“BILL EMIG MEMORIAL” BY BILSTEIN ON TAP FOR SWEENEY LATE MODEL TOUR FRI & SAT; $1500 TO-WIN AT LERNERVILLE & SHARON PLUS $1500 “WILD CARD WEEKEND” POINT FUND & OTHER PRIZES
July 1, 2014
(By Mike Leone)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Pulaski, PA)…Following a successful “Mid-Atlantic States Classic” at Potomac and Winchester Speedways on June 20-21, the Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Dirt Late Model Touring Series is ready to get back at it this weekend. Lernerville and Sharon Speedways will play host to the Bill Emig Memorial “Wild Card Weekend” presented by Bilstein Shock Absorbers on Friday and Saturday night (July 4-5).
It will mark the first of two stops by the Series at each facility in 2014 with each night paying $1,500 to-win. In addition, the Bill Emig Memorial “Wild Card Weekend” presented by Bilstein Shock Absorbers will also offer a $1,500 point fund with $500 going to the champion and paying down five positions! Drivers point totals will be accumulated for both nights in addition to the infamous card draws that will add points on to each driver’s point totals based on the value of the card (1-11).
In addition to the Series’ normal contingencies, two major prizes will be given away including a Lincoln Electric Power Mig 140C machine and utility cart valued at $750 along with a 16-Volt TurboStart racing battery valued at over $250! These prized will be drawn randomly on Saturday night. Drivers will get one chance per night competed this weekend; however, the winner of the Lincoln Electric prize must be present on Saturday night. Drivers will be required to have each company’s decals on both sides of their car.
With Bilstein presenting the weekend, their service truck will make a rare appearance at both speedways. The truck is equipped with a Roehrig shock dyno and they’ll be available to dyno test shocks at no charge. They’ll also be able to repair and revalve Bilstein shocks equipped with Schrader valves; and will have inventory available for sale through Precise Racing Products at Lernerville and Wedge Motorsports at Sharon, or any official Bilstein dealer that is on site in the pit area at either track. Bilstein invites racers who would like to know more about shock absorbers to visit the Bilstein Service Truck.
West Virginia teen Ryan Montgomery enters the weekend as the Sweeney Tour point leader. After leading the Series with five feature wins and a runner-up in points in 2013, Montgomery has yet to win a Tour event in 2014. Montgomery will be making his second Lernerville start of the year and first Sharon appearance on Saturday night where he won two Tour events in 2013. Pittsburgh area racer, Jason Rider, is in his first season on the Tour and is second in points. Cody Dawson travels from near the Maryland shore to hit all of the shows and is currently third over Chad McClellan, and New York’s John Waters, who has never competed at Sharon before. The complete point standings is posted below. The top 15 drivers in points will share in approximately $25,000 in cash at the season ending awards banquet.
McClellan won the opening event at Freedom Speedway in NY on May 30; however, since then Rick Singleton has been on a tear winning the $1,500 “Bill Hendren Memorial” at Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex, then swept the two-day “Mid-Atlantic Classic” two weeks ago at Potomac and Winchester Speedways winning over $5,200. Singleton had went over a year without a Sweeney Tour victory until starting the unprecedented win streak.
Lernerville held a Sweeney Weekly Series event on May 9 when Dan Angelicchio topped a 21-car field on a very threatening night. In Sweeney Weekly action at Sharon this season, defending track champion Dennis Lunger, Jr. has won four of the eight events; however, missing one of the shows this season has allowed three-time winner and 2012 champion Will Thomas III to maintain the point lead. Alan Dellinger was the opening night winner on the $135 Bilstein “sealed” spec shocks.
“Although my father’s memorial race has been held at various venues throughout the years, it’s very appropriate that it can be showcased at Lernerville and Sharon,” expressed Emig’s daughter Vicki. “My father’s cars have a great history here in both the Semi-Late and Six-Cylinder Modified divisions and Sharon Speedway is the only track in the region that all seven of my father’s drivers raced at for him. His cars and drivers recorded many wins on both the dirt and asphalt- many dating back to the quarter-mile days.”
“Bill Emig was a gambler,” stated continued Emig. “He gambled for almost 30 years in his belief of his famous six-cylinder-powered race cars, which in the end brought him hundreds of feature wins and multiple track championships- many against stout V-8 powered fields. When not at the race track he was also known to spend many long nights at the poker table so there is no doubt that he would have thoroughly enjoyed the “luck of the draw” flavor that will determine what drivers take home a piece of the point fund that is thrown in as an added bonus in the Bill Emig Memorial Wild Card Weekend.”
Also part of the weekend will be the John Buzzard Memorial Dashes that will be held each night in conjunction with the K&N “Cold Air Induction” Dashes. The weekend dashes will have additional cash on the line ($100 to-win) along with $150 of K&N product plus another little extra incentive thrown into the mix to add to the events gambling theme. The first heat winner will draw a card for the feature inversion. The top four drivers (five if five heats are run) will run the dash to determine those positions at the front of the feature line-up.
