Lonnie Wheatley, TULSA, Okla. (April 14, 2008) – The O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series kicks off the first of four consecutive weekend of racing action by taking to the 3/8-mile Lucas Oil Speedway clay oval in Wheatland, MO, this Saturday night.
Saturday night's card at the "Diamond of Dirt Tracks" marks the eighth night of O'Reilly ASCoT competition in 2008 and the series first stop in Missouri.
Gunning for an unprecedented fifth consecutive series championship, Gary Wright of Hooks, TX, rides a record streak of 20 consecutive top-five finishes into the event. Wright also holds a 46-point advantage in the series $50,000 championship points chase, with his lone victory of the season in the Devil's Bowl Spring Nationals finale running his career ASCS National Tour win total to 120.
Oklahoma City native Wayne Johnson, now hailing from Knoxville, IA, enters the event ranked second in points as he seeks his first win of the season aboard the H&H Enterprises.
Eunice, LA, Jason Johnson, currently third in points, ranks as the only driver to capture more than one feature win through the opening seven O'Reilly ASCoT events of 2008 with a $10,000 triumph in East Bay Raceway Park's "King of the 360's" Nationals and then a victory in State Fair Speedway's Spring Nationals finale in Oklahoma City.
After consecutive points runner-up finishes the past two years, "The Ragin' Cajun" is currently 78 points off Wright's lead pace, with Tennessee's Jason Sides and Garry Lee Maier of Cimarron, KS, rounding out the current top five.
Twenty-year-old Eric Baldaccini of Keller, TX, is sixth in points, tops amongst the Brodix Rookie of the Year contenders.
Other series title contenders expected for the weekend include past series champions Zach Chappell (Talala, OK) and Travis Rilat (Forney, TX), Nick Smith (Broken Arrow, OK), and rookie contenders Don Droud, Jr. (Lincoln, NE), Kenneth Walker (Sapulpa, OK), Kathryne Minter (Bedford, TX), Gary Taylor (Sapulpa, OK) and Chris Tarrant (Greenville, TX).
Several drivers have stayed sharp by competing in ASCS Regional events over the past several weeks, with Jason Johnson, Travis Rilat, Nick Smith and Gary Taylor each reaching Regional victory lane. Nebraska's Jack Dover, an ASCS Gulf South winner earlier this year that took in this past weekend's Sooner Region action as well, is also expected.
The O'Reilly ASCoT National forces will be bolstered by the troops from the O'Reilly Winged Outlaw Warriors, led by the likes of reigning series champion Randy Martin of California, MO, and 2007 National Rookie of the Year Josh Fisher of Smithton, MO.
Following Saturday's event at Lucas Oil Speedway, the O'Reilly ASCoT National series moves on to Paris (TX) Motor Speedway and then Little Rock's I-30 Speedway on April 25-26, before returning to Missouri for a Lake Ozark Speedway outing on May 3. The following weekend, May 9-10, the series takes to Oklahoma City's State Fair Speedway on Friday night before traveling south to Devil's Bowl Speedway near Dallas the following night.
The Series:
O’Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour (ASCoT)
When & Where:
Saturday night, April 19 – Lucas Oil Speedway at 7:00 p.m.
Track Information:
Lucas Oil Speedway (Wheatland, MO) – 3/8-mile semi-banked clay oval located 0.2 miles south of US 54 of SR 83. Track phone: 417-282-5984.
O’Reilly ASCoT Lucas Oil Speedway History:
The O'Reilly ASCoT National series has taken to Lucas Oil Speedway on just one occasion, with Missouri racer Brian Brown defending his home-state turf by topping a field of 57 entries in September of 2006.
Last year's scheduled event at Lucas Oil Speedway was rained out.
Lucas Oil Speedway ASCS National winners include: Brian Brown.
Lucas Oil Speedway O'Reilly ASCoT Race-by-race Winners: Brian Brown (9/30/06).
Current O’Reilly ASCoT Points (After 7 of 42 Nights):
Top Fifteen: 1. Gary Wright (Hooks, TX) 723, 2. Wayne Johnson (Oklahoma City, OK) 677, 3. Jason Johnson (Eunice, LA) 645, 4. Jason Sides (Bartlett, TN) 614, 5. Garry Lee Maier (Cimarron, KS) 595, 6. Eric Baldaccini (Keller, TX) 584, 7. Zach Chappell (Talala, OK) 573, 8. Travis Rilat (Forney, TX) 546, 9. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. (Sunnyvale, TX) 522, 10. Don Droud, Jr. (Lincoln, NE) 496, 11. Jack Dover (Springfield, NE) 475, 12. Brian Brown (Grain Valley, MO) 453, 13. Nick Smith (Broken Arrow, OK) 416, 14. Aaron Berryhill (Broken Arrow, OK) 410, 15. Kenneth Walker (Sapulpa, OK) 408.
2008 O’Reilly ASCoT Feature Winners:
Jason Johnson 2, Kenny Adams 1, Tony Bruce, Jr. 1, Danny Lasoski 1, Terry McCarl 1, Gary Wright 1.
O'Reilly ASCoT – A Look Ahead:
April 25 Paris Motor Speedway (Paris, TX)
April 26 I-30 Speedway (Little Rock, AR)
May 3 Lake Ozark Speedway (Lake Ozark, MO)
May 9 State Fair Speedway (Oklahoma City, OK)
May 10 Devil's Bowl Speedway (Mesquite, TX)
The O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series is currently slated for 42 nights of racing action at 22 different tracks throughout a dozen different states, with more than $1,000,000 in purse money and point fund to be distributed during the 2008 season.
The nation's most prominent Sprint Car sanctioning body with 14 different Regions throughout the United States in addition to the O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series, the American Sprint Car Series' (ASCS) 17th year of activity will include approximately 250 nights of racing at more than 100 different race tracks throughout 28 different states and Canada.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.
Saturday night's card at the "Diamond of Dirt Tracks" marks the eighth night of O'Reilly ASCoT competition in 2008 and the series first stop in Missouri.
Gunning for an unprecedented fifth consecutive series championship, Gary Wright of Hooks, TX, rides a record streak of 20 consecutive top-five finishes into the event. Wright also holds a 46-point advantage in the series $50,000 championship points chase, with his lone victory of the season in the Devil's Bowl Spring Nationals finale running his career ASCS National Tour win total to 120.
Oklahoma City native Wayne Johnson, now hailing from Knoxville, IA, enters the event ranked second in points as he seeks his first win of the season aboard the H&H Enterprises.
Eunice, LA, Jason Johnson, currently third in points, ranks as the only driver to capture more than one feature win through the opening seven O'Reilly ASCoT events of 2008 with a $10,000 triumph in East Bay Raceway Park's "King of the 360's" Nationals and then a victory in State Fair Speedway's Spring Nationals finale in Oklahoma City.
After consecutive points runner-up finishes the past two years, "The Ragin' Cajun" is currently 78 points off Wright's lead pace, with Tennessee's Jason Sides and Garry Lee Maier of Cimarron, KS, rounding out the current top five.
Twenty-year-old Eric Baldaccini of Keller, TX, