he won both races. The first, yup, he got in the tech line, but he had the fastest car on the track and drove the smartest line in both races.
6. Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, N.H., ACT Late Model Tour -- After an inconsistent season last year, I was still a bit unsure of how ready Joey Polewarczyk was to challenge for the ACT title. Now I know. He's there.
7. Dwight Jarvis, Ascutney, Vt., True Value Modified Racing Series -- Two back-to-front performances at Monadnock and T-Road, plus another one I didn't get the chance to see at Twin State. One of my greatest racing regrets is that I didn't spend more time growing up around Modifieds as a kid to see Dwight Jarvis in action.
8. Tucker Williams, Hyde Park, Vt., Thunder Road -- How do you not admire this kid? In two lifetime starts at Thunder Road, he's got a win and a third on his résumé. Granted, that's going to change as the season gets going and the rookie will surely get schooled now and then, but for now, way to go!
9. Josh Harrington, Topsham, Vt., Bear Ridge Speedway -- The fields aer a bit short in Harrington's Sportsman Coupe division, but there's no denying his talent. He dominated the first two features of the year and won a very smoothly calculated race in the third week.
10. Derrick O'Donnell, Bradford, Vt., Thunder Road -- The breakthrough driver for 2009? Still only a youngster, O'Donnell is really beginning to find himself near the top of the Tiger Sportsman division all the time, and enters the Thursday night season as the point leader.

We'll see how this list looks in about three or four weeks as the race season rolls on.

***

Got this photo from Paul and Lise Bellefeuille of the newly-built-but-retro-designed ticket booth at Northeastern Speedway in Waterford. We've said it a bunch of times, and we'll say it a bunch more: the July 18th reunion at Northeastern is simply a can't-miss date for any Vermont race fan.

***

Oh man, is there some money flowing through that Super DIRTcar Series deal. We made a mental note at Airborne that we hadn't seen that many stacker trailers at a short track race since the Busch North Series was still on short tracks. Too bad the day got rained out, but it was neat to see the local Small Block cars running as fast as the high-dollar Big Blocks, especially Jason Durgan, who had a real bad wreck the week before.

***

AROUND THE REGION:

Time to take a look at the top Vermonters from the past weekend...

Airborne Speedway (Plattsburgh, N.Y.): Sunday's Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series event was rained out.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway (Malta, N.Y.): Brett Hearn won his fifth 358 Modified race in seven starts on Friday night, while Fair Haven's Dave Camara came home fifth. Middlebury's Todd Stone was seventh. Rob Langevin of Londonderry finished fifth in the Sportsman feature. Chuck Towslee of Manchester Center won the Pro Street Stock event, with Fair Haven's Ed Thompson fourth and Lori Langevin of Londonderry fifth.

Bear Ridge Speedway (Bradford): Jason Gray of East Thetford earned his first Sportsman Modified win on Saturday night, with Thetford Center's Wayne Stearns fourth. Bob Shepard and Bryan King, both of Corinth, finished sixth and seventh, with Bradford's Jeremy Huntoon ninth. Melvin Pierson of Topsham earned his first Sportsman Coupe win of the season, followed by Jason Horniak and Billy Simmons, both of Bradford. Thetford Center's Dan Eastman won the Limited Late Model feature over Bradford's Jeremy Hodge. Andy Johnson of Wilder picked up his second Fast Four win of the season over St. Johnsbury's Kevin Harran, while Bobby Lee Bell of St. Johnsbury beat Bradford's Tom Placey in the Hornet class. Lacey Hanson of Orwell won the Granite State Mini Sprint 500cc race.

Canaan Dirt Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Thetford Center's Dave Lacasse finished fourth in the Modified feature on Friday night, while Tyler Stygles led a Green Mountain podium sweep in the Street Stock division. Stygles, of Bradford, led Thetford Center's Dan Eastman and East Montpelier's Will Hull across the stripe. Josh Sunn of White River Junction was the runner-up in the Mini Stock race with Wilder's Andy Johnson third, while Bradford's Tom Placey won the Bandit race. Lacey Hanson of Orwell finished eighth in the SCONE 360 Sprint Car feature.

Devil's Bowl Speedway (Fair Haven): Jimmy Ryan of Whiting finished second to Kenny Tremont on Sunday in the 358 Modified event, with Middlebury's Todd Stone third. Vince Quenneville, Jr. of Brandon was fifth, one better than Orwell's Tim LaDuc. Frank Hoard, III of Manchester finished fourth in the Budget Sportsman feature with Middlebury's Hunter Bates on his tail. Chuck Towslee made it a perfect weekend in the Pro Street Stock feature after winning Friday at Malta, N.Y., while Lori Langevin of Londonderry ended a tough streak of finishes in second place. Bill Durpey won the Limited feature with Don Williams of Ripton second and Mike Clark of Brandon third.

Empire Super Sprints: Anthony Cain of Fairfax finished 13th at Autodrome Granby on Friday night, then finished 14th at Autodrome Drummond on Saturday. Orwell's James Hanson was 18th in both races.

Monadnock Speedway (Winchester, N.H.): Dana Shepard of Putney finished 12th in the Super Stock race on Saturday night, and Ludlow's Joe Rogers was ninth in the Mini Stock feature.

