PITTSBURGH, PA — The first draft of the PPMS 2013 schedule was released last month and since that time the speedway management has been busy confirming additional dates for the upcoming season.
“It has always been a goal of Miley Motor Sports to elevate the ‘Pittsburgher’ back to a National event,” commented speedway owner Matt Miley. “After 43 years in this business, we have realized it often takes patience, timing, and the right people to be involved. When National Dirt Racing League officials approached us about making the ‘Pittsburgher’ a national event again, we were all ears. We have watched what Kennedy Motorsports has done over the past racing season and felt they were a great fit to return the ‘Pittsburgher’ to a major super late model event. One week later we had a deal.”
The 2013 event will be held on Saturday, October 12th. The main event will feature 100 laps of racing action with the winner receiving a cool $25,000 pay day. The weekend will “kick off” on Friday, October 11th, with the $10,000 to-win, “Let’s Get Dirty 50” that will be co-sanctioned by the NDRL and the Kennedy Motorsports United Late Model Series (ULMS). The racing action on both days will also feature the United E-mod Series (UEMS). Friday’s UEMS main event will pay $1,500 to win with Saturday’s E-mod victor taking home $3,000.
Miley Motor Sports has also announced the dates for the 24th Annual Jook George Memorial and the Second Annual Ed Laboon Memorial. The Pro-Late competitors will be showcased on Saturday, August 3rd as we celebrate the life of long time Pro-Late car owner Jook George with an extra lap event that will also include an increased purse and various contingency sponsors. The event was organized by the late car owner and first held in 1990 to showcase the Pro-Late teams. Bill Yakin won the inaugural event. Other notable winners include Mike Johnson, Dave Wade, Jim Stephans, Brandon Burgoon and Tommy Schirnhofer. Kyle Lukon scored the win last September and will surely be one of the favorites to capture the 2013 event as well. In addition to Lukon, two time Jook George Champion Mike Pegher, Jr., defending PPMS divisional champion Colton Flinner, Laura Lukon, Justin Lamb and Mike Reft are just a few of the PPMS regulars expected to challenge for the top prize.
Late Model Sportsman competitors will have “their turn in the spotlight” on Saturday, June 1st as the Second Annual Ed Laboon Memorial event will be held that evening. “The LMS competitors from the tri-state area came together to honor my father last August and I was humbled by the success of the inaugural event,” commented LMS competitor Vince Laboon. “In addition, the generosity of the racing community in contributing to the increased purse was truly amazing; the “racing family” did a tremendous job as over $8,000 in prize money was raised for last year’s event.”
Bob Schwartzmiller claimed the victory in the inaugural event last August and is expected to return to defend his crown. Laboon continues to work with the other Saturday night speedways at which the division competes and is asking them to either give the division a “week off” or hold a non-points event so that their regular competitors can compete at PPMS. “It was great to see competitors from Lernerville Speedway, Mercer Raceway Park, Sharon Speedway and Roaring Knob join us last summer. It is my hope that area promoters will recognize that this type of cooperation enables the competitors to provide the fans with some great racing action. In addition, as the number of motorsports facilities dwindles we all need to work together to ensure that all of the facilities will be around in the coming years,” stated Laboon.
The purse for the second annual event has already received a great response from the motorsports community as the following firms and individuals have already pledged additional prize money for the 2013 event: Schwartzmiller Ground Maintenance, Brandon Gawlas, Evey True Value and Winner’s Circle Motorsports LLC, Dobs Automotive, Cleetus Motorsports, Imperial Tire and Automotive, South Hills Towing, Supercuts Whitehall and Bryan Designs and Decals and West Mifflin Collision. Those wishing to provide additional monetary or contingency prizes should contact Vince Laboon at (412) 396-9138.
The Herb Scott Memorial is another great event that was recently added to the 2013 schedule at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway. The extra lap Super Late Model race will pay tribute to one of Western PA’s racing legends who accumulated for than 500 victories during a racing career that spanned five decades. “Herb was my favorite driver growing up,” commented Speedway Owner Matt Miley. “In fact the Miley cars were painted pink because Herb’s cars were always pink in the PRA days.” In addition, to garnering numerous track titles in the tri-state area Scott was also the flagman when PPMS held its first event in 1979; an interesting footnote is that Scott actually presented the checkered flag to his son Deek as he captured the Late Model victory that evening.
The 2013 season at “Dirt’s Monster Half Mile” is just a few days away as a Test and Tune Session will be held on Saturday, March 30th. The session is open to all divisions and will be held from 2:00PM to 5:00PM. Pit and Grandstand Admission Gates will open at 1:00PM. Grandstand Admission is Free with Pit Admission priced at $25.00.
The official racing action gets underway just one week later on Saturday, April 6th, with the 2013 Blastoff event featuring the Diehl of Robinson Super Late Models, Precise Racing Products RUSH Pro-Late Models, Sunoco Race Fuels Late Model Sportsman, Miley BP Carwash Hobby Stocks and the Imperial Heights Garage Young Guns. The gates for the Blastoff Event will open at noon with the racing scheduled to begin promptly at 2:00PM
Fans are encouraged to sign up for free race day text messages to get the latest information on weather or traffic delays that may impact the racing action by clicking on the “Rained Out” logo on the speedway website, www.ppms.com.
Additional information is also available on the speedway website: www.ppms.com or by contacting the speedway office at (412) 279-RACE (7223). Race fans can follow Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway at www.twitter.com/PAMotorSpeedway as well as like the PPMS Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/#!/PittsburghsPennsylvaniaMotorSpeedway.
The 2013 racing season at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway is “shaping up” to be one of the best ever so be sure to join us Saturday evenings this year.