ACT Tiger Tour Opens At White Mountain Saturday

(From ACT press release)

NORTH WOODSTOCK, N.H. -- White Mountain Motorsports Park will open the Bond Auto/Wix Filters Tiger Tour on Saturday, June 5. The Tiger Sportsman cars from throughout the region will begin their championship run in the first of four events for the 2010 race season.

“White Mountain was a natural for us to begin the 2010 campaign,” said Tom Curley, President of the American-Canadian Tour which sanctions the division. “WMMP took a major step to bring the ACT rules for the Tiger Sportsman division to the track this season, and we want to do whatever we can to try and help get this division in a growth trend at WMMP. We have encouraged the Thunder Road Tiger teams to visit WMMP whenever they can in 2010.”

All tour events will be 100 laps. The other scheduled events that will be held during the season are Thunder Road in Barre on July 1, Canaan Fair (N.H.) Speedway on August 21, and Riverside Speedway in Groveton, N.H., on October 9.

Seven-time ACT Late Model Tour champion Jean-Paul Cyr has assembled a group that will oversee the Tiger Tour on behalf of ACT. “I asked Jean if he had any interest in helping out this summer as we also have many races with the ACT Late Model Tour, the Serie ACT-Castrol Edge, and Thunder Road,” continued Curley. “He certainly has plenty of racing experience and he has brought some of his Late Model team to help with long-time members Randy Ploof and Bruce King joining him.”

The opening ACT Tiger Tour event is expected to draw 30 teams to White Mountain. Leading the pack will be Brendan Moodie from North Wolcott, Vt., winner on Memorial Day weekend at Thunder Road. Tiger Tour champion Shawn Duquette of Morrisonville, N.Y., will make the long haul to the picturesque 1/4-mile oval in defense of his 2009 title. Former Thunder Road champions Shawn Fleury and Jimmy Hebert have both entered the White Mountain event, and Late Model drivers Chip Grenier and Dave Pembroke, both graduates of the Tiger division, will also be compete.

Pit gates open at noon, practice starts at 2:30 and post time is 5:00 on Saturday, June 5. For more information contact WMMP at http://www.whitemtnmotorsports.com/ or call (603) 745-6727.

Polewarczyk Ready To Put Rough Start Behind Him

(From team press release)

HUDSON, N.H. -- As far as Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., is concerned, his season starts now.

Less than two weeks after failing to qualify for an American-Canadian Tour race at Oxford Plains Speedway, Polewarczyk's No. 97 Pole's Automotive/NH Precision Ford will be back on track -- this time with a renewed effort and a reinvigorated engine -- this Friday night at Lee USA Speedway. He'll compete in the track's 30-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model feature.

"I can't wait to go to Lee," he said. "It's sort of like my home track. It's where I watched my father race for a lot of years, and it's a place where I've always seemed to run well. To go there and get back at it will be really big for us."

Following his DNQ at Oxford, Polewarczyk had his new Ford crate engine pulled and shipped to Butler-MacMaster Automotive in Hallowell, Maine. Butler-MacMaster supplies all ACT teams with their engines, and the engine remained at their shop for more than a week.

Polewarczyk switched to Ford during the off-season, after the manufacturer debuted its crate engine program in 2009 with Thunder Road International Speedbowl driver Cris Michaud.

"They found some issues with (the engine)," said Polewarczyk, who reported that the engine spent the better part of an entire day running through tests on the dyno. "They are going to rectify those issues."

During the race at Oxford, where Polewarczyk has won twice in his career, he said that he noticed his car was not picking up speed off the corners. That led him to believe that there was something wrong that went beyond track position or handling issues with his car.

This week at Lee, Polewarczyk said he's ready to prove a point -- both to himself and to others.

"I know we have a really good team," he said. "Yeah, I started to doubt myself (after Oxford), but I know what we're capable of. You never want to miss a race, but the fact that we did -- I think -- got us to take a step back and look at things overall.

"I think we're going to be better for it. I really do."

If all goes well at Lee USA, Polewarczyk said the team plans to make the trip to either White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H., or to Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl on Saturday night.

The ACT Late Model Tour continues with the rescheduled New Hampshire Governor's Cup 150 at Lee USA on Friday night, June 11. Polewarczyk, 10th in the current ACT standings after two races, finished second in that event in 2009.

Grenier Aims for ACT Tiger Sportsman Series Title

(From ACT press release)

American-Canadian Tour standout Chip Grenier of Graniteville will run the four-event ACT Bond Auto/WIX Tiger Sportsman Series for car owner Greg “Burger” Blake in 2010.

Grenier, the 2007 Thunder Road Late Model Rookie of the Year, is no stranger to the Sportsman car. During his eight years behind the wheel of a Tiger Sportsman at Thunder Road, Grenier earned 11 career victories and became a fan favorite of the Barre high banks. After running two years in Thunder Road Late Model competition, Grenier ran the full season on the 2009 ACT Late Model Tour, earning ninth place in the final point standings and the ACT Sportsmanship Award.

Grenier will be filling the seat of the Blake-owned #99, which was wheeled to ninth place in the final Thunder Road Tiger Sportsman point standings by 18 year-old Cody Blake last year. Cody will run for Rookie of the Year honors in the Thunder Road Late Model division this season.

Grenier and Blake are currently finishing up preparations for the 2010 season after going over the entire car and installing a brand new crate engine from RPM Racing Engines. The team has high expectations and will be considered contenders for the championship. The Bond Auto/WIX Tiger Sportsman Series season opener is Sat., June 5 at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H.

(PHOTO: Chip Grenier returns to his Tiger Sportsman roots in 2010. Photo by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

ACT Releases 2010 Tiger Sportsman Series Schedule

Four 100-lap events make up mini-tour

WATERBURY -- The American-Canadian Tour has released a four-race schedule for the 2010 Tiger Sportsman Series. The second-tier division has held its own short-schedule touring series 14 times in the last 20 years; Shawn Duquette of Morrisonville, N.Y. was the 2009 champion.

The first of the four 100-lap races will be held at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H. on June 5. White Mountain has adopted the ACT Tiger Sportsman rulebook for its new weekly "Super Sportsman" division in 2010. Barre's Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, which has operated the class in some form since the mid-1960s, hosts the series on July 1. Canaan Fair Speedway in Canaan, N.H. will hold an event on August 21, and the series ends a seven-year absence at Riverside Speedway in Groveton, N.H. on October 9. White Mountain, Thunder Road, and Riverside are all high-banked, 1/4-mile ovals, while Canaan Fair is a low-banked 1/3-mile.

