Airborne Speedway Redesigned, Fall Foliage 300 Returns to ACT Schedule
PLATTSBURGH, NY - Airborne Speedway Promoter Mike Perrotte has announced
plans for a major renovation of the historic Plattsburgh, NY stock car
track, including a total reconfiguration of the racing surface and layout
for the 2009 racing season. As a result, the track has added a second
American-Canadian Tour Late Model Championship event, the storied Fall
Foliage 300, to its 2009 schedule.
The addition of the race brings the ACT schedule to 13 championship events,
and compliments the annual Spring Green 100 at Airborne on May 9. The 38th
Annual Fall Foliage 300 will be held on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009. The 300-lap
distance will also be the first of its kind for the present-day ACT Late
Model Tour.
Airborne Speedway's 4/10-mile, D-shaped layout will be partially razed to
allow construction of new, sweeping, progressively-banked corners, creating
multiple racing grooves and closer competition. The present layout has been
in use since 1990. Previously, Airborne Speedway had been a 5/8-mile track
with both dirt and asphalt surfaces since 1954.
The Fall Foliage event has a grand history, beginning in 1972 as a 200-lap
race at the former Catamount Stadium in Milton, VT. After Bobby Dragon won
the inaugural event, the race distance was increased to 300 laps. Winners of
the era included Canadians Don Beiderman and Jean-Paul Cabana, southern
stars Butch Lindley, L.D. Ottinger, and Robbie Crouch, and New Englanders
Stub Fadden and Dick McCabe. When Catamount closed its doors after 1987, the
race moved to Maine's Beech Ridge Motor Speedway for three seasons, won by
Crouch, Buzzie Bezanson, and Dave Dion.
Crouch won the first two Fall Foliage 300s at Airborne Speedway in 1991-92,
while the present-day Late Model division took over in 1996 with a 200-lap
race. That year produced one of the most memorable finishes in ACT history,
as Dave Whitcomb beat Ron Weston and Jean-Paul Cyr in a three-wide photo
finish for the victory. For 2002 only, Vermont's Thunder Road hosted the
race, won by Maine rookie Ryan Moore. Cyr won as the Fall Foliage returned
to Airborne in 2003, while Brent Dragon and Patrick Laperle won the race in
2004 and 2005, respectively, as a 150-lap event.
Open-wheel Modifieds took control of the race in 2006-08, each year won by
future hall-of-famer Kenny Tremont, Jr. Tremont's 2006 victory was in a
75-lap event, while 100-lap scores came in each of the last two years.
"The Fall Foliage 300 has certainly had a quirky history, but it's a
glorious one with a past winners list that reads like a who's-who of short
track racing," said ACT President Tom Curley. "ACT's Late Model division got
its start at Airborne Speedway, and we know that the return of the Fall
Foliage event there will be an important happening for many of our race
teams and fans."
