As the man from Jurassic Park once said, “hang on to ya butts…” – ’cause there is sprint car action taking place all over the state of Pennsylvania this weekend!
As far as open wheel fans are concerned, this weekend should be highlighted on everybody’s calendar. Big money events are taking place all over the state in 410 and 360/358 sprint car competition with racing happening on each evening of the weekend! Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will offer high flyin’ sprint car action in some area of the state; your job is to pick which one or few you want to attend, get in the car, and roll on over!
Friday night, the World of Outlaws will kick off their two night appearance at the Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Joey Saldana, the current point leader, and the rest of the Outlaws will hope to out gun the Posse and take control of the legendary central PA facility. The World of Outlaws then return to the Williams Grove Speedway again Saturday night to wrap up their weekend in the Keystone State.
For those of you residing in western PA who do not wish to travel far from home this weekend, Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pennsylvania will offer 410ci sprint car competition as a part of their familiar Fab Four event -but, with a little extra spice to it. Friday night will pay $2,000 to the winner thanks to the DIRTcar Sprints mini series.
This Saturday night also has something special in store for western Pennsylvanians, as the All Star Circuit of Champions, including such names as Dale Blaney, Tim Shaffer, Cap Henry, Greg Wilson, and Jared Ridge, come to Mercer Raceway Park in Mercer, Pennsylvania to do battle with the best of western Pennsylvania for a $5,000 pay day.
If it is 358/360 action you are craving, then Selinsgrove Speedway should be your destination. $3,500 is on the line at Selinsgrove Speedway for the winner of the NRG Controls North Gunn Memorial Challenge. The traveling URC 360ci sprint car stars will battle with the weekly 358 Selinsgrove drivers for a chunk of the $15,000+ purse that awaits at the end of 30 laps. This Saturday will mark the 6th consecutive year for this event.
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday- who can forget about this Sunday!? NASCAR star Kasey Kahne, WoO regulars Lucas Wolfe and Cody Darrah, and All Star Circuit of Champions/Knoxville Nationals Champion, Tim Shaffer – a long with many other outsiders whom I haven’t listed – will make the tow to Lincoln Speedway this Sunday evening to compete for a $5,000 pay day. This “Sprint Car Spectacular” will benefit the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing- with time trials set to begin at 7pm! The 30 lapper, $5,000 to win event will cap off an exciting weekend of sprint car racing in Pennsylvania.
Team Fully Injected will have a lot to look forward too this weekend; with most competing at Lernerville Speedway on Friday evening then Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday. A big pay out weekend is possible for the FI endorsers. Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pennsylvania is definitely treating the FI boys well; Danny Holtgraver currently sits on top of the point standings with a 1 point advantage over Brian Ellenberger. Rod George and Brandon Matus sit 4th and 5th in the points standings respectively after two weeks of competition. A sweep of the top three in the final points chase would be beautiful come late August! Scott Priester, driver of the Dionese #15 and 25 year sprint car pilot, is only committed to running Mercer Raceway Park full time in 2011. He will hope to improve on two bad-luck weekends in a row and upset the All Star invaders for a nice chunk of the purse money. Danny Holtgraver, Rod George, Scott Priester, and Brandon Matus will all be vying for a possible $7,000 pay sweep this weekend! Keep up with them here at www.fullyinjected.com.
My weekend will be busy and action packed; as i plan to head to Williams Grove Speedway on Friday-Saturday, with Lincoln Speedway wrapping up my weekend on Sunday.Don’t forget to check out the Behind the Scenes segment featuring Danny Holtgraver and crew. You can find it here . Next week, i will travel Wampum, PA to visit the home of Brandon Matus to check out where his sprint car calls home during the week.
Thanks for reading; and as always- Race Open Wheel!