by DJ Johnson
3-21-2004
It was a rainy Saturday night in western Pa. watching the NCAA Basketball
Tournament, with the sound down and the computer tuned in to SCN Radio, the
sprint car
network with Wayne Harper and Bill Meyer from the Lincoln Speedway. I found
myself thinking about what I was doing on this night and was reminded of what I
did some thirty years ago while growing up listening to AM radio. Being a
young hockey fan I listened to the Ft. Wayne Komets on one of the strongest AM
signals in the country at the time, WOWO radio 1190 AM from Ft. Wayne Indiana on
Saturday and Sunday nights.
On many winter nights I listened very intently to Bob Chase the play-by-play man
of the Fort Wayne Komets, remembering just how close he sounded because of the
strong signal from the 50,000 watt AM flagship of the Komets. Now, I find myself
listening just as intently to Wayne and Bill just as I did Bob Chase a long time
ago. I guess while some things have changed, much has stayed the same.
I couldn't make it to the Silver Spring opener or to the first night race of the
season at Lincoln because I work with the National Hockey League as a minor or
off-ice official in Pittsburgh. So, since I had to be home this weekend I
thought I would just camp out and listen to the races from Lincoln and the
O'Reilly Sprint Bandits on SCN Radio.
A special thanks to Mike Martin and everyone from SCN Radio and especially
Butlerbuilt Professional Seat Systems and Don Ott Racing Engines along with
American Compressed Steel for sponsoring the events on SCN Radio.
A very excited Tony Bachoven called night number two of the Sprint Bandits event
from Devils Bowl Speedway. I like the format of passing points, it sure
makes the racing exciting. The heats actually meant something as the
driver gets 1.5 points with every car they pass. They also accrue points
in the qualifying races. The first four finishers of night number one were
locked in for night two at Devil's Bowl.
This sprint car season has been very interesting for me at least. My
season started in Florida in January for the 360's then the 410's at East Bay
Raceway Park. I then was able to catch the first few weeks of racing
action in Central Pa. including Greg Hodnett's run of three in a row at Williams
Grove, Jim Siegel's first career 410 at the Lincoln Speedway and Rod Ort winning
the opener for the PA 305 series at Lincoln Speedway last Saturday during
Lincoln's last day time show.
Lincoln has had a great start in 2004 with some great crowds and decent
weather. While the 410 car counts could be better, the shows were
competitive and completed in four hours or less.
With the opener going to Fred Rahmer, it seems that the monkey is now off of
Fred's back for 2004. Jim Siegel's win last week was one of the best races
I've seen in a while with the 24 year old besting his good friend Brian Leppo
with a daring pass down low in turn two with two laps to go. Keep an eye
on these two drivers as they will battle again for a win before the 2004 season
is out. Check out Brian Leppo's new non-car t-shirt while Jim Siegel will
have his 2004 t-shirt out in a few weeks.
At Williams Grove, it's been all Greg Hodnett and the Apple Motorsports number
12 so far in 2004. Hodnett didn't a race until something like April 2003
and he won 25 races last year so, this year could be interesting.
It was good to see Todd Shaffer back in the 88 Beam sprinter at the 'Grove and
doing well so far in 2004. Shaffer will probably run one night a week and
that night might be Saturday at the Port Royal Speedway.
Jimmy Weller the Sharon Speedway regular has made several trips to Central Pa.
from his Liberty, Ohio home. Jimmy said he enjoys competing against some
of best weekly sprint car racers in the country and he hopes it will help him
during his 70 race schedule this season.
Western Pa. driver Kevin Schaffer made a trip a few weeks back to Williams Grove
just to shake some of the rust off before the Western Pa. season opens this
coming weekend. Kevin also competes at the Port Royal Speedway on
Saturday nights.
