Devil's Bowl to Asphalt?

Multiple unofficial reports from Albany-Saratoga Speedway on Sunday are saying that Devil's Bowl Speedway in West Haven will be paved as soon as this week.

As we first reported in July, Albany-Saratoga was rumored to be switching from dirt racing to asphalt for 2010, due to pressure from a new microchip company in the town of Malta, N.Y., where the track is located.

Bruce Richards, president of the Champlain Valley Racing Association (CVRA) and promoter of the Albany-Saratoga and Devil's Bowl tracks, has removed the clay racing surface at Albany-Saratoga for a pair of race events this month and announced special asphalt events for early in the 2010 season -- including appearances by the ACT Late Model Tour, the True Value Modified Racing Series, and the ISMA Super Modifieds -- but that the clay would be returned to the track in mid-May.

Richards reportedly announced during an event at the track on Sunday, however, that Albany-Saratoga would continue to operate strictly as a dirt track next year, and that its sister speedway, the 4/10-mile Devil's Bowl Speedway, would follow suit with paving expected to begin at Devil's Bowl within the week.

Both tracks have operated with dirt and asphalt surfaces, but have been dirt tracks since the late 1970s, with the exception of one-time-only asphalt events in the early 1990s. Should Devil's Bowl Speedway return to full-time asphalt racing in 2010, it would be the second paved track in Vermont, joining the 1/4-mile Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre; Bear Ridge Speedway, a 1/4-mile clay track in Bradford, is Vermont's only other operational race track.

Stay tuned to Vermont Motorsports Magazine for information and updates as they become available -- and official.

The Juice -- Why the World Needs Eric Williams, and a Big, Fat Thank You

-by Justin St. Louis

I was never a big fan of Eric Williams when I was a kid sitting in the grandstands at Thunder Road. I didn't hate him -- I booed Clem Despault and Dwayne Lanphear a lot more, for some unknown reason -- but I can't remember ever thinking he was "my guy" to cheer for.

He was exciting to watch, that's for sure: Like on the night he pushed someone (maybe Tom Tiller?) totally sideways -- and I'm talking nose-in-the-driver's-door-at-a-90-degree-angle sideways -- for more than a quarter of a lap, or the year he won almost half of the Flying Tiger features from the rear of the field, or all those nights he was black-flagged for whacking someone else for no apparent reason. It was long-known that Williams operated his team on a shoestring budget, hauling his car on an open trailer for longer than almost every other Late Model team. His cars almost never looked show-ready, although they were fast. And his fan club was notoriously loud, sometimes nasty, and always controversial.

As I grew up and eventually became a racer myself, I still watched and marveled at Williams, as he started becoming a constant threat for victory lane, no matter where he went. And the excitement continued: His year-long championship battle with Brian Hoar in 1999 that ultimately came down to Hoar's final-corner pass of Jamie Fisher to win the Milk Bowl and the "King of the Road" title by one point, his razor-close finish in an ACT Late Model Tour race at Canaan Fair Speedway with Dave Pembroke, his opening-day battle with Dale Shaw in 2004, his season-long confrontations with John Donahue the next year. The cars were still ugly and the fan club still cheered.

And in the last few years as I've gotten to know Williams on a bit more of a personal level through work, at least through interviews and whatnot, I've come to this conclusion: Thunder Road International Speedbowl needs Eric Williams. The American-Canadian Tour needs Eric Williams. The northeast is lucky to have him.

When Williams pulls into a race track, he's an immediate darkhorse for the win. He is certainly one of the most feared Late Model drivers at Thunder Road. He's a major threat at White Mountain Motorsports Park. And this year, he certainly stepped up his game on the flatter tracks at Oxford Plains Speedway and Beech Ridge Motor Speedway. Due to his limited budget, Williams missed three of the 13 ACT events on the schedule, and was forced to use each of his finishes to count toward the ACT championship in the "Pick 10" points format. So while Brian Hoar was able to drop his 22nd-place finish at White Mountain, Scott Payea scratched a 19th from Oxford in May, and John Donahue excluded a 20th at Thunder Road, Williams had no choice but to use his 27th-place finish at Twin State and two bad showings at Airborne Speedway. And he still finished seventh in points, better than eight teams that went to every race.

The Eric Williams mystique goes way beyond that, though; he is a true character, and the catalyst for anyone with a dream. Williams owns and operates a small, one-man auto repair shop in his home town of Hyde Park, up in far-from-everything Lamoille County. With the modest income that shop creates, he and wife Lisa tackle the regular chores of owning a home, putting their daughter Lacey through college, and preparing for son Tucker's entry into school next year. Health issues involving Williams' brother and parents have been a recent distraction, and two years ago, a mudslide threatened to wash away the family's home. Tucker, 18, has a race car and is a multi-sport athlete in high school, which, again, takes time and money. It's a snapshot of small-town Vermont working hard to make a living and still have some fun on the side.

And Williams himself is a relic of small-town Vermont. The 46 year-old stands like a piece of rough-cut lumber, and speaks like a guy that might have chopped the tree down. "Thunder Road," he once told me, with the type of native Vermont accent found closer to the Canadian and northern New York borders than to the Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire borders, "is a whole diff'rent breed'a cat. If you can win here, I guess you can prob'ly win anywhere."

He speaks deliberately, which can be funny, even if he's not trying to be funny. Maybe that's the Chittenden County "city boy" in me giggling over the words he says, knowing they're on purpose, although my own accent has thickened of late, and my Vermontisms (I caught myself saying "move it just a frogskin more" the other day) have picked up. Williams looks at you when he talks, and has a piercing gaze in his eyes. He smiles, a little, when he speaks, and it's obvious that even though he's probably tired, he's enjoying himself.

His line following his win at Oxford last week: "I figured as long I didn't do anything mentally challenged I'll be just fine," will forever live in my mind as one of my favorite interview quotes. But he's had some other good ones recently, too.

The 11-second summary of his third-place finish in the Milk Bowl: "We had a piece of crap in the first segment, had a really good car in the second segment but got boxed in, and then the third, the car was so-so but just worked out. Did alright."

At Thunder Road's pre-season practice session in April, speaking about losing his sponsor despite winning the track championship the year before: "I don't race to prove things, I race because I like to race. I'm glad that I had a good year, if that happens to be my last full-time year, you never know. I'd like to think the economy will turn around. If I hang around at least some, maybe something will come along. I certainly ain't saying I'm all done racing, it's just as of right now I don't have the funds to race full-time."

On the possibility that he might race full-time after winning the Merchants Bank 150 season opener at Thunder Road in May: "I can't really comment and give you anything other than baloney right now, I just don't know. To be honest with you, the first thing that crossed my mind was 'Hey, I can go to Airborne now.' I had a good day, I got some money for tires, so we're headed across the lake next Saturday and give that new pavement a whirl."

On how small his team feels compared to those of the high-budget ACT Late Model Tour operations: "We come down here every year to the first big race, we pull in with our little hauler and trailer. Some of these rigs I could park my hauler and truck inside their rig and still have a picnic underneath it, you know? And you stand there and you look around and you almost say, 'Man, what am I doing? This is crazy.'"

Regarding ACT president Tom Curley: "I'd like to finish top-ten in points. We'd get a check anyway, and I wouldn't mind a little bit more of ol' T-Bone's money. It spends nice."

Eric Williams is maybe the hardest racer in the last 20 years at Thunder Road. He fights for every spot, he isn't afraid to move people if he has to, and he works on his own equipment with his own money. His reputation preceeds him, too.

Nick Sweet at White Mountain in June: "I hate seeing that black bumper in my mirror. He's always run me clean, but I still let him go if he wants a spot."

Scott Payea, after rough-housing Williams a little at Thunder Road on the last lap of a Labor Day qualifying heat: "He would have done it to me, too. He has."

John Donahue, after winning the Milk Bowl: "You don't want to piss Eric off, because he gets mad and he don't forget."

No driver creates more controversy at Thunder Road these days than Eric Williams. No driver gets more of a rise -- good or bad -- out of the spectators than Eric Williams. No driver in the ACT ranks gets booed more than Eric Williams. No driver wins big races on a short budget like Eric Williams. And you'd be hard-pressed to find many drivers saying the things Eric Williams says. He might be a hero to only a select group of family and friends wearing red #7 shirts, a villain to everyone else. But he's a wonderful character for the sport.

