Date       Track                                      Location                                 Laps       Series

4/29        Oxford Plains                        Oxford, ME                             150         ACT/OLMC

5/06        Thunder Road                      Barre, VT                               150         ACT

5/13        Lee USA                                Lee, NH                                 100         Lee

5/27        Thunder Road                      Barre, VT                               100         TR

6/02        Circuit Ste-Croix                   Ste-Croix, QC                       100         ACT

6/09        Oxford Plains                        Oxford, ME                             100         OLMC

6/16        Airborne Speedway             Plattsburgh, NY                    100         ACT

6/24        Circuit Ste-Croix                   Ste-Croix, QC                       200         Super Series

6/30        White Mountain                    No. Woodstock, NH            100         ACT

7/08        Sanair Super Spdwy           St-Pie, QC                             150         Super Series

7/12        Thunder Road                      Barre, VT                               100         TR

7/22        Oxford Plains                        Oxford, ME                             250         OLMC

8/04        Seekonk Speedway            Seekonk, MA                         100         ACT

8/11        Oxford Plains                        Oxford, ME                             100         OLMC

8/18        White Mountain                    No. Woodstock, NH            150         ACT

9/02        Thunder Road                      Barre, VT                               200         Super Series

9/22        White Mountain                    No. Woodstock, NH            100         Open Comp

9/23        Lee USA                                Lee, NH                                 100         Lee

9/30        Thunder Road                      Barre, VT                               150         Super Series

10/06      Oxford Plains                        Oxford, ME                             150         ACT/OLMC

10/21      Lee USA                                Lee, NH                                 100         Open Comp

 

ACT = ACT Late Model Tour

Super Series = ACT Super Series

OLMC = Oxford Late Model Challenge Series

Lee = Lee USA Speedway weekly series

TR = Thunder Road weekly series

Open Comp = Unsanctioned open competition event

 

That is some serious racing right there, and you can bet that some big names from other areas will show up for a lot of them.

 

I am really confused about the whole Tour schedule vs. Super Series schedule thing.  I mean, I get it, I understand what's going on, but it's too much work to figure out.  The deal is this: the 2007 ACT Late Model Tour championship will be based on the 8-race schedule (races listed as "ACT" above) and each driver's two best performances in the Super Series, so long as they're not the Oxford 250.  The 250 will not count toward the championship, yet teams will receive 100 points for filing an entry and competing in the event.

 

All together now... "What?"

 

I hate it when championships are based on only the best races you turn in, too.  It should be based on every race, no matter what.  Basically, it allows you to skip two races and win the championship, and it's just not right.

 

If there is going to be an ACT Tour, crown an ACT champion.  If there's going to be a Super Series, crown a Super Series champion.  But for god's sake, don't combine them, then drop two races.  PASS did that last year with the Unity race, and all did it was leave you wondering who was really leading the points from mid-June to the end of the year.  Now, fans and teams are likely going to leave Oxford next October not knowing who won the title until they read it somewhere a day or two later.

 

It also disallows any on-track championship celebration following the final event, which is a shame.  Fans honoring their champion is a huge tradition in motorsports, and all the required math following the final checkered flag is just going to put a damper on that part of the program.

 

But all complaining about points aside, the 2007 schedule is jam-packed with awesome races.  I am surprised the Lee is not on the ACT schedule.  The openers at Lee the last two or three years have pulled in 60 cars, even for a dinky purse that only paid like $2,500 to win.

 

***

 

I hope that Airborne's race goes off without a hitch in 2007, because I realy feel that ACT has sort of kicked that place to the curb.  I understand that rain happens and everything, but it seems like there was very little effort made to reschedule.  I also understand that ACT may not totally be at fault for that, but it's a crime when the Fall Foliage (which has become less and less prestigious almost every year since 1995) is a.) scheduled to be run as a Tiger race, and b.) cancelled altogether, even when the next day's weather forecast looks good.  Add to that the fact that the Tour race was wiped out, and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.  I bet that if someone was to redesign the infield pits and advertise a Super Series-type event there with a big purse, you'd get the 40, 50, 60 cars Airborne used to bring in.  I guess I'm in no place to complain, since I didn't drag my sorry butt over to Plattsburgh this year, but I wish it got treated better by the family that raised it.