Other visitor's to Central Pa. this season was Jim Nier in his new JEI Chassis
and Ryan Conian in the number 70 Pete Groves entry. Nier came in to get a
few races in up North after racing and doing well at East Bay right out of the
box. Coniam made the trip from Ohio just to shake down his new
cars before making his debut in the number 70 on the All Star 25th
Anniversary tour.
While the NRA won't be the sanctioning body for the 360 race next Saturday at
Mercer, "The Chiller Thriller" still promises to be a good one.
It makes sense for the opener to be run with the open tire rule as local teams
haven't had a chance to shake down their stuff yet in 2004. Without a
doubt Mercer will have a great field of cars and fans I am sure. I am
looking forward to the sprints along with the ULMS late models. If you
have any questions on any events from Mercer Raceway Park, check out the web
site or give them a call.
It looks as if Lernerville Speedway will get the official opener for western Pa.
in 2004 this Friday, March 26. The Challenger Raceway attempted to run a
special event for the DLM's but haven't been able to because of the rain and
snow will try again next Sunday, March 28th.
Lernerville had some big news this week as they announced that Lernerville will
produce a WoO Late Model race on Friday, April 23rd, 2004. Hopefully the
weather will work in their favor.
Don Gamble,
who announced at many tracks in Western Pa. most recently Lernerville and PPMS
has decided to hang up the track mic. Gamble
whose knowledge was second to none on the history of WPA racing will continue to
host his radio show "Rappin on Racin' on WEDO radio 810 AM which airs at
6pm on Mondays. Good Luck Don on your many future endeavors.
While we are busy getting ready for the season's debut of the Racewear Sprint
Car Show at www.sprintcarshow.com, we'll have some news next week including Mark
Kinser's proposed ride in a DLM owned by Darryl Saucier
2/20/04
While I missed the opening night of the East Bay Raceway Park 410 Winter Nationals, I did get to listen to Bill Green and Roby Helms over the PA system on SCN Radio. Mike Martin from SCN has some really cool plans this season on the Sprint Car Net. The website www.sprintcarnet.com will be redone giving the user easier access to tuning in organizations, tracks and possibly some radio type shows. Keep checking the website for details. What a great idea from Mike Martin and SCN Radio-The Sprint Car Network.
Thursday when I landed in Tampa the weather was just beautiful. Then the bizarre occurred. During the qualifying I was sitting with Steve Sinclair when we noticed fog beginning to develop across the track over on the hill. We fought the fog all night but the willingness to race prevailed. From what the drivers told me about racing in the fog that it wasn’t too bad except for the moisture on their shields was extremely heavy.
Motors were the victims on Thursday as
Hodnett, Mark Smith and Pittman in Gene Jenkins car all suffered motor problems.
While Hodnett made a motor change and finished fifth in the A-main. The Zemco
team and Gene Jenkins’ team made changes for the next night. Jenkins’ got a
Mopar from Joey Saldana for Friday night’s event and driver Daryn Pittman
finished fifth in the A-feature.
As I mentioned the night was bizarre with the fog but the feature finish has
just as bizarre. Jim Nier was leading the race very handily when Jim thought he
saw the checkered flag and then let up after he went under the flag he began to
slow when he got behind some slower traffic with McCarl hard on the gas blew
right by him.
On Friday when I did an interview with Jim Nier for Sports Plus Video when he
admitted that he thought he saw the checkered when he in reality saw the white
and the move over flag. Maybe it was the fog, who knows but Jim said it was his
mistake. He could have easily said that he broke or that he ran out of gas but
he didn’t. Jim is a competitor and one hell of a driver.
Nier was driving one of the two Barry Jackson’s JEI Chassis’ at East Bay. Nier’s JEI right out of the box was arguably the fastest car at East Bay. Nier was second in points only to Terry McCarl going into the finale.
Also on Thursday as I was strolling through the pit area I had an opportunity to speak with Jason Johnson. Jason and his wife Bobbi were attending the race as fans and Jason was just catching up with friends in the pit area.
