(LEBANON, Missouri) The celebration of a successful 2011 racing season, including a special 100-lap feature event for Late Models and a post-race ‘Party in the Pits’ for everyone, will highlight Saturday’s final ‘Kickin’ Asphalt’ show of the year at Lebanon I-44 Speedway. Spectator gates will swing open for the annual ‘Fall Shootout presented by Budweiser & Monster Energy’ at 2:30 pm, with the expanded five-division stock car racing program scheduled to begin at 5:00 pm on the track’s 3/8-mile high banked asphalt oval. The free post-race pit party, featuring a live DJ and Shriner’s-sponsored draft beer sales, will follow the final feature race of the evening at approximately 10:30 pm, and is open to spectators and racers alike.
“We saved the best for the last with this final show of the year, and it’s going to be a barn-burner,” said I-44 Speedway promoter Craig Armstrong. “The 2011 ‘Fall Shootout’ was originally scheduled as a two-day event, but when we realized that it would be a much more exciting and action-packed one-day show, the decision was easy. And this one is for both the fans and the racers . . . I guess you could say it’s our way of saying ‘thank you’ for helping us to rekindle support for pavement stock car racing in this area, and for making our 2011 ‘Kickin’ Asphalt’ racing season such a huge success.”
Headlined by the fast and powerful ASA Late Model stock cars in a 100-lap feature event, by far their longest race of the season, Saturday’s racing card at the only operating paved oval track in the region will also feature the Modifieds, which are stock-appearing racecars with open wheel front ends, the full-size Sportsman stock cars, a class of steel-bodied ‘pure’ stock cars called Road Warriors, and a four-cylinder ‘subcompact’ class of cars dubbed Chargers. All of the I-44 Speedway stock car racing classes will be featured in longer main events, with more prize money on the line, during Saturday’s “Fall Shootout’. Separate ‘Dash for Cash’ races, featuring the quickest six cars in each class racing five laps for cash prizes presented by ‘Cookin’ From Scratch’ in Doolittle, Missouri, will also be in the busy line-up of events.
Lebanon I-44 Speedway offers an alcohol-free grandstand, featuring new aluminum bench seating with seat-backs, along with tier parking for cars, pickup trucks and RV’s where patrons may park, tailgate and view the races. Known among I-44 regulars as the ‘Budweiser Wild Side’, beer may be brought in by fans to the tier parking areas, while full food and non-alcoholic beverage concessions are available in both the grandstands and tier parking, along with a Souvenir and track apparel booth located behind the Central Bank VIP Suite Tower.
According to Armstrong, regular event admission prices will not be increased for the ‘Fall Shootout’ show this Saturday, and will remain $10 in the grandstands for Adults, ages 16 and older, while Adult admission in tier parking is $12. Discounted admission for Seniors (ages 65 and older) and Juniors (ages 11-15) is offered in both locations, and Children ages 10 and younger will be admitted free in both areas as well. A grandstand Family Pass for 2 Adults and 2 Juniors plus any number of Children ages 10 and younger is available for $25, while six Adults entering in the same vehicle in tier parking will be admitted to the ‘Budweiser Wild Side’ for $60. A limited number of individual VIP passes will also be available for $25 each, entitling the patron to a seat in one of the luxurious, climate-controlled VIP Suites for the ‘Fall Shootout’.
“We know there are many families around the area who would love to come out and enjoy our ‘Fall Shootout’ show, but I’m sure they’re thinking they’d have to pay more since it’s a ‘special event’,” Armstrong noted. “So we’re going to keep our prices exactly the same as they have been all season, again as a way to thank our fans, and I mean both those fans who’ve been coming to I-44 Speedway for years as well as the folks who came out for the very first time this year. Without all of them, this remarkable 2011 racing season simply wouldn’t have been as successful as it was.”
Located just four miles east of the Lebanon city limit on Historic Route 66, Lebanon I-44 Speedway is easily accessible from anywhere in southern Missouri. The most direct route for most patrons is Interstate 44 to Exit 135, and then one mile west on Historic Route 66 to the track’s main entrance. Additional information about Lebanon I-44 Speedway’s ‘Kickin’ Asphalt’ racing program, events and racecar construction rules may be found on the facility’s official website, www.i44speedway.net.