Johnny Clark Motorsports

2014 PASS SLM

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www.butler-macmaster.com

PASS 2014 NORTH BANQUET
January 13, 2015 - Auburn, ME
2nd in PASS North 2014 SLM Points

PASS CHAMPIONSHIPS FALL FOLLIAGE FESTIVAL - Sat. Sept. 27

4th PLACE FINISH - 2nd in PASS NORTH SLM POINTS
Joey Doiron #73 1st - DJ Shaw #60 2nd - Dave Oliver #21 3rd

6th at the PASS 300

Sunday, Sept. 7th

11th at the Thunder Valley 200
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Sunday, August 24th

8th at Speedway 95
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Tuesday, August 5th

10th at The Budweiser PASS 150

SUNDAY, JULY 20TH

12th at THE 250

8th at Beech Ridge
With DJ Shaw posting a 22nd place finish, Johnny moves
into the PASS North Super Late Model points lead.

Saturday, June 28th

3rd at Autodrome Montmagny

Saturday, June 7th

THE WIN at 660!

Johnny Clark Wins PASS Race At 660
First Win Of 2014 For Six-Time Series Champion

GEARY, New Brunswick – Johnny Clark of Hallowell, Maine, returned to a familiar place on Saturday night — Victory Lane at Speedway 660 in Geary, New Brunswick.

Clark took the lead for good on a Lap 124 restart and then held on to win the PASS North Series 150, his first win of the 2014 season. It was Clark’s fourth consecutive PASS victory at the .333-mile oval and his fifth in his last six starts there.

“It’s the best combination we’ve had this year, in terms of how the car was and the way the race played out,” said Clark, who is also a two-time winner of the Auto Value 250 at Speedway 660. “With the car handling like it was, it was really good on the outside. It’s definitely a two-groove race track, and we were lined up on the outside with 26 laps to go. We got out front, and the other guys tried and tried to get under me and couldn’t get it done.

“It may not have been the best car I’ve had all year, but it was good enough to win.”

The victory snapped a nearly two-year winless drought for Clark, the longest of his PASS career. Now, though, the No. 54 Clark’s WESTSIDE/Butler MacMaster Performance Engines Chevrolet has two runner-up finishes and a victory in the last three series races.

He believes it’s only the beginning as he makes his claim on a record seventh series championship.

“That’s the thing about it — it’s been a solid year for us since we’d even had a Top-3 finish, and now we’ve gone second-second-first in our last three races,” Clark said. “This is what we needed. Everybody’s been really working hard in the shop and at the track, and to see it all pay off is what we needed to keep firing forward.

“Sometimes it’s hard when you’re putting everything into it and not seeing the results. But the way we’ve been running the last few weeks, and getting a win, it makes you want to start working harder and take it to another level.”

Clark started fourth before winning his qualifying race to earn the pole position for the 150-lap event. He rode comfortably inside the Top-2 throughout the feature, patiently waiting to capitalize in the late stages of the race.

That opportunity came on the race’s final restart with 26 laps remaining.

“Honestly, you probably do get to save your stuff a little more when you’re running at the front,” Clark said. “You only have to go as fast as the guy behind you. I really saved a lot for the end, and I had enough when I needed it. I ran the 25 hardest laps I’d run all night for those last 25 laps.”

With a win and five Top-5 finishes in six races this season — and no finish of worse than sixth — Clark has closed the gap to just a handful of points on the lead atop the standings.

The PASS North Series is off until June 28, when it invades Autodrome Montmagny in Montmagny, Quebec, for a 150-lap event on the quarter-mile.
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Saturday, May 31st

2ND PLACE FINISH AT WHITE MOUNTAIN


	*Sunday, May 18th*

h2ND PLACE FINISH AT CHAUDIERE

Johnny Clark 2nd In PASS Race At Chaudiere
Brake Issue Drops No. 54 Out Of Lead Late In Race

VALLEE-JONCTION, Quebec – Johnny Clark of Hallowell, Maine, finished second in the rain-delayed PASS North Series Frameco 150 at Autodrome Chaudiere on Sunday, May 18. Clark dominated the middle stages of the race, leading nearly 75 laps, before a brake issue ultimately cost him the top spot.

“I just rode around for the first 30 laps or so, letting the race unfold, and I felt like we had a really good car,” Clark said. “We took the lead sometime after Lap 50, and we were just riding. I felt like we were in good shape where we were, but we just wore out the brakes and I lost the lead on Lap 125.

“I truly believe that if we hadn’t lost the brakes, we would have won the race. (Winner DJ Shaw) was probably a tick better than we were, but we had the track position and everything was going our way. If we kept doing what we were doing, we were going to win.”

With the second-place finish, Clark moved the No. 54 Clark’s WESTSIDE/Butler MacMaster Performance Engines Chevrolet into second place in the overall PASS standings through four races — having finished no worse than sixth in any of the events thus far in 2014.

