THE LOVE OF THE GAME

Junior Johnson was famous for saying, "If you want to make a small fortune in racing, start with a big one." There's only one reason we sacrifice our time, energy, money, and at times even our family lives, to stay in racing.

The love of the game.

***

"The choice was to stay at home in the cold and snow in Vermont, or come to Florida and race, so what the hell?" --Peter Jarvis at New Smyrna Speedway

"For me it's a learning-charge-your-battery-focus-on-Thunder-Road-race-the-Baja-and-not-get-killed-type of year." --Jean-Paul Cyr, looking forward to his 2009 season

"I don't race to prove things, I race because I like to race." --Eric Williams

"It was a long haul, but I got to skip school so it was worth it." --17 year-old Joey Doiron on testing on a Wednesday afternoon at Thunder Road

"It's all about wins, because it won't be long that I won't be doing this anymore." --Brad Leighton

"Who's Quinny?" --Eddie MacDonald, after an entertaining battle with Quinny Welch at Lee USA Speedway

"As long as everybody's having a good time, it's all good." --Modified Racing Series founder Jack Bateman

"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.' " --Eric Williams on operating a winning ACT race team with a shoestring budget

"When I was paving it, I threw some money on the track before the roller came through so I can say I've got a couple dollars in it." --Airborne Speedway champion Bucko Branham, who was on the construction team that gave the track a $300,000 facelift in April

"Not many people would give a kid a dirt Modified and say, 'Here, have at it.' " --Jason Gray

"We thought we were headed to Waterford, and we ended up winning at Ste-Croix." --Brent Dragon

"I'm gonna have to fly like the wind. Literally." --Eric Chase, on catching a flight from Concord, N.H., to Berlin, Vt., after qualifying a NASCAR Camping World Series East car at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Thursday afternoon and getting to Thunder Road in time to race that evening

"Dale kept telling me, 'Slow down, slow down, slow down, save your tires,' and I said, 'How slow do you want me to go? I'm not even driving hard enough to use my brakes!' " --John Donahue after blistering an ACT field at White Mountain Motorsports Park

"ACT called asking me to run Beech Ridge, and I called them back and I said, 'You know something, I have a hard time pulling a dime out of my pocket to race on Thursday nights.' " --Doug Murphy

"If there wasn't no Saturday night racing, there wouldn't be no Sunday racing." --Seven-time NASCAR champion "King" Richard Petty on the importance of short track racing as it relates to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

"We were at the shop, heck, I was going home before them and I usually don't do that. I'm usually one of the last guys there, and I was like, 'Guys, I gotta go to work in the morning,' and they would just stay down there." --Nick Sweet on the dedication of his crew

"I've got a Formula 1 game for my PlayStation, but that's it. I drove around the track in a street car for the first time, and that track is so narrow the Formula 1 guys that raced there must be crazy." --Patrick Laperle on making his road course debut in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

"This is just for fun." --Chris Donnelly

"We're a family-run team and that's what makes it fun. We stay close as a family, and it's even fun sometimes when you're fighting. It's like a woman, you've got to fight 'em every once in a while. It wouldn't be real if you weren't fighting, right?" --Nick Sweet

"He along with his whole team always represented to me exactly why I have stayed in this business for so long. If I could have 30 Mark Lambertons on the road each week, I would keep doing this until I either dropped dead or became so senile that they threw me out." --ACT president Tom Curley, upon the news that Mark Lamberton would return to regular competition

"I'm hoping they'll think I'm Jeff Taylor and they'll cheer for me." --Nick Sweet at Oxford Plains Speedway, referencing the paint scheme on his car honoring nine-time OPS champion Taylor

"Honest to God, if I could run with those guys every week, I'd come up here and run every single week." --Wayne Helliwell, Jr. on racing against Quinny Welch and Randy Potter

"You get butterflies when you turn off the road here into New Hampshire and come through the tunnel." --Scott Payea on racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

