YankeeRacer.com

Marjorie Fay will step down from her position as Director of Marketing and Advertising from the American-Canadian Tour (ACT) stock car racing sanctioning body, which also operates Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, VT, effective December 13. Fay was hired to the organization as Director of Media in 1985, and held several positions in the company during the last 23 racing seasons.

“My time at ACT and Thunder Road has provided much professional and personal development, and it has been inspiring to work with such talented people both on and off the track,” she said. “I will miss it.”

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We recently surveyed a group of American-Canadian Tour (ACT) and Thunder Road fans, officials, and members of the local and regional media, asking their collective opinion on the performances turned in by the drivers they watched race every week in 2007. Out of their selections of the ten best across the ACT Late Model Tour, Série ACT Castrol, and Thunder Road’s Late Model, NAPA Tiger Sportsman, Allen Lumber Street Stock, and Power Shift Online Junkyard Warrior divisions, we have compiled a list of the “Top 25 ACT Drivers of 2007.”

Beginning next week, this column will recognize five drivers each week from the list, ranked in order, beginning with positions 25 through 21. The idea sprang from a list originally created in 2003 by this writer as a “solo project” that has since continued each winter. For the first time last year, five extra people were called upon to help rank the drivers, and the survey was, by all accounts, quite successful.

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Early reaction to the 2008 American-Canadian Tour schedule has been very positive, giving an indication that there may be even more full-time title chasers next year. A dozen teams gave it the old college try this year, with another nine attempting to qualify for more than half of the 13 races.

A totally revamped schedule and championship points format will allow more of those teams that “just missed” full-time competition to enter the title hunt – a driver’s or owner’s best 10 results during the 12-race campaign in 2008 will be counted toward the ACT championship standings, thereby allowing teams to “drop” their two worst outings. That includes races that drivers fail to qualify for or even fail to attempt qualifying for.

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A completely redesigned championship format will be used for the American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Late Model stock car racing season in 2008. A diverse slate of twelve events at seven speedways in the northeastern United States and Canada will comprise the schedule, while also giving race teams several options during the course of the April-to-September campaign.

The ACT driver and owner championships will be decided using the best ten results for each individual during the 12-race season, thus giving teams the benefit of dropping their two worst outings of the year. ACT President Tom Curley says that offering teams options like this will help raise the level of competition across the board.

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Patrick Laperle will be feted as the Série ACT Castrol Champion for 2007 this weekend at the Best Western Hotel Universal in Drummondville, QC. The veteran American-Canadian Tour competitor put together one of the most consistently dominant seasons in recent memory to capture the title, and collects his honors – which include a check for $10,000 – Saturday night.

Laperle will be recognized along with the rest of the Top 15 Série ACT Castrol drivers, Rookie of the Year Eric St-Gelais, the to-be-announced Most Improved Driver and Sportsmanship award winners, and the winner of an ABC-approved body from Five Star RaceCar Bodies of Wisconsin.

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Just a couple of quick notes this week, as it’s time to look back at the 2007 American-Canadian Tour/Thunder Road/Série ACT Castrol racing season by the numbers.

First, we’re hearing that youngster Brooks Clark has a new chassis under construction at Jeff Taylor’s Distance Race Chassis shops in Maine. Clark, one of the young lions of Thunder Road’s Thursday night Late Model division, has designs on racing the full slate of events in 2008. The Fayston, VT driver attempted about 75% of the Thunder Road schedule, and was impressive on a number of occasions, including a pair 8th-place runs midway through the year and a 14th at the “regular season” opener in May. He drove the #68 A.W. Clark, Jr. & Son, Inc./Lackey’s Sunoco Chevrolet in 2007.

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Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of the closing of Catamount Stadium in Milton, VT. The “Grand Old Lady” was the sister speedway in Vermont to Barre’s Thunder Road, and was the site of many major events – not just the stock car races themselves, but also moments that were either immediately profound or happenings that, over time, became much larger and hugely effective (or affective, depending on how you look things).

