Dwight's Auto Repair 13 Landfill Rd Milton,
VT05468
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The Story of
Beaver
Dragon
"To Beat The Beaver" is the
highly detailed and personal biography of Harmon “Beaver” Dragon, a
New England Hall of Fame driver.
One of the best ever out of Vermont, Dragon was NASCAR North champ
in 1979 and ’80 and made numerous Grand National starts.
Teacher, motorsports journalist, and a racing history buff, author
Bill Ladabouche packs the 400-plus pages with photography from coupe
and coach days, through NASCAR North, and up to the current
American-Canadian Tour.
420 pages, black and white photos.
(Courtesy of Coastal 181)
-------------
The price per
book is:
Jaime Lynn Dragon will represent Vermont at the
Miss USA 2012 pageant next June in Las Vegas. The daughter of June
and Brent Dragon, she was crowned Miss Vermont USA 2012 on November
6th at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel & Conference Room in
Burlington.
In addition to her crown, she received
scholarships, wardrobe, cosmetics, jewelry and other prizes.
If Dragon wins in Las Vegas, she will go on to
represent the United States at the Miss Universe 2012 pageant.
On his post racing season deer hunt in Ontario, Brent
bagged an eleven point buck.
Rent-A-Wreck Fall
Foliage 200
Airborne Speedway Saturday, October
8th 20th Place Finish
49th Annual People’s
United Bank Milk Bowl
Thunder Road Sunday, October
9th 14th
Place Finish
Brent
Finishes 20th & 14th to Close the 2011 Season
BARRE, Vt. – Brent Dragon fought a
tight-handling race car in the final segment and finished 14 in the
49th annual People's United Bank Milk Bowl at Thunder Road
International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt., on Sunday, Oct. 9.
Dragon put the finishing touches on
the ACT Late Model Tour season on Saturday, finishing 20th in the
Rent-A-Wreck Fall Foliage 200 after being caught up in an accident
in his heat race and having to battle back from that.
“It all pretty much started
(Saturday),” Dragon said. “We had probably the best car we had all
year, and we got wrecked and then it just went downhill from there.
We had flat tires in the race, and we still had a decent car, but we
worked all night to get it fixed (for the Milk Bowl).”
Dragon felt the bad luck from Saturday
put the No. 55 BeverageMart/ Charlesbois Freightliner/Furniture
World of VT Chevrolet team behind the proverbial eight-ball on
Sunday at Thunder Road.
“We didn't have the time to put the
setup in it like the guys that have these other cars ready to go,”
Dragon said. “We were lucky to qualify with that many cars. That was
pretty much it.”
Dragon posted the 11th-fastest time of
the day during time trials for the Milk Bowl and was able to secure
the 14th starting spot for the first segment of the three-segment
race. The car was competitive, but it called for a slight adjustment
prior to the final 75-lap segment.
“That last segment hurt us,” Dragon
said. “We were fighting it being loose all day, and we tightened it
up a lot. But it got so tight you couldn't even turn it. We just
went too far with it. I'm just glad it's over.”
Dragon finished seventh in the final
ACT standings with three Top-5 finishes on the season.
“It was a tough year,” he said. “I
think we had a Top-5 car pretty much everywhere. We just had some
tough times. We'll have to do some thinking and see what we can do
for next year. That's really it – it's just time to go do some
hunting.”
Doubleheader to End the Season
For the first time in American Canadian Tour Late Model
history, the season will come to a close with a doubleheader
weekend.
The ACT Tour, Série ACT Castrol and Bond/WIX Tiger
Tour point battles will conclude on Saturday, October 8 with the
Rent-A-Wreck Fall Foliage 200 at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh,
NY.
With the tours completed, many teams will head to
Thunder Road in Barre, VT for the 49th Annual People’s United Bank
Milk Bowl on Sunday, October 9, rain dated from October 2.
Action for the Rent-A-Wreck Fall Foliage 200 at Airborne will begin
at 1:00pm on Saturday, October 8. The ACT Tour and Série ACT Castrol
will run 200 laps, the Bond/WIX Tiger Tour will run 100 laps and the
Airborne Renegades will have a 50 lap special. Advanced sale tickets
are available now at the ACT office in Waterbury and the
Plattsburgh, NY Rent-A-Wreck for $15. Tickets at the gate will be
$18 and kids 12 and under are free.
On Sunday, October 9,
Booth Bros./H.P. Hood Time trials will roll out at 12 noon with the
first segment of the 49th Annual People’s United Bank Milk Bowl
scheduled for approximately 2:00pm at Thunder Road. Tickets are $25
for adults and $5 for kids ages 12 and under.
The ACT Invitational
50 New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday,
September 24th - 5:35 PM
37th at the Invitational Started 18th
- Finished on Lead Lap
Brent Dragon Seeks Redemption at NHMS ACT
Invitational
ACT Tour Fixture Looks For Solid Run At Magic Mile On
Saturday
MILTON, Vt. – When Brent Dragon heads to New Hampshire Motor
Speedway for a fourth time this weekend, he's looking for the kind
of result that matches his strong previous efforts at the 1-mile
oval.
It's not coincidence that Dragon, who has more ACT Late
Model Tour starts than any driver in history, has competed in every
Tour event at New Hampshire. He's one of just 43 Late Model drivers
across the northeast and Canada to be invited to participate in the
3rd annual ACT Invitational on Saturday.
Following a brief
practice session in the morning, the green flag flies on the
Invitational shortly after 5:30 p.m.
“I really like the track
a lot,” said Dragon, who will bring his own Dragon Motorsports No.
55 Beverage Mart/Furniture World of VT/Charlesbois Freightliner
Chevrolet this weekend. “It's a completely different kind of racing
than we have most weeks on the Tour, but it's something that I
definitely enjoy.”
Dragon finished 31st in the ACT
Invitational a year ago, but his performance at New Hampshire goes
well beyond his actual finishing position. As short-track racers
have tried to find the right setups for their cars over the last few
seasons, many have turned to Dragon to help get them in the
ballpark.
In 2009, several drivers – including former Thunder
Road International Speedbowl track champion Cris Michaud – had
Dragon drive their cars during practice sessions at New Hampshire to
help dial the car in.
This time around, however, Dragon has
his sights set on rebounding from a disappointing trip to New
Hampshire Motor Speedway in August. After needing a provisional to
make the race, Dragon fought to a 37th-place finish in the 44-car
field.
“It was a tough weekend right from when we unloaded to
the last race,” Dragon said of the two-segment ACT All-Star
Challenge. “We were just never able to get the car where it needed
to be. We didn't come down to test, and I think that hurt us. An
hour of practice is not a lot of time to get it back and we never
were able to get the car to where it felt comfortable all day.
That's the way we ended.”
Dragon headed back to his race shop
and got to work on the No. 55, which is a different piece than the
team brought to the track in August.
“We know what not to do,
I guess,” Dragon said with a chuckle. “Maybe it will give us
something to head for and we'll have to talk to Jeff (Taylor) up at
Distance Racing and see if he can get us back in line.”
Showdown at Chaudiere 200 Unofficial
Results Autodrome Chaudiere – Vallee-Jct., QC Pos. (Start)
Driver, Hometown, Team, Laps Completed 1. (1) Brian Hoar,
Williston, VT, U.S., 200 Laps 2. (12) Patrick Laperle,
St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, QC, CAN, 200 Laps 3. (3) Karl Allard,
Quebec, QC, CAN, 200 Laps 4. (17) Wayne Helliwell, Jr., Dover,
NH, U.S., 200 Laps 5. (14) Randy Potter, Groveton, NH, U.S., 200
Laps -- 24. (10) Brent Dragon, Milton,
VT, U.S., 88 Laps
ACT Can-Am 200 Circuit
Riverside, Ste-Croix, QC Combo Event with
Serie ACT Castrol Raindate:
Sunday, September 11th
Can-Am
200 Unofficial Results Circuit Riverside Speedway –
Ste-Croix, QC ACT Late Model Tour/Série ACT Castrol
Sunday, September 11, 2011 1. (2)
Brian Hoar, Williston, VT, 200 Laps
2. (21) Wayne Helliwell, Jr., Dover, NH, 200 Laps
3. (15) Nick Sweet, Barre, VT, 200 Laps
4. (10) Austin Theriault, Fort Kent, ME, 200 Laps
5. (8) Brent Dragon, Milton, VT, 200 Laps
6. (14) Patrick Hamel, St-Edouard, QC, 200 Laps
7. (1) Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, NH, 200 Laps
8. (32) Sylvain Lacombe, Terrebonne, QC, 200 Laps
9. (7) Claude Leclerc, Lanoraie, QC, 200 Laps
10. (22) David Michaud, Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, QC, 200
Laps
Dragon Hopes To Double Up In ACT Action This Weekend
Brent will haul north of the border for a weekend of ACT
Late Model Tour racing when he takes on the Budweiser Showdown at
Autodrome Chaudiere in Vallee-Jonction, Que. on Saturday, September
10 and the postponed Can-Am 200 at Circuit Riverside in Ste-Croix,
Que. on Sunday, September 11. Before the rain set in at Circuit
Riverside two weeks ago, Dragon had qualified in the eighth position
with a strong car and was looking forward to racing the Can-Am 200.
