SCARBOROUGH, ME – The American-Canadian Tour Late Model Championship stock cars will return to Scarborough, Maine’s Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in 2009, ending a 16-year absence. The 1/3-mile, semi-banked oval outside Portland was pivotal in deciding the first-ever ACT Late Model Tour champion, as Dave Whitcomb of Essex Jct., VT spring-boarded from a Beech Ridge victory in September 1992 to secure the title. Pat Corbett won the Tour’s only other event at the track in July 1993.
Johnny Clark turned in a dominate performance Saturday night at Virginia’s South Boston Speedway to win the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South 250 lap season finale. It was the 2008 PASS North champion’s first win in the South series and Clark’s fourth checkered flag in his last eight PASS super late model starts.
CHARLOTTE, NC (October 21) – Rarely do you find a weekend of racing that will provide as much as action as what is about to be unleashed upon the South Boston (VA) Speedway. NASCAR and the Pro All Stars Series (PASS), two of the nation’s leading sanctioning bodies in short track racing, are combining to bring racing fans the Mason Dixon 500. This weekend America’s top racers from the PASS North and South Super Late Model divisions, along with the NASCAR Whelen All American Series Late Model Stocks cars, will converge on South Boston Speedway to compete in twin 250 lap races paying $10,000 each to the winners. But, before we look at the headline events, how did the Mason Dixon 500 come to being?
GEORGIA, VT – The two most dominant drivers in American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Late Model stock car history will team up in 2009 under the RPM Motorsports banner for car owner and crew chief Rick Paya of Georgia, VT. Five-time ACT Late Model Tour Champion Brian Hoar has joined the team to race the full schedule, seeking his first Tour title in nine years. His teammate, on a limited basis, will be seven-time ACT Champion Jean-Paul Cyr.
Alex Haase drove under Justin Wakefield in the closing laps of Saturday’s Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Howler 150 super late model feature at Greenville-Pickens Speedway to capture his third PASS victory of 2008 in his #51 Kyle Busch Foundation Toyota Camry.Haase edged out Warner New Hampshire’s Adam Bates and Goldsboro North Carolina’s Jeff Fultz for the victory. Trey Mitchell and Toby Porter rounded out the top five. Haase swept both PASS South events at Greenville-Pickens in 2008.
BARRE, VT – Six stock car drivers from Barre’s Thunder Road will enjoy post-season bonuses from Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel as part of the 2008 “Hot Shoe Challenge.” American-Canadian Tour Late Model driver Cris Michaud posted a season-high four Thunder Road wins to become the Lenny’s “Hottest Shoe” for his division, while veteran Joey Laquerre and young gun Brendan Moodie will share the prize for the NAPA Tiger Sportsman class. Veteran race Tommy “Thunder” Smith, sophomore competitor Vern Woodard, and rookie Bunker Hodgdon will split the Allen Lumber Street Stock award.
EAST WINDSOR, CT – Short track stock car racing promoter Tom Curley and driver Bobby Dragon have been nominated to the New England Auto Racing (NEAR) Hall of Fame Class of 2009. Curley is President of the American-Canadian Tour sanctioning body and Co-Owner/Promoter of Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl in Barre, VT; Dragon is a multi-time champion driver, and is still active in a storied career that began over 40 years ago.
Naples ME (October 13,2008)– The Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South super late models have two big back to back race weekends coming up, and both races will crown PASS Champions.
Naples ME (October 12,2008) Pro All Stars Series (PASS) North race teams, their families, friends, and fans will all gather to celebrate the 2008 racing season on Saturday November 15th at the 2008 PASS Banquet of Champions.
Naples ME. Dan Mckeage scored his third PASS Pluffybilt Racing Tractors Sportsman feature win of 2008 in Saturday’s 75 lap season finale at Groveton New Hampshire’s Riverside Speedway.
DRUMMONDVILLE, QC – Série ACT-Castrol stock car Champion Alexandre Gingras will be honored at the annual Série ACT-Castrol Banquet of Champions, held at the Best Western Hotel Universel in Drummondville, QC on Saturday, November 15. Tickets are $50 per person, and are available on a first-come, first-served basis to all competitors, crew members, sponsors, friends, family, and fans of the Série ACT-Castrol.
WATERBURY, VT – Two freshman Late Model stock car drivers have earned 2008 Rookie of the Year titles in the premier touring divisions of the American-Canadian Tour, as Barre, VT’s Nick Sweet and Patrick Hamel of St-Édouard-de-Lotbinière, QC earned their laurels on the ACT Late Model Tour and the Série ACT-Castrol, respectively.
BARRE, VT – A trio of freshman stock car drivers have been named the 2008 Rookies of the Year at Barre’s Thunder Road, each having bested talent-rich fields of first-year racers in their respective divisions. Matt White, Bobby Therrien, and Mike MacAskill will officially accept their awards at the annual Thunder Road Banquet of Champions during the winter off-season.
CHARLOTTE, NC (October 7) – Each and every year when the temperatures fall and the leaves begin to change color, racers around the country look forward to the major events that mark the end of another racing season. It is no different for the teams of the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South Super Late Model division. Three races remain on the 2008 schedule and each of them carries plenty of money and their own share of prestige. Those races are the Howler 150 on October 18th at the Greenville-Pickens (SC) Speedway paying $5, 500 to win, the Mason Dixon 500 on October 25th at South Boston (VA) Speedway paying $10,000 to win, and the Thanksgiving Classic on November 29th at the Southern National Raceway Park in Kenly, NC paying $5,000 to win. Over the coming weeks we will look at each of these races individually and at what makes each of them stand out in their own right.
PASS SLM – http://www.maineracingmedia.com/SLM10408.htm
PASS Mods – http://www.maineracingmedia.com/Mods104.htm
True Value Mods - http://www.maineracingmedia.com/True105.htm
Allison Legacy – http://www.maineracingmedia.com/allison1005.htm