Notably absent from the 2010 schedule are Airborne Speedway, Devil's Bowl Speedway, and Albany-Saratoga Speedway. Airborne, a 4/10-mile, progressively banked track in Plattsburgh, N.Y., has had the Tiger Sportsman division as a weekly fixture since 1990, and held a 100-lap ACT event in July. The newly-paved, CVRA-sanctioned Devil's Bowl, in West Haven, and Albany-Saratoga, in Malta, N.Y., have recently upgraded their Limited divisions to the Tiger Sportsman rulebook for 2010.

ACT TIGER SPORTSMAN SERIES 2010 SCHEDULE (as of Dec. 24, 2009)

#-Day-Date-Track-Location-Laps

1. Sat., June 5 -- White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, N.H. -- 100
2. Thu., July 1 -- Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 100
3. Sat., Aug. 21 -- Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 100
4. Sat., Oct. 9 -- Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H. -- 100

Cahoon Fulfilling a Dream at NHMS

New Hampshire Motor Speedway coverage presented by RPM Racing Engines

LOUDON, N.H. -- Stacy Cahoon never thought it was possible. Not 23 years ago, maybe not even 23 hours ago. The St. Johnsbury racer said that when he began racing in 1986, it would have been absurd to think he would ever race on a superspeedway like the 1.058-mile oval at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, much less in his own car.

"I'm still kind of in awe that I'm here," he said Saturday morning as NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars roared in the background. Not 12 hours ago, Cahoon had just clinched the 2009 track championship at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H., about an hour up the road from Loudon. As nice as it was to have the championship -- his third at the track, a come-from-behind victory as point leader Quinny Welch suffered mechanical woes -- it also carried with it another prize: the 36th and final starting berth at the inaugural ACT Invitational at NHMS on Saturday.

Cahoon said the reality of the situation finally hit him at about 1:00 a.m. as he was working on his race car. "It wasn't until last night after we got done at Donnie Avery's race shop, I was laying underneath the car changing gears that it sunk in -- I'm going to Loudon," said Cahoon. "And here I am today. It's almost undescribable, it really is."

Cahoon admitted that the championship and the invite to NHMS were Welch's to lose, and it was only Welch's broken suspension in Friday night's feature race at White Mountain that gave Cahoon the opportunity to capitalize and take his second-straight title. "I'm sorry for his misfortune, but I think back to when something has been on the line for me and another competitor or an accident took my chances away," said Cahoon. "Quinny is quite a bit younger than me and I hope somewhere down the road he gets another chance to come back down here."

Cahoon and his team worked long into the night on Friday to prepare their car for the ACT Invitational, changing gears, body bracing, front and rear chassis geometry, and exhaust. The crew went to bed at about 1:30 on Saturday morning, was up at 4:30, and was at the NHMS as the gates opened at 6:30. "And," Cahoon adds, "I probably laid awake for at least an hour thinking about coming down here. I probably dozed off for about an hour.

"Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful to be here," Cahoon continued, "but (working through the night) kind of took away from the back-to-back championships. No real celebration, no champagne all over the car or anything."

But the reward of racing on a superspeedway -- in his own car, with his family and friends beside him, is cause for celebration, too. "I'd like to win this race if I have shot, but even if I finish 36th ten laps down I'll be able to say I came here and raced, Cahoon said. "We plan to celebrate tonight."

And what better place to do it than at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

BREAKING NEWS: Cahoon Wins WMMP Title

New Hampshire Motor Speedway coverage presented by RPM Racing Engines

NORTH WOODSTOCK, N.H. -- Stacy Cahoon of St. Johnsbury has won the Late Model track championship at White Mountain Motorsports Park on Friday night, earning a starting berth in Sarurday's ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Quinny Welch of Lancaster, N.H. entered the event with a six-point lead over Cahoon, but reportedly broke a sway bar and was relegated to a poor finish in the feature event on Friday night, handing Cahoon the title.

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!

ACT Invitational List Nearly Complete

One spot remains for White Mountain champion, up to two more may be added

LOUDON, N.H. -- The American-Canadian Tour came one step closer on Thursday to finalizing its list of 36 drivers for next Saturday's inaugural ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The names of seven invitees for the event -- the first superspeedway race for Late Model cars in the northeast -- were added to an existing roster of 28 drivers from the ACT Late Model Tour, Série ACT-Castrol, a host of regional weekly short tracks, and winners of select qualifying events.

Guy Caron of Lempster, N.H. was extended an invite to compete in the race by ACT President Tom Curley at Twin State Speedway last Friday after wrapping up that track's 2009 championship; Caron's name officially appeared on the NHMS roster with Thursday's announcement.

Similiarly, Travis Adams of Canton, Me. was given official notice of his invitation to compete on Thursday after clinching his fourth consecutive championship at Oxford Plains Speedway last Saturday night.

Wayne Helliwell, Jr. of Dracut, Mass. will represent Lee USA (N.H.) Speedway in the event, as he currenlty holds a probable -- although mathematically beatable -- lock on that track's Late Model title with two events remaining. Bryan Kruczek of Newmarket, N.H. is the only driver with a chance to overtake Helliwell for the title.

Three drivers from Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre and one driver from the ACT Late Model Tour were extended "at-large" invites to NHMS. From Thunder Road come three-time champion Cris Michaud of Northfield, sophomore Barre racer Nick Sweet, and East Montpelier veteran Joey Laquerre, who, at 66 years old, is the track's all-time victory leader. Glen Luce of Turner, Me. was extended an invitation from the ACT Late Model Tour.

One spot in the advertised 36-car field remains to be filled, and is being held open for the soon-to-be-named track champion at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H. The championship battle will be decided on Friday, Sept. 18 -- less than 24 hours before the ACT Invitational at NHMS -- between Quinny Welch of Lancaster, N.H. and Stacy Cahoon of St. Johnsbury, Vt. Only six points seperate them entering the finale.

"This has been a whole lot more difficult than I had anticipated," Curley said in an ACT press release of the driver selection process for the Invitational. "I have had a 'short list' sitting on my desk and traveling with me for over a week. The toughest part of this process was trying to find reasons not to invite any of the teams I had put on the list. I started looking for reasons why to invite the final teams. The final 36 teams will make some history for Late Model racing. It is my hope that others will get an opportunity to race at NHMS in the future because of their efforts."

If Kruczek does take the championship from Helliwell, or should a driver not yet invited to NHMS win Sunday's Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y., the final NHMS qualifying event, Curley said spots may be added to the starting field at NHMS on Sept. 19. "I guess we would have to consider a change in the format and add [Kruczek's] name," Curley said. "Bryan did a great job at the test and I would not have a second thought about adding him if we found ourselves in that situation. I just think it is only fair to let the Helliwell team know they are in, so they can prepare for the NHMS experience while still chasing the title.

"Actually, we are taking a bit of a gamble by making these announcements before this weekend’s Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne," Curley continued. "If we had a surprise winner who could be approved, I guess we would have to look at that in the same way. Like I said earlier, this has been a whole lot more difficult than I had originally envisioned."

