Lebanon, Mo. / Some information contributed by Ronnie Williams
For Immediate Release 8/12/2015 –

NASCAR’s Kenny Wallace will be race ready to compete Thursday night at The “High-Banks” of The Lebanon I-44 Speedway as the speedway presents The 2nd Annual Roper Family Classic presented by Whelen Engineering as all 5 of the NASCAR Whelen All American classes will be in competition as the speedway pays tribute to the Roper Family that includes Dean, Tony, Dale, and Dale Jr. All 4 of the Ozarks racing family members competed at I-44 several times in their historic careers.

Wallace, one of the most well-known drivers and commentators in NASCAR is known for his high energy level whether it be behind the wheel or the microphone. Wallace competed last season at I-44 in The O’Reilly Auto Parts Pro Late Models during Military Appreciation Night and finished 2nd to current track point leader JC Newell as a late caution might have kept Wallace from a victory that night after starting towards the rear of the pack. “The Roper family is very well known and very much respected. It is truly an honor to be competing in the event honoring the family” said Kenny. Wallace, again will be competing in the Pro Late Model Class and will attempt to become the 8th different feature winner in the class this season. The high-light of the evening will be a Budweiser Modified 54 lap feature along with a full show of O’Reilly Auto Parts Pro Late Models, Hoosier Tire Street Stocks, Coca-Cola Chargers and Sportsman.

Points are tight in all five classes. Currently Stoutland’s JC Newell leads defending track champion Kaleb Allison by only 73 markers with the race for third through ninth is only separated by 87 points. While Wallace is originally from Rolla in his younger years before moving to the St. Louis area, another St. Louis area hard charger, 15 year old Kyle Donahue ranks third just 15 points ahead of Brennon Willard. Donahue, the 2014 NASCAR Missouri State Rookie of the Year has 1 win and is coming off a strong second place finish to Cole Williams last Saturday night. Two Pro Late Model veteran drivers Jimmy Vanzandt and Terry Limberopoulos were involved in accidents last Saturday night and hope to be back in action Thursday night.

For the Budweiser Modifieds, winning The Roper Classic means everything to the class in which Dale Roper was a 3-time Track Champion on the asphalt. Fair Grove veteran Ricky Icenhower is the defending Roper Classic Champion and currently has 6 feature wins this season. Fair Grove drivers Stephen Counterman, David Bates, and Roderick Icenhower hope to claim the town’s bragging rights in honor of The Fair Grove Family while current Modified point leader Tim Swearengin hopes to get his first win of the 2015 season. A 4th and 5th place feature finish in the last 2 features has the veteran looking for more this Thursday Night as current points runner-up Richard Lewis turned around a small slump before being involved in an incident. Another large group of drivers plan to enter the event on Thursday night looking to add their name to the list of winners of the Roper Family Classic.

Veteran racers from all classes hope to win on this special Thursday Night Thunder edition of NASCAR competition and current Sportsman point leader JC” The Gentle Giant” Newell has probably competed with Dale as much as any. JC enters Thursday Night with a small 23 point lead over Lebanon’s Aaron Douglas. The hottest driver has been Grandson “Little JC” as he has captured 5 wins after a late start to the class. Jimmy Fohn was back running up front Saturday night and hopes to grab his 2nd win of the season while Douglas also seemed to be back on track with his 3rd place finish.

Hoosier Tire Street Stock point leader Jordan Nisbett will bring back several great memories on this night while he drives “The Terry Brumley” tribute car, as Dale and Dean both drove against Terry and that familiar paint scheme. Nisbett, who moved from the Charger class captured his forth feature of the season and holds a 182 point margin over Zack Morgan with several weeks remaining. “Papa Drake” Les Mallard had problems last week and dropped to 3rd but knows that this is a special night and hopes to rebound for Fair Grove as Nick Cherry and Rick Sharp are in a tight battle for fourth in the standings. Six different winners out of 10 features continue to keep the crowd guessing each time the Hoosier Tire Street Stocks pull on the track.

