Thursday, February 21, 2008

GEORGIA STOCK CAR RACING.com FEB. 21-28

GEORGIA STOCK CAR RACING.com FEB. 21-28 Top area dirt race this weekend is the Green Valley 11th Annual BAMA BASH, paying $10,000 To Win, Super Late Model race. Limited LMs will go for $5000 to win, and crates for $5000 to win. The track is near Gadsden, AL, and a good field is expected since it is the best-paying Super LM race of the weekend. Former BAMA BASH Champions 2007 Clint Smith 2006 Clint Smith 2005 Clint Smith 2004 Rick Eckert 2003 Terrance Nowell 2002 Wendell Wallace 2001 Dale McDowell 2000 John Jones www.greenvalleyspeedway.com Some of the best drivers in the country are coming to BIR February 23 & 24 for The Early Bird 125. Entries are coming into Birmingham International Raceway and it is shaping up to be one of the most competitive field of drivers at BIR in sometime. Drivers entered in the annual classic include: • 2007 Early BIRd Champion Jeff Fultz • 2007 BSS 2-time winner and World Classic winner Dennis Reno Jr. • 2007 Rattler and Snowball Derby winner Augie Grill • 2007 Lanier National Speedway Track Champion Chris Whorton • 2007 BSS Davey Allison Memorial winner Chris Serio • 2007 BSS Alabama Steel Dogs 100 winner Josh Hamner • 2007 BSS Rookie of the Year Jeff Letson • 2007 Birmingham Super Modified Champion Billy Melvin • 2007 PASS series winner Heath Hindman • 2006 Neil Bonnett Memorial winner Hunter Robbins • Former BIR track champions Ken McFarland, Andy Antinoro, Clint Folsom • Super Late Model drivers Gary Nix, Lee Hansard, Scott Dunn, Stanley Smith, David Hole and Michael Pope • More entries coming in daily A talented field like this is the perfect way to kick off the 95th year of racing at the historic raceway. The Early Bird will be the first of an 11-race special events planned for the 2008 season. Joining the extremely fast Super Late Models will be the Open Wheel Modifieds, Limited Sportsman (new division), Mini Modifieds, Renegades, and Mini Stocks. Saturday includes qualifying for Super Late Models, and all BIR local divisions will run qualifying races. Sunday, the Early Bird 125 will begin at 1:00 pm with feature races in all divisions and THE EARLY BIRD SUPER LATE MODEL 125 will round out the show for the afternoon. The speedway is located at the Alabama State Fairgrounds, west of downtown Birmingham. www.bir-raceway.com. The National Late Model Series heads to Waycross Motor Speedway on Friday and Saturday. Qualifying and heats will be run on Friday with Last Chance Racing and the Feature to be run Saturday night. The series brings a lot of cars to the track, with 59 at four recent shows at Golden Isles. Shane Williams won there three times, and Steve Jones won once. Despite his three wins and a second, Williams has only a nine points lead over Brandon Cameron. www.nlmss.com www.wayxspeedway.com ---- Schedule ---- 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 Feb 23-24 Birmingham International Raceway Early Bird 125 Qualifying Saturday - Features Sunday afternoon Super Late Models 125 Laps Feb. 22-23 Waycross Motor Speedway National Late Model Series www.nlmss.com Feb. 23-24 Modoc Winter Shootout 150. Crate LMs 50 laps, $4000 to win. HOBBY CLASS WILL RUN 25 LAP FEATURE, $1000 to win. SUPER STREET $700 TO WIN 25 LAP FEATURE. STOCK V-8 $500 TO WIN 25 LAP FEATURE. MINI STOCK $400 TO WIN 25 LAP FEATURE. Racing starts at 3:00 p.m. Sat. and Sun. www.modocspeedway.com Feb. 28-Mar. 1 East Alabama 23rd Annual Jimmy Thomas Memorial Crate Late Model (100 laps) - $10,000 / Sportsman - $5,000 / Super Street - $2,000 / Hobby - $2,000 / Bomber - $2,000 / 4-Cylinder - $2,000 Plus 6ft Tall Beautiful Trophies in ALL Divisions! Mar. 1-2 South Georgia First 2008 points race Mar. 1 Golden Isles season opener. Full racing program, local classes. www.goldenislesspeedway.com Mar. 1 South Alabama Speedway pro LM $5000 to win, $400 to start. 