Howe named Vermont Rookie of the Year; Quenneville to be honored for track title
WEST HAVEN, Vt. – Kenny Tremont Jr. will be one of three stock car drivers from Devil’s Bowl Speedway who will be honored for their accomplishments in Charlotte, N.C., in December. Tremont will be crowned the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series (NWAAS) Vermont State Champion for the first time in his career, and will also be recognized for winning the track championship at The Dirt Track at Devil’s Bowl in 2017.
In addition, Randy Howe will be celebrated as the NWAAS Vermont State Rookie of the Year, and Vince Quenneville Jr. will celebrate his second championship at The Asphalt Track at Devil’s Bowl. The drivers will be part of a black-tie gala for NASCAR Home Tracks weekly and touring series competitors at the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Charlotte Convention Center on Friday, December 8.
More than 60 weekly asphalt and dirt tracks across 29 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces make up the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series. Drivers compete for state, provincial, and national championships under a common point system; each driver’s 18 best results from January 1 through September 17 count toward the “Division I” titles, while support division drivers use their best 14 races in Divisions II-V for national points. More than 1,000 drivers compete in each division each year.
Devil’s Bowl Speedway operated both its half-mile Asphalt Track and its 3/10-mile Dirt Track under NWAAS sanction in 2017 with Sportsman Modifieds as the designated Division I class. In spite of running only the 14 NASCAR-sanctioned races held on the Dirt Track, Tremont’s performance was enough to give him a 35-point cushion over fellow dirt racer Tim LaDuc and a 37-point edge on two-track driver Vince Quenneville Jr.
West Sand Lake, N.Y., veteran Tremont won six times and earned 12 top-five finishes, gathering 435 points in the NASCAR Vermont State standings and ranking 67th in the NWAAS National Top 500. Tremont’s total point fund winnings for the track and state championships are expected to be well over $7,000.
LaDuc finished second in both the Dirt Track and Vermont State standings and will earn over $4,000 in total point fund money. Quenneville’s Asphalt Track championship, combined with third-place finishes in both the Dirt Track and Vermont State standings, will be worth more than $6,000.
Dirt racer Randy Howe of Lebanon, N.H., finished sixth in the state standings. As the top-ranked first-year NWAAS Division I license holder, Howe will be recognized in Charlotte as the NASCAR Vermont State Rookie of the Year and will collect a $1,000 check for his efforts.
Asphalt Late Model driver Lee Pulliam of Semora, N.C., won his fourth NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Championship with 19 wins in 45 starts across eight tracks in the Southeast, and is expected to haul in nearly $35,000. Californian Trevor Huddleston finished second, followed by Canadians Steve Côté and Gord Shepherd, and Minnesota’s Jacob Goede.
Devil’s Bowl Speedway’s support division drivers also made an impression in the national standings, with five drivers cracking the Top 100 in Division II. Super Stock racer Scott FitzGerald of West Rutland, Vt., ranked 66th after 21 combined starts on asphalt and dirt, with Jim McKiernan 72nd, Dirt Track champion Chris Murray 84th, and Asphalt Track champion Dylan Rabtoy 99th.
Devil’s Bowl Dirt Track Mini Stock champion Chris Charbonneau of Rutland, Vt., had the highest national placement of any Devil’s Bowl driver in 2017, finishing 28th in Division III standings. Andrew FitzGerald finished a single point behind Charbonneau in 29th, while also ranking in the Top 100 were Roo Forrest in 57th, Johnny Bruno in 75th, and Asphalt Track champion Shawn Moquin in 76th.
In addition, the University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) awards the Youth Achievement Award each season for the best-performing drivers age 14-17. West Rutland, Vt.’s Roo Forrest, 17, earned the most points in the category across all divisions on the Asphalt Track at Devil’s Bowl, while 14 year-old Johnny Bruno, of Castleton, Vt., took the award for the Dirt Track. Forrest ranked 29th in the UNOH national standings with Bruno 36th; each driver will win a $500 cash prize and a $500 scholarship to UNOH.
Devil’s Bowl Speedway is located on Route 22A in West Haven, Vt., four miles north of U.S. Route 4, Exit 2. For more information, visit www.DevilsBowlSpeedwayVT.com or call (802) 265-3112. Devil’s Bowl Speedway is on Facebook at @DevilsBowlSpeedway and on Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat at @DevilsBowlSpeed; follow the action using the hashtag #DevilsBowl.
(Photos by Barry Snelling/Devil’s Bowl Speedway and Michael John Pierce)