(Press Release from American-Canadian Tour)
American-Canadian Tour (ACT) and Pro All Star Series (PASS) officials have announced the 2020 Northeast Classic at Loudon’s New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) has been cancelled. The inaugural edition of the event will now take place on April 16 and 17, 2021.
Despite the hopes of series officials, and a previous postponement to May 8 and 9, it became clear in recent days that holding the Northeast Classic in 2020 was no longer practical. The state of New Hampshire recently extended its State of Emergency declaration, and indications are that New Hampshire’s Stay at Home order will also be extended beyond the current May 4 expiration date.
Furthermore, the U.S.-Canada border remains closed to non-essential business, which would prevent the large amount of Quebec-based teams and fans who planned to attend the Northeast Classic from doing so. With the current health and safety concerns, and other postponements and uncertainty throughout the Northeast racing world making rescheduling even more difficult, the decision was made to wait until 2021 for the debut of the highly-anticipated event.
“Unfortunately, a lot of things racing-wise are beyond our control right now,” ACT managing partner Cris Michaud said. “We want to race as much as our teams and fans do. However, the current circumstances won’t allow for us to do so in a healthy and safe manner. Rather than continue to shuffle such a big event around and try to hit a moving target on the calendar, we’ve decided it’s best to hold off until April 2021 and make sure the Northeast Classic has the big stage it deserves.”
“Both ACT and PASS still are optimistic about eventually getting the 2020 racing season in,” Michaud added. “When each of us has a better picture about when racing can start, we’ll sit down and put together the best schedules that we can for everybody.”
ACT and PASS teams that filed entries and reserved garage stalls for the 2020 Northeast Classic will have several alternatives. These teams can carry their reservations over to the 2021 edition or apply the funds toward another series event during the 2020 season. If a team wishes to request a refund, they can do so in writing. Please contact [email protected] or [email protected] to inform the respective series office which option your team has chosen.
Well although it sucks that they cancelled the event, it’s in the best interest for the safety of the fans, and crews.
It appears now that stay at home orders will most likely continue into June.
With all the events that keep getting rescheduled, it most likely would have been tough to nail down a date.
Good move by ACT and PASS
If they couldn’t hold this race with 1k fans in a 70k person venue then the rest of the season is doa.
I think its a little early to give up on the entire season. There is a lot of time before the end of race season most states are starting to talk about opening up. We just happen to be in an area that isn’t in a position where they are talking about relaxing restrictions right now. Now is racing the first thing to open up when a state does go live, no but several tracks are opening up around the country, they may be without fans or limited fan attendance with a ppv model but their is racing. We may have the ice breaker held in July or August where the only ice is in the drinks at the clubhouse but I have not given up on the season yet. I will admit with every announcement of postponement or cancellation its getting tougher and tougher to keep the hope alive.
Agree completely. It’s been less the two months since we went from full throttle to slamming on the brakes and it’s hard to imagine now even feathering the throttle a bit.
Regions are making different decisions. There may be something regionally. May not be anything like we’ve seen and may or may not be a success. Canceling the season….not just yet.
I think we are in trouble for Racing unless tracks are willing to Race without fans in the Northeast( financially that may not be an option for many?). All the Festivals,Carnivals, Concerts are all being canceled and Racing kinda fits in with them. States are going to open up with limits, like 25-50 people max Capacity. In order for full scale racing like normal to be achieved we will need the Vaccine to be released and being administered.
Bill, it’s not just about the fans in the stands. There also would have been hundreds of drivers, crew members, officials, and media members in the garage area, where it’s a lot harder to spread out. It might seem like the NHMS garage area is big, but when you have 125-150 cars plus all the personnel and equipment that comes with them, suddenly it isn’t so big anymore.
2021? The series running this may not even be in operation next year.
Unless there’s a HUGE BIGLY TV contract, local tracks can’t afford to run.
Where’s the revenue coming from?
Dareal, agree with you, most tracks will lose money without fans in the stands.
Doug and csg, agree with you. Not looking great but not a lost season yet. We need to hope for a mild October and November and no round 2 of this virus in the fall.