125 laps www.southalabamaspeedway.com Mar. 1 Watermelon Capital Legends Winter Series pit passes only $20 watermeloncapitalspeedway.com Mar. 2 (Sun.) South Alabama Speedway “The Rattler” super LMS 250 laps $10,000 to win, $650 to start www.southalabamaspeedway.com * March 8 Peach State Speedway National Vintage Racing Association plus local classes March 8 North Georgia Southern All Stars Ernest Young Memorial $5000 to win Super Late Models Mar. 14-15 Watermelon Capital O'Reilly United Sprint Car Series Asphalt Thunder Tour (winged outlaw sprint cars) Mar. 15 Golden Isles. Full racing program, local classes. www.goldenislesspeedway.com Mar. 15 Toccoa Grand Opening www.toccoaspeedway.info Mar. 15 Watermelon Capital USCS winged sprint cars + local divs. watermeloncapitalspeedway.com Mar. 16 (Sun.) Lanier 2008 Opening (day race) www.lanierspeedway.com Mar. 21-22 Lavonia Latemodel Extravaganza Latemodel only show: O'Reilly Southern All Stars $5,000.00 to win; Fastrak Crate Latemodels $2,000.00 to win; Southeastern Latemodel Sportsman $1,200.00 to win Mar. 22 Douglas Motorsports Park Opening day (tent.) www.dmpspeedway.com Mar. 22 Toccoa Regular show www.toccoaspeedway.info Mar. 22 Lanier First night race, Easter Egg Hunt. www.lanierspeedway.com Mar. 22 Mobile ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour www.mobilespeedway.net www.asasoutheastasphalttour.com Mar. 22 North Georgia Late Models plus full racing program www.northgeorgiaspeedway.com Mar. 28 Gordon Park Speedway Crate LM $2000 to win. www.gordonparkspeedway.net www.carolinaclash.com Mar. 29 (Fri.) Toccoa Advance Auto Parts Thunder Series $5,000 to win Super Late Models www.toccoaspeedway.info Mar. 29 Peach State GA Asphalt Series Mar. 29 Music City Motorplex in Nashville 2008 Spring Clash All American 150 for the CRA Super Series late models Mar. 29-30 Bristol (TN) Legends cars on the high banks April 4 (Fri.) Boyd’s Opening night (tent.) April 4 (Fri.) Lavonia Opening night Weekly Show www.lavoniaspeedway.com ---- TV ---- Mondays (between 3:00 and 7:00) on Versus Network. Hooters Pro Cup. Versus, owned by Comcast, is on the Comcast Cable System in the Atlanta area, although not listed in the AJC TV guide. Starts in mid-March. ---- ---- ---- The Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele will kickoff the season with a USCS winged sprint car race Mar. 15, and up to 25 cars are expected since it’s the only sprint car race around that day. The local Bandoleros, Legends, Claimers, Mini Stocks, and Pure Stocks will also be part of the show. http://watermeloncapitalspeedway.com/index.htm Sugar Creek Raceway, in Blue Ridge, with new promoters Jason and Dana Thompson, has practices are Mar. 1 (noon) and Mar. 8, and racing starts Sat., Mar. 15. The track goes to Friday night shows in April. http://sugarcreekracing.com Jason Hogan, of Cleveland, headed to New Smyrna Speedway in Florida to get his 2008 season started at the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing, while driving a friend's #21 Super Late Model, but the visit to NSS was not a lucky one for Hogan, who qualified ninth but was involved in a hard wreck during the first night of racing. Hogan was not injured, but the car was heavily damaged and left with a 25th-place finish. West Georgia Speedway, in Whitesburg, now has an active driver/fan forum. First race will be Mar. 1, according to one post, with practice this Sat. http://www.westgaspeedway.com/phpBB/index.php?c=2 Clint Smith, of Senoia, won a $10,000 50-lap UMP DIRTcar Super Late Model finale on Feb. 15, his daughter Jenna’s 15th birthday. “And I came from the 15th starting spot to win it, so that’s pretty cool,” said Smith. Jenna wasn’t on hand for her father’s winning run, however. She remained back in the Peach State in order to attend her high-school classes and take the driving test for her learner’s permit, which her proud papa said she earned with flying colors. Smith’s victory – and a fifth-place finish in the next night’s WoO LMS finale – came after he began the week shuttling back-and-forth between Georgia and Volusia. After his step-father, Clint Roberts, passed away on Feb. 10, Smith immediately drove home that morning to be with his family, then got a ride back to Florida on Monday to compete in the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals opener for the UMP DIRTcar Super Late Models. Smith flew home on Tuesday for the viewing – he didn’t miss any action at Volusia because that night’s action was rained out – and planned a return to Florida on a Wednesday flight, but a full plane forced him to jump in a car at 1 o’clock and make a banzai six-hour drive down to Volusia; he arrived just in time for his time-trial lap during the UMP DIRTcar-sanctioned program. 