Hoar, RPM Motorsports Headed to Winchester 400
Posted By Tj Ingerson On October 7, 2014
Categories: American-Canadian Tour | Regional | Thunder Road
PHOTO: Brian Hoar and the Rick Paya-led RPM Motorsports team will make their second Super Late Model start this weekend at Winchester Speedway in Indiana. (Photo courtesy Gresham Motorsports Park)
Eight time ACT champ Hoar, Helliwell, Packard, Theriault to miss Milk Bowl
--by T.J. Ingerson (@TJIngerson)
VMM Editor
WILLISTON -- Eight-time ACT Late Model Tour champion informed Vermont Motorsports Magazine on Monday that he and his Rick Paya-led RPM Motorsports team will race as planned in the 43rd Winchester 400 in Indiana this weekend and not in the rescheduled 52nd People’s United Bank Milk Bowl at Thunder Road.
“We are Winchester bound,” Hoar confirmed in an email on Monday morning to Vermont Motorsports Magazine, “and very disappointed to be missing the Milk Bowl!!”
The Winchester 400, sanctioned by ARCA/CRA and run as part of the ARCA/CRA Super Series, was one of four previously scheduled Super Late Model races Hoar and RPM Motorsports had planned on attending at the beginning of the season. Hoar finished ninth in the World Crown 300 at Gresham Motorsports Park in early August, and is planning to compete in the All-American 400 at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tenn., in November and in the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Penscola, Fla., in December.
Missing the Milk Bowl will deny Hoar a chance of becoming just the second driver to win four Milk Bowls, which would tie him with Robbie Crouch. Hoar’s active consecutive starting streak in the Milk Bowl will also end at seven, too, which tied him for fourth on the list.
"It was a very tough decision," RPM team owner Rick Paya said to Vermont Motorsports Magazine on Tuesday morning. "We love running the Milk Bowl. But, everything had been pre-planned to go to Winchester and had been set in motion for a few months. It was too late to make the (decision) not to go, but we're still excited."
The $15,000-to-win Winchester 400 is one of the premier Super Late Model short track races in the country held on the half-mile oval with 37 degrees of banking and has been dubbed the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile.” The entry list sees many of the top Super Late Model drivers in the country enter, including Kyle Busch Motorsports driver and defending race winner Erik Jones, 2012 winner Ross Kenseth, Southern Super Series champion Bubba Pollard, multi-race winner Daniel Hemric, ARCA/CRA Super Series star Travis Braden, Donnie Wilson, Rick Turner, Stephen Nasse, Augie Grill, and others. NASCAR stars Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott are recent winners of the Winchester 400.
Other top drivers expected to miss the Milk Bowl due to scheduling conflicts following the postponement include two-time ACT Late Model Tour champion Wayne Helliwell Jr., fourth place ACT Late Model Tour point driver Emily Packard, and Austin Theriault.
Helliwell was previously slated to be at Oktoberfest at Lee USA Speedway with both his ACT Late Model and Pro Stock/Super Late Model. Packard will miss the Milk Bowl due to her participation in the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Combine while Theriault, who was scheduled to drive Travis Stearns’ car last weekend, was previously entered in the Winchester 400 in a Gary Crooks-prepared ride.
Milk Bowl qualifying will take place on Saturday, October 11 with time trial qualifying and Triple 50 lap qualifying races, while the 52nd People’s United Bank Milk Bowl will go green at 1:30pm on Sunday, October 12. Qualifying for the Winchester 400 will take place on Saturday, October 11th while the 400-lap event will take place one day later.