by Jay | Sep 18, 2009 | ACT, NASCAR, New England, New Hampshire, NHMS
Waterbury, VT – This weekend’s American Canadian Tour (ACT) Invitational at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) will seem like a homecoming of sorts to several of the drivers who race with the ACT. Former NASCAR driver Brian Hoar from Williston, VT is a past NHMS Track Champion. Hoar is currently leading the 2009 ACT Championship point battle and looking for his 6th overall ACT title. Brad Leighton is the most prolific winner in NHMS history, with eight (8) wins to his credit. Part-time ACT racer Eddie MacDonald from Rowley, MA won both Camping World East events held at the Speedway in 2008. MacDonald is in a point race with Ryan Truex for the NASCAR Camping World East title and will be entering both races at New Hampshire this weekend.
When asked how he felt about heading to the Invitational, former King of the Road title holder and recent winner of the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 at Barre, VT’s Thunder Road, Dave Pembroke, of Montpelier, VT said, “I am a little concerned that those guys will try and pay me back!”
Pembroke won the 200-lap event a couple of weeks ago. He not only won the event, but he led all 200 laps and nearly put the entire field of 30 starters down a lap in the process. The race went 181 green flag laps before the one and only caution on lap 182. This was accomplished on what is regarded as one of the toughest quarter mile racetracks in America. “Seriously, I am really excited about going back to New Hampshire. I don’t have any great expectations, I am just happy to get the invitation to compete at that beautiful place. I kind of wish I was in Phil’s car instead of my own. (Pembroke took part in a two-day Goodyear tire test in April in the car of Montpelier, Vt’s Senator Phil Scott. On the second day of testing Scott was called back to the Senate for a critical vote and asked Pembroke to substitute for him). It certainly performed better at Loudon than mine did when we were testing in August, but we have worked since Labor Day to get it ready, so we will hope for the best”, concluded Pembroke.
The home track advantage might be somewhat neutralized when the draw for starting spots is concluded around 12:30 on Saturday, September 19th following the drivers meeting. “We have been working on a handicap system that reflects what is good about short track racing. We won’t have an opportunity to qualify by heats or time trials, due to some time constraints, so we have created a fair system to try and give our teams a good racing experience, and also to give our fans the best show possible”, said Nick Bigelow, the ACT Chief Handicapper. The system that has been created for the first ACT Invitational will have all thirty-six teams draw for positions, but the draw has been broken into three parts, and the final line-up will reflect what officials believe will be both competitive and safe for the race teams.
The inaugural ACT Invitational will be comprised of teams from all 6 New England states and the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Vermont will send the largest contingent of teams with 12, followed by Maine with 7 entrants, and then Quebec and New Hampshire with 4 each.
The $65,000 ACT Invitational will be part of the biggest one day of racing in New England. The ACT race will follow the popular NASCAR Whelen Modified Series 100 and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series 200. Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling NHMS or by visiting their site at www.nhms.com. Post time at NHMS on Saturday, September 19th is 1:00pm. The ACT Invitational is scheduled to post at 5:30pm.
by Jay | Sep 18, 2009 | ACT, New England, Thunder Road
Waterbury, VT – The 50th anniversary of Thunder Road has been a year to remember for both race teams and fans. The best is yet to come as the ‘Nation’s Site of Excitement’ readies for the toughest short track race in America, the 47th annual Chittenden Milk Bowl.
Known as the grand-daddy race of them all for Late Model cars, the unique format of time trials, triple 50-lap qualifying dashes, and then the Milk Bowl format of three segements with inversions, sets the stage for two days of intense drama for race fans and teams.
ACT veteran racer Brent Dragon said, “The last two ACT races have been about as strange as I have ever been a part of. We go to Thunder Road for the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 and run for 182 laps before we catch a yellow. There is only one leader, and that is not to take anything away from David Pembroke because he was super that day, he had a great car and lots of traffic to contend with, but come on, 182 laps of green! We finish with all 30 starters. I can’t ever remember a race like that. We are done 200 laps in under an hour. Then we go to my favorite track, Airborne, and we end up with 5 or 6 different leaders, nearly 20 lead changes, and a 300-lap race with few cautions and the 300-lap race was over in under 2 hours!”.