We need him around.

***

Still all wound up about that Hart 100 thing. Good lord was that fun. We're contemplating doing the Hangover Enduro thing at Riverside in January on New Year's Day. Guess that means we'd have to go dig the car out of the ditch at Bucktona then, eh? Speaking of which, Riverside has the annual "Frostbite" Enduro on Saturday at 1:30pm, along with the PASS Sportsman Series finale.

***

There's a pretty large contingent of northern racers headed to Dixie for the PASS South Mason-Dixon Meltdown at South Boston Speedway in Virginia this weekend, including Danville racer Steven Legendre, ACT Rookie of the Year Joey Doiron, and jack-of-all-trades D.J. Shaw. Legendre, we think, is the PASS North Rookie of the Year, but there's been nothing made publicly official about that. Even Legendre said he doesn't know if he won it or not, because PASS isn't saying anything. Either way, he grabbed three top-tens in a dozen starts in his freshman season en route to 11th place overall, and those are better numbers than some of the series' veterans put up. Doiron finished 12th in ACT points with a fourth-place run at Twin State Speedway and an impressive outing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last month, and also had a great PASS effort at Beech Ridge earlier in the year. Shaw had five top-fives in 11 PASS starts this year, and also ran well in select ACT and NASCAR Camping World Series East races.

***

Peanut butter and jelly on white bread just isn't the same. And for that matter, Smuckers needs to step up its game. Even the Shaw's generic store brand stuff is better.

***

Ascutney's Dwight Jarvis was the runner-up behind Mike Stefanik in the True Value Modified Racing Series event at Seekonk Speedway last Sunday. What, I say, what does Jarvis have to do to win a race these days? Seekonk was Jarvis' fifth second-place run of the year. I'm guessing when you've won 19 championships in your career like Jarvis has, second place gets old after a while. The TVMRS bunch has one more stop on the schedule at Lee USA Speedway in coastal New Hampshire on Oct. 24/25 before the year is out.

***

I've come across a bit of a dilemma here, now that racing season is all but over in these parts. I'm not really sure what VMM will be up to in the next few days, weeks, or months, but I'll think of something. And when I do, you'll read about it here. Because there's kinda nowhere else to read it.

But I do want to thank each and every one of the readers to visit this little blog this year. I started a hit counter on April 1st and saw the 50,000th visitor come through last month, not quite six months into the count. I have no idea if that's a good number or not, but it sure sounds like a lot, so thank you for reading. And a huge thank you to the groups that have joined on recently to support us: RPM Racing Engines in Georgia, Vt., Burnett Scrap Metals in Williston, and C&S Screenprinting in Richmond.

The MotorMag hit 48 races this year (55 if you count rainouts), and I'm thinking about getting to one or two more before the calendar changes. I made a lot of friends, ruffled a few feathers, and saw some great racing. I developed a new appreciation for dirt racing, and although I still don't totally understand it, I like it and want to see more of it. There are some plans for VMM for the future, and they'll come along in time.

I want to send a special thank-you to the folks that do this job a lot better than I do, including but certainly not limited to Travis Barrett of Green-White-Checker, Seth Leavitt of WCAX-TV Channel 3, Big Bigelow of the Caledonian-Record, Tom Herzig of the Times Argus and the Union Leader, Mike Twist of Speed51.com, T.J. Michaels of Frank 107.1 FM, Lee Kittell of WDEV Radio Vermont, and Phil Whipple of the Lewiston (Me.) Sun Journal.

A HUGE thanks to photographers Leif Tillotson and Alan Ward for their help this year, and also to Jamie Williams.

Thanks to Pete Hartt for being there. Anna Grearson, too.

Thanks to my old man, Ron, and my friends Eddy and Jeff Companion for helping out with a few things this summer, and to both Gene Gagnes (Lil and Big) for sharing a tank of gas here and there.

Thanks to John O. Casey, Dave Moody, Cho Lee, the legends of Thunder Road, the staff at Queen City Printers, and the fans that have so enthusiastically supported "Fifty Years of Excitement".

I would be forgetting myself if I didn't thank the promoters and staff at the following tracks and series for their help, cooperation, and belief that VMM is worthwhile to them: Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Bear Ridge Speedway, Airborne Speedway, Northeastern Speedway, White Mountain Motorsports Park, Oxford Plains Speedway, Fred Neergaard and New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Twin State Speedway, Riverside Speedway, Canaan Fair Speedway, the American-Canadian Tour, the True Value Modified Racing Series, and the Sprint Cars of New England.

Thanks to the drivers and teams for letting me get in their faces all year, and for not punching my lights out when they probably wanted to a couple times. (I'll probably have to thank them for that a few times over the years.)

But most of all, again, thank YOU, the readers of Vermont Motorsports Magazine. I've had comments and emails come in from everywhere all year thanking me for the stuff I've written. Folks, don't thank me, thank the drivers and the promoters for making all this happen. All I do is write down what they say and give you a place to read it. I can't tell you how flattered I am to hear someone at Thunder Road or Bear Ridge tell me that they read VMM "two or three times a day" -- say nothing of the folks that say it that are from New Hampshire or New York or Maine -- even a racer from Rhode Island once this summer!

The first year was rocky at times, but I feel like it was a positive one, overall. Here's hoping the next one or two or 17 will be even better.

Thank you, everyone, and winter well.

The Juice -- At What Point Did John Donahue Become a Star?

-by Justin St. Louis

Don't look now, but there's a new kid in town. Actually, there's nothing new about him at all, really, or kid-like. He's a hard worker with strong, dirty hands, hints of an old-time "ayuh" accent, and has been around this game for the better part of 20 years.

But all of a sudden, for the first time, John Donahue is a headline driver.

There's no telling the exact moment when he became one. Sunday, after winning the Milk Bowl? It might have been the crown jewel of his career, but it certainly wasn't his first win, or even his first important win. But in writing the post-race wrap-up of the Milk Bowl on Sunday and Monday, I found myself surprised, thinking something to the effect of, "Holy cow, Donahue's racked up quite the résumé. When did that happen?" In reality, it began a lot longer ago than I realized, maybe longer than anyone did.

A farmer by trade, the woodchuck-through-and-through Donahue rolled out of the rural Graniteville hills with a block-long Chevrolet for the "Killer B" class at Barre's Thunder Road in 1994. He recalled thinking that his car -- a larger, heavier, less powerful version of the era's Flying Tigers -- was "too slow" to have any fun in, so he moved up to the Tigers to race against his older brother, Bill, who had followed in their father Paul's footsteps as a multi-time winner and championship contender in the division.

And it turned out that "Irish John" was a chip off the ol' block, finishing third in points as a rookie. During the five seasons that followed, he would earn a pair of Thunder Road championships, a Triple Crown title at New Hampshire's Riverside Speedway, a "Tiger 50 Series" title, well over two dozen feature races at Thunder Road, Riverside, and Airborne Speedway in New York, and three Strictly Stock features at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine.

In 2002, Donahue was hired to drive an American-Canadian Tour Late Model for Lee Delphia, winning top rookie honors at Thunder Road and finishing second on the Tour to the well-financed Ryan Moore, while also taking a Limited Sportsman win at Oxford. But a split from Delphia as the season ended left Donahue without a full-time ride for 2003, and the funding for his Maine-based team dried up as well. Donahue was on the outside looking in before another car owner, Mike Thompson, put Donahue in his Late Model for 2004.

Although comparatively underfunded, the team notched a win in the 2005 regular season finale at Thunder Road, a second win in mid-2006, and was constantly a top-five threat. A few on-track tussles brought some fanfare, including a couple involving Eric Williams, one of Thunder Road's all-time great villains. Add to that the fact that T-Road impresario Ken Squier loved to say the words "Irish John Donahue" (as he still does), and the name was becoming a water cooler topic in the offices of Central Vermont each Friday morning after the races, but still rarely appeared in print, radio, or television.

A windfall ride from new car owner Kendall Roberts -- complete with flashy, high-profile sponsorship from the National Guard, a pair of brand new cars with technical support from chassis builder Dale Shaw, and the occasional performance boost in crew chief Jeff Laquerre, at least in the first season -- appeared at Donahue's door in 2007, and, as far as my best guess goes, anyway, that's probably when things really began to click. Donahue knocked off a 100-lap open win at Oxford in June and took his first ACT victory in Thunder Road's 200-lap Labor Day Classic in September. The next season, he won back-to-back races at Thunder Road, on Mother's Day and in the ACT race on Memorial Day, then finished in the top-five in points with both the weekly Thunder Road chase and the ACT Late Model Tour. But still, he was never much for the headlines.

