Evansville,IN 11-18-04
After a nine-month journey that started at East Bay Raceway Park in Florida and ended in mid-October at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway only one word comes to be mind when trying to describe the 2004 Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series season. That word is, “exciting”. And, what an exciting year it was! Three different drivers holding the “YJ Stinger Cup” championship point lead; three different “rookie” drivers holding the Lucas Oil “Rookie of the Year” point lead; both championship chases not decided until the final event of the year; huge crowds at the 19 racing facility’s visited in 13 states; a strong and fan-friendly marketing campaign with Stacker 2®; a very popular television package with Speed Channel and most exciting of all, thrilling three-wide and sometimes four-wide racing action!
For Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville,FL the journey paid off in a big way. Driving the Lucas Oil/Dunn-Benson Ford No. 1 Team L Corporation Rocket Chassis/Larry Wallace Engines Ford Taurus, Pearson Jr. opened the season second in championship points after round one of the three-day “YJ Stinger® 28th Winternationals” at East Bay Raceway Park. After the seventh round of the season at LaSalle (IL) Speedway Pearson Jr. sat fifth in championship points. Solid finishes in early June at New Egypt (NJ) Speedway and Williams Grove (PA) Speedway propelled Pearson Jr. to third. Picking up his first win of the season in mid-June at Davenport (IA) Speedway, Pearson Jr. moved into second in the championship points chase. After the July “Ohio Speedweeks” Pearson Jr. found himself a scant 55 points behind points leader Jimmy Mars. Reeling off a win at LaSalle Speedway in late July, coupled with a DNF for Mars, Pearson Jr. now held the point lead. Mars kept the pressure on Pearson Jr. cutting the lead down to 19 points heading into the mid-September race at the Illinois State Fairgrounds “Springfield Mile”. A top five finish by Pearson Jr. and another DNF for Mars gave Pearson Jr. breathing room. Heading into the final event of the season, Pearson Jr. simply had to enter the event to sew up the championship worth $60,000 in point fund money and a 2004 Hummer H2.
Mars, of Elk Mound,WI, opened the season with a win giving him the points lead. Mars carried the championship points lead through the first four rounds of the season aboard the Stacker 2®/Heeg Well Drilling/Deppe Enterprises No. 28M Jimmy Mars Racing MasterSbilt/Pro Power Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Mars lost the point lead after the April event at New 311 (NC) Speedway but would come right back the next event to regain the points lead. Mars would keep the point lead through the July KC (OH) Raceway event courtesy of a victory but two weeks later the DNF at LaSalle Speedway saw Mars lose the points lead which he would never regain.
Donnie Moran of Dresden,OH led the “YJ Stinger Cup” championship points chase at one time through the season. Leaving Florida second in points, Moran grabbed the victory at New 311 Speedway aboard his Eddie’s Sunoco/PDM Performance Parts No. 99 DMR MasterSbilt/SMS Racing Engines Chevrolet Monte Carlo. A string of bad luck found Moran falling to fourth in points after the mid-June events at Cedar Lake (WI) Speedway. Moran worked his way back to third in points by the end of June but could not gain anymore ground on Pearson Jr. or Mars.
The chase for the Lucas Oil “Rookie of the Year” award was equally exciting in 2004. Shane Clanton of Locust Grove,GA sat second in the “R.O.Y.” points behind Salt Rock,WV driver Eddie Carrier Jr. after the Florida events. Billy Drake of Bloomington,IL sat atop the “rookie” points after the New 311 Speedway round with Clanton second, Carrier Jr. third and Darren Miller of Chadwick,IL fourth. Miller failed to qualify for any of the East Bay Raceway Park events in Florida to start the season putting him far behind the other challengers. Clanton regained the lead in mid-June at Cedar Lake Speedway and would keep the RSD Enterprises/SAE Parts No. 25 Ronnie Dobbins owned Rocket Chassis/Custom Racing Engines Chevrolet Monte Carlo in front the rest of the way. But, it wasn’t easy. Drake and Miller traded second and third throughout the season with Miller actually tied with Clanton for the lead with only two events remaining. Heading into the final event of the year Clanton held a scant 75 point lead over Miller. Clanton held on to notch the $10,000 cash bonus by 35 points over Miller.
Twenty-four points events were held with a total of 1,226 drivers (466 different drivers) entering an event. An average 51 drivers entered a Stacker 2® XDCS event in 2004. Purse money available topped the $1,200,000 mark with total monies available approaching $2,000,000.
