Brent Dragon: ACT Late Model Tour
Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl Race Preview

Brent Dragon of Milton, Vt., heads to a track where he’s a 4-time winner in the ACT Late Model Tour Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt., on Sunday, September 5. The 2004 champion of this event, Dragon has won all three of Thunder Road’s marquee Late Model events — the Labor Day Classic, the Memorial Day Classic and the prestigious Milk Bowl. Coming off a 9th-place finish in the non-points Showdown at Chaudiere last week, Dragon enters the weekend second in the ACT standings with three races remaining. Dragon was also named earlier today as one of the first 20 drivers named to the starting grid of the 2nd annual ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 18.

WHO: Brent Dragon, Milton, Vt.
TEAM: No. 55 Beverage Mart/Furniture World of VT/Charlesbois Freightliner/Newton Pellets Chevrolet
BEST CAREER THUNDER ROAD FINISH: 1st (4 times; most recently, October 2006)
LAST RACE AT THUNDER ROAD: 10th (May 2010)

WHAT: ACT Late Model Tour Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200
WHERE: Thunder Road International Speedbowl, Barre, Vt. (.25-mile oval)
WHEN: 1:30 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 5

ACT Late Model Tour
LAST RACE: Saturday, August 28, Showdown At Chaudiere 200, Vallee-Jonction, Que. (9th-place)
NEXT RACE: Sunday, Sept. 12, Mohawk Casino 300, Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. (.500-mile oval).
POINTS POSITION: 2nd

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BRENT, HOW MUCH MORE DIFFICULT IS A 200-LAP RACE AT THUNDER ROAD?

It’s tough there. We have years at the track where it gets so tight that you can’t even turn the car in the corners, and then we have years at the track where the car gets so loose you swear you can’t even hold onto it. I think a lot of it is chassis setup, because one guy will be really tight and the next guy will be really loose.

I think you have to be on that fine line. I think the guys that race there weekly have an advantage over us Tour guys right now. That’s a tough race, but I’m sort of looking forward to it just because of that.

IS THE LABOR DAY CLASSIC 200 ONE OF THE BIGGEST RACES OF THE YEAR?

I look at it as one of the five major races we have here in this area. When my dad (Beaver Dragon) and my Uncle Bobby (Dragon) were really going, that race was on the list of ones you looked at. The Memorial Day Classic, the Labor Day Classic, the Milk Bowl, and then the New England 300 and the Spring Green 100 at Airborne — those are all pretty big to people in Vermont and New York.

To have your name on a list of winners there, that means a lot as far as racing goes.

YOU MUST BE LOOKING FORWARD TO COMPETING IN THE 2ND ACT INVITATIONAL.

I’m excited. I’m really looking forward to going back. It’s our Super Bowl for the year, in front of a big crowd on that track.

It helps our sport on the whole when we go there. It’s a positive thing all the way around.