NEW ENGLAND MOTORSPORTS NORTH
By Lou Modestino
In an announcement at Riverside’s year end banquet at the Town and Country Inn, promoter Dan Fournier announced the American Canadian Tour would once again be coming to Riverside Speedway. The crowd erupted with the news, with the excitement of having another big race at the track dubbed “Lil Darlington”, and people are still talking about it today.
“We are very excited to have the ACT Tour at Riverside Speedway,” commented Fournier. “This will be a great day for everyone”.
The event will take place on Sunday June 2nd, making this an early stop on the ACT tour. According to ACT president Tom Curley, the event will be 150 laps, which should provide plenty of excitement for the fans. The announcement of this race is just the first of many new things to come to the All-New Riverside Speedway in 2013.
This event should not only bring good, hard racing for the fans and drivers, but should help out the town as well. Many drivers, crew members, and fans stop at stores, order at restaurants, and purchase gas when going to and from this event. “Every effort is being made to return Riverside to the glory days of years ago,” states Fournier. “Having the ACT Tour come to town is a huge step for fans, employees, drivers, teams, and the whole community”.
ACT officials have announced a 14-race schedule for the 2013 American Canadian Tour season at eleven different Northeast short tracks. The schedule will include three new additions to the Tour schedule. There will also be three more non-point counting special events during the 2013 campaign.
The Tour will return to 2012 tracks Lee USA Speedway, Thunder Road, Devil’s Bowl Speedway, Airborne Speedway, White Mountain Motorsports Park, and Beech Ridge Speedway in 2013. A visit to Riverside Speedway in Groveton, NH is planned for a 150-lap event on Sunday, June 2nd, and will mark the first time ACT has raced there since 2004. The American Canadian Tour will also head to Canaan Fair Speedway on Saturday, June 15th for the first time since 2005, and has set a date for Star Speedway on Saturday, July 6, last visited in 2003.
The American Canadian Tour schedule will include two point-counting combo events with the Canadian Série ACT Castrol at Sanair Super Speedway, which will be increased to a 150-lap event from 100, and at St-Croix, QC’s Circuit Riverside Speedway for the 4th Annual Can-Am 200.
The Inaugural International 500 will be run at Airborne Speedway on the weekend of July 20/21, New Hampshire Motor Speedway will host the 5th Annual Bond Auto ACT Invitational on Saturday, September 21st, and the 51st People’s United Bank Milk Bowl will be held at Thunder Road the first weekend of October.
2013 ACT Schedule
# Day Date Track Laps
1. Sat./Sun. April 13/14 Lee USA 150
2. Sat./Sun. April 27/28 Thunder Road 150
3. Sun. May 05 Devil’s Bowl Speedway 113
4. Sat. May 18 Airborne Speedway 100
5. Sun. June 02 Riverside – NH 150
6. Sat. June 15 Canaan Fair Speedway 150
7. Sat. June 22 White Mountain 150
8. Sat. July 06 Star Speedway 150
** Sat/Sun. July 20/21 Airborne Speedway 500
9. Sun. July 28 Devil’s Bowl Speedway 150
10. Sat. August 3 Sanair combo 150
11. Sat. August 17 Beech Ridge Speedway 150
** Wed. August 21 NHMS Practice
12. Sat. August 24 Riverside – QC combo 200
13. Sun. September 1 Thunder Road 200
** Sat. September 21 NHMS 50
14. Sat. September 28 Airborne Speedway 200
** Sat./Sun. October 5/6 Thunder Road 200
With over 2.5 million shimmering lights dancing across the grounds at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, executive vice president and general manager Jerry Gappens officially flipped the switch on the 2nd annual Gift of Lights on Friday night.
In front of fans and local media, Gappens, along with representatives from the Loudon Food Pantry and Concord Hospital, turned on the 250-foot long Tunnel of Lights display, giving the over two-mile holiday drive-thru illumination show – which is double the size of last year – a formal kick off before opening to the public at 4:30 p.m.
“We get visitors from Canada, New York state, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island – this really is something that brings people in from all over,” said Jerry Gappens, executive vice president and general manager of the speedway. “I think everybody has a good time and our hope is it becomes a tradition for all kids, from three to 93. This really is something for everyone.”
Open daily from 4:30-9:00 p.m., the Gift of Lights has transformed “The Magic Mile” campus into a virtual winter wonderland of luminosity. With over 400 displays within 40 different scenes, there’s something for everyone to enjoy this holiday season, including the 12 Days of Christmas, a Victorian village with skiers and snowmobilers, a salute to military, a zoo, and, of course, several NASCAR-inspired scenes.
Ninety percent of the lights used in the displays are eco-efficient LEDs.
The speedway’s portion of the proceeds will once again be given to the New Hampshire chapter of the Speedway Children’s Charities, an organization that cares for children in education, financial, social and medial need. The SCC distributed over $30,000 children’s charities throughout New England last year, including Concord Hospital in Concord, N.H.
“We’d like to thank the Speedway Children’s Charities for providing funding for The Family Place (maternity ward) last year,” said Deanne Pelletier, foundation and corporate relations officer at Concord Hospital. “We really appreciate the support the SCC gives us and all that it supports.”
For all patrons that donate three or more non-perishable food items, they will receive a discount on their Gift of Lights tickets. The Loudon Food Pantry received over 22,000 pounds of food thanks to non-perishable donations from over 15,000 car loads of visitors to the speedway for last year’s Gift of Lights.
“We appreciate everything the speedway does to help us, and the Gift of Lights is a perfect example of that,” said Sarah Houck of the Loudon Food Pantry. “They are able to help us out at a time (May-October) when there isn’t as much food, so it’s a big help to us with everything they’re able to provide.”
The Gift of Lights will be open for a total of 51 total days, from Nov. 16 through Jan. 5. The cost (sans discount) is $15 per car load Monday-Thursday and $20 Friday-Sunday. Tickets for the Gift of Lights can be purchased online at www.nhms.com or at the gate.
Tickets to the July 14 New Hampshire 300 and the September 22 SYLVANIA 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekends are also on sale now. They can be purchased by calling the NHMS ticket hotline at (603) 783-4931.
Published reports in the NH media tell of NHMS taking a survey that indicates that the local townspeople in Loudon are favorable about the track installing lights to relieve weekend traffic during NASCAR race weekends. Another survey about a gambling casino on the NHMS property also indicated that the majority of residents were also favorable to a casino. That survey was done by NHMS