To say that Jason was going through some tough times is an understatement. While he lost his ride in Al Harrison’s number 22, he and his family suffered a much bigger loss when his sister Kayla succumbed to injuries after an automobile accident while Jason was in Australia.
Jason upon hearing of the accident attempted to catch a flight home but there were no flights available until the next day. After consulting with his parents, Jason competed in the series finale that night and was able to win the feature. Needless to say, the win meant very little at the time.
Jason said while being interviewed during the race that night, he mentioned Kayla was in a serious accident and he would be leaving as soon possible. After the race, Jason signed autographs for two hours as the fans expressed their feelings and support to the likeable young American.
Many times a traumatic event changes a person. Jason told me that he learned so much about his sister from her friends that he didn’t know because he had been away racing.
This all leads up to how Jason feels about his former car owner Al Harrison’s decision to quit sprint car racing. Keep in mind how Jason’s life changed just prior to learning that his car owner has decided to sell of the assets of the 22 car.
That being said, Jason told me that does not have any hard feelings or places any blame on Al for his decision. Jason feels and understandably so, that it was the timing of the decision was unfortunate. At 72 years old, Al Harrison has every right to do what he wants. If he wants to sell off everything and spend time with his grand children or doing some traveling in his motor home, that’s his business, related the 27 year old driver.
One thing is for sure, Jason Johnson will survive this latest set back of losing his ride. His families’ loss of Kayla will take much longer to deal with. A loss of a loved one doesn’t even come close to losing a ride or a job for that matter, nor should it.
Jason feels that his chance will come. You won’t hear Jason Johnson bad mouthing anyone in order to better his chances. To Jason Johnson, loyalty is very important. More important than going in and trying to steal a guys ride. While his plans are open, one thing is for sure is that the “Cajun Sensation” will ride high again. We’ll all keep the Johnson family in our thoughts are prayers.
While I am thinking about it, I guess it
would be a good time to talk about the 2004 - 410 sprint car season. The best
place to start would be the WoO now owned by Boundless Motorsports Racing Inc.
While Boundless recently took over the title of the ship, Captain Ted Johnson
still maintains control of the wheel. While in Florida I heard many stories,
rumors and innuendo’s about all forms of racing. One rumor concerns Les Wulf
who held the position of President of Boundless Motorsports. Word has recently
surfaced that Wulf was relieved of this duties. Hopefully, Boundless COO Bobby
Hartslief will address the issue when he is interviewed on
www.dollanskyracing.com which will be archived as well.
Other news on the WoO front has Bill “Barney” Lyle taking over the
Competition Director duties from newly named WoO Dirt Late Model Competition
Director, Bobby Jackson. Barney last held the same position will the All Star
Circuit of Champions before being let go by All Star President, Guy Webb. Jack
Hewitt left the All Stars after the 2003 season for reasons that have never been
made public.
While Jackson will be dealing with the “new dirty dozen”, Lyle will be overseeing racers he has known for a while and has experience with. When I spoke with “Barn” last week, he was excited about the new challenge and being back on the road again. Congratulations to both, I am sure they will do well in 2004 and beyond.
I attempted to finish this column earlier in the week but that didn’t happen, so I am going to wrap this soon.
But first, Jimmy Weller III is a young driver who has had some success in a Big Block Modified and decided late last season he wanted to go sprint car racing. Jimmy’s dad is partners in the Sharon Speedway with Dave Blaney so getting started in the right direction wasn’t a problem. In late 2003 Jimmy made a few races and ran a bunch of laps in a car that was more meant for him to get laps in than to compete up front.
Jimmy Weller made his 2004 debut at East Bay Raceway Park during the Winternationals. The J & J Chassis really handled to his liking during the week. Jeff McCall of the Dave Blaney Driving Experience will be assisting Weller when possible as Jimmy hopes to race the sprint car about seventy times during the 2004 season. Jimmy mentioned that he plans on making a few races in the Big Block Mod for a local team probably running at the Sharon Speedway.