Quebec dairy farmer Jean-Paul Cabana won the first main event held at the high-banked, 1/3-mile oval, driving a sportsman coupe on June 11, 1965. The victory paid about $200. Cabana also won the final main event(*) on September 27, 1987, the American-Canadian Tour’s New England 300. The purse was slightly higher in that one, as Cabana took home a shade better than $11,000 that day.

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Five-time ACT Late Model Champion Brian Hoar is taking at least the 2008 racing season off. He returned to ACT in 2007 after a few years of driving on the Busch North (now East) Series. He ended the season sixth in points and, hard to believe, with no wins. He and his team were fined $4,000 earlier in the season for adding extensions to his rear shocks. They appealed and lost.

I read a rumor on the internet saying his dad Doug had “pulled the plug” on his racing for 2008 and a couple of his crewman were looking for other jobs. I dropped Brian an e-mail asking him about the rumor and his plans.

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Joey Becker had a good season in the American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Late Model division at Thunder Road, maybe his best one yet.

“I’d say it was,” he said. “It sort of depends on how you look at the numbers, though. I almost think we ran better last year, but we ended up better this year. It was weird how it worked out.”

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Tucked away in the back corner of my garage sit two perfectly good Hakkapeliitta snow tires, still neatly wrapped in the plastic Nokian covers they were placed in four years ago – the last time they were used. They don’t fit my current car, so they serve no purpose other than to occupy space designated for bikes and sleds. But that’s about to change. Soon they’re going on a journey to help someone stay warm this winter – a journey known as Wheels for Warmth.

Wheels for Warmth evolved from the Vermont tradition of neighbor helping neighbor. In 2005, Phil Scott had an idea: Wasn’t there some way that used tires could serve a better purpose than just taking up garage space? Scott had tires he no longer used, and he knew many others did too. Listening to “The Trading Post” on WDEV every morning, he was overwhelmed by the number of tires on the program. His idea became the vision that used tires could be the currency to buy emergency heating fuel for central Vermonters. All used tires could play a role, not just quality tires, but worn tires too. Safe tires could be re-sold at very affordable prices, and unsafe tires recycled for a fee. The proceeds would then be used to buy the heating fuel. One neighbor donates tires, another neighbor buys them, and another neighbor’s home is heated. Unusable tires head for recycling instead of the river. Scott felt pretty confident the plan would work, so he contacted Hal Cohen, Executive Director of the Central Vermont Community Action Council (CVCAC) – the local organization that assists people who cannot afford heating fuel.

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Is it racing season yet? Okay, just kidding. After 39 events (combining all Thunder Road and American-Canadian Tour race dates), a little break is nice to have, but a part of us still wishes there was a race going on somewhere. Actually, come to think of it, the annual Oktoberfest is at Lee USA Speedway this weekend, with Late Models on the 10-division “open comp” card. Brent Dragon and Ryan Vanasse were said to be “thinking about it” so it looks like we’ll have to check the results next Monday.

Keep in mind that Thunder Road Champion Dave Pembroke, ACT Late Model Tour campaigner Jamie Aube, and ACT Tour/Série ACT Castrol part-timers Mike Lavoie and Ryan Nolin have run successfully at Lee USA this season. Against the likes of Ricky Wolf, Jeff Labrecque, Keith Larmie, Bryan Kruczek, Jeremy Harclerode, rookie hotshot Miles Chipman, and back-to-back Track Champion J.R. Baril, things could get very interesting this weekend. It wouldn’t surprise anyone to see Oxford Plains Speedway’s T.J. Watson, who ran well in a handful of events at Lee late in the year, make the trip.

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Jean-Paul Cyr made himself an American-Canadian Tour legend a long time ago, winning races and championships and setting records in virtually every place he ran, but Saturday evening at Maine’s Oxford Plains Speedway, Cyr turned his status into “immortal” standing. The 41 year-old Milton, VT driver etched his name onto the ACT Champions Trophy for the seventh time at the conclusion of the New England Dodge Dealers 150 on Saturday, surpassing a record he shared with Brian Hoar for his fifth-straight championship, and moving ahead of all-time ACT King Robbie Crouch with his seventh overall crown.Cyr won his previous titles in 1994, 1996, and each year since 2003. Fifteen of his 18 career victories have come in seasons where he won the ACT Late Model Tour Championship… but none of those wins came this year.