32-year-old Shane Clanton, of Locust Grove, had two heartbreaking WoO LMS outings at Volusia. On Thursday night he was leading on lap 30 when a broken right-rear axle tube knocked him out, and on Saturday night he was racing for a top-five spot on lap 35 when a broken left-rear wheel ended his hopes. The WoO LMS is idle until March 28-29, when the inaugural ‘March Through Dixie 100’ takes center stage at Pike County Speedway in Magnolia, Miss. The early-season blockbuster will pay $20,000 to win. (Thanks to Kevin Kovacs) www.worldofoutlaws.com. The Sixth Annual Winterfest may have been the largest one yet at Winchester Speedway, with 55 Super Late Model drivers competing for the $3,000 payday and 24 Open Wheel Modified drivers signed in to compete for the $1,000 to win show. Super Late Model - Feature Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points 1 6 53 Ray Cook - 0 2 2 R1 Riley Hickman - 0 3 1 32 Lamar Scoggins Cleveland , Tn 0 4 5 98 Eric Hickerson Linden , Tn 0 5 3 14 Brandon King - 0 6 4 7 Jerry Ashley Elora , Tn 0 7 16 26 Tony Knowles Tyrone , Ga 0 Steve Hixson, the announcer at North Georgia and Cleveland, and publisher of the Regional Racing Rankings, had a nice interview with Ray Cook: SH: Let's talk about East Bay and the Lucas Oil series... RC: "East Bay is a good track and I like racing there,"and in 2007 we made the final nights race. We went this season and made a couple races, only to have part failures keeping us in DNS, the other nights. Lucas Oil is a spin off of the old HAT/UDTRA days and is full of memories of Mike Swims and is run by Richie (Lewis) and thats fond memories of our early racing days." SH: How good does it feel to get the first win out of the way early in the season? RC: "We've done that for two years now, won out of the gate, it's good, but we need more in between, at-least this way, I don't worry about getting skunked for the whole year." SH: What are you looking forward to most in 2008? RC: "I don't have any particular thing... our racecar and motor program is in as good of shape as it was at the beginning of 2006, so I'm just ready." SH: Will the Southern National series ever go through an expansion into a third week or weekend? RC: "The plan as of now is to keep it at ten (events). Racers and promoters want more, but right now, I love racing too much and I am NOT ready to give it up." SH: Why don't you race in your own series? RC: I am way too busy keeping things going... Nobody's can run your own business like you can and despite that, it would make too much controversy. There are tons of decisions that come up, that I need to be able to make." (thanks to Steve Hixson at hixson525@hotmail.com) www.raycook53.com Purses for crate-motored teams keep growing, with Deep South Speedway in Loxley, AL, announcing a $10,000 to win 100-lap race Mar. 14-15. Super LMs will go 50 laps for $5000 to win. It’s a 4/10 mile high banked red clay oval. www.deepsouthspeedway.com The website for Boyds Speedway has no new info, but the internet gossip reports that there is a new owner. www.boydsspeedway.com The Hooters Pro Cup Series will air its full schedule on VERSUS, a national sports network available in 74 million homes. Most races will air on Mondays between 3 and 7 p.m. ET, eight days after the event. The race schedule for March: March 15 - USA Int’l Speedway (FL) March 29 - South Georgia Motorsports Park Awesome Awnings will again sponsor the pole position award, paying $1000 at each race. Located in four states - NC, SC, TN, and GA - Awesome Awnings creates custom built awnings and canopies for commercial and residential purposes. Roush Fenway Racing announced Tuesday that 2003 Craftsman Truck Series champion Travis Kvapil will replace Georgian Joey Clanton in the No. 09 Ford for this weekend's San Bernardino County 200 race at California Speedway. "We are going to have Travis Kvapil run the Zaxby's Ford F-150 at California this weekend," Jack Roush said. "After that race we will re-evaluate our plans for the rest of the season. We wish Joey Clanton the best of luck in his future endeavors and we look forward to continuing our relationship with Zaxby's throughout the season." "I want to thank Jack and everyone in the Roush Fenway organization for this chance, but I have made the decision that it is time for me to pursue other opportunities," Clanton said. "I have several business and family obligations and it is time to focus on them right now." Clanton qualified 11th and finished 32nd after an accident in the season-opening Chevy Silverado 250 at Daytona. Clanton, age 35, ran 16 of the 25 truck races and had five top-10 finishes in 2007. Clanton owns two Zaxby’s restaurants on Atlanta’s south side - I-285 at Camp Creek Pkwy., and I-85 at Hwy. 74 in Fairburn. Clanton’s mouth may have caused his problems, as he wrecked two of his trucks, and two teammate’s trucks at Daytona - and said others were to blme. The Carolina Clash Super LM series, dominated in recent years by Ricky Weeks, opens 2008 with a $5000 to win show at Carolina Speedway Mar. 8. A