Another quick note from East Bay involves Kevin Frye’s recovery from Brown Recluse Spider bite which happened last August. Kevin is coming along well now after dealing with a 105 degree fever and being ill which lasted into November. Wow. His plans are to run a few different races along with more non-wing shows in 2004.
2/1/2004
The King of the 360's got kicked off at East Bay Raceway on Wednesday the 28th
with Joey Saldana taking the win in Red Stauffer number 2s. Joey who
arrived in Tampa on Tuesday night after racing in Australia was tied in the
points with Danny Lasoski who finished third in Wednesday's race was driving an
Eagle Chassis owned by his father, George.
The ageless one Roger Rager, came home third in points after finishing second in
Wednesday's feature. Roger enlisted the help of his old buddy Deuce
Turrill to turn the wrenches. Deuce related a story about this old friend
Rager .
When Roger gets out of the race car, the 54 year old driver goes to the front
end of the sprinter and lifts the car to his waist. According to Deuce,
Rager has done this for years even when Roger raced his silver crown car which
weights a bit more than the sprint car.
You really need a line up card to tell some of the drivers from their temporary
mounts. As I mentioned, Joey Saldana is in Red Stauffer's number 2,
Lasoski in the 20L which will be driven by Tony Stewart next Tuesday and
Wednesday at the Volusia USCS show. Jeff Shepard is driving Kasey Kahne's
number 67, a JEI Chassis by Barry Jackson. Chad Kemenah is driving the
yellow number 20K owned by Ron Hammons of Ohio. The other driver in a
different machine is Kelly Kinser who is driving the Joe Seeling owned number
97. Also in attendance were Greg Wilson, Lance Dewease and Terry McCarl in
their own race cars with 360 motors.
While I've mentioned some of the 410 guys, there are some pretty good 360 racers
here in Florida. One of the best ever, Kenny Adams lives in the area but
races with the USCS most of the time .Danny Martin Jr. is a good young racer
along with last years King of the 360's Sport Allen. Sport Allen works a 50-hour
a week job as a UPS drive and he still finds the time and energy to race
competitively. Besides reigning East Bay Champ Johnny Gilbertson
others that include Sprint and Midget Editor Doug Auld, Team Hulk Hogan racers
Gene Lasker and Bubba the Love Sponge Clem, of course Red Stauffer and Wayne
Reutimann who is driving a former Donnie Krietz Jr Avenger Chassis. And
finally a name that all sprint car fans know is Jan Opperman Jr. who races here
at East Bay.
I really like this race because you get a good cross section of 360 racers from
all over the country. Some examples are Jesse "the Bulldog"
Giannetto a Knoxville regular, Mike Chadd the ESTS Champ, Darren Long who is
driving a team car here to SOS Champion Glenn Styers who also owns the Oshweken
Speedway in Oshweken, Ontario, Canada. Roger Rager is from Pequot Lakes,
Minnesota, Gary "Dream Weaver" Wright from Hooks, Texas and Phil Mott
from Hinsdale, NY.
ESS regular John Karklin is here along with new teammate Doug Emery. The
two 360 drivers decided to pool their resources to make their assault on the ESS
title for 2004.
The B-main here on Thursday was a good one as T-Mac, Terry McCarl took the win
over Danny Lasoski with a lap to go.
Thursday's A-feature lined-up with the quick six that made it inverted.
Drivers on the outside of the A that were looking in were Roger Rager and Kenny
Adams.
Shane Stewart took the lead and after Danny Martin spun on lap 1, Terry McCarl
and the"Dude" rounded out the top three.
McCarl jumped out on the restart, Stewart was second then the dogfight ensued
with Greg Leonard, Lasoski, Wright and Saldana to duke it out. Shane
passed McCarl on lap 17 with the others still in tow.
On the restart, Lasoski was low into turn two and as he slid up, Greg Leonard
got pushed up towards the turn two wall and on his side. At the same time
Terry Gray ended up stopped along the turn one wall.
