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  *Comments on the 1979 Vermont Milk Bowl:*
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  1.   RaceFanX posted:
  05.05.2010 - 5:58 pm
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Stub Fadden's first of 11 North Tour victories


  2.   joey2448 posted:
  01.06.2012 - 6:10 am
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I'd like to know what this race was...? And Stub Fadden won without
leading a lap? I read somewhere that this was a two-segment race, and he
had the best overall time/placing or something like that?


  3.   RaceFanX posted:
  01.23.2012 - 6:51 pm
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Stub Fadden's victory meant Novas won every North Tour race in 1979.


  4.   Justin posted:
  04.10.2013 - 4:31 pm
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The Milk Bowl ran for the 50th time last October. Traditionally, the
race is three segments, each segment scored independently - 1 point to
win, 2 points for seconds, 3 points for third, etc.

The finish order of the first segment is inverted to start the second
segment (winner starts last, last place start first) and then a second
set of points are given at the finish. Repeat one more time for the
third segment.

At the end of three segments the driver with the lowest combined point
total is the overall winner. In the event of a tie for overall position,
the driver with the best finish in the third segment is given the
tiebreaker.

The best part is that the winner kisses a real Vermont beauty queen - A
dairy cow!

A driver does not have to win any segments or lead any laps to win the
Milk Bowl (17 times a driver has won the Milk Bowl without winning a
segment, and only three times has a driver won all three segments), but
it is impossible to "sandbag" and still win - every position matters. In
1999 and again in 2008 not only was the Milk Bowl win decided by a
single mid-pack pass for position late in the final segment, but so were
the Thunder Road championship (1999 - Brian Hoar over Eric Williams by 1
point) and the American-Canadian Tour championship (2008 - Patrick
Laperle over Scott Payea by 1 point). There is a lot of drama and
mathematics that make up the Milk Bowl every year.

There have been a couple of tweaks in recent years:

1. Originally, the Milk Bowl was three 50-lap segments; beginning in
2011 the second and third segments were extended to 75 laps each while
the first segment remained 50 laps (total distance increased from 150 to
200 laps).

2. In recent years, only the top 24 finishers have been inverted after
each segment, leaving backmarkers out back and out of the way, rather
than starting them up front and creating havoc with the overall contenders.

This particular race in 1979 is significant for a few reasons:

1. This was the only event run at Thunder Road in 1979. The track was in
the middle of a four-year legal battle over ownership and Ken Squier and
Tom Curley were able to re-obtain the facility in time to hold only the
Milk Bowl. The race was held at Catamount Stadium in 1978 after Thunder
Road closed early in the season under new owner Tommy Kalomiris. The
Squier-Curley team ran the '79 Milk Bowl, then just four events in 1980
before the track was closed again - this time until May 1982.

2. The 1979 Milk Bowl was the only one run with just two segments.
Vermont favorite Beaver Dragon won the first segment, and Canadian
upstart Gilles Lussier won the second before rain moved in. Management
tried for nearly two months to reschedule the third segment, but weather
and its own rulebook (the race had gone past the halfway mark) forced
the race to be called official.

If you've never been to the Milk Bowl, plan a trip some time. Between
the Vermont foliage, the cow, and the race itself, it's totally worth it.


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