This weekend, he hopes to return to Canada and have two strong
finishes as he and his team continue to prepare their car for the
2012 season.
BEST CAREER AUTODROME CHAUDIERE FINISH: 1st
(August 2009) LAST RACE AT AUTODROME CHAUDIERE: 9th (August 2010)
BEST CAREER CIRCUIT RIVERSIDE FINISH: 5th (August 2010) LAST
RACE AT CIRCUIT RIVERSIDE: 5th (August 2010)
POINTS POSITION:
7th
DID YOU KNOW? - Brent won
the 2009 Showdown at Chaudiere, helping the ACT Tour win bragging
rights for one season in the All-Star event against the ACT Castrol
Series teams.
- Brent is the 2008 winner of the
American-Canadian Tour’s Don MacTavish Award.
- Brent has
finished in the Top-10 in the final ACT standings in eleven straight
seasons.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING BRENT on running the Budweiser Showdown at
Autodrome Chaudiere: “We’ve had pretty good luck there and in
the Showdown. It’s a lot of fun with the 22 cars that are there.
It’s the top teams from both series (ACT Late Model Tour and ACT
Castrol Series). We should run well.”
On racing at a short
track one night and a half-mile track the next: “We’ve done a lot of
work this week, as far as different setups. Being able to switch the
setup over quickly is key. It’s the way it used be done years ago.
It’ll be a lot of fun.”
On if he is
approaching the non-points and points races differently: “Not
with our season. They both pay pretty good money. We are going to
race and what happens, happens. We’ll race hard and hopefully have
the car out front.”
Bond Labor
Day Classic 200 Sunday, September 4th - 1:30 PM Thunder Road Speedway - Barre, VT
Brent Rallies for 14th
BARRE, Vt. – Brent Dragon of Milton, Vt., battled front end
damage to finish 14th in the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 at
Thunder Road International Speedbowl on Sunday, September 4. Dragon
qualified well in his heat race and grabbed the 3rd starting
position for the feature. At the halfway point of the race, Dragon's
car became very loose, which was corrected by a trip to the pits for
new tires. Dragon was well inside the Top-10 when contact caused
front end damage, making the car very tight. Dragon will now look to
the Quebec doubleheader weekend where he hopes to keep learning more
for next season.
BRENT, TALK ABOUT YOUR
DAY. “Oh it started off pretty good. We got in in the heat
race and I started third in the feature. We had a pretty decent car,
but it got pretty loose there about midway through. We came in and
pitted a couple of times. Put some tires on, got back up to sixth or
seventh, and we got the front end whacked, which toed the front in
pretty bad so it just pushed for the rest of the day.
“We
took what we could get. We got a pretty decent day of out of it. It
was just a hot, hot day.”
DID THE FRONT
END DAMAGE SEAL YOUR FATE FOR THE DAY? “Oh yeah, it made
the car so tight it just wouldn't turn. That was the end of our day.
We had to just ride out the last 60 or 70 laps.”
IT'S BEEN A ROUGH YEAR FOR YOU HERE AT THUNDER
ROAD. “Yeah we've had pretty good cars. I'm looking
forward to the Milk Bowl. I think we have a pretty good car –
especially for 50 laps. We'll come back and try it then.”
ACT Labor Day Classic
The American Canadian Tour (ACT) stars will find the
competition the toughest of the 2011 race season when they return to
Thunder Road for the 33rd running of the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic
on Sunday, September 4th. A field of over 40 of the best Late Model
racers in the region will attempt to qualify for the $5000 to win,
$40,000 summer holiday classic, including some of the best weekly
racers in New England.
The 200-lap event on the high banks at
the “Nation’s Site of Excitement” is viewed as one of the most
physically demanding events on the ACT schedule, and the competition
from the weekly Thunder Road Late Model teams has proven to be
equally so.
“There have been 9 different winners at Thunder
Road in the12 races staged so far this season,” said Nick Bigelow,
Media Director for Thunder Road. “The only repeat winners have been
John Donahue with three, and Dave Pembroke with back-to-back wins in
mid-July, including the Times Argus double point Mid Season
Championship which catapulted him into the points lead. Needless to
say, there is a definite challenge ahead for the ACT teams,”
concluded Bigelow.
Brent was the Labor Day Classic winner in
2004.
Brent's Labor Day Classic
200 Preview
Brent hopes to start turning the corner on the ACT Late
Model Tour in preparation for next season as the Tour returns to its
home track, Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt., for
the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 on Sunday, September 4.
In a season filled with ups and downs, Dragon has shifted his focus
to getting his cars better for the 2012 season and began to see some
great improvements last weekend at Riverside Speedway in St. Croix,
Que. Dragon will run the same car for this weekend's Bond Auto Labor
Day Classic as he looks to finish the 2011 season with strong
finishes.
POINTS POSITION: 7th
DID YOU KNOW? - Brent plans to run his own car for the
Labor Day Classic, the Budweiser Showdown at Chaudiere, the Can-Am
200, and the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
- Brent joined his father, Beaver Dragon, and uncle, Bobby
Dragon, as a Labor Day Classic 200 winner when he won the event in
2004.
- Brent was the 2006 Milk Bowl and 2004 Labor Day
Classic 200 champion at Thunder Road.
- Brent has finished in
the Top-10 in the final ACT standings in 11 straight seasons.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING BRENT: “This
year has been pretty good. The last two times we raced weekly
100-lappers and finished around fifth in both after starting in the
rear. It was a big improvement over the past few weeks. We're
looking forward to running 200 laps there.”
On heading into the final three points races
of the season:“We're trying to learn more for next year.
We're pretty much out of everything for this year. So we are trying
a bunch of stuff to get better for next year.”
On how the race weekend at Ste-Croix was going
before the rain hit: “Very good. We were top of the board in
the first practice and second or third in the second session. We
were looking forward to the race.
"We've been working with
(car builder Jeff Taylor of Distance Racing) a lot and he's got us
moving in the right direction. We'll be running our car this weekend
as well as in Quebec and New Hampshire.”
UP NEXT The ACT Late Model Tour
heads north of the border to Quebec to run a doubleheader weekend at
Autodrome Chaudiere in Vallee-Jonction, Que., on Saturday, September
10, and Riverside Speedway in Ste-Croix, Que., on Sunday, September
11... Brent will attempt to win his second Showdown at Chaudiere and
help the American-Canadian Tour drivers battle the ACT Castrol
Series' best in the ACT Late Model Tour's All-Star Race. The
following day he will compete in the postponed Can-Am 200, where
Dragon will roll off 8th and hopes to pick up where he left off with
a strong car.
Riverside Speedway -
Ste Croix, QC 200 Laps - Combo Event with
Serie ACT Castrol Raindate:
Sunday, September 11th
ACT Can-Am 200 at Riverside Postponed Due to Rain
The ACT Late Model Tour and Série ACT Castrol combined
Can-Am 200 at Circuit Riverside Speedway in Ste-Croix, QC scheduled
for Saturday, August 27 has been postponed due to rain.
Forty-one
cars attempted to qualify for the event with thirty-six making the
field. The field of 36 was set before the rains came following the
B-Feature. Those 36 cars will return on Sunday, September 11 to
complete the 200 lap distance.
