Barre, VT — As the final days of 2023 slowly slip from the calendar, we wanted to look back at some of our most memorable events on the American-Canadian Tour in 2023. This past season was a banner year, making it all the more difficult to narrow down to just five events but in the spirit of the Holidays we dug deep!

Here are our favorite picks as we look back on the 2023 season. (Note: Events Listed in Chronological Order)

Saturday, April 15, 2023 – Northeast Classic at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

The popular season opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the Northeast Classic has quickly become the destination event of the early New England racing season. Once again headlined by the American-Canadian Tour, Pro All Stars Series and Open Tour-type Modifieds, the Northeast Classic continues to grow as an exciting season opener for the Northeast’s most popular divisions.

Led to green by D.J. Shaw and Tom Carey III, a pair of next-generation drivers trying to join their fathers as winners on New England’s biggest stage, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts driver Derek Gluchacki quickly charged around them to the front. Although former Loudon winner and ACT Champion Jimmy Hebert poured the pressure on late, Carey and Shaw never wavered in their pursuit of Gluchacki.

Open air allowed Carey to follow Gluchacki’s tire tracks over the final circuits, giving him one last shot as the two Bay Staters motored into Turn Three. The two duked it out down the long Magic Mile straightaway for the final time with Gluchacki just edging Carey by 0.060-seconds to take his second consecutive Northeast Classic victory.

Sunday, June 25, 2023 – Claude Leclerc 150 at Autodrome Chaudiere

As wildfires had plagued the Canadian Province of Quebec all spring up to that point, rains pushing back the Claude Leclerc 150 at Autodrome Chaudiere in June weren’t exactly an upsetting point for many fans North of the Border. Although a day late, teams and fans filled Chaudiere in droves for one of the most popular events on the yearly calendar.

Chaudiere’s unique high-banked layout provides some of the most unique driving of the year, often three wide as the fast groove moves from down on the rumble strips to extremely high against the wall as the drivers click off laps. Under the hazy smog of the wildfires, young William Larue and defending Claude Leclerc 150 champion Jonathan Bouvrette led the field to green. Although Bouvrette led the early stages, Candia, New Hampshire’s Jimmy Renfrew Jr. took charge on lap 60 in a three-wide battle with Bouvrette and Dany Trepanier.

Trepanier fought tooth and nail with the Granite Stater for the next 90 laps, pulling up bumper to bumper on multiple occasions and dead-heat restarts. Renfrew would ultimately prevail, taking his biggest ACT win to date with the $5,000 prize and his first Canadian victory.

Saturday, August 5, 2023 – 6th annual Milton CAT Midsummer Classic 250 at White Mountain

The Thunder and Lightning of the American-Canadian Tour returned to their New Hampshire home at White Mountain Motorsports Park for one of the biggest modern events in the Northeast. The 6th annual Milton CAT Midsummer Classic 250 once again proved why it has become so popular so quickly with action on every lap, following three rounds of qualifying that whittled the 42-cars in the pit area to a 31-car starting field!

A young pair of ACT teams with plenty of experience on the White Mountain highbanks, Ryan Olsen and Tanner Woodard, led the field to green. The youth movement didn’t end there, soon-to-be King of the Mountain track champion Kasey Beattie led laps after the first pit cycles while Derek Gluchacki and Gabe Brown’s rivalry hit the boiling point in a fight for the lead with 56 laps remaining.

The melee allowed Jesse Switser to sneak around D.J. Shaw and Scott Dragon’s up-front battle to steal away the lead on lap 198 and take it all the way home after qualifying in through his Last Chance Race victory. Switser went from Zero to Hero in 198 laps, stealing the $10,000 win and becoming the first White Mountain Motorsports Park regular in history to win an American-Canadian Tour event at the facility.

Saturday, August 13, 2023 – Spring Green 123 at Seekonk Speedway

Although rain pushed the Spring Green back into late summer, it was the first time the iconic American-Canadian Tour event was held in the Bay State of Massachusetts. Seekonk Speedway annually hosts some of the best side-by-side ACT racing, and 2023 was no exception. While top championship chasers like D.J. Shaw, Gabe Brown and Erick Sands hit the Dog-Days-of-Summer Blues, the Rookies flourished at the Cement Palace!

Freshman tour chaser Andrew Molleur led his first American-Canadian Tour laps in the early goings and later battled fellow rookie Tanner Woodard in the top-5 the rest of the night. Fellow youngster and Southern New England standout Connor Souza also showed his Seekonk mastery battling with Molleur and Derek Gluchacki in the early run. Gluchacki also had his hands full with longtime ACT veteran Joey Polewarczyk Jr., duking it out at the front for the majority of the 123-lap event that saw Polewarczyk return to ACT victory lane, claiming his both his second Spring Green and second Seekonk win with the American-Canadian Tour!

Sunday, October 22, 2023 – The Haunted Hundred at New London-Waterford Speedbowl

The American-Canadian Tour ended 2023 on high with 49 teams piling into the New London-Waterford Speedbowl pit area in late October for the Haunted Hundred. As if Gabe Brown and D.J. Shaw’s title fight wasn’t enough to get the adrenaline flowing, fans got their money’s worth with three rounds of nail-biting qualifying action that saw nearly twenty cars go home.

An interesting pairing of Mainer Nick Cusack and Canadian Zackary Fauteaux led the field to green but it was New Hampshire’s Erick Sands who stole the early show. Sands led a hard-fought 24 laps, battling with Shaw and Cusack in five restart cycles during his strongest run of the year. Unfortunately, his hopes for a first ACT win went up in smoke with a burned-up ignition on lap 59.

Shaw took charge and led to the final lap, even under massive pressure from Quebec’s Alexendre ‘Fireball’ Tardif and a hard-charging Gabe Brown who had to win the B-Feature to qualify in. Shaw overcame the largest points deficit in American-Canadian Tour history to jump over Brown in the standings and claim his second-consecutive ACT Tour championship.

All of us with the American-Canadian Tour wish our fans, teams and supporters a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year!

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.

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Looking Back: The Top-5 Events on the American-Canadian Tour in 2023

American Canadian Tour