series official says they are looking at adding a crate motor series in 2009. Georgia stops for the series include Gordon Park Mar. 29, Screven May 10, Hartwell May 31, Lavonia June 13, and Toccoa July 12. www.carolinaclash.com Did Ryan Newman learn something on Friday night at the Volusia Speedway Park half-mile dirt track that helped him capture the Daytona 500 on Sunday? The evidence is clearly there. Only two days after the NASCAR star piloted his Alltel Wireless UMP DIRTcar Late Model to a 16th-place finish in the 37th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals, Newman was standing in Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway celebrating the biggest victory of his career in NASCAR’s signature event. “It was probably one of the more relaxing and fun times I had down here other than winning the Daytona 500,” said Newman, a native of South Bend, Ind. “I wish I could have done this good over there.” Newman's dirt Late Model is from the stable of Steve Francis -- a Rocket car powered by a Custom engine, carrying Newman's Alltel colors and a No. 12. Francis prepares the machine and hauls it to the track for Newman. Two titans of American motorsports added Alltel DIRTcar Nationals points titles to their already bulging resumes last week at Volusia Speedway Park. Short-track legend Billy Moyer rolled to a championship in the Super Late Model division, while NASCAR veteran Ken Schrader returned to his roots to capture the UMP DIRTcar Modified crown. (Thanks to Kevin Kovac, WoO Late Model Series P.R. Director) East Alabama Motor Speedway, in Phenix City, AL, has signed up with the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series for the 2008 season. EAMS, a Saturday night track, will now team up with the Penton Raceway in Penton, AL, a Friday night track, to give area crate late model competitors a better chance in the Regional points. EAMS drivers will compete for a track point fund, and a Regional point fund using their best 16 finishes during the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series season that runs from March 28 through September 28. East Alabama Motor Speedway will also team up with Penton Raceway for a pair of NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series National Touring events in July. Billed as “Alabama Bonus Bucks Weekend,” Penton Raceway will host a 40-lap $2,500-to-win NeSmith Chevrolet DLMS National Touring event on Friday night, July 18, and then EAMS will also host a 40-lap $2,500-to-win NeSmith Chevrolet DLMS National Touring event on Saturday night, July 19. If a driver can win both races, a $2,000 Bonus will be paid. Cheap prices will sell tickets, proved again at Atlanta Motor Speedway Monday when 300 were in the ticket line at 9:00 a.m. The track had promoted frontstretch ticket sales for the Mar. 9 Kobalt Tools 500 for $12 - the winning car number of Ryan Newman at Daytona. Fans can still take advantage of discounted tickets by calling the AMS ticket office at 877-9-AMS-TIX, (877-926-7849), or 770-946-4211 or by visiting www.atlantamotorspeedway.com Photos from Sugar Creek’s pre-season meeting: http://sugarcreekracing.com/sc_board/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=212 Michael Pope, of Dublin, had a breakout year in 2007. He was one of the top runners in the Georgia Asphalt Series, won his first GAS race, finished in the top-five in points and even earned a track championship, coming in the VIPER Series at South Alabama Speedway. In 2008, he’ll step up to some Super Late Model shows, and has purchased a Volunteer Racing Engine, which are built by Gary Helton’s staff. Look for this youngster at the Rattler at South Alabama Mar. 1-2, and the PASS show at Hickory Mar. 22. www.michaelpopeonline.com Modern Chevrolet, in Winston-Salem, NC, is teaming up with FASTRAK as the 2008 Southeastern Title Sponsor. Fastrak, and all the crate series, were glad to learn that GM Performance Parts as announced the use of the current GM “RM” sealing bolts will continue, at least for the immediate future. GM Performance Parts Representative Bill Martens stated, “Yes, we have elected to continue supplying GM "RM" bolts through June to allow for alternatives to be fully developed and in place.” www.fastrakracing.com New clay installed at Lavonia: http://www.4m.net/showthread.php?t=40316 ---- ---- ---- ---- Get GEORGIA STOCK CAR RACING NEWS via email weekly: email -- subscribe -- to ddrrtt@earthlink.net email -- unsubscribe -- for the opposite ---- ---- ---- ----

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