PHOTOS: A September to Remember

September was an action-packed month around the region, and we did our best to capture some of it in photos. Click here for a 196-photo gallery of events from Bear Ridge Speedway, Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Airborne Speedway, Twin State Speedway, and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. All photos by Justin St. Louis/VMM.

Polewarczyk Shaken After Wreck at NHMS

New Hampshire Motor Speedway coverage presented by RPM Racing Engines

LOUDON, N.H. -- Joey Polewarczyk was visibly shaken after a hard crash in the NASCAR Camping World Series East event on Friday evening at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The Hudson, N.H. driver was running just outside the top ten on a late restart when he came together with the slower car of David Mayhew, who had blown an engine.

As Polewarczyk moved to the high side to get around Mayhew, the two cars made incidental contact, sending Polewarczyk into a spin, followed by a vicious driver's door impact with the outside wall.

"Everything went black," Polewarczyk admitted. "That's the hardest hit I've had in my life."

Mayhew was a contender early in the Heluva Good! 125, which was shortened to 99 laps because of darkness. Eddie MacDonald of Rowley, Mass. was the winner after a green-white-checker finish.

There's a First Time for Everything...

...and we're taking our maiden mobile-device voyage at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and White Mountain Motorsports Park this weekend. Stay tuned to VMM and our Twitter page (http://www.twitter.com/vtmotormag) for periodic quick updates from the PASS 150 at WMMP Late Model championship finale on Friday and NASCAR Camping World Truck, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, and ACT Invitational events on Saturday!

WARNING: We're learning the mobile device thing as we go! Please bear with us!

Park Wins Camping World Event at Adirondack

BEAVER FALLS, N.Y. -- Steve Park returned to victory lane in the NASCAR Camping World Series East on Saturday night at Adirondack Int'l Speedway in Beaver Falls, N.Y., for his first win on the series in 13 years. Park drives for Georgia, Vt.-based NDS Motorsports.

It was a role-reversal for Park and rookie Ryan Truex, as Park outgunned the youngster at Adirondack for the win; Truex snatched a victory away from Park at Thompson Int'l Speedway in Connecticut last month.

Park, a native of East Northport, N.Y., got his big break in 1996 with Camping World Series East victories at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Nazareth Speedway, then eventually went on to win in NASCAR's Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Camping World Truck Series.

Jody Lavender finished third behind Park and Truex at Adirondack, with Jesus Hernandez fourth and Matt Kobyluck fifth.

TD BANKNORTH 250: Outlaw MacDonald Now Among Elite

OXFORD, Me. -- Eddie MacDonald lived the northeastern short track driver's dream on Sunday night, winning the TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway. In doing so, he collected the $25,000 winner's purse, another $10,200 in lap leader bonuses, an invitation to compete at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and a place in the annals of national short track racing lore.

The 29 year-old Rowley, Mass. racer, a regular on the NASCAR Camping World Series East and nicknamed "Outlaw" for his penchant to invade the occasional ACT or PASS event, was one of nearly a dozen drivers that played major -- and very entertaining -- roles in the 36th running of the classic event. The battle for the lead was almost exclusively two- or three-wide for the first two-thirds of the race, and the duels between MacDonald, Brent Dragon, John Donahue, Patrick Laperle, Brian Hoar, Ben Rowe, Joey Polewarczyk, Cris Michaud, Brad Leighton, and Nick Sweet -- all of them -- will likely remain etched in the memories of the thousands of race fans that watched them perform brilliantly on the biggest stage in asphalt Late Model racing for years to come.

MacDonald struggled in practice sessions throughout the weekend, but came alive during his qualifying heat race, running three-wide on the top to take the win and earn the third starting position for the Oxford 250. At the beginning of the main event, MacDonald and polesitter Dragon swapped the lead twice in the first 14 laps. MacDonald then raced with Laperle, Donahue, Michaud, and Leighton through lapped traffic inside the top-five before taking the lead from Donahue on lap 119.

He pitted for four tires on lap 129, but his resulting drive to the front was a quick one -- three-wide, of course -- as he retook the lead from Hoar just 38 laps later with what was ultimately the winning pass. Laperle, ot St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, Qué., caught MacDonald late in the going, but was only able to run in the low groove over the race's final laps and proved to be no match for MacDonald as his tires went away.