PHOTOS: Weekend of August 13-16, 2009

Randy Potter's #02 Late Model sits in the foreground as Late Models sit idle in the pit area at Riverside Speedway on Sunday. Click here for a 150-photo gallery of events at Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Bear Ridge Speedway, White Mountain Motorsports Park, and Riverside Speedway from the weekend of Aug. 13-16, 2009. All photos by Justin St. Louis/VMM unless otherwise noted.

Helliwell Takes Dramatic Win at Riverside

Lee regular beats Welch, Potter, and heat

GROVETON, N.H. -- There was no question that there were three specific drivers that would be in the hunt at Riverside Speedway.

From practice and qualifying at the start of the sunny, 95-degree day, the class of the field for the Mason Tractor & Equipment 'Clash of the Titans 150' was clearly the trio of former White Mountain Motorsports Park champion Quinny Welch, defending Lee USA Speedway king Wayne Helliwell, Jr., and Riverside's favorite son, Randy Potter.

Potter, a multi-time Riverside champion who lives quite literally at the edge of the speedway's property line in Groveton, N.H., is an established ACT Late Model Tour championship contender. Welch, from nearby Lancaster, N.H., currently leads the championship standings at White Mountain and races successfully on a part-time basis with ACT, but has a checkered past at Riverside. Helliwell, from Dracut, Mass. and a veteran of many disciplines of short track racing, made a lasting first impression at Riverside last week, and is poised to win another title at Lee USA this fall.

Each driver has top-notch equipment and a stout team behind him. Each driver is regarded highly enough to have been invited to participate in the upcoming ACT test session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Each driver won his qualifying heat on Sunday, and each started the 'Clash' from one of the top-three positions on the 26-car grid.

There was no question they would be at the top of the finishing order. Instead, the question was how that order would be decided.

Potter led the first 28 laps from the pole, then Welch took over but was not more than two car lengths ahead of Potter until around lap 60. With a restart 20 circuits later, Potter was again within striking distance. Helliwell, who had been conserving his tires for later in the race, suddenly became a player, as did ACT and Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl regular John Donahue. A restart on lap 96 allowed Helliwell to sweep under Potter and take control of second place. Donahue, meanwhile, had pitted for fresh right side tires during the caution period and, while back in tenth place, was expected to quickly return to the front.

Helliwell sniffed his first move under Welch on lap 106, but backed out, opting to run behind the leader. Potter ran a close third. Donahue, by lap 111, was up to fifth place. A lap later, however, he retired with a broken right-rear hub. After the restart for Donahue's spun car bunched the leaders again, giving Potter the opportunity to briefly take second back from Helliwell. Potter's tires began to give up, though, and Helliwell moved back ahead on lap 115, then set to work on Welch.

At lap 126, Helliwell tried the outside to no avail. Due to the intense heat, a recently-applied strip of asphalt in the low groove of Turn 3 began coming apart early in the day. During the PASS Modified event prior to the 'Clash', the combination of heat and bad asphalt badly blistered the right-rear tire of winner Dan Somes' car. Using an old home remedy, track crews laid down dry concrete powder mix over the broken-up surface following the Modified race and during many of the caution periods in the subsequent PASS Sportsman and 'Clash' races to slow the decay of the track. While the intense heat of the day made passing a bit tougher on the outside, the inside lane in Turn 3 also suffered somewhat as a result of the bad asphalt.

Helliwell made two inside-lane bids on laps 129 and 136, then made another try on the top at lap 140. That time, with a thrilling, all-guts move, Helliwell made his car stick, taking the lead on lap 142. Backmarker Cody LeBlanc spun one lap later, setting up one final seven-lap dash to the win.
But during that lap 143 caution period, something was going on inside Helliwell's car. Dehydrated and exhausted, he was suffering badly.

"At lap 80, I was getting dizzy," he said. "I kept pulling my gloves down and hanging my hands out the window trying to cool my wrists. I was good on that last [long green flag] run, and then that caution came out with seven to go.

"And it just hit, everything started spinning."

Helliwell lined up for the final sprint with Welch on his outside and Potter on his rear bumper. Potter immediately jumped in front of Welch and into second place, but washed up the track three laps later. Welch returned to second place, but by then was too far behind Helliwell to make a charge before the checkered flag on lap 150.

Luckily for Helliwell, the race was not 151 laps long. With his left hand out the window looking for air, a dazed Helliwell came out of Turn 4 at half-speed as the checkers waved. He slowly made his way around the track before stopping in victory lane, not taking the traditional victory lap.

Helliwell was in trouble.

As Welch and Potter, who had been drinking fluids throughout the race, climbed out of their cars hot and sweaty but relatively spry, Helliwell sat in pain and heat-induced confusion. It was not until rescue workers, equipped with frozen cold-compacts and bottles of cold water, arrived on the scene and helped pull the winner out of his car before Helliwell was able to realize his victory. Even then, a full five minutes of recuperation time passed before Helliwell was able to make his way -- half-carried -- to the podium for the interview and trophy presentation.

"When we took the [lap 143] restart I looked up and I thought I'd seen, like, five or six car lenghts," said Helliwell. "[My spotter] said 'You're by yourself, just run.' I just backed off. I just idled around the speedway on the last lap. If there was another lap I would have drove right off the [track]."

All three drivers were complimentary of each other and of the race, and Welch and Potter -- who have plenty of laps racing each other, but very limited experience against Helliwell -- appreciated the winner's effort.

"I had a feeling it would come down to us three," said Potter. "We raced pretty good together and had a lot of fun. Wayne is a class act. I'll tell you, he could have uprooted me after a couple of them restarts when I couldn't go, and he let me go and his car would come in, and it paid off in the end. I want to congratulate him. This is a great race to have at my home track, and even though I haven't been here in a while it's still home."

"Lapped traffic played a big factor today, and Wayne ran a helluva race," said runner-up Welch. "He's a good driver with an awesome car and a good bunch of guys, and Randy, we battled with him all day and it was fun. It just came down to the end and I ran out of tires. It was a heck of a job, anyway, and it was probably the best race I've been in, I don't know, probably my whole career. I had a great time."

"Honest to God, if I could run with those guys every week, I'd come up here and run every single week," said Helliwell, who earned a track record $5,000 purse for his victory. "Down where we run, we don't have guys that you can run like that. I pride myself on being able to run bumper-to-bumper with people and not hitting, and it was really awesome to be able to come up here and run like that for 150 laps."

Howard Switser of West Burke was the top Vermonter in fourth place, and also the top finisher on American Racer tires; the top-three drivers all used Goodyear tires. Switser pitted twice during early caution periods to make adjustements on his car, and also survived an early chain-reaction incident that ultimately left his car without a hood for most of the race. Switser passed Bryan Mason of Stark, N.H. on lap 147 for fourth. Mason beat his brother, Corey, for fifth place. The balance of the unofficial top ten was completed by Steve Patnaude, Sammy Gooden, Mike Kenison, and Mike Paquette.

