RPM Revs Up For Another Title Run
Brian Hoar, Rick Paya Seek Ninth Career ACT Championship in 2012
GEORGIA, Vt. – After a season decorated with wins in some of New England’s most prestigious racing events and a series-record eighth championship for both car owner and driver alike, RPM Motorsports doesn’t have any plans two slow down in 2012.
The same car, same equipment, same crew and same driver will try and top a 2011 season in which they won a total of seven races and clinched the ACT Late Model Tour title with two races remaining.
“Whatever it is, it seems to work,” said Brian Hoar, of Williston, Vt., driver of the RPM Motorsports No. 37 GossCars.com Dodge. “If you could bottle it up and sell it – we’d probably make a lot of money. I just know that I have an approach that works for me, that works for success in this sport. The statistics show that. That’s teamed and combined with – and only works – with the team surrounding you. If the chemistry’s not there, it just doesn’t work.
“Obviously, (team owner and crew chief Rick Paya) and my team have the same formula. All of the things come together for us.”
Paya said that there’s no lack of motivation for his team, despite winning a third straight ACT championship last season. Every season, every race weekend presents another opportunity.
“I just love winning,” Paya said. “Winning is what motivates me to win another one and another one. When we go to some new tracks or tracks we haven’t won at before, that’s motivation. Competition is motivation.
“You’re only as good as your competition. Everybody on our Tour, when they step up, we step up. It makes everybody better. And when you get better as a Tour, you go out to run other races with other series, and you’re able to be competitive. I think that’s a great thing for all of us.”
Both Paya and Hoar – with 33 career victories, the only driver in ACT history to even break the 20-win plateau – count wins at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Thunder Road International Speedbowl’s Milk Bowl as their 2011 season highlights.
While the Milk Bowl win was Hoar’s second, it was the first in the event for Paya. Paya has 26 career victories as a crew chief.
“It’s pretty humbling to think about, but really it’s all about consistency,” said Paya, who, like Hoar, has eight career ACT titles – including five previously with Jean-Paul Cyr as driver.
“I know we’re consistent now, but you can always make yourselves better. Every time we go to the race track, we’re always learning. Every race. We motivate ourselves to do better and better and better. Our motivation is to be better than we were last time out.”
RPM has some 20 races planned for its 2012 schedule, including the full 10-race ACT Late Model Tour slate, the TD Bank Oxford 250, the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire, the Milk Bowl and a PASS-sanctioned Super Late Model race at Oxford in July.
The ACT Late Model Tour season begins with the NH Governor’s Cup 150 at Lee USA Speedway on Sunday, April 15. Hoar is the defending champion of the event.
“Here we are going into another season with great equipment, great cars and a great bunch of people,” Hoar said. “We’re ready for another great season, and it’s coming really fast. When it comes right down to it, we just want to win races. That’s why we do it – to have fun and enjoy the sport.
“There’s lots of guys that are going to try and knock us off the pedestal again this year, but that’s part of what motivates us. It’s a challenge, and we can’t wait for it.”
Hoar turns 40 this year, and he laughs at any suggestion that he’s looking at life away from motorsports in the near future.
“You either have the passion for the sport, or you don’t,” Hoar said. “It’s that simple. You want to be part of the sport, or you don’t. It seems like a silly question. It’s not like I’m going to hang my hat up now.”