Brent Looks To Turn Things Around At Riverside
Brent looks to break a run of bad luck when the ACT Late
Model Tour joins the ACT Castrol Series for the combination Can-Am
200 at Riverside Speedway in St. Croix, Que., on Saturday, August
27. Dragon finished fifth in 2010 at Riverside, an oddly-shaped,
flat .625-mile oval. Dragon will be taking his own Dragon
Motorsports car to the event, hoping to rebound from a 17th-place
run at Oxford Plains Speedway last weekend – after which he found a
mechanical issue that had led to the car's recent handling issues.
POINTS POSITION: 7th
DID YOU KNOW?
- Brent has competed in just five races this season with his own
car, splitting the season in his own ride and the Avery Motorsports
No. 55.
- Brent has a pair of Top-5 finishes on the ACT Late
Model Tour this season, both of them coming in the car he will drive
this weekend at Riverside Speedway.
- Brent has finished in
the Top-5 in the final ACT standings in nine straight seasons.
BRENT On racing at Riverside Speedway:
“I've done a lot better there than at some of the other tracks on
the schedule. It reminds me a lot of the old Airborne Speedway. It's
a fast, old race track. It's a lot of fun.
“It's the kind of
place that fits my driving style. You drive into the corners really
hard, use a lot of brake to try and get the car to turn good in the
middle, and then you try to get on the gas to get off the corners as
best you can. That's the kind of track I started out racing on, and
I always like places like that.”
On why
trying to win races has replaces racing for points for the last few
events: “That's basically it. We have nothing to gain. We're
not in the points, anymore. We're going to try and use these races
to make the car better for next year. This is our sixth time out
with this car – I'd rather take the chance at winning and fall out
then not go out and be competitive and try to learn some new things.
“This is the time to turn it around. Usually, we've had a pretty
good run around this time of year, and when the big races come at
the end of the season we've fallen off. Maybe we're going to do
something different this year. I want to run up front again, I know
that.”
On what he's focused on during
the recent run of bad luck: “We've started all over. (Car
builder Jeff Taylor of Distance Racing) has done a lot of work over
the last couple of weeks on it. It really goes back to some things
he learned at Beech Ridge a year ago. – he's worked a lot of
Saturday nights at Oxford, obviously, and it shows. He's really good
on those kind of flat tracks. Jeff White's really good. Glen Luce is
really good, too, at those places.
“We've just tried to go
over every little detail and see where we can get better. It's not
easy – there's so many pieces to the whole puzzle. But I think we've
found some things that we fixed, and I'm looking forward to getting
back to the track this weekend.”
Oxford 150
Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, ME Saturday, August
20th
Dragon 17th at Oxford
A 17th-place run at Oxford Plains
Speedway – after which Brent found a mechanical issue that had led
to the car's recent handling issues.
THE ACT ALL-STAR CHALLENGE NEW
HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY FRIDAY & SATURDAY, AUGUST 12 & 13
Dragon Disappointed With 37th in ACT All-Star Challenge
LOUDON, N.H. – Brent Dragon of Milton, Vt., finished 37th in
the ACT Late Model Tour ACT All-Star Challenge at New Hampshire
Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., on Saturday, August 13. Dragon
battled an ill-handling car from the time he arrived at the track,
and he posted finishes of 40th and 30th in the two segments. Though
the Avery Motorsports team made many changes to the setup, they
could not get a handle on the car. Dragon is currently fifth in the
ACT Late Model Tour points standings.
POINTS POSITION: 5th
BRENT, TALK ABOUT YOUR WEEKEND.
“It was a tough weekend right from when we unloaded to the last
race. We were just never able to get the car where it needed to be.
We didn't come down to test, and I think that hurt us. An hour of
practice is not a lot of time to get it back and we never were able
to get the car to where it felt comfortable all day. That's the way
we ended.”
DID THIS WEEKEND HELP WITH
GETTING INFORMATION FOR THE ACT INVITATIONAL IN SEPTEMBER?
“Not really, I don't think. We were never able to get the car where
it needed to be. We know what not to do, I guess. Maybe it will give
us something to head for and we'll have to talk to Jeff (Taylor) up
at Distance Racing and see if he can get us back in line.”
Brent is at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the ACT
ALL-STAR CHALLENGE to be held in conjunction with the IZOD INDYCAR
event and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on August 12-14, 2011.
Follow all the action withTrackside Now
live coverage at
www.SPEED51.com
Brent failed to qualify in his heat but
was leading in the 1st Last Chance Race but fell out of the top 11
by the checkers of the 20 laps.
Brent
has been awarded one of the ACT provisionals and will start
in the last two rows of the 44 car field.
On Saturday, the 25
lap All-Star Challenge Segment #1 rolls off at 10:30 AM while the 50
lap Segment #2 will run at 6:15 PM after the Indy Lights Qualifying,
IndyCar Qualifying, and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Race.
Over 70 teams from nine (9)
different states and provinces have entered the American Canadian
Tour (ACT) Late Model All-Star Challenge at New Hampshire Motor
Speedway in Loudon, NH on Friday, August 12 and Saturday, August 13.
The event, which has a purse of over $122,000, is part of the IZOD
Indycar Series weekend.
The
best Late Model competitors from all over the Northeast U.S. and
Eastern Canada will take a shot at qualifying for the ACT All-Star
Challenge on Friday, August 12. The qualifying heats and last chance
races alone will award over $50,000 in purse. Forty-four (44)
qualified drivers will then return on Saturday, August 13 for two
segments totaling 80-miles and awarding over $60,000.
Beech Ridge Motor Speedway Scarborough, ME - Saturday, July
30th
13th at Beech Ridge
SCARBOROUGH, Maine – Brent Dragon of Milton, Vt., finished
13th in the American Canadian Tour 150 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway
in Scarborough, Maine, on Saturday, July 30. From the very first
practice session, Dragon battled an ill-handling race car, but he
was able to hold on to the 4th position in the second consolation
race to qualify for the feature. Dragon patiently picked off the
positions in front of him and ran with the leaders after going a lap
down to bring home a solid 13th place effort.
Dragon will
now begin to prepare another car to run the ACT All-Star Challenge
at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., on August 12-13.
STARTED: 20th - FINISHED: 13th
BRENT, TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY. “It just
started out real tough all day. We didn't have a good car when we
got here, and we struggled with it all day. We got it better as the
night went on but still wasn't where we needed to be. We ended up
13th so it was a decent day in the end. We'll be better, hopefully,
at the next race.”
ARE YOU ATTENDING
THE TEST AT NHMS ON TUESDAY? "No, (Avery Motorsports) are
getting the other car ready for that Friday, and we have an hour of
practice that day so we will be fine."
OXFORD PLAINS SPEEDWAY - SUN. JULY 24TH
Dragon Fails to Qualify for TD Bank Oxford 250
OXFORD, Maine – Brent Dragon of Milton, Vt., did not qualify
for the 38th TD Bank Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford,
Maine, on Sunday, July 24. Dragon, who was spun in his heat race,
finished one position short of a qualifying spot in the his
last-chance qualifying race. It marks the first time that Dragon
failed to qualify for the midsummer event. He finished fourth in
2010 and won the pole for the race in 2009.
BRENT, HOW DISAPPOINTED ARE YOU?
“Really, not as disappointed as you'd think. I wanted to win, and I
knew that going into (the last-chance race) that starting in the
rear (of the '250'), your chances of winning are slim to none – so,
it's not really that disppointing. I think if you go into it
starting in the Top-15, your chances are a lot better going into
it.”
WHAT WAS YOUR DOWNFALL?
“The heat race was our downfall. We moved up really quick in it in a
few laps, and then cars got crossed up in front of us and we got
turned around. It actually bent the rear end, too. It moved that in
the car. We got it straightened up a bit, but it's not right. It's
still not right.
“No matter who makes it (from the
last-chance), you don't stand a very good chance. There's so many
good cars here. That was out downfall of the day.”
Dragon Thinks Oxford 250 Win Could Be In The Cards
MILTON, Vt. – Brent Dragon thought he was doing another team
a favor. Instead, it turned into one of the best opportunities the
veteran Vermont driver has ever had to win the TD Bank Oxford 250.