For MacDonald and his team, the appreciation for the victory was felt on several levels: Crew chief Rollie LaChance began working on race cars many years ago at Oxford Plains Speedway. The pair have teamed to win a pair of Camping World events at New Hampshire, and set winning the Oxford 250 as their next major goal. And, after the struggles in practice, the win was a big turnaround. The win adds MacDonald's name to a list of previous winners that reads like a who's who of stock car racing; past champions of the Oxford 250 include Butch Lindley, Geoff Bodine, Junior Hanley, Dave Dion, Mike and Ben Rowe, and last year's winner, former Daytona 500 champion Kevin Harvick.

"This is just unbelievable. It's huge for our team," MacDonald said. "My crew chief, Rollie LaChance, he's from 15 minutes away from here, and he just does an awesome job, he does everything to 100 percent, and each and every one of the guys on the crew just works so hard.

"I've been coming up here for a while now. I came here probably 15 or 18 years ago with my father to watch the 250 and just watch these guys. I never thought I'd be able to come here and win the thing."

MacDonald said he owed the win to his team. "I was actually pretty discouraged in practice," he said. "We practiced for six hours straight [Saturday and Sunday], and we tried everything we could possibly think of to make the car faster. We weren't the fastest car all weekend long in practice, and Rollie, the crew chief, is just unbelievable to be able to turn the car around and get it to be this fast. I felt so bad for my guys today working in the heat. They were running around, I had them changing tires -- every five laps we'd come in and change something [during practice]. It's just an awesome group of guys and I'm so thankful to win this one."

Laperle had mixed feelings about his runner-up finish -- the best effort by a Canadian driver since Dave Whitlock's 1995 victory.

"The car was tight, I mean, I was not about to go on the outside," said an emotionally drained Laperle, who finished 35th last year and had just one top-ten effort (ninth in 2004) to his credit. "When Eddie saw my line on the bottom, he went on the bottom groove. I mean, he beat me. At first I was a little sad. I think I led, like, one lap, and I finished second, that's 12 grand, so it's 12 grand and 100 dollars. So it's okay. Right now I'm sad, but at the RV, we're going to have a party. I'm happy about the guys, they did a great job, they [made] a good call during the pit stop, so I'm happy for them. I'm glad it's over."

Graniteville driver Donahue, who led for a total 27 laps, including a stretch of 22 laps after a breathtaking three-wide move under Dragon and Laperle on the 91st circuit, seemed to have had the time of his life in finishing third.

"At the beginning I was going to go chase down Brent [for the lead]," said Donahue. "We got into the top three there, Patrick was in there, running three, four, five-wide when I took the lead, that was fun. Man was that fun. We're just happy. We've had a couple of bad races, this will pick up the whole team, we needed this."

Hoar, of Williston, led 39 laps before finishing fourth. Oxford regular Shawn Martin of Turner, Me. finished fifth for his second consecutive top-five run in the Oxford 250. Dragon, Rowe, Michaud, Leighton, and Travis Stearns completed the top ten in order. Donahue's teammate for the day, NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Steve Wallace, finished 21st, three laps down. Wallace's uncle, fellow Nationwide driver Kenny Wallace, retired in 33rd place with a souring engine.

With the victory, MacDonald now has the chance to return to familiar territory -- victory lane at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He and LaChance swept the Camping World Series East races at the 1-mile superspeedway in 2008, and now they'll try for the win in the inaugural ACT Invitational at the track in September; as the winner of the Oxford 250, MacDonald automatically qualifies for the race.

"It's unbelievable," he said. "With the New Hampshire wins last year and [the Oxford 250] this year, it's huge. [Winning the NHMS qualifier] is the best part, I wanted to be able to run there with this car and I didn't know how we were going to get an invitation, but finally we were able to get one." The winners of all ACT Late Model Tour, ACT Castrol Series, and a handful of 'open' events around the northeast will earn a starting berth for the ACT Invitational; as MacDonald's full-time commitment to Camping World Series dictates, his schedule did not allow him to run many ACT races in 2009. The Oxford 250 was only his third start in the Late Model car this season.

