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ACT, PASS Announce New Season-Ending Tilt At New London-Waterford Speedbowl

The coastal Connecticut track will welcome ACT for the first time since 2018 and PASS for the first time ever as it continues a lengthy rebuilding process.

Ray Christian III coasts past the backstretch scoreboard at New London-Waterford Speedbowl before a 2020 race. The American-Canadian Tour and Pro All Stars Series confirmed plans this week to end their seasons at the coastal Connecticut oval on Saturday, October 29. (STS/Jeff Brown)

There’s a new season finale on the schedule for two of New England’s top touring series.

American-Canadian Tour and Pro All Stars Series officials announced Tuesday evening that the two series will conclude their 2022 touring schedules with an all-new doubleheader at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday, October 29.

The ACT Late Model Tour and PASS North Super Late Models will headline the afternoon’s festivities at the coastal Connecticut oval, with the PASS-backed New England Supermodified Series and the Speedbowl’s Northeast Street Stock Nationals rounding out the schedule.

The new season finale weekend not only extends the year for both ACT and PASS, but introduces an unknown element to the end-of-the-year championship battle.

Current PASS regular Gabe Brown makes a qualifying lap at a Granite State Pro Stock Series race at NLWS in 2020. Brown is one of many series drivers with past experience at the Speedbowl, even though PASS will be racing there for the first time. (STS/Jeff Brown)

The two touring series have been working closer than ever in recent seasons, leveraging their established reputations, their nationally-known major events and their driving talent to cross-promote events throughout New England. Six events this year were slated to feature points races for the ACT Tour and PASS North, while additional weekends would feature one or the other at events like Thompson Speedway’s Icebreaker and the fall’s Vermont Milk Bowl at Thunder Road International Speedbowl.

After sharing Seekonk Speedway’s “Haunted Hundreds” season finale weekend last year, ACT and PASS intended on different routes to end the 2022 season. ACT remained on the “Haunted Hundreds” bill for 2022 with the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series. PASS, with two planned visits to Seekonk already, opted to wrap up the season a week earlier at Oxford Plains Speedway.

Instead, the late addition to the schedule means ACT and PASS will crown their champions in unison for a second straight season.

The new event at NLWS effectively replaces an early-season cancellation, when June’s ACT-PASS doubleheader at Monadnock Speedway was postponed due to rain. Both series had promised updates on a rescheduling, but a new date for the double feature never materialized.

Like Monadnock, NLWS is an all-new venue for PASS. The Maine-based series has been a welcome visitor up the road at Thompson, but made its first start since 2012 this year at Stafford Speedway, expanding its presence in the Nutmeg State. The Speedbowl’s size and race pace are reminiscent of Lee USA Speedway, a familiar PASS stop over the years.

ACT, on the other hand, has a far more extensive history at the 3/8-mile oval, where the Tour rulebook is the basis for the weekly Late Model division. The Tour visited the Speedbowl in 2003 and 2004, then returned to race four times there between 2008 and 2010. Additional trips in 2016 and 2018 round out a total of eight ACT appearances, in which current PASS competitor Joey Polewarczyk won three straight.

Polewarczyk has another win at NLWS in the Granite State Pro Stock Series, clinching his series championship there in 2020. Part-time PASS racers Dave Farrington, Jr. and Joey Doiron also have GSPSS wins at the Speedbowl.

Also wrapping up the year will be NESS, the big-block Supermodified series organized in the offseason with the support of PASS owner Tom Mayberry. The winged warriors are no stranger to the Speedbowl, with the familiar International Supermodified Association last racing there in 2017. Many of the region’s ISMA supporters, including 2017 winning car owner Howie Lane, are racing with NESS this year as the series works out its growing pains.

Suffice it to say, this is a big weekend for the touring visitors.

But the weekend is perhaps a bigger deal for the Speedbowl, as the track continues to rebuild its reputation in the region. Controversy has hovered over the track for years, with an idle 2019 season leading to speculation about its very closure. The track reopened to much surprise in 2020, with an active local racing community and frequent open-wheel touring visits.

Former Modified racer and racing videographer Sean Foster took over as general manager in July, bringing a fresh take to Speedbowl operations with a clear goal of boosting attendance and sponsorship. Foster was quick to put some of his ideas into motion around the track grounds, in anticipation of August’s return of the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series. The all-star Modified touring series raced at the Speedbowl for the first time since 2015, with Dana DiMatteo beating Mike Christopher, Jr. for a popular home-grown win.

Bringing in two of New England’s top touring organizations, and welcoming local fans with the inclusion of the track’s own Street Stock Nationals, is right in line with Foster’s vision.

The only concern is that tacking an unexpected extra weekend onto the end of the season could affect some title contenders’ plans, with only a couple months to go. In all likelihood, the ACT Tour title will be settled before the final race, with point leader DJ Shaw on track to carry an insurmountable lead into the finale. The PASS North title race is still a three-way battle among teams that have no apparent shortcomings in the preparation department.

Teams with little to battle for may elect to sit out the weekend, but there are plenty of racers in Connecticut, Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts that would welcome a home game to close out the year.

And with more and more racers electing to choose a schedule that works for them, providing opportunities for those drivers to race closer to home is a win for the sport.

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Jeff Brown is a contributor to Short Track Scene. A native of New Hampshire and a long-time fan of New England racing, Brown provides a fan's perspective as he follows New England's regional Late Model touring series.

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