"You couldn't ask for a better guy." --Crew chief Jeff Laquerre on his driver, Jean-Paul Cyr

"I couldn't be more pleased with the way Scott races people. He's very smart and doesn't abuse his equipment. Some guys, like Brad Leighton and Patrick Laperle, those guys will risk it all to win. He's not that type of driver." --Brian Hoar on Scott Payea

"The reality is that the chemistry with me and this team is there. I've had more fun racing this year than ever before, and that's whether we're at the track, or in the trailer on the way to a race, or on Tuesday nights when we're all in the shop together working on the car. I actually look forward to Tuesday nights more than anything." --Brain Hoar on his RPM Motorsports team

"I'm 38 years old and I still get all excited when I see these (NASCAR) guys race at this track. And in about an hour I get to be one of the guys racing here." --Dave Pembroke at NHMS

"I appreciate short track racing and haven't forgotten where I learned the sport from the grassroots up." --NHMS vice president Jerry Gappens

The Juice: Thanks, But I'll Take the Hat

-by Justin St. Louis

Jean-Paul Cyr won the tenth championship of his stock car career last Thursday. He's a seven-time champion of the ACT Late Model Tour, won a championship on the short-lived Am/Can Challenge Series, was a Pro Stock champion at Devil's Bowl Speedway, and is now a Thunder Road champion.

The accomplishments are many, the race victories are plentiful, and the name recognition stretches far beyond just the northeast. But for Cyr, 43, the trophies don't matter that much. He gives those away to children in his neighborhood, or to sponsors or family friends. He appreciates the titles, but they're each just one more goal crossed off a list.

The thing that meant the most to Jean-Paul Cyr on Thursday night, as he watched a fireworks display and sipped a celebratory beer with his teammates after the races were over, was a hat. A simple baseball-style cap, sea foam green in color, with a Thunder Road 50th Anniversary logo embroidered on it. It was given to him in victory lane -- or rather plopped crookedly on his head -- as Ken Squier transitioned from interviewing Cyr as the third-place finisher in the 100-lap season finale to introducing him as the newest 'King of the Road'.

"This is cool," Cyr said while watching the fireworks, in a moment as poignant as any that defines the proverbial 'stopping to smell the roses' adage. "This is what I wanted." Clearly, it's the little things in racing that Cyr enjoys. And that's a great thing.

"The best thing I ever got in racing was a scrapbook that Rick Paya's wife, Michelle, made for me," Cyr said. "It was after one of our Tour championships, maybe the second one (in 2004) that we won together. She put all kinds of pictures in it, and I don't know where she got them all, but any newspaper clipping that had my name in it, she found it and put it in there. It's a really nice scrapbook. This hat is a close second."

***

The story about Mark Lamberton joining the Richard Green Racing team on the ACT Late Model Tour has a few Joey Becker fans up in arms. Kids, Becker's not going anywhere. No disrespect to Dave Wilcox, Green's original Late Model pilot, but when Becker took over the #16 car in mid-2003, that's when the RGR team started to turn things around for the better, and Rick Green knows that. In fact, if you read the whole story, you'll see that Becker is racing at least two more times this year, including this Sunday at Thunder Road for the Labor Day Classic.

While the details of the 2010 season have yet to be finalized, it looks like Lamberton might run a full ACT schedule, but Becker will definitely remain in the car for the full Thunder Road season. We've spoken with Becker a few times hammering out the details of the new teaming-up, and in fact, he approached VMM with the story.

"I need to talk to you," Becker said.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" I asked, knowing that usually when a driver says those words to me, it's because I've made them mad.

"It's a very good thing," Becker replied.

The addition of Lamberton to RGR helps everyone involved. First, Richard Green will have two very capable drivers racing his cars and giving him feedback. Second, Lamberton has helped the team achieve more already. Their third-place finish at Thunder Road two weeks ago was thanks in no small part to changes Lamberton made to the setup. Third, the drivers can help each other; Becker has become an accomplished runner at Thunder Road, while Lamberton has -- save for a handful of races toward the end of his previous participation with ACT -- struggled there. On the other hand, Lamberton has been good virtually everywhere else, and can give Becker pointers if and when he races some Tour shows outside of Thunder Road.

