Brent Dragon: ACT Late Model Tour
Airborne Speedway Race Preview
Brent Dragon of Milton, Vt., returns to Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y., this weekend for the ACT Late Model Tour’s rain-delayed Spring Green 100 on Saturday, July 10. The race was originally scheduled for May before weather postponed the event at a track where Dragon has enjoyed plenty of success. A three-time track champion there in the Late Model division (1995, 1996, 2000), it is the track Dragon refers to as “home.” In 2004, Dragon swept Airborne’s marquee events by winning both the Spring Green 100 and the Fall Foliage 200 in the same season. His father, Beaver Dragon, won the Spring Green 100 three times in his career, while his uncle, Bobby Dragon, is also a past winner of the race. Brent enters the sixth race of the ACT season second in the series standings, 89 points behind leader Brian Hoar.
WHO: Brent Dragon, Milton, Vt.
TEAM: No. 55 Beverage Mart/Furniture World of VT/Charlesbois Freightliner/Newton Pellets Chevrolet
BEST CAREER AIRBORNE SPEEDWAY FINISH: 1st (2 times, most recent: Fall Foliage 200, September 2004)
LAST RACE AT AIRBORNE SPEEDWAY: 3rd (September 2009)
WHAT: ACT Late Model Tour Spring Green 100
WHERE: Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. (.500-mile oval)
WHEN: 6 p.m., Saturday, July 10
ACT Late Model Tour
LAST RACE: June 26, White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, N.H. (6th-place)
NEXT RACE: July 18, TD Bank 250 (non-points), Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Maine
POINTS POSITION: 2nd
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BRENT, YOU’RE NOT EVEN HALFWAY THROUGH THE SCHEDULE AND YOU’RE SITTING SECOND IN THE STANDINGS. THAT HAS TO FEEL GOOD.
Absolutely. I think that’s really good for us. It’s been a good start to the year so far, and now we’re in that time of year when all the big races start showing up on the schedule. We should be ready for that, and this weekend will be a good weekend for us to show where we’re at.
We’ve done a lot of work to the car over the last two weeks, and I think we’re ready.
IS AIRBORNE SPEEDWAY ANY KIND OF A HOME TRACK ADVANTAGE FOR YOU?
I don’t think so — not with Brian (Hoar), Patrick (Laperle) and other guys like that. The three of us were the top three in the (Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne) in the fall, and it seems that it’s always been that way there. Us, Brian, Jean-Paul (Cyr), (Mark) Lamberton — they’re all very good racers.
It’s a matter of getting things just right with the car and then getting some luck to go with it.
THEY PAVED AIRBORNE PRIOR TO THE 2009 SEASON. HOW HAS IT IMPACTED THE RACING?
I liked it a lot. It drives a lot like it did before — I mean, the fast way around is still the same way around it was before. You really want to be on the bottom. I remember before they paved it, everybody used to play the numbers game. You wanted to be in an odd-numbered position on restarts so you’d have the inside, and you’d be content to just get into an odd-numbered position and just ride around, hoping that you’d be in an odd number on the last restart of the race.
You use a lot of brake at Airborne. It’s a very racy track. It’s got long straightaways and flat corners, and it’s got a lot of different passing zones. You can have a lot more side-by-side racing now.
WHAT’S IT LIKE TO HEAD BACK TO A PLACE THAT’S MEANT SO MUCH IN YOUR CAREER?
It’s my home track, I would have to say. We used to have a lot of good times over there, and it’s just an awesome place. It’s only about 15 miles away across the lake (Lake Champlain), and I won three championships there when I was racing there every Saturday night. I really just have a lot of good memories from going there every week.