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John Donahue spent all of Saturday’s practice sessions at Thunder Road switching back and forth between a Dale Shaw chassis he campaigns on the American-Canadian Tour, and a Lefthander car kept for Thursday nights at The Road. The Shaw car would start off well, then fade a tick, then pick back up. The Lefthander would do the same, but both cars were as fast on old tires as any car could be, and, according to Donahue, “very comfortable.” Late in the day, Donahue, team owner Kendall Roberts, the National Guard #26 team, and recently-added crew chief Jeff Laquerre collectively made the decision to race the Shaw car in Sunday’s 29th Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200, and to take a shot at the $6,000 ACTion Super Series winner’s purse.

On lap 94, Donahue and company started to look like geniuses. That’s when the Shaw car moved past polesitter and race leader Scott Payea for the third and final time, and began its march toward the victory.

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American-Canadian Tour (ACT) stock car racer “Irish” John Donahue of Graniteville, VT scored an upset first career win in the $50,000 ACTion Super Series 29th Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 at Barre, VT’s Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl on Sunday afternoon. Donahue battled polesitter and race leader Scott Payea of Milton, VT for 94 laps before taking over for good and driving virtually uncontested to a victory worth more than $6,000.

“It seems like we couldn’t do anything wrong all day,” Donahue beamed in the winner’s circle. “We finally got a Tour win, and we did it at Thunder Road. Yes!”

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Six-time American-Canadian Tour (ACT) stock car racing champion Jean-Paul Cyr of Milton, VT is searching for his first main event victory of the 2007 season, and is a prime candidate for victory in the Kancamaugus 100 at New Hampshire’s White Mountain Motorsports Park on Saturday night. A four-time winner at the beautiful ¼-mile oval track, Cyr has been “oh-so-close” to the winner’s circle in nearly every race this season.

Through eight events, ACT Late Model Tour point leader Cyr has an amazing statistic of seven top-five finishes, including six in the second- and third-place positions. In his last outing at White Mountain in June, Cyr’s machine was heavily damaged in a qualifying crash. With the help of many of his ACT Late Model Tour competitors and his own Rick Paya-led Ehler’s RV/Sticks & Stuff team, Cyr was able to not only return to action later in the evening and qualify for the main event, but he rode the tough outside lane from 27th starting position to finish third. The performance has been regarded by many veteran observers as the comeback of the decade.

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Outlaw stock car racer Eddie MacDonald of Rowley, MA made his first American-Canadian Tour (ACT) main event start of the season a good one on Saturday night at Maine’s Oxford Plains Speedway, taking his first career ACT Late Model Tour win in an exciting caution-free Time Warner Cable 100 that was completed in under 29 minutes. MacDonald made a daring inside move underneath recent TD Banknorth 250 Champion “Rocket” Roger Brown of Lancaster, NH to take the lead with ten circuits remaining, then held off a fast-closing Ricky Rolfe in heavy lapped traffic for the victory.

“We’re glad to finally get a win with this car,” MacDonald said in victory lane. “It’s been real fast every time out, and my crew did an awesome job getting the car ready tonight.”

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Eighteen year-old Joey “Pole” Polewarczyk, Jr. joined the list of American-Canadian Tour race winners on Saturday night at Seekonk Speedway on the Massachusetts seacoast. Pole is the second first-time ACT winner at the legendary 1/3-mile “Cement Palace,” equaling a feat recorded by Steve Fisher back in 2004. Interestingly, both drivers found themselves racing for the win with six-time ACT Late Model Tour king Jean-Paul Cyr, and both came out on top; Pole fought on the outside for 20 laps before passing Cyr with less than 40 laps remaining, while Fisher spent more time chasing Cyr, but won in a more dramatic, last-lap maneuver as Cyr’s right-front suspension broke in the final corner.

Both drivers were due to take their first victories, both scored them at one of the toughest bullring joints around, and both were good enough, lucky enough, or a combination of the two to beat Jean-Paul Cyr.

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