“It was on Saturday last year, and we weren't practicing that
much with our car.,” said Dragon, who has an Oxford 250 pole and a
fourth-place finish in the race over the last three seasons. “Donnie
and David (Avery) came over and said their driver wasn't here and
they needed someone to take the car out and just let them know if it
was fairly close on the setup.
“I was in it maybe a total of
five laps, but after I got out of the car I said to my guys, 'I'd
really like to know what they have in that car. I could win the race
in that car.' It felt that good. Just everything about it was
positive.”
Dragon walked away from the weekend telling the
Avery Motorsports team that if they ever had any interest in putting
together a deal to run a race or two with Dragon in the seat, he'd
be more than open to it. That call came over the winter – leading
Dragon into the 2011 season with a full slate of races in the Avery
Motorsports No. 55 Furniture World of VT/BeverageMart/Charlesbois
Freightliner Chevrolet, including this Sunday's prestigious Oxford
250 at Oxford Plains Speedway.
The all-time leader in ACT
Late Model Tour starts said he's as confident as ever heading into
an Oxford 250.
“I've always felt pretty confident going to
Oxford, and I'm more confident this year than ever,” said Dragon,
who finished third in an ACT race at Oxford this season. “We've
worked hard at this. This race is bigger than our whole year put
together. This is our big race for the year. We've got to do well in
it.
“I've always been pretty lucky to do as well as we have
in this race, but I can't say I've ever had as good of car as I've
had here this year.”
The reasons for the quality equipment at
Avery Motorsports are many. Dragon credits a full complement of help
at the race track on race day, as well as the efforts of car builder
and 9-time Oxford Plains Speedway track champion Jeff Taylor at
Distance Racing.
Even when he's run his own car a few times
this season – in a brand new Distance chassis – Dragon said he's
seen the difference.
“Ninety percent of it goes back to
Jeff,” Dragon said. “Jeff really has Oxford figured out really well,
and he's helped us with everything. We've worked a lot together, and
he's given us a basic setup to go with – and we've only tweaked it a
little bit here and there.”
With nearly 90 cars expected to
try and qualify for the main event, most drivers point to the luck
of the draw, qualifying and avoiding misfortune as keys to their
Oxford 250 day. Dragon, though, takes a different approach.
“If I don't qualify, I obviously don't have much of a chance of
winning the race,” Dragon said. “If you're there and worrying about
whether you're going to qualify, you're not going to have a shot at
winning the race. That's just my opinion.
“We're going there
to run up front. We're going to try and win, not just make it
through qualifying.”
And getting a victory
would mean a tremendous amount to Dragon – whose name is synonymous
with northern New England racing, despite no Dragon ever winning the
Oxford 250.
“We've been pretty fortunate,” Dragon said. “I've
won all the other big races – the New England 300, the Milk Bowl,
the Memorial Day Classic. We've won all of those, but if I could
just have this one, it would be a pretty successful career.
“It's a tough one to win – so many cars, so many good cars – but
someone's got to win it. I think we have a good a chance as
anybody.”
Jim's Captown/Trailers 100 TWIN STATES SPEEDWAY CLAREMONT, NH - SAT, JULY 9th
Brent 2nd at Twin States
CLAREMONT, N.H. – Brent Dragon of Milton, Vt., finished a
strong second in the ACT Late Model Tour Jim's Captown 100 at Twin
State Speedway in Claremont, N.H., on Saturday, July 9. The finish
was the best of the season for the all-time leader in ACT starts,
who won his heat race and started third at one of his favorite
tracks on the circuit. Dragon's own Dragon Motorsports car ran
inside the Top-3 all night before a loose handling condition over
the final few laps stopped him one spot short of the victory.
STARTED: 6th FINISHED: 2nd
BRENT, YOU HAD A REALLY STRONG RUN TONIGHT.
We were really good in practice, right off quick. We started fourth
in our heat race and won that. It's like we talked about before –
you have to start up front there at that place for a race that's
only 100 laps. The car was good right from the beginning. We just
got a little too loose at the end.
DID
IT SUPRISE YOU THAT THE CAR LOOSENED UP? A little bit.
Last year, we got tight at the end. It's just a matter of setup. We
got a little bit tight, but it's close – we're not talking about
much. It's just that little bit, just something little that gets you
at the end.
DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING FOR
RACE WINNER BRIAN HOAR AT THE END? No. With two or three
(laps) to go, we got under (Randy) Potter and got by him for second.
The car went pretty good, but it was just not quite enough.
I
had one restart when I was on the outside of Potter, but I couldn't
get by him. We were just too loose. I just couldn't do it. Then once
Brian got by us, that was pretty much it.
Twin State Speedway Race Preview
Brent and the ACT Late Model Tour will return to Twin State
Speedway in Claremont, N.H., for the Twin State 100 on Saturday,
July 9. Dragon, who has more ACT starts than any driver in history,
won this event in 2009 as part of a midsummer surge. In his last
appearance at the track, Dragon was again in contention for a win
when an on-track incident relegated him to a 13th place finish.
Dragon will bring with him his knowledge of the track and his past
strong performances as he races for his first ACT Tour win of the
2011 season.
CURRENT POINTS POSITION: 7th
DID YOU KNOW? - Brent Dragon won the
2009 ACT Tour event at Twin State Speedway. - Brent will run his
own late model in the Jim's Captown/Trailers 100. - Brent has
finished in the Top-5 in the final ACT standings in nine straight
seasons.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
BRENT DRAGON, On racing at Twin State
Speedway: “We've been there twice in the last two years. We
won two years ago, then were running second last year when we got
spun. I'm looking forward to going back there this weekend.
“It's an egg shape. One corner is bigger than the other. One corner
is flatter than the other. Malone Speedway in western New York is
similar – it's sort of shaped like that. It has some (Riverside
Speedway) in it, too.”
On what he hopes
to accomplish this weekend: “Hopefully we can qualify with a
pretty decent plus-minus [the ACT Tour's handicapping system]. Being
100 laps, the race is pretty quick there. The key is to start up
front.”
On running White Mountain
Motorsports Park during the ACT off weekend: “We just went
and tried a bunch of stuff. We've learned enough that I have changed
my own car around some more. We've learned a lot in the last three
or four races. Jeff Taylor has been helping us a lot and that has
been great.”
On how he would rate his
season at this halfway point: “Probably a C. Starting with a
new crew we've learned a lot together and now everyone seems to be
working well together. We are going in the right direction. Everyone
gets along well. We've had some mechanical issues and a couple of
flat tires so we have quite the hole to dig out of.”
Brent Dragon Hitting His Summer Stride
MILTON, Vt. – Coming off an impressive Top-5 finish at
Thunder Road International Speedbowl last Sunday afternoon, Brent
Dragon feels like his combined effort this season is finally
rounding into form.
Dragon, who during the offseason combined
his Dragon Motorsports No. 55 Furniture World of VT/Beverage
Mart/Charlesbois Freightliner Chevrolet team with Avery Motorsports,
said he believes that the learning curve for the dual focus is about
to hit its stride as the summer stretch of racing commences.
“We're definitely going in the right direction,” said Dragon, who
finished fifth in the Carquest VT Governor's Cup 100 on Sunday at
Thunder Road. “(Distance Racing owner) Jeff Taylor's definitely
helping us a lot. In the six races we've run already, we've been
very competitive in five of them.
“I feel really confident
with the two groups together.”
This weekend, Dragon will use
an off-weekend for the ACT Late Model Tour to compete in a 100-lap
Late Model event at White Mountain Motorsports Park on Saturday
night. Dragon was caught up in another car's accident early in the
White Mountain 150 at the track earlier this month, and he hopes to
use the night to fine-tune his car's handling.
Dragon sits
seventh in the ACT standings through five series races.
“We're going to go and try and some more stuff with (the Avery
Motorsports) car,” Dragon said. “We weren't all that great at White
Mountain last time we were there. We weren't bad, but we're going to
go and try to to be a little better.
“I felt like we were
pretty close when we were there. I thought we were really good in
practice, but after that rain came (before qualifying), the track
changed so much and we didn't keep up with it. We're going to go
back and try it again.”