There will be no pressure on Dragon and over 40 of the other ACT Late Model teams when they arrive for the $70,000 in posted awards at Thunder Road. This year the Milk Bowl is a non-points race. The pressure to be conservative to protect point leads or gain points is off. This will be a “no holds barred” kind of shoot-out for the ACT Late Model teams.
The format of the Chittenden Milk Bowl fits the style of local race teams. Thunder Road runs all 50-lap feature events for its Late Model division throughout the season. Rich Lowery, Dave Whitcomb, Phil Scott, all veterans of the Thunder Road weekly battles will get a decided advantage with the short distance sprints that the three-segment Milk Bowl uses.
“This race is unlike any other in the country”, said newly crowned ‘King of the Road’, Milton, VT’s Jean-Paul Cyr. “This is just an old-fashioned hard-nosed battle to get in, and then the strategy takes over. First, you have to decide when you will need your tires to be good enough to win. Next, you have to put yourself into a position to win with a low score going into the final segment, then you have to know who you have to be beat, nearly lap by lap and position by position during that final segment. Finally, if you over-think all of this, you will forget to just drive the damn car and none of it will matter. It’s a tough race and I love it!”
The 47th Annual Chittenden Milk Bowl will mark the end of the 50th anniversary season celebration of Thunder Road. Throughout the 2009 season special events have become the norm in celebration of the Nation’s Site of Excitement’s 50 years of short track racing. Post time each day for the Chittenden Milk Bowl is 1:00pm. Gates open at 10:00 am and tickets are $25 for both days of racing.
by Jay | Sep 18, 2009 | NASCAR, New England, New Hampshire, NHMS
In the face of bitter disappointment, one might be able to take comfort in the old saying, “For every problem there is an opportunity.”
Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), is certainly disappointed since he now faces the next 10-race stretch of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule without being part of the 12-driver Chase for the Championship. Even tougher to take was that he and the M&M’s team missed the Chase by a mere eight points, despite a flawless night on-track and on pit road that led to a solid fifth-place run in last Saturday night’s 26th race of the season at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway.
But, for his part, Busch has decided that despite facing the problem of not making the Chase, even with four wins to his credit, there are three key opportunities that lie ahead before the checkered flag waves at the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It all starts with Sunday’s Sylvania 300 Sprint Cup event at the 1.058-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.
With the pressure of the Chase now off, Busch and crew chief Steve Addington will first focus on something former teammate Tony Stewart and current No. 20 team crew chief Greg Zipadelli accomplished after they just missed the Chase in 2006. Stewart and the No. 20 team brought home three wins to go along with five top-five finishes over the final 10 races.
Secondly, Busch and Company will do their part to provide as much information as possible to help teammate Denny Hamlin, crew chief Mike Ford, and the entire No. 11 team in their bid for the championship. That’s what good teammates do.
Finally, the Las Vegas native will hope to not only glean as much information as possible for his compatriots on the No. 11 squad, but also learn more about NASCAR’s current-generation car in order to refocus on their bid for a championship in 2010.
While his chance for a championship has ended for 2009, it doesn’t mean Busch won’t be focused on something he loves to do more than anything else: winning, and keeping the colors primary backer M&M’s in victory lane, where he feels they belong.
So it’s quite clear to everyone on the No. 18 team, this problem has certainly brought along opportunities that lie ahead, starting with this weekend in New Hampshire.
KYLE BUSCH, Driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing:
What is your plan for the final 10 races?
“To go out and win some more races. M&M’s and all the guys on this team deserve that kind of effort no matter what. We just need to work on the consistency. We picked up at some tracks that we needed to, and we faltered at some tracks that we thought we were good at. It just wasn’t our year and it wasn’t meant to be, for some reason. I was put in this predicament for a reason, and one of these days I’ll figure out why. You’ve just got to focus on learning from everything that happens and try to turn it into a positive.”
Do you think your teammate Denny Hamlin could be a threat to win the Chase, and what will you do to help?
“I hope so. Along with us hopefully winning some races, all of the focus is going on the 11, and I’ll do my best to help Denny out and bring Joe Gibbs Racing a championship. Hopefully, I can do my part on the racetrack, as well as on just giving the best advice from my car and helping those guys. So you know, I think Denny has got a lot going forward. He’s going to have a big momentum boost this week, where he goes and runs so well at Loudon, and next week at Dover, he does well, too. They have got it going on if they can keep the parts together but, unfortunately, we didn’t last year. But if they do, they will be fine.”