Ten caution periods slowed the event, including the first on lap 21 for a wild, multi-time flip by Pat Corbett of Williamstown. He was uninjured. Twenty-seven cars attempted to qualify, with only Dean Weber, who demolished his car in his heat race, failing to start the race.

Mike Landry of Oakland, Me. won the PASS Sportsman race, which was shortened from 75 laps to 50 due to the heat and track conditions. Landry beat point leader Dan McKeage of Gorham, Me. and Clyde Hennessey of Windham, Me. for the win. Somes, of Belgrade, Me., was followed in the PASS Modified race -- which was shortened from 40 laps to 30 -- by point leader Andy Shaw of Center Conway, N.H. and Sumner Sessions of Norway, Me. Jeff Ainsworth of Bethlehem, N.H. won the 50-lap Cyclone Enduro race.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- Mason Tractor & Equipment 'Clash of the Titans 150'
Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H.
Sunday, August 16, 2009

Pos.-Driver-Hometown

1. Wayne Helliwell, Jr., Dracut, Mass.
2. Quinny Welch, Lancaster, N.H.
3. Randy Potter, Groveton, N.H.
4. Howard Switser, West Burke
5. Bryan Mason, Stark, N.H.
6. Corey Mason, Stark, N.H.
7. Steve Patnaude, Pittsburg, N.H.
8. Sammy Gooden, Whitefield, N.H.
9. Mike Kenison, Groveton, N.H.
10. Mike Paquette, Pittsburg, N.H.
11. Cody LeBlanc, Gorham, N.H.
12. Kenny Marier, Littleton, N.H.
13. Paul Schartner, III, Lyndonville
14. Bob Ailes, Sr., St. Johnsbury
15. John Donahue, Graniteville
16. Matt Pepin, Concord, N.H.
17. Jamie Swallow, Jr., Stark, N.H.
18. Matt Sanborn, West Baldwin, Me.
19. Zig Geno, Gilmanton Iron Works, N.H.
20. Haywood Herriott, Gorham, N.H.
21. Stephen Hodgdon, Danville
22. Marc Palmisano, Hadley, Mass.
23. Jeff Marshall, Groveton, N.H.
24. Jeremy Davis, Tamworth, N.H.
25. Pat Corbett, Williamstown
26. Bill McCarthy, Medford, Mass.
DNS - Dean Weber, Weare, N.H.

(PHOTOS: 1. Wayne Helliwell is assisted in victory lane by his crew members and Groveton Rescue after winning the Clash of the Titans 150 in 90+ degree heat; 2. Helliwell's #27 Unique Ford entry at speed; 3. Third-place finisher Randy Potter (left) and runner-up Quinny Welch (2nd from right) hold an exhausted Wayne Helliwell up on the podium at Riverside Speedway. Photos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

Living Vicariously Through M.C. Ingram

-by Justin St. Louis

I traveled to White Mountain Motorsports Park on Saturday to cover the American-Canadian Tour's 150-lap event for Vermont Motorsports Magazine. I took some photos, got a few quotes, and wrote of John Donahue's dominant victory. In that regard, the general flow of the day was no different than many of the races I've been to this season.

Over the years, though, I've found that the fun is in writing the surprise stories that develop during an event. And at White Mountain, I found myself literally in the middle of one.

During my final days as a driver in 2004, a 17 year-old kid named Martin Ingram -- he prefers to be called by his initials, M.C. -- came to Thunder Road from Essex Junction with a Street Stock car, one that he bought from a friend and former competitor of mine, Aaron Maynard. I'll admit that I wasn't much of a driver, but M.C. made guys like me look pretty good. He was a likeable guy, so my friends and I tried to help him out as much as we could. But we couldn't drive the car for him, and more often than not, it came back home pretty wadded up.

Fast forward to this season: Now 22, M.C. is back on the track full-time for the first time in a couple years, although he managed to make one or two races a year while in the Army. And, yeah, he's still tearing fenders off every now and then, but generally he's much more smooth and his car is competitive. On Saturday, he made the long haul to North Woodstock, N.H. -- by himself -- with the intention of running some laps at a track he'd never seen and having some fun. After a couple of tense moments, it turned into the best day of his career, and brought back some great memories for me.

We joked earlier in the week that I should take the car out for some practice laps to show him the way around White Mountain; I'd raced there a few times and really enjoyed the track, and we both knew I was only interested in having a little fun myself. M.C. took the car out for the first six-minute practice, but he was clearly uncomfortable, running off the pace two or three lanes up the track, even by himself. Somebody spun and the yellow flag flew, and thinking the session was over, M.C. came to pit road. I met him when he got to his pit stall and could tell that he was preparing himself for just another day of flopping around in the back. I leaned in the window and said, "Try running the low line, dude, get back out there," and he drove off.

It was like flipping a switch; instantly, he figured the place out, and I'd be lying if I said he wasn't one of the fastest four or five cars out there. He was perfect entering and exiting the corners, very smooth, very consistent. He caught and passed a few cars, and no one was fast enough to get by him.

When he came back in after the session was over, he had a big grin on his face. "That felt good," he said, and Maynard (I can't remember ever calling Maynard by his first name in ten years), who lives in nearby Lyndonville, Vt. and was there to help M.C. out, said the tires had only built up two or three pounds of air pressure, a very good sign. Maynard raced at White Mountain weekly for a while, and was asked to run the car in the second (and final) practice to double-check everything.

Immediately, I got my dander up: "Hey! I thought I was gonna drive it!" I whined. I was then reminded of my less-than-perfect finishing record and told to shut up and take pictures. Of course, I wasn't really expecting to drive the thing anyway, and probably wouldn't know what to do if I did get in the car. It'd been five years since I raced anything, and my last start ended in a massive pileup at Thunder Road. Maynard got in and drove the hell out of the car, passing at will. But after he brought one poor kid to school with a three-lane change in Turn 4, he brought it in and shut it off.

And handed me the helmet. I felt like a little kid I was so giddy.

We quickly got Maynard out of the driver's suit, put me in it, and I strapped into the car and fired it up. Just as I put it in first gear to take off, hands came up and everyone went, "Whoa! Shut it off!" Water was pouring out of the engine. I got out of the car and we all pushed it back into the pit stall. After a few minutes of searching, it was determined that the water pump gasket had blown, and M.C. and Maynard set to work fixing it. Oh, and somewhere along the way the zipper on the firesuit broke, but I don't think that was my fault. Then we looked at the clock and realized there were less than 15 minutes before M.C.'s heat race. Somehow, they got it done, and somehow, M.C. lined up on the outside pole for the second qualifying heat, outside fellow Thunder Road racer David Greenslit.