"I figured there'd be a caution with, you know, 20 laps to go, or ten to go, or even at one to go," MacDonald said. "I was thinking, 'The caution's gotta come out.' I was praying it didn't come and luckily it didn't and everything worked just the way we needed it to."

And with things just the way "Outlaw" Eddie MacDonald needed them, he cemented his place among the elite winners at the top of the short track stock car racing world.

OFFICIAL RESULTS -- TD Banknorth 250
Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Me.
Sunday, July 19, 2009

Pos.-(Start)-Car No.-Driver-Hometown-Laps Completed-Money Won
1. (3) 17x Eddie MacDonald, Rowley, Mass., 326, $35,300
2. (10) 91 Patrick Laperle, St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, Qué., 326, $12,600
3. (6) 26VT John Donahue, Graniteville, 326, $10,200
4. (7) 37x Brian Hoar, Williston, 326, $9,800
5. (29) 94 Shawn Martin, Turner, Me., 326, $5,000
6. (1) 55VT Brent Dragon, Milton, 326, $12,100
7. (32) 10NH Ben Rowe, Turner, Me., 326, $3,500
8. (4) 6x Cris Michaud, Northfield, 326, $3,000
9. (8) 55NH Brad Leighton, Center Harbor, N.H., 326, $2,500
10. (2) 85 Travis Stearns, Auburn, Me., 326, $2,400
11. (5) 03e Travis Adams, Canton, Me., 326, $2,300
12. (11) 25 Shawn Knight, South Paris, Me., 326, $2,200
13. (15) 15VT Joey Laquerre, East Montpelier, 326, $2,100
14. (21) 71 Scott Dragon, Milton, 326, $2,050
15. (12) 97 Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, N.H., 325, $2,000
16. (9) 88 Nick Sweet, Barre, 325, $1,850
17. (37) 48q Karl Allard, St-Félicien, Qué., 324, $1,750
18. (31) 7ME Glen Luce, Turner, Me., 324, $1,700
19. (24) 51ME Ricky Rolfe, Albany Twp., Me., 324, $1,650
20. (39) 7VT Eric Williams, Hyde Park, 324, $1,600
21. (42) 66 Steve Wallace, Charlotte, N.C., 323, $1,550
22. (30) 02 Randy Potter, Groveton, N.H., 323, $1,520
23. (41) 72 Scott Robbins, Dixfield, Me., 322, $1,500
24. (38) 57 Doug Coombs, Livermore, Me., 318, $1,450
25. (40) 15 Ben Ashline, Pittston, Me., 318, $1,425
26. (26) 26ME Corey Morgan, Lewiston, Me., 318, $1,400
27. (34) 16 Joey Becker, Jeffersonville, 316, $1,375
28. (36) 63 Don Wentworth, Otisfield, Me., 315, $1,350
29. (33) 10ME Jimmy Childs, Leeds, Me., 312, $1,325
30. (23) 41 Pete Potvin, III, Graniteville, 309, $1,300
31. (13) 50 Jeff White, Winthrop, Me., 303, $1,275
32. (19) 48 Kenny Harrison, Pownal, Me., 274, $1,250
33. (43) 51MO Kenny Wallace, St. Louis, Mo., 269, $1,225
34. (35) 18 Carey Martin, Denmark, Me., 245, $1,200
35. (28) 36 Brad Hammond, Turner, Me., 227, $1,150
36. (27) 17ON Pete Sheppard, Brampton, Ont., 211, $1,125
37. (16) 80 Donald Theetge, Boischatel, Qué., 209, $1,125
38. (22) 6 Tommy Ricker, Poland, Me., 187, $1,125
39. (25) 37 Larry Gelinas, Scarborough, Me., 175, $1,125
40. (17) 1c Billy Childs Jr., Leeds, Me., 154, $1,125
41. (20) 1 Al Hammond, Paris, Me., 149, $1,125
42. (18) 78 Quinny Welch, Lancaster, N.H., 101, $1,125
43. (14) 60 Tim Brackett, Buckfield, Me., 97, $1,125

Green flag lap leaders: B. Dragon 1-4, MacDonald 5-13, B. Dragon 14-90, Donahue 91-112, Laperle 113, Donahue 114-118, MacDonald 119-129, Hoar 130-167, MacDonald 168-250
Cautions: 10 (laps 32, 32, 91, 129, 134, 135, 165, 167, 183, 212)
Time of race: 2 hours, 10 minutes, 48.591 seconds
Margin of victory: 0.969 seconds


