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Anticipation Mounts as I-30 Speedway's Short Track Nationals Approaches.
Lonnie Wheatley, LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (September 21, 2007) The anticipation.
You can already feel it building. That buzz in the air and intensifying
chatter is a sure sign that I-30 Speedway's Short Track Nationals is just
around the corner.
Already widely regarded as the nation's showcase event for 360-ci Sprint
Cars, this year's 20th edition of I-30 Speedway's Short Track Nationals will
prove to be even bigger and better than in years past.
As in the past several years, the 20th Annual O'Reilly Short Track Nationals
presented by Hoosier Tires will play out over three nights atop the
high-banked, Ό-mile I-30 Speedway red clay oval on October 25-27.
There are also several notable changes for this year's edition of the Short
Track Nationals though.
First off, the ante has been upped with the winner's share bumped from an
already hefty $15,000 to the staggering amount of $20,000 this year. And if
one of the front row starters accepts the Comp Cams Challenge and succeeds in
racing from the tail of the field to victory lane, the winner's share will
escalate to a whopping $45,000.
The winner can also add another $1,000 to the purse with the use of a
Huggins Cam, making the possible take from Saturday's feature alone a total of
$46,000.
With the assured $20,000 winner's cut and $2,000 just to start the Saturday
night, October 27, Short Track Nationals finale, the total three-night purse
is well over $100,000 with more than $76,000 up for grabs in the main event
alone.
Another change to this year's edition of the Short Track Nationals is a
sanction by the O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series. The final
event of the year for the O'Reilly ASCoT National series will find Gary
Wright, Wayne Johnson and defending STN champion Jason Johnson fighting it out
for the $50,000 series championship along with STN bragging rights.
And, rather than having all 100 or so entries compete over each night, this
year's qualifying night fields will be split. Approximately half the entries
will battle through a full set of heats, last chance races, qualifying races
and a feature event on Thursday night, with the other half working through an
identical program on Friday night.
The top three finishers from the Thursday and Friday preliminary features
will be locked into Saturday night's Pack's Dash for Cash, which will determine
the alignment of the front three rows of the Short Track Nationals
championship feature.
The balance of the field will then battle through a full card of heats, last
chance races and qualifying races on Saturday night to fill out the
$20,000-to-win, 20-car STN championship main event.
"The Ragin' Cajun", Jason Johnson of Eunice, LA, enters this year's Short
Track Nationals as the defending champion after besting a record field of 99
competitors last year. Johnson was chased by Tim Kaeding most of the way
before taking the checkered flag in front of Brian Brown, Darren Stewart, Gary
Wright and Sean McClelland with a broken shock sending Kaeding flipping off of
the race track on the final lap.
Johnson joined a prestigious list of Short Track Nationals champions, which
includes Gary Wright, the only driver to win the STN on more than one
occasion since the event became the nation's premier showcase in 1993. Wright
scored his first STN victory in 1995, then followed up with a second win in 1999.
Wright extended his total of STN triumphs to four with back-to-back victory
drives in 2003 and 2004.
Other past winners include Tim Montgomery (2005), Paul McMahan (2002), Jason
Sides (2001), Mike Ward (2000), Tim Crawley (1998), Wayne Johnson (1997),
Pete Butler (1996), Terry Gray (1994) and John Gerloff (1993).
Steve Kinser (1988, 89 and 91) and Sammy Swindell (1990) claimed early
renditions of the Short Track Nationals when it was a 410-ci event. The 1992
finale was rained out.
Entries have already begun to flow into I-30 Speedway's track office, with
40 early entries already received, well ahead of the pace of previous years.
Drivers planning on competing in the 20th Annual O'Reilly Short Track
Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires are encouraged to submit their entries as
soon as possible. Entries postmarked by October 14 are $200, with entries
submitted after that $250. Entry forms are available at
_http://www.i-30speedway.com/driverentry.htm_ (http://www.i-30speedway.com/driverentry.htm) or by
calling the track at 501-455-4567.
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