Brent Dragon: ACT Late Model Tour
Lee USA Speedway Race Preview

Brent Dragon of Milton, Vt., opens the 2010 ACT Late Model Tour season with the NH Governor’s Cup 150 at Lee USA Speedway in Lee, N.H., on Sunday, April 18. Dragon, who has competed in the series since its inception 18 years ago, owns the most career starts (174) in ACT Late Model Tour history to go along with nine career victories. Though he’s yet to win the championship, the 3-time Airborne Speedway track champion has finished second in the final ACT standings on three different occasions.

WHO: Brent Dragon
TEAM: Beverage Mart/Furniture World of VT/Charlebois Freightliner/Newton Pellets No. 55 Chevrolet
BEST CAREER LEE USA SPEEDWAY FINISH: 6th (three times)
LAST RACE AT LEE USA SPEEDWAY: 9th (April, 2009)

WHAT: ACT Late Model Tour NH Governor’s Cup 150
WHERE: Lee USA Speedway, Lee, N.H. (.333-mile oval)
WHEN: 1:15 p.m., Sunday, April 18

ACT Late Model Tour
LAST RACE: N/A
NEXT RACE: Sunday, April 25, Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Malta, N.Y.

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BRENT, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT LEE USA SPEEDWAY?

It’s one of my favorite tracks — one of the top three or four tracks on my list that I really like. It reminds me a lot of the old Airborne Speedway. We’ve always gone well there, but never had any finishes to show that. For some reason, we always seem to have terrible (qualifying) draws for the first race of the year.

It seems we’ve always started 30th or 32nd and ended up finishing seventh or eighth.

WHAT’S THE SECRET TO RUNNING WELL AT LEE?

Tire management is probably the biggest thing. It’s really tough on tires. The tires get so used up there that when you put new ones on, you can’t believe the car was that bad before. I bet we pick up a second, second and a half (in lap times) when we put new tires on.

With our cars, it is a two-groove race track. It’s pretty easy to race side-by-side there — at least it is until late in the race. Then the tires go away and everybody gets so loose.

HOW IMPORTANT IS A GOOD START TO THE SEASON AT LEE?

You’ve absolutely got to start the year off right. We always seem to start off slow, and it always seemed to be because we were starting off the year with a new car — and you’ve really got to start off those first two or three races really good.

I haven’t (started well) for years. We always seem to get going later in the year — but hopefully because we finished so strong last year and we’re bringing back the same car with all those notes to work from, we should be pretty close (to a winning setup) when we get to the track.