ACT Late Model Tour: Emily Packard
Sanair Super Speedway Race Preview
THE STORY
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – Emily Packard of East Montpelier, Vt., makes her first trip north of the border for the Sanair 150 at Sanair Super Speedway in St. Pie, Que., on Saturday, August 3. The event is a combination race featuring both the U.S.-based ACT Late Model Tour and the Quebec-based ACT Castrol Series, and it will be held on the second-largest track the series visit during the season. Sanair is a .875-mile, triangular oval, and though Packard has never been to the track, she has fared well this season on the larger half-mile tracks ACT routinely competes on. She recorded her best career finish at Devils Bowl Speedway, a flat half-mile, back in May. Packard will book-end her race weekend with 50-lap Late Model features at Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt., on both Thursday, August 1, and Sunday, August 4.
THE FACTS
WHO: Emily Packard, East Montpelier, Vt.
CREW CHIEF: Neal Woodward, Georgia, Vt.
TEAM: No. 9x Northstar Fireworks/Berlin Optical Expressions Ford
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 SANAIR SUPER SPEEDWAY FINISH: N/A
LAST RACE AT SANAIR SUPER SPEEDWAY: N/A
WHAT: ACT Late Model Tour Sanair 150
WHERE: Sanair Super Speedway, St. Pie, Que. (.875-mile oval)
WHEN: Saturday, August 3 – 10:30 a.m., practice; 1:30 p.m., qualifying; 3:30 p.m., race
ACT Late Model Tour
LAST RACE: July 28, St. Jude Children’s Hospital 150, Devils Bowl Speedway, West Haven, Vt. (11th)
NEXT RACE: August 17, ACT 150, Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, Maine (.333-mile oval)
DID YOU KNOW?
Emily Packard became the first woman to win a NASCAR-sanctioned Late Model event at Canaan Fair Speedway in Canaan, N.H., when she won the Twin 25s event at the track on June 1 of this season.
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 posted her first career Top-10 finish in ACT Late Model Tour competition when she finished 10th in the Spring Green 113 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, Vt., on Sunday, May 5.
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 heading to Sanair Super Speedway for the first time: “I’ve never even seen the track. I’ve never even been to Canada, so I’m pretty pumped to go there and check it out. I’m looking forward to it, for sure.
“All that I really know is that it’s big and fast, but I don’t know much more than that. I hope to go up there and learn the track and try and be competitive. Realistically, I hope to be able to stick with the pack.”
On her success on some of the bigger tracks ACT visits during the season: “I feel like the big fast tracks are my strong point. I learn them a little bit faster than the short tracks, so I should be pretty good headed into it. I’ve never been to Sanair, but I’m excited to go and try something new.
“We’ll have the Ford this weekend, and we’re getting better with that package. We still need a little more time with it, because there are some big, big differences with it. Handling-wise, it’s not so much of a Ford-versus-Chevy thing for us – it’s two different chassis from two different chassis builders. I don’t know how much the Ford will help up there, but it’s a bigger track, so it should help at the end of the straightaways.”
On racing twice at Thunder Road this week in a four-day span: “I think every week I get a little bit better there. I always learn something new. I’m happy with how it’s going there, and we’ve made some good progress. We’ve been running in the Top-15, finishing with a car in one piece, and that’s really good for us.”