Now, this year, Donahue scored a dominating ACT win at White Mountain Motorsports Park, has three ACT runner-up finishes, pulled down a third-place effort in the Oxford 250 after leading some laps, took fifth in the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, won last week's Milk Bowl, and is about to again finish among the top five in ACT points. And we're finally talking about him. You'll notice that Donahue has won some races, big ones at that, but like was said earlier, he's been winning from the very start. So what's made him a star now? I think the answer might be John Donahue himself.

It's easy to tell that when speaking with the media, Donahue's still not always comfortable being in the spotlight. But he's certainly come a long way from the days of his Tiger championships; Donahue won the Milk Bowl season finale in 2001 to clinch both the track and Tiger 50 titles, and he got out of the car with big smile and a two-fisted "Rocky" salute to the crowd. All well and good for photos, but his victory lane speech -- and I still remember hearing it -- was pretty much void of the content or emotion a race fan might expect to hear from a driver going through so much excitement.

Last Sunday at the Milk Bowl, though, Donahue played it up for the crowd, for the media, for Squier, for the Governor, for everybody. He performed a series of smoky, spinning burnouts while carrying the checkered flag. He dumped Booth Bros. milk down his frontside as he drank from the bowl trophy. He lifted the farm-style milk can above his head as though it was the Stanley Cup. He kissed the cow in victory lane -- on the lips -- twice. He celebrated with his family and team. As a couple of television cameras and a crowd of a half-dozen reporters stuck their microphones in Donahue's face, he flashed a confident smile, answered on-the-spot questions, and even cracked a joke or two. He never backed down from a question, gave honest answers, and even spit a little bit of fire when confronted with another driver's ruffled feathers. At White Mountain in June, his victory lane and post-race radio interviews were well-spoken and entertaining. His confidence with being a publicly prominent sports figure in the region seems to grow after every top-five finish (and he's on a streak of six straight right now).

Travis Barrett of Green-White-Checker asked Donahue on Sunday if he has felt overlooked as a top driver. I asked him a similar question after the Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne last month, speaking in terms of the ACT championship battle. And it seemed as though Donahue didn't really care if he was forgotten or not. "I'm sort of out of the picture," Donahue said at Airborne. "That's okay, make 'em think." And then he rambled on -- yes, rambled -- about how good his car and his team are, and gave this writer more than enough to fill a blog post's worth of space.

If anyone on the track, in the media, or anywhere else -- myself included -- forgot to think about John Donahue in the past, well, we won't now.

He's not the new kid in town. But he's definitely in town.

***

Three words: Bucktona International Speedway. If you don't know, ask someone who does.

***

Interesting stuff from the Milk Bowl pit meeting:

--ACT president Tom Curley said that there is "no question" that his series will be invited back to New Hampshire Motor Speedway next year. Ken Squier said the same thing.

--Curley said that the 2010 ACT Late Model Tour schedule is expected to be completed and published by the end of October. The Tour will not return to Kawartha Speedway in Ontario, but will visit "one or two new tracks".

--ACT's announcement that it will continue to sanction the Castrol Series in Canada comes this early, in part, to dispell rumors that the recent Patrick Laperle scandal drove Curley's group away. In fact, Curley said he's going back to Canada in 2010 because he's "pissed off" about the Autodrome St-Eustache incident and wants to continue holding fair races for the teams that have supported him.

--Okay, this wasn't at the pit meeting, but we overheard Curley telling third-place finisher Eric Williams that he is exploring the idea of expanding the Milk Bowl's three segments from 50 laps each to 75 laps, as early as next year. Curley thinks that another 25 laps would help bring back the possibility of the single-digit Milk Bowl win and bring back more excitement to the race. The fact that John Donahue's winning score was 17 points, and other recent winning scores have been as high as 23 points -- a far cry from Brian Hoar's 4-point win in 1998 -- means to Curley that the segments are just too short to produce the kind of racing the Milk Bowl became famous for. With the current ACT rules package, the cars are too equal to allow for three back-to-front drives through traffic. Robbie Crouch was the last driver to win every segment and score a perfect three points... in 1986. And it was a distant nine years ago that Phil Scott and Tracie Bellerose each scored eight points in the race, the most recent single-digit scores.

***

Speaking of Bellerose, she will be back in competition at Riverside Speedway on Saturday behind the wheel of a Late Model owned by Jane LeBlanc. Bellerose has been out of competition since a 10th-place ACT Late Model Tour finish at Oxford Plains Speedway in October 2007.

***

And speaking of Oxford, we'll be there on Sunday for the New England Dodge Dealers Fall Spectacular 150 and the ACT Late Model Tour season finale, welcoming a new supporter to Vermont Motorsports Magazine in Burnett Scrap Metals of Williston, Vt. Burnett has been involved in local racing for many years, and fielded a pair of race cars -- Neal Foster's Tiger Sportsman and Keith Fortier's Junkyard Warrior -- at Thunder Road in 2009.

Brian Hoar will try to fend off Scott Payea at Oxford for his sixth ACT championship, and first since 2000. Payea, of course, is looking for his first title, but will have to break his streak of not-so-good luck at Oxford. In ten career ACT starts at Oxford, Payea's got an average finish of just 12th, with a pair of sixth-place runs as his best finishes. He also has two 17ths, a 19th in May of this year, and a 22nd. Payea readily admits that Oxford is his achilles heel, and has been rumored to be building a second chassis for the 2010 season strictly to help improve his Oxford program. It'll be fun to watch, either way.

***

Rookie Jacob Dore of Sanford, Me. celebrated his first True Value Modified Racing Series win... a day after the race. Dore finished second across the finish line at Twin State Speedway on Sunday, but was named the winner of the Ricky Miller Memorial 112 on Monday after Matt Hirschman was disqualified. Dore, 20, was informed of the ruling as he was doing homework in his dorm room at the University of New Hampshire. Dwight Jarvis of Ascutney was fourth, and his nephew, Joey, finished 19th in a car normally driven by his father, Peter. The TVMRS cars now head to Seekonk Speedway in Massachusetts on Saturday and Sunday for the annual D. Anthony Venditti Memorial Fall Classic event.

The Juice: From Street Stocks to Superspeedways

-by Justin St. Louis

A decade ago, it would have been a tall order to find a driver in Thunder Road's Street Stock division thinking he or she had a legitimate shot at racing on a superspeedway. But that was a decade ago. On Tuesday and Wednesday, six graduates of the entry-level four-cylinder class turned laps around the 1.058-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. And of the 48 drivers that tested over the two-day session, 14 of them had spent time in Thunder Road's Flying Tiger or Tiger Sportsman division.

Cris Michaud, Jamie Fisher, Tyler Cahoon, Pete Potvin, Nick Sweet, and Scott Payea -- a group that any track or series would be proud to have in its pit area -- cut their teeth in the "crunch bunch" Street Stocks and have since progressed through the ranks to be considered among the elite in the northeast, earning themselves invitations to test at NHMS, with the majority of them likely earning an invitation to return back for the first-ever ACT event there on September 19.

"Twelve years ago [as a Street Stock rookie], I wouldn't have thought I'd be here," said Cahoon, the 2000 Street Stock champion at Thunder Road. "I did a Richard Petty Driving Experience here once." Wedensday, St. Johnsbury driver Cahoon, who this season has earned the first two top-ten finishes of his ACT Late Model Tour career after a very successful six-year run in the Late Model division at White Mountain Motorsports Park, spent a lot of time on the track at NHMS, much of it racing near his father, multi-time champion Stacy Cahoon.

But that Petty experience was likely as close to racing at the "Magic Mile" as Cahoon -- or any of the 14 -- would have imagined they would get.

"You hope some day maybe you'll do that ride and drive program in one of those cars, not in a car that you're actually familiar with, when it's your own stuff and you'll take honor in it," said Potvin, of Graniteville, who spent two years in the Street Stocks and another three seasons in Tiger Sportsmen. "I rememeber coming to the first race here and just looking at this place and thinking this is the cat's ass up here in New England, you know? I never thought we'd get a chance to test, let alone get the chance to have a sanctioned race. It's pretty cool. It's quite mind-boggling, actually. You're not just jumping into something and racing. That's what makes it even more special, I think."