(PHOTOS: 1. A jubilant Eddie MacDonald prepares to exit his winning car at the TD Banknorth 250; 2. MacDonald (#17x) runs the high groove around Scott Dragon (#71) and Joey Laquerre (#15VT) on his way to winning Heat 3; 3. MacDonald credited his crew with the win; 4. The spoils of winning at Oxford. Photos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

Chase to Make Camping World East Debut at NHMS

Driver has a busy weekend on tap

MILTON -- Eric Chase is going to be a busy man this week. The Milton racer, who is a regular campaigner with the ACT Late Model Tour and in weekly events at Barre's Thunder Road, will strap into a NASCAR Camping World Series East car for the first time at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend, driving Barney McRae's entry in the Heluva Good! 125 on Friday afternoon at the Loudon, N.H. superspeedway.

He'll also try to pull off a bit of a magic trick on Thursday: being in two places at once. Time trial qualifying at NHMS begins at 3:15pm, and post time for Thunder Road's CARQUEST Vermont Governor's Cup 150 is 6:30pm. Even if Chase is the first driver to take time trial laps at NHMS and is able to leave the track early, he'll have a tall task in getting back to Barre in time to make the first round of qualifying.

Chase will have a flight on stand-by at the Concord Municipal Airport in New Hampshire that will take him to the Edward F. Knapp State Airport in Berlin, Vt., but first must get through the always-swamped parking lots at NHMS and make his way by car from Loudon to Concord (a half-hour challenge at best), and upon arrival in Berlin faces fighting through a major traffic jam there and in neighboring Barre, on a night when an on-track appearance by NASCAR's Tony Stewart is expected to draw the largest spectator crowd in Thunder Road's 50-year history, with estimates at or above 10,000.

"I'm gonna have to fly like the wind," Chase laughed. "Literally."

Aside from the hectic travel -- and that's just Thursday, mind you -- Chase will be a busy man behind the wheel of his race cars. If all goes according to plan, he will have raced 425 feature laps, plus qualifying and practice time, at three different tracks in two very different types of car. Thursday's New Hampshire Motor Speedway practice and time trial -- at a low-banked, one-mile superspeedway in a 3,400-lb Camping World Series car with 600 horsepower, at speeds of over 150 mph, mostly alone on the track -- will be followed up by the 150-lap event at Thunder Road -- a high-banked, quarter-mile bullring in a 2,800-lb ACT-legal Late Model car with 350 horsepower, running two- and three-wide almost non-stop.

Friday will be spent back in Loudon, practicing and racing McRae's car in the Camping World Series event. Saturday, Chase will be in New Hampshire again, at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock for the ACT Late Model Tour's White Mountain 150.

But Chase is doing it because he loves to. "Yeah, I'm going to set the world on fire this weekend," he joked. "Actually, we do have a good car for Thunder Road and White Mountain, and we're looking forward to those races.

"Loudon, though, I have no idea what to expect."

Chase noted that the comparatively low-buck McRae operation, based in Milton, has fielded competitive equipment in the past, but that the NASCAR Camping World Series East is currently oversaturated with top-tier Sprint Cup Series-affiliated teams running on unlimited budgets. "I may not have the best car there, but we're hoping for a good day. I hope to get a top-15 finish and learn about the track and the cars.

"But then again, I could go out and scare the hell out of myself. I can't imagine it's any worse than going through the dogleg at Sanair (a 9/10-mile tri-oval in Québec) wide-open. I'm just looking to have some fun this weekend."

(Photo by Eric LaFleche/VLFPhotos.com)

Polewarczyk Wins at Oxford

OXFORD, ME. -- Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., just shy of his 20th birthday, has earned himself a trip to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. Polewarczyk, of Hudson, N.H., won the ACT Late Model Tour's New England Dodge Dealers 150 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine on Sunday afternoon, outrunning Graniteville's John Donahue and former OPS champion Tim Brackett of Buckfield, Me., and securing a starting spot for the ACT Invitational at NHMS.