Now, Greenslit's becoming a decent racer and has a fast car, and given M.C.'s not-so-good practice in the outside lane, we all sort of expected it to be a cakewalk for Greenslit. Not so. Right from the drop of the green, M.C. barrelled it down into the first turn and made it work. He flew out of Turn 2 to the very top of the backstretch, and nosed ahead for the lead. By the time two more laps had passed, M.C. was out front by himself, and, unbelievably, walking away from the pack. Another seven laps later, he had himself a checkered flag, his first in four years. I, of course, felt a certain amount of credit was due to me for breaking the water pump in practice, rather than having it go during the race. Instead, I was blamed for, well, being my destructive self. No matter, the kid won.

"It feels [expletive] fantastic!" M.C. said as he walked back to the trailer. "I thought [Greenslit] was going to blow right by me, because there's not really an outside lane here. It turned out I could go on the outside for a little bit, and once I cleared him I dropped down onto the inside where I was faster and just kept going from there. I was just thinking 'Holy [expletive], I've never been here and I won.' I didn't even think I was going to make it out for the heat, so I was pretty happy."

And then he one-upped himself in the feature, starting 12th and finishing fifth after having a legitimate shot a top-three. He ran with Nick Pilotte and Rubin Call, two of the top runners at White Mountain, and Brendan Hunt who is a big shot at Riverside in Groveton. He ran the far outside lane a couple times and made it work. He stuck his nose in down low a couple times and made it work. It was like he was a whole new driver.

It blew our freaking minds, all of us, including Greenslit, and Gene, and T.J., and Al, and Eddy, who had all been in and out of the picture during the day. When M.C. drove back to the pits, we, like morons, jumped on the car -- while it was still moving, of course -- and celebrated.

"I'll definitely be back to White Mountain," he said. "I think with a little more seat time I could do a lot better." Spoken like a veteran.

He instantly ranked the day as his best-ever at a race track. "This has to be number one. To go to a track you've never been to before and win your heat race and finish in the top-five in the feature, it's a pretty damn good feeling. I showed up by myself, and with the water pump blowing and breaking my firesuit, it turned out to be a pretty good day."

It's funny, as a rookie nine years ago, I went to White Mountain for the first time with my race car. Like M.C. Ingram, I'd never seen the place. I don't remember if there were any problems with the race car, there probably weren't, but I do remember thinking I was way out of my element, even though I had won my first feature the week before at Thunder Road. My dad and my crew and I puttered on the car all day, trying to get both it and me figured out, and when it came time to race, we won our qualifier. The next year at Airborne Speedway, I blew the clutch in practice, we made it out in time the 'B' feature and finished second, then got a top-ten in the 50-lap feature that night. In fact, that first win at Thunder Road came just a week after I blew up a motor.

Racing's got a strange way of turning things around. I remembered the feeling that M.C. Ingram had, that he probably still has, that there was no way I could have had more fun doing anything else. And it was a lot of fun to relive that feeling on Saturday night.

PHOTOS: White Mountain 150

Gardiner Leavitt, 78, proudly shows off a photo of himself driving in one of his first cars recently at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Maine. Leavitt's son, Steve, a leading NASCAR fabricator, restored the car in North Carolina. Gardiner and wife June have been active in the northeast racing community for more than 50 years, and had their Action Racing parts trailer at White Mountain on Saturday. Click here for a 40-photo gallery of the event. All photos by Justin St. Louis/VMM.

LAST LAP: A few notes that have nowhere else to go

In a whirlwind couple of weeks, Joey Polewarczyk, Jr.'s name keeps coming up. It seems the youngster is starting to be in high demand, and so is his equipment.

Bob Dillner of SPEED Channel, Speed51.com, and BDI Racing is in the process of reaching an agreement with Polewarczyk to have his driver, Michael Pope of Dublin, Ga., drive a Joey Pole Racing entry -- the same one NASCAR champion Tony Stewart drove at Thunder Road in the CARQUEST Vermont Governor's Cup 150 -- in next month's TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine, and possibly, the ACT Late Model Tour event at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway the following week.

In exchange, Dillner will have Polewarczyk, of Hudson, N.H., drive his PASS South Super Late Model at South Boston Speedway in Virginia for the Mason-Dixon Meltdown on October 17.

Also, we're hearing that we should expect Polewarczyk to make an appearance at the annual Oktoberfest at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway in Wisconsin one week prior to the Mason-Dixon Meltdown, although the details of that arrangement -- a deal seperate from Dillner's -- are largely unknown at this point, even to Polewarczyk.

It was previously announced that Polewarczyk may also drive in a pair PASS North events at Lee USA Speedway and Seekonk Speedway for Eric DeSouza.

***

Speaking of the TD Banknorth 250, Travis Barrett of Green-White-Checker is reporting that NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Steven Wallace will race a Kendall Roberts-owned National Guard entry in the event as a teammate to White Mountain 150 winner John Donahue.

***

Cam Clairmont had Christmas come early this year. The Super Street driver at White Mountain Motorsports Park won his division's feature on Saturday night, but only after some lucky breaks. Early leader Jourdan Davis was black-flagged for a water leak, then Tyler Alati flat-out dumped leader Derek O'Hearn on lap 13, with both drivers going to the rear of the field for the subsequent restart. Clairmont, the new leader, then outlasted an outside-lane bid from Tim Churchill to take the win. Tom Keith won the Strictly Stock feature, with Opie Thayer taking Strictly Stock Mini checkers. Lucas Wheeler won the Kids Truck feature.

***

Three members of RPM Motorsports are lucky to be alive after a collision with a moose on Saturday night near Littleton, N.H. Ander Cary, Corey Forest, and Chris Burnett, crew members for the Rick Paya-owned team that fields ACT Late Model Tour entries for Brian Hoar, Mike Olsen, and Jason Bonnett, struck a young bull moose on Interstate 93 on the way back from White Mountain Motorsports Park. The roof of the Dodge Charger they were riding in was peeled back to the back seat of the car, but fortunately no injuries were sustained by any of the three men, other than bumps, bruises, and small cuts from shattered glass.

***

Tony Stewart has been a busy guy this weekend. After his race at Thunder Road on Thursday and all the stuff he does regularly on the NASCAR trail, this weekend at Loudon, N.H., Stewart flew to Plattsburgh, N.Y. and made a surprise visit to Airborne Speedway on Saturday night to help his development driver, Jessica Zemken, with her Modified for the double-points 30-lap feature. In her debut at Airborne, Zemken finished a respectable 12th.

Patrick Dupree earned his first win of the season after leader Leon Gonyo was forced to pit during a caution period with three laps remaining. Martin Roy finished second with Mike Bruno of Castelton third. Robin Wood -- who has a $100 bounty on his head for anyone that can beat him -- won his fourth-straight Sportsman feature. Other winners were Randy LaDue (Renegade), "Slow" Rick Doner (Mini-Modified), and Jayson Blondo (Bomber).