Scott Payea, who has become one of the most recognizable racers in the northeastern United States and Canada, remembers when he first got started. "It seems like it was just yesterday [I was] beating around in a little Mustang," he said of his 1999 rookie season at Thunder Road and Airborne Speedway. "It's a progression. The best time I had was in a Tiger car for four years. You learn more in those than anything else, just how you drive a race car. You don't have a spotter telling you what to do, stuff like that. It's unbelievable to be here. You get butterflies when you turn off the road here into New Hampshire and come through the tunnel."

And who knows, maybe in another ten years kids like Jason Corliss, Tucker Williams, or Jimmy Hebert will be the ones getting those butterflies.

***

My apologies for the delay and the brevity of "The Juice" this week. There's a lot of stuff going on, which isn't even close to being a bad thing. By the time Saturday rolls around, VMM will have been to five race tracks in eight days, on top of holding down a full-time job and having a full-time hobby of eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (They're just so good, dude.)

We'll give yet another tip of the hat to Green-White-Checker and The Backstretch for their on-site coverage of the NHMS test. Go check 'em out.

So yeah, in that eight-day span, we'll have been to Airborne, Devil's Bowl, NHMS, Thunder Road, and Bear Ridge. Lots of miles, lots of laps, lots of fun.

***

So, apparently, Bruce Ricahrds has in fact decided to pave Albany-Saratoga Speedway. On Wednesday, press releases from the American-Canadian Tour and the True Value Modified Racing Series announced that dates have been tentatively agreed upon to host events at the soon-to-be former dirt track in Malta, N.Y.

Rumors began surfacing surrounding a possible paving of Albany-Saratoga in July. The 4/10-mile track was a very successful asphalt modified hotbed in the 1960s and early '70s, hosting some of the most important events in the history of the legendary division. Richie Evans, named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers, was a 17-time winner there in the asphalt days.

***

It should be quite a moment when Jean-Paul Cyr clinches his first Thunder Road championship tonight in Barre. Well, technically, it's "if", but Cyr's going to have to really screw up to lose the title. Phil Scott trails by 52 points, which means he could win (75 points) and Cyr could finish 24th or worse (24 points) and Cyr would still win by a single point. But it's 14 points to win a heat race, so that might make things interesting.

Stranger things have happened with title chases at Thunder Road, including twice with this same Phil Scott. In 2003, he lost a 33-point lead and subsquently a championship in a tie-breaker with Jamie Fisher. Last year, he made up 50 points in two weeks, was the unofficial point leader on lap 47 of the final 50-lap event, and then, due to some late passing, ultimately finished second to Eric Williams by a scant three points.

Cyr, the seven-time ACT Late Model Tour champion, hasn't won a weekly track championship since 1990, when he was the Devil's Bowl Speedway Pro Stock champion. This season has been his first with a new car, new crew chief, new team, and new goal. And it looks like everything has worked.

***

Sorry, but no "Around the Region" recap this week. Here's a schedule, though...

WEEKEND SCHEDULE:

Thursday, Aug. 27
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 6:00pm (NASCAR driver David Ragan, final Late Model championship event)

Friday, Aug. 28
Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Malta, N.Y. -- 6:45pm (Ridge Runner/Budget Sportsman Series)
Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 7:00pm (SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars)
Twin State Speedway, Claremont, N.H. -- 7:30pm (Regular Event, plus Demolition Derby/Enduro)

Saturday, Aug. 29
Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford -- 6:00pm (Old Timers' Night, plus SCoNE 360 Sprints and Granite State Mini Sprints)
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 6:00pm (Topless Modifieds)
Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Regular Event)
Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, N.H. -- 6:00pm (All Divisions, plus Demolition Derby)
Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Super Stock Double Features)
White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Regular Event)

Sunday, Aug. 30
Devil's Bowl Speedway, West Haven -- 6:45pm (Empire Lightning Sprints, double features for 358-Modifieds, Budget Sportsmen, Pro Stocks, and Limiteds)


TOURING SERIES:
ACT Late Model Tour/Série ACT-Castrol: Sat., Aug. 29 -- Autodrome Chaudière, Vallée-Jct., Qué. (Coors Light 200 Showdown -- 6:00pm)
SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars: Fri., Aug. 28 -- Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. (7:00pm)
SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars: Sat., Aug. 29 -- Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford (6:00pm)
True Value Modified Racing Series: Thu.. Aug. 27 -- Thompson Int'l Speedway, Thompson, Conn. (5:30pm)


(PHOTOS: 1. Scott Payea (left) and Tyler Cahoon (right) listen to ACT President Tom Curley at the drivers meeting at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Wednesday morning; 2. The green light was on for Pete Potvin as he flashed by the start/finish line at NHMS. Photos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

The Juice: Clearing The Air

-by Justin St. Louis

The buzz during the last couple of days has surrounded the Champlain Valley Racing Association and promoter Bruce Richards considering a change from dirt to asphalt racing at both Devil's Bowl Speedway in West Haven and Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, N.Y., as soon as 2010.

The reason for the switch at Albany-Saratoga is multifaceted, including sprawling urban development in surrounding areas that are now being affected by dust from the track, and the opening of a microchip manufacturing plant in Malta. The dust clouds kicked up during events at the track have reportedly received complaints from residents and town officials in Malta, and would negatively affect the air quality surrounding the microchip plant, owned by Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., which is said to need a 'clean' environment. The switch from dirt to asphalt at sister track Devil's Bowl would then be a matter of necessity, as the two speedways rely on many of the same racers and cars, and would need to continue with a common rule book for competitors at both tracks.

On a personal level, Todd Stone of Middlebury doesn't like the idea of a changeover.

"I went from racing dirt to asphalt, and then back to dirt, and I don't think I want to race asphalt again on a regular basis," he said. Stone, the defending 358 Modified track champion at Devil's Bowl, had a very successful stint racing asphalt Late Models at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y. and with the American-Canadian Tour earlier in the decade, but says he prefers the dirt surfaces.

"Asphalt's not as much work, and I didn't enjoy it as much as dirt," he said. "On asphalt, you can have a phenomenal car, but if you get stuck in traffic, you just wait until you can pass a car, and sometimes you just can't. With dirt, you can try things like different lines -- you can go way up high, or you can go way down low to pass cars -- and it's more exciting."

But thinking beyond just his own preferences, Stone wonders what a change from dirt to asphalt would do to the budgets of his competitors.

"The big class at Malta and The Bowl is the Modifieds. For the rest of the divisions, it wouldn't be that big of a problem [to convert their cars to asphalt setups] -- the Budget Sportsmen, the four-cylinders, and all those guys -- but it would be a major change for the Modifieds," said Stone. He thinks that drivers like Brett Hearn and Kenny Tremont, who have much larger budgets than most teams -- and therefore, much more money invested in equipment for dirt racing at the two CVRA tracks -- would be reluctant to make the change, and would instead find another track to race at with similar rules. "I don't think a lot of the Modified guys would do it, I think they'd go to Fonda or Accord or somewhere else. You know, are they just going to throw away their dirt stuff? I don't think so."

Stone, who already has a Modified car built specifically for a part-time asphalt racing schedule at Airborne Speedway, says he also doubts that many teams from Airborne would support the CVRA tracks.

"[Airborne promoter] Mike Perrotte is getting great car counts, but he's pulling a lot of cars way out of Canada, and they're already hauling a long way to race. I don't think they would come all the way down here to race at Malta or Devil's Bowl."

Stone said he will likely have to make a major decision about the future of his race team, and soon. In theory, Stone said he could stay racing in Vermont at Bradford's Bear Ridge Speedway, "but we'd have to change all of our motors to the (smaller) Budget motor," which would be a major financial setback. "I really don't know what we would do. Maybe it's time to get out. I'm 41 and I've got three kids. I've been racing for 20 years, maybe if they switch I'll just stop racing."

Rest assured, we'll keep our eyes on this story.

***

Nice article about Barre's Thunder Road on NASCAR.com today. Dave Rodman pretty much nailed it, in our opinion.

***

Um, we don't mean to alarm you, but it's almost time for that glorious weekend road trip to Oxford, Maine. Early guesses: Joey Polewarczyk, Tim Brackett, Brian Hoar, and John Donahue, plus, oh, 20 others that have a chance. What's the Vegas line on Steven Wallace, 40:1?

