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MAX BLAIR DECLARED FASTRAK NATIONAL WEEKLY SERIES & NORTHEAST TOURING
CHAMPION; AT LEAST 8 OTHER NE RACERS EYE $50,000 GRAND NATIONALS
By Mike Leone
October 13, 2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Pulaski, PA…Fresh off the $5,000 FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring
Series Championship, the $10,000 FASTRAK National Weekly Series
Championship, and a $2,000 win in Night 1 of the $250,000 FASTRAK
Grand Nationals, Max Blair will lead the Northeast pilgrimage south
as they head to Friendship Speedway in Elkin, North Carolina on
October 15 and 16 in Night 2 then on to Wythe Raceway in Rural
Retreat, Virginia on October 17 and 18 for the Night 3 conclusion.
Fans can listen live every night at
www.audiosportsonli ne.net/Fastrak/ Fastrak.htm.
In the sophomore season of the Northeast Touring Series, Blair was
the only driver to repeat with victories in the 11-event slate. The
18-year-old Centerville, Pa. racer won the opening event at McKean
County Raceway on May 24 and scored his second win on August 24 at
Eriez Speedway. Blair edged out veteran Dick Barton by 17 points for
the $5,000 top prize. Barton, who missed the opening event at McKean
and finished 23rd in the next Touring event at Mercer, finished
strong never finishing worse than seventh including a win at Dog
Hollow. It was the second straight year Barton has finished second
in the Touring points. Completing the top 10 with wins in
parentheses were John Lacki (1), Bobby Powell (1), Tom Snyder, Jr.,
Dennis Lunger, Jr., Rusty Moore, Andy Buckley, Justin Kann, and Jay
Watson. Other winners were Mike Pegher, Jr., Carl McKinney, Butch
Lambert, Alan Dellinger, Kyle Drum, and Frank Guidace. The Northeast
Touring Series will tentatively be held in conjunction with the
Mercer Raceway Park banquet on Saturday, January 17.
"This was my first year ever chasing points," acknowledged
Blair. "At the beginning of the year I wanted to win three races and
the Tri-City Speedway championship. I've watched dad (Robbie Blair)
do it all these years, but I wasn't even planning on running all the
Touring races. It's been cool going to all these different tracks
and new places for me."
This year saw a change from individual FASTRAK track champions to a
new Weekly Point Series presented by City Chevrolet. The system
calculated drivers' best 15 point finishes and paid down 30 spots.
Blair and Powell traded the top spot in points for much of the season
before Blair took control and then had to hold off a September charge
by Wisconsin's Craig Bartz for the $10,000 prize. In the final
numbers, Blair topped Bartz by a mere two points earning 738 out of a
maximum 750. The Northeast had a strong showing taking nearly 50% of
the total prize money ($15,700) as Powell finished in third ($3,000)
just five points back and Barton fourth ($2,000) only seven points
back. Lacki finished in 11th ($700). Steve Hollabaugh missed the
top 30 by just one point, Lunger by three, and Watson by
four.
"The coolest thing is me, Bobby (Powell), and Barton taking three of
the top four spots," expressed Blair. "It's just crazy and awesome
in my eyes. There was a lot of stress all year long and every race.
and it's a relief now that it's over. Point racing was in the back
of my mind every night and I had to keep in mind many nights while
running second that just by finishing there would gain me two
points."
On October 4 at Mercer Raceway Park in Night 1 of the Grand Nationals
for the Northeast Region, Blair passed Barton to capture the $2,000
win. Even more importantly, Blair is now in a five-way tie for first
with Shannon Buckingham (Southern/Mid- East), Ed Dixon (Midwest), Joey
Tanner (Pacific), and Craig Bartz (Great Lakes) in Grand National
points heading into Friendship Speedway on Wednesday and Thursday
night. Other Northeast racers confirmed to head south include
Powell, Barton, Snyder, Lacki, Pegher, Lambert, and Hollabaugh.
Additional drivers are TBA.
"I'm very excited, but real nervous," revealed Blair on Sunday
night. "There's been a lot of work to get ready and I'm taking a
spare car down just in case. There's a lot of pressure…what if I
don't make that first race? It's going to be a lot of fun and just
traveling down together with Bobby (Powell) and of course I have my
dad in my corner. Nothing would have happened this year without
him. If he wasn't going, I wouldn't even be going because I wouldn't
have had a shot. I'm going down with the maximum points, but I grew
up around the tracks at home and these will be new tracks for both me
and my dad."