"Mark has helped us a lot for a long time. We've been looking for a time to put him in the car for most of this year, actually," said Becker. "The timing is right for him now. I wish I could be out there with him at the 300, but the second car isn't ready. Nothing would make me happier than to see him win a race with us, especially that one."

Even Tom Curley thinks it will help the whole operation. "I think Rick Green has made a great move here," Curley said. "Mark has obviously helped get Joey Becker going again at Thunder Road, and having him on the Tour next year, if that comes together, is some of the best news I could get to keep me motivated to hang around a little longer. Rick Green will have a lot of fun, Joey Becker will have a lot more fun, and ACT is going to be better off having Mark back in the driver's seat."

***

The Clash of the Titans 150 at Riverside Speedway last month was good, maybe the best race of the year up to that point. But Sunday, it took a back seat to a 25-lap Budget Sportsman feature at Devil's Bowl.

Between, youngsters Anthony Marro, Justin Comes, 14 year-old Hunter Bates, and Frank Hoard, III, fans were left with mouths agape -- even as dusty as it was Sunday -- following the race. Long story short, any one of those kids could make it big in the next few years if they race as hard, as clean, and with as much respect as they showed each other in that race. There were no less than six lead changes, and at least two moments where the lead changed hands during three-wide action.

Hoard used a last-lap move to steal the win from Bates by .0002 second -- read: maybe three inches at over 100mph -- with Comes third and Marro fourth. Outstanding stuff.

***

The six flips at Devil's Bowl that night, by the way, were also outstanding.

***

It took the whole summer, but I finally sat in Pete Hartt's favorite seat in the spotters section at Thunder Road on Thursday. You can stop calling me a weenie now, Pete.

***

You know how Thunder Road sometimes has the bad weather kinda just... not be there? Apparently Bear Ridge Speedway enjoys the same phenomenon, as they got the show in on Saturday night, despite a total deluge everywhere else. I didn't go because I didn't think there was a chance for racing that night, and because every other track in the area rained out that night. Next time, I'll know better.

***

With ACT releasing the first 28 names invited to the Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, we're left wondering who the final eight racers will be that get invited. Here's the list of drivers that either practiced or were invited to practice at NHMS that have not yet been invited to race:

J.R. Baril
Cris Michaud
Glen Luce
Guy Caron
Dave Whitcomb
Wayne Helliwell, Jr.
Alexandre Gingras
A.J. Begin
Trampas Demers
Nick Sweet
Sylvain Lacombe
Patrick Cliche
Eric Williams
Yvon Bédard
Chip Grenier
Claude Leclerc
Joey Laquerre
Shawn Knight
Corey Morgan
Dany Ouellet
Tyler Cahoon
Pete Potvin, III
Patrick Hamel
Quinny Welch
Stacy Cahoon
Martin Lacombe
Travis Adams

Keep in mind that there are also qualifying races left to run at Twin State Speedway on Friday, Thunder Road on Sunday, and Airborne Speedway on Sept. 13.

***

AROUND THE REGION:

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

Airborne Speedway (Plattsburgh, N.Y.): Saturday's races were rained out.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway (Malta, N.Y.): Dave Camara of Fair Haven finished second to Matt DeLorenzo after a long battle in Wednesday's "CVRA vs. The World 100" Modified race, and Middlebury's Todd Stone was eighth. Frank Hoard, III of Manchester finished fifth in the Budget Sportsman race, with Middlebury youngster Hunter Bates eighth. Friday's regular weekly event was rained out.

