Waterbury, VT –The 47th annual Chittenden Milk Bowl will have plenty of action on September 26th and 27th at Barre, VT’s Thunder Road. The ‘toughest short track race in America’ will be a non-point counting race for both the American Canadian Tour (ACT) and the Thunder Road regular Late Model competitors. A record purse has been posted of $70,000. The purse includes bonus money for recording ‘low points’ in each of the three segments. If one team can win all three segments, they will earn a bonus of $5,000. That has only been done three times in 46 years (Larry Demar in 1967, Dave Dion in 1975, and Robbie Crouch in 1986).
Long known as the ‘grand-daddy’ of the Northeast short track Late Model special races, this year there is no pressure to win titles or count points. “This is my kind of race. Just put my foot on the floor and go!” said the defending and three-time winner, Patrick Laperle from Montreal. “I just love the Milk Bowl race. It is not like the 200 and 300 lap races we run, it is every man for himself, every lap. There is no time to wait for breaks, you have to make your own breaks”, continued Laperle. When Laperle was told about the $5,000 bonus for winning all three segments and the fact that it has not been done for nearly 25 years, he said “I guess it is time to change that in 2009!”
The hottest driver in ACT racing down the stretch is point leader Brian Hoar. Hoar joined the Rick Paya, RPM racing team this season and the team started an impressive string of top 5 finishes with two wins thrown into the mix during the second half of the season on the ACT. Hoar is one of the last drivers to win more than one segment in the Milk Bowl when he did it a decade ago. “I think it speaks to the present day competition and how equal these cars are now. If you are not on top of your game as a team, and ‘on top of the wheel’ as a driver, you are going to get beaten”, said Hoar. He is a two-time winner of the Chittenden Milk Bowl.
The history of the famous race indicates that it takes a veteran’s patience and a young driver’s risky attitude in order to win the ‘toughest short track race in America’. It also takes a lot of luck. Three-time Thunder Road Champion, two time Milk Bowl winner, and the winningest Late Model driver of all time at Thunder Road with 22 wins, Phil Scott of Middlesex, VT, says it best: “I have lost some Milk Bowls because of bad luck, but the two I have won I will remember for that one time, in one segment of each, when I risked it all for a lane – a position – the win. It could have gone the other way, but I know that my two Chittenden Milk Bowl wins rank up there as highlights of my racing career because winning at Thunder Road in any event is tough…to win the Milk Bowl is a racer’s dream come true, just ask anyone who has won it”.
Over 50 of the best Late Model teams in the Northeast are expected to enter the 47th annual Chittenden Milk Bowl. They will time trial, then race in a 50-lap qualifying event on Saturday, September 26. If they fail to get into the first segment through time or the 50-lap dash, they will have a final opportunity in a ‘Last Chance Race’ on Milk Bowl Sunday. Gates open at 10:00 am each day. Adult tickets are $25 and are good for both days of racing, kids 6-12 are $5 for two days. Post time each day is 1:00pm.