Clark’s second half charge leads to third PASS North Super Late Model title
If you had to hang a title on Johnny Clark’s run to the 2008 Pro All Stars Series (PASS) North Championship, it might be “a tale of two seasons”. The Farmingdale Maine race car driver didn’t start his 2008 campaign with a great deal of flourish, but his team came on strong in the second half of the season to capture their third PASS Super Late Model Championship.
His early season results were mixed at best. He finished thirteenth in the PASS North season opener at Maine’s Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, but rebounded with a victory at Wiscasset Raceway. But after Wiscasset, the results weren’t there. A ninth at White Mountain, sixteenth back at Wiscasset, a tenth place run at Beech Ridge. Solid runs to be sure, but not up to par for a race team that has two PASS super late model titles and thirteen race wins to their credit. To be a title contender in the ultra competitive PASS North, top fives are the key and you need them in each and every race.
Clark didn’t score another top three until July at Thompson (CT) Speedway, and he was mired back in the point standings. But, Clark is quick to point to that Thompson race as a turning point in his season. The family-focused team never gave up. With a new race car that the crew painstakingly assembled over the off season and a set-up that made that car run like it was on rails, Clark turned on the jets. He claimed his second win of 2008 two weeks later at Groveton NH’s Riverside Speedway, and dominated the action at All-Star Speedway before a flat tire set him back to fourth at the finish. Still, he recovered from what could have been a disastrous result and scored solid points, and it looked like the season might be turning around for the Clark’s Car Crushing team.
He contended for the Atlantic Cat 250 win in Nova Scotia but had to settle for seventh at the checkered flag. Clark got back to his winning ways at Wiscasset in August, rebounding for a $30,000.00 payday in the Toyota Tundra 250 followed by a second place run at White Mountain and a $10,000.00 win at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in the PASS 300.
It all came down to the Fall Brawl at Johnny’s home track, Wiscasset Raceway. When the checkers flew Clark had a fifth place finish, beating four time series champ Ben Rowe by five spots to secure the 2008 PASS super late model title by ten points. On his way to the crown Clark scored the most series wins (4) and led the most laps (469). He raced home in the top five eight times, with eleven top tens.
Clark put an exclamation point on a super 2008 season by dominating the PASS South 250 lap feature at the Mason-Dixon 500 at Virginia’s South Boston Speedway, collecting yet another $10,000.00 payday along with his first PASS South victory.
Johnny Clark, his race team and all the Pro All Stars Series Champions, competitors, fans and sponsors will gather on November 15th for the eighth annual PASS North Banquet of Champions at Verillo’s Conference Center on Riverside Drive in Westbrook Maine.
Tickets are still available by contacting the Pro All Stars Series at passracing@roadrunner.com .The complete banquet schedule and more information is on line at www.racewithpass.com or www.proallstarsseries.com.