It's been a challenging year to date
for Dragon, who has had to adjust to the role of being a driver
first and his own crew chief second.
He's run his Avery
Motorsports ride in the ACT events at Lee USA Speedway, Thunder
Road, Oxford Plains Speedway and White Mountain, while running his
own car at Devil's Bowl Speedway and in the non-points race last
weekend at Thunder Road. Dragon has one Top-5 finish in ACT
competition, at Oxford.
“It's actually really hard,” said the
all-time ACT leader in starts. “After having done everything
yourself for all these years, it's hard to just show up and drive it
– but I'm starting to get used to it. (Crew chief Donnie Avery and
I) talk quite a bit – about every day we're talking on the phone –
which is something I've never had before. Usually, I've done
everything myself during the week to get ready.”
At Thunder
Road last weekend, which the team decided to run after being rained
out at Oxford the night before, Dragon said he noticed that things
were starting to take shape.
“I bet we had seven or eight
guys there,” he said. “I'm used to showing up at the track with two.
It was sort of fun to have that. It took a lot of pressure off me.
“I think we're going in the right direction, but it takes a lot
of time.”
CARQUEST VT Governor’s Cup 100 Unofficial Results Thunder Road
International Speedbowl – Barre, VT Sunday, June 26, 2011 – Late
Models Pos. Driver (Car #) Hometown Laps 1.
John Donahue (26VT) Graniteville, VT 100 Laps 2. Nick Sweet
(88VT) Barre, VT 100 Laps 3. #Jimmy Hebert (58VT) Williamstown,
VT 100 Laps 4. Scott Payea (89VT) Milton, VT 100 Laps 5. Brent Dragon (55VT) Milton, VT 100 Laps
THE Q 97.9 FM 150 OXFORD PLAINS SPEEDWAY OXFORD, ME - SAT, JUNE
25th RAINED-OUT - RESCHEDULED FOR AUG. 20TH
WHITE MOUNTAIN MOTORSPORTS PARK NO. WOODSTOCK, NH - SAT, JUNE 18TH
Accident Relegates Dragon To 28th At White Mountain
NORTH WOODSTOCK, N.H. – Brent finished 28th in the ACT Late
Model Tour White Mountain 150 at White Mountain Motorsports Park on
Saturday, June 18. After pitting early in the race and restarting
deep in the field, Dragon was collected in an accident on Lap 59. He
returned to the track briefly following repairs before retiring for
the night.
STARTED: 7th FINISHED: 28th
IT WAS KIND OF AN UNFORTUNATE ENDING TO A
PROMISING NIGHT. Well, it was a rough night. We had a
pretty decent car. We just got to the rear after pitting and got
involved in an accident and tore the nose up a little bit. It just
went downhill from there.
There were a bunch of cars spinning
in (Turns) 3 and 4, and I had it missed. I went to the bottom and
through the grass. As soon as I hit the grass it was like glare ice,
and it just took off. I had no control of the car, and I drove right
into the side of Jean-Paul Cyr. It bent the front bumper in, and it
went downhill from there.
Two Teams Become One for Brent Dragon
ACT Standout Split Times Between Two Rides in 2011
By Mike Twist - Speed51
His cars are still numbered with #55VT and he is still
listed as the owner of record. But something is very different for
Brent Dragon during his 2011 ACT Late Model Tour campaign.
Sometimes, Dragon has a new ride. He joined up with the Avery
Motorsports team over the off-season succeeding Ben Rowe, who had
driven part-time for the New Hampshire-based operation for the past
several seasons. In some races though, Dragon is back behind the
wheel of his own car. In all races though, he is sporting the same
number and official car owner as part of a two-teams-as-one
philosophy.
So far, that is working out pretty well too.
After four events on the 2011 schedule, Dragon sits third in the
standings - behind two-time defending Tour champion Brian Hoar and
Late Model standout John Donahue.
THE BIG JAB 150 OXFORD PLAINS SPEEDWAY OXFORD,
ME - SAT, JUNE 4TH
Brent 3rd at The BIG JAB 150
OXFORD, Me. – Brent Dragon of Milton,
Vt., scored his first podium finish of the 2011 ACT Late Model Tour
season with a third-place finish in The Big Jab 150 at Oxford Plains
Speedway in Oxford, Maine on Saturday, June 4. Dragon qualified well
in his heat race and started the feature in the sixth position.
Patience paid off as Dragon spent most of the 150-lap race in the
fifth position, allowing him to make a final push in the closing
laps of The Big Jab 150 to bring home a third place finish.
STARTED: 6th FINISHED: 3rd
BRENT, SO TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DAY AND
THIRD-PLACE FINISH. When we showed up here, we had a
pretty good car right off the trailer. Knew it was pretty good.
Qualified real good through the heat and went into the feature
thinking we had a pretty good shot at winning the race.
On
one of the restarts I missed a shift and it put us back to about 7th
or 8th, and it pretty much took me most of the rest of the race to
get there and we finally cleared those guys and got back up to
fifth. And on the restart I knew we had a little more left and we
were able to get by Joey (Polewarczyk) and T.J. Brackett. So to
finish third it was a good night – a really good night.
DID TONIGHT HELP WITH GETTING INFORMATION FOR
THE TD BANK 250? Yeah, really good. I’ve always liked the
(TD Bank) 250. I run pretty well in that. This car is very strong
and I think we’ll have a pretty good shot. -
ACT Late Model Tour Unofficial Results Oxford 150 –
Saturday, June 4, 2011 Oxford Plains Speedway – Oxford, ME
1. Jeff White, Winthrop, ME, 150 Laps 2. Brian Hoar,
Williston, VT, 150 Laps 3. Brent Dragon, Milton, VT, 150 Laps 4. Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, NH, 150 Laps 5. TJ
Brackett, Buckfield, ME, 150 Laps 6. Shawn Martin, Turner, ME,
150 Laps 7. Wayne Helliwell, Jr., Dover, NH, 150 Laps 8. Eric
Chase, Milton, VT, 150 Laps 9. Jeffrey Labrecque, Jr., Rochester,
NH, 150 Laps 10. Brad Babb, Windham, ME, 150 Laps
Oxford Plains BIG JAB 150 Race Preview
Brent aims to build on the momentum of last weekend when he
heads to the ACT Late Model Tour Big Jab 150 at Oxford Plains
Speedway in Oxford, Maine, on Saturday, June 4. Dragon finished
fifth in the Memorial Day Classic 100 at Thunder Road International
Speedbowl last weekend for his first Top-5 finish of the year.
Dragon sits fifth in the ACT standings after three races and this
weekend visits one of his favorite tracks on the circuit. For the
fourth time in as many Tour races, he will compete in an Avery
Motorsports entry at Oxford.
BEST CAREER OXFORD PLAINS
SPEEDWAY FINISH: 2nd (May 2001)
LAST RACE AT OXFORD PLAINS
SPEEDWAY: 7th (June 2010)
CURRENT POINTS POSITION: 5th
DID YOU KNOW? - Brent Dragon has
more starts than any driver in the history of the ACT Late Model
Tour with 189.
- Brent Dragon is one of only nine drivers to
have qualified for all three ACT events in 2011, and he's yet to
finish worse than 15th in any of them.
- Avery Motorsports
won three straight ACT Late Model Tour events in 2006 with driver
Ben Rowe.
- Last season, Brent Dragon got his first taste of
driving an Avery Motorsports car when he practiced the car for
then-driver Ben Rowe on the day before last season's TD Bank Oxford
250 at Oxford Plains Speedway.
WHAT
THEY'RE SAYING BRENT, On getting a good finish at Thunder
Road last weekend: “It was a really good run. We were pretty
competitive. Second through seventh, we were all pretty much the
same, and we fell right into that group. We made some big gains with
it.
“I'm looking forward to going back and trying again,
because that was only the second time we ran that car. We were
competitive with (defending track champion Nick Sweet) – we were
fourth and fifth for 50 laps. We passed one another a bunch of
times, and that's pretty good for us. Nick runs really well there.
We know we can make this car better, too. We're definitely headed in
the right direction.”
On going to
Oxford Plains Speedway this weekend: “I expect it to be
pretty good. This is the car I drove last year in practice at the
250, and I couldn't get over how the car went. I do think we'll have
a better chance than we've had. The car went better through the
corners than what mine had. I like Oxford, anyway. If that's still
the case, when we get there, we should be pretty good.”
