Tuesday, December 4, 2007

GA Racing News and TV Schedule Dec. 6-13, '07

GEORGIA STOCK CAR RACING Dec. 6-13, 2007 Tim Pafford, who has a 15-year career in racing promotion in Georgia, is preparing to buy Suicide Circle Speedway in Albany - which he originally built as a track for Legends cars in 1998. He expects to close the sale in mid-January. The track will be renamed The Fun Track, and will revert to dirt. The new business plan is to make the track into a five days a week operation, and a big part of the plan involves a bunch of track-owned “Road Warrior” cars. A Road Warrior is a pure stock car, with a safety cage and window net, and will be rented to any interested person for as little as $10 for six laps or $100 for a 60 lap race. Prospective renters/drivers include all of Albany’s 140,000 area residents, businesses looking for a fun escape or team building, and racers without a car. The track will organize Saturday night races to attract drivers and fans. Pafford estimates that there are about 60 race cars in the county, so the track is never going to have a big car count for asphalt racing. If people can race without owning or maintaining a car, many more will be interested. The system has been a success at Pafford’s go kart track in Douglas. Although a dirt track takes more maintenance than asphalt, it produces lower speeds and less car damage. “People in south Georgia,” says Pafford, “have dirt racing in their veins.” Pafford currently operates The Fun Place, in Douglas - an entrtainment complex with 22 employees offering mini golf, a golf driving range, batting cages, go kart track, arcade, and skating rink. It’s a popular place, hosting 26 birthday parties last Sat. Starting in 1993, Pafford operated the US 19 dragstrip in Albany, and soon began selling Legends Cars. He sold 108 Legends Cars in 1998 as the top dealer, and then built the Albany Speedway for racing them. He promoted a $10,000 to win Legends race at Albany, which Reed Sorenson won, and later promoted a $15,000 to win race in SC which Sorenson also won. His track profited from hundreds of paying “ride and drive” participants. His promotions got the attention of Larry Dean and the people trying to build a new racetrack near Valdosta, and he worked for three years to build the fabulous South Georgia Motorsports Park from scratch. From the start, it has hosted special events with very large crowds, and is part of the Hooter’s Pro Cup Championship Series. Until recently, he has been the manager for the Douglas Motorsports Park, which includes a half-mile oval, drag strip, go kart track, and mud bog. Pafford feels that “one day a week is not enough” to make a track successful, and he’s going to try something new in Albany. If you Google Tim Pafford, you soon find this anonymous comment: “Tim Pafford is probably the best promoter in the southeastern United States. He can make a turtle race sound exciting. www.ultimatefunplace.com/index.htm ---- Schedule ---- Dec. 8 Peach State Car Show and Swap Meet 8:00 - 3:00. $3 adm., sellers $!5/$20 Dec. 14 (Fri.) Atlanta Motor Speedway Legends racing Dec. 29 Swainsboro New Year’s 100; racing in all divs. swainsbororaceway@yahoo.com Jan. 3-6 Talladega Short Track Ice Bowl for LMs and all divs. Jan. 12-13 Lanier Ice Cold Shriner Bowl Daytime shows Sat. and Sun. www.lanierspeedway.com Jan. 19 Swainsboro 7th annual Trade Show 10:00-3:00 $5 swainsbororaceway@yahoo.com Jan. 23-Feb. 2 Golden Isles Super Bowl of Racing: Super late models every night for $10,000 to win. Support classes: Jan. 23-26, Feb. 2 Natl. Late Model Series $3000 to win Jan. 28-30 crate LMs, open-wheel modifieds Jan. 31 open-wheel modifieds Feb. 1 Super street racers Sun., Jan. 27 Brunswick Stew BBQ (no racing) Jan. 24-26 USA Intl. Speedway (FL) Speedfest for asphalt LMs Feb. 4-9 East Bay (FL) Lucas Oil LM Series, $5000-$10,000 to win Feb. 22-24 Green Valley (AL) 11th Annual BAMA BASH $10,000 To Win Super Late Model race. Limited $5000 to win, crates $5000 to win. www.greenvalleyspeedway.com Mar. 22 Douglas Motorsports Park Opening day (tent.) www.dmpspeedway.com ---- TV ---- SPEED TV coverage of Lucas Oil LM Series: December 8 - 6:30 PM Lucas Oil LMs at Lucas Oil Speedway December 15 - 6:00 PM Lucas Oil LMs at Florence Speedway December 22 - 7:30 PM Lucas Oil LMs at Talladega Short Track December 29 - 7:30 PM Lucas Oil LMs at Virginia Motor Speedway Jan. 12 HBO pay-per-view 8:00 p.m. Chilli Bowl midget nationals ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- The last broadcast of the season for the WSB 120 NASCAR program is Saturday, and Captain Herb will be broadcasting and collecting donations for the U.S. Marines’ Toys for Tots campaign at The Bar-B-Que House, 571 Thornton Road in Lithia Springs from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. NASCAR show cars and other race cars will be on display and autographed items from drivers Reed Sorenson, David Ragan, Mark Martin, and Bill Elliott will be among the prizes up for grabs for folks donating new toys to the Marines. The collection effort will begin with a special broadcast of Dave Baker’s Home Fix It Show at 10:00 a.m. The racing portion of the broadcast will begin at noon. For more information: www.captainherb.net or call 770-941-1155. Racing is pretty slow this week, but with the expected good weather Peach State will have a Car Show and Swap Meet 8:00 - 3:00. $3 adm., sellers $5/$20. They are planning for a car show/swap meet the second Sat. of every month. 