How frustrating is it to come just eight points from making the Chase?
“It’s very, very frustrating. I’m heartbroken, but we’ll take this and go the rest of the year and try to win some more races and get M&M’s and Interstate Batteries to victory lane. There were a lot of situations this year that I screwed up, that we got put into bad spots, had a couple days that we were bad on pit road, others where we just couldn’t hit the setup right. It’s just a conglomeration of things that put us in this predicament. It’s not just one thing. It’s not those last two weeks. It’s the previous 26 altogether. Unfortunately, some of those weeks were worse than others.”
How comfortable are you now on flat tracks?
“It’s the Cup side that I’ve had some issues with on the flat tracks. The Nationwide side of it, we are fine. In the past, with Hendrick, I was fine on the flat stuff, too. But, for some reason, it’s just with these Gibbs cars, I don’t have the feel for it. I’m not sure why or what it is. We kind of went to New Hampshire in June with my own setup and it seemed to pay off a little bit for us, rather than trying a Denny (Hamlin) setup. Denny always runs well on the flat tracks, but his driving style is so much different than mine. I can’t run the same. Denny ran really well there in the past, so I’m hoping we have a car that is as good as his. We tried something different at Phoenix earlier this year and again in New Hampshire during the summer and that seemed to fit my driving style better. I’m looking forward to New Hampshire because we ran well there in the spring – I think we finished in seventh. I’m looking forward to trying to change last year’s results there for both races and be better this year in both races.”
What’s different about New Hampshire that you enjoy, as opposed to other flat tracks like Phoenix?
“New Hampshire is a fun track for me, as a driver, even though it was a tough year there last year. It’s flat like Phoenix and Milwaukee, but it’s a little bit tricky. In order to do well there, you need a car that works on all the different kinds of asphalt the tracks seem to be putting down. You need a car that has a lot of side bite in the rear and front grip to turn easier. At New Hampshire, it seems like I’ve always been loose into the corner and tight in the center, which is hard to fix sometimes. I think the team that can fix that the best will have the best car.”
by Jay | Sep 17, 2009 | NASCAR, New England, New Hampshire, NHMS
KURT BUSCH: “INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT” FOR GOOD CHASE START
-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Knows From Experience As He Has Experienced “The Good And The Bad”-
LOUDON, N.H. (Sept. 15, 2009) – Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch enters Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway hoping to get off to a good start in the 2009 “Chase” for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship. Busch could certainly be looked at as an “authority” when it comes to first-hand experience on that subject.
“I’ve definitely seen it from both ends and I know from experience how incredibly important it is to get off to a good start in the Chase,” said Busch, who finished second in the race at Richmond last Saturday night and earned his fourth Chase bid in the last six seasons. “You get out there the first week after the long haul – the 26 races just to make the cut for the Chase – and you come into Loudon (New Hampshire Motor Speedway) with the most adrenalin flowing and momentum going as you’ve had going for you during the entire year.
“So you feel like you’ve got the barrels loaded and the trigger cocked – you’re one of 12 teams that made the finals and it’s playoff time – and you can feel almost invincible,” Busch explained. “It’s like that kind of ‘hey we made it (the Chase) and we’re here to kick (rear end) and take names’ attitude just runs rampant within your team.
“But once that green flag falls at Loudon on Sunday to officially begin the Chase, the race really is on,” said Busch, who won the 2004 title in the inaugural year of the Chase format. “I’m here to tell you that it’s pretty hard to measure the importance of getting off to a good start.
“All I can say is that I know from experience that if you can get it going in the right direction at Loudon, you can keep the momentum growing and sort of build some insurance for something bad happening later on during the 10-race stretch. But, on the other end of the equation, with so much hype and such great expectations you have going into the first race of the Chase, I’ve definitely seen just how much of a blow it can be to get started on a bad note.
“When you look at my career, winning the first Chase in 2004 – and especially what happened in the years since then – mine is probably as good of example as any when it comes to
considering the importance of getting a good finish in that first race,” said Busch. “I guess it’d be really accurate to say that I’ve definitely seen the good and the bad.