On where he sits right now a quarter of the
way through the ACT season: “I'm happy with how everything is
working as far as the new group of guys, but we've had some really
good chances to start the year out really well. We've run in the
Top-5 of every single Tour race and had something happen -- power
steering in the first two races, two flat tires at Devil's Bowl. If
we could stay there (in the Top-5), we'd be in pretty good shape
right now. Either of those flat tires could have happened to (point
leaders Brian Hoar and John Donahue), it's just the luck.”
On whether Oxford is a setup track or a
driver's track: “It's probably been more chassis-wise and
learning the line a little better for me. I think the track is
actually quite a bit different every time we go there, at least
that's what I've sort of found. This time of year it's usually a
different setup than in July.
“I've been lucky enough to hit
on something on both ends – when the track is cool and green and
also when it's hot and slippery in the summer. Hopefully we'll keep
it going this weekend.”
THE MEMORIAL DAY CLASSIC 100 THUNDER ROAD SPEEDBOWL
BARRE, VT - SUN, MAY 29th - 1:30 PM
6. (19) Joey
Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, NH, 100 Laps
7. (15)
#Jimmy Hebert, Williamstown, VT, 100 Laps
8. (8) Matt
White, Northfield, VT, 100 Laps
9. (1) Reno
Gervais, Island Pond, VT, 100 Laps
10. (5) Cris
Michaud, E. Montpelier, VT, 100 Laps
The Memorial Day Classic Race Preview
Brent takes a break from ACT Late Model Tour racing to
compete in the Memorial Day Classic 100 at Thunder Road
International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt., on Sunday, May 29. Though the
track is a hub for ACT, this event is a non-points event geared
toward the quarter-mile's Tour-legal Late Model division. Dragon was
the 2006 champion of this event. Once again, he will be competing
with his own Dragon Motorsports-owned No. 55 car, the same car he
took to Devil's Bowl Speedway last weekend.
BEST CAREER
MEMORIAL DAY CLASSIC FINISH: 1st (May 2006)
LAST RACE AT
MEMORIAL DAY CLASSIC: 10th (May 2010)
DID YOU KNOW? - Brent Dragon has won all three marquee
Thunder Road Late Model events in his career – the Memorial Day
Classic, the Labor Day Classic and the Milk Bowl.
- Brent
Dragon is a multi-time Late Model track champion at Airborne
Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y., a similarly flat half-mile track.
- Even though he will be running his own car for the second
consecutive weekend, Brent Dragon is still getting support from
Avery Motorsports. Dragon runs a majority of the ACT Late Model Tour
schedule in an Avery-owned car, and the team still crews Dragon's
car at races where he runs his own equipment.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING Brent, On taking a break from points racing
this weekend: “It's a lot more fun for me. It really is. I
don't know why, but I seem to like this better. I love the
competition we have on the Tour, but I like to go when there's no
pressure on you. You don't have to worry. It's sort of like the
Oxford 250 or (New Hampshire Motor Speedway) – whatever happens,
happens. And we always seem to have pretty good runs in those kinds
of events.”
On working with Avery
Motorsports this season: “They're a good, good group of guys.
I couldn't believe that they all wanted to be at (Devil's Bowl last
weekend). But they're really into it, and they really like being a
part of it. It's been a lot of fun so far with them. It really
couldn't be working out any better.
We're going (to Thunder
Road) basically to try stuff with the car. It's more of a test than
anything. We just want to try and learn some stuff so we can put it
into Donnie's car (for Tour races). We had a fairly decent car at
Thunder Road last month, and we know what we'd have to change to
make it better to go back. That's what we'll start with. We'll try a
couple other things, too, as the day goes on.
These are
completely different cars than what I've driven last four years.
They feel different, the setups completely different. They seem to
be down in the track a lot more. You can really feel the car down in
the track. You make an adjustment, you feel it fairly soon.”
On running 100 laps at Thunder Road:
“It's fast – 100 laps. This race will be off handicap (for starting
spots), so we'll be starting in the rear no matter what. In 100
laps, it's pretty hard to win that race with the local cars that
race there. They're really good. They're the same cars that beat us
when we go with the Tour.
“It will be tough to get to the
front. A guy can start out the year pretty hot out front there and
be gone – 100 laps, it can go fast from green-to-checker.”
UP NEXT The ACT Late Model Tour
heads to Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine, for the
rescheduled The Big Jab 150 on Saturday, June 4... Brent Dragon will
aim to improve on his career best finish of second at Oxford Plains
Speedway, the track where he won the pole for the TD Bank 250 in
2009.
The 38th Annual SPRING GREEN 111 DEVIL'S BOWL SPEEDWAY WEST
HAVEN, VT - SUN, MAY 22ND
WEST HAVEN, Vt. – Brent Dragon of Milton, Vt., overcame two
flat tires to finish 11th in the ACT Late Model Tour Spring Green
111 at Devil's Bowl Speedway on Sunday afternoon, May 22. Dragon
started fifth in the 32-car field and was beginning to challenge for
the lead when he cut the first of two right rear tires after only a
handful of laps. After charging from the back of the back to the
Top-10, he was hit with the same misfortune a second time –
ultimately settling for 11th, but leaping two spots to fifth in the
ACT standings after three events.
STARTED: 5th
FINISHED: 11th POINTS POSITION: 5th
BRENT, YOU HAD SOME BAD LUCK WITH THE TIRES.
Yeah, definitely. Even after the first one (went down), we worked
our way little by little up through. If the track had stayed where
it was earlier in the race, we might have gotten all the way back,
too – but with us racing on the track with all the cars, we started
drawing water up on the track through it. When you'd hit that water,
the car would take right off on you.
I felt like as soon as I
could get by a car, you'd come across some water on the track and
have to hold up a little bit – so it was hard to get separated from
the guys around you. Then when we cut the second (tire) down, I was
like, 'Oh, no. You've got to be kidding me.'
WERE YOU ENCOURAGED BY HOW WELL YOUR OWN CAR
RAN FOR ITS FIRST TIME OUT THIS SEASON? It went really
well, so that really was a plus from the weekend. We had a really
good car. By far, I was pretty sure it was going to be between us
and (eventual winner Brian Hoar) in this race. We just had some bad
luck. What can you do? It was nice to have the car go out and run so
well.
Devil's Bowl - 5/22 -
Unofficial Results 1. (11) Brian Hoar, Williston, VT, 111 Laps 2. (13) John
Donahue, Graniteville, VT, 111 Laps 3. (9) Todd Davis, Claremont,
NH, 111 Laps 4. (7) Glen Luce, Turner, ME, 111 Laps 5. (27)
#Ben Ashline, Pittston, ME, 111 Laps 6. (1) Brad Babb, Windham,
ME, 111 Laps 7. (2) Jamie Fisher, Shelburne, VT, 111 Laps 8.
(6) Craig Bushey, Fairfax, VT, 111 Laps 9. (15) Randy Potter,
Groveton, NH, 111 Laps 10. (20) Quinten Welch, Lancaster, NH, 111
Laps 11. (5) Brent Dragon, Milton, VT, 111
Laps 12. (12) Joey Becker, Jeffersonville, VT, 111 Laps
Devil's Bowl Speedway Race Preview
Brent will have the advantage of experience when the ACT
Late Model Tour takes on the Spring Green 111 at Devil’s Bowl
Speedway, in West Haven, Vt., on Sunday, May 22. Dragon is one of
the few ACT competitors who have already raced at Devil’s Bowl,
having made a start there last year in a non-sanctioned event. The
Spring Green 111 will also be the first time that Dragon races his
own Dragon Motorsports Late Model this season.
BEST CAREER
DEVIL’S BOWL SPEEDWAY FINISH: 4th (May 2010) LAST RACE AT DEVIL’S
BOWL SPEEDWAY: 4th (May 2010)
DID YOU
KNOW? - Brent Dragon finished fourth in a Late Model race
at Devil's Bowl Speedway last season, the first season following the
track's change from dirt to asphalt. - Brent Dragon is a
multi-time Late Model track champion at Airborne Speedway in
Plattsburgh, N.Y., a similarly flat half-mile track. - Brent
Dragon will debut his Dragon Motorsports Late Model in the Spring
Green 111 after running an Avery Motorsports entry in each of the
first two races this season.
