RPM Motorsports: ACT Late Model Tour
Brian Hoar Riverside Speedway Race Preview
Brian Hoar of Williston, Vt., continues to chase an unprecedented ninth career ACT Late Model Tour title when the Tour heads to the Can-Am 200 at Riverside Speedway in Saint Croix, Quebec, on Saturday, August 25. Hoar is a four-time winner at Riverside Speedway, including last year’s event when he swept both ends of a weekend doubleheader at Quebec tracks. The race is a combination race with the Canada-based ACT Castrol Series. Off a second place finish last time out in the ACT 100 at Sanair Super Speedway, Hoar sits third in the ACT standings with three races remaining, just 44 points out of the lead. On Wednesday following the Can-Am 200, the RPM Motorsports No. 37 GossCars.com Dodge Charger team will travel to New Hampshire Motor Speedway to participate in a day-long test session for the ACT Late Model Tour in preparation for the fourth annual ACT Invitational at the track next month.
THE FACTS
WHO: Brian Hoar, Williston, Vt.
TEAM: RPM Motorsports No. 37 GossCars.com Dodge Charger
CREW CHIEF: Rick Paya, Georgia, Vt.
BEST CAREER RIVERSIDE SPEEDWAY FINISH: 1st (4 times – most recently, September 2011)
LAST RACE AT RIVERSIDE SPEEDWAY: 1st (September 2011)
WHAT: ACT Can-Am 200
WHERE: Riverside Speedway, Saint Croix, Quebec (.375-mile oval)
WHEN: Saturday, August 25 – 1:45 p.m., practice; 6 p.m., qualifying; 7:45 p.m., race
ACT Late Model Tour
LAST RACE: August 12, ACT 100, Sanair Super Speedway, Saint Pie, Quebec (2nd)
NEXT RACE: September 2, Labor Day Classic 200, Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl, Barre, Vt. (.25-mile oval)
CURRENT POINTS POSITION: 3rd
DID YOU KNOW?
Brian Hoar has more championships (8) and race wins (3) than any driver in ACT Late Model Tour history.
RPM Motorsports owner and crew chief Rick Paya is an eight-time champion as a car owner with nearly 30 career ACT victories as a crew chief.
Brian Hoar has four career victories at Riverside Speedway, including his first which came in June of 1992.
Brian Hoar and RPM Motorsports won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last August in the first and only ACT points-paying event ever held at the 1.058-mile oval.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
BRIAN HOAR, Driver of the RPM Motorsports No. 37 GossCars.com Dodge Charger, On heading back to Riverside Speedway this weekend: “I’ve always liked the place, and I’ve always run good there. It’s a neat track, and it’s really picturesque when you get there and see it. It sits right down on the Saint Lawrence River. The track itself is really unique, too – it’s got an elevation change from the frontstretch to the backstretch. You literally go downhill into Turn 1, and the track is like a trapezoid, so you go through a really, really tight Turn 2 down a short straightaway into a really, really tight Turn 3 and then into a long, gradual Turn 4 out onto the frontstretch.
“This track – other than a couple of times – it’s always been a crashfest there. I think it’s because it’s very unique, and maybe there’s some lane-changing when there shouldn’t be. You use a lot of brake and use a lot of horsepower. It’s a racy place. I enjoy it. It’s a driver’s track, because there’s not a lot of rhythm to it.”
On approaching the tight championship chase into the final few races: “I’ve won a couple of these things in the past, and I’m not going to change my approach now. I’m not going to put an undue over-abundance of pressure on anything. It’s not checkers or wreckers time. That’s not what won me eight championships.
“I’m going to try to win this race. That’s what we always do. But it’s not going to help the team or myself trying to live up to some unbelievable standard every time we go to the track.
“The fact of the matter is, people ask how the year’s going and I always tell them the same thing. I tell them it’s been a good year. We’ve had some struggles, and we’ve been off at a couple of places, but this is fine – this is racing. I’m not expecting any sympathy for being third in points, and I’m not looking for any. I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who would be happy to see somebody else win the championship, but I can tell you for sure that there are a lot of people on this No. 37 team that are doing everything they can not to give them that.
“No one’s going to hand it to us. Nobody’s going to give us it.”
On testing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway next week: “As a team, we’re going to go in there with a couple different setups we want to try. It’s a little different than Sanair, and even though we ran well there and have won well at New Hampshire, we’re going to try a couple of things. We’re going to see what direction we want to go with our setup.
“I know a lot of teams will go for the experience and trying to get comfortable on the big track. But for us, it’s about trying to test and find some speed and consistency in the race car.”
UP NEXT
The ACT Late Model Tour returns to its hub of Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt., for the Labor Day Classic 200 on Sunday, September 2… Brian Hoar won the Merchants Bank 150 at Thunder Road in May for his second straight win to open the 2012 season, after closing out 2011 with a win in the People’s United Milk Bowl at the track.