All told, Blair ended the season with 13 FASTRAK sanctioned wins
including six at Tri-City, three at Mercer, three at McKean, and one
at Eriez in his Specialty Products/Loney Timber/Moody Welding/Eagle
Hoist & Winch-sponsored #111. Along with the Touring and National
Weekly Series Championships, Blair also captured both the McKean and
Tri-City track championships. Of note, Blair's hot streak continued
this past Saturday night when he won another $2,000 race in his steel-
block Late Model at The Challenger Raceway.
"This has been quite the year for FASTRAK here in the Northeast,"
stated Northeast Co-Director Vicki Emig. "We were very excited back
in January to unveil the new National Weekly Point Series. Little
did we know we'd have three of the top four racers in the country and
five in the top 11 spots! Blair, Barton, and Powell had amazing
seasons despite how competitive the entire season was both Touring
and locally. We had 10 different winners in 11 Touring events and
averaged 30 cars per event. Along with Mercer, we really have to
thank Raceway 7, Dog Hollow, McKean, and Tri-City Speedways for being
FASTRAK-sanctioned speedways and giving our racers the opportunity to
compete for all these dollars FASTRAK doles out. We received lots of
great press coverage both for the Series and our drivers. Now we're
looking forward to our top racers heading south to compete against
the entire nation with a shot at the $50,000 championship and
bringing some of the $250,000 back to the Northeast."
Final 2008 FASTRAK Touring Series Points (only Touring Series members
are eligible to receive points): 1. Max Blair 325 2. Dick Barton
308 3. John Lacki 291 4. Bobby Powell 287 5. Tom Snyder, Jr. 284
6. Dennis Lunger, Jr. 265 7. Rusty Moore 239 8. Andy Buckley 225
9. Justin Kann 203 10. Jay Watson 200 11. Jim Frank 198 12. Bob
Kish 188 13. Roger French 168 14. Mike Pegher, Jr. 158 15. Steve
Hollabaugh 157 16. Jon Law 146 17. Carl McKinney 144 18. Kevin
Meadows 138 19. Bert Cleer 127 20. Chad Myers 125 21. Bob Diver
120 22. Dereck Frank 114 23. Kyle Drum 75 24. Bobby Whitling 67
25. Brian Booher 62 26. Bob Dorman 48 27. Todd Sweet 46 28. Tommy
Schirnhofer, Jr. 38 29. Steve D'Apolito 37 30. Bryan Salisbury, &
Dave Airgood, Jr. 10 32. Frank Guidace, Dan Karalagas, Gary Miller,
Jr., Tim Schram, Mike Wonderling, Sr., Tommy Kronenwetter, Mike
Lesky, John Eckenrod, Rocky Kugel, Sammy Stile, Alan Dellinger, Aaron
Ridley, Tyler Dietz, Jeff Enos, Tony Hyde, Ron Smithley, Dan
Angelicchio, Dave Lyon, Kyle Zimmerman, Jason Fosnaught, Bump Hedman,
Greg Oakes, Chad Wilds, Alex Anderson, Dave Norton, Jr., Butch
Lambert, Ben Black, Bryant Hank, Bob Vogt, Jr., Chris Haines, Jim
Laughard, Dan Stives, Dave Osterberg, Gary Stahl, Scott Jones, Jason
Stanke, John Haggerty, Kirby Tucker, Roger Laughlin, Chris
Angelicchio, Joe Zulinsky, Wayne Mohawk, Mike Anderson (Jr.), Garrett
Stephen, Bert Blackson, Tom Copeland, Chris Knuth 0.
2008 FASTRAK Northeast Touring Series associate sponsors thus far are
Race 1, Fame RV Center, Yoder's Performance Specialty & PRC, Bullitt
Chassis, and Fred Beans Parts.
To join our mailing list, simply send an e-mail to fastrakpr-
subscribe@yahoogrou ps.com. Mike Leone and Vicki Emig can be reached
at 724-964-9300. E-mail to info@fastraknorthea st.com and snail mail
to 4368 Route 422, Pulaski, PA 16143. For more information, check
out www.fastraknortheas t.com.
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