Forgotten Team and Driver: Brad Boissonneault and B&B Racing
With the ARCA national series season over, and the West Series wrapping up their season I figured to highlight a former ARCA team and driver: Brad Boissonneault and B&B Racing.
Brad Boissonneault competed in a total of 19 ARCA Menards Series East races back when it was under the Busch North Series name. All 19 of those starts came from 1997-2001, with Brad driving for his own team in B&B Racing.
The North Windham, Connecticut, native had been a household name in the local racing community as a Pro Stock driver since 1993 at Stafford Motor Speedway. Boissonneault most famously won the Stafford Speedway’s Late Model track championship in 1992.
Boissonneault’s debut in the Busch North series came at his home state’s Stafford Speedway. A 1997 interview with the Hartford Courant showcased what led up to his debut.
Boissonneault was working on a Busch North car owned by Tom Sylvester. “He asked us to come up and set the car up,” said Boissonneault. “He offered us a price and we turned around and said, ‘We’ll do it free of charge. Just give me a shot in the Busch car at Stafford.’”
Boissonneault got the opportunity in the Busch North Series 150 at Stafford, which was the 14th race of the season. Piloting in the No.39 TAS Country Homes Oldsmobile, Boissonneault would qualify 19th, but finish 30th after a rear axle issue would retire the car just five laps in.
Brad would get another opportunity six races later at Thompson Speedway, starting 20th and finishing 35th after being involved in an accident mid-race.
After not racing in 1998, Brad would be back in 1999 under his own team, B&B Racing, racing under the Chevrolet manufacturer.
Boissonneault’s first race came at New Hampshire, overall, he attempted six races for the series and DNQ’d in three of them. Brad would take the checkered flag for the first time in his ARCA career in New Hampshire, finishing 30th 4-laps off the pace. He would follow that up several weeks later when the series was back at New Hampshire (the series visited the same tracks multiple times in the season), qualifying 29th and finishing 21st, completing all 100-laps. This was the first time in Brad’s ARCA career that saw him go the full distance and finish on the lead lap.
Brad’s 1999 season was helped by Chuck Zentarski, a former racer and track champion at Stafford Speedway and owns an auto repair shop still to this day in West Haven, Connecticut. A plaque resides in Zentarski’s customer waiting room, thanking him for his contributions to the 1999 season.
It was that 27-year-old plaque that I saw leading me down the pathway to his article.
Brad would compete in 2000 once again on a part-time schedule, mixing the team name from B&B Racing to B&B Motorsports, and then back to ‘Racing’. Boissonneault would qualify in 7 of his 9 attempts – both DNQ’s came in two out of the first three races of the 2000 season. Both of his best qualifying efforts of the season came at Stafford, where he qualified in 13th and 14th in the two races he participated in. The B&B Racing Monte Carlo would complete 703-out-of-894 laps and carry a 24th average start and finish.
2001 would see Brad Boissonneault’s best season yet.
Boissonneault qualified in all 7 races he attempted, including a top-10 starting position at Stafford. It seems like Brad’s career-highs kept coming back to the Stafford Springs, Connecticut, track.
Brad Boissonneault qualified 10th in the 2001 ASB NASCAR 150 on July 27th, 2001. A 150-lapper for 75-miles, would show a packed house a B&B Racing top-10 finish. Boissonneault finished in 6th, as a then-unknown Martin Truex Jr., dominated the entire race and won after pole sitter Ted Christopher DNF’d with a failed engine just 25-laps in. Truex took the lead on lap 26 and never looked back, as for Boissonneault – well he was a top-10 driver all night long, contending with series regulars.
I had a chance to catch up with Brad and ask him some questions some 25 years after his last ARCA race took place.
As an owner-driver of B&B Racing, Boissonneault was very descriptive and real when it came to the challenges. “Trying to give 100% on the track, yet keep the bills out of the mind on race day.” Brad would go on saying how his shop and all work done to the No.36 was in a small garage with 4-to-6 people helping, and all working around a “very low budget compared to many.”
Despite racing on a low budget, Brad made the most out of the car, a 26th career average finish against a field that would push anywhere between 30-40 cars, plus his top-10 at Stafford.
When I brought up that Stafford 6th place finish, Brad was happy to recall it. “We were able to get some great help that race that changed the car drastically,” said Boissonneault, “The good old days of reading between the lines.”
Overall, Brad told the New York Sports Show that his best memory came at New Hampshire. After a rear gear mishap, he would have to take on the LCQ and started towards the back of the field outside the top-15. “I had no chance for top-4,” said Boissonneault – well that’s what he thought. Brad would end up winning the LCQ to make the show.
Now in 2026, a quarter century since last racing in ARCA, Brad Boissonneault has been involved in the racing community still, but on a lower level. About six years ago Brad was approached by his ex-crew chief Chris Forester to help out on a modified tour car.
“It was perfect timing,” said Boissonneault, “my son just left to Germany for military (service) and I needed something to fill my time.”
Brad now helps Chris Forester’s kid field a legend car. When it comes to racing himself, Brad does dabble in some races at Norwalk Karting, thanking the Dipisa brothers for the ride.
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