Subway Fresh Fit 150: Emily Packard
Canaan Fair Speedway Race Preview
THE STORY
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – Emily Packard of East Montpelier, Vt., heads “home” for the annual season-opening Subway Fresh Fit 150 at Canaan Fair Speedway in Canaan, N.H., on Saturday, May 11. The 16-year-old Late Model driver won the track’s Rookie of the Year title in 2012, finishing second in the overall NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model standings to ACT Late Model Tour champion Wayne Helliwell Jr. Packard made her Late Model debut in the Subway Fresh Fit 150 a year ago by qualifying for the 28-car field, and she’s hoping to turn her home track experience into a strong showing this time around in Canaan’s annual marquee Late Model event.
THE FACTS
WHO: Emily Packard, East Montpelier, Vt.
CREW CHIEF: Neal Woodward, Georgia, Vt.
TEAM: No. 9x Northstar Fireworks/Berlin Optical Expressions Chevrolet
SPONSORS: Northstar Fireworks, Fecteau Homes, Berlin Optical Expressions, Yipes! of Barre, VT Shifter Karts, GossCars.com, Be The Match, Rutland Regional Medical Center, R.G. Paving
BEST CAREER SUBWAY FRESH FIT 150 FINISH: 17th (May 2012)
LAST YEAR’S SUBWAY FRESH FIT 150: 17th (May 2012)
WHAT: Subway Fresh Fit 150
WHERE: Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. (.333-mile oval)
WHEN: Friday, May 10 – 12 noon practice; Saturday, May 11 – 1:30 p.m., practice; 5 p.m., qualifying; 8 p.m., race
DID YOU KNOW?
- Emily Packard scored her first career Top-10 finish in an ACT Late Model Tour race when she finished 10th in the Spring Green 113 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, Vt., on Sunday, May 5.
- Emily Packard became the first woman in a decade to win a feature event at Thunder Road International Speedbowl when she won a Street Stock feature at the track last summer.
- Emily Packard was voted the 2012 Vermont Motorsports Magazine Rookie of the Year, and she was also named the Vermont Sportswriters & Sportscasters Association Athlete of the Month for August 2012.
- Emily Packard was one of 36 Late Model drivers from across the northeast and Canada invited to participate in the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 weekend last September.
- Emily Packard Motorsports crew chief Neal Woodward is a five-time ACT Late Model Tour champion crew chief whose cars set track qualifying records at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
EMILY PACKARD, Driver of the No. 9x Northstar Fireworks/Berlin Optical Expressions Chevrolet, On heading home to Canaan Fair Speedway on Saturday: “I’m super-excited. I saw (track promoter Dick Therrien) last weekend, and he asked me about it. I said, ‘I can’t wait to go home.’ I really like it up there. It’s a great track and a great facility there.
“It’s definitely been my home learning the Late Model. From when I was 14 and testing the car while running Allison Legacy cars to running there full-time last year, it’s been the place where I got my start. I’m looking forward to getting back there this weekend.
“It’s my home track, and this race is the big bang to start off the season there. Last year we didn’t finish well in (the Subway Fresh Fit 150), so I want to go in there and really have a good run.”
On her test session at Canaan last month: “It went really well. Nick (Sweet) went with us, and we had a good day. It was only my second time out on a track this year, so it was good to get back in the car and sort of re-learn the track again.
“We learned a lot. Really, it was just good to get on the track again. We completely re-did the car over the winter, and we worked with some new adjustments to see how it would react.”
On applying what she’s learned in extra-distances races with the ACT Late Model Tour to what she knows about Canaan from running weekly events there last season: “After the season ended there last year, we did do a lot of those longer races and got some more experience running those. Now that we can apply it, we’re going to come back stronger this year. We gained a lot of confidence at the end of last year and at the start of this year, so I think it’s really put us in a good spot.”
On how racing at Canaan changes: “It’s pretty much the same thing every time you get there. It might change some from week to week, but it always changes exact same way throughout the day. It’s good in that I think we know what to expect. There shouldn’t be any surprises this weekend.”
UP NEXT
Canaan Fair Speedway holds its first NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model race of the 2013 season on Saturday, May 18… Emily Packard was the 2012 Rookie of the Year at Canaan, and she plans to compete there weekly in the Late Model division again this season.