Dragon wins first ACT Tour race since 2003 in rain-shortened Labor Day Classic

It wasn’t the thunder that was the problem. It was the lightning.

But for Scott Dragon, thunder has never been an issue.

The multi-time Thunder Road International Speedbowl track champion was out front when weather interrupted Sunday’s American-Canadian Tour NEFCU+VSECU Labor Day Classic, giving the veteran racer his first ACT Tour win in over 20 years at his home track.

Dragon, from Colchester, Vt., is the latest Thunder Road regular to defend his home turf against the road warriors, joining Community Bank, N.A. 150 winner Christopher Pelkey in sweeping the historic track’s two ACT Tour dates.

Dragon’s rival in the Thunder Road weekly standings, Tour rookie Kaiden Fisher, was slated to bring the field to green alongside Erick Sands. But as the 31-car lineup came off turn four, Fisher bobbled, stacking up the field and bringing out the first yellow flag of the day. Marcel Gravel lined up with Sands for the restart, and the two battled as a hard frontstretch crash for Jimmy Hebert on lap 4 also eliminated rookie challenger Jeremy Sorel.

By lap 20, Dragon had caught Gravel for the lead, taking control of the race as Sands ran third. Trouble for Peyton Lanphear brought the caution out again on lap 47, presenting the option for some teams to pit while others stayed on track. Defending champ D.J. Shaw rotated into the mix after the restart, challenging Dragon for the lead but not quite able to unseat the leader.

Alexendre Tardif’s stalled car brought the yellow back out on lap 72, with Tardif and Fisher opting to change tires under yellow. Another quick caution on lap 80 was a chance for a few of the touring aces to swap tires before halfway.

But getting through traffic was a challenge for those who stopped, while Dragon and Shaw continued to play out front.

Weather moved in on the track past halfway, and on lap 111, the field was slowed as the rain picked up intensity. Officials brought out the red flag to dry the track, then brought the field back out to settle the score.

But after a few laps of back and forth between Dragon and Shaw, rain settled back in over the speedway. And with a poor outlook on the radar, restarting the race at a reasonable hour was unlikely.

In Thunder Road’s pits, Dragon was awarded the victory, making him the ninth different winner in ten ACT Tour events this season.

Shaw bounced back from an underwhelming Oxford Plains Speedway run to finish second, with Sands scoring his second straight podium finish.

Early leader Gravel placed fourth. Brandon Lanphear, cousin of sisters Peyton and Reilly, finished fifth for his best Tour performance ever.

Not to be outdone in the family department, Justin Prescott earned a sixth-place finish in his second-ever ACT Tour start, finishing five spots ahead of stepsister Taylor Hoar. Leading ACT Tour rookie Kasey Beattie was seventh. Reigning “King of the Road” Stephen Donahue edged out three-time Thunder Road titlist Jason Corliss for eighth, while double-threat Fisher drove back to tenth at the finish.

Points contenders Gabe Brown and Derek Gluchacki were bitten by the shortened race, never able to come through the field after their mid-race pit stops. Brown finished 16th, while two-time 2024 winner Gluchacki settled for 18th at a track that has not been among his best venues.

However, the troubles for both Brown and Gluchacki minimized their losses in the points race, with Brown leading by 27 markers over Gluchacki. Shaw, still digging out from his early-season trouble at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, sits seven points back from Gluchacki. Beattie and Tardif are tied for fourth, just out of immediate reach with three races to go.

A dozen drivers have attempted all ten races this year, with Quebec veteran Jonathan Bouvrette skipping the Vermont venture this time around.

But if there were any event on the ACT Tour schedule to skip, it might be the races at Thunder Road, where local expertise trumps touring talent more often than not. In the last 15 ACT Tour races at Thunder Road, dating back to 2017, only three winners were full-time with the Tour at the time of their win. However, only one of those winners, Brooks Clark, did not have at least a full ACT Tour season in his past.

Dragon fits in the latter category, having run full-time on the Tour in 2002 and 2003 with three wins to his credit. Since then, the son of Vermont racing legend Bobby Dragon and nephew of Harmon “Beaver” Dragon has raced primarily at Thunder Road with spot starts on the Tour. Dragon joined car owner Richard Green in the early 2010s, winning two Thunder Road “King of the Road” crowns in 2016 and 2018.

But the two parted ways after 2020, with Dragon taking the wheel for a team owned by Todd Rueda. With Rueda, Dragon has padded his win total at Thunder Road, sitting sixth all-time in ACT Late Model wins since the division’s introduction in 1992.

Sunday’s win was his first for Rueda on the Tour, breaking a lengthy dry spell for the veteran.

Sunday’s race was also the second rain-shortened ACT Tour event of 2024, joining April’s tilt at Oxford. A third race, at Star Speedway in June, was trimmed by 25 laps before the green flag to avoid a postponement.

For the touring racers, three races remain on the schedule, plus October’s non-points Vermont Milk Bowl. Next up is another 200-lap quarter-mile brawl at White Mountain Motorsports Park, where Dragon has not scored an ACT Tour top ten since 2019.

Perhaps he can put that matter to bed in two weeks.

Unofficial Results
ACT Late Model Tour | NEFCU+VSECU Labor Day Classic
Thunder Road International Speedbowl, Barre, Vt.
1. (0VT) Scott Dragon
2. (04VT) D.J. Shaw
3. (36NH) Erick Sands
4. (86VT) Marcel J. Gravel
5. (16VT) Brandon Lanphear
6. (04NY) Justin Prescott
7. (45NH) Kasey Beattie
8. (31VT) Stephen Donahue
9. (66VT) Jason Corliss
10. (18VT) Kaiden Fisher
11. (48VT) Taylor Hoar
12. (9VT) Chip Grenier
13. (68VT) Brooks Clark
14. (27NH) Cam Huntress
15. (21QC) Alexendre Tardif
16. (47NH) Gabe Brown
17. (01VT) Stephen Martin
18. (03MA) Derek Gluchacki
19. (64VT) Christopher Pelkey
20. (38VT) Tyler Cahoon
21. (25NH) Jesse Switser
22. (71VT) Jesse Laquerre
23. (55VT) Keegan Lamson
24. (99VT) Cody Blake
25. (73MA) Cole Littlewood
26. (22VT) Peyton Lanphear
27. (77NH) Bryan Wall, Jr.
28. (33QC) Rémi Perreault
29. (58VT) Jimmy Hebert
30. (7MA) Jeremy Sorel
31. (11QC) Claude Leclerc

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