2021 PASS Awards Banquet
Auburn, ME – Pro All Stars Series drivers traded in their Fire suits for dress shirts and ties for the 2021 awards banquet at the Hilton in
Auburn Maine March 26th, 2022.
To start the awards ceremony PASS President Tom Mayberry presented Bruce McMahon with an honorary rocking chair after announcing his retirement. Bruce started with PASS in its inaugural season in 2001 and has been a part of 399 Pro All Stars Series races, showing a truly remarkable commitment to motorsports Bruce received a standing ovation after a quick retirement speech.
After not having a Banquet for the 2020 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic DJ Shaw was finally able to celebrate his 2020 Pass North Championship his fifth total and third straight and breaking a tie with table-mate at the banquet Ben Rowe. DJ also was awarded the New England South Championship for 2021 after a strong run on the Southern New England portion of the Schedule.
Johnny Clark and team dressed in all black just like their Port City Clarks Crushing Super Late Model #54. Clark received his 2020 PASS North 2nd place trophy, 2021 New England South 2nd place trophy, 2021 New England North Championship award, and the 2021 Pass North Championship Cup.
An enthusiastic Clark took to the podium after earning his 7th PASS North Championship. Clark took the time to thank PASS officials, and
congratulate the other champions in the room. Then rolled into thanking all his sponsors Cen-Pe-Co Oil, JT Racecars, Merit Pools, Swift Springs, Schoenfeld Headers, Nitro Trailers, and his family business Clark’s Scrap Metals.
Johnny thanked his family including his wife Nicole and his daughters Miranda and Olivia. “This is the first banquet they’ve (his daughters)
been to. It’s been quite a while since it was worth coming to a banquet to watch Dad”
Like Johnny said it has been a quite a while since there was a big reason to celebrate at the end of the year. While The Clark #54 has had
a lot of success his last championship was a decade ago in 2011. While his parents, and siblings have had the opportunity it was the first for
a lot of crew members including short track pit crew legend Buster Bean. Buster has worked for some of the best drivers in Pro All Stars Series
history including: The Shaws, The Rowes, Travis Benjamin and more. However, this was his first PASS North Championship almost unbelievable
considering the massive success Buster has enjoyed with those other drivers.
Johnny invited the entire team up on the stage. “We really do have a blast, and that’s how it’s been the past couple years. We just started
having a lot of fun after Covid. We tested a lot when Covid hit and obviously it showed. Oxford was one of our worst tracks, but now its one
of our better tracks as far as consistency goes. Winning the Oxford 250 last year and our seventh Championship this year – it doesn’t get any
better than that.”
Other Awards given out in the Super Late Model division included 2022 Rookie of the year Rowland Robinson Jr. JR credits Distance Racecars
with a lot of his success. The team from Steuben, ME knocked a clip off late in the season at Thompson and wasn’t sure if they were going to
have time to get the car ready for final race at Seekonk. Jeff Taylor told them get the car down to him and let him worry about getting it
done in time. Miraculously Taylor got the car done and they were able to finish the season clinching R.O.T.Y. honors. JR will not be running the
full north tour but looks forward to chasing the NEN Championship starting at NHMS in April.
Dan Winter had a heck of a year in 2021, finishing second in PASS North points and earning the Most Improved Driver Award. Other drivers in
contention for that award in attendance were Jake Matheson who finished third in New England North points, Scott Mcdaniels whom finished 2nd in New England North Points, Anthony Constantino of Sumner, Maine and Kate Re who was just announced as one of the seven drivers to be selected to race in honor of Alan Kulwicki in the Kulwicki Driver Development Program.
The youth movement was on firm display as the PASS MODS awards were handed out. Youngsters Max Cookson, Garrett Lamb, Ajay Cates, and Brandon Varney took the top four spots over veteran Shawn Knight. While Cookson, Lamb and Varney all had rookie status, Max Cookson took home the PASS MODS Championship and The Rookie Award.
Max thanked all of his sponsors and team while expressing his excitement for the upcoming adventure in a Super Late Model at Oxford in 2022. Cookson took to the dance floor after the awards ceremony was over, dancing with family, former competitors, and crew chief Jason Ricker.
Ajay Cates took home the Most Improved PASS MODS Driver award after leading the point standings early in the season and picking up his first career win in Hudson, NH in 2021.
2021 was an exciting season and 2022 will be even better. See the Pro All Stars Series Super Late Model Drivers in action April 2nd, 2022 at
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park for the kick-off of the PASS North Season.
PASS-NLM-N75_5969: 2021 PASS North Super Late Model Champion Johnny Clark with his crew.
PASS-NLM-N75_5976: 2021 PASS North Super Late Model Champion Johnny Clark with his family.
PASS-NLM-N75_5993: 2021 PASS MODS Champion Max Cookson with his crew.
PASS-NLM-N75_6006: 2021 PASS MODS Champion Max Cookson with his family.
Photos by Norm Marx