Zoom, Zoom, Zoom Racing in Ohio

Episode 104

May 1, 2016

Caribou native Carl Theriault, center in shorts, received the East Coast Timing Association's 200 Mile Per Hour Club award from Tonya Turk on his left. Others are unidentified. Theriault brought his Ford Mustang to the Ohio Mile event in Wilmington, Ohio. JRT Customs photo

Caribou native Carl Theriault, center in shorts, received the East Coast Timing Association’s 200 Mile Per Hour Club award from Tonya Turk on his left. Others 200 MPH Club recipients are unidentified. Theriault brought his Ford Mustang to the Ohio Mile event in Wilmington, Ohio. JRT Customs photo

Caribou Native Meets Goals at the Ohio Mile

Caribou native and Zoom, Zoom, Zoom Racing Team owner,  Carl Theriault, now living in Massachusetts, brought his Ford Mustang  to compete at the East Coast Timing Association’s (ECTA)  Ohio Mile races in Wilmington, Ohio. The Ohio Mile draws land speed racers from all parts of the United States as well as other countries. Part of the draw is for those in the stock classes to try to win the Hot Rod Magazine Challenge. Theriault was not competing in that class.

Carl Theriault with his 1987 Mustang after arriving at the Wilmington, Ohio site. JRT Customs photo

Carl Theriault with his 1987 Mustang shortly after arriving at the Wilmington, Ohio site. JRT Customs photo

Theriault had this to say about the events of the day. A more comprehensive report will follow since he and his mechanic Jason Theriault were exhausted from the day’s events. ” I’m beat and haven’t eaten since breakfast so it’s gotta be short. It had rained last night so racing started late… but then it was a WAY BETTER day than had been forecasted!”

“My first run I was hoping to get my 200 license on all motor. There were big head winds and I only went 192.7??…’ Betsie’ didn’t seem to pull like it usually does… but oh well.I set my first record at Ohio!”

“It was now time for some NOS!!! My next run it didn’t go into 3rd like it should have.. and wound up in 5th!!! I hit the NOS anyways and it pulled to 199.7??.. I set my record as i got my 200 license,.. but not in the 200 club yet.”

“My next pass I left everything the same.. and it shifted like it should.. but again didn’t pull like it should… BUT!!! she went 204+!!!! I got in the 200 club in Ohio!!!! The Zoom, Zoom, Zoom Racing team set three class records and earned membership in the 200 MPH Club. In addition to Carl the team consisted of Brian Theriault, Tim Bybee, and Jason Theriault. They will be back in action next weekend

Motorsports Activity Along the Journey

While traveling to Ohio the two Theriaults, Jason and Carl, who are unrelated, visited JC Specialty in Penns Creek, Pennsylvania. JC Specialty is one of the larger kart racing businesses in the northeast region of the United States.

JC Specialty Kart Shop in Penns Creek, Pennlyvania. JRT Customs photo

JC Specialty Kart Shop in Penns Creek, Pennlyvania. JRT Customs photo

Showroom at JC Specialty. The shop area featured a full service engine and kart repair. In addition, a warehouse full of kart racing parts is on site. JRT Customs photo

Showroom at JC Specialty. The shop area featured a full service engine and kart repair. In addition, a warehouse full of kart racing parts is on site. JRT Customs photo

The travelers also tested their kart racing skills at Full Throttle Indoor Karting in Cincinnati, Ohio. Rumor has it that Carl was the fastest in the group beating even the experienced Jason Theriault.

Frenchville Native Wins First Feature of 2016

Shawn Martin originally from Frenchville now living in Auburn is one of the racers I plan to follow this season since he has County roots. Martin won his first feature race of this season in the Super Late Model class at Oxford Plains Speedway Sunday.

Last week's episode featured a photo of Shawn Martin's car being named the "Best of Show". This week Martin added another trophy to his collection winning the feature race at Oxford Plains Speedway Sunday. Tim Akers photo

Last week’s episode featured a photo of Shawn Martin’s car winning the “Best of Show” trophy.. This week Martin added another trophy to his collection winning the feature race at Oxford Plains Speedway Sunday. Tim Akers photo

Martin said, “The car was really good in practice today but got really tight in the heat race.The crew made a change and the car was perfect during the feature.” “These things are so fun to drive when they handle that well. I was very happy to get the win for the team and all our awesome sponsors.”

Austin On the Podium In His First Road Course Race 

Fort Kent’s Austin Theriault was back in the news this week with his announcement that he will be back in a Brad Keselowski Racing Truck at the Charlotte race this month. He also competed in his first career road course race.

