SpeedReading

For five long months, through 15 races spread throughout the northeastern United States and Eastern Canada, Jean-Paul Cyr and Todd Stone were never more than a car length or two apart. From early May to the end of September, the two dogged each other’s tire tracks in a season-long game of “me and my shadow” that saw them battle tooth-and-nail for the ACT Dodge Tour championship, right down to the season’s final lap.

The two spent enough on-track time together to develop a genuine dislike for each other, especially when the pressure began to mount in the season’s waning weeks. Instead, the two developed a mutual respect that continues today, nearly a week after the final checkered flag.

For the record, Cyr cemented his third career Dodge Tour championship Sunday with a solid, third-place finish in the season-ending “New England Dodge Dealers Milk Bowl” at Thunder Road. The man he followed to the checkered flag? Stone, who notched a career-best Thunder Road finish in second place. The final margin between the two - after more than 1,600 main-event laps - was just 13 points, less than seven positions over the course of the season. And when it was over, both men had more to say about the other than they about themselves.

“Todd had an awesome season,” said Cyr Sunday, basking in the reflected glow of the ACT championship trophy. “Some years when you’re racing a guy for a championship, it seems like you never see him on the race track. This year was just the opposite. All season long, Todd and I battled every week. When I was leading, he was right there in second. When he was leading, I was right there on his bumper.”

It’s no secret that Thunder Road has never been Stone’s favorite racetrack. The Middlebury driver has chased the setup at the “Nation’s Site of Excitement” for the better part of three seasons, always coming up just a little bit short. He came to Barre Sunday trailing by 10 points in the ACT standings, needing a breakthrough day to keep his championship hopes alive. He did just that, running up front all day, and coming up just one spot short of the overall Milk Bowl crown.

“Before the race, people were saying I had the advantage because Todd hadn’t run well at Thunder Road,” said Cyr. “I told them that if they believed that, they didn’t know Todd Stone. I knew he’d come out flying, and I knew I’d have to race my tail off every single lap to beat him.

“Sure enough, every time I thought we had something going Sunday, I’d look in my mirror and see him right there.”

Stone also spoke glowingly of his rival.

“He laid it on the line there in the first segment,” he said. “He could have tucked in behind Pete Fecteau and taken a nice, safe second-place finish, but he didn’t. He put it on the (outside) rail, drove around Fecteau and won the segment, earning five bonus points for leading a lap. He sent the message - loud and clear -- that he was out there to win the race, and that’s the kind of attitude that makes him a champion.

“We raced hard all year, and I don’t think we ever left a tire mark on each other,” said Stone. “When you’re racing with Jean, you know that if there’s any contact, it was a mistake. If he can’t beat you fair and square, he won’t beat you at all.

“I’m proud of what we accomplished this season, and I’m proud of him, too. He’ll be a great champion, and a great representative for this series.”

They say that familiarity breeds contempt. But apparently - every once in a while - it can lead to respect, as well.

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Eric Williams passed up his shot at the 2003 ACT championship to coach his son’s Little League team this summer. Sunday afternoon, he collected the king of all consolation prizes, sharing Victory Lane with his family, friends, crew, and “Miss Vermont Milk Bowl” - a genuine Ayrshire cow - after winning the 40^{th Annual New England Dodge Milk Bowl.}

“I wasn’t in the running for the (ACT) championship, so there was no pressure on me at all,” said Williams of his Milk Bowl strategy. “I didn’t have to worry about points. I just went out there to run hard and win the race.”

Williams made all the right moves in the decisive final segment, moving from ninth to fourth with a spectacular, 12-lap burst that gave him just enough of an edge to claim the trophy. His 19-point total (3-12-4) gave him the championship by a single marker over Stone, and when it was over, the Hyde Park veteran said he has never regretted his decision to put family first.

“It’s important to me,” said Williams of the coaching duties that have consumed large portions of his time in recent years. “It’s important to me because it’s important to (my kids). They’re only young once, and I don’t want to miss these years by being on the road all the time. I knew at the start of the season that I would take my lumps, because I wasn’t able to spend enough time in the shop, working on the car. I accepted that, and decided to focus my attention on the last half of the season, after the sports were done.

