story by Christopher Roy
Dave Farrington has spent the racing off season studying, “I am in my final semester of college at the University of Maine in Orono, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. On the weekends, it’s straight home to work on the race cars.”
The 2013 race season is about to get underway as the race teams get ready for the first green flag of the season. “As of right now, we know we will be going to Lee for the ACT event and then going to Oxford for the PASS event. Depending on the results from those two races may set the rest of schedule for 2013. We have plenty of options with two different cars now to run some weekly events at tracks like Oxford, BRMS, Wiscasset, and maybe a few events at Thompson.”
New to the American Canadian Tour schedule this season is the ACT “International 500” at Airborne Speedway. “It’s certainly a good response to all the events that have occurred at Oxford Plains Speedway in the past six months. It gives the Late Model drivers another prestigious event to compete in, where the winner could take home over $25,000.”
Every driver has their favorite track where everything just seems to click, and for Dave it is BRMS, where the ACT late models and PASS super late models will be racing this season. “I would have to definitely say Beechridge. It’s basically my hometrack now since Oxford did away with Late Models and because of the success we have had there. We finished 8th there in the 2011 ACT event and 3rd last season in the ACT race. Usually the tracks you have the most success at are your favorite ones.”
One of the feature races this season is the ACT Invitational at NHMS, though getting the invitation can be the toughest part. “We will have to get the results to be invited back this year. With Oxford dropping Late Models, we do not have a local track to compete at in the ACT Late models so we’re going to have to win an ACT race or run well enough in all the ACT events we compete in.”
Safety is always a big part of racing, whether it be in the car, on the track, or in the pits. “Safety is our first priority when it comes to racing. We made sure to spend the extra money for a Hans device, and a full containment seat. We have been fortunate to have Alpinestars as a sponsor for many years that has supplied me with firesuits, gloves, shoes, and even fire resistant socks and shirts. All of that equipment should become mandatory to prevent any tragedies in racing.”
Sponsors are a big part of racing, they financially support the race teams, track, and races. “It’s very hard to compete in any level of racing without some support from sponsors. We certainly don’t have the backing like some of the top teams do, but we get by with our family owned and operated team. Most of our sponsors are in fact family members. We do have a terrific sponsor at Hilltop Collision Center located in Jay, Maine. They have been very generous in supplying all the paint, painting, and even transporting our race cars in the off season. They make our race cars look so sharp every year.”
Racing in two different types of race cars, a late model and a super late model, is a lot of work for the race teams. Act kicks off their race season with the Governor’s Cup, at Lee Speedway on April 14th and PASS starts their race season on April 21st at Oxford Plains Speedway. “The ACT Late Model is race ready. If we had to go on the track tomorrow, we could. The Super Late Model still needs some slight work to it, but we are well ahead for the start of this season. We always seem to start out slow in previous years, but I believe with our good preparation this year, we should start out the year strong and finish strong. I know I’ve been ready to go back racing since November.”