Donahue Makes It Look Easy At White Mountain

NORTH WOODSTOCK, N.H. -- It might be in the best interest of the American-Canadian Tour's roster of drivers to consider John Donahue a major threat from now on. The Graniteville driver obliterated the competition at the ACT Late Model Tour's 150-lap event at White Mountain Motorsports Park on Saturday night, leading every lap on his way to his first win of the year and securing a spot in the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September.

Donahue made it look easy.

"That's good from my point of view," Donahue said in victory lane.

Donahue was clearly the class of the field throughout the event, scoring a "+7" handicap in his heat race to earn the pole position. From there, he led every lap and lapped all but the top-ten of the race's 30 starters. At times, he led eventual runner-up Brent Dragon by as much as a quarter of a lap, even while running in thick lapped traffic.

With former champion driver and crew chief Dale Shaw turning the wrenches on his car at White Mountain, Donahue said he was asked during the race to slow his pace and not use his National Guard #26 Ford up. "It seemed like the more I drove it, the better the came became. 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!' I was just drifting into the corner and drifting out of the corner and kept pulling away. It was [easy] for me."

Donahue's dominance throughout the race was certainly the shining moment of his season, but a runner-up finish at Oxford Plains Speedway last month and top-ten results at Lee USA Speedway and Thunder Road indicate that his Kendall Roberts-owned team may have the pieces in place for a run at the ACT Late Model Tour title. And, of course, they're headed to Loudon, N.H. for the Invitational.

"I've been waiting for that," said a relieved Donahue. "I tried to keep it in the back of my mind, and I wasn't thinking about that all season, just trying to get top-fives and top-tens and try to keep my points up. We've been trying to safe all year and be smart.

"To come out of here with a win today... it's just a perfect day. To me, [qualifying for the Invitational] means a lot. I just can't wait to get on that track, it's going to be really exciting."

Dragon, of Milton, finished second after being involved in an early crash. Despite suffering some damage to the suspension, Dragon's car was the fastest one on the track, save for Donahue, and finished a full straightaway ahead of Barre's Nick Sweet and Eric Williams of Hyde Park. Sweet, who ran in third place for most of the race, held off a late charge from Williams to finish on the podium spot. Ben Rowe of Turner, Me. rounded out the top-five after starting 26th; Rowe had to qualify through the last-chance 'B' feature before posting his best ACT finish of the season.

The unofficial top-ten was completed in order by Scott Payea, Cris Michaud, Tyler Cahoon in an ACT career-best eighth place, Brad Leighton, who came from the back of the field twice, and Pete Potvin, III.

Several early incidents took a handful of front-running drivers out of contention, including Joey Becker, Aaron Ricker, and Brian Hoar. Jamie Fisher's car shut down on lap 137 after running inside the top-five for most of the race. Point leader Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. was never a factor in the race and finished 12th, unofficially.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- White Mountain 150
ACT Late Model Tour, White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, N.H.
Saturday, June 27, 2009

Pos.-(Start)-Driver-Hometown

1. (1) John Donahue, Graniteville
2. (6) Brent Dragon, Milton
3. (5) Nick Sweet, Barre
4. (10) Eric Williams, Hyde Park
5. (26) Ben Rowe, Turner, Me.
6. (24) Scott Payea, Milton
7. (14) Cris Michaud, Northfield
8. (25) Tyler Cahoon, St. Johnsbury
9. (17) Brad Leighton, Center Harbor, N.H.
10. (9) Pete Potvin, III, Graniteville

(Photo by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

VIDEO: Grenier Hangs Tough at White Mountain

Graniteville driver Chip Grenier (#9) and Cody Bodwell of Farmington, N.H. (#13) put on a great show in Heat 3 at White Mountain Motorsports Park on Saturday evening. Here, Grenier takes the lead coming out of the final corner of the qualifier to squeak out the win on the outside lane.

(Video 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)

That One's For You, Stubby

VMM just got word that Travis Fadden, grandson of the late Stub Fadden, a New England racing legend who passed away in March, got his first Late Model victory at White Mountain Motorsports Park on Saturday night. Reportedly, the majority of the Fadden Racing clan was there, including another of Fadden's racing grandsons, Mike Olsen, and long-time crew chief Harry Norcross... and that there wasn't a dry eye in the place.

We just wanted to offer our congratulations to a family that needed a lift in a tough time. Look down on us, Stubby, and smile.

(Photo by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

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: It'll Happen for 'Joey Pole'

-by Justin St. Louis

Seekonk Speedway racer Ryan Vanasse has the right idea. After crashing out of contention for an ACT win at Thunder Road three years ago, Vanasse said that he preferred running up front and then crashing out, over running a whole race and finishing in 20th place.

"We learned so much by running with the front runners," he said. "There's a big difference between running all 150 laps and ending up a lap or two down, or running only 100 laps but running with the lead five all day long."

Hopefully, Joey Polewarczyk can relate to Vanasse's line of thinking and feel good about his progress, but hopefully he's done getting the crashing out of his system. The Hudson, N.H. youngster has repeatedly shown that he has what it takes to be a front-runner, winning ACT Late Model Tour races at Seekonk, Oxford Plains, and Lee USA. He has podium finishes at Kawartha and White Mountain, nearly won the TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford last year, and has led the ACT points at various times in 2008 and 2009. But at Thunder Road, a track he'll race at no less than five times this season, he just hasn't been able to get the job done.

Getting his start there in a Late Model five years ago, Polewarczyk left the track with a mangled race car and -- as he often jokes -- a piece of the concrete 'Widowmaker' wall. He began to figure the place out in 2006, when he set the track record and won a segment of the Milk Bowl, eventually finishing in third place overall. But save for additional pole positions in 2007 and '08, Polewarczyk has little else to show for his eforts at the Barre track.

Sunday, he looked like he had finally shaken the monkey off his back, but spun himself out of the lead on lap 82 of the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic 100.

"Eighteen laps away from a win here," he said, arms crossed, looking at the ground. "I don't know what it is about this place. When I first got the pole here in '06 and almost won the Milk Bowl, after that night my dad said, 'You know, this is only our second Milk Bowl, it wouldn't have been right for us to win here. We have to earn our dues here.' Ever since then we haven't had the best luck here."

Polewarczyk admitted that the spin was his own fault, that he was simply running too high on the race track and lost control while battling for the win with Dave Pembroke, not unlike another young ACT phenom, Scott Payea, did in last year's Labor Day Classic. Last September, a frustrated Polewarczyk was black-flagged at the Milk Bowl after whacking the slower car of Karl Allard, rather than wait for a hole to open in traffic. The penalty effectively ended his run toward the victory. In January at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, Calif., he spun out of second place after a self-admitted mistake with two laps to go in the Toyota All-Star Showdown's last-chance qualifying race for the NASCAR Camping World Series.