Another tight battle in the Coca-Cola Chargers has Rolla’s Ben White with only an eleven point lead over last week’s winner Jimmy Poindexter. Poindexter has been keeping pace with heat race wins while White has 5 feature wins against Poindexter’s 3. Jason Walls could be a key player to the title as the 2014 Champion has been running a limited schedule and is getting the car lined back out after a hard crash earlier this season. Nik Taylor has had several strong runs, Jesse Poindexter won his feature a couple of weeks ago while Japheth Nisbett, Cory Nutt, Larry Hunter, Mark Glorfeld and Luke Oster gaining speed each week and could very well help determine the outcome.

Grandstand, Fan Deck and VIP Suite gates along with the “Wildside” tier parking will open at 5PM with Racing action to begin at 7PM for this special “Thursday Night Thunder” event.

Lebanon I-44 Speedway NASCAR Whelen All American Series Point Standings as of 08/08/2015

LATE MODELS
Car # Driver Total Pts
1 15 JC Newell 977
2 47 Kaleb Allison 904
3 2 Kyle Donahue 837
4 3 Brennon Willard 822
5 35 Steve Holt 809
6 O2 Brian Brown 785
7 44 Paul Jepsen 775
8 67 Jimmy Vanzant 767
9 7 Kevin Donahue 750
10 O7 Terry Limberopoulos 687
11 26 Payton Lucas 656
12 5 Josh Woody 606
13 21 Ken Dickinson 447
14 46 Cole Williams 424
15 O8 Jake Griffin 320
16 66 Brian Woods 207
17 97 Ron Hartford 141
18 30 Dalton Kirk 138
19 12 Scotty Allen 113
20 51 Mike Slone 110
21 56 Tony Jackson Jr 84
22 66 Bill Frye 80
23 27 Joe Ross 52
24 O8 Richard Lewis 49
25 20 Cole Rouse 15
26 42 Mark Rouse 5

MODIFIEDS
Car # Driver Total Pts
1 14 Tim Swearengin 1134
2 6 Richard Lewis 998
3 7 Ricky Icenhower 960
4 9 Brian Lewis 850
5 15 Todd Lauvray 810
6 25 Stephen Counterman 809
7 91 David Bates 598
8 OO Chris Johnson 552
9 10 Joe Bunkers 526
10 44 Kevin Blackburn 478
11 64 David Strode 416
12 29 Rodrick Icenhower 406
13 1 Phil Harris 298
14 11 Mark Riddle 238
15 97 Ron Hartford 158
16 21 Adam Carmichael 88
17 19 Brian Webster 84
18 66 Terry Taylor 68
19 0 Chris Kerperien 10

SPORTSMAN
1 Car # Driver Total Pts
2 84 James C Newell 1012
3 7 Aaron Douglas 989
4 48 Jimmy Fohn 902
5 15 JC Newell 702
6 76 Jake Piel 417
7 83 Ben Newell 279
8 79 AJ Bowman 268
9 3 James Fohn 262
10 21 Ken Dickinson 236
11 21 Randy Besser 103

STREET STOCK
Car # Driver Total Pts
1 0 Tony Johnson 648
2 OO Chris Johnson 710
3 2 Chris Shetler 230
4 5 Rick Sharp 762
5 5 Riley Sharp 98
6 5 Jimmy Poindexter 86
7 7 Joey Auxier 175
8 8 Aaron Wilke 472
9 14 Zach Morgan 937
10 14 Chris Nichols 125
11 21 Les Mallard 894
12 22 Lauren Buhr 581
13 22 George Buhr 108
14 27 Nick Cherry 777
15 30 David Jennings 473
16 33 Jordan Nisbett 1119
17 77 David Douglas 683
18 90 Steve Shaw 188
19 99 Shawn Schmidt 386

CHARGERS
Car # Driver Total Pts
1 44 Ben White 1176
2 5 Jimmy Poindexter 1165
3 21 Nik Taylor 1030
4 55 Jesse Poindexter 961
5 25 Luke Oster 894
6 22 Japheth Nisbett 852
7 10 Jason Walls 678
8 19 Cory Nutt 641
9 74 Larry Hunter 442
10 40 Mark Glorfeld 441
11 95 Ethan Mathis 324
12 43 Charles Appleby 266
13 37 Jary Hudson 16

For more information visit the website at www.i44speedway.net and be sure to like us at Lebanon I-44 Speedway on Facebook for updated information on Missouri’s only NASCAR sanction facility and the only weekly asphalt track within 300 miles.