WEST LEBANON, NY – Lebanon Valley Speedway’s 71st Annual Grand Season Opening is scheduled for April 29 at 6 p.m. The Big Block Modifieds will be the headlining class, along with the Sportsman, Pro Stock and Street Stock classes.
The Small Block Modified class is scheduled for 15 races and will debut on Contractor Sales Night, May 13. The Limited Sportsman class will be back for a second season. They are currently scheduled for 15 nights of racing and will start on May 6. Finally, the 4-Cylinder class is scheduled to compete 11 times.
Unlike many past warmup days at Lebanon Valley, it will be quite warm. As of this writing, the forecast high is 80 degrees with a slight chance of a shower.
Fans traveling to Lebanon Valley this season will notice a change to the racing surface. In previous years, there has been a sharp transition between the banking in the turns and the apron (or, as track officials would often refer to it, the berm).
Since the end of last season, this transition has been smoothed out a little. The infield barriers were pushed away to do the work, then pushed back into place.
For most classes at Lebanon Valley, the track should not race all that differently than before. If anything, there will be a little more racing room.
The other big change is that the money has been increased for the 2023 season. The Modified class will be racing for a minimum of $3,000 to win each week for the first time. Previous years had a $2,000 to win minimum for Modifieds, but with a bunch of extra money nights.
There will still be a number of extra money nights in 2023. For instance, the second night of the season (Dwyer’s State Line Beer & Wine/Sysco Night on May 6) will have a $3500 to win feature.
Additional special nights include the 11th Annual JC Flach Memorial on June 3, Rifenburg Construction Tommy Corellis Night on July 15 and the 44-lap Bryan Goewey Memorial on July 22 with $5000 to win.
The increased money is not just for the winners. It has been increased down the line for the Small Block/358 Modified, Pro Stock and Sportsman classes as well.
For instance, second-place in a Modified feature earns you $1500, $900 for third, $700 for fourth and $650 for fifth. Starting earns you $500 minimum.
Both the Sportsman and Pro Stock winners will earn $700 minimum. Additional sponsors can increase this number further. In Pro Stock, there were a number of $1000 to win races last year and the likelihood is for that to continue in 2023.
There are also special events on the schedule. The Super DIRTcar Series is scheduled to return to Lebanon Valley for two more appearances in 2023. The first of them is the King of Spring 100, scheduled for Memorial Day. Teams will be racing for $13,500 to win that evening.
The touring series returns Labor Day weekend for the annual Mr. DIRT Track U.S.A. $25,000 will be at stake and everyone will be gunning for the money. Whoever wins either race will have earned the money since Lebanon Valley races for the Super DIRTcar Series tend to be the hardest non-Super DIRT Week events of the season.
The Eve of Destruction, presented by Sayer’s Auto and County Waste, is back for another year on June 27. Expect shenanigans, wild racing, stunts and more.
The weekend of August 4-5 will have the Monsters vs. Megas return to Lebanon Valley for monster truck action. There will also be Tuff Truck competitions on both nights. Information on how to enter into the Tuff Truck competitions will be released at a later date.