Polewarczyk made his debut at the 1-mile NHMS superspeedway in Loudon, N.H. last fall, finishing sixth in a NASCAR Camping World Series East event.

Unofficially, Shawn Knight of Oxford, Me. finished fourth in the New England Dodge Dealers 150 ahead of Hyde Park's Eric Williams.

Patrick Laperle clinched an ACT Invitational starting spot earlier in the day by winning the Serie ACT-Castrol season opener at Autodrome St-Eustache in Quebec.

Leighton Headed to the Big Dance

Victory lane at Lee USA Speedway is generally one of the nicer places for an American-Canadian Tour driver to visit; the spoils at the New Hampshire seacoast oval usually include nice trophies, a bottle of champagne, and a few beauty queens. But for the first time on Sunday afternoon, the winner was greeted with one more prize: An invitation to the big dance.

And that's just where Brad Leighton is headed.

Leighton won the ACT Late Model Tour's season opener at Lee, and becomes the first driver to earn a starting berth in September's inaugural ACT Invitational at the 1-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway in nearby Loudon, N.H. From 19th starting position, he steadily marched his way toward the front of the field, won a long and physical battle for the lead with young hotshoe Joey Polewarczyk, and drove into victory lane to accept the spoils as the winner of the New Hampshire Governor's Cup 150.

With nine career wins at NHMS in NASCAR Camping World Series East, Leighton, of Center Harbor, N.H., is the all-time victory leader there. He won Camping World championships in 1999 and 2000, and was the 1995 title winner on the former ACT Pro Stock Tour. For the last few seasons, he has split his time between ACT Late Models, Camping World, and Pro All Stars Series races, running strictly for wins rather than points. ACT announced last November that it had reached an agreement to run a Late Model invitational event at NHMS, New England's only superspeedway, with the winner of each of its races earning a starting spot at NHMS. Immediately, Leighton made the ACT Invitational his first priority.

"That's what I wanted, that's my baby," he said following the Governor's Cup win. "We actually added a few extra races on my calendar in order to give us a better opportunity to qualify, so it's nice to get that out of the way."

For the first two-thirds of the race, it looked like young guns Polewarczyk and Scott Payea might have decided the win among themselves. After early leader Mike Olsen spun to bring out the caution flag on lap 52, Payea and Polewarczyk ran side-by-side inches apart for the next 30 circuits, trading the lead no less than five times. But as the leaders began to negotiate lapped traffic, Leighton sliced through the field and was able to catch and pass Payea on lap 90. While lapping cars at a rate of one or more per lap, 19 year-old Polewarczyk, of Hudson, N.H., ran the high groove, using the backmarkers as picks to keep Leighton at bay.

Leighton bumped Polearczyk in Turn 4 on lap 111, but slowed to allow the leader to regroup. After Leighton dived underneath Polewarczyk on the backstretch on lap 123, the two made contact again - this time with Polewarczyk as the aggressor - and traded the lead twice in Turns 3 and 4. But as Polewarczyk caught the cars of Larry Gelinas and Randy Potter nine laps later, Leighton executed another inside move to make the winning pass. He cleared Polewarczyk's car on lap 135 and ran to the checkered flag for his second career ACT Late Model Tour victory.

"He's pretty good, huh? He's real good, he just used his stuff up maybe a little bit early," Leighton said of Polewarczyk. "He started closer to the front (eighth), I started, what, nineteenth. It's easier to pass a slower car than it is a good car. He had to pass Payea, Brian Hoar, Olsen, good cars, fast cars. He used a lot of stuff up doing it. I got up to ninth place and I didn't really use the car much, because I just waited for opportunities where a guy slid up (the track) and I took off. And frankly, I'm typically not that patient, I can't believe I held back that long. I usually just get it done."

"That was rough," said Polewarczyk. "(Brad) got into me once, so when he went by me I figured I'd give him a shot. But it was fun, and I had a lot of fun racing Scott, too. This was a good race."

Leighton and Polewarczyk seemed to enjoy the battle, shaking hands and sharing a laugh in victory lane. "The only thing different is when I got into the back of Joey, I allowed him to continue to lead," Leighton said. "He got into the back of me and he took the lead and ran. That's alright, I give it and I take it. I'm not a whiner. As long as you're willing to be giving it, you had better want to take it, because you're getting it. It was good stuff. Good show."

