News Director 
Column By: MATTHEW WIERNASZ / RPW – STRONG, ME – Tracy Gordon is back racing in the PASS North Super Late Model Series for 2017.
Gordon ran his first race of the season at Oxford back on April 23rd and finished 12th on the lead lap. He then went on to the Beech Ridge Motor Speedway to run the PASS 300 and finish in 5th, and most recently, ran at Star this past weekend where he finished 16th, completing only 119 of the 150 laps..
Gordon is planning to do most of the PASS races this season. He will not head to Montmagny this weekend. He will also run a Granite State Pro Stock here and there and possibly a race at Wiscasset Speedway.
Gordon took a nine year hiatus before returning. He was racing for Woodworks Racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East part time. Gordon’s crew chief had an opportunity to go down south along with the car owner. Between the team falling apart and Gordon becoming a dad to a daughter he figured he pay attention to her until she was able to go to the races. After being out of the car for almost 10 years, Gordon feels he still has the reflexes to race.
” I don’t know if I quite used to have the killer instinct I used to have. When your driving a race car, you got to worry about nobody but yourself and I am not quite as much that way when I am sitting around talking to people. I think when I get my helmet on. I am still the same way I was. You only worry about yourself and no one else. You kind of got to be a greedy bugger to be a race car driver when your racing and if you want to be in your prime.” Gordon Said
Fatherhood became a first priority for Gordon as he didn’t have the money to race and when his daughter Taylor was born. Gordon wanted to make his business bigger as he had over 20 employees working for him and ended up losing his shirt doing that. He shrunk down his business where he can handle it himself.
What made Gordon come back into racing ?? Someone asked him to drive his late model at Unity and he had fun and realized how much he missed it. He would then run a late model at Wiscasset a few times which was actually the same car. Matt Frahm’s father Dave asked him to run his car up at Speedway 51 and then got hooked on racing again.
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park will be doing a NASCAR Busch North Throwback on July 8th with the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. Gordon won a race at the 5/8 mile oval Gordon had a lot of fun running in the NASCAR Busch North Series. Fans would get to see drivers like Andy Santerre, Kelly Moore, Dick McCabe, Martin Truex, JR, Mike Olsen, Jamie Aube, Brad Leighton, Mike Stefanik, and more.
” It was expensive but it wasn’t like it is now. I hear people spending $50,000 dollars per race for a K&N East ride. Its just ridiculous. It was expensive but somewhat still affordable. It was more of a close knit thing. It wasn’t a bunch of rich kids that made a bunch of money to go run. It was people that worked hard at it. That was their hobby. Nowadays all you gotta do is throw your money at a team and you can drive for them. It wasn’t like that back then. You can throw money at a team but you still had to be able to drive. I can’t say enough about the old Busch North. Even the officials we’re friends with us. It just the way it was. It ain’t like that anymore.” Gordon Said
A memorable win for Gordon in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East which was then the NASCAR Busch North Series was at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2002. It was by far the biggest win of his career. His father was still alive then. He got the win with crew chief Steve May and he has passed on. It was an exciting win. Gordon still gets goosebumps when he watches the win on Youtube.
Gordon remembers Matt Kobyluck jumping the restart and remembers it was a dirty area back then.
” A few people started doing it. They sit on the outside and go because you can’t pass in the inside until the start finish line so the guys back sixth seventh eighth place would sit on the outside and they hold back and get a big run and when the green flag would come out. They already had a head of steam and go blowing by ya all the leaders. Kobyluck was 6th and we went into the first turn. He was leading the race so I was quite upset by that. Leading the race and having the sixth place guy pass you before you get to the first turn so I was upset about that.” Gordon Said
Gordon remembers earlier that season that Dale Quarterley had done the same exact thing to him.
” If your up to a guys door, you got the spot usually at Loudon you probably give him a lift but in that case but I got screwed earlier so when I was up to his door. I weren’t giving him a lift and we ended up getting together and he (Kobyluck) ended up in the wall. The same thing got done to me earlier in the season and I got spun out by Dale Quarterley and I went in the wall too. You know that NASCAR is not going to make that call because you really do have the spot but your not going fast enough. You outta give a lift.” Gordon Said
Gordon went down south purchased a complete LFR car for the 2016 season when he ran PASS last year. He also took down his motor and transmission When he went down and ran at Hickory and the car ran good. He picked up the car and went right to the track. He got involved in a wreck but Gordon felt the car was good.
He brought his car up north and felt it was not made for a flat track. It was made for a bank track. He really struggled with the car for the first half of the season. He was getting it going at the end of the season. He hopes this year that he has the ducks in a row so the team won’t be chasing their tails and then improve on what they got.
The next win Gordon would like to his list is the Oxford 250. One of the biggest short track races in the country. He has finished second in the event twice. Gordon would not be happy with second. Gordon does feel though a top 3 finish would be a good day. He does have top 3, top 5 and top 10 finishes in the event. One of the reasons Gordon came back into racing was because he still does not have a 250 win.
” I’ve dominated that race a couple times and had it taken away from me with mechanical failure in one and spun out a couple times in another one. I probably had it taken away from me four times that I can think of that I should of won and didn’t.” Gordon Said
Without a 250 win, it will not be satisfying for Gordon. Gordon wants to get stuff figured out for this race. He had other stuff figured out pretty good. He believes the competition in the 250 is stiffer because he is not going as good as he used to but once he gets his car figured out hopefully he will be back dominating those races like he used to. He believes there is still the same amount of dominant of teams now and when he ran the 250 back then.
Gordon’s daughter Taylor likes to watch her dad race and will joke around about it.
” She picks on me because I haven’t won any races since shes been around there so she picks on me horribly almost as I pick on her about her skiing. If I go out in a qualifier and I have a horrible qualifier. You don’t come in and pick on me and make fun of me. She doesn’t got that yet.” Gordon Said
Over the winter, Gordon was being very supportive in cheering his daughter throughout skiing events in Maine. Gordon could not be anymore proud of his daughter for her accomplishments He is beaming most of the time at her skiing races. Taylor ranked second in the state. in her skiing races.
Gordon’s goals for 2017 is to win a few PASS races as well as be competitive. He wants to be running in the top 3.
Gordon has entered for the PASS event at Thunder Road Speedway and that event will be held on Sunday May 28th.
The Pro All Star Series will be back in action this Sunday at Autodrome Montmagny in Quebec.
