December 24, 2024
AUTO RACING

Chubbuck off to impressive start on PASS tour

Scott Chubbuck hasn’t been a regular on the Pro All-Stars Series tour since 2003.

He has been a selective pro stock racer, opting primarily for the longer races with the substantial purses.

But the 38-year-old Bath native, who has won a pair of PASS races at Hermon’s Speedway 95 in the tour’s five-plus-year existence, intends to run most of the PASS tour this season and he is currently off to an impressive start.

He has a second, third, and fourth in the three races to date and is second in the points behind Farmington’s Cassius Clark, who has won all three races.

Chubbuck said he was very happy with the start.

“It’s nice not to wreck a lot of stuff and to make a little money,” said Chubbuck. “Things seem to be clicking better than last year.”

Chubbuck is in his fourth season with team owner and crew chief Jay Cushman, who is from Hermon.

Chubbuck, who lives in Brunswick but is building a house in Dresden, has altered his philosophy toward racing and it has been paying off.

“I used to go everywhere to race but I overextended myself,” said Chubbuck, who would run with the weekly pro stock racers at different tracks from time to time as well as running selected PASS races and other big races. “You’re better off hitting the big races and spending more time working on the car.”

He added that he prefers “racing at different tracks and running 150 laps than running every Saturday night with the same people.”

He has one primary goal this season.

“I’m hoping to win some races. That’s all I care about,” said Chubbuck, who has rarely raced for a points championship in recent years.

In his only full season in the PASS tour, 2003, he finished eighth in points. He has run seven PASS races in each of the last two years and was 21st in points both years.

One of the other big races he ran last year was the Irving Oil 250 at New Brunswick International Speedway and Chubbuck led a record 193 laps en route to taking the checkered flag and pocketing $25,150.

Although he is focused on wins, Chubbuck said, “Since we started off so well, I’d like to finish in the top five in points.”

Chubbuck has been driving a Ford Taurus that he began driving at the end of last season.

He has used both the two and four-barrel engines allowed by PASS and has had success with both.

He said another reason he intends to run most of the PASS tour is that Cushman believes in the series and “wants to keep it around” according to Chubbuck.

Good car counts is the best way to keep a tour running.

The PASS North Super Late Models return to action Saturday night at the Forbes Chev-Olds 200 at Scotia Speedworld in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

“It’s a tight track. It’s going to take a lot of braking,” said Chubbuck.

NHIS Cup race in 2007 on July 1

New Hampshire International Speedway’s annual July Nextel Cup race will be two weeks earlier in 2007: July 1.

That will be the earliest ever.

“NASCAR asked us to run the race on that date and we were more than happy to do so,” said NHIS public relations director Fred Neergaard. “I think it’s wonderful. It will be a lead in to July 4.”

This year’s race will be on July 16 and Neergaard said they have locked up a sponsor for the Cup race: LENOX Industrial Tools.

The company is based in East Longmeadow, Mass.

“It’s exciting to have a New England company with a world-wide impact sponsoring our event,” said Neergaard.

The race weekend will begin with Busch East’s New England 125 on Friday (July 14) at 5:10 p.m.. On Saturday, the New England 100 modified race will begin at 1:10 p.m. and the New England 200 Busch race will be at 3. On Sunday, the LENOX Industrial Tools 300 will start at 2:10.

Neergaard said 14 Cup drivers will run the Busch race, including Carl Edwards, and Edwards and Tony Stewart will run the modified race.

Stewart won’t run the Busch race.

“Carl won’t be off the track at any time Saturday,” said Neergaard.

There will also be Cup qualifying that Saturday.

NHIS will host its September racing weekend on Sept. 15-17 including the Sylvania 300 Cup race on Sept. 17, the first in the 10-race championship series.


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