“It might have cost me a couple of wins this season, I don’t know,” he said. “But all in all, I think I gained a lot more than I lost.”

As he smiled for the cameras in Victory Lane, surrounded by his ecstatic wife and family, it was hard to argue with his logic. Eric Williams was a winner Sunday, in more ways than one.

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With one race still to go on the NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch North Series schedule, the championship chase is over. Defending series champion Andy Santerre locked up his second consecutive Busch North title Sunday, with a third-place finish behind winner Mike Johnson in the “Carquest Fall Final 150” at Stafford Motor Speedway in Stafford Springs. Connecticut. That finish expanded Santerre’s season-long point lead to 196 over closest pursuer Mike Stefanik, and with only 185 points up for grabs in this weekend’s finale on the road course at Lime Rock Park, the Cherryfield, Maine, native is assured of retaining his crown for another year.

Johnson’s sixth career Busch North Series victory - and third at Stafford -- made him the tenth different winner in 16 Busch North races this season, and moved him past Vermonter Brian Hoar into fourth place in the point standings behind Santerre, Stefanik, and Kelly Moore.

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Has anyone’s season ever gone south as quickly and completely as Tracie Bellerose’s? With two races remaining in the 2003 season, the Gorham, NH, driver was a leading candidate to win both her second Thunder Road track championship and the Milk Bowl title. In the season’s final point race, an unlucky tangle with Joe Becker’s crippled racer sent Bellerose’s Chevrolet cartwheeling over the turn-three fence and into the parking lot, leaving her bruised but (miraculously) uninjured. In Sunday’s Milk Bowl, however, the 2000 “Queen of the Road” did not get off so easily.

A multi-car tangle at the end of the backstretch in the second of three 50-lap segments severely damaged Bellerose’s borrowed racer from the Joey Laquerre stable, and left her with multiple fractures in her right wrist and arm.

“A bunch of cars got together, and someone hit me hard in the left-rear wheel,” recalled Bellerose afterward. “It wrenched the steering wheel, and twisted my wrist like a pretzel. I heard it snap, and when I looked down, there were a couple of bends where there definitely should not have been bends.”

A series of x-rays at Central Vermont Medical Center revealed that she had suffered three fractures of her right wrist, and an arm that was “snapped all the way up.” Doctors recommended immediate surgery to stabilize and repair the breaks, but Bellerose declined, preferring to return to the Granite State for treatment closer to home early this week.

“It took me about two seconds to accept Joey (Laquerre’s) offer of a car for the Milk Bowl,” said Bellerose after returning to the track Sunday, grimacing despite a healthy dose of painkillers. “I didn’t want my season to end upside-down in the parking lot. Instead, it ended with a broken arm, so maybe it wasn’t such a good decision, after all.

“Other than the last two races, though, we had a great season,” she said. “We won three races, and we were right there for the championship. All we can do now is build a new car over the winter and try again in 2004.”

Tough kid.

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“Double-O Joe” Steffen closed out his 2002 championship reign in style Sunday, claiming his first feature win since 1999 in the Tiger/Sportsman Mini Bowl. Craig Bushey came home second, followed by Scott Payea. Bushey did just about all he could do to erase Reno Gervais’ 11-point lead in the track championship standings, finishing second in the overall. But like Todd Stone in the Late Model ranks, he came up just short, as Gervais finished fifth. After the officials checked and double-checked the final tallies, Gervais emerged the winner by a scant six points, making the “King of the Kingdom” the King of the Tigers.

Aaron Maynard took home the Street Stock Mini Bowl over Gary Mullen, rookie Nick Sweet, Weiner Hennequin and Tommy “Thunder” Smith, while Jeff French overcame an incident-filled day to win the Thunder Road Street Stock championship when closest pursuer Eddy Companion exploded his engine in the late going.