On running
his own Late Model in the Spring Green 111: “We tested our
own car a week ago, and it went well. We’re going to a place where
we have been before. We went there once last year, so I’m pretty
excited about it.”
On what he thinks
about racing at Devil’s Bowl Speedway: “Quite a few (ACT
competitors) have been there and tested this year. Guys that run out
front have been there. It will be another good race.
“The
track is nice. You can run side by side, and there is some passing.
When we were there last year the asphalt was new and there was a lot
of grip. I think some of that will be gone, so the racing should be
better.”
On his preference for fast,
flat tracks: “That's what I grew up on (at Airborne). You use
a lot of brake at them. A lot of guys grew up not using so much
brake, so it’s usually a better race for us.”
The BIG JAB
150 OXFORD PLAINS SPEEDWAY OXFORD,
ME - SUN, MAY 15TH RAINED OUT
Oxford Plains Speedway Race Preview
Brent looks to gain ground on the ACT Late Model Tour
championship leaders when the series runs The Big Jab 150 at Oxford
Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine, on Sunday, May 15. The all-time
ACT leader in starts has been plagued by power steering issues
through the first two events of the season, but the veteran driver
has forged ahead to sit seventh in the overall standings. This will
mark the third straight event in which Dragon will compete for Avery
Motorsports.
BEST CAREER OXFORD PLAINS SPEEDWAY FINISH: 2nd
(May 2001)
LAST RACE AT OXFORD PLAINS SPEEDWAY: 7th (June
2010)
CURRENT POINTS POSITION: 7th
DID YOU KNOW? - Brent Dragon has
more starts than any driver in the history of the ACT Late Model
Tour with 188. - Brent Dragon is one of only nine drivers to have
qualified for both ACT events in 2011, and he's yet to finish worse
than 15th in either of them. - Avery Motorsports won three
straight ACT Late Model Tour events in 2006 with driver Ben Rowe.
- Last season, Brent Dragon finished in the Top-10 in both ACT races
at Oxford and also finished fourth in the TD Bank 250.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
On putting power steering issues behind them
for this week: “Those things just happen. (The team) got home
(after the race at Thunder Road) and Monday shipped everything out
to the manufacturer. They ordered a bunch of new parts. I'm sure
that it will be fine – I know they really want it to be.
“It's just one of those things that you can't fix it ahead of time.
It happens after you get racing for 20 laps or so. When you
practice, you don't get enough time to ever run 20 laps at once – so
it's something where you don't have enough laps on the car to know
you have a problem until you really get racing.”
On turning around his luck to start the year:
“It's important to me, especially for that whole Avery group. They
work really hard. It's a great group of guys, and hopefully we can
have a good run for them fairly soon. I think the car's been pretty
good each of the first two races, but we just don't have anything to
show for it.”
On racing at Oxford
Plains Speedway: “We race there twice out of the 14 races, so
it's a seventh of your series. I'm looking forward to it. People who
have been over there already (to test) said the track's in good
shape. Hopefully, the last few years, it's been a good place for
us.”
On whether it's a setup track or a
driver's track: “It's probably been more chassis-wise and
learning the line a little better for me. I think the track is
actually quite a bit different every time we go there, at least
that's what I've sort of found. This time of year it's usually a
different setup than in July.
“I've been lucky enough to hit
on something on both ends – when the track is cool and green and
also when it's hot and slippery in the summer. Hopefully we'll keep
it going this weekend.”
13th
MERCHANTS BANK 150 THUNDER ROAD SPEEDBOWL BARRE,
VT - SUN, MAY 1st
BARRE, Vt. – Brent Dragon overcame a mechanical issue to take
home a 15th-place finish in the ACT Late Model Tour Merchants Bank 150
at Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt., on Sunday, May 1.
Around Lap 20, Dragon lost the power steering in his Avery Motorsports
but still managed to finish in the top half of the field for the second
straight race after starting out from the sixth postion.
BRENT, SUM UP YOUR DAY. It was a long
day. I think we had a fairly decent car. We lost power steering around
lap 20. It's hard to steer at (Thunder Road) with the high banks. I
guess we salvaged a pretty decent day out of it.
We'll just have
to go on to the next race.
IT'S THE SECOND
RACE YOU'VE HAD THIS TYPE OF PROBLEM. They thought they found
it in the steering shaft. It's got something to do with the pump or
steering rack itself. When we get up there enough, we're going to be
pretty good.
ARE YOU FRUSTRATED WHEN A
MECHANICAL ISSUE LIKE THIS HAPPENS? No, it is what it is. I've
been running too long, 20 years of this, so I've seen it many times.
It's something that can be fixed.
The car's good really good.
We'll get it.
NH
Governor's Cup 150 ACT TOUR - LEE, NH - SUN, APRIL
17TH
LEE, N.H. – Brent Dragon opened the season with an 11th-place
finish in the ACT Late Model Tour NH Governor's Cup 150 at Lee USA
Speedway on Sunday, April 17. After being caught up in a Lap 46
accident, Dragon's Avery Motorsports crew made extensive repairs to the
No. 55 Beverage Mart/Furniture World of VT Chevrolet and rallied to
salvage a long afternoon. The start was the 187th ACT Late Model Tour
start of Dragon's career, tops among all drivers in series history.
TEAM: Avery Motorsports No. 55 Beverage Mart/Furniture World of
VT/Charlesbois Freightliner Chevrolet
STARTED: 4th
FINISHED: 11th
BRENT, WHAT HAPPENED ON LAP
46? I don't really know what happened. We got turned around,
and then we tore the nose off the car. It still drove good. We drove
back up to, I think, a Top-10 finish or close to it.
It tore the
front nose cone off of it. It didn't really hurt anything other than
that.
IT SEEMED LIKE A FRUSTRATING DAY ALL
THE WAY AROUND. Yeah, a little bit. We had a really good car.
I think we could have finished in the Top-5 easy enough.
It
started off pretty good. We had a really good car in the race. I was
just sort of riding, trying to save some tires for the end of the race,
and then we ended up getting turned around. We definitely had a Top-5
car easily, so we'll just have to go get them next week.
Unofficial Finish:1. Brian Hoar, 2. Brad Babb, 3. John Donahue,
4. Fulton Mountain, 5. Wayne Helliwell, Jr., 6. Scott Dragon, 7.
Randy Potter, 8. Austin Theirault, 9. Karl Allard 10. Mark Lamberton,
11. Brent Dragon.
Lee USA Speedway Race Preview
THE STORY Brent Dragon of
Milton, Vt., rolls on with the ACT Late Model Tour as it opens the
2011 season with the NH Governor's Cup 150 at Lee USA Speedway in
Lee, N.H., on Sunday afternoon, April 17. Dragon has competed on the
Tour every year since its inception in 1992 and is fourth on the
all-time series win list with nine career victories. Though he's
never won at Lee USA, he does consider it one of his favorite stops
on the circuit – in part because it reminds him so much of Airborne
Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y., where he won multiple Late Model
track championships. Dragon will compete this weekend in a car
fielded by Avery Motorsports, part of a joint effort with his own
Dragon Motorsports team this season.
THE FACTS - WHO: Brent Dragon, Milton, Vt. - TEAM: No.
55 Furniture World of VT/Beverage Mart/Charlesbois Freightliner
Chevrolet - CREW CHIEF: Donnie Avery, Ashland, N.H. - BEST
CAREER LEE USA SPEEDWAY FINISH: 6th (3 times) - LAST RACE AT LEE
USA SPEEDWAY: 7th (June 2010) - WHAT: ACT Late Model Tour NH
Governor's Cup 150 - WHERE: Lee USA Speedway, Lee, N.H.
(.333-mile oval) - WHEN: 1 p.m., Sunday, April 17 - FINAL
POINTS POSITION (2010): 3rd
DID YOU
KNOW? - Brent Dragon owns 187 career ACT Late Model Tour
starts, the most in series history. - The last time Brent Dragon
competed in an ACT-sanctioned race in a car fielded by an owner
other than himself was in 1995, when he drove for Ellery Packard.