“We’re still continuing to improve, so how can you be disappointed with that?” Clark said. “We’re diehard racers and we all want to win, of course, but if you look at what we’ve done so far in finishing second, fourth, fifth and sixth — that’s a good sign for us. We’re right there in the hunt for the championship.

“We’re getting better every week, and we’re getting to the point where we’re going to find ourselves being a Top-3 car every time we unload. That’s what you have to do to be successful.”

The PASS North Series rolls to its third straight quarter-mile bullring this weekend for a 150-lap event at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H., on Saturday, May 24. Qualifying begins at 5 p.m.

Clark is a two-time winner at White Mountain, having won races there in 2010 and 2011.

“I’m pumped to get over there.” Clark said. “I know it’s a good track for (Shaw), but I really think we’re going to be better with the newer car and the package we’re running now. I think we’re going to be really strong, and I’m pretty excited about it.”

Saturday, May 10th

5th5TH PLACE FINISH AT STAR ON 5/10






				*Photos by* *Norm Marx*

6TH PLACE FINISH AT BEECH RIDGE ON 5/3

Johnny Clark Finishes 6th At Beech Ridge
With Two Top 10s To Start Season, Clark Heads To Star Speedway

SCARBOROUGH, Maine – Multi-time PASS North Series champion Johnny Clarkof Hallowell, Maine, finished sixth in the Southern Maine Chrysler Dodge Jeep 150 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 3.

Coupled with a fourth-place effort in the season opener at week earlier at Oxford Plains Speedway, Clark now has two Top-6 finishes in the first two races of 2014.

“Two weeks in a row we’ve drawn dead last for our starting position in our heat race, and it makes for a long day,” Clark said. “Our luck’s bound to change here soon. Then again, if this is bad luck — a fourth and sixth to start the year — I’ll take it. We’re still in the hunt, and that’s what we’ve got to keep doing.

“I feel we still have a long way to go, but we’re leaps and bounds ahead of where we last year at this point.”

Clark started the Southern Maine Chrysler Dodge Jeep 150 from the 17th spot on the starting grid. By Lap 50, the No. 54 Clark’s WESTSIDE/Butler MacMaster Performance Engines Chevrolet had cracked the Top 10 and ran as high as fifth with less than a third of the race remaining.
Two long green-flag stretches dictated the race’s strategy for most teams — there were only two cautions to slow the event, and none in the race’s first 100 laps — and after working so hard to gain track position, Clark’s tires had little life left for the stretch run.

“I thought we were a lot better than (sixth),” Clark said. “I thought we were going to be really good. I just burned it up coming up through the field.

“We still have more work to do with our setups. Honestly, I feel like we should have finished two spots higher than we did — but we’ve got a little more work to do.”

Next on the schedule is the tight, quarter-mile bullring at Star Speedway in Epping, N.H., on Saturday, May 10. Qualifying begins at 4:30 p.m.

Clark won a 150-lap event at Star when PASS last visited in 2012. He started dead last in the field after mechanical woes early in the day before rallying to Victory Lane.

“I absolutely love Star — last time we were there, we started last and we won. It’s a fun track to drive,” Clark said. “It reminds me a lot of Unity Raceway. You really have to get up on the wheel there. We’re taking our other car, and it’s the first race of the year for a car that’s had a lot of wins under its belt.

“I can’t wait to get there.”
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4TH PLACE FINISH AT OPS ON 4/27

Johnny Clark Off To Solid Start At Oxford
Multi-Time PASS Champion Finishes 4th In Season Opener;
Eyes Beech Ridge Motor Speedway This Weekend

HALLOWELL, Maine – Six-time PASS North Series champion Johnny Clark finished fourth in the PASS North Series season-opening Ripley & Fletcher Ford150 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine, on Sunday, April 27.

The fourth-place finish was Clark’s best effort in a PASS race at the track since 2005.

“It was huge for us,” Clark said of the race, which was postponed one day by rain. “The racer in you is disappointed any time you don’t go to Victory Lane, but we started dead last in our qualifier, drove up to fourth, started 12th in the feature and — within 10 laps — I was running fifth.

“At that point, I was just trying to save and save and save to make it to the end. You never mind when you go out and get beat — but you want to have a good race where you make good decisions and don’t beat yourself. We did that.”

The No. 54 Clark’s WESTSIDE/Butler MacMaster Performance Engines Chevrolet heads next to Beech Ridge Motor Speedway for the Southern Maine Chrysler Dodge Jeep 150 on Saturday, May 3. It’s the second race in a five-week stretch to begin the 2014 season.

Clark has four career wins at the .333-mile track, and he’s a three-time winner of the PASS 300. He has reason to believe that the team’s performance at Oxford last weekend is a sign that good things are on the horizon.

“It’s an up and down track for anyone — it always seems like you’re either really good or really bad at Beech Ridge,” Clark said. “Back in our heyday when we were winning a lot of races, it was a really strong track for us. After finishing in the Top-5 at Oxford, I really feel that we’ve turned our flat-track program around. If we were that good there, then we should be really good at Beech Ridge.”