NASCAR Nationwide Series: Kevin Lepage of Shelburne made his 250th career Nationwide Series start on Saturday, finishing 34th at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway after an engine failure.

Riverside Speedway (Groveton, N.H.): Pending a committee meeting on Friday, June 12, concerning the finish of Saturday Bond Auto 100 Late Model event, Morrisville's Dwayne Lanphear was the runner-up with St. Johnsbury's Bob Ailes, Sr. fifth. Dilyn Swister of West Burke finished third in the Super Stock feature. Lyndonville's Dean Switser, Jr. finished second in the Street Stock race with Rick Utley, Jr. of Wheelock third and William "Weiner" Hennequin of Morrisville fourth. Ernie LaPlant of Lyndonville won the Dwarf Car race. Andy Simpson of Lyndon Center was second in the Cyclone race.

Série ACT-Castrol: Donald Theetge won the Le AIM Québec 150 at Autodrome Chaudière on Saturday night; Trampas Demers of South Burlington finished 22nd, while Graniteville's Pete Potvin, III finished 25th.

Utica-Rome Speedway (Vernon, N.Y.): John Scarborough of Bomoseen finished eighth in the Sportsman feature on Sunday.

True Value Modified Racing Series: Dwight Jarvis of Ascutney drove from 24th at the start to finish second in the Granite State Harley-Davidson 100 at Twin State Speedway on Friday night. Bruce Batchelder of Perkinsville was 13th, with Ascutney's Peter Jarvis 15th.

Twin State Speedway (Claremont, N.H.): Dola Holland of Ludlow finished fourth in the Late Model feature on Friday with Rutland's Dallas Trombley 10th. Ascutney driver Chris Riendeau held the lead until being taken out on the final lap; he finished 13th officially. Rookie Joey Jarvis of Ascutney earned a career-best runner-up finish in the Pepsi Modified feature with Windham's Nate Kehoe third. Chris Wilk of Mendon and Russ Davis of Cavendish finished 1-2 in the Super Street feature, while Michael Burke of Bellows Falls earned his first Strictly Stock win of the year. Dickie Houle of West Brattleboro won the Wildact feature over Rob Leitch of Cavendish and Hartland's Cody Small.

White Mountain Motorsports Park (North Woodstock, N.H.): Tyler Cahoon of St. Johnsbury finished second in a wild Late Model feature Saturday night behind first-time winner Jeremy Davis. Stevie Parker of Lyndonville was fifth in the Strictly Stock feature, while Concord's Rubin Call finished fourth in the Strictly Stock Mini race ahead of Plainfield's Jason Corliss.

***

Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre opens its 50th weekly season on Thursday at 6:30. Albany-Saratoga, Canaan Dirt, and Twin State speedways are all in action on Friday night, while Saturday will see regular events at Airborne, Bear Ridge, Canaan Fair, Mondanock, Riverside, and White Mountain. The ACT Late Model Tour is at Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl on Saturday, while the Série ACT-Castrol is at Capital City Speedway in Ottawa, Ont. The PASS North Super Late Models travel to Speedway 660 in New Brunswick on Saturday, and the True Value Modified Racing Series is at Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway. Devil's Bowl and Utica-Rome speedways return to action on Sunday.


(PHOTOS: 1. Breathe... breathe... breathe... it'll be here soon; 2. Kyle Busch, Sam Bass, and (most of) Les Paul; 3. You know how on "Rob & Big" they say 'Do Work'? Scott Payea is doing work; 4. Martin Roy (#90) blowing by everyone three-wide; 5. Northeastern Speedway is really coming together. Photos 1 and 3 by Justin St. Louis/VMM; Photo 2 by Chris Graythem/Getty Images for NASCAR; Photo 4 by Leif Tillotson; Photo 5 courtesy Paul Bellefeuille/Northeastern Speedway)

Got a few minutes? Check this out...

If you're a racing history buff, check out our sister site, Northeast Racing Stats Central and take a look at the Northeastern Speedway Index.

Northeastern Speedway was a 1/5-mile track in Lower Waterford, Vt. just outside St. Johnsbury that raced from 1959-1966. The track was dirt for the first two seasons before paving in 1961, and is credited by some as the birthplace of organized auto racing in Vermont. Its creation led directly to the opening of Barre's Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in 1960. Some of the region's biggest stock car racing heroes were regulars at Northeastern during its heyday, including the Ingerson brothers, Ronnie Marvin, Johnny Gammell, Stub Fadden, and Chester T. Wood, to name a few.

After sitting dormant for more than 40 years, Paul Bellefeuille of St. Johnsbury has purchased the facility and will re-open the track for nostalgia events this summer. The opening date is Saturday, July 18: 50 years to the day after Northeastern Speedway's first-ever race.

For those of you heading over Route 2 on the way to Oxford Plains Speedway's TD Banknorth 250 that weekend (or even if you're not), we highly recommend taking the 4-mile detour onto Route 18 to join in the celebration. Last we heard, there will be no less than eight restored racers that actually competed at the track on display.

In addition to the stats, Bill Ladabouche has a page at CatamountStadium.com dedicated to the track. Our thanks to Paul Bellefeuille, Bill Ladabouche, Cho Lee, Big Bigelow, and the many others involved in preserving an important piece of Vermont racing history.

(Chet Wood photo courtesy ACT Archives/CatamountStadium.com)