 

***

 

I won't be able to attend the second half of the Milk Bowl this coming weekend (and boy do I hate iParty for that), but I'd like to congratulate everyone in advance, and cross my fingers the Joey Polewarczyk can back up his time trial with a segment win or something.  That kid deserves a good run at Thunder Road, and the Milk Bowl is a great pace for it to happen.  Ryan Nolin needs it, too.

 

***

 

Ryan Vanasse is absolutely the hard luck poster boy for ACT.  People don't consider him a threat, and it's a shame.  The kid is a wheelman, he just has THE WORST luck.  At least he had some good runs in mid-summer, and he got a Saturday night win at Seekonk a few weeks back.  All I can say to the Team V guys is to hang your heads high.  You actually had a great year, just not on paper.  Things will get better because they have to.

 

***

Keep watch on the brand new VermontSportsMagazine.com, I'll be covering Vermont motorsports for them.  Pich' got me turned on to the site, and they asked me to join them.  I'll definitely be doing Thunder Road and ACT stuff, and I'll likely keep tabs on Vermont drivers in other series (PASS, Busch East, TVMRS, etc.).  Hopefully I can get to Bear Ridge and Devil's Bowl a couple times in 2007, as well.  Who knows, maybe I could take in some SCCV and snowmobile stuff, too!  Stay tuned!

 

 

 

9/16/06 - I just read some news from Lee USA Speedway that's both exciting and disappointing to me.  Wayne Helliwell, Jr. and Phil Baril, Jr. (aka J.R.) are two of my favorite drivers from the seacoast area, and I've always enjoyed watching them race.  They battled tooth and nail for the Late Model title at Lee this season, and Helliwell was crowned champion after his win in the final points race of the year last week.  The win was his fifth of the season, and Baril had won four to that point.  But here's the fun part - when Lee tech officials heard early in the night that bot teams were planning on protesting each other's spec engines, they decided that both engines would be pulled and sent for a full teardown at Butler/MacMaster (the ACT/New England Late Model spec motor builder) in Maine.  Simply put, Helliwell's motor was found to be illegal, while Baril's was in compliance of the rulebook.   This is from the official Lee USA release:

 

 

 

 

 

It seems pretty black and white to me, and it was nice of Peter Watson to add that final statement on Baril's behalf.  The ability to check an engine using that system is another great reason why the "spec motor" concept should be adopted universally in my opinion.  It's unfortunate that Helliwell was disqualified and lost a championship, but on the other hand, he was cheating and got what he deserved.

 

I have enjoyed watching both drivers in everything from Supermodifieds to Street Stocks, and wish that both would give ACT racing a whole-hearted try some day.

 

Congratulations to the J.R. Baril team on the championship, they worked their tails off this year.

 

***

 

The recently-announced Oxford Late Model Challenge for 2007 is nothing short of RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME!  A five-race series that will pay out over $300,000 is good for absolutley everyone involved in the Late Model division throughout New England.  There will be drivers and cars from Oxford, Lee, Thunder Road, Seekonk, White Mountain, ACT, the Castrol Series, and likely other venues that compete under similar rules.  The veteran fans of New England are calling it a revival of the old Oxford Open Series of the 1970s and '80s.  From what I've read and heard, those were some exciting races, and helped shape the face of racing throughout our region AND the country.  Hopefully the attention this high-dollar series will bring will really help spread the spec motor fire to places beyond our neck of the woods, and maybe, MAYBE, some day, there can be a national spec motor series.  The 2007 season will be very important for the Late Model division as a whole, and I hope it's as successful as I think it will be.

 

 

8/14/06 - I am floored by the announcement that the Oxford 250 will be a Late Model race using ACT rules next year, although I've known it was coming for over a year.  I'm not mad, but I don't know if I'm happy, either.  I guess I'm skeptical and anxious to see what happens.  Who's going to explain the change to the Whorff guys and SP2, the teams that have really spent all the money and time and energy getting the 250 back to national prominence?  There must be a lot of disappointed people in Maine right now, but probably not nearly as many as all the happy folks in Vermont, New York, and New Hampshire.  When you look at it, there will be 100-120 cars in the pits next July, and that can't be bad, they'll just all be different.  I'll miss Jeff Taylor and Cassius Clark and Rollie MacDonald and all those guys, but it'd be so cool to see a kid like Ryan Nolin pull off a win like Jeremie Whorff did this year.  I dunno, I can't wait until 2007... I think.