Johnny Clark seeking second straight PASS title

Farmingdale’s Johnny Clark capped his steady ascent in the Pro All-Stars Series Tour into his first points championship a year ago, ending the two-year reign of Turner’s Ben Rowe. Rowe finished a close second, 38 points behind Clark.

After spending his winter “re-doing the two cars we have” and plowing snow, Clark will begin defense of his title Sunday afternoon when the PASS Tour opens its fifth season with the Cabin Fever 150 at the White Mountain Motorsports Park in No. Woodstock, N.H.

Time trials will begin at 1:00 with the race to follow.

“It’s going to come down to consistency again,” said the 25-year-old Clark. “You need top-five finishes to pull out a championship. We were consistently in the top three last year, which was nice. It’s always nice to come home with a podium [top-three] run. Sometimes, you have to take a second-place finish instead of taking a chance [to win] and coming home 25th.”

Clark was, indeed, a model of consistency in 2004 when he collected 10 top-three finishes in 15 races, including four trips to Victory Lane.

Ben Rowe won three races and had seven top-three finishes.

Clark and younger brother Bobby, his crew chief, have devoted a lot of time with the crew to improving their two Chevy Monte Carlos.

“We’ve tried to get the cars rolling better through the center without losing their bite on the turns,” explained Clark.

Ben Rowe and his team, headed up by crew chief Brian Burgess, will unveil a new Monte Carlo chassis this weekend. They will use last year’s motors.

The chassis was built by Mercer’s Jeff Taylor, who owns Distance Racing Products in Fairfield.

“I tested Jeff’s car at White Mountain last year and I wound up racing it to Thompson [Conn.]. We had a real good run [finishing second]. His car handled real well,” said Rowe.

So Rowe asked Taylor to build him one and he obliged.

“The setup is 180 degrees different than the setup we had last year,” said Rowe. “It’s a whole different deal. It’s something Jeff had in the making for two or three years. Hopefully, he’ll lead us in the right direction. I’m sure he will. I have confidence in him.”

Ben Rowe also said he isn’t the only one who likes the new chassis.

“My dad [Mike] got a couple like it,” said the 29-year-old Rowe.

His father finished third in the points last season with Scarborough’s Larry Gelinas and Bangor’s Gary Smith rounding out the top five.

Ben Rowe experimented with setups early last season and it backfired.

“We tried stuff so we’d be better in the longer races but it didn’t pan out,” said Rowe.

He is excited about the season and, like Clark, feels there certainly won’t be a shortage of contenders.

“It’s hard to point fingers [at favorites],” said Rowe. “Johnny and his team has their act together; my father’s going to be tough. Cassius Clark came on strong the last couple of races. And Richie Dearborn won a race last year.”

Farmington’s Cassius Clark and Hollis’ Dearborn had three top-four finishes each over the last four races of 2004.

Dearborn won the AutoDealerMagazine.com 150 at Lee USA Speedway on Sept. 5.

“It’s just a matter of time before Cassius Clark runs up front consistently. He’s due for some good luck,” said Johnny Clark, who is fully aware of Cassius Clark’s strong finish.

Clark also expects the Rowes and Smith to be in the thick of the chase along with some out-of-state racers like Rick Martin of Westport, Mass. and Gege Gravel of Groton, Mass.

The PASS tour has expanded to 18 races, the most ever, and there will be at least one event at four of the five Maine tracks: Oxford Plains Speedway, Hermon’s Speedway 95, Unity Raceway and a first-time visit to Scarborough’s Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.

Wiscasset Raceway won’t have a PASS race.