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…There’s change in the wind at Bill Davis Racing. Sources say Davis will field only one NASCAR Nextel Cup team next season, replacing the departing Ward Burton with Busch Series star Scott Wimmer in the Caterpillar-sponsored #22 Dodge. Kenny Wallace, who currently drives a second Davis entry on the Cup Series, will steer Davis' Busch car next season, with backing from Stacker2.

…The impending partnership between team owner Ray Evernham, crewchief Tommy Baldwin, and driver Kasey Kahne came another step closer to reality this week when Baldwin resigned his position as crewchief for Jimmy Spencer’s Ultra Motorsports Team. Baldwin and Kahne are close to signing an agreement with Evernham to fill the void created by Bill Elliott’s expected move to a part-time schedule next season. Elliott will reportedly steer Evernham’s #9 Dodge in only five or six races next season, with Kahne contesting the reminder of the schedule.

The impending deal is a complicated one, however, since Kahne is contractually bound to Ford Motor Company for the next two years, and Robert Yates Racing for three. Kahne claims that Ford and Yates have not lived up to their end of the deal, since he has received no offers from either camp to go Cup racing next season. Yates insists that he has a sponsor in place for a limited Cup schedule with Kahne in 2004, and a full-time effort in 2005.

Gentlemen, phone your attorneys.

…Speaking of Ford, it didn’t take long for the Detroit automaker to sever its ties with Dave Blaney’s Jasper Motorsports Racing Team. Two weeks ago at Talledega, Blaney drove a Dodge instead of the team’s customary Ford Taurus. Two days later, Ford Racing Technology dissolved its association with the team, citing breach of contract. The automaker declared its contract with Jasper null and void, discontinued monetary and technical support to the team, and took measures to repossess any remaining assets.

"What happened at Talladega was unacceptable," said Greg Specht, manager of Ford Racing Operations. "To be a Ford team, you have to run a Ford."

“We meant no disrespect to Ford, but our contract was a minor contingency contract,” said Jasper Motorsports co-owner Mark Harrah. “The tangibles were not enough to influence our decision. We took a chance in hopes to run more competitively, and it paid off. It was our best finish at a superspeedway since February 2001.” Harrah said his team plans to run a Ford Taurus through the end of the 2003 season, with or without factory assistance.

…Yet another would-be racetrack developer has received a “cease and desist” letter from NASCAR, after using the sanctioning body’s name to generate interest in their project. NASCAR President Mike Helton sent a tersely worded letter to developers of a proposed $500 million speedway near Boardman, Oregon, warning them not to connect NASCAR with the project in any way.

Developers of the track recently called their project a "NASCAR-style speedway" in a local newspaper article, a move Helton said “incorrectly leaves the impression that NASCAR is affiliated in some capacity with your organization and the speedway proposal. It is critical that any interested parties understand that NASCAR has no affiliation with your company's proposal...and that NASCAR has made no commitments of any kind with respect to races at the track."

…For the second week in a row, White Mountain Motorsports Park In North Woodstock, NH, lost their season-ending Fall Foliage Open Competition event to rain. They’ll try again this Saturday, with competitors from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts squaring off against the WMMP regulars. The Late Models, Super Streets, Strictly Streets and Strictly Minis will all be on the card, plus the Kids Trucks will make their final run of 2003. Gates will open at 9am, and the first green flag will fly at noon.

The Canaan Fair (NH) Speedway “Canaan Cup” was also rained out last weekend, and they’ll regroup for another try Saturday, with the same format on tap. The day will begin on the 1/3 mile asphalt oval, before shifting to the 1/4 mile dirt track, with 358 Modifieds, Sportsman Coupes, Street Stocks, Fast Fours, Mechanics Races, Powder Puffs, Chain Racing, Spectator Drags, 4/6/8 cylinder Enduros, and Demolition Derbies, plus the New England Sprint Cars and Granite State Mini Sprints, with combined points from the two tracks to determine the overall winners. Post time is set for 1:00 p.m.