***

Saturday is the opening round for the ACT Tri-State Series for the Tiger Sportsman class at Airborne Speedway. What's the Vegas line on Geoff Bodine, 85:1?

***

VMM erroneously reported last week that driver Jessica Zemken of Sprakers, N.Y. was in a driver development deal with NASCAR champion Tony Stewart. Our source, who had never steered us wrong before, was misinformed, and therefore, so were we. Shame on us for not doing better homework.

Twenty-three year-old Zemken is a standout driver in open-wheel dirt-track competition and has made a pair of Modified starts on the asphalt at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y. this season behind the wheel of a car usually driven by track promoter Mike Perrotte, who is a competitor at Albany-Saratoga Speedway and Devil's Bowl Speedway. On June 27, Zemken finished 12th in the car and had Stewart in the pits to lend a helping hand. Our source reported that Stewart was there to oversee Zemken, who was understood to have entered into a driver development contract with Stewart.

As VMM was attending the ACT Late Model Tour event at White Mountain Motorsports Park in New Hampshire, we were unable to confirm everything first-hand, and that's where the wires became crossed.

For the record, Zemken is not under a development contract with Tony Stewart, Tony Stewart Racing, or Stewart-Hass Racing. Stewart and Zemken have become friends through racing, and Stewart, in the northeast for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekend at Loudon, N.H., flew to Plattsburgh and Airborne Speedway as no more than a crew member for Zemken's efforts. Again, our source reported bad information, and VMM dropped the ball by not confirming what we were told.

Our repeated efforts to contact Zemken since last week have gone fruitless, but Doug Elkins of dougsdirtdiary.com caught up with her at Utica-Rome Speedway on Sunday and she cleared up the story.

Our sincere apologies to Jessica Zemken, Tony Stewart, Mike Perrotte, Airborne Speedway, their fans and sponsors, and the readers of Vermont Motorsports Magazine. It is our goal to provide accurate, unbiased, and timely news concerning auto racing in and around Vermont. If VMM doesn't have integrity, it has nothing, so here we are, called on the carpet, admitting our mistake. Consider it an embarrassing lesson learned.

***

AROUND THE REGION:

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

Airborne Speedway (Plattsburgh, N.Y.): Aaron Bartemy of Sheldon finished eighth in the Modified feature on Saturday night with Don Scarborough of Brandon ninth. Larry Underwood of Milton was fourth in the Sportsman feature, with Richie Turner of Fairfax seventh. Mike Terry of Grand Isle won the Renegade feature, with Swanton's Dave Rabtoy fourth, Lance Rabtoy of Fairfax ninth and Kevin Boutin of Swanton tenth.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway (Malta, N.Y.): Todd Stone of Middlebury finished second in the 358 Modified feature on Friday night, and Frank Hoard, III of Manchester was fourth in the Budget Sportsman race. Fred Little of Salisbury was fourth in the Pro Street Stock race with Londonderry's Lori Langevin eighth.

Bear Ridge Speedway (Bradford): Saturday's races were cancelled due to bad track conditions caused by earlier rains.

Canaan Dirt Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Gene Pierson of East Corinth finished fifth in the Sportsman Modified event on Friday night, while East Thetford's Jason Gray was eighth and Dave Lacasse of Thetford Center was ninth. Dan Eastman of Thetford Center won the Street Stock race, with Ascutney's Cricket Williams fifth, Tyler Stygles of Bradford eighth, and Will Hull of East Montpelier tenth. Josh Sunn of White River Junction was second in the Mini Stock race with Wilder's Andy Johnson third. Alford Manning of Thetford Center was tenth in the Bandit race.

Canaan Fair Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Saturday night's race card was rained out.

Devil's Bowl Speedway (West Haven): In a weekend doubleheader, Cullen Howe of South Londonderry won the Budget Sportsman "Gold" feature on Saturday as part of the Ridge Runner Series, with Thetford Center's Wayne Stearns fourth and Frank Hoard, III of Manchester fifth. Rob Ketcham of Sudbury was the Limited winner on Saturday over Hydeville's Bill Duprey and Mike Clark of Brandon. Kayla Bryant of Rutland won the Mini Stock race. Tim LaDuc of Orwell was the 358 Modified runner-up on Sunday with Frank Hoard, Sr. of Manchester fourth, Jimmy Ryan of Whiting sixth, Brian Whittemore of Florence seventh, Vince Quenneville, Jr. of Brandon eighth, and Middlebury's Todd Stone beating his father, Gardiner Stone, for ninth place. Frank Hoard, III won the Budget Sportsman feature on Sunday, with Middlebury's Hunter Bates eighth. Carl Vladyka of Fair Haven was third in Sunday's Pro Street Stock feature, while Duprey was again the Limited runner-up.

Monadnock Speedway (Winchester, N.H.): On Saturday, Dana Shepard of Putney finished 14th in the Super Stock race with Vernon's Heath Renaud 17th, while Whitingham rookie Ricky Bernard took a career-best fifth in the Mini Stock feature and Joe Rogers of Ludlow was 14th. It was a 1-2-3 Houle family sweep in the four-cylinder Enduro, as Vernon's Adam Houle over Dick Houle of West Brattleboro and Josh Houle of Vernon.

Riverside Speedway (Groveton, N.H.): Bob Ailes, Sr. of St. Johnsbury finished tenth in Saturday's Late Model feature, and Concord's Denny Degreenia was the Super Stock runner-up with West Burke's Dilyn Switser fourth. Brendan Hunt of Derby Line was the Street Stock winner over Montpelier's Kyle Pembroke, Jesse Switser of West Burke, and Andrew Fecteau of Hardwick. Andy Simpson of Lyndon Center won the Cyclone race.

Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl (Barre): Reno Gervais of Island Pond earned his first career Late Model win on Sunday over Cambridge's Craig Bushey, Jamie Fisher of Shelburne, Matt White of Northfield, and Rich Lowrey of Williston. Washington's Ricky Roberts shrugged off a month of bad luck to win the Tiger Sportsman feature, with Waterbury's Brian Delphia second, Jeff Bousquet of Montpelier third, Brendan Moodie of North Wolcott fourth, and Middlesex's Pete Ainsworth, Jr. fifth. Tim Campbell of West Topsham won the Street Stock feature over North Troy's David Allen, Ron Gabaree of Barre, Danville's Bruce Melendy, and David Greenslit of Waitsfield. Lloyd Blakely of Barre won the Street Stock/Junkyard Warrior 'reserve' feature. Kevin Streeter of Waitsfield took his fourth Warrior win of the year after being his division's top driver -- seventh place -- in the 'reserve' race. Thursday's regular races were rained out.

True Value Modified Racing Series: Dwight Jarvis of Ascutney finished fourth in the Firecracker 100 at Monadnock Speedway on Saturday night, with brother Peter Jarvis, also of Ascutney, in 20th place. Kirk Alexander of West Swanzey, N.H. was the winner.

Twin State Speedway (Claremont, N.H.): Chris Riendeau of Ascutney finished tenth in the Late Model feature on Friday as ACT regular Mark Hayward won in his first Twin State start of the season. Joey Jarvis of Ascutney was third in the Modified feature with Robert Hagar of Windsor fifth and Zach Jewett of Perkinsville sixth. Chris Wilk of Mendon won the Super Street race with Russ Davis of Cavendish fifth. Tara Tarbell of Springfield was eighth in the Strictly Stock feature with West Hartford's Jeremy Blood ninth. Jeremiah Losee of North Springfield won the Wildcat race over Cody Small of Hartland and Cavendish driver Rob Leitch.

White Mountain Motorsports Park (North Woodstock, N.H.): Stacy Cahoon of St. Johnsbury finished tenth in the Late Model feature on Saturday night. Stevie Parker of Lyndonville finished fifth in the Strictly Stock race with Milton's Gordie Stone sixth, and Concord's Rubin Call was second in the Strictly Stock Mini feature.

