Strong’s Tracy Gordon has won 12 Busch North races over the past five seasons and hasn’t finished lower than seventh in the points. He was second in points in 1999.

But Gordon is going in a different direction this season.

He recently finished a four-race deal in the American Speed Association, a series that is a step above Busch North but a step below Busch Grand National.

He intends to run an occasional Busch North race but he also plans to race on the Pro All-Stars Series tour.

In fact, he went to Indianapolis earlier this week to pick up a Chevy Monte Carlo from Junior Hanley to run in the PASS series.

He said it will take a little time to ready the car for the PASS tour so he won’t be racing in Saturday night’s event at Unity Raceway.

“The PASS tour is a real good one. They run at a lot of really good tracks. I wish I had had all my ducks in a row earlier so I could have run for the points [championship],” said the 37-year-old Gordon.

However, he also said he likes the idea of having the freedom to pick and choose races rather than be tied into a tour.

“I’m looking forward to it very much,” said Gordon. “If I can pick up a sponsor and not be financially strapped, it could be the funnest year I’ve ever had in racing. I like being able to do races I want to do and not being bogged down. It does have its downfalls, too. I can’t run for points and in certain series, it’s hard to get sponsorships if you don’t.”

He said it would have been difficult for him financially to run the entire Busch North series. Tic-Tac would have been his sponsor.

Gordon’s experience in ASA was an eye-opener. His best finish was a 12th in the first race at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Fla. on March 22.

“It all sprung on me at once,” said Gordon. “It was a hit-or-miss deal. Two weeks before the first race, I didn’t even have a race car. I had two weeks to put everything together. It was kind of quick. I had to buy a car, drive to Indianapolis to pick it up, get it home, paint it and get it set up. I didn’t have enough time to get it prepared and I couldn’t do any testing, which we should have done.”

In addition, he said the ASA changed the tire specifications “and I had the set-up notes for the cars with the old tires. So we were behind there, too.

“It was one of those deals I probably shouldn’t have gotten myself in to. But I learned a lot about ASA racing and if I have a chance to get sponsorship to do it again, I’d be a lot more prepared,” said Gordon.

The ASA series has produced the likes of Winston Cup stars like Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, Johnny Benson and Jimmie Johnson.

“The drivers in Busch North are just as good as the drivers in ASA but they don’t get the exposure or the recognition that the ASA drivers do. All of the ASA races are shown live on the Speed Channel,” said Gordon.

He also said the ASA cars are “very affordable” because they use $14,000 spec motors. Spec motors are uniform so no team has a distinct advantage.

But he said if he were to run the ASA tour full-time, “there would be a huge travel expense.”

He would like to give it another shot because his eventual goal is Busch Grand National and BGN picks a lot of its drivers from the ASA series.

PASS race set at Unity Saturday

Scarborough’s Joe Bessey and Turner’s Ben Rowe are the PASS co-points leaders and they will be among a talented field for the second race, a 150-lapper, at Unity Raceway Saturday.

Bessey won the opener, the Wiscasset Quik Stop 150. Time trials begin at 4:30 and heat races will start at 6.

There will be a regular Unity race card and then the feature.

“We have about 24-25 entries now. We’re looking forward to racing at Unity,” said PASS President Tom Mayberry. “They have a lot of great fans. Some of our best crowds were at Unity and Bangor [Speedway 95] last year.”

On Friday night, the Busch North series will make the first of its three appearances at Stafford Motor Speedway (Conn.). Cherryfield’s Andy Santerre, last year’s points winner, captured the first race at Lee USA Speedway (N.H.).

Also on Friday, the new Oxford Plains Go Kart series will make its debut.

The oval track, which will be one-fifth of a mile, will be located on the front stretch of the speedway, which is newly paved.

Santerres are parents of daughter

Speaking of Santerre, the veteran driver and his wife, Sue, became the proud parents of their first child, daughter Sara Elizabeth, on Monday.

She weighed seven pounds and was 20 inches long.