Shane really hung on for a great win at East Bay Raceway Park. Shane took
the win over McCarl, Lasoski, Gary Wright and Jeff Shepard.
A few other notes from here…Mike Chadd has Scott Benic providing a helping
hand here at East Bay this week. They put together a new Maxim on
Thursday beginning at 9:30 and finishing up around 4 PM and went out a qualified
11th. Mike was sporting the colors of his sponsor Carpet Land which will
be Mike's main sponsor this year…Word has it that Sammy Swindell could be back
with Dennis Roth in 2004. The only question will be, will Sammy and Tim
Shaffer both be on the road with the WoO or will someone have to stay an race in
California?...Joey Saldana will in the 50 car this season and the team plans on
running about 80 races this season. Weather really played havoc with
Joey's travel plans as his trip from Australia took about 28 hours. Joey
and Shannon Saldana have their son here in Fla. with them as does Rob and Kathy
Hart has their daughter with them. It is great to see the families
together at the track.
While at East Bay I spoke with Justin Collett. The URC racer isn't racing here
at the 360 Winternationals, he is just down checking out the opening event for
the 360's. Recently, I asked a Justin a few questions a little bit about
himself.
I do a bio sheet for the Racewear Sprint Car Show and to assist in some of the
columns I do in RPM and on the web. Here are some of his answers.
The 18 year old high school student/driver plans to attend Delaware Technical
College majoring in Mechanical Engineering. That figures since his
favorite driver is none other than Greg Hodnett. While Justin has been
racing for eight years he also enjoys fishing, skiing and lacrosse.
Check out Justin's web site at www.justincollett.com for more information.
1/18/2004
First,
let me apologize for not sending in a column after PRI.
My paper, RPM Racing News got it for the December 9 edition and I just
ran out of time after PRI.
I’ll
include some of the better stuff here this week and probably next week after the
York Show in Central Pa.
On
Friday I made the trip to Fort Washington, Pa. for Motorsports 2004.
It’s a great show for the race fans, everything and more about motor
sports can be found there.
I
made my usual poor attempt at being a photographer, LOL.
Don’t worry guys, no chance. I
did get a few shots that came out ok. After
all, the cars are standing still.
I
guess I should get this off my chest since its bothering me somewhat.
Word has it that Keith Kauffman,”the man from Mifflintown” will be
not able to attend his own induction ceremony at the National Sprint Car Hall of
Fame in Knoxville on June 5th.
Kaufmann’s
car owner Dave Middleswarth would like to win the Port Royal Speedway track
title and feels it would be best that Keith race on Saturday at the ‘Port.
Dave
is a successful business person, he understands what it takes to make it and
business and he made a great choice when he chose Keith to drive his race car.
He should feel partly responsible for Keith’s selection to the HoF and
receive credit for the same.
The
same goes for the Port Royal Speedway. While
they have their schedule set for a regular night of racing, there wouldn’t be
anything wrong with honoring Keith by asking the other drivers how they feel
about not racing the 410’s that night or race without points.
I
realize that sounds bias but hey, we’re talking about a current driver that
was selected to the HoF while he is still capable of winning races.
When was the last time that had happened?
Even Bobby Allen wasn’t winning often back when he was selected.
Hell,
June 5, 2004 should be Keith Kaufmann Day in Pa. Look at the stats, he deserves every accolade he receives.
One of the nicest guys you or Dave Middleswarth will ever meet.
It would be heart warming to see Keith being presented with his plaque in
Knoxville. No one deserves it more.
I hope everyone including Dave will be there to witness it.
Congratulations Keith.
As
I mentioned I attended the Motorsports show this past Friday and I did get to
speak with fans, racers and even a few media slugs.
