by Jay | Sep 15, 2013 | Devils Bowl, New England, Vermont
Devil’s Bowl Speedway, NASCAR Green to Donate Trees to Irene Victims
Ceremony to take place during Vermont 200 on Sunday
WEST HAVEN, VT – Devil’s Bowl Speedway will reach out to Vermonters affected by Tropical Storm Irene in a ceremony on Sunday, September 15. Prior to the start of the season’s final championship stock car racing events on Vermont 200 Weekend, Devil’s Bowl Speedway – through the NASCAR Green “Clean Air Project” – will celebrate the donation of 90 trees to long-term recovery committees and other beneficiaries across Vermont, where they will be used to repair some of the damage still remaining from the August 2011 storm.
Devil’s Bowl Speedway was one of five NASCAR-sanctioned speedways selected to participate in the NASCAR Green Clean Air Project in 2013 – a program striving to improve environmental sustainability through recycling, tree planting, and alternative energy programs. The Clean Air Project, which also involves the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, captures 100% of the emissions created by race vehicles through tree planting.
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by Jay | Sep 14, 2013 | Devils Bowl, Modified, Vermont
Twin 50s up next for Northern Modified Challenge Series at Devil’s Bowl
Top three drivers only 10 points apart
WEST HAVEN, VT – The Northern Modified Challenge Series will be busy during the Vermont 200 Weekend at Devil’s Bowl Speedway on September 14-15. The first-year championship tour for open-wheel Modified stock cars is expected to draw its largest field yet as drivers race in twin 50-lap features.
Only 10 championship points separate the top three title contenders entering the two-day event at the series’ home track at Devil’s Bowl. Eighteen year-old Jessey Mueller of Olmstedville, NY holds the lead through the first three races of the season, with a victory in the opener at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl in May, a runner-up finish in the Carrara Masonry C.J. Richards Memorial at Devil’s Bowl in August, and a sixth-place showing at Canaan Fair Speedway in August.
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by | Sep 13, 2013 | Devils Bowl, Vermont
New champion to be crowned at Vermont 200 Weekend
WEST HAVEN, VT – Vermont will see a new stock car racing champion crowned at Devil’s Bowl Speedway on Sunday, September 15, as the title fight between racers Nick Sweet and Chip Grenier is decided during the Vermont 200 Championship Weekend.
Despite limited experience at the fast half-mile oval, each driver has been impressive at Devil’s Bowl. Sweet, a two-time champion at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl in his hometown of Barre, VT, posted his first Devil’s Bowl victory in the People’s United Bank 100 in June, the second event of the four-round Vermont State Late Model Championship Series. Derrick O’Donnell and Cody Blake earned wins in the two races held at Thunder Road earlier in the season.
Grenier, of Graniteville, VT, has finished second in his last two starts at Devil’s Bowl – including a photo finish at the 2012 edition of the Vermont 200 Weekend. Should Grenier complete the come-from-behind drive, the championship would be the first of the notoriously underfunded driver’s career; he scored a runner-up finish behind Sweet in June with the words “Wanted: Sponsor” appearing on his car.
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by | Sep 13, 2013 | Devils Bowl, Vermont
Vermont State Championship: Emily Packard
Devil’s Bowl Speedway Race Preview
THE STORY
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – Emily Packard of East Montpelier, Vt., heads to one of her favorite stops in the northeast when she competes in the Vermont State Championship Series 100 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, Vt., on Sunday, September 15. Packard is currently fourth in the series standings through the first three races of 2013, and she’s looking to build on some of her career-best performances at the half-mile. She finished seventh there most recently, and Packard sits within striking distance of a Top-3 finish in the final series standings following the season finale on Sunday.
THE FACTS
WHO: Emily Packard, East Montpelier, Vt.
CREW CHIEF: Neal Woodward, Georgia, Vt.
TEAM: No. 9x Northstar Fireworks/Berlin Optical Expressions Ford
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 DEVIL’S BOWL SPEEDWAY FINISH: 7th (June 2013)
LAST RACE AT DEVIL’S BOWL SPEEDWAY: 7th (June 2013)
WHAT: Vermont State Championship Series 100
WHERE: Devil’s Bowl Speedway, West Haven, Vt. (.500-mile oval)
WHEN: Saturday, September 14 – 12:20 p.m., practice; Sunday, September 15 – 10:15 a.m., practice; 1:30 p.m., qualifying; 3:30 p.m., race
DID YOU KNOW?