***

Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre is in action on Thursday night with Kids Rides from 4:00-5:00pm. On Friday, the True Value Modified Racing Series is at Lee USA Speedway, while regular events will be held at Albany-Saratoga, Canaan Dirt, and Twin State. Saturday has the SCONE 360 Sprint Cars and Mid-Season Championships for the weekly divisions at Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford, the Full Fendered Frenzy for the PASS North Super Late Models and NASCAR Camping World Series East at Thompson Int'l Speedway in Connecticut, the opening round of the ACT Tiger Sportsman Tri-State Series at Airborne Speedway, and regular events at Canaan Fair, Riverside, and White Mountain. The Ridge Runner Series for Budget Sportsman cars will run on Sunday at Devil's Bowl Speedway, and the ACT Late Model Tour makes the long haul to beautiful Kawartha Speedway in Ontario for the Summer Sizzler 200.

The Juice: I Hope This Is A Good Excuse

-by Justin St. Louis

Apologies to the readers of VMM for the lack of consistent updates lately, but we feel like we might have a half-decent excuse: we've been putting the final touches on the Thunder Road 50th Anniversary book, due for release in the coming weeks. The project, which was borne out of a meeting just two short months ago, has demanded a lot of time management, energy, and disciplined focus (none of which are things this particular writer is familiar with, by the way), and has left precious little room for much else, especially the last three weeks.

But thanks to Dave Moody, Cho Lee, John Casey, the staff at Queen City Printers, and dozens of other people, the 88-page collection, titled "Fifty Years of Excitement" is filled with stories and both black-and-white and full-color photos of the Barre track's remarkable half-century run. At just $10, the book will be available before the end of the month.

Here's a small excerpt of the book, just as a teaser. The following is from a colorful piece about Thunder Road pioneer Chester T. Wood, penned by Moody. In it, motorsports writer Mark Thomas, who grew up working on Wood's race cars, and Harold Hanaford, a competitor of Wood's for many years, tell some classic Chester T stories:

"Friday night, out of the blue, Chet said, 'We’re running the Milk Bowl,'" said Thomas. "He didn’t have a racecar, but that didn’t matter to him. He rounded up a bunch of his buddies and a few of the neighborhood kids, and we went to work."

Fueled by pizza, beer and cigarettes, Wood and his helpers labored all through the night and the next day, as well. Just 18 hours later, their hastily assembled #X1 Plymouth sat on the Milk Bowl pole, after turning the quarter mile in a then-sizzling 14.38 seconds. He took care of business in the opening segment, winning it handily, but problems surfaced in Round Two when he finished back in the pack, behind winner Moe Dubois. A win in the final 50-lapper wasn’t quite enough to claim the overall title – that went to Stub Fadden – but Chester T’s "two-day wonder" cemented his status as Thunder Road’s ultimate underdog.

While Wood was beloved by the vast majority of Thunder Road’s fans and competitors, Ronnie Marvin was not a member of his fan club.

"For some reason, Chet and Ronnie didn’t like each other," said Hanaford. "If you saw them running side-by-side, you knew something bad was probably going to happen.

"One day, they got into it pretty good on the racetrack. After the races, a bunch of us were sitting on the track, shooting the bull and waiting for the traffic to clear. Someone remarked that Ronnie was lucky not to have gotten hurt, saying, 'It would have taken an awfully big coffin to handle you.'

"My wife Florence loved to pick on Ronnie, and she said, 'Aw, if they give him an enema first, they can bury him in a shoebox.'

"Chet was eating a hotdog at the time, and he spit that hotdog about 50 feet in the air. He thought that was the funniest thing he’d ever heard."

Details for "Fifty Years of Excitement" will be forthcoming, so stay tuned.

***

There's all kinds of news surrounding the upcoming CARQUEST Vermont Governor's Cup 150 at Thunder Road next Thursday, June 25, including a sneak peek from the JPR Racing team of driver Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., which is preparing a car for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point leader Tony Stewart to drive at the event.

Stewart will drive a car nicknamed "Betsy" -- the car Polewarczyk used to set the Thunder Road single-lap track record of 12.935 seconds with at the 2006 Milk Bowl. The car has been fitted with a new body and will carry the #14 and Old Spice and Office Depot signage from Stewart's Sprint Cup car.

"What more could you ask for?" said Polewarczyk. "She is proven to be the fastest car on that track."

"Tony will be driving Thunder Road with the best available equipment possible," added crew chief Joe Polewarczyk, Sr. Hudson, N.H. driver Polewarczyk, Jr., who crashed out of the lead late in last month's Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic at the track, will drive his familiar #97 Chevrolet in the race.

Along with the anticipation of the Governor's Cup event came the announcement that Patrick Laperle has filed a surprise entry for the race. Laperle, of St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, Qué., has won three of the last four, Chittenden Bank Milk Bowls at Thunder Road, and becomes an instant favorite for the win.

"I can’t wait to race against Tony Stewart," said Laperle in a Thunder Road press release. "My brother and I are huge fans of his and this is going to be one of my best racing memories. The idea that I can just race and not worry about Série ACT-Castrol points or anything like that is what I love to do. I hope we come to the wire side-by-side for the win after 149 laps. It would be the thrill of a lifetime."

VMM has also learned that two-time Airborne Speedway Sportsman division champion Jason Bonnett of St. Albans will make his Late Model debut at the race driving the #32 RPM Motorsports entry driven earlier this season by Mike Olsen. Bonnett has attracted his main sponsor, Desorcie Emergency Products, to fund the effort, and will also drive the car in the Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne in September.

RPM Motorsports owner Rick Paya said he is excited about bringing Bonnett into the division. "He's already tested the car, and I was very impressed by him. I always have been, watching him in the (Sportsman) cars. Jason's just so smooth and consistent. It should be fun."

Williston's Brian Hoar, who drives the #37 car for RPM, will also be in the field.

***

So, Sean Kennedy is headed to Loudon. Kennedy, a regular at Capital City Speedway in Ottawa, won the Série ACT-Castrol event there last weekend and earned a chance to compete at the 1-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the ACT Invitational in September.

Kennedy, of Durobin, Ont., is probably largely unfamiliar to most ACT fans, due to his mostly one-track schedule at Capital City. Kennedy is a well-spoken guy with a good sense of humor, is a good, clean racer with top-notch equipment, first-class sponsorship from Waste Management, and one of the most professional-looking teams in the region, and would be an asset to any series he competes with, but his lack of experience may be his downfall at NHMS. Kennedy plans to compete at Kawartha Speedway in the ACT Late Model Tour event in July, and then will be a part of the test session in August at NHMS which will determine approval for the ACT Invitational the following month.

Nick Bigelow, Media Director for ACT, says that while the approval process has already begun, a major part of it will be finalized at the August test.

"Everyone who goes to the test in August will be watched closely, and only the ones that are able to race around the track within a certain percentage of a (pre-determined) lap time, whatever that time ends up being, will be invited to compete in the race," Bigelow said. "There are other things that will determine (eligible drivers), too."

We hope Kennedy gets in the show at Loudon. His win and subsequent invitation to NHMS is a major victory for the "little guy" and gives positive hope and encouragement for other weekly-level Late Model racers -- a la Dan McHattie at Kawartha, Guy Caron at Twin State, or Jeff White at Oxford Plains, drivers that in the right situation, could reel off an NHMS qualifier win -- and a top finish in the actual ACT Invitational itself would give an instant boost to the confidence of the Capital City Speedway Late Model division (or Kawartha, Twin State, Oxford, or where ever) and motivate more weekly racers to branch out and strut their stuff against the touring teams.

***

AROUND THE REGION:

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

ACT Late Model Tour: The Nutmeg State 100 at Waterford Speedbowl in Connecticut was halted by rain after 28 laps on Saturday night. Brad Leighton was leading Randy Potter, Ricky Rolfe, and Graniteville's Chip Grenier at the time of the postponement. The race will be completed this Satruday.

Airborne Speedway (Plattsburgh, N.Y.): Saturday night's event was rained out after heats were completed for four of five divisions.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway (Malta, N.Y.): As Brett Hearn won his sixth 358 Modified race of the season on Friday night, Middlebury's Todd Stone could do no better than 12th. Rob Langevin of Londonderry finished sixth in the Sportsman feature. Hunter Bates of Middlebury was sixth in the Budget Sportsman race, while Lori Langevin of Londonderry and Chuck Towslee of Manchester Center finished fourth and fifth in the Pro Street Stock event, respectively.