103 pictures by Michelle from Cochran’s end-of-season banquet: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZtmLdy0ZuGLnY¬ag=1 Ben Shelton and Douglas Motorsports Park may be the first track to post their 2008 schedule, which kicks off Mar. 22., and ends with the banquet Dec. 6. Tentatively, they’ll have one race per month on their half-mile dirt oval. www.dmpspeedway.com The Georgia Legends Winter Series had 45 cars at the Watermelon Capital Speedway last week. The winners: Bandits: Evan Bell Young Guns: Chase Elliott Outlaws: Darrell Banks Semi-Pro: Dyan Ames Masters: Jeff Haynie Pro: Kyle Lowry Roadsters: Bubba Harry They’ll race at AMS Fri., Dec. 14. Buy or sell a Legends car (free ads) www.legendsracer.com --Advertisement-- The Ice Cold Shriner Bowl at Lanier Jan. 12-13 will include qualifying at noon Sat., and Sunday races for Legends, Bandeleros, Thunder Roadsters, Mini Stocks, Open Wheel Modifieds, Sportsman, Trucks (50 Laps), and Pro Late Models (100 Laps, $2000 to win). A Parade of Shriners, including the Shriner clowns, will entertain Sunday’s fans. A portion of the admissions will benefit the Shriner charities. Adm. $20 Sun. www.lanierspeedway.com Toccoa’s Night of the Legends was finished up Sunday, and a few of the Legends took to the track, including Charlie Barrett, Sherry McCoy, Gary McCoy, Joe Nicholson, Smokey Roberts, George Reece Jr., and Donnie Thomason. Thomason won the 10-lap show. In other action, Timbo Mangum took the Fastraks Crate win, Melvin English returned to take the Limited late Model victory, and Phil Henderson was the Stock 4 winner. www.toccoaspeedway.info For the Kobalt Tools 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway Mar. 9, tickets for the Bill Elliott Grandstand in turn three will be only $39 ($19 for students). “We want all fans to have the opportunity to experience the Kobalt Tools 500 live,” said AMS president Ed Clark. “We designed the offer so the entire family could enjoy the drama of NASCAR racing together.” Back when Elliott won the NASCAR championship in 1988, the Speedway’s best ticket cost $45. AMS’s spring NASCAR weekend includes qualifying and a 200-lap Craftsman Truck race Friday night, and a 300-lap Nationwide Series (formerly Busch) race Sat. www.atlantamotorspeedway.com At Pensacola’s Snowball Derby, Augie Grill drove to the win, after being in victory lane twice earlier as a crew member for Butch Lindley and Wayne Anderson. Matt Hawkins, of Canton, started second, and led much of the early laps. On lap 254, he tangled with Dave Mader III, but was back to second at the checkered flag. Hawkins had also finished second at Peach State’s World Crown 250. Jeff Fultz was third, and 2005 winner Eddie Mercer was fourth. All of the leaders passed post-race inspection, in contrast to last year when the top two cars were DQ’d. During preliminaries, the cars of NASCAR drivers Steven Wallace and Kyle Busch were DQ’d. Busch’s car was out (height) after it was driven to a last-chance race win by Jason Hogan, of Cleveland, and Wallace was too light. Six Georgians started in the top 15 of Pensacola’s 100-lap Snowflake, for crate-type cars, including World Crown winner Paul Kelley (5th), Kyle Fowler (7th). Taylor Satterfield, Bubba Pollard, Ronnie Sanders, and Joey Senter. Michael Pope (2nd), Satterfield (4th), and Senter (8th) all finished well, as Ryan Crane came from 32nd to win. Augie Grill took third. The biggest car count of any dirt race in the area will be at the Talladega Short Track for the annual Icebowl Jan. 3– 6. A fifty-lap Super Late Model race is the feature event paying $6,000 to win. Billy Mayo won the race in 2007 when it was run on Monday afternoon due to rain Sunday. The Sportsman/Limited Late Models compete in a $2,000 to win main event, and the StormPay.com Crate Late Models will battle for a $3,000 to win feature. The IMCA Modifieds will run for $1,500 to win, and will once again be the first IMCA points race of 2008. The Bombers will run on Friday and Saturday for $700 to win. Sunday’s features and consolation races will start at noon, and they hope to start the Super Late Model race at 3:00. Tickets for Sat. or Sun. are $20. www.talladegashorttrack.com The PASS South Series, which brings the only asphalt Super Late Model racing to Georgia, will be at Watermelon Capital Speedway April 26 and at Lanier Aug. 2. They will be at Greenville-Pickens (SC) July 