Autodrome Chaudière (Vallée-Jonction, Qué.): Brent Dragon of Milton won $5,000 on Sunday by taking down the second annual Coors Light 200 Showdown, a non-points all-star race for ACT Late Model Tour and Série ACT-Castrol drivers, beating cross-town rival Scott Payea. Pete Potvin, III of Graniteville was an ACT career-best fifth, with Williston's Brian Hoar sixth, and Chip Grenier of Graniteville tenth.

Bear Ridge Speedway (Bradford): Gary Siemons of Orford, N.H. took his third Sportsman Modified win of the season on Saturday night over Chris Donnelly of Piermont, N.H., Ryan Avery of Thornton, N.H., West Topsham's Bob Shepard, and Wayne Stearns of Thetford Center. Josh Harrington of Topsham posted his eighth Sportsman Coupe feature win of the season, defeating Bryan King of Topsham, Bradford rookie Billy Simmons, Steve Ellsworth of Corinth, and Mike McGinley of East Barre. Dan Eastman of Thetford Center hit double digits with his 10th Limited Late Model win of the year, beating Jeremy Hodge of Bradford, Shane Race of South Strafford, Will Hull of East Montpelier, and T.C. Forward of Lyme, N.H. Wilder's Andy Johnson took his fifth Fast Four win over Steve Bell and Kevin Harran of St. Johnsbury, while Mark Harran, also of St. Johnsbury won his first Hornet feature of the season over Tom Placey of Bradford and Amanda Gray of East Thetford. Matt Shuart of Walkill, N.Y. took his first SCoNE 360 Sprint Car victory, while Matt Robie won the Granite State Mini Sprint 600cc feature. and Lacey Hanson of Orwell won the 500cc race.

Canaan Dirt Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Thetford Center's Dave Lacasse was seventh in Friday's Modified race with Hartland's Ed Tobin ninth. Dan Eastman of Thetford Center was the Street Stock winner with East Montpelier's Will Hull fourth. Josh Sunn of White River Junction was the Fast Four winner with Wilder's Andy Johnson third and Ryan Dutton of Bradford seventh. Si Allen of West Windsor was seventh in the SCoNE 360 Sprint Car race.

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

Devil's Bowl Speedway (West Haven): Ray Hoard of Granville, N.Y. opened Sunday's double feature program with his first 358 Modified victory in three years, over Brandon's Vince Quenneville, Jr., New Yorkers Kenny Tremont, Jr. and Marc Johnson, and Tim LaDuc of Orwell. In the second Modified event, Middlebury's Todd Stone caputred the win over Quenneville, Tremont, LaDuc, and Hoard. Frank Hoard, III of Manchester won the first of two Budget Sportsman features over Middlebury racers Hunter Bates and Justin Comes by .0002 second. Derrick McGrew of Ballston Spa, N.Y. won the second Budget Sportsman feature over fellow New Yorkers Tim Hartman, Jr. and Jack Swinton. Cale Kneer of Troy, N.Y. swept both Pro Street Stock features, beating Benson's Jeff Washburn, Fred Little of Salisbury, Carl Vladyka of Fair Haven, and Justin Perry of Hampton, N.Y. in the first race, then Little, Washburn, Bobby Schmidt of Gansevoort, N.Y., and Bill Smith of Ballston Spa, N.Y. in the second race. Hydeville's Bill Duprey copped both Limited features, beating Randy Alger in the first and Benson's Mike Clark in the second. The Mini Stock winner was Travis Tromans of Clifton Park, N.Y. while Andrew Smith of South Glens Falls, N.Y. was the Duke Stock winner. Don Harvey won the Empire Lightning Sprint race.

Monadnock Speedway (Winchester, N.H.): Saturday's races were rained out.

Riverside Speedway (Groveton, N.H.): Rain washed out Saturday's race card.

SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars: Randy Howe of Lebanon, N.H. won Friday's event at Canaan (N.H.) Dirt Speedway over Clay Dow of Ossipee, N.H. and Tunk Berry of Center Ossipee, N.H. Matt Shuart of Walkill, N.Y. won Saturday's event at Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford over Berry and Shawn Lawler of Mason, N.H. Berry was named the 2009 Sprint Cars of New England champion, his first title on the series, over Dow and Si Allen of West Windsor.

Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl (Barre): Phil Scott of Montpelier posted his first win since 2007 in Thursday's 100-lap Late Model championship finale, beating Trampas Demers of South Burlington, Milton's Jean-Paul Cyr, Cris Michaud of Northfield, and Brooks Clark of Fayston; Cyr clinched his first track championship by 41 points over Scott. East Montpelier driver Joey Laquerre, Cyr's car owner, won the Tiger Sportsman feature over Jeff Bousquet of Montpelier, Jimmy Hebert of Williamstown, David Finck of Barre, and Matt Potter of Marshfield. Lloyd Blakely of Barre won the Street Stock feature over David Allen of North Troy, Morrisville's Billy "Weiner" Hennequin, Bruce Melendy of Danville, and Gary Mullen of Tunbridge. Kevin Dodge of Barre was a first-time Junkyard Warrior winner over Waitsfield's Kevin Streeter, Bryan Nykiel of Berlin, Donny Yates of North Montpelier, and Buddy Chapman of Concord.

True Value Modified Racing Series: Andy Seuss of Hampstead, N.H. won Thursday's event at Thompson Int'l Speedway in Connecticut over Richard Savary of Canton, Mass. and Todd Owen of Somers, Conn. Peter Jarvis of Ascutney was ninth.

Twin State Speedway (Claremont, N.H.): Aaron Fellows of Croydon, N.H. swept both the Late Model and Modified features on Sunday, with rookie Joey Jarvis of Ascutney earning the runner-up spot in the Modified race. Russ Davis of Cavendish won the Super Street feature with Chris Wilk of Mendon third. Kyle Davis of Pittsford was third in the Strictly Stocks, while Jeremiah Losee of North Springfield won the Wildcat race -- run in clockwise direction -- over Cody Small of Hartland and Robert Leitch of Cavendish.

White Mountain Motorsports Park (North Woodstock, N.H.): Saturday's rains cancelled the race program.

***

WEEKEND SCHEDULE:

Friday, Sept. 4
Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Malta, N.Y. -- 6:45pm (Kids Rides)
Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 7:00pm (Championship Night -- final event of 2009)
Twin State Speedway, Claremont, N.H. -- 7:00pm (ACT Late Model Tour, NEMA Midgets)

Saturday, Sept. 5
Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford -- 6:00pm (Hornet Queens)
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 2:00pm (ACT practice, Sportsman/SS/Warrior qualifying)
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 6:00pm (Charlie Trombley Memorial 100 -- final championship race for Modifieds)
Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Championship Night -- final event of 2009)
Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, N.H. -- 6:00pm (NEMA Midgets)
Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Kids Rides)
White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Regular Event)

Sunday, Sept. 6
Devil's Bowl Speedway, West Haven -- 6:45pm (Championship Night -- final event of 2009 -- 50-lap double-point Modified race)
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 1:30pm (ACT Late Model Tour Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200)


TOURING SERIES:
ACT Late Model Tour: Fri., Sept. 4 -- Twin State Speedway, Claremont, N.H. (7:00pm)
ACT Late Model Tour: Sun., Sept. 6 -- Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre (1:30pm)

BREAKING NEWS: Lamberton to Return to ACT

New York racer to run Twin State, Airborne events; eyeing full season in 2010

CLAREMONT, N.H. -- Three years ago, Mark Lamberton was one of the hottest drivers on the ACT Late Model Tour, and certainly the face of New York-based Late Model racing in northern New England. Friday, he'll try to rekindle those flames as he returns to the race track at Twin State Speedway in Claremont, N.H.

The Mooers Forks, N.Y. driver has been absent from ACT competition since finishing fifth in championship points in 2006, but will make his return behind the wheel of the #16 Richard Green Trucking Ford normally driven by Joey Becker. Lamberton has been a part-time crew member with the team for two seasons, and has also been serving as crew chief for Sportsman driver Bill Sawyer at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y. this year. With Lamberton turning wrenches, Becker turned in a season-best third-place finish at Thunder Road in Barre on August 20.

