Act Adds Third Nss Race To Replace Tbara On 2/15 - Mini Stocks Added On 2/14

[ancrdave]

ACT TO REPLACE TBARA FOR SUNDAY 2/15 WORLD SERIES PROGRAM - THIRD ACT RACE NOW
SCHEDULED AT NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY

Robert Hart, Promoter and Owner of the New Smyrna Speedway and Tom Curley,
President of the American Canadian Tour (ACT) made a surprise announcement
today by scheduling a third event for the ACT Late Model teams. The popular
New England and Quebec based touring group have added a Sunday night, February
15, 2015 date to their trip to the Florida track. The American Racer Challenge
Cup will take place on Monday and Tuesday, February 16-17, 2015.

“It was a nice surprise today to hear from Kim Brown and Robert Hart from
New Smyrna. After consulting all 28 teams, we have been able to put together a
field of 26 cars to run an additional 100-lap race on Sunday night of the
opening weekend at New Smyrna. The season-opening event of the NASCAR K&N East
Series will take place on Sunday as well. There was a lot of enthusiasm and
support from all the teams, and most told us they would be there watching the
K&N race anyway, so being able to race was a bonus they had not expected,”
said Curley.

The qualifying for ACT teams on Sunday night will be at 6:30 and their 100-lap
feature event will take place immediately after the K&N feature. The race will
not be counted toward the American Racer Challenge Cup, because there were two
teams that have entered who will not be in attendance at New Smyrna on
Sunday.

“We didn’t think it would be fair to make this third race a part of the
Challenge Cup because there were a couple of teams that had already made their
flight plans. However, it is a great way to help teams offset some of their
expenses for the trip with a third purse on Sunday night. It is also what a
trip South in February is all about... good old-fashioned racing for three
straight days. All the ACT staff and teams are excited about heading to
Florida next month,” said Darla Hartt, Vice President of ACT.

The American Racer Challenge Cup is still a two-day event with twin 100-lap
races held on Monday and Tuesday, February 16-17 2015. The newly announced
event will be held as a stand-alone 100-lap event on Sunday, February 15,
2015.

The Sunday ACT event replaces the scheduled TBARA Sprint Car race. Both TBARA
events, set for Sunday and Monday during the World Series have been canceled
due to circumstances beyond the control of New Smyrna Speedway.

Also, the Mini-Stock 75-lap race that was originally scheduled on Saturday
night during the Governor's Cup Weekend this past November, has been
re-scheduled for Saturday, February 14th as part of the 2015 World Series of
Asphalt Stock Car Racing.

[shorttrackcar1]

Oh boy doesn't look good for sprint cars. Well all good things end sooner or later.

[OldSchool+]

Maybe someone can share why Robert Yoho threw a couple of winged sprint car races last year and put up big money and (virtually) no one showed up.

I mean it was speedworld quality and the seven or so cars that were there were spaced about equally around the track.

I was not happy & decided my next sprint car show would be wingless from the positive reviews here on KARNAC.

Seems like Yoho pulled sprint car races after that.

Any behind the scenes stories?

ps--OWM61 answered in the "old school" thread.

Back to NSS.

[scottgarrity07]

The K & N East Series is what is left of the old Busch North Series and before that NASCAR North. This Series was pretty much based in New England and produced racers like Ricky Craven, Randy Lajoie, Mike McCaughlin, Martin Truex, and a very young Joey Logano. It also had it's own colorful stars like Dave Dion, Dick McCabe, Stub Fadden, Robbie Crouch (The Tampa Tornado), Andy Santerre, Beaver Dragon (GREAT name), Kelly Moore, Brad Leighton, Dale Shaw and many others. NASCAR North was actually started and run by Tom Curley.

The ACT (American Canadian Tour) was created when NASCAR yanked their sanctioning of the NASCAR North Tour in 1985. Left with no sanction Tom Curley and Ken Squier formed the ACT in 1986 and the success continued under a different banner. In typical NASCAR fashion they in turn "created" the Busch Grand National North Series the next year in 1987, basically stealing the series Curley invented.

Over the years the tours have become very different. With the NASCAR Series cars becoming pretty much clones of the old Busch Series and the ACT cars becoming essentially Pro Lates with strictly Crate motors. The one holdover for the ACT cars in rules that makes them different from a Pro Late is that they are perimeter frame and not straight rail cars. Making them like their old relative, the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman they are derived from.

Strange that the once rival Series share the same stage on the same night far away from New England. The reason the two tours that Robbie Crouch "The Tampa Tornado" (8 victories Busch North, 6 ACT Championships) once raced in are together February 15th at NSS? Well, because the TAMPA Bay Area Racing Association has been hit by their own "Tornado". Ironic, indeed....

[Matt Albee]

I don't think i've ever read anything bad about the ACT Series. I know i saw them over at NSS and they put on a good show. TBARA better get it together quick or it won't matter who runs the club. They won't have anyplace left to race.

[scottgarrity07]

The ACT has a real good formula for success that works quite well in the Northeast and Canada. There is one American Series and one Canadian Series. The cars run both the GM and Ford Crates and are limited to only a handful of KONI shock valvings they can run. Most New England tracks run them weekly under ACT rules as Late Model Sportsman. This allows racers to run their home track AND travel to the huge money Tour events at their discretion. The shock limitations pretty much eliminate the radical Big Bar/Soft Spring/Bump Stop setups most other Late Models use. I think this helps create the close competition and side by side racing that the Series is known for, as well as the 8" American Racer slick that is compounded just for them. It is not uncommon to see over 100 cars attempt to qualify for some big ACT events.