Bear Ridge Speedway (Bradford): Bob Shepard of West Topsham returned to Sportsman Modified victory lane on Saturday night for the first time this season. Jason Gray of East Thetford was fourth with Thetford Center's Wayne Stearns fifth. It was a top-five sweep for Vermonters in the Sportsman Coupe race, as rookie Billy Simmons of Bradford took his first win. Josh Harrington and Melvin Pierson, both of Topsham, were second and third, followed by Bryan King of Corinth and rookie Jason Horniak of Bradford. Thetford Center's Dan Eastman won again in the Limited Late Model feature over Bradford's Jeremy Hodge and Will Hull of East Montpelier. The Fast Four and Hornet features were rained out. Anthony Cain of Fairfax won the SCONE 360 Sprint Car feature.

Canaan Dirt Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Thetford Center's Dave Lacasse finished fifth in the Modified feature on Friday night, while Dan Eastman of Thetford Center led East Montpelier's Will Hull to the win in the Street Stocks. Josh Sunn of White River Junction won the Mini Stock feature with Wilder's Andy Johnson fourth.

Devil's Bowl Speedway (Fair Haven): Kenny Tremont of West Sand Lake, N.Y. earned his 60th win at Devil's Bowl on Sunday night -- the 275th win of his career -- in the 358 Modified division. Vince Quenneville, Jr. of Brandon was fourth, with Orwell's Tim LaDuc, Middlebury's Todd Stone, and Jimmy Ryan of Whiting right behind. Frank Hoard, III of Manchester took his first win of the year in the Budget Sportsman feature with Middlebury's Hunter Bates second. Defending champion Cullen Howe of South Londonderry was third. Jeff Washburn of Benson won the Pro Street Stock feature over Manchester Center's Chuck Towslee. Rob Ketcham of Sudbury was the Limited division runner-up.

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 a season-best sixth in the Mini Stock feature.

Pro All Stars Series: Steven Legendre of Danville finished 16th in the PASS North Super Late Model 200-lap event at Speedway 660 in Geary, New Brunswick on Saturday night.

Riverside Speedway (Groveton, N.H.): Island Pond's Derek Ming continued his hot streak in the Outlaw Sportsman division on Saturday night with a win, while Newport Center's David Ofsuryk was second. Lyndonville's Ben Bedor finished fourth in the Super Stock feature, and Brendan Hunt of Derby Line was second in the Street Stocks with Rick Utley, Jr. of Wheelock third. Ernie LaPlant of Lyndonville was second in the Dwarf Car race, and Andy Simpson of Lyndon Center was third in the Cyclone race.

Série ACT-Castrol: Trampas Demers of South Burlington finished 12th in Toromont CAT 100 at Capital City Speedway in Ottawa, Ont. on Saturday night.

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

Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl (Barre): Dave Pembroke of Middlesex backed up his Memorial Day Classic victory by winning the Thursday night opener last week, holding off Barre's Nick Sweet and Shelburne's Jamie Fisher in the process. Cris Michaud of Northfield was fourth, while Winooski's Jerry Lesage had a good run for fifth place. Joey Laquerre of East Montpelier took his first Tiger Sportsman win of the season, beating Marshfield's Matt Potter, Middlesex driver Shawn Fleury, Brendan Moodie of North Wolcott, and Plainfield's Tim Potter. Jason Corliss of Danville won a wild Street Stock feature over David Whitcomb of Elmore and Hardwick's "Super" Joe Fecteau. Kevin Streeter of Waitsfield got his second Junkyard Warrior win of the year. Greg Adams, Jr. of Hardwick on the Street Stock/Warrior 'reserve' feature.

True Value Modified Racing Series: Dwight Jarvis of Ascutney finished second to Jon McKennedy for the second race in a row on Saturday night, this time in the Connecticut Laborers Union 100 at Seekonk Speedway in Seekonk, Mass.

Twin State Speedway (Claremont, N.H.): Ascutney driver Chris Riendeau earned his first Late Model win of the season on Friday night, with Rutland's Dallas Trombley third. Joey Jarvis of Ascutney was fourth in the Pepsi Modified feature with Windham's Nate Kehoe fifth. Russ Davis of Cavendish and Chris Wilk of Mendon swapped finishing positions from last week's Super Street feature, with Davis beating Wilk for the win. Jeremy Blood of West Hartford was third in Strictly Stock feature. Jeremiah Losee of West Springfield won the Wildact feature over Rob Leitch of Cavendish and Hartland's Cody Small.

White Mountain Motorsports Park (North Woodstock, N.H.): Bernie Lantange of McIndoe Falls finished fourth in the Late Model feature on Friday night, with Stacy Cahoon of St. Johnsbury ninth. Stevie Parker of Lyndonville was third in the Strictly Stock feature, while Hyde Park's Tucker Williams won the Strictly Stock Mini race in his first start of the season at the track.

***

Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre opens is in action on Thursday, with a special appearance by NASCAR legend Bobby Allison, and the True Value Modified Racing Series is at Thompson (Conn.) Speedway. 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 back for the final 72 laps of last week's rained out race at Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl on Saturday, while the Série ACT-Castrol is at the newly renamed Riverside Speedway in Ste-Croix, Qué. The PASS North Super Late Models are at Maine's Unity Raceway on Saturday. Devil's Bowl and Utica-Rome speedways return to action on Sunday.

(PHOTOS: 1. Chester T. Wood in the X-1; 2. Smoke's new ride; 3. Jason Bonnett will test the Late Model waters at the Governor's Cup next week; Twin State Late Model winner Chris Riendeau. Photo 1 courtesy ACT archives; Photo 2 courtesy Joey Pole Racing; Photo 3 by Leif Tillotson; Photo 4 by Alan Ward)

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)

PHOTOS: A Busy Weekend

Thanks in no small part to the region's photographers, we've got a nice little 60-photo album recapping the weekend's racing action at Twin State Speedway, Bear Ridge Speedway, Autodrome Granby, White Mountain Motorsports Park, Riverside Speedway, and Airborne Speedway.

Here, Leif Tillotson captures the Empire Super Sprint field as it races down the frontstretch at Granby on Saturday night.

Album photos by Alan Ward, Leif Tillotson, Eric LaFleche/VLFPhotos.com, and Justin St. Louis/VMM. Click here to see the album.

The Juice: Ben Rowe a has-been? Come on...

-by Justin St. Louis

There's a debate on one of the message boards that has me in stitches. Ben Rowe hasn't amounted to much in his first two appearances this season with the ACT Late Model Tour, and the argument by that one poster started is that Rowe has lost his touch and shouldn't waste everyone's time by attempting to qualify for the TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway next month.

Dude, really? Really?

All Rowe has done so far this year is win twice in the PASS South Super Late Models, once in PASS North competition, and lead the point standings for both the South and National championships. Yeah, he should hang it up.

Rowe's regular gig is driving for Richard Moody Racing on the PASS circuit, a team that has full-time help in the garage with money to spare. The team builds and massages and feels every facet of its operation every day of the week, and the combination is one of the most potent of any short track team in the country. Their plans call for chasing all three PASS championships with a full effort, and so far it looks like those plans might work out.

Rowe's ACT gig is strictly a fun, part-time deal with Donald and David Avery's team, which has volunteer help, and again, races strictly on a part-time schedule. To top it off, they're figuring out a new chassis this season.

The Moody team has raced nine times so far this year, often running against teams that have raced only half that number of events. The Avery team has raced just twice, against teams that have been on the track between five and seven times already. So which team is at an advantage here? Shouldn't that be pretty obvious?

Rowe won the PASS North race at White Mountain Motorsports Park on May 23, then failed to qualify for the ACT race at Thunder Road the next day. He joked, "I go from hero to zero in a one-hour drive over the mountain," making reference to his nine career PASS victories at White Mountain and 0-fer record at Thunder Road.

Sure, Thunder Road is a tough track, but it's not like Rowe hasn't figured it out: he finished second in the Milk Bowl there in 2007, and has top-five finishes in each of the last two Labor Day Classic 200s at the track. And to be fair, he hasn't even raced there more than eight or nine times in his career. By the same token, look at all the wins Phil Scott has at Thunder Road, but only once has he conquered White Mountain, and that was nine years ago. And by the way, Rowe won four ACT races driving for the Avery team in 2006, so there's that.

If anyone thinks for a second that Ben Rowe hasn't got what it takes to be a competitive ACT driver, they're off their rocker. Ben Rowe will be at the TD Banknorth 250, and if you think the Avery team won't have figured its new car out by then, then, again, you're a crazy person. Rowe will be racing to win his third 250, and if he's not in contention (barring some sort of freak thing like a wreck or a mechanical failure), I'll come on here and tell you I was totally wrong.

