The American-Canadian Tour confirmed to Speed51.com on Wednesday that it has approved the Gen-6 Late Model body for use in 2020.
According to the 2020 rulebook released Wednesday, teams will have the option to race either the Gen-6 body or the re-skin kit being offered by ARBodies.
ACT is the third major touring series in New England to approve the body changes, along with the Pro All Star Series and the Granite State Pro Stock Series.
Unlike PASS, the ACT did not approve the new body for use in 2019, largely due to fear of rising costs for teams that come with purchasing a new body for a series, according to ACT Managing Partner Cris Michaud.
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“Our opinion is totally off of what I stated last year, in that I didn’t want anyone to have to go out and buy a whole new body unless they wanted to,” Michaud told SPEED51.com. “I didn’t want to force their hand. With AR, who’s one of our contingency sponsors, coming out with their re-skin kit, which is available in January, that’s why we made it legal. Now you have the option to go with a Five Star or the AR. It had nothing to do with Granite State, PASS, or NASCAR; it had to do with having another option out there.”
After watching PASS competition this past season, Michaud also feels that there won’t be a significant advantage by having the new body over the old one.
“I did watch a couple races,” he told Speed51.com. “At Richmond, Mike Hopkins he had a new body on, and then at New Hampshire he finished second to Eddie MacDonald who had an old body. It doesn’t make a difference, plus you look at the tracks we race on: Thunder Road, White Mountain, Star, Oxford; I guess aerodynamics comes in everywhere, but where it is it going to be a big advantage?”
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