Hoar to Return to Competition at Thunder Road Milk Bowl
American-Canadian Tour Late Model stock car racing champion Brian Hoar will return to the driver’s seat at Thunder Road’s 45th Annual Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl on Sat./Sun., Sept. 27/28. Hoar, 36, has been idle since the end of the 2007 season, a year in which the Williston, VT racer finished sixth in his first full season back on the ACT Late Model Tour following his fifth series championship in 2000. He previously raced in the series now known as NASCAR Camping World East.
“I’m headed to a track in New Hampshire to test the car and knock the rust off the driver,” said Hoar. “We’ll be in great shape on Milk Bowl weekend. It’s been a long time since I’ve kissed a cow, and I’d love to do it again,” he said, referencing to the event’s long-standing tradition of the winning driver smooching a Vermont dairy cow in victory lane. Hoar won the Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl in 1998 and 1999, one of only two drivers in history to win in successive years. Burnett Scrap Metals and Goss Dodge will underwrite Hoar’s return.
The Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl is the ultimate sprint race: a three-segment, cumulatively scored event paying a total of more than $60,000, including $10,000 to the winner. Points are awarded in each segment – 1 point to the winner, 2 points for second, etc. – with the finish of each 50-lap segment inverted to start the next, leaving, for example, the winner of Segment 1 to start last (28th) in Segment 2. The driver with the lowest three-segment total is named the overall winner. Booth Bros./H.P. Hood Time Trials and “Triple 50” qualifying races determine the starting order of Segment 1 on Saturday, Sept. 27.
Hoar won the Booth Bros./H.P. Hood Pole Award in Milk Bowl qualifying each year from 1997 to 2000, years in which he also won the ACT Late Model Tour championship. His total low score of four points to win the 1998 edition of the Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl was the second-lowest in history. Hoar is also a former track champion at Thunder Road, Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, NY, and the 1-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, NH.
Hoar will challenge ACT Late Model Tour championship leaders Scott Payea of Milton, VT and Patrick Laperle of Montréal for the victory. Payea leads Laperle by just 19 points entering the Milk Bowl finale. Laperle is the defending Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl winner. Other stars expected for the race include Thunder Road track champion Eric Williams, Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 winner Brad Leighton, and former Milk Bowl winners Jean-Paul Cyr, Phil Scott, Cris Michaud, and Dave Pembroke.
Booth Bros./H.P. Hood Qualifying Day begins at 1:30pm on Saturday, Sept. 27. The last-chance “B” Feature qualifier will kick off Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl Sunday on Sept. 28 at 1:30pm. Two-day general admission is just $25 for adults and $5 for children 6-12. Gates open at 10:00am on both days. For more information, call (802) 244-6963 or visit www.acttour.com or www.thunderroadspeedbowl.com.
Sources: Justin St. Louis/ACT LM Tour PR