“During our championship season back in 2004, we were strong from the drop of the green flag and it only got better from there,” said Busch. “We won the New Hampshire race and went on down the road on a big roll. We finished top-five at Dover and did the same at Talladega the next week.
“We went on a roll of nothing but top-fives and top-10s through the first six races and built up such a points lead that we were able to hang on and pull it out by eight points over Jimmie (Johnson) to win the battle for the title, even with the big setback with the blown engine at Atlanta.”
After six races had been completed during the 2004 Chase, Busch enjoyed a 96-point advantage over second-place Jeff Gordon. Johnson, who would turn out to be Busch’s chief nemesis was 207 points behind.
Busch blew an engine in the Atlanta race and finished 42nd, dropping his lead to only 41 points. He entered the Homestead finale with an 18-point advantage and in a “miracle run,” he finished fifth to claim an eight-point advantage over Johnson to take the first points title under the current Chase format.
“That was definitely the good end of thing that we enjoyed and the other years definitely didn’t turn out that way,” said Busch. “We made the Chase the next year in 2005 and had such high hopes of defending the title. In the opening Chase race at New Hampshire, we hadn’t even finished three laps before a guy who normally shouldn’t have been up there was just too loose, got out of shape and just wiped us out.
“We went on and struggled really bad the next week at Dover and just couldn’t get things straightened out,” said Busch. “We struggled and didn’t finish in the top-10 but three or four times during the rest of the season. Then we had the big parting of the ways with the previous car owner and that was the end of that season.
“We were lucky enough to make the Chase again in 2007, but we never had anything really going for us once the Chase started,” said Busch. “It was the transitional year for the new breed of car and we just didn’t have our program where it needed to be. We finished outside the top 20 in the New Hampshire race and it just seemed to get worse from there on. I think we only had one top-five finish the rest of the year.”
With all his experience behind him, Busch certainly knows which direction he hopes his Pat Tryson-led team is headed.
“Hey, give me a replay of that ’04 start to the Chase,” said Busch. “That’d be really cool and exactly what we need to get rolling again here this year.”
This weekend’s action at New Hampshire Motor Speedway gets under way with Sprint Cup practice on Friday from 12:00 noon till 1:30 p.m. Sunday’s 43-car starting field will be determined in Friday’s 3:10 p.m. single round of Cup qualifying. Saturday’s action includes practice sessions from 9:00 a.m. till 9:50 a.m. and from 11:30 a.m. till 12:30 p.m. Sunday’s SYLVANIA 300 (300 Laps, 317.4 Miles) has a 2:00 p.m. EDT starting time. Live coverage of the race will be provided by ABC-TV and MRN Radio.
by Jay | Sep 17, 2009 | Beech Ridge, Maine, PASS
Martin and Mcdaniel both winners on PASS 300 Sunday
The PASS Sportsman and Mod series each play a big role in PASS 400 weekend, and Sundays’ extra distance features showed why both divisions have grown to be fan favorites.
First up was 100 laps for the PASS Sportsman Series and with $2,000.00 to the winner it was guaranteed to be a wild one. Dan Mckeage and Richie Morse led the car field to the green. The pair ran side by side for the first five stanzas with Morse taking the advantage at the start/finish line and Mckeage filling the hole on the bottom. Carey Martin held the third spot but he was under siege from Nate Leavitt. Martin took second away from Mckeage shortly after and left Mckeage and Leavitt to battle for third. The caution first flew on lap 16 for a minor incursion, just as Martin powered around Morse for the lead. The caution flew one lap later, turning the tables on Martin, but when the field went green Martin managed to hold the lead on the bottom; Morse dropped into second and Lyman Mckeage came up to challenge Morse. Lyman had the better car at lap 25, taking second from Morse who was now feeling the heat from both Scott Dorr and Nate Leavitt. Dorr took over the third spot on lap 29 and went looking for McKeage and Martin.