Payea, of Milton, finished in third place ahead of Rowley, Mass. driver Eddie MacDonald and Quinny Welch of Lancaster, N.H. Forty-five cars attempted to qualify for 30 starting positions.

Polewarczyk took losing the race - and losing the New Hampshire Motor Speedway qualifier - in stride. "I wanted it bad. I really, really, really wanted it, but you know, there's always next week," he said. "We're gonna have a good year this year."

Leighton, who will share his Peter Duto-owned Irving Oil/Subway #55NH Ford with Phil Scott this season, complimented his crew on the win. "These guys deserve it, they worked their butts off all winter long. You know, we didn't qualify for this race last year. They're going to run the full (ACT schedule) with Phil Scott filling in some shows, I think I'll end up running eight. I guess Peter will go try to run for the car owner's championship. To me, I've been there, done that."

Nearing the end of his career, Leighton has made it known that he has no interest in running for championships, and that winning events like the ACT Invitational at NHMS are his main focus.

"That's why we came. It's (all about) wins, because it won't be long that I won't be doing this anymore."

But for now, Brad Leighton is still doing it. And he better get those dancing shoes ready.

(Photo 1: N.H. Governor's Cup 150 winner Brad Leighton. Photo 2: Leighton (#55NH) and Joey Polewarczyk (#97) fight for the lead behind the lapped car of Brent Dragon (#55VT). Photo 3: Leighton's car shows signs of battle following the ACT Late Model Tour season opener. Photo 4: Leighton and Polewarczyk (right) share a light moment in victory lane. Photo 1 by Leif Tillotson; Photo 2 by Alan Ward; Photos 3, 4 by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

Unofficial Results - New Hampshire Governor's Cup 150
ACT Late Model Tour - Lee USA Speedway, Lee, N.H.
Sunday, April 19, 2008

Pos.-Driver-Hometown
1. Brad Leighton, Center Harbor, N.H.
2. Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, N.H.
3. Scott Payea, Milton
4. Eddie MacDonald, Rowley, Mass.
5. Quinny Welch, Lancaster, N.H.
6. Ricky Wolf, Jr., Northwood, N.H.
7. John Donahue, Graniteville
8. Wayne Helliwell, Jr., Dracut, Mass.
9. Brian Hoar, Williston
10. Mike Olsen, North Haverhill, N.H.
11. Randy Potter, Groveton, N.H.
12. Larry Gelinas, Gorham, Me.
13. Eric Chase, Milton
14. Brent Dragon, Milton
15. Cris Michaud, Northfield
16. J.R. Baril, Haverhill, Mass.
17. Tyler Cahoon, St. Johnsbury
18. Donald Theetge, Boischatel, Que.
19. Jeremy Harclerode, Newmarket, N.H.
20. Glen Luce, Turner, Me.
21. A.J. Begin, Merrimac, Mass.
22. Mark Anzalone, Jr., Malden, Mass.
23. Pete Potvin, III, Graniteville
24. Miles Chipman, Epping, N.H.
25. Bryan Kruczek, Newmarket, N.H.
26. Bobby Dragon, Milton
27. Jeff Zuidema, Brookfield, Mass.
28. Fred Astle, Jr., Westport, Mass.
29. Jamie Fisher, Shelburne
30. Corey Morgan, Lewiston, Me.

Heat winners: Zuidema, Welch, Gelinas, Cahoon
Consolation winners: Kruczek, Leighton
"B" Feature winner: Helliwell

Legendary Stub Fadden Gone at 75

Short track racing hero and Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl legend Stanley "Stub" Fadden passed away on Wednesday, March 11 at the age of 75. Fadden won over 230 feature races during a five-decade career that won him legions of fans and friends on and off the track.

Fadden got his start racing flathead-powered Coupes and Flying Tiger cars at tracks like Thunder Road in Barre and Northeastern Speedway in Waterford in the early 1960s, and remained competitive through his final start behind the wheel at the 2003 Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl at Thunder Road. Fadden was a welder and garage operator in the small town of North Haverhill, New Hampshire, where he also served as Fire Chief for many years, and was in no small way responsible for putting that town on the stock car racing map early in his career. Along with the famous Ingerson brothers of the same town, Fadden quickly rose to the forefront in the northeast by taking more than his share of victories.

