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$52,492 in Point Funds and Contingency Prizes Paid Out Saturday Night
Mark A. Cote photo
Montpelier, VT — The American-Canadian Tour rounded out the 2024 season on Saturday, holding the annual Banquet of Champions at the Capitol Plaza in Montpelier. Over 130 drivers, team members, sponsors and officials joined the official season ending celebration in the Governor’s Ballroom, congratulating one another in between tall tales and a few war-stories from the past season.
In a slew of new special awards to celebrate the accolades of the 2024 season, an old friend was brought back to start the evening’s festivities. For nearly twenty years, the tours of Tom Curley and Ken Squier presented the Jean-Paul Cabana Award to a deserving Canadian supporter of international Late Model racing and officials decided it was time to bring that fabled award out of mothballs. Once bestowed on such iconic sponsors as the Molson Brewery and GM of Canada, along with journalists like Pierre Lecours, track owners like Jacques Guertin and drivers like Ontario’s Dave Whitlock, the award was given to car owner and Autodrome Chaudière board member Arold Roy for his long standing contributions to ACT with pilot Alexendre ‘Fireball’ Tardif.
‘Fireball’ didn’t stop there, along with his fourth-place finish in overall points, the Notre-Dame-des-Pins driver also collected the Hard Charger Award for improving his starting position by a combined 89 positions in 2024 and his right-hand-man Samuel Carré earned the 2024 Crew Chief of the Year award.
2024 ACT Champion Gabe Brown and car owner Gene Brown earned the highest accolades of the evening. Alongside the $10,000 champion’s share of the point fund, the duo earned three 55-gallon drums of Sunoco Race Fuel courtesy of New England Racing Fuel, a JMS CD-1 Super Speedway ignition box and product certificates from Bassett Race Wheels, Kirkey Racing Fabrication and KRC Power Steering. Brown also earned the WB Tire Driver of the Year Award for both his touring highlights and his dominance of the Wall’s Ford Platinum Series events at White Mountain Motorsports Park.
Runner-up D.J. Shaw and car owner Arny Hill took home a $6,000 share of the point fund and product certificates from both Bassett and Kirkey while third-place owner-driver Derek Gluchacki accepted his $4,500 check and certificates from Bassett, Kirkey and the Edelbrock Corporation. Along with their season-long recognitions, Shaw was awarded the Top Qualifier Award for his combined six heat race wins throughout the season and Gluchacki earned the ACT Winner’s Circle accolades for being the only repeat winner on the ACT Tour in 2024 along with success in weekly competition at Thompson Speedway and the New London-Waterford Speedbowl.
After Shaw and Gluchacki were both awarded their second and third place marks on the Brookside Equipment Sales Southern New England Triple Crown, Derry, New Hampshire’s Erick Sands was on hand to collect his Brookside Equipment Triple Crown championship trophy. Combined with his sixth-place run on the Tour, Erick and car owner Jay Sands took home $4,000 in point fund money. Sands was also awarded the coveted Most Improved Driver Award for his increased successes, including his first career ACT win, in 2024.
St. Johnsbury, Vermont’s Kasey Beattie also collected $4,000 for his combined fifth-place effort and Rookie of the Year award alongside car owner Jeff Oeschger. The pair also earned the DRP Performance product certificate and Beattie’s chip was drawn for the New England Racing Fuel blind draw prize of one 55-gallon drum of Sunoco Race Fuel!
Among the other blind draw product certificates up for grabs on Saturday night, Derek Gluchacki was drawn for the $1,500 AR Bodies certificate while Jonathan Bouvrette’s number was pulled for the complete NextGen body courtesy of Five Star Race Car Bodies. Bryan Wall Jr. was drawn for the Bassett certificate for a free set of four powder coated wheels and also earned the Ford Performer of the Year award. Jesse Switser was drawn for the QA1 Precision Products certificate for a set of four Series 63 Shocks, later earning the coveted Sportsmanship Award for 2024.
Rochester, New Hampshire’s Cam Huntress and Shelburne’s Kaiden Fisher were also on hand Saturday night to collect their 2024 accolades. Huntress also earned the ACT Perseverance Award for his efforts this summer and Fisher, along with his S.D. Ireland team, were given the Best Appearing Team award on the Tour.
The American-Canadian Tour has officially closed out the 2024 season. Look forward to several recaps in the closing weeks of the year and some exciting news as we start out the New Year in January. The 2025 Schedule of Events for the international tour is available online at www.acttour.com.
For more information about the American-Canadian Tour, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com. You can also get updates on Facebook and Twitter at @ACTTour.