2004 Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series “YJ Stinger® Cup” Final Point Standings
Position Car # Driver Name Residence Entered Starts Wins Top 5's Top 10's Earnings Points
1 1 Earl Pearson Jr. Jacksonville,FL 24 24 4 19 22 $130,150.00 3,924
2 28M Jimmy Mars Elk Mound,WI 24 24 5 16 19 $129,250.00 3,759
3 99 Donnie Moran Dresden,OH 24 24 5 14 18 $138,850.00 3,699
4 15B Brian Birkhofer Muscatine,IA 24 24 4 14 19 $163,250.00 3,666
5 7 Matt Miller Waterville,OH 24 24 0 5 16 $70,175.00 3,366
6 0 Steve Shaver Vienna,WV 24 24 0 8 15 $59,450.00 3,323
7 25 Shane Clanton® Locust Grove,GA 24 22 1 7 16 $64,075.00 3,322
8 32D Darren Miller® Chadwick,IL 24 20 1 10 15 $70,975.00 3,287
9 9 Billy Drake® Bloomington,IL 24 22 0 4 17 $54,450.00 3,189
10 53 Ray Cook Brasstown,NC 24 23 0 4 10 $48,625.00 3,133
11 28 Eddie Carrier Jr.® Salt Rock,WV 24 22 0 0 5 $34,425.00 2,877
12 72 John Mason Millersburg,OH 24 22 1 1 3 $37,300.00 2,735
13 55 Jeep Van Wormer® Pinconning,MI 23 20 0 1 5 $32,150.00 2,683
14 1x1 Sonny Conley® New Martinsville,WV 24 14 0 0 0 $21,025.00 2,344
15 19J Davey Johnson Greensburg,PA 14 14 0 3 6 $22,100.00 1,745
16 C9 Steve Casebolt Richmond,IN 15 10 0 0 1 $13,525.00 1,645
17 95 Buckshot Miles Evans,GA 17 6 0 0 0 $5,225.00 1,508
18 71 Don O’Neal Martinsville,IN 10 8 3 4 7 $45,800.00 1,434
19 59 Bill Cunningham Jefferson,OH 13 9 0 0 0 $7,575.00 1,214
20 64 Sean Cosgrove Catharpin,VA 12 4 0 0 0 $3,575.00 1,056
STACKER 2® XTREME DIRTCAR SERIES SPONSORS
STACKER 2® - “The Title Sponsor of the Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series”
YJ STINGER® EXTREME ENERGY DRINK – “The Official Sponsor of the YJ Stinger® Extreme Energy Drink Dash and the 2004 Stacker2® Xtreme DirtCar Series “YJ Stinger® Cup” Championship
THE GOODYEAR TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY – “The Official Tire of the Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series. Goodyear, #1 In Tires”
GEMINI AUTO CARE CENTERS – “The Official Auto Care Center of the Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series and Sponsor of the Gemini Auto Care Centers Hard Charger Award”
LUCAS OIL PRODUCTS,INC. – “The Official Oil of the Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series and Sponsor of the 2004 Lucas Oil Rookie of the Year Award”
SUNOCO RACE FUELS – “The Official Race Fuels of the Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series and Sponsor of “B” Main #1”
BEARDEN OIL COMPANY/RACE FUEL DIVISION – “The Official Race Fuels Supplier of the Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series”
RINGERS GLOVES – “The Official Sponsor of the Ringers Gloves Time Trial Fast Qualifier Award”
MSD IGNITION – “The Official Sponsor of the MSD Ignition Heat Race”
JE PISTONS – “The Official Sponsor of the JE Pistons Heat Race”
WRISCO INDUSTRIES – “The Official Sponsor of the Wrisco Industries Heat Race”
BERT TRANSMISSION – “The Official Sponsor of the Bert Transmission Heat Race ”
C.J. RAYBURN RACE CARS; CHAMP PANS; COMP CAMS; CORPORATE IMAGE - CRUISE WITH THE CHAMPIONS; GAERTE RACING ENGINES; GRT RACE CARS; MALCUIT RACING ENGINES; MASON RACIN’,INC.; MASTERSBILT RACE CARS; PRO POWER RACING; ROCKET CHASSIS; SIMPSON SAFETY PRODUCTS; SMS RACING ENGINES; WELD RACING
After a nine-month journey that started at East Bay Raceway Park in Florida and ended in mid-October at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway only one word comes to be mind when trying to describe the 2004 Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series season. That word is, “exciting”. And, what an exciting year it was! Three different drivers holding the “YJ Stinger Cup” championship point lead; three different “rookie” drivers holding the Lucas Oil “Rookie of the Year” point lead; both championship chases not decided until the final event of the year; huge crowds at the 19 racing facility’s visited in 13 states; a strong and fan-friendly marketing campaign with Stacker 2®; a very popular television package with Speed Channel and most exciting of all, thrilling three-wide and sometimes four-wide racing action!
For Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville,FL the journey paid off in a big way. Driving the Lucas Oil/Dunn-Benson Ford No. 1 Team L Corporation Rocket Chassis/Larry Wallace Engines Ford Taurus, Pearson Jr. opened the season second in championship points after round one of the three-day “YJ Stinger® 28th Winternationals” at East Bay Raceway Park. After the seventh round of the season at LaSalle (IL) Speedway Pearson Jr. sat fifth in championship points. Solid finishes in early June at New Egypt (NJ) Speedway and Williams Grove (PA) Speedway propelled Pearson Jr. to third. Picking up his first win of the season in mid-June at Davenport (IA) Speedway, Pearson Jr. moved into second in the championship points chase. After the July “Ohio Speedweeks” Pearson Jr. found himself a scant 55 points behind points leader Jimmy Mars. Reeling off a win at LaSalle Speedway in late July, coupled with a DNF for Mars, Pearson Jr. now held the point lead. Mars kept the pressure on Pearson Jr. cutting the lead down to 19 points heading into the mid-September race at the Illinois State Fairgrounds “Springfield Mile”. A top five finish by Pearson Jr. and another DNF for Mars gave Pearson Jr. breathing room. Heading into the final event of the season, Pearson Jr. simply had to enter the event to sew up the championship worth $60,000 in point fund money and a 2004 Hummer H2.
Mars, of Elk Mound,WI, opened the season with a win giving him the points lead. Mars carried the championship points lead through the first four rounds of the season aboard the Stacker 2®/Heeg Well Drilling/Deppe Enterprises No. 28M Jimmy Mars Racing MasterSbilt/Pro Power Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Mars lost the point lead after the April event at New 311 (NC) Speedway but would come right back the next event to regain the points lead. Mars would keep the point lead through the July KC (OH) Raceway event courtesy of a victory but two weeks later the DNF at LaSalle Speedway saw Mars lose the points lead which he would never regain.
Donnie Moran of Dresden,OH led the “YJ Stinger Cup” championship points chase at one time through the season. Leaving Florida second in points, Moran grabbed the victory at New 311 Speedway aboard his Eddie’s Sunoco/PDM Performance Parts No. 99 DMR MasterSbilt/SMS Racing Engines Chevrolet Monte Carlo. A string of bad luck found Moran falling to fourth in points after the mid-June events at Cedar Lake (WI) Speedway. Moran worked his way back to third in points by the end of June but could not gain anymore ground on Pearson Jr. or Mars.
The chase for the Lucas Oil “Rookie of the Year” award was equally exciting in 2004. Shane Clanton of Locust Grove,GA sat second in the “R.O.Y.” points behind Salt Rock,WV driver Eddie Carrier Jr. after the Florida events. Billy Drake of Bloomington,IL sat atop the “rookie” points after the New 311 Speedway round with Clanton second, Carrier Jr. third and Darren Miller of Chadwick,IL fourth. Miller failed to qualify for any of the East Bay Raceway Park events in Florida to start the season putting him far behind the other challengers. Clanton regained the lead in mid-June at Cedar Lake Speedway and would keep the RSD Enterprises/SAE Parts No. 25 Ronnie Dobbins owned Rocket Chassis/Custom Racing Engines Chevrolet Monte Carlo in front the rest of the way. But, it wasn’t easy. Drake and Miller traded second and third throughout the season with Miller actually tied with Clanton for the lead with only two events remaining. Heading into the final event of the year Clanton held a scant 75 point lead over Miller. Clanton held on to notch the $10,000 cash bonus by 35 points over Miller.
Twenty-four points events were held with a total of 1,226 drivers (466 different drivers) entering an event. An average 51 drivers entered a Stacker 2® XDCS event in 2004. Purse money available topped the $1,200,000 mark with total monies available approaching $2,000,000.