Some
of the sprint car news from the show revealed the All Stars will make their
first ever appearance at Virginia Motor Speedway. From what PR guy Dave Seay had to say, they really think the
fans will enjoy the All Stars and the Pa. Posse going at it on neutral turf on
Thursday, June 24th. This
would be the Thursday prior to the USAC Sprint and Silver Crown race at
Richmond. The 1st Annual
Showdown will also feature the Dirt Late Models in a 40-lap feature paying
$3,000 to win for the DLM’s.
The
All Stars will make two appearances at the Lincoln Speedway in 2004, on May 1st
and then again August 28th. It
seems that the All Stars will be not appearing at Big Diamond, Grandview or
Williams Grove in 2004 as the sanction body didn’t appear on any schedules
that I’ve seen so far.
Speaking
of the Lincoln Speedway, I have the opportunity to speak with promoters, Bob
Leiby and Alan Kreitzer will at Motorsports.
As usual, the speedway’s ground crew has worked all winter making
several improvements to the facility. Along
with a new catch fence, a new wall was constructed.
Wayne
Harper, who announces the sprint cars along with handling sales and sharing the
public and media relations duties
with Bill Meyer, told me that there are plans for a tunnel to the infield but
due to a high water table, that project won’t be completed in time for the
2004 season opener which is February 21, 2004 at 2 pm.
Pa.
Speedweek kicks off on June 26, 2004 at the Lincoln Speedway with a stop at
Silver Spring Speedway on the June 30. Port
Royal Speedway has a Speedweek show on July 3, 2004.
I love the pocket schedules those three speedways make available to the
fans.
The
Silver Spring Speedway has a Race Car Flea Market scheduled for February 21, the
same day as the Lincoln opener. Go
early, have breakfast and some great deals at the Flea Market.
Becca
Anderson who has been absent from the sprint car scene for a while will be a
regular at the Lincoln Speedway on Saturday nights.
Before
I forget and I usually forget several things in a column, the IROC Series
announced a new sponsor this week with Crown Royal Whiskey coming on board for a
three year deal. Total purse to be
paid out in 2004 will be $1.9 million with 1 million going to the champion.
Also, while it was announced, look for Steve Kinser and Danny Lasoski to
make a return to the four race series along with open wheel ace, JJ Yeley.
The
four races this season will be Daytona, Texas, Richmond and Atlanta with all but
the Atlanta race being run under the lights.
There
is a chance that in 2005, the series will increase to six races and the Stacker
2 Xtreme Dirt Car Series Champion will be invited to participate thanks to their
involvement with Goodyear who has been supplying tires to IROC for 30 years.
Xtreme Dirt Car Series drive Brian Birkhofer will be testing IROC cars
this season. In 2003 the NHRA’s
Ron Capps and Doug Kalitta had turned some laps.
IROC’s Jay Signore explained that the NHRA schedule conflicted too much
with the IROC to allow any of the drag racers to compete in IROC at this time.
Joey
Magaruh from Vacaville, California drives the number 47 Eagle chassis at
Placerville and other West Coast tracks. Joey
is returning from a nasty flip which pretty much ended the 2003 season.
You
might be wondering how or why I know about this guy all the way from Vacaville,
Ca. Well, it is an interesting
story to say the least.
It
all started a few years ago when I heard that Joey’s dad, who we all knew as
Junior back here in Cecil, Pa. while I was growing up, had a son, (Joey) who
raced sprint cars in California.
At
first, I thought maybe Junior’s Uncle JP was confused about the type of car he
was racing. After all, Joey was in
California and drag racing is more of a California thing than sprint cars.
So, I did a little investigating in Alan Brown’s Sprint Car Annual
yearly publication on Sprint Cars.
Well,
low and behold, there is a Joey Magaruh racing sprint cars.
Now, this is really cool. To make a longer story short, I asked one of my
California customers at Racewear, Mike Benson if he knew Joey.
Not only did he know him but the two were friends.
Great, this is just the contact I need.
Mike told Joey and we hooked up at PRI this past Dec.
Joey’s
car has beautiful paint job applied to it.
You really have to look closely to the paint to pick out the Iron Cross
that has been applied several times on the side of the top wing.
