2018 American-Canadian Tour Season: By the Numbers

Do you like numbers? We’ve got some numbers for you! The 2018 American-Canadian Tour season crammed a lot into a short amount of time, and we’ve got the numbers to back it up. What first-time winner milestones were reached? How did this year’s rookies stack up to past years? Just how good has Scott Payea been for the last two seasons? We have the answers to those any many other questions. Check out the numbers behind the year that was and come back often for more off-season content!

1 – 2018 was the first season for ACT under the new ownership of Cris Michaud and Pat Malone.

2 – Number of first-time ACT winners in 2018 (Jason Corliss and William Wall). It was the first time since 2014 that there was more than one first-time winner.

2 – Two of the three tracks that hosted multiple events saw drivers post “season sweeps”. Jason Corliss won both events at Thunder Road Speedbowl and Eddie MacDonald won both events at Oxford Plains Speedway.

3 – Number of drivers who were running at the finish of all 10 events: Scott Payea, Eddie MacDonald, and Dylan Payea.

3 – Three drivers tied for the most heat race wins with three each: Scott Payea, Jimmy Hebert, and Corey Mason.

4 – Four different drivers won two ACT races in 2018: Scott Payea, Eddie MacDonald, Jimmy Hebert, and Jason Corliss. It was the first time since 2009, and only the second time in Late Model Tour history, that four drivers tied for the most wins during the season.

4 – Scott Payea is the 4th driver to win back-to-back ACT Late Model Tour titles, joining Brian Hoar, Jean-Paul Cyr, and Wayne Helliwell Jr. Those four drivers are also the only ones to win multiple ACT titles.

5 – Number of times that the feature winner started 10th or worse in 2018. This happened only six times total from 2015-2017. (Note: In 2018, ACT implemented a new rule that previous winners during the season can’t start better than 10th.)

6 – Dylan Payea’s 6th-place finish in final points was the best performance by a rookie since 2013, when Bobby Therrien finished 4th overall and Travis Stearns finished 6th. (2013 was also the last time two rookies were in the overall top-10 until this year; Christopher Pelkey finished T-10th in 2018.)

6 – Number of podium finishes by Scott Payea, the most of any driver.

10 – RPM Racing has now won 10 ACT Late Model Tour championships. Those titles have come with three different drivers: Jean-Paul Cyr (5), Brian Hoar (3), and Scott Payea (2).

13 – Number of drivers who earned at least one podium finish in 2018.

19 – Patrick Laperle earned his 19th ACT Late Model Tour victory at Speedway 51 on June 2, putting him into a 3-way tie for 2nd on the all-time list. His 42 combined wins between ACT U.S. and Série ACT would tie him with Brian Hoar. (Note: one of Laperle’s ACT wins was in a U.S.-Quebec combo event.)

26 – Consecutive top-10 finishes in ACT events for Scott Payea. His streak goes back to the middle of the 2016 season.

29.5 – Average car count at point-counting ACT events.

40 – Number of cars at the season-opening Community Bank 150 at Thunder Road Speedbowl, the most of any event in 2018. It was the first time since the same event in 2016 that an ACT event drew 40 or more cars.

47 – Amount of races Jimmy Hebert went between his second career ACT win (August 3, 2013 at Sanair Super Speedway) and his third (July 15, 2018 at Speedway 51).

1 – Amount of races Hebert went between his third win and his fourth.

75 – William Wall’s victory at Thompson Speedway on October 13 made him the 75th different winner in ACT Late Model Tour history.

76 – Age, in years, of Claude “The Ironman” Leclerc, who finished 7th in ACT points in 2018 and attended every event.

94 – Number of drivers who attended at least 1 ACT Late Model Tour event on the 10-race schedule.

280 – Laps led by Eddie MacDonald, more than any other driver.

301 – Number of ACT Late Model Tour events that have been held since the series was founded in 1992. The Labor Day Classic at Thunder Road Speedbowl on September 2 was the 300th point-counting event in Tour history.

1,477 – Laps completed by Scott Payea. He was the only driver to complete every lap run. He also completed every lap during the 2017 season.

$9,900 – Jason Corliss finished the year 5th in total winnings even though he only entered 3 of the 10 events – thanks to winning two of those events.

$168,579.85 – Total career winnings for Scott Payea, who is now up to 6th on the all-time ACT Late Model Tour money list.