Don't bet on me telling you I was wrong.

***

I'm not even going to comment on Bobby MacArthur anymore, unless there's a story involving his complete removal from control at All-Star Speedway.

***

Among the highlights of the Dragon family match race at Bear Ridge Speedway last Saturday:

-Referencing Brent Dragon's previous seat time in the 30-lap Sportsman Modified feature prior to the match race, announcer Dave Moody calls the lineup: "Beaver in the 26, Bobby in the 5, and Stroker Ace in the 6."

-Harmon "Beaver" Dragon, age 68, doing absolutely everything he can to find the fast way around, including hitting the tire barriers along the inside edge of the track, driving through mud puddles in the infield at full speed, cutting off his brother, Bobby, and ramming into his son, Brent, on the final lap. Priceless.

-Upon Beaver driving to the pit area between the first and second segments, Moody makes the comment: "Beaver's out of gas. The car is running, Beaver himself is out of gas. A little prune juice and Geritol and we'll be good to go."

-Brent Dragon: "I'll never complain about Ste-Croix being a rough track ever again."
Gary Siemons, #5 car owner: "What? That ain't even rough. That wasn't bad at all."
Brent Dragon: (Expletive deleted)

***

Chris Osgood. Marc-Andre Fleury. Awesome.

***

Good for Monadnock Speedway! Eighteen Modifieds competed on Saturday night, which is a great sign for the future of the division. Even better (and no offense is meant by this), Jim Boniface won the feature, meaning division dominator Kirk Alexander didn't.

***

Jean-François Déry's win in the Série ACT-Castrol race at Autodrome Montmagny last Saturday was one for the underdogs, and the fact that he's now headed to Loudon, N.H. in August for the approval test at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is what dreams are made of for a team like his. Yes, Déry is lightning-quick and has top-notch equipment and has contended for titles, but he's still not yet at the caliber of an established champion racer like a Sylvain Lacombe or a Donald Theetge or a Patrick Laperle. He's a racer that more often than not seems to race totally for the moment, and he's one of the most aggressive-but-not-quite-over-the-line racers there is right now. And the fact that he was heard on radio scanners during the race at Montmagny saying he was pushing Theetge's back bumper "for the show" is fantastic.

***

Hey, whaddaya think of the new logo?

***

Not gonna lie, we're kinda looking forward to Sunday's "Battle of Plattsburgh" at Airborne Speedway with the Super DIRTcar Series. Big guns like like Brett Hearn, Frank Cozze, Billy Decker, Kenny Tremont, and Timmy Fuller versus Airborne homeboys like Martin Roy, Mike Bruno, the Bartemy brothers, George Foley, and Pat Dupree... good stuff.

Our advice: get there a bit before the 6:00 post time.

***

We're only a week out from the first Thursday night race at Thunder Road, which means... (deep breath)... everything. Simply cannot wait.

***

AROUND THE REGION:

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

Airborne Speedway (Plattsburgh, N.Y.): Sheldon racer Aaron Bartemy notched his best finish of the season as the runner-up in the Modified race on Saturday night. Brandon's Don Scarborough finished fifth. Milton's Larry Underwood was the top Vermonter in the Tiger Sportsman race, finishing seventh, while Swanton's Kevin Boutin was sixth in the Renegade feature. Billy Jenkins of Milton finished 11th in the Mini-Modifieds.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway (Malta, N.Y.): As Brett Hearn lost for only the second time this season in the Modifieds, Middlebury's Todd Stone finished second behind winner Jeff Trombley on Friday night. South Londonderry's Cullen Howe finished eighth in the Budget Sportsman feature, while Fair Haven's Ed Thompson was fifth in the Pro Street Stock event.

Bear Ridge Speedway (Bradford): Wayne Stearns of Thetford Center finished third in the Sportsman Modified feature on Saturday night, with Bob Shepard of Corinth sixth. Bryan King of Corinth, Jason Gray of East Thetford, and Milton's Brent Dragon finished eighth through tenth. Josh Harrington of Topsham remains undefeated through three Sportsman Coupe events, while East Corinth's Melvin Pierson finished second and Bradford rookie Jason Horniak was third. Will Hull of East Montpelier was able to knock Thetford Center's Dan Eastman off the top in the Limited Late Models. Sharon's Mitch Durkee picked up his first Fast Four win of the season over St. Johnsbury's Kevin Harran, while Bradford's Tom Placey beat Bobby Lee Bell of St. Johnsbury in the Hornet class. Brenda Atherton of Fairlee won the Hornet Queen race.

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

Devil's Bowl Speedway (Fair Haven): Middlebury's Todd Stone capped off a strong weekend by finishing second in the Modified race on Sunday. Tim LaDuc of Orwell finished third, followed by Londonderry's Rob Langevin and Vince Quenneville, Jr. of Brandon. Veteran Don Ackner of Castleton, N.Y. was the winner. Cullen Howe of South Londonderry finished 10th in the Budget Sportsman feature. Jeff Washburn of Benson won the Pro Street Stock feature with Salisbury's Fred Little third and Carl Vladyka of Fair Haven fifth. Don Williams of Ripton won the Limited feature, while Mike Clark of Brandon was third.

Monadnock Speedway (Winchester, N.H.): Dana Shepard of Putney finished 10th in the Super Stock race on Saturday night, and Whitingham's Ricky Bernard was 14th in the Mini Stock feature. It was a 1-2-3 family sweep in the four-cylinder Enduro class, as West Brattleboro's Dick Houle beat Vernon racers Adam and Josh Houle for the win.

Riverside Speedway (Groveton, N.H.): Derek Ming of Island Pond won his second-straight Outlaw Sportsman feature on Saturday with Newport Center's David Ofsuryk sixth. Denny Degreenia of Concord finished third in the Super Stock feature. Andrew Fecteau of Hardwick won the Street Stock race, with Derby Line's Brendan Hunt second. Andy Simpson of Lyndon Center won the Cyclone race.

Série ACT-Castrol: Trampas Demers of South Burlington finished second in the Red Bear 100 at Autodrome Montmagny near Québec City on Saturday night, while Graniteville's John Donahue finished 15th.

Utica-Rome Speedway (Vernon, N.Y.): John Scarborough of Bomoseen took his first win of the season in the Sportsman feature on Sunday.

Twin State Speedway (Claremont, N.H.): Rookie Dola Holland of Ludlow finished ninth in the Late Model feature on Friday with Ascutney's Chris Riendeau 11th. Ascutney rookie Joey Jarvis finished fourth in the Modified feature with Windsor's Robert Hagar sixth. Russ Davis of Cavendish finished second in the Super Street feature with West Hartford's Kris Lyman third. Tara Tarbell of Springfield took her second-straight Strictly Stock win. Kyle Small of Quechee beat Hartland's Cody Small to win the Wildcat feature, with North Springfield's Jeremiah Losee third.

White Mountain Motorsports Park (North Woodstock, N.H.): Veteran racer Norm Andrews of Northfield earned a Triple Crown in the Late Model division Saturday night, winning his heat, the semi-feature, and the 50-lap main event. Stevie Parker of Lyndonville was third in the Strictly Stock feature, while Concord's Rubin Call won the Strictly Mini race.

Twin State Speedway sees the return of the True Value Modified Racing Series on Friday night, while Albany-Saratoga Speedway and Canaan Dirt Speedway also return to action. Saturday will see regular events at Bear Ridge, Canaan Fair, Mondanock, and White Mountain, while the Série ACT-Castrol at Québec's Autodrome Chaudière and Riverside Speedway holds the first leg of its $1,000-to-win Bond Auto Triple Crown Series. Devil's Bowl and Utica-Rome return to action on Sunday, while Airborne Speedway has a special 100-lap Super DIRTcar Series event.

(Photos: 1. Ben Rowe a has-been? Give me a freaking break; 2. Beaver Dragon (#26) slides his car around Bear Ridge; 3. J.F. Déry does the best burnouts!; 4. Something new, something blue; 5. Joey Jarvis (#04) races with Arthur Heino (#27) and Aaron Fellows (#1) at Twin State Speedway. Photos 1, 4 by Justin St. Louis/VMM; Photos 2, 5 by Alan Ward; Photo 3 by Stephane Lazare)