Gluchacki Holds Off Carey For ACT Northeast Classic Win

Derek Gluchacki managed a feat in Saturday’s American-Canadian Tour Northeast Classic that no other driver had done before.

He won it again.

The rising star held off fellow Bay Stater Tom Carey III’s late challenge to win the ACT Late Model Tour’s official season opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the second year in a row.

If last year’s win foreshadowed Gluchacki’s potential at the wheel, this year’s win was living up to expectations.

Gluchacki and crew chief Dave Lessard celebrate their third Late Model win of 2023. (STS/Jeff Brown)

Gluchacki has had a productive preseason, winning the non-points St. Patrick’s Day 150 at Hickory Motor Speedway and outdueling Jake Johnson last Friday to win a Late Model feature as part of Thompson Speedway’s Icebreaker weekend.

But the North Dartmouth, Mass. racer and his team had concerns with their engine earlier this week, making a swap before heading to the fastest track on the ACT Tour schedule.

Defending champion DJ Shaw and Carey brought the field to green, with Carey leading the first few laps before Shaw took over. Fresh off an underwhelming performance in the Pro All Stars Series portion of Northeast Classic festivities, Shaw looked to avenge a near-win in the 2021 Classic that was negated by an infraction in post-race inspection.

Gluchacki closed in on Shaw and Carey, using a slower car as a pick to get past Carey for the runner-up spot. Shaw held off Gluchacki’s advances for several laps, but Gluchacki made the pass for the lead on lap 24, shortly before a scheduled mid-race break.

Shaw and Gluchacki faced off on the restart, swapping the lead as 2021 winner Jimmy Hebert pressured Carey for third. Mechanical issues for heat race winner Bryan Wall, Jr. slowed the young racer to a crawl in turn three, though, bringing out a caution on lap 30 as the leaders came up on the stalled car.

Gluchacki pursues Shaw in the first half of the Northeast Classic. (STS/Jeff Brown)

But Gluchacki took charge after the restart, keeping Shaw in his mirror lap after lap as the two black-and-blue Fords set sail.

Carey faded back into traffic, but began clawing back with a few laps remaining, clearing Hebert and running down Shaw. With one lap to go, Carey was back in contention, closing the gap on Gluchacki through the final corner. Carey went high and Gluchacki low, with Carey’s yellow Chevrolet drawing alongside Gluchacki down the straightaway.

Gluchacki beat Carey to the line by six hundredths of a second, pumping his fist out the window net in celebration as he came across the line.

“I knew Carey had a really good car, it had been fast all weekend,” Gluchacki said. “Obviously he’s always good when he comes here. I think I burned it up a little bit trying to get away in the middle of the race. The car took a while to come in, but thankfully we were able to hold on.”

Tom Carey III slipped through the field in the second half of the race, but was a fraction of a second away from stealing the win on the last lap. (STS/Jeff Brown)

Carey has finished second in all three Northeast Classics so far, with only one finish worse than sixth in his six starts at NHMS. Carey’s father, Tom Jr., won a 1999 NASCAR Busch North Series event at the track.

Shaw, the winner of the other half of ACT’s preseason doubleheader at Hickory, opened his title defense with a third-place finish. The veteran racer has not finished worse than tenth in an ACT Tour race since his disqualification in the 2021 Northeast Classic.

Hebert held on for fourth, with Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. finishing fifth. Four of the top five finishers fielded cars built in the Dale Shaw Race Cars shop, with Gluchacki’s Distance-prepared entry the exception.

Jake Johnson, in the Hartwell Motorsports entry, was sixth. Gabe Brown finished seventh in his debut of a throwback scheme paying tribute to mentor Dale Shaw. Tanner Woodard was the highest-finishing rookie in eighth. Dillon Moltz and Connor Souza rounded out the top ten.

2021 Northeast Classic winner Jimmy Hebert finished fourth in a solid day for the 2020 ACT Tour champion. (STS/Jeff Brown)

Joey Polewarczyk, a former ACT Tour champion and ACT Invitational winner, finished 13th. Jean-Philippe Bergeron was the highest-finishing Canadian competitor in 14th.

Gluchacki joined an elite club on Saturday, becoming the third driver to repeat as an ACT Tour winner at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Eddie MacDonald, who won Saturday’s PASS North feature, is a five-time winner of the non-points ACT Invitational, which ran from 2009 to 2017. Three-time ACT Tour champ Wayne Helliwell, Jr. won the Invitational in 2014, then won the ACT Full Throttle 75 in 2020.

But in only five points-paying races at the track since 2011, Gluchacki is the first to win two of them.

Gluchacki’s big-track success makes him a favorite for the next ACT Tour stop at Stafford Motor Speedway, where he will be one of only a few drivers on the entry list who have any experience at the Connecticut oval. Last year, Gluchacki would be more of a wildcard. This year, success is no longer merely likely, but expected.

That expectation has worked out for Gluchacki so far.

Unofficial Results
American-Canadian Tour Northeast Classic 50
New Hampshire Motor Speedway

1. (03MA) Derek Gluchacki
2. (5MA) Tom Carey III
3. (04VT) DJ Shaw
4. (58VT) Jimmy Hebert
5. (00NH) Jimmy Renfrew, Jr.
6. (91CT) Jake Johnson
7. (60ME) Gabe Brown
8. (68VT) Tanner Woodard
9. (5CT) Dillon Moltz
10. (38RI) Connor Souza
11. (30RI) Jacob “Rowdy” Burns
12. (4NH) Jamie Swallow, Jr.
13. (97NH) Joey Polewarczyk
14. (18QC) Jean-Philippe Bergeron
15. (36NH) Erick Sands
16. (8NH) Connor McDougal
17. (31CT) Andrew Molleur
18. (66VT) Jason Corliss
19. (22RI) Mark Jenison
20. (19QC) Dany Trépanier
21. (04NH) Shawn Swallow
22. (41VT) Jamie Aube
23. (21MA) Pete Yetman
24. (27NH) Cam Huntress
25. (25ME) Jason Gammon
26. (0NH) Quinny Welch
27. (12CT) PJ Evans
28. (4CT) Reese Bogue
29. (33QC) Rémi Perreault
30. (41QC) Jonathan Bouvrette
31. (65NH) Tom Sheehan
32. (45VT) Derek Ming
33. (21QC) Alexendre Tardif
34. (77NH) Bryan Wall, Jr.
35. (5ME) Dominic Curit
36. (31X) Jordan Hadley

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