- Brent Dragon has more starts, Top-10 finishes (123) and laps
completed (21,669) than anybody in ACT history. - An avid
bowhunter in the offseason, Brent Dragon has entered Maine's annual
moose permit lottery in 2011.
WHAT
THEY'RE SAYING BRENT DRAGON, Driver of the No. 55
Furniture World of VT/Beverage Mart/Charlesbois Freightliner
Chevrolet, On racing at Lee USA Speedway: “I like Lee a lot. It
reminds me a lot of the old Airborne (Speedway) track.
“It's
the way the track is pretty well worn out. The cars change a lot
throughout the race. You've just got to be ready for that, that's
the big thing. They really change from the start to the finish of
the race. After you've been going there a few years you start to
figure that out. I think it's why the locals always seem to have
huge advantage over us when we go there.”
On driving for
Avery Motorsports for the first time: “I'm pretty excited about it.
I feel like we've had a lot of time to really get both of the cars
ready.
“It's going to be different just driving for somebody
else. I'll try and treat it as if it were mine – that's the only way
to approach it. You still have to go out and finish every race.
That's what it's going to take to be in it for the championship at
the end of the year.”
On the importance of getting off to a
strong start in 2011: “You've got to start off good. It makes the
season go a lot better, that's for sure. People are chasing you.
It's so hard to make up ground when it's the same guys week after
week.
“Early in the year, there are so many cars you can make
up points. Later in the year, though, it's always the 10 or 12 guys
that travel everywhere. That just makes it so hard to make up
ground.”
Brent Dragon Hopes to Add Another Page to ACT History
Books
New cars, new organization could lead to elusive first
Tour title
MILTON, Vt. – Brent Dragon's name has become almost
synonymous with the ACT Late Model Tour. The veteran driver has more
ACT starts, more Top-10 finishes and more laps completed than any
driver in series history. As if that weren't enough, Dragon sits
fourth on ACT's all-time win list.
But after nearly two
decades of trying, there's one trophy still missing from Dragon's
mantle. One very large trophy, to be exact.
“We've got as
good a shot as anybody of winning that championship this year,” said
Dragon, four times the ACT championship runner, of his shot at
winning the title for the first time in 2011. “Just like every year,
we've got to get off to a good start. Being ahead of the game from
the start makes the rest of the year that much easier.”
Dragon has not finished outside the Top-5 in the final standings
since the 2002 season, an impressive run of consistency on a Tour
predicated on consistency and not dominance. Dragon has nine ACT
wins on his resume, a list that doesn't include his multiple Late
Model track championships at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y.,
or his victories in non-points races at places like Thunder Road
International Speedbowl, Airborne or Autodrome Chaudiere.
After years of fielding his own full-time effort out of his own
garage at home, Dragon is changing things up for 2011. He'll run
approximately half the 12-race ACT schedule (plus several
non-championship Late Model events in New England) with his own new
No. 55vt Beverage Mart/Furniture World of VT/Charlebois Freightliner
Chevrolet and the rest with a car provided by Avery Motorsports.
"The biggest thing is that this is going to help in terms of
being more prepared going to the race track," said Dragon, who owns
186 career starts and finished third in the standings last season.
"It just gives us all more time to get each car more ready during
the week leading up to races."
The season begins in earnest
next weekend at Lee USA Speedway, one of Dragon's favorite Tour
stops.
“I'm getting really excited about the season now that
the (winter) weather is starting to break a little bit,” Dragon
said. “I took a lot more time off than usual this winter, and I feel
better now about the upcoming season than I have in the last few
years.
“We're all pretty excited about it.”
But Dragon
knows that the competition on the ACT Tour this season is shaping up
to be as tough as any season in recent memory. Brian Hoar is aiming
for yet another championship, Joey Polewarczyk Jr. was as hot as any
driver at the end of 2010, and a number of first-time Tour winners
served notice last summer that they could enter the championship
picture.
The one thing Dragon has that many don't, however,
is experience.
“It's going to be the same group of guys up
front every week that it's always been – I can really see that
shaping up that way,” said Dragon, who is slated to make his 200th
career ACT start at Devil's Bowl Speedway in late May. “It always
seems to work out that Brian and Joey and guys like that are right
there.
“Last year, the middle of the year was tough for us.
We started out strong, but with so many rainouts early in the year,
we got into a stretch during the summer where we were racing six or
seven weeks right in a row. That's where it got so hard for our team
to keep up.”
Dragon believes he's found an edge this year by
aligning with Avery Motorsports.
“When you're doing things
part-time – either our small team trying to get ready for every race
or the Averys trying to run a partial schedule – it really puts you
behind,” he said. “Not now, though. Now we've got two cars, and
that's the really nice thing. We'll always have another one ready to
go back to the track if something does go wrong.”
Dragon & Avery Motorsports Team for 2011 ACT
Campaign
MILTON, Vt. -- Brent Dragon and Avery Motorsports are will
join forces to run for the ACT Late Model Tour Championship in 2011,
Dragon Motorsports announced Monday, March 14th.
"We're
pretty excited about it," said Dragon, who owns more career ACT
starts than any driver in series history and is fourth on the
series' all-time win list. "This is really going to be a good deal
for all of us."
Dragon is a three-time ACT championship
runner-up. The multi-time Airborne Speedway track champion owns nine
career Tour victories, and he's won some of the northeast's most
prestigious Late Model races -- including the Milk Bowl at Thunder
Road International Speedbowl and the Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne.
Last season, Dragon finished third in the final ACT standings
while running the full schedule with his own Dragon Motorsports
team. He had planned on scaling down to a partial schedule for the
coming year before working out a deal with Donald Avery and son
David Avery over the weekend.
Dragon will drive an Avery
Motorsports car in a minimum of seven Late Model events in 2011, and
he will field his own new car in the remaining races on the
schedule. Both cars are Distance Racing cars out of the stable of
noted car builder Jeff Taylor, and both will carry the No. 55vt with
sponsorship from Furniture World of VT, Beverage Mart and
Charlesbois Freightliner.
"The biggest thing is that this is
going to help in terms of being more prepared going to the race
track," Dragon said. "It just gives us all more time to get each car
more ready during the week leading up to races."
The Averys
have committed to fielding their car for Dragon in the ACT season
opener at Lee USA Speedway on April 17, as well as at Thunder Road's
Merchants Bank 150 in May. The car will also hit the track for ACT
races at Oxford Plains Speedway and White Mountain Motorsports Park,
the track owned by the Avery family. It will also compete at the
Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road and the Milk Bowl.
They
will also run the 2011 TD Bank Oxford 250 together.
Dragon
said the car might also appear in other events as the schedule
allows.
"It really was their choice (on the races)," said
Dragon, who had been in discussions with the Averys for more than a
month. "Those were the races they wanted to run, and most of them
are Sunday races that don't conflict with them running their events
on Saturday nights at White Mountain."
The two teams first
came together in last summer's Oxford 250, when the Averys asked
Dragon to practice the No. 10 Chevrolet on the Saturday before the
race while regular driver Ben Rowe was competing in an event in
Canada.
"I was really impressed with the car," said Dragon,
who finished fourth in the 250 one year after winning the pole for
the event. "I only ran about 10 laps in it, but it was good. It was
faster than my own car."
Avery Motorsports has four career
ACT wins. Each of those victories came in 2006 with Rowe as the
driver, including a string of three straight victories in the first
half of the season.
Vermont Motorsports Magazine
THE JUICE: A Dragon On The Loose
by Justin St. Louis on 18 Dec 2010
The all-time record holder for the most starts, the most top
ten finishes, and the most laps completed on the ACT Late Model
Tour, Brent talks with Vermont Motorsports Magazine Editor Justin
St. Louis about his expected shift to a limited ACT schedule for
2011.
With a brand new 2011 chassis on the way from Jeff
Taylor’s Distance Racing, Brent is looking to run his own #55 in six
to eight select races or to find a full time ride with another team.
"I’d love to find a ride and run a full season,” Dragon
said, noting that he would bring sponsorship dollars from Beverage
Mart, R.R. Charlebois, and Furniture World of Vermont to any new
team. “My sponsors want me to race, and of course I want to, too.”
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