As the Flying Tigers of the 1960s morphed into the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman division, Fadden kept winning, and earned his first Milk Bowl victory in 1970. Wildly popular in the mid-1970s, Fadden was jokingly dubbed the "Senior" member of the young "Mod Squad" that ruled Thunder Road and Milton's Catamount Stadium, including drivers Joey Kourafas, John Rosati, and Robbie Crouch. A second Milk Bowl win 1979, along with back-to-back Thunder Road championships in 1978 and 1979 were proof that he could outrun any driver, senior or otherwise. He also earned Catamount titles in 1981 and 1986, and a total of 13 wins on the former NASCAR North/ACT Pro Stock Tour. Signature victories included the 1980 New England 300 at Catamount, the 1984 NASCAR North 250 at Cayuga Int'l Speedway in Ontario, and the inaugural $5,000-to-win Molson Bash all-star event at Thunder Road in 1982. Other wins came at Twin State Speedway in Claremont, N.H., Autodrome de Mont-Laurier in Québec, and Westboro Speedway in Massachusetts.

Fadden was a major player on the NASCAR Busch North Series (now Camping World Series East) from the series' formation in 1987. He was a four-time winner on the series, taking victories at Monadnock Speedway and Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire and Jennerstown Speedway in Pennsylvania. In a dozen full seasons on the tour, he finished among the top-ten in championship points eight times, including a career-best fifth in 1992. He also earned a top-ten finish in what is now the NASCAR Nationwide Series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 1991. Fadden retired from full-time driving after the 1998 season, but made occasional appearances until 2003. In his final Busch North Series start, Fadden finished ninth at Thunder Road in August 2003. His last race came with a 21st-place finish at Thunder Road's Milk Bowl in October of that year.

Along with his on-track achievements, Fadden was honored with many special awards. He received the Don MacTavish Award in 1976 for outstanding lifelong contribution to stock car racing, was the NASCAR North Most Popular Driver in 1982, and won Sportsmanship Awards on the Northern NASCAR Circuit (1968), NASCAR North Tour (1981), and NASCAR Busch North Series (1990). He was named to the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2003, and was honored with the Bunk Sampson Memorial Award at the Camping World Series East Champion's Banquet last December.

Fadden leaves behind his wife, Charlotte, who was an integral part of not only her husband's career, but was also a key scoring official for Thunder Road and NASCAR for many years. Fadden's legacy will live on in the #16 Fadden Racing entry field by his grandson Mike Olsen on the Camping World Series East and ARCA Re/Max Series. Olsen got his start at Thunder Road in the Flying Tigers in the late 1980s, and has since become a two-time CWSE Champion. Olsen's brother, Todd Aldrich, is a top Late Model driver at New Hampshire's White Mountain Motorsports Park, and grandson Travis Fadden is a top driver in the track's Strictly Stock class. Fadden's long-time crew chief, Frank Stoddard, has been a prominent figure in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing for over a decade.

Public calling hours for Stub Fadden are on Sunday, March 15, from 2 to 5 PM, at Ricker Funeral Home, 1 Birch Street, Woodsville, N.H. Funeral services will be Monday, March 16, at the North Haverhill United Methodist Church, Dartmouth College Highway, North Haverhill, N.H., with Pastor Susan Ellery officiating.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, c/o Hematology and Oncology Department, One Medical Drive, Lebanon, N.H. 03756-0001; North Country Home Health and Hospice Agency, 536 Cottage Street, Littleton, N.H. 03561; or to the North Haverhill Volunteer Fire Department, c/o Thomas Mayo, P.O. Box 429, North Haverhill, N.H. 03774.

(Photos courtesy Leif Tillotson, Gene Gagne, Cho Lee collection, http://www.faddenracing.net/, and Thunder Road)

MacDonald to do more ACT racing in 2009

Travis Barrett of Green-White-Checker is reporting that Rowley, Mass. driver Eddie MacDonald will increase his Late Model racing schedule in 2009. MacDonald, who swept the NASCAR Camping World Series East races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2008, plans to compete in more American-Canadian Tour events, including a pair of Série ACT-Castrol races. (Howie Hodge photo)