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The World Finals are being held in Charlotte, N.C. this weekend.
Qualifying started Thursday night. Sprint cars, late models and big block modifieds are included in the program. Familiar sprint car drivers planning to attend include Ryan Smith, Brock Zearfoss, Brent Marks, Lance Dewease, Greg Hodnett, Cody Darrah and Lucas Wolfe. They join the best from all over America for this special event, which concludes Saturday.
Look for Cody Darrah to campaign a Kasey Kahne owned No. 4 race car at Charlotte. Darrah was a Kahne teammate to Daryn Pittman and Brad Sweet until this season when sponsorship problems forced Kahne to cut back to a two-car team. Darrah’s car appears to be new and it will be interesting to see if additional races follow. Darrah spent the season driving for his family owned race team.
Fred Rahmer has announced his 2016 race dates at Path Valley Speedway, all on Sundays. They include May 1, June 26 and Aug. 28.
Mark July 14-16 on your calendar if you plan to attend the Kings Royal in Eldora, Ohio. One of those days was in conflict with the Brad Doty Classic, which has been held at Limaland, Ohio, Speedway since 2006. Doty has moved the race back to Attica Raceway Park, where it began in 1989, and set the date as July 12. The World of Outlaws will continue to sanction the program.
Limaland was unable to race on a Tuesday for some reason, which caused the change. Interestingly enough, I learned Limaland is run by The University of Northern Ohio, which has the college degree program in motorsports.
There’s been plenty of buzz in the air after last week’s NASCAR race. It is a serious situation that sometimes happens in motorsports. I can’t help but chuckle because both Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano have denied either did anything wrong over the last three races. There’s enough blame to go around at both ends and Logano should have shut his mouth and perhaps Kenseth would have backed off. Kenseth let it get the better of him and in my opinion NASCAR has done a poor job handling this situation all the way around. How do you see it?
Locally, we have a new promotion team at Selinsgrove Speedway. Sprint car owner Michael Heffner and Alan Kreitzer, who owned Silver Spring Speedway, have agreed to lease and operate Selinsgrove Speedway under the promotional direction of Steve Inch. The same weekly program will continue and that’s good for all parties concerned – the 360 sprint car division really didn’t have anywhere to go as other area tracks are racing 358 engines. The Snyder County oval also has a long history with late model racing.
Inch has 25 years experience at Selinsgrove as the announcer and PR director and I feel sure the operation will be in solid hands with these three men. Heffner will continue to field sprint cars for Greg Hodnett. Kreitzer also is co-promoter of Lincoln Speedway and has been involved at other area tracks as well.
The Selinsgrove Speedway change came about when former promoter Charlie Paige decided he wasn’t going to renew his lease after 15 years. Things became tense between Paige and the fair board over assets purchased by Paige and compensation had to be settled. The process was ongoing for quite some time and finally a deal was struck. Many rumors circulated that weren’t true, including that the track might close. Now that can all be put to rest.
Selinsgrove’s 2016 dates include big block modified racing March 19. 410 sprints July 3 (Speedweek) and the Jim Nace Memorial National Open Sept. 17.
Selinsgrove Speedway opened July 20, 1946. It was designed by the late Joie Chitwood of thrill show fame. The track briefly closed in the early 1960s before reopening in 1963. The 2016 season will mark 54 consecutive years of operation.
Don’t forget next week is the Final Showdown 410 sprint car race at Susquehanna Speedway and the conclusion of the Todd and Rhonda Fisher era of promotion at the York County oval. I’m told the Fishers will take a break but could possibly promote a race or two elsewhere.
Have a great racing weekend. Please drive safely!
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Craig Rutherford writes about motorsports for The Sentinel.