Kyle Hart spun on lap 33 to bring the field back together once again. Martin was a match for Mckeage on the outside but Mckeage battled back to a dead heat on lap 36 and the lead when the pair crossed the stripe on lap 37. The race continued clean and green at the half-way mark with Mckeage by less than a car length over Martin, Dorr, Dan Mckeage, Mike Landry and Morse. The caution finally flew once again on lap fifty eight, and it was Mckeage’s turn to try from the bottom. Martin led lap 58 on the outside but the lead was far from decided. Mckeage retook the top spot one lap later but Martin continued to challenge with Scott Dorr waiting patiently in third. Martin made the outside move stick on lap 65 and Door took second away from Mckeage with Landry fourth and Dan Mckeage fifth. The front four had a healthy margin over the field. But Nate Leavitt and Bobby Nadeau went for a spinner on lap 75, setting up another restart. Martin powered up the inside to keep Dorr in second, but Mike Landry took the second spot away from Dorr five laps later. Dan Mckeage and Frank Ware came together on the back stretch, and the pair got into the back stretch wall.
Now it was Landry’s turn to take on Martin, and despite Martin’s efforts to move the 40 up the race track, Landry battled back on the outside to lead lap 87. Landry cleared Martin but he was never far away, and Donnie Morse had worked his way past Dorr for third. The final caution flew on lap 93, giving Martin another shot at the top spot. He took advantage and took back the point on the races’ final restart. Landry never had an opportunity to try the top and Martin crossed the line first, scoring his first Beech Ridge victory in many years. Donnie Morse came home third with Scott Dorr fourth and Nate Leavitt fifth.
PASS Mods were up next and Sumner Sessions jumped out front early but Scott McDaniel took over the top spot on lap 3. Greg Ellis chased the front pair in third and Steve Bennett Jr. was a ways back in fourth. McDaniel was in another zip code by lap 11, leaving Sessions and Ellis almost a straightaway behind. Point leader Andy Shaw was up to fourth by lap 14, Then third on lap 15 and setting his sights on the front two. Shaw was by Sessions on lap 20 but he had a long way to go to chase down the leader. The race stayed caution free from Green to checker and McDaniel never looked back, beating Shaw to the flag by over a straightaway with Scott Grant third, John Brill fourth and Sumner Sessions fifth.
Unofficial Finish – PASS Sportsman 100 – Beech Ridge Motor Speedway – 9/13/09
1) 18 Carey Martin Brownfield ME 2) 40 Mike Landry Oakland ME 3) 10 Donnie Morse Portland ME 4) 160 Scott Dorr Portland ME 5) 36L Nate Leavitt 6) 34 Richie Morse Waterford ME 7) 63 Ross Morse Buxton ME 8) 11 Marcel Chauvette Waterboro ME 9) 09 Frankie Eldridge Stratham NH 10) 61 R.J. Austin Norridgewock ME 11) 60 Kyle Hart Ctr. Conway NH 12) 2 Robert Emery Limington ME 13) 4 Allan Moeller Dresden ME 14) 22 Steve Bennett Sr. Buckfield ME 15) 8 Clyde Hennessey Windham ME 16) 3 Dalton Gagnon Lyman ME 17) 38 Dan Mckeage Gorham ME 18) 58 Lyman Mckeage Gorham ME 19) 80 Dana Reed Shapleigh ME 20) 02F David Fowler Jr. 21) 20 Frank Wear Scarborough ME 22) 7 Shane Tatro Levant ME 23) 35 Bobby Nadeau Hollis ME 24) 5 David Vaughn Naples ME 25) 7 Dave Chares t Westbrook ME 26) 78 J.T. Thurlow Scarborough ME 27) 19S Duane Seekins Stockton Springs ME 28) 55 Chris Smith Scarborough ME
Unofficial Finish – PASS Mod 50 – Beech Ridge Motor Speedway – 9/13/09
1) 14 Scott McDaniel Livermore ME 2) 66 Andy Shaw Ctr Conway NH 3) 27 Scott Grant Waterboro ME 4) 77 Jon Brill Bridgton ME 5) 50 Sumner Sessions Norway ME 6) 33 Bill Dixon N Waterboro ME 7) 56 Dan Somes Belgrade ME 8) 4 Wayne Whitten JR Arundel ME 9) 12 Steve Bennett Jr. Buckfield ME 10) 53 Leo Oliviera Raynham MA 11) 56x Rich Ferreira Raynham MA 12) 29 Greg Ellis Hermon ME 13) 03 Gary Norris W Gardiner ME 14) 85 Glen Bradbury Hollis Ctr ME 15) 2 Bub Bilodeau Standish ME