2004 Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series “YJ Stinger® Cup” Final Point Standings
Position Car # Driver Name Residence Entered Starts Wins Top 5's Top 10's Earnings Points
1 1 Earl Pearson Jr. Jacksonville,FL 24 24 4 19 22 $130,150.00 3,924
2 28M Jimmy Mars Elk Mound,WI 24 24 5 16 19 $129,250.00 3,759
3 99 Donnie Moran Dresden,OH 24 24 5 14 18 $138,850.00 3,699
4 15B Brian Birkhofer Muscatine,IA 24 24 4 14 19 $163,250.00 3,666
5 7 Matt Miller Waterville,OH 24 24 0 5 16 $70,175.00 3,366
6 0 Steve Shaver Vienna,WV 24 24 0 8 15 $59,450.00 3,323
7 25 Shane Clanton® Locust Grove,GA 24 22 1 7 16 $64,075.00 3,322
8 32D Darren Miller® Chadwick,IL 24 20 1 10 15 $70,975.00 3,287
9 9 Billy Drake® Bloomington,IL 24 22 0 4 17 $54,450.00 3,189
10 53 Ray Cook Brasstown,NC 24 23 0 4 10 $48,625.00 3,133
11 28 Eddie Carrier Jr.® Salt Rock,WV 24 22 0 0 5 $34,425.00 2,877
12 72 John Mason Millersburg,OH 24 22 1 1 3 $37,300.00 2,735
13 55 Jeep Van Wormer® Pinconning,MI 23 20 0 1 5 $32,150.00 2,683
14 1x1 Sonny Conley® New Martinsville,WV 24 14 0 0 0 $21,025.00 2,344
15 19J Davey Johnson Greensburg,PA 14 14 0 3 6 $22,100.00 1,745
16 C9 Steve Casebolt Richmond,IN 15 10 0 0 1 $13,525.00 1,645
17 95 Buckshot Miles Evans,GA 17 6 0 0 0 $5,225.00 1,508
18 71 Don O’Neal Martinsville,IN 10 8 3 4 7 $45,800.00 1,434
19 59 Bill Cunningham Jefferson,OH 13 9 0 0 0 $7,575.00 1,214
20 64 Sean Cosgrove Catharpin,VA 12 4 0 0 0 $3,575.00 1,056
STACKER 2® XTREME DIRTCAR SERIES SPONSORS
STACKER 2® - “The Title Sponsor of the Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series”
YJ STINGER® EXTREME ENERGY DRINK – “The Official Sponsor of the YJ Stinger® Extreme Energy Drink Dash and the 2004 Stacker2® Xtreme DirtCar Series “YJ Stinger® Cup” Championship
THE GOODYEAR TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY – “The Official Tire of the Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series. Goodyear, #1 In Tires”
GEMINI AUTO CARE CENTERS – “The Official Auto Care Center of the Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series and Sponsor of the Gemini Auto Care Centers Hard Charger Award”
LUCAS OIL PRODUCTS,INC. – “The Official Oil of the Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series and Sponsor of the 2004 Lucas Oil Rookie of the Year Award”
SUNOCO RACE FUELS – “The Official Race Fuels of the Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series and Sponsor of “B” Main #1”
BEARDEN OIL COMPANY/RACE FUEL DIVISION – “The Official Race Fuels Supplier of the Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series”
RINGERS GLOVES – “The Official Sponsor of the Ringers Gloves Time Trial Fast Qualifier Award”
MSD IGNITION – “The Official Sponsor of the MSD Ignition Heat Race”
JE PISTONS – “The Official Sponsor of the JE Pistons Heat Race”
WRISCO INDUSTRIES – “The Official Sponsor of the Wrisco Industries Heat Race”
BERT TRANSMISSION – “The Official Sponsor of the Bert Transmission Heat Race ”
C.J. RAYBURN RACE CARS; CHAMP PANS; COMP CAMS; CORPORATE IMAGE - CRUISE WITH THE CHAMPIONS; GAERTE RACING ENGINES; GRT RACE CARS; MALCUIT RACING ENGINES; MASON RACIN’,INC.; MASTERSBILT RACE CARS; PRO POWER RACING; ROCKET CHASSIS; SIMPSON SAFETY PRODUCTS; SMS RACING ENGINES; WELD RACING
