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It’s hard to get in the mood for racing with temperatures in the single digits, but racing is just over two months away and excitement is already building towards the 40th Anniversary Season of the Lernerville Speedway.
As you may be well aware, while it’s the dead of winter here, it is the height of summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Australia is a hot bed for sprint car racing and many of the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series drivers are doing battle down under in preparation for the 2008 season, which kicks off at the DIRTcar Alltel Nationals February 8-10 at Volusia Speedway Park.
Donnie Schatz continues to dominate the Outback like he has dominated the good old U.S. of A. the past two seasons. The back-to-back World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and Silver Cup Champion has won five races on his trip to Australia. Fan Favorite Danny Lasoski, fresh off an appearance at the World Famous Chili Bowl, picked up a feature win at Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway on January 17.
You can see both drivers at the Action Track this season. First they will roll into town for the First Commonwealth Bank Clash on Tuesday May 13. They’ll be back on Tuesday July 15 for the $40,000-to-win Cleveland Brothers CAT Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup XVII.
Tickets for both of these Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series events, as well as both World of Outlaws Late Model Series events, (the Showdown in Sarvertown sponsored by Y108 on Tuesday April 15 and the Firecracker 100 presented by GottaRace.com on Friday-Saturday June 27-28), can be purchased on our website www.lernerville.com.
The other event that is posted for online ticketing is our Labor Day Kickoff event, the Cleveland Brothers CAT Jim Shank Memorial featuring MACS Late Models and O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champion Sprints.
Back-to-Back MACS Champion Jason Covert will be in action that night as he has recommitted to the MACS Late Models Series to attempt an unprecedented 3-peat! Only Lynn Geisler and Denny Chamberlain have previously won back-to-back MACS titles.
Banquet season is now in full swing with tracks, sanctioning bodies and fan groups gathering to celebrate and honor the achievements of the 2007 racing season. The Annual Lernerville Awards Banquet is scheduled for March 1 at the Days Inn in Butler, PA. But this past Saturday at the Pittsburgh Circle Track Club Banquet, Lernerville’s Living Legend Carl Murdick was inducted into the PCTC Hall of Fame along with Dave Pegher, Dick Curry, Frank Perpetua and the late Ted Wise. 2007 Lernerville Speedway Advance Auto Parts Pure Stock Champion Mike Pegher Jr. was also honored as the PCTC Champion in the Pure Stock division.
Speaking of achievements, future Hall of Famer Rod George’s incredible 2007 season was featured in an article in the most recent National Speed Sport News. Lernerville Speedway would like to congratulate Rod again on his five feature wins at Lernerville in the Commercial Truck & Trailer sprints on the way to 21 feature wins throughout the season at various tracks.
Congratulations also go out to 2007 Lernerville rookies Steve Feder (Ferrante Motor Car DIRTcar Modifieds) and Eric Piotrowski (Advance Auto Parts UMP DIRTcar Street Stocks) who were both nominated for Walt Wimer’s 2007 Western Pennsylvania Rookie of the Year Award.
A driver who may be on that list next year is Erik Martin who recently purchased Chanda Reitz-Liebold’s modified and will be running for Lernerville Rookie of the Year honors in the Ferrante Motor Cars DIRTcar Modifieds. Also in that division, Eddie Brown has acquired a TEO Chassis from Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series superstar Tim McCreadie. Eddie is looking forward to a big season in 2008.
Car Show season is also upon us. The Lernerville Car Show is scheduled for Thursday-Saturday March 13-15 at the Clearview Mall in Butler, PA. If you can’t wait that long, check out some Lernerville drivers at the World of Wheels show at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh Friday-Sunday February 22-24. Danny Holtgraver will have his always spectacular D4 Maxim Chassis/Don Ott powered sprinter on display. UMP Street Stock drivers Pat Hanley, Shaun Thorn and Randy Hanovick will also be on hand with their 2008 rides. Hanovick will debut his brand new SS Chassis street stock, having just sold his old chassis to Brett McDonald. |
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