ACT welcomes Milton CAT as entitlement sponsor for 2025 and beyond

This winter’s announcement of the American-Canadian Tour’s first entitlement sponsor in two decades was newsworthy on its own merit. But that was only breaking ground.

The Vermont-based sanctioning organization confirmed a multi-year agreement in February naming Milton CAT the title sponsor of its flagship Late Model touring series, an agreement that will double the champion’s take and increase year-end payouts through the standings, while also boosting events at Thunder Road International Speedbowl, ACT’s home track.

Suffice it to say, Milton CAT is all-in on ACT.

One of the Northeast’s largest dealers for Caterpillar heavy equipment, Milton CAT is a family-owned operation with sixteen locations throughout New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island and New York. The company has previously been involved in motorsports marketing, supporting ARCA racer Ed Pompa in the early 2010s and signing with the New Hampshire-based Modified Racing Series in 2023.

Milton CAT also became associated with ACT in 2022, sponsoring the Milton CAT Midsummer Classic 250 at White Mountain Motorsports Park. WMMP, one of ACT’s staple venues, is owned by ACT managing partners Cris Michaud and Pat Malone.

A successful partnership in ACT’s longest race of the year led to a greater partnership starting in 2025.

For the first time since 2004, ACT’s Late Model Tour will bear the name of a presenting sponsor. Through the duration of the agreement, ACT’s touring program will be branded as the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour, with a new logo integrating the familiar Caterpillar Yellow hue with ACT’s iconic red-and-white wordmark. Details of the duration of the partnership were not divulged.

The partnership will pay dividends for ACT’s full-time competitors. A follow-up release revealed that the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour championship will pay $20,000 to the winner, doubling the title payout of recent seasons. An additional $10,000 will boost the established payouts to ACT “100%-ers,” with ACT promising a payout for any driver who contests the full 14-race slate.

Michaud promised that, for a second season, each event on the touring schedule would pay a minimum $5,000 to win and $500 to start. An additional increase will be applied to ACT’s Rookie of the Year program.

Milton CAT will also contribute to the prize pool at Thunder Road, becoming a presenting sponsor of the Barre, Vt. bullring’s Squier Cup Late Model Triple Crown. Named for speedway founder and Vermont racing icon Ken Squier, the newly-minted honor was claimed last summer by veteran Scott Dragon.

Defending champion Gabe Brown made light of an off-track excursion that derailed his 2023 title efforts in expressing his joy for the new agreement.

“Never racing go-karts again,” he posted on Facebook shortly after the initial release. “Incredibly badass what ACT and Milton CAT are doing. Beyond thankful to call ACT my home, excited for 2025.”

By far the longest-running brand in New England’s stock car scene, ACT traces its roots to 1979, when promoters Tom Curley and Squier established a regional touring series in cooperation with NASCAR. When NASCAR pulled out following a controversial 1985 season, Curley continued under the American-Canadian Tour moniker, retaining the bulk of the series’ drivers and partners.

Financial issues spelled the end for ACT’s Pro Stock Tour in 1995, but the organization’s cost-conscious Late Model platform evolved into its top touring division a few years later. The ACT Late Model quickly became the platform of choice at many New England tracks, as well as throughout the Canadian province of Quebec.

Michaud and Malone purchased Thunder Road in early 2017, shortly before Curley’s passing. The pair acquired ACT from Curley’s longtime partner Darla Hartt at season’s end, then purchased WMMP from the founding Avery family a year later. With Michaud serving as the public face of the partnership, the duo manages ACT’s touring program and local sanctioning at the two speedways, while licensing the ACT brand to a sanctioning partner in Quebec.

Milton CAT is ACT’s first major entitlement sponsor for its Late Model Tour since 2004, when Dodge ended a three-year stint as series sponsor. Sunoco and Texaco also sponsored ACT’s Late Model Tour for short stints following its 1992 inception. ACT’s Pro Stock Era had major sponsorship dollars as well; Coors followed Curley and ACT from the defunct NASCAR North program until 1990, and General Motors of Canada sponsored a 1993 campaign that included regional television coverage. The Serie ACT, ACT’s Quebec-based sanctioning partner since 2023, has its own branding partner in XPN, a nutritional supplement manufacturer headquartered in Quebec City. 

The branding also draws a cleaner distinction between the ACT sanctioning body and its eponymous touring racing, a distinction previously expressed through the recursive “ACT Tour.”

The new agreement makes ACT unique among New England’s three major stock car touring series in bearing a title sponsor’s name. Maine’s Pro All Stars Series, the region’s leading Super Late Model tour, briefly bore title sponsorship from auto recycler AIM Recycling and its Kenny U-Pull stores in 2015. The Granite State Pro Stock Series partnered with a regional car dealership several years ago. But for the majority of their respective existences, PASS and GSPSS have relied on contingency and special-award sponsors instead of a major entitlement deal.

While the boost to ACT’s image is welcome, the greater victory comes in the money passed down to ACT’s participant base. More money to fund ACT’s big-picture ventures, like increased participation in Canada and continued support of racing at Thompson Speedway in Connecticut, is coupled with more money in the pockets of the racers who support ACT every week. And in a series that boasted 12 winners in 13 events last year, that money is not just funneling to the same handful of drivers.

Cost management has been a cornerstone of ACT’s success since the Curley era, with the modern crate engine program and ACT’s shock rules deriving from that approach. Now, some of the most affordable touring events in New England are also the best-paying events, a boon for teams working on tight budgets with volunteer crews.

And in the end, that’s not only good for ACT. It’s good for racing in the Northeast.

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