This beautiful paint scheme was done at Joey’s A-1 Auto Body shop by
his employee’s.
Racewear
just finished Joey’s new T-shirt design for 2004. Check them out if you get a chance, they really are sharp.
There
is another side to this story as well. If
you’d like a shirt, send me an e-mail and I’ll pass along the info.
Joey’s
father bought property near Grove City, Pa. and plans on opening a business
there. At some point, Joey would
like to bring his sprinter east to compete at the local Western Pa. tracks.
I am really looking forward to that and when he does, we’ll be
recruiting a few crew people for this “Eastern” swing.
A
few more notes from the Motorsports 2004 show this past weekend.
If
you’ve ever read any of my columns in the past, the name Barry Jackson won’t
be new to you. Jackson, a very good
sprint car mechanic from Carlisle, Pa. last fall bought out Keen Fabrication and
opened JEI Performance Fabrication along with his wife, Natalie.
When
Jackson bought the Keen deal, he asked Keen’s head fabricator Mark Smith to
join him. Smith, a tremendous
welder and a pretty good sprint car driver said yes.
Together,
the duo builds the JEI Chassis in Barry’s shop in Carlisle.
Like Bo Jackson knows baseball, Barry Jackson knows sprint cars.
He has worked on every chassis known to mankind and then some.
To
date, they have built some twenty chassis’ for customers in both the 358’s
and 410 ranks. Kasey Kahne, will
have a JEI Chassis delivered this week in time for Florida Speedweeks.
While it is not known who will drive it, rumor has it, that it was
between Tyler Walker and Jeff Shepard for Fla. only, for now.
Above
is a brand new JEI Chassis that belongs to Judi Bates who will compete at the
Port Royal Speedway on a regular basis this year using Kriner power and Goodyear
tires. This is Bates’ second JEI
Chassis.
Other
410 competitors to that will be racing a JEI Chassis in 2004 are Brook Weibley
along with Mark Coldren in Central Pa. and Jim Neir, the owner of K-C Raceway in
Ohio.
Central
Pa.’s very competitive 358 ranks will have this car below driven by Kevin
Nouse which is a beautiful mount. The
JEI Chassis is power coated in a very bright blue.
Jackson
said JEI has a new hood being developed which will only be available on the JEI
Chassis. If you’d like more
information on JEI Chassis or any repair work to your existing chassis, give
Barry a call at 717-776-7173.
Barry
Jackson knows sprint cars. Now, he
builds them in the same detailed manner that he had set them up for many winning
drivers.
While
walking around the show I found great looking 305 Sprint Car driven by Jim
Moffett Jr. Anchoring the booth was
Jim’s Mom, Joy.
Joy
who handles the PR end also co-owns the team with her husband Jim.
Their son Jim Jr. or Butch as he is known attends Souderton Area High
School where he also wrestles plays football and runs track.
That’s keeping busy enough but they will find time to run a full slate
of the PA305 Sprints in 2004.
Butch,
a former QT Midget and Mirco Sprint racer wanted to move on when they heard
about the very affordable 305 sprint car series. Its called, “the workman’s class” and that’s us said
Joy.
What
a great looking car. You gotta love
those flames. Check out the PA305
Sprints at www.PA305sprints.com for
more details. I am really excited
to see these cars at Mercer Raceway Park on May 15, 2004.
Speaking
of Mercer Raceway Park, it was very nice to be invited to Mercer Raceway Park
annual banquet by Vicki Emig. Unfortunately,
due to the horrible weather and road conditions late Saturday afternoon, I
declined to make the one hour plus trip. It
just figures. I went to the Motorsports show on Friday so that I could
attend the banquet and Mother Nature deals me a bad hand. Oh well.
Now,
I can’t wait for Mercer’s open on March 27, 2004 when the ULMS Late Models
and the NRA Sprints will open the season.
Drop
me a line at sprintcarshow@aol.com.