Brian Hoar Looks For New Hampshire Repeat
8-time ACT Late Model Tour Champion Roars Into Magic Mile
GEORGIA, Vt. – If the inaugural All-Star Challenge at New Hampshire Motor Speedway back in August was the ACT Late Model Tour’s “Daytona 500,” then this weekend’s event at the Magic Mile is Late Model racing’s Bristol, Charlotte and Talladega all wrapped into one.
And Brian Hoar will gladly take center stage in the third annual ACT Invitational on the flat, one-mile oval in Loudon, N.H.
“It’s one of the biggest races and the biggest track that we run,” Hoar said. “I like racing there. I really like the track.”
The ACT Invitational is a 50-lap event featuring the top teams from the ACT Late Model Tour, its Quebec counterpart the ACT Castrol Series, and weekly competition at ACT-sanctioned short tracks across New England, Ontario and Quebec. Following a brief practice session in the morning, the 43-car ACT Invitational field will take the green flag at 5:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
Hoar looks for the season sweep of ACT events at New Hampshire this weekend, having won the ACT All-Star Challenge at the facility back in August. That race was the first-ever ACT points race held at NHMS, and it served as one of seven victories in 2011 for the driver of the RPM Motorsports No. 37 GossCars.com Dodge.
“I’ve been after this thing for 10 years or so with the (NASCAR K&N Pro Series East) cars and now these ACT cars,” said Hoar, who held the K&N Pro Series track record for nearly a decade before it was broken in 2010. “We’ve had an awesome car every time we’ve come here.”
No driver has been more dominant in ACT Late Model Tour competition than Hoar.
The Williston, Vt., driver clinched his record eighth series championship with a win in the Can-Am 200 at Circuit Riverside in Ste-Croix, Quebec, earlier this month, and his 33 career ACT victories are the most by any driver in ACT history.
No other driver has cracked the 20-win plateau in ACT competition.
Hoar’s success has not come alone. RPM Motorsports owner and crew chief Rick Paya of Georgia, Vt., also is the owner of eight career ACT championships. The last three in a row came with Hoar behind the wheel of the RPM ride.
Winning at New Hampshire in August was emotional for Paya.
“This is really special,” Paya said after the victory. “This is our Daytona 500. This win is going to be one of our pride and joys. Brian and I have always talked about what a special place this is to win.”