3 and Oct. 18. Early publicity says NASCAR’s David Ragan, from Unadila, GA, will enter the Watermelon Capital race. Jack Flowers has a nice column about Ragan in Natl. Speed Sport News Nov. 28. www.nationalspeedsportnews.com The confusion about the ASA name may get resolved, or further clouded, as Ron Varney (ASA Challenge Series, ASA South, ASA North) and Dennis Huth (ASA Member Track Program, ASA NW Tour, ASA Speed Trucks, and the new ASA Southeast Tour) meet in court. http://www.speed51.com/2007_stories/Specials/ASA_Name_LawSuit_Releases_12_5.html 11th Annual BAMA BASH at Green Valley (AL) is Feb. 22-24, and features a $10,000 To Win Super Late Model race. Limited will race for $5000 to win, and crates will race for $5000 to win. www.greenvalleyspeedway.com * Hall of Fame announcr Jimmy Mosteller and ‘08 GA Driver of the Year Jimmy Mosteller (photo by Cindy Knowles) Jake Knowles, of Tyrone, son of former driver Wade Knowles (who’s now his crew chief), was named 2007 Georgia Driver of the Year by the GA Automobile Racing Hall of Fame Assn. at their Christmas party. Knowles, 22, may be the award’s youngest winner. World of Outlaws star Clint Smith won for 2006. Knowles started racing late models in 2002, driving a six-year-old hand-me-down from his father, winning twice. In 2003, he won nine Sportsman Div. races, including the GA and AL State Championships. After attending the Dale McDowell Driving School, he won eight times in 2004, and was track champion at Dixie and Rome. 2005 was a break-through into super late models, with his first Southern All Stars pole, and an SAS win at Rome. He won a $5000 show at North Georgia, and the crate engine Prelude to the Dream at Eldora. In 2006, he won the Jimmy Thomas Memorial and $10,000 at East Alabama. In 2007, he drove for the team owned by Cleveland Speedway promoter Monty Morrow, entering 57 super and crate races in five states, with one win (at Rome), seven seconds, and 16 top fives. He was the points champion of the Top Tracks Challenge Crate Series, which paid $6000. His mother, and probably biggest fan, is Cindy Knowles, who promotes the Cruise with the Champions, which in 2008 will include 50 drivers and about 200 fans and family. Points champions from six series and the rookie of the year from four series get free cruises. www.jakeknowles.com/cruise/info.htm www.jakeknowles.com Bob Gibby, of Douglasville, won the new crate motor from Carl Black Automotive. It was awarded in a drawing open to drivers entering every Top Tracks Challenge race in 2007. He finished 10th in seriespoints. Derrick Rainey, of Powder Springs, was untouchable in posting a wire-to-wire win Saturday night in the 40-lap StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series main event at Columbus (MS) Speedway in the Hays Racing/Barto Enterprises Warrior, while David Gentry of Lewisburg, TN came from behind to win the series National Championship. Chip Brindle, of Chatsworth, capped off his 2007 Rookie of the Year season with a second-place finish in the CSC Trailer Repair/Brindle Brothers Auto Parts GRT. Brindle, who finished fourth in the StormPay.com DLMS National points, was the Rookie of the Race. Fifth was Frankie Beard of Hartwell, GA after starting his Freeman Plumbing Mastersbilt in the 17th spot. Jeff Fields, of Aragon, GA, came from the 15th starting hole to finish sixth in the Summerville Junkyard Mastersbilt. Fields finished fifth in the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series National point standings, his third straight top five finish in the series standings. Following Gentry in the eighth spot was Clint Smith of Senoia, GA in the LSK Enterprises GRT, possibly Smith’s second-ever crate-motor race. Keith Freeman, of Commerce, who was the StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series Track Champion at Lavonia Speedway, rounded out the top ten in the Freeman Plumbing Mastersbilt, and also won the 15-lap StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series Race of Champions against seven other StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series Track Champions. The Annual StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series Awards Banquet will be Wednesday in Tampa. and the 3rd Annual $10,000-to-win 100-lap StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series World Championship Race at East Bay Raceway Park. Over 100 cars are expected. Dale McDowell's Dirt Strategy clinic at Joe Gibbs Racing Dec. 14-15 includes Clint Smith as a presenter for GRT cars. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Now available: GA Race car hall of fame license plate: http://motor.etax.dor.ga.gov/motor/plates/plate.asp?ptitle=RQ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Get GEORGIA STOCK CAR RACING NEWS via email weekly: email -- subscribe -- to ddrrtt@earthlink.net email -- unsubscribe -- for the opposite

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