American-Canadian Tour 25th Anniversary
25 Years of ACT Racing
The American-Canadian Tour will be celebrating its 25th season in 2010 and as part of the anniversary celebration we will be taking a look back at the beginning as a way of reflecting on where the Tour has come over the years. Below is an excerpt from the 1989 souvenir program, recapping the inaugural 1986 season. Its titled “Crouch Back at the Top.”
“A new sanctioning body, the American Canadian Tour (ACT) enthusiastically debuts, a former champion, Dick McCabe, is welcomed back to full-time competition, and the formation of the Stock Car Connection, are the headlines of the year. Additionally, Robbie Crouch remounts the champion’s podium, winning a remarkable ten feature events.
It was Crouch’s year. The L&W/Allen Lumber Team started with a vengeance, taking the point lead after the third race of the year and never looked back.
Stub Fadden took the Spring Green season opener at Catamount while Chuck Bown, Claude Leclerc, and Crouch posted early wins. Lancaster National Speedway outside Buffalo, New York (a 5/8ths mile oval), hosted its first Tour event, with Crouch scoring the victory. The Late Models also ran the big oval at the Bryar Motorsport Park for the first time. Claude Leclerc posted his second win of the year on Bryar’s 5/8ths.
Chuck Bown again showed that his west coast road racing experience paid off by winning on the Bryar Road Course. The newly paved Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine, a 1/3 mile oval, staged a Coors Tour event at the end of the summer. Before an SRO (Standing Room Only) crowd, Robbie Crouch posted his seventh win. Eventual Bosch/BFCP Rookie-of-the-Year, Dana Patten, scored for the first time as a Coors Tour driver, winning at his hometown track, Star Speedway in Epping, New Hampshire. Jamie Aube finished up the season as the hottest driver on the circuit, winning three of the final five races including the prestigious New England 300 at Catamount Stadium.
Other drivers visiting victory lane included former two-time champions, Beaver Dragon (Claremont) and Dick McCabe (Val Belair), Kevin Lepage (at Catamount in a car 200 pounds overweight—he scored in his qualifying heat, the semi-feature and the main event; a rare triple crown), and Dale Shaw at Oxford.
Thunder Road closed out the season with the top three drivers in the race finishing in the same order as the points – Crouch, Beaver Dragon and Aube.”
QUICK FACTS
Number of Events…………………………………………………….27
Number of drivers……………………………………………………78
Number of race winners………………………………………….10
Most wins…………………………………..10 (Robbie Crouch)
Most top 5 finishes………………………20 (Robbie Crouch)
Most top 10 finishes………………………23 (Beaver Dragon)
Most laps led………………………………..820 (Robbie Crouch)
Most speed trial wins……………………….9 (Robbie Crouch)
Most money won…………………..$86,717 (Robbie Crouch)
Largest purse……………………..$53,875 (New England 300)
Largest winners purse…….$5,950 (Jamie Aube, N.E. 300)
Longest race……………………..……141.5 miles (Molson 200)
Top Ten – 1986
1. Robbie Crouch 2272
2. Beaver Dragon 2076
3. Jamie Aube 2022
4. Chuck Bown 2007
5. Dale Shaw 1972
6. Claude Leclerc 1927
7. Stub Fadden 1914
8. Dick McCabe 1872
9. Kevin Lepage 1861
10.Roger Laperle 1635
Sources: ACT Tour PR