1.24.2008

A marriage made in... well, I'm not really sure

OK, so chalk this one up under the heading of "Partnerships I Never Saw Coming."

The American-Candian Tour announced this week that Torco Race Fuels is now the official fuel supplier of ACT Late Model racing. That means the roaring brand of fuel better known for its association with those drag racers in the nitromethane crowd will now be powering up the choked-off, barely-breathing, sealed up tighter than a biohazard waste receptacle outside the hospital emergency room, crate engines of ACT machines.

I don't get it. Maybe the fine folks over in the ACT marketing department (yes, you know who you are, you Montreal Canadiens-loving lunatics) figured this was the best way to dispel the myth that these Late Models have no horses under the hood.

There it is in black and white, however. Torco is expected to "pony" up for both championship and point standing awards.

“Our relationship with Torco will address major issues involving the technical inspection of our race cars," said ACT president Tom Curley, "and the full support we are receiving from (Torco and RT Raceparts) will help to maintain the integrity of the fuel required in our rule book."

8 comments:

Tenbomber said...

Seems like this is a pretty straight forward and matter of fact announcement.... not much different than what PASS does with Sunocco Racing fuels?...

I guess I dont see what is the big woof?...Unless you are just trying to add a spark to fuel (pardon the pun) another explosion of the repiticious Maine based prostock / late model holy war?

Curley probably just wants them to run the same racing fuel...and if the plan is feasable and profitable and it adds another good sponser to benefit the tour... why not?

TBarrett said...

OK, so I wrote this one a little tongue-in-cheek... But it is worth noting that Torco is far better known as an NHRA/IHRA sponsor than an oval track one.

TB

Anonymous said...

Ironic isn't it??? HA HA!!

Funny how most of those "suck wind", “dinosaur” critics of spec engines have never actually been behind the wheel of one (or maybe it's just hypocrisy?!?).

All kidding aside, I think a large reason ACT went with a single fuel source can be found in the last few paragraphs of the press release. Don’t underestimate racers ability to create some “strange brews” to run their race cars on. Like the spec engines and Goodyear tires I would expect some weekly tracks to follow suit.

Tenbomber said...

I'm just curious Andy...I have three questions for you that I'm sure both your supporters and your critics would like to know the answer to...

1 How many years did you run a late model?

I know you did race one since I have the picture of the car with a young Andy B smiling proudly while standing next to it...(it was a sharp looking LM might I add)..

2 What was your best Thunder Road Late Model finish back when you raced your late model?... how many top tens and top 5's?

3 Also... did you ever tour at all with your late maodel?

thanks...

Anonymous said...

How come Andy hasn't responded yet? Am I missing something here?

Anonymous said...

Hey anom,

I didn't respond earlier because I was out riding my sled - ya hoo!!

Yes I did run in the Late Model class for a few years - both at Thunder Road, WMMP & on tour. Best finish was 5th, with a few top 10's thrown in the mix as well.

Point being???

Anonymous said...

Andy- You missed one question, did you ever tour?
POint being- you didn't answer.

Anonymous said...

Hey anom,

Please read my answers again and you will see I did answer that one too, although I'm not sure how part of my racing bio has any relevance with ACT moving to one racing fuel source.

I will say it appears to me ACT is just doing what other series like NASCAR and DIRT Motorsports (or whatever the dirt modified branch is officially called now) have been doing for several years.

Until more tracks get on board with the specific brand of Turco used on the ACT Tour, this may reduce the number of local teams that run when the series visits their track. It sounds like any car that runs an ACT event will need to use the Turco fuel and will probably have to flush out whatever they have been using.

I think in the long run this is a good idea, but in the short term as this program gets off the ground there may be a dip in car counts and a bit of controversy along the way.