Led by seasoned industry veteran Justin St. Louis, the inaugural Vermont Motorsports Expo will take place on April 5-7 at the BOR Arena in Barre. It will serve a variety of motorsport disciplines. Among them include pavement and dirt oval-track racing, snowmobiling, karting, drag racing, and truck and tractor pulls.
“I was in high school the last time there was a racing expo to kick off the season,” St. Louis, now 40, said. “That one was in a basketball gym. Ours will be the first event in the hockey arena after the ice melts.”
St. Louis is the president of the Sprint Cars of New England (SCoNE). He was also the former media director at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, Vermont. St. Louis stressed the importance of having a preseason show.
“The idea is to get race fans’ and racers’ blood pumping for the new season,” said St. Louis. “The Expo is a work in progress. We have a half-dozen racetracks reserving display booths. Most will have the champions and their cars in the booths. There will be autograph sessions and parts dealers.”
For St. Louis, the event will spread the importance and the history of Vermont racing.
“I’m a big history guy — I even have a podcast [Uncommon Deeds] where I talk to the older racers from Vermont,” St. Louis said. “These racers have been a big part of my life and I want to honor them. I want to introduce the younger fans to these racers for the first time and tell them how they are a special part of Vermont racing.”
The Vermont Motorsports Expo will also host some fun festivities, such as a pit stop contest.
“My main point is having this weekend to be affordable for people to attend all three days,” said St. Louis. “Since I announced the Vermont Motorsports Expo, my phone has blown up. More than 40 drivers wanted their cars in the show. The idea is to have racers and fans have a little fun, come together for an event to see the cars up close before they get all banged up during the season.”
St. Louis said expect more details to be announced about the Vermont Motorsports Expo in the weeks to come. For more information, you can reach Justin St. Louis at 802-355-3282 or at [email protected].
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
