Tracy Gordon looking strong four races into PASS season

Strong’s Tracy Gordon left behind a successful Busch North career last season.

He had a four-race American Speed Association deal; ran six Pro All-Stars Series races and drove in three Busch North events.

Gordon, a 12-time winner in the Busch North series, said he intends to run all but two or three of the PASS tour races this season and he already has a win and a third-place finish through the first four races.

He is currently fourth in points with 824. He is trailing Farmingdale’s Johnny Clark (870), Turner’s Ben Rowe (844) and South Paris’ Sam Sessions (824). Bangor’s Gary Smith is fifth with 818 points.

“I’d like to get three more PASS wins to let them know I was there even though I’m not going to win the [points] championship,” said Gordon. “My ultimate goal is to get an ASA ride.”

He added that driving on the PASS tour is advantageous “because pro stock cars are more like the ASA cars than the Busch cars.

“You can be more innovative with the PASS and ASA cars than you can with the Busch cars. And PASS is more affordable than doing the Busch deal,” Gordon added.

He does plan to run the two Busch North races at New Hampshire International Speedway on July 24 and Sept. 18. The PASS tour is racing at White Mountain Motorsports Park later that night but he said he “wants to be fair to the team I’m driving for.”

He will drive the Woodworks car previously driven by Mike Gallo in the Busch North races. He drives his own Chevy Monte Carlo on the PASS tour.

He added that he may also drive in the Busch North race at Dover International Speedway (Del.) on Sept. 24.

Gordon said he “lost his shirt doing that four-race deal” in ASA last year and is in the process of selling his ASA car.

“I need the money to get through the PASS deal,” said Gordon. “That four-race deal with ASA last year ate up the money I needed for sponsorship.”

However, he said if the deal falls through, he will probably run his Pontiac at the ASA race at Oxford Plains Speedway on Aug. 21.

The 38-year-old Gordon is optimistic about his chances on the PASS tour thanks to his familiarity with his Monte Carlo.

“It has a ’99 body but we built [the rest of it] last year,” said Gordon. “I’ve gotten to know the car. I know the shock set-up for every track, instead of running the same set-up everywhere, and that has made quite a bit of difference.”

He said he is really looking forward to the Oxford Banknorth 250 on July 18 “because this is the best car and the best chance I have to win it in years.

“Last year was the first time I had run on the track with the new pavement,” said Gordon, who was still trying to learn the setup with his rebuilt car.

He would still like to make a run at an ASA career “because if you look at the new guys in ASA, they’re guys my age. They’re aggressive like me and they’re guys who really want to race and love racing like I do.”

He said the newcomers on the Nextel Cup and Busch Grand National and Busch North series “are 18-year-olds who are still nursing on their mothers.”

Gordon and the PASS regulars will run again in the lucrative DNK Select 250 at Unity Raceway on Sunday, June 13.

The winner will receive $25,000.

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-8231, 1-800-310-8600 or by email at lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.