Polewarczyk said that in his next apperance at Thunder Road -- the CARQUEST Vermont Governor's Cup 150 on June 25 -- he's hoping to finally complete the mission and win. But will the pressure to perform get to him again? If he didn't have enough on his shoulders with NASCAR champion Tony Stewart driving one of his cars and with an ever-increasing Thunder Road fan base expecting results out of their young hero, Polewarczyk -- who finally says goodbye to his teens as he turns 20 years old on Sunday -- is showing signs that he is beginning to get caught up in everything.

"[Stewart] might be driving one of my cars, but he's gonna have to try to get by me to win that race," he said. "I'm pissed off now. I want to win here. I want to win at this place more than anything in the world. I thought I had it today."

It would be a shame if Polewarczyk, who in reality is the only ACT driver on the NASCAR "next big thing" radar right now, pysches himself up too much and out of another possible victory at Thunder Road, or anywhere else for that matter. But when the time comes that he does break through at the track (because it's likely not a matter of 'if' anymore), expect his stock to go up exponentially in both the regional and national development deal markets.

Why make such a bold prediction? Talk to Polewarczyk. Ask him about Thunder Road and look in his eyes, at his body language, as he responds. A win there would do wonders for his confidence, which would be the final step in getting this kid into solid championship contention and helping him make the next big move toward the top of the sport.

And it would be a shame, too, if I'm wrong about all of that. Take a deep breath , 'Joey Pole', and don't get too "pissed off." It's good to have a fire and a passion for something you want so badly, but stay relaxed and race your car, just focus on the lap you're on, not the laps you ran. Forget about lap 82, forget about the Milk Bowls. Remember that when it happens at Thunder Road, it'll happen. Even the great Junior Hanley only got one win there.

It's just sometimes your dues aren't totally paid for a while.

***

I love this picture, because it's so... abnormal. In case you're out of the loop, that's Donald Theetge on the left and Patrick Laperle on the right, and they don't usually get along that well. This photograph was taken in victory lane at the Série ACT-Castrol opener at Autodrome St-Eustache two weeks ago, after the two drivers battled all day long for the victory, which eventually went to Laperle.

The tension between Laperle and Theetge is long-standing, and certainly Québec's biggest rivalry at the moment. Last year, Theetge spun twice off Laperle's front bumper while leading -- the first time during the ACT Late Model Tour event at Airborne Speedway, the second time during the 'Showdown at Chaudière' all-star race at Autdrome Chaudière. Laperle was deemed at fault for the first incident, while Theetge was held responsible for the second. Following the Chaudière mess, Theetge got out of his car and literally ran after Laperle on the track, much to the delight of the Québec City-based -- and pro-Theetge, anti-Laperle -- crowd. The fact that the two were able to get along well enough in front of Laperle's Montréal home crowd at St-Eustache to not wreck each other out of the win is respectable, but how long will it last?

The Série ACT-Castrol heads to Autodrome Montmagny, which is, you guessed it, back in Theetge territory, this Saturday. Guess we'll find out soon enough.

***

Ah, Bear Ridge. All in all, we're still of the opinion that we like the place, but that opinion isn't nearly as sky-high as it was at the rained-out season opener. Here's why: holding an hour-long intermission on a mid-May night in Vermont with double features in unacceptable. Holding an hour-long intermission at any time is unacceptable. The temperature had dropped to the upper 40s by the time I packed my two year-old son up and left for home. If I see that Elvis Presley impersonator again at the track it'll be too soon, because he sang for half of that hour -- to every... single... woman... and... child... there...

The 20-minute parade of race cars -- all of them -- was a total waste of time (and no one told us what was going on over the public address), and the fireworks display during said parade was extremely uncoordinated and unsafe. The coffee-can-sized buckets holding the fireworks that were lined up around the inside edge of the track began to fall over as their fuses were being lighted, but the crew went ahead and lit them up anyway, even as bad things were happening. One explosion shot directly up and into a lighting fixture in Turn 3. One fell over and shot through the windshield of a race car, while another shot into the driver's door of a second one. And then, in the scariest moment, one pointed directly at the crowd, stopped only by the frontstretch wall. and the incline of the hill in front of the grandstands.

The racing was good in all divisions, the food was good, the admission and concession prices are all very family-friendly, but the show itself needs some major work. And putting drivers and fans in danger is absolutely not okay. I'll be back one more time for the Dragon family affair on Saturday, but it's going to be a make-or-break event for me. Especially if there's a fireworks show.

***

AROUND THE REGION:

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

ACT Late Model Tour: Dave Pembroke of Middlesex earned his first win in two years on Sunday at Barre's Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, taking the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic 100. Brian Hoar of Williston finished second for his best ACT finish since his last win in September 2000, while Milton's Scott Payea and Northfield's Cris Michaud finished third and fourth, respectively.

Airborne Speedway (Plattsburgh, N.Y.): Castleton driver Mike Bruno picked up his first Modified win of the season on Saturday night, while Brandon's Don Scarborough finished fourth. Todd Stone of Middlebury was 11th in his first Airborne start of the year. Fairfax racer Richie Turner finished third in the Tiger Sportsman event behind Plattsburgh's Robin Wood and Bucko Branham, with Milton's Bill Sawyer tenth. Mike Terry of Grand Isle was the runner-up in the Renegade feature with St. Albans brothers Lance and Dave Rabtoy fourth and fifth.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway (Malta, N.Y.): Dave Camara of Fair Haven could muster only a ninth-place effort in the Modified division on Friday night, though Londonderry's Rob Langevin finished third in the Sportsman feature and his wife, Lori Langevin, finished third in the Pro Street Stocks.

Bear Ridge Speedway (Bradford): Wayne Stearns of Thetford center won the second of two Sportsman Modified features on Saturday night, with Piermont, N.H. driver Chris Donnelly winning the opening race. Josh Harrington of Topsham won both Sportsman Coupe features on the night, with Fairlee's Doug Titus and Bradford's Billy Simmons finishing 2-3 in the first event, and Simmons and Jason Horniak, also of Bradford, going 2-3 in the second race. Thetford Center's Dan Eastman swept both Limited Late Model features. Wilder's Andy Johnson and White River Junction's Josh Sunn split Fast Four features, while Bradford's Tom Placey and Bobby Lee Bell of St. Johnsbury each took a feature win in the Hornet class. Misty Bell of St. Johnsbury won the Hornet Queen race.

Canaan Dirt Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Thetford Center driver Wayne Stearns finished third in the Modified feature on Friday with East Corinth's Gene Pierson eighth. Dan Eastman's perfect record fell in the Street Stock race as the Thetford Center driver finished second to Tom Forward. Bradford's Tyler Stygles was third. Andy Johnson of Wilder won the Mini Stock feature.

