ACT Late Model Tour: Emily Packard
Devil’s Bowl Speedway Race Preview
THE STORY
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – Emily Packard of East Montpelier, Vt., will makes her second ACT Late Model Tour appearance of the season in the Spring Green 113 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, Vt., on Sunday, May 5. The 16-year-old Late Model driver won her first ACT qualifying race last weekend at Thunder Road International Speedbowl and finished 18th in the Merchants Bank 150, and now she turns her attention to one of her favorite tracks on the circuit. Last season, as part of the Vermont State Championship Late Model Series, Packard qualified fifth for the 100-lap main event at Devil’s Bowl and was racing inside the Top-3 in the final laps when an accident collected her and ended a promising day.
THE FACTS
WHO: Emily Packard, East Montpelier, Vt.
CREW CHIEF: Neal Woodward, Georgia, Vt.
TEAM: No. 9x Northstar Fireworks/Berlin Optical Expressions Chevrolet
SPONSORS: Northstar Fireworks, Fecteau Homes, Berlin Optical Expressions, Yipes! of Barre, VT Shifter Karts, GossCars.com, Be The Match, Rutland Regional Medical Center, R.G. Paving
BEST CAREER DEVIL’S BOWL SPEEDWAY FINISH: 19th (September 2012)
LAST RACE AT DEVIL’S BOWL SPEEDWAY: 19th (September 2012)
WHAT: ACT Late Model Tour Spring Green 113
WHERE: Devil’s Bowl Speedway, West Haven, Vt. (.500-mile oval)
WHEN: Sunday, May 5 – 11 a.m., practice; 1:30 p.m., qualifying; 4:30 p.m., race
ACT Late Model Tour
LAST RACE: April 28, Merchants Bank 150, Thunder Road International Speedbowl, Barre, Vt. (18th)
NEXT RACE: May 12, Airborne 100, Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. (.500-mile oval)
DID YOU KNOW?
- Emily Packard became the first woman in a decade to win a feature event at Thunder Road International Speedbowl when she won a Street Stock feature at the track last summer.
- Emily Packard was voted the 2012 Vermont Motorsports Magazine Rookie of the Year, and she was also named the Vermont Sportswriters & Sportscasters Association Athlete of the Month for August 2012.
- Emily Packard was one of 36 Late Model drivers from across the northeast and Canada invited to participate in the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 weekend last September.
- Emily Packard Motorsports crew chief Neal Woodward is a five-time ACT Late Model Tour champion crew chief whose cars set track qualifying records at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
EMILY PACKARD, Driver of the No. 9x Northstar Fireworks/Berlin Optical Expressions Chevrolet, On her mindset heading into Devil’s Bowl Speedway this weekend: “I’m super-excited. Last weekend, we definitely gained a lot of confidence. Going to Devil’s Bowl, given how we’ve been able to be strong there to start some races last year, I really feel like we have a chance to be good at the finish of one of these races soon.”
On why she likes Devil’s Bowl Speedway so much: “The corners are so tight there, that it really is a driver’s track. Some of it is the car, obviously, but some what makes you good there you have to work on yourself as a driver. It’s a fast track, and I really, really like the fast tracks.
“I think the difference in traffic is a big thing at these faster tracks – you have a lot more time to complete a pass. At a track like Thunder Road, you almost need two laps to complete a pass just because of the way the place races. At a place like Devil’s Bowl, with more speed and and more room, you can complete the same pass in half a lap. Definitely my driving style works really well with the track.”
On whether her run at Thunder Road changed her outlook for this weekend at all: “We all know that I like to set some pretty lofty goals for myself – my first year in a Late Model wanting to go to Loudon (for the ACT Invitational) was a huge, huge, huge goal for us. But no goal is ever too big.
“My goal this weekend – I really, really would like to have a solid finish. We’re always really good there, and I’d like a chance to redeem myself from the way it finished last time. I would love to have a Top-10 out of there.”
UP NEXT
Canaan Fair Speedway opens with the annual Subway Fresh Fit 150 for Late Models on Saturday, May 11… Emily Packard was the 2012 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Rookie of the Year at Canaan, and she plans to compete there weekly in the Late Model division again this season.