Emily Packard became the first woman to win a NASCAR-sanctioned Late Model event at Canaan Fair Speedway in Canaan, N.H., when she won the Twin 25s event at the track on June 1 of this season.
Emily Packard will be one of 43 Late Model drivers in the region to participate in the fifth annual Bond Auto ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 21 – her second consecutive appearance in the event.
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 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 Ford, On why she likes Devil’s Bowl Speedway so much: “Everybody knows that Devil’s Bowl is one of my favorite tracks, along with Loudon. Going into both of them back-to-back is just a great feeling. We’ve had some really good runs there at Devil’s Bowl and been super-strong, so I’m super-excited to go back there.
“I think it’s just that as a driver I feel comfortable there. I seem to adapt to whatever the car is going to be (handling-wise), but every time we go it seems we have a car that is just about the same. I feel like I have a perfect car there, and that’s a great feeling for any driver in any race.”
On whether she approaches this final Vermont State Championship Series race of 2013 any differently: “No, I don’t think so. But this time, I’m going in and really want to have a good race there. The last time I was up at Devil’s Bowl I got taken out – it was like a replay all over again of the time we were there in June, just with a different person involved. I want to avoid that kind of stuff and have a good run and finish in the Top-5.
“We haven’t had one of the races in a long time, but we’ll take a look at the points going into the weekend. I want to get a good finish and do well in the series overall. It was the plan all year to run this.”
On how her recent test at New Hampshire Motor Speedway went: “Actually, we found out that the rear end was moving on me, and that’s what was happening – that’s why we were having the tight sensation all day. We figured some things out once we got back to the shop, and hopefully we’ll be better when we go back. I liked it, and I had a lot of fun with the test. Last year, I made a rookie mistake and I wanted to redeem myself this year.”
by | Sep 13, 2013 | Devils Bowl, Vermont
Five title races within 17 points entering season finale on Sept. 14-15
WEST HAVEN, VT – Stock car racing fans at Devil’s Bowl Speedway will have plenty of number-crunching to do in the grandstands at the Vermont 200 Championship Weekend on September 14-15. Five of the championship races that will be decided during the two-day event have airtight point battles and will undoubtedly come down to the final laps.
The top two drivers in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model division are separated by only four points for the championship. Josh Masterson, a 22-year-old rookie from Bristol, VT, has earned three victories in his freshman season. Cagey veteran Chris Bergeron of Claremont, NH has four wins and trails his young rival by four points – the difference of just two on-track positions – entering the final 100-lap race on Sunday. Both are chased by another impressive rookie, 16-year-old feature race winner Brandon Atkins of AuSable Forks, NY, who is just 31 points out of the lead.
The 100-lap race also counts as the final event in the four-race Vermont State Late Model Championship Series, in which Nick Sweet of Barre, VT leads Chip Grenier of Graniteville, VT by a close 17 points. Sweet has an up-and-down history at Devil’s Bowl but won the track’s most recent Vermont State event – the People’s United Bank 100 – in June. Grenier has taken a shine to Devil’s Bowl, finishing second to Sweet in June and second to Brent Dragon in a photo finish on Vermont 200 Weekend in 2012.
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by | Sep 10, 2013 | Devils Bowl, Touring Series News, Vermont, Whelen All American Series
Modified Twin 50s at Devil’s Bowl Speedway to decide national rookie champion
WEST HAVEN, VT – Devil’s Bowl Speedway may be celebrating one of its drivers as a national NASCAR champion at the Vermont 200 Championship Weekend on Sunday, September 15. On the strength of nine main event victories in 2013, Todd Stone of Middlebury, VT leads the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series (NWAAS) “Division I” national rookie standings entering the final event of the year.
Stone has been a dominant force in the Bond Auto Parts Modified division at Devil’s Bowl and is in a tight race for the national Rookie of the Year presented by Jostens award with Late Model driver Bobby McCarty of Summerfield, NC. Unofficially, Stone leads McCarty by just nine points (519-510), but has two opportunities to gain points in twin 50-lap Modified races at the Vermont 200 Weekend and clinch the title.
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