Champion stock car racer Tracie Bellerose of Gorham, NH will team up with Graniteville, VT driver John Donahue, sponsor National Guard, and team owner Kendell Roberts at the American-Canadian Tour’s season-ending New England Dodge Dealers 150 at Maine’s Oxford Plains Speedway on Saturday. Bellerose is a former Track Champion at Thunder Road in Barre, VT, and owns a pair of feature victories in weekly competition at Oxford.
“I’m really excited to have the opportunity to race with Kendell and John, and I love Oxford,” Bellerose said. “Kendell wanted to have both of his cars on the track this weekend, and he asked me if I’d be interested in driving. You can guess how long it took me to make a decision!”
Bellerose made national headlines in 2000 by becoming one of the first women in stock car racing history to earn a track title in a headline class. Her championship came in the ultra-competitive Late Model division, where she has seven Thunder Road victories to her credit. Bellerose is also a three-time winner on the ACT Late Model Tour, and scored Oxford Plains Speedway victories in 1995 and 1996. Her driving career was derailed in August 2003 by a severe arm injury sustained in a crash. She made her return behind the wheel at Thunder Road in May.
“I can picture the groove at Oxford, but I haven’t raced there in six years,” she said. “I have confidence in Kendell’s group that the car will perform well, it’s just a matter of me getting comfortable and settling back into my role as a driver. I’m just happy to be in the position I’m in right now.”
Driving the #26 National Guard Ford Fusion, Donahue earned a 100-lap victory at Oxford in the L/A Harley-Davidson Challenge Series in June and took a $10,000 payday in the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road last month. He and Bellerose will square off against ACT Late Model Tour point leaders Jean-Paul Cyr, Scott Payea, Brent Dragon, and Randy Potter in the New England Dodge Dealers 150, as well as 2007 OPS Track Champion Travis Adams of Canton, ME. Also expected are young Joey “Pole” Polewarczyk, Maine’s own Ron Henry, and TD Banknorth 250 winner “Rocket” Roger Brown.
Green flag racing action begins at 2:00pm on Saturday, October 6. For more information, call ACT at (802) 244-6963, or visit www.acttour.com or www.oxfordplains.com.
Sources: ACT LM Tour PR