Joey Pole Aiming at Third-Straight Milk Bowl Pole Award
Teenage stock car racing sensation Joey “Pole” Polewarczyk, Jr. is aiming for his third consecutive Booth Bros./H.P. Hood Pole Award at Barre, VT’s Thunder Road on Saturday, Sept. 27 to kick off the 45th Annual Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl weekend. The Hudson, NH driver lived up to his nickname in each of the last two seasons during Booth Bros./H.P. Hood Time Trials, posting the fastest single-lap speed to earn the pole position starting spot for Segment 1 of the Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl. His 2006 lap of 12.935 seconds around Thunder Road’s high-banked 1/4-mile oval stands as the Track Record for the American-Canadian Tour Late Model division.
“There are only two guys that have won three-straight poles at the Milk Bowl: Dave Dion, who’s from my hometown and was always a hero of mine, and Brian Hoar, who actually won four straight. I’d love to join that list with them,” said Polewarczyk. “I’d also love to join them as a Milk Bowl winner, but first things first.”
Polewarczyk took ACT Late Model Tour victories at Lee USA (NH) Speedway in April and Oxford Plains (ME) Speedway in June, and made his NASCAR super-speedway debut at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, NH last weekend, finishing sixth. He currently sits seventh in ACT championship standings.
The Booth Bros./H.P. Hood Milk Bowl Pole Award is worth $1,000 to the winner, while the second-fastest time trial driver will earn $500. The top three time trial drivers will be locked into the Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl starting lineup, with the balance of the field determined through “Triple 50” qualifying races, a last-chance “B” feature, and starting berths for fast-timers not already qualified.
The Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl is a three-segment, cumulatively scored event with the reputation as the “toughest short track stock car race in North America.” Each 50-lap segment awards one point to the winner, two points to the second-place finisher, etc., with the finish of each segment inverted to start the next. The driver with the lowest three-segment total score is the overall winner. Top prize is $10,000 and a date with the trophy queen – a Vermont dairy cow! Patrick Laperle of Montréal kissed the lovely lady last year.
General admission for Booth Bros./H.P. Hood Qualifying Day (Saturday, Sept. 27 only), including Time Trials, “Triple 50” qualifiers, qualifying events for Thunder Road’s weekly NAPA Tiger Sportsman and Allen Lumber Street Stock divisions, and the championship season finale for the Power Shift Online Junkyard Warrior division, is just $10 for adults and free for children 6-12. Two-day general admission (Sat./Sun., Sept. 27/28), including all events for the American-Canadian Tour Late Models and Thunder Road’s weekly divisions, is $25 for adults and $5 for kids. Gates open at 10:00am both days, with racing beginning at 1:30pm both days. For more information, call (802) 244-6963 or visit www.thunderroadspeedbowl.com or www.acttour.com.
Sources: Justin St. Louis/ACT LM Tour PR