Qualifying for the Southern Maine Chrysler Dodge Jeep 150 begins at 3 p.m. Saturday.

“We know that we went out and did our homework during the off-season, did all that preparation in the shop, and we went to Oxford and came home with a solid fourth-place effort,” Clark said. “That’s all we can ask for. I think a trip to Victory Lane is not far off. I really do.”

Johnny Clark Eyes PASS Oxford Plains Opener

6-Time Series Champion Sets Sights On Another Title

HALLOWELL, Maine – Six-time PASS North Series champion Johnny Clark has one career victory at Oxford Plains Speedway, and he’s excited about his chances for another win on the .375-mile oval when the series opens its 2014 schedule with the Ripley & Fletcher Ford 150 on Saturday, April 26.

The driver of the No. 54 Clark’s WESTSIDE/Butler MacMaster Performance Engines Chevrolet tested the car at Oxford last weekend and was extremely pleased with the results.

“We went better in that test than at any time we were at Oxford last year. The car drove really good,” Clark said. “I’m pretty excited and really looking forward to getting started here. We tested at Oxford, we were 100 percent better than we’ve been in a long time, so I’m excited to really get rolling.”

The race at Oxford this weekend is the first of three this season at Oxford Plains, including the 41st annual Oxford 250 on July 20, part of the 15-race PASS North Series Super Late Model schedule.

Thanks to a postponement of the season opener two weeks ago due to weather conditions, the Ripley & Fletcher Ford 150 is the first of five races in five weeks to begin the campaign.
“Honestly, we’re ready enough for the season to start that I’m excited that there’s a five-race stretch here to get things going,” Clark said. “It’s hard to get in a rhythm when you race once, take three weeks off, race, and then maybe have another two weeks off. Once we’re going, I want to race.

“We’re running two cars again this year, and I can’t wait to really get rolling.”

Clark won seven of 14 races in 2011 en route to his series-record sixth championship that season. He won two races in 2012 before going winless in 2013. It was the first time since his rookie year in 2001 — the first season PASS existed — that Clark failed to win at least one PASS North Series race.

That lit a fire under Clark heading into the 2013-14 offseason.

“The setups have completely changed. Everything’s evolved,” Clark said. “Everyone’s doing different things now to try and get around these places, especially places like Oxford and Beech Ridge, and sometimes you try and jump on the bandwagon of what you hear people are doing. But it’s not always the best thing to do.

“We just decided that we had to take a step back to what we were doing that worked for us when we were winning races and then go from there. Really, it’s been all about preparation. You can’t go from winning half the races in a year to winning none of them unless it’s something you’ve done to yourself.”

Clark figures there’s no better place than Oxford Plains Speedway to try and get back to Victory Lane.

“I don’t think Oxford’s changed at all. Since it was paved back (in the early 2000s), it’s started to slow back down and get the same characteristics it had in the late 90s. It’s starting to get slippery again, and you have to fight for grip. It’s reminding me of the old Oxford.

“I’m really looking forward to that this weekend.”

Clark, Butler MacMaster Team Up For 2014

HALLOWELL, Maine – Six-time PASS North Series champion Johnny Clark and Butler MacMaster Performance Engines are teaming up in Clark’s bid for an unprecedented seventh series title. Butler MacMaster Performance Engines will serve as a featured sponsor on Clark’s familiar No. 54 Clark’s Westside Chevrolet in 2014.

Clark, who owns more than 40 PASS victories on his career resume, will debut the new sponsor in the season opener at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine, on Saturday, April 26.

“We're extremely excited about this,” Clark said. “Butler MacMaster is a leader in the high performance industry and always has been. This is big for us. We're honored to carry their name on the hood of the car.

“I am very loyal to the brands that I use, and I have always been loyal to the Butler MacMaster guys. I have been going there since I was 16 — when I first got started in racing. Since then, I have never gone anywhere else for my engines.”

Butler MacMaster Performance Engines is New England’s industry leader in performance, street, and industrial engines. Located in Hallowell, Maine, Butler MacMaster has serviced its customers with performance racing packages, industrial diesel needs, and custom restoration projects of all makes and models since 1978.

“We welcome Johnny to the team,” Butler MacMaster officials said in a statement released earlier this week. “Johnny has been a loyal, long-time customer — racing our engines for the lifetime of his racing career. We are looking forward to backing up Johnny this season as he attempts to further his record and claim his seventh PASS title.”

This marks the first season that Butler MacMaster has entered a season-long partnership with individual race teams.

“It’s important to any race team to have this kind of support,” Clark said. “We’ve really made an effort this offseason to take our whole program to another level, and this is a big part of being able to do that. I can’t wait to get on the track and show what this team is capable of.”

Find out more about Butler MacMaster Performance Engines visit butler-macmaster.com.

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