ACTion News Wednesday, November 21, 2007
-by Justin St. Louis

Congratulations to the entire cast of Série ACT Castrol competitors, including Champion Patrick Laperle, Rookie of
the Year Éric St-Gelais, and the rest of the Top 15 point drivers during the season.  All were honored at the Best
Western Hotel Universel in Drummondville, QC on Saturday night, along with Most Improved driver Jonathan
Desbiens and Sportsmanship Award winner Karl Allard, as well as Louis Larue of the Rénuion Pilotes Québec (RPQ)
driver organization, and Jacques Poulin, winner of a brand new ABC stock car body from Five Star RaceCar Bodies.

Laperle collected $10,000, a life-size trophy, and a beautiful plaque for his accomplishments during the year, and
was recognized along with his entire team by American-Canadian Tour President Tom Curley, Master of Ceremonies
Marc Patrick Roy, and the throng of racers, teams, families, and sponsors in attendance.

St-Gelais finished 13th in championship point standings and was given the Rookie of the Year award after he
outdistanced a tight group that included Stéphane Durand and teenagers Desbiens, Kevin Roberge, and Spencer
MacPherson.

Desbiens, a fresh-faced 16 year-old, was the surprise winner of the Most Improved Driver award, as voted by his
competitors.  (An argument could be made that the applause for the junior member of the tour was the loudest for
any honoree during the evening!)  Allard was voted the winner of the Sportsmanship Award by his fellow drivers,
while Larue was recognized for his efforts and cooperation with the RPQ, ACT, Castrol, and the various groups of
teams and track operators that made the 2007 season a possibility.

Poulin was selected by random draw to receive a new Five Star ABC Late Model body.  He was entered into the draw
with all 15 drivers that competed in each of the 12 Série ACT Castrol events during the year.  The veteran driver
finished 10th in points for the season.

***

Some quick notes from the Série ACT Castrol Banquet of Champions:

Claude Leclerc has purchased one of Patrick Laperles championship-winning cars, a Dale Shaw Race Cars chassis
with a Junior Hanley-built front clip.  Laperle drove the car in a pair of events in 2007, finishing third at
Capital City Speedway in Ottawa and fifth at Circuit Ste-Croix.  About a month after his 66th birthday, Leclerc
has given notice that he is coming back in 2008 with both barrels locked and loaded.  He finished seventh overall
this season.

Jonathan Desbiens has purchased one of the potent rides from Alexandre Gingras shop.  Gingras posted three Série
ACT Castrol victories in 2007 on his way to finishing third overall.  Desbiens finished 15th overall on the
series, garnering his first Top 10 finish at Autodrome Chaudières PRO-FAB 100 in August.

***

Congratulations to Thunder Road favorite Johnny Gammell of St. Johnsbury, VT!  Gammell has been voted into the New
England Antique Racers (NEAR) Hall of Fame Class of 2008, and will be honored at the La Renaissance Banquet Hall
in East Windsor, CT on Sunday, January 27th.  Gammell was the 1964 Vermont State Champion, the 1959 Northeastern
Speedway Champion (Lower Waterford, VT Thunder Roads first sister track), and was ultra-popular and ultra-
successful at The Nations Site of Excitement in the Sportsman Coupe and Flying Tiger divisions of the 1960s. 
Gammell won the 1969 edition of what is now the Chittenden Milk Bowl while driving Joey Laquerres famed Hawaii 5-
0 Chevrolet, and was also one of the top competitors at Vermont tracks in Newport, Concord, Lyndon, Malletts Bay,
and Milton (Catamount Stadium), and at tracks in Claremont and Groveton, NH.

Among the men joining Gammell in the NEAR Hall of Fame Class of 2008 induction ceremony will be Supermodified
stars Howie Brown and Dick Batchelder, Modified racer Dick Alkas, car owner Joe Brady, and media members Pete
Zanardi and Dr. Dick Berggren.  Thats some pretty stout company, no matter who you ask.

Other Thunder Road/ACT alumni already in the NEAR HoF include Jean-Paul Cabana (07), Rene Charland (98), Robbie
Crouch (06), Dave Dion (07), Beaver Dragon (04), Stub Fadden (03), Ernie Gahan (98), Don MacTavish (01),
Dick McCabe (02), John Rosati (07), and Thunder Road Founder Ken Squier (02).

***

Did you know?

-In three seasons of operation, the Série ACT Castrol (run in 2005-06 as the Série Nationale Castrol) has seen
three drivers finish in the Top 10 in point standings in all three seasons: Karl Allard was 3rd in 2005, 9th in
2006, and 5th in 2007; Claude Leclerc was 5th in 2005 and 7th in 06 and 07; and J.F. Déry was 8th in 2005, 2nd
in 06, and 4th in 07.  Marc-André Cliche, André Beaudoin, Jacques Poulin, Alexandre Gingras, and former
Champions Sylvain Lacombe and Donald Theetge each have a pair of Top 10 point finishes in the series.

-Brent Dragon has 13 Top 10 point finishes on the ACT Late Model Tour since the series inception in 1992,
including the last eight seasons.  Phil Scott, the 2002 Champion, has a dozen Top 10s, followed by 1992 Champion
Dave Whitcomb at 11, five-time king Brian Hoar at 10, Jamie Fisher at nine, and current Champion Jean-Paul Cyr at
eight.

-The only time Jean-Paul Cyr finished in the ACT Late Model Tour Top 10 when he did not win the series
championship was in 2002 when he finished 10th.