Johnny Clark: PASS North Series
Thompson International Speedway Race Preview
PASS North Series points leader Johnny Clark of Farmingdale, Maine, rolls into round three of the PASS National Championship Series with the PASS 75 at Thompson International Speedway in Thompson, Conn., on Thursday, July 22. The .625-mile high-banked track is the nation’s oldest paved oval and also the largest facility the series visits. The 75-lap event counts as a points-paying event for both the five-race PASS National Series as well as the PASS North Series. Clark owns a 19-point lead over Ben Rowe in the PASS North standings, having posted six top-5 finishes through the first seven races — including a fifth-place run at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway last weekend. Clark is fourth through two events in the PASS National standings, 40 points behind North Carolina’s Preston Peltier, after finishing second in the season opener at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida and a disappointing 26th at Hickory, N.C., in April.
WHO: Johnny Clark, Farmingdale, Maine
TEAM: No. 54 Clark’s Car Crushing/Port City Chevrolet
BEST CAREER THOMPSON SPEEDWAY FINISH: 3rd (2 times, most recently July 2009)
LAST RACE AT THOMPSON SPEEDWAY: 3rd (July 2009)
WHAT: PASS North Series PASS 75
WHERE: Thompson International Speedway, Thompson, Conn. (.625-mile oval)
WHEN: 6 p.m., Thursday, July 22
PASS National Series
LAST RACE: April 3, Hickory Motor Speedway, Hickory, N.C. (26th-place)
NEXT RACE: Sept. 12, Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, Maine (.333-mile oval)
POINTS POSITION: 4th
PASS North Series
LAST RACE: July 17, Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, Maine (5th-place)
NEXT RACE: July 31, PASS 150, Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H. (.25-mile oval)
POINTS POSITION: 1st
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JOHNNY, YOU ALWAYS SEEM TO RUN WELL AT THOMPSON. CAN YOU FINALLY WIN ONE THERE?
We’ve always been decent there, but we’ve never been stellar by any means. You can say we’ve run respectfully there — but you can’t say, ‘OK, here we go, we’re going to Thompson. We’re going to win.’ I’m hoping we can change that.
It’s so similar to New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway. We led by half a lap there in January. We just don’t see any of those big, hig-banked half-mile tracks up here, so to go there and do that at New Smyrna really gives me a lot of confidence going into Thompson.
DO YOU STILL CONSIDER YOURSELF IN THE PASS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HUNT?
We’re behind, and we know that. We have to win at Thompson. We need the points. Of course if we do that, it’s going to help us in North, too.
We have to win to have a prayer at the National championship. I’d say you can have one mulligan — but it’s only five races in the series, so I’m not even sure you can say that. I’m not even sure you can say you can have a mulligan in the North, either, anymore.
We’re putting in a new motor, new transmission, everything — we’re going with all our freshest stuff to go to our best track.