Canaan Fair Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Saturday's race card was washed out by rain.

Devil's Bowl Speedway (Fair Haven): Tim LaDuc and Cullen Howe split the Chittenden Bank C.J. Twin 50s to open the Devil's Bowl season on Sunday evening. LaDuc, of Orwell, beat Kenny Tremont, Jr. to win the Modified portion of the event, with Middlebury's Todd Stone and Brandon's Vince Quenneville, Jr. in third and fourth. Howe, of South Londonderry, beat Ryan Avery and Jack Gentile for the Budget Sportsman win. Fair Haven veteran Carl Vladyka opened his Pro Street Stock championship defense with a win over Salisbury's Fred Little and Ed Thompson, also of Fair Haven. Mike Clark of Brandon won the Limited feature with Leicester's Jeremy Jones second.

Empire Super Sprints: In a two-night weekend in New York State, Fairfax driver Anthony Cain finished 16th at Fonda Raceway on Saturday and 14th at Utica-Rome Speedway on Sunday. Orwell driver James Hanson failed to qualify at both events.

Monadnock Speedway (Winchester, N.H.): Putney's Dana Shepard finished 14th in the Super Stock race on Satruday night. Joe Rogers of Ludlow was ninth in the Mini Stock race with Whitingham's Ricky Bernard 13th.

PASS North Series: Danville's Steven Legendre finished 12th in the PASS 150 at White Mountain Motorsports Park on Saturday night. Ben Rowe of Turner, Me. was the winner. Kelly Moore of Scarborough, Me. walked away uninjured after a scary crash left his car upside down at the entrance of pit road.

Riverside Speedway (Groveton, N.H.): Derek Ming of Island Pond won the Outlaw Sportsman feature on Saturday with Newport Center's David Ofsuryk third. Michael Smith of St. Johnsbury was fifth in the Super Stock feature. Jesse Switser of West Burke won the Street Stock race, with Derby Line's Brendan Hunt second. Ernie LaPlant of Lyndonville was the Dwarf Car runner-up, Andy Simpson of Lyndon Center finished third in the Cyclone race, Cabot's Johanna Christman won the Angel feature, and Graniteville's Stephen Donahue won the youth division race.

Utica-Rome Speedway (Vernon, N.Y.): John Scarborough of Bomoseen finished 11th in the Sportsman feature on Sunday.

Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl (Barre): In support action for the ACT Late Model and True Value Modified events on Sunday, North Wolcott's Brendan Moodie held on for his first Tiger Sportsman win of the season, with Joe Steffen of Essex Junction second and Barre's Lance Allen third. Danville's Bruce Melendy won the Street Stock feature over Plainfield's Jason Corliss and Hyde Park rookie Tucker Williams, while North Montpelier's Donny Yates was the Junkyard Warrior winner. David Whitcomb of Elmore won the Street Stock/Junkyard Warrior 'reserve' feature over rookies Travis Hull of Graniteville and Jamie Davis of Wolcott.

True Value Modified Racing Series: Nineteen year-old Steve Masse took an upset career-first victory at Thunder Road on Sunday. Peter Jarvis of Ascutney recovered from a late spin to finish eighth, while brother Dwight Jarvis crashed out on lap 80, finishing 17th.

Twin State Speedway (Claremont, N.H.): Rookie Dola Holland of Ludlow finished fourth in the Late Model feature on Friday with Ascutney's Chris Riendeau sixth and Williston's Rich Lowrey eighth. Ascutney rookie Joey Jarvis finished third in the Modified feature with Windham driver Nathan Kehoe fourth. Mendon's Chris Wilk was the Super Street runner-up with West Hartford's Kris Lyman fifth. Tara Tarbell of Springfieldwas the Strictly Stock winner. Cody Small of Hartland beat North Springfield's Jeremiah Losee and Cavendish driver Robert Leitch to win the Wildcat race. Kaitlin Stone of Jacksonville was second in the Sportsman race.

White Mountain Motorsports Park (North Woodstock, N.H.): Stacy Cahoon of St. Johnsbury finished fifth in the Late Model feature to open the 2009 season at the Park. Stevie Parker of Lyndonville was fifth in the Strictly Stock feature.

This weekend, Friday night has the Albany-Saratoga, Canaan Dirt, and Twin State speedways in action. Saturday will see regular events at Airborne, Bear Ridge, Canaan Fair, Mondanock, Riverside, and White Mountain, as well as the Série ACT-Castrol at Québec's Autodrome Montmagny. Devil's Bowl and Utica-Rome return to action on Sunday.

(Photos: 1. Joey Polewarczyk hasn't had the best luck at Thunder Road, but that should change soon; 2. Série ACT-Castrol runner-up Donald Theetge (left) congratulates winner Patrick Laperle two weeks ago; 3. Empire Super Sprint driver Anthony Cain at Utica-Rome Speedway. Photo 1 by Leif Tilloston, photo 2 by Stephane Lazare, photo 3 by Alan Ward)

Corbett Family to Riverside Late Models

The father-son team of Pat and Shaun Corbett have joined the Late Model division ranks of Groveton, N.H.'s Riverside Speedway for 2009. Pat Corbett has been in retirement from racing since his 2002 track championship at White Mountain Motorsports Park, but will race the Bond Auto Triple Crown Series and the inaugural $5,000-to-win Clash of the Titans 150 in August. His son, Shaun, will drive in the remaining Late Model events held at the high-banked 1/4-mile during the summer.

"The racing bug has been there, but the timing just wasn’t right to get back into the sport," Pat Corbett said in a Riverside Speedway release. "Then Riverside announced the Triple Crown Series, plus the giant $5,000 to win event, and I said to the family, 'This series of events would be perfect for me.' We have always been a family operation, as my wife and sons will be an integral part of the team, and on the non-series events Shaun will be behind the wheel. Our good friends at Jet Service Envelope and Vermont Shifter Karts are back on board as sponsors and we are ready to shake down the cobwebs!"

Pat Corbett, 50, of Williamstown, was a top Late Model and Flying Tiger driver from the mid-1980s until his 2002 retirement, winning over a dozen events at White Mountain, Barre's Thunder Road, New York's Airborne Speedway and Malone Int'l Raceway, and Maine's Beech Ridge Motor Speedway. His biggest win was the final of his three American-Canadian Tour victories - the 2000 Memorial Day Classic at Thunder Road. Shaun Corbett raced two seasons in Thunder Road's NAPA Tiger Sportsman class and a partial schedule in the Allen Lumber Street Stock division earlier in the decade.

Riverside Speedway's season get underway on Saturday, May 16.

(Photo: Pat Corbett carries the checkers at White Mountain Motorsports Park in 2002. Photo courtesy WMMP)