By Spencer Wilson
LEXINGTON, KY--The O'Reilly NARA Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series sanctioned event scheduled for Friday Night, June 4, 2004 at the Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, KY was cancelled by NARA President, Spencer Wilson.
Wilson approached track promoter Jerry Denson shortly before the scheduled 6:30 PM drivers meeting was to take place to inquire about several insinuations that had been made to drivers from Mr. Denson about his intentions. Wilson and another NARA official was told by Denson that he would not know if the track would be able to pay the full purse until after time trials took place. Mr. Denson stated that he would like to run for half the payoff that was advertised, Wilson declined to do that and therefore pulled the sanction of the race which was to have been the 5th Annual Hugh "Junebug" Rowland Memorial Race. Drivers were then brought together and informed of the situation, it was explained that they could stay and race an unsanctioned $1500 to win show or receive a refund of their admissions and entry fees, but the event would not be sanctioned by the series. A total of 34 cars were on hand, many decided not to race because of the reduced payoff and/or track conditions and loaded their race cars up.
"We as a series apologize to those drivers and fans that drove to Ponderosa Speedway to support us," said Wilson. "But we were left with no alternative at the final moment other than to cancel the sanction of the race after Mr. Denson informed me he might not be able to pay the entire payoff." "In the last year we have witnessed two dirt late model racing series put into this predicament and I was determined we were not going to run for less money than our guaranteed purse specifies." said Wilson, who oversees the series which is in its third year of operation.
The series will resume its 2004 racing schedule on Saturday Night, June 5 with the 18th Annual Ralph Latham Memorial Race at the Florence Speedway in Union, KY. The race will pay $5000 to win. For more information please log on to www.florencespeedway.com or www.naradirtcar.com and click on the Battle of the Bluegrass Late Model icon.
LEXINGTON, KY--The O'Reilly NARA Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series sanctioned event scheduled for Friday Night, June 4, 2004 at the Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, KY was cancelled by NARA President, Spencer Wilson.
Wilson approached track promoter Jerry Denson shortly before the scheduled 6:30 PM drivers meeting was to take place to inquire about several insinuations that had been made to drivers from Mr. Denson about his intentions. Wilson and another NARA official was told by Denson that he would not know if the track would be able to pay the full purse until after time trials took place. Mr. Denson stated that he would like to run for half the payoff that was advertised, Wilson declined to do that and therefore pulled the sanction of the race which was to have been the 5th Annual Hugh "Junebug" Rowland Memorial Race. Drivers were then brought together and informed of the situation, it was explained that they could stay and race an unsanctioned $1500 to win show or receive a refund of their admissions and entry fees, but the event would not be sanctioned by the series. A total of 34 cars were on hand, many decided not to race because of the reduced payoff and/or track conditions and loaded their race cars up.
"We as a series apologize to those drivers and fans that drove to Ponderosa Speedway to support us," said Wilson. "But we were left with no alternative at the final moment other than to cancel the sanction of the race after Mr. Denson informed me he might not be able to pay the entire payoff." "In the last year we have witnessed two dirt late model racing series put into this predicament and I was determined we were not going to run for less money than our guaranteed purse specifies." said Wilson, who oversees the series which is in its third year of operation.
The series will resume its 2004 racing schedule on Saturday Night, June 5 with the 18th Annual Ralph Latham Memorial Race at the Florence Speedway in Union, KY. The race will pay $5000 to win. For more information please log on to www.florencespeedway.com or www.naradirtcar.com and click on the Battle of the Bluegrass Late Model icon.