Austin Theriault's Hattori Racing Toyota at the 2.27 mile Virginia International Raceway. Photo courtesy AT Racing

Austin Theriault’s Hattori Racing Toyota at the 2.27 mile Virginia International Raceway. Photo courtesy AT Racing

The K & N East Series was at Virginia International Raceway Saturday for the Biscuitville 125 on the picturesque  2.27 mile road course. Theriault was in the top five the entire race and moved into a solid third place at the finish.

Austin Theriault with his grandparents Betty and Richard Theriault at the Bristol Race couple weeks ago. AT Racing photo

Austin Theriault with his grandparents Betty and Richard Theriault at the NASCAR K & N East Series Bristol race  April 16th. AT Racing photo

RYAN Motorsports Releases Images of their 2016 Late Model

The RYAN Motorsports Late Model

The RYAN Motorsports Late Model to be driven by Ryan Messer at Speedway 660. RYAN Motorsports photo

RYAN Motorsports based in Harvey, New Brunswick,  will be campaigning one of the finest turned out late-model sportsman at Speedway 660 in New Brunswick this season. The driver is 15-year-old Ryan Messer who will be in his 8th season of racing, the second in the late-model sportsman.

The crew chief is Ryan’s father Robb who will be assisted by his wife Penny in a ride which I call “Penske-ized”. The car, hauler, and shop are immaculate. I wish this family based team the best of luck in 2016 and will be keeping tabs on their season.

Under 22 at MIK

I had the opportunity to once again do some pre-season kart racing at Maine Indoor Karting in Scarborough last Friday evening. I was in the area for the Iron Sharpens Iron event on Saturday in Portland.

One of my goals for the evening was to get my times into the 22 second range. the best I could do the last time I was at MIK was 23.02 seconds. I needed to improve that if possible.

Good news! I got a 22.682 lap as well as several others in the sub 23 range. There were several good racers there and I was able to finish third, second, sixth, and first in the four races I ran that evening. My 22.682 was fifth fastest for the day and seventh fastest for the week.

The racers in my third race of the evening in which I placed 6th. From left to right Bryan Dodge, Brunswick, Kyle Franklin, Durham, race winner Evan Beaulieu, Durham, me, Josh Saxton, harpswell, Zachary Dehahn, Brunswick, Tyler Walter, Bowdoinham, and Noah Kenney, Harpswell. Ryan Cote photo

The racers in my third race of the evening in which I placed 6th. From left to right Bryan Dodge, Brunswick, Kyle Franklin, Durham, race winner Evan Beaulieu, Durham, me, Josh Saxton, Harpswell, Zachary Dehahn, Brunswick, Tyler Walter, Bowdoinham, and Noah Kenney, Harpswell. Ryan Cote photo

Ken Block’s World Rallycross Ford Focus

Studio shot of Ken Block's Ford Focus in foreground with Andreas Bakkerud's Focus in back. Ford Performance photo

Studio shot of Ken Block’s Ford Focus in foreground with Andreas Bakkerud’s Focus in back. Ford Performance photo

The Hoonigan Racing Ford Focus RX made their World Rallycross debut at Montalegre, Portugal April 18th with Bakkerud making it into the finals finishing fourth overall. Ken Block ran into some computer programming problems and did not make it into the final. Their next World rallycross event is the next weekend in Germany. For an interesting look at the building of the cars check it out here.http://bit.ly/1NQyvzy

Loring Timing Association Kicks Off the Motorsports Season in Northern Maine

If you are itching for motorsports action in Northern Maine  check out Loring Timing Association’s first event of the year at the former Loring Air Force base in Limestone. The first of three events always features unique cars and people and very fast times with the cool spring temperature and dense air. Check out their webpage for a complete schedule of events www.loringtiming.com.  Say hello if you see me there.

Welcome Aboard to My Newest Sponsor

I want to say thank you to the latest business to share marketing time with HTF Motorsports in 2016, Pine Tree Cleaning & Restoration of Fort Fairfield. Geri and her team offer the best services for those in need of clean up after fire and/or smoke damage or just about any other cleaning need. Give Geri a call. As part of the deal I got my first pit crew member for this season, her 10 year-old grandson Bryce.

Let’s go racing,

Tom Hale

Soli Deo Gloria

Tom Hale

About Tom Hale

Tom wrote 14 years as freelancer for the Bangor Daily Sports covering motorsports in Maine. Now blogging and concentrating on human interest stories about people and places in racing. He races Champ Karts and owns HTF Motorsports in remote Westmanland, Maine