photo by RPM 360
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – Emily Packard piloted her 9x Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels car across the finish line in the thirteenth position in the thrilling 2016 American Canadian Tour season opener at Oxford Plains Speedway on Sunday. “I was in seventh place when the last caution came out,” said the 19 year old, “but we were the eighteenth car in line when we took that final restart. Unfortunately, the ACT rules don’t have the lap cars drop back, and there were just a lot of lap cars between me and the leaders. There was really nowhere for me to go, I was stuck in the middle, and we ended up thirteenth. We had a much better car than our finish reflects, and I am confident with how good the car will be for the remaining races.”
When the cars rolled out for the first practice, Packard hit the track taking the time to feel out the car for all the changes that had been made in the off season. During each practice the team, with input from Joe Polewarczyk Sr., would make subtle changes to the car to get it to handle more like Emily wanted. “Today was kind of a learning day,” said Packard, “a lot about learning the new set-up in the car and the partnership and how we would work together. It took a little bit to get the car from a set up that Joey (Pole) would typically run, to something that would suit my driving style and go good for us. The first couple of practices the car was bottoming out pretty bad, but once we got it up off the track it started running really good.” By the final practice, with the car driving to her liking, she cracked the top ten on the speed charts with an eighth fastest time.
The East Montpelier native would line up fifth in the final heat race, where the top 3 qualified through to the feature. By the halfway point of the 12 lap heat race, Packard had moved up to fourth, and two laps later she would make the pass to get her into that third place spot and move on into the feature. “We started fifth, and we were able to make it up to third,” Packard said. “We qualified with a plus 2 giving us the tenth starting position, which was a bad spot to start because the track was kind of greasy, and starting on the outside was not the greatest. It was unfortunate, but we knew what we had to do.”
Starting tenth Emily rode around on the outside looking for a hole to duck down into, losing a couple of spots as she did. It didn’t take long for the caution to fly on lap 3 for a couple of cars spinning between 1 and 2. Spotter Kevin (Alden) called for Emily to stay high, allowing her to miss the wreck and continue around the track unscathed. Lining up thirteenth for the restart, she settled in and went to work on moving forward. By lap 20 she was in eighth place, and when the caution flew again on lap 44 she had moved into the seventh position. When the race resumed Packard battle cars to climb as high as the sixth position, but would find herself in the eighth spot with 10 to go, and stuck on the outside. “We definitely had quite the battle today,” said Emily, “everyone pretty much knew that the outside wasn’t the place to be, and they were all fighting to be down low. On the long green flag run everyone was just staying glued to the bottom.”
The caution would fly two more times, and on the final restart with 5 to go the Vermont driver would find herself staring in the seventh position with a bunch of lap cars between her and the leaders. With everyone looking to get what they could in these last few laps, Emily would find herself in the middle of three and four wide heading to the checkers. When it all sorted out, she would come home with a thirteenth place finish. “On the re-start, we were P7 but with all the lap cars between us we would actually restart P18, and with 5 to go, it’s not the best situation for anybody so it definitely got really dicey,” Packard said. “I know at one point we were 4 wide so it was a crazy last 5 laps.”
“Overall it was a pretty good day,” said Emily. “It was a lot of learning and working with the Poles. They are great guys, and I am really excited for the rest of the season with them. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. A huge thank you to the Polewarczyk’s, Joe Sr. and Joey Jr., for all the work they did in re-working the car and setting it up for this first race. Joe Sr. was a huge help at the track, giving us support and suggestions to make the car better. I also have to thank my mom and dad, and everyone that supported me at the track, specifically Nate, Dale, Scott, Kasey, Tim, Brian, and Kevin. I especially want to thank my sponsors: Northstar Fireworks, Packard Fuels, Rutland Regional Medical Center, Be The Match, Yipes! of Barre, Fecteau Homes, Vermont Country Campers, Berlin Optical Expressions, Creative Visions and GossCars.com.”
Up next for Packard and the team; they will head to Lee USA Speedway for the Governor’s Cup 150 this Sunday April 24th.