Buzzard was a former racer for the late Emig, who lost his life in an accident at Expo Speedway in 1975. Some of his greatest moments in racing came at Sharon on the blacktop as he was part of the famous weekly David and Goliath battles that pitted his Emig Ford six-cylinder against the V-8 powered Chevrolet of Jim Lewis out of Cleveland, Ohio. Their exciting duals resulted in Buzzard and Lewis being named co-champions of Sharon’s 1973 Stock Car Division.
The ARbodies “Nosed Out” will award a nose kit to the first driver that fails to qualify for the feature through the B main on Friday night.
Precise Racing Products will award a $100 gift card for the “Pedal Down” Hard Charger that passes the most cars in the feature both nights. The Brake Man “Tough Brake of the Night” will award three bottles of Xtreme6 Racing Brake Fluid valued at approximately $45 along with a certificate good for either $50 off of a purchase of $100 or more or 20% off any The Brake Man purchase.
Driven Racing Oil’s “Slick Move of the Night” winner will receive a bottle of Driven Racing Oil Race Wax, a can of Driven Racing Oil Speed Clean, and a certificate for $50 off a case of Driven XP Synthetic Racing Oil! TurboStart will give away a 16-volt racing battery valued at $252 to one lucky driver in a random draw of all competitors that attend the events this weekend.
Crate Innovations will present both the “Ignite” and “Performance Plus” Awards. The fifth place finisher on Friday night and the sixth place finisher on Saturday night will receive a carb spacer kit that includes one billet aluminum Accelerator-1, one upper and one lower spacer gasket, and four specifically designed washers used for installation, while the driver that finishes last on the lead lap each night will receive the Moroso Custom Fit Plug Wire Set, which are custom tailored for use with the Chevrolet Performance 602 and 604 circle track engines.
Lernerville & Sharon Feature Payoffs : 1. $1,500 2. $800 3. $550 4. $410 5. $375 6. $340 7. $325 8. $295 9. $285 10. $280 11. $255 12. $250 13. $230 14. $225 15. $200 16. $195 17. $190 18-24. $185.
Non-Qualifier: 1. $150 2. $125 3. $115 4. $110 5. $105 6. $100 7. $95 8. $90 9. $85 10-24. $80. $75 to any driver failing to start either feature.
Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC Touring Series DRIVER Points (must be Touring member to receive points): 1. Ryan Montgomery 368 2. Jason Rider 362 3. Cody Dawson 355 4. Chad McClellan 340 5. John Waters 337 6. Eric Wilson 328 7. Rick Singleton 300 8. John Over 260 9. Ralph Morgan, Jr. 259 10. John Imler 243 11. Reese Masiello 229 12. W.L. Stile 265 13. Josh Holtgraver 98 14. Max Blair 94 15. Bryce Davis 90 16. Jamie Brown & Nolan Dalton 89 18. Matt Glanden, Robby Marhefka & Adam Sixt 86 21. Bob Kish 85 22. Russell Baird, Jr. 80 23. Andrew Wylie 79 24. Kyle Lukon & Jacob Burdette 78 26. Michael Lake 74.
You do not have to be a member of RUSH to compete. There is a $75 entry fee each night. RACEceivers are required. The red AMB transponders will be used each night.
At Lernerville on Friday, gates open at 5 p.m. with warm-ups at 7 and heat races at 7:30. Lernerville is offering all RUSH member races the DIRTcar $10 off pit discount. The Sweeney RUSH Sportsman Modifieds will also be on the card in an event presented by VP Small Engine Fuels. At Sharon on Saturday, pit gates open at 4 with warm-ups at 6:30 and heat races at 7.
Lernerville is a 4/10-mile high-banked clay oval located 11 miles southeast of Butler, Pa. on Route 356 at 313 North Pike Road, Sarver, PA 16055. Lernerville is just 30 miles northeast of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. For more information, check out their website at www.lernerville.com or call 724-353-1511 (office) or 724-353-1350 (track).
Sharon Speedway is a 3/8-mile dirt track with a GPS address of 3241 Custer-Orangeville Rd. NE, Burghill, OH 44404. For more information, check out their website at www.sharonspeedway.com or call 330-772-5481. As for their social media outlets, you can like their page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SharonSpeedway or follow them on Twitter @SharonSpdwy.
RUSH Late Model marketing partners include Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC, Pace Performance, Hoosier Tire, Sunoco Race Fuels, Bazell Race Fuels, Precise Racing Products, ARbodies, The Brake Man, Bilstein Shocks, K&N Filters, Lincoln Electric, TurboStart, Beyea Headers, FK Rod Ends, Bobby Lake Motorsports, Driven Racing Oil, Crate Innovations Inc., Velocita-USA, High Gear Speed Shop, CrateInsider.com, Utsinger’s Towing, B.R.A.K.E.S., RockAuto.com, and Valley Fashions.
E-mail can be sent to the RUSH Racing Series at info@rushracingseries.com and snail mail to 4368 Route 422, Pulaski, PA 16143. Office phone is 724-964-9300 and fax is 724-964-0604. The RUSH Racing Series website is www.rushracingseries.com. Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rushlatemodels and follow us on Twitter @RUSHLM.