Lamberton's most recent on-track experience was in the Modified division at Airborne in 2007.

"I've been hanging around the last few years looking for the right opportunity to come along," said Lamberton. "I've raced a Modified, I've worked on cars, I tried a bunch of things, but [racing with ACT] is what I want to be doing. In all my years of racing, it was the most fun I ever had. I've missed it."

Initial plans call for Lamberton to be in the Rick Green-owned car at Twin State on Friday and at the Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne Speedway on Sept. 13. Becker will drive the car at Thunder Road on Sunday in the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 and at the Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl later in the month. Ironically, it was Becker and Lamberton that turned in one of the most memorable finishes in Thunder Road history in 2004, as they traded the lead more than a dozen times during the final 35 laps of the Memorial Day Classic -- Lamberton spun, Becker won.

Green said that he was considering putting Lamberton in a full-time ACT Late Model Tour ride for 2010 when he got a call from ACT President Tom Curley. "Tom approached me about getting Mark into one of my cars at the 300," Green explained, noting that Curley thought Lamberton, who won both the Foliage event and the Airborne Speedway Late Model track championship in 2001, might be an added attraction to the race. "I had already thought about having him race for us on the Tour next year, but when Tom called, I figured we might as well speed up the process and get things rolling sooner rather than later."

Curley clearly thinks highly of Green's new driver. "[Lamberton's family] along with his whole team always represented to me exactly why I have stayed in this business for so long," Curley said Tuesday. "If I could have 30 Mark Lambertons on the road each week, I would keep doing this until I either dropped dead or became so senile that they threw me out. He is in the same racer mold as Brent Dragon, Randy Potter, Phil Scott, Cris Michaud, Donald Theetge, Jamie Fisher, Karl Allard, as well as a bunch of others, and you know how much respect I have for those kinds of racers and teams.

"Mark is one of the best natural racers I have ever known," Curley continued. "He captured my respect when I watched him struggle for years at Thunder Road, and he kept coming back until he finally became pretty good there. I loved that tenacity that he brought to his racing. He is a hell of a good racer that understands the business as much as he understands how to race cars. "

Curley also said that should Lamberton win one of the events at Twin State or Airborne -- both of which are qualifiying races for the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 19 -- he would consider inviting him to compete in the race, despite not having any track time at the 1.058-mile superspeedway. "I said to someone the other day that [Lamberton] would be about the only driver I would consider inviting to the Invitational without having been to the test-and-tune (last week). I have that much respect for him as a long track racer," Curley said. Lamberton's three ACT Late Model Tour wins all came at Airborne, a fast, 4/10-mile oval, and a significant number of his career ACT top-five finishes have come at Airborne, the 5/8-mile Riverside Speedway in Ste-Croix, Qué., and the 9/10-mile Sanair Super Speedway near Montréal.

"Mark has helped us change a lot on the setup of the car already, so these races will be a good test to get any bugs worked out," said Green. "And he's a very good driver, so who knows, maybe we can make something out of it. It should be fun."

Lamberton finished fourth at Twin State in his own car at ACT's last visit in 2004. "It was a few years ago and in a different car, but I liked the track at Claremont and I'm hoping we can do well there again. And the 300, I can't wait for that. I wanted to get a ride for that race as soon as [ACT] announced it last year. I hope I make Rick and Joey proud."



(PHOTOS: 1. Mark Lamberton will return to the driver's seat this weekend at Twin State Speedway in one of Richard Green's #16 cars; 2. Lamberton (#29) and Joey Becker (#16) battle at Thunder Road in 2004; 3. Lamberton (#29) on the way to winning the Fall Foliage 200 at Airborne Speedway in 2001. Photo 1 by Justin St. Louis/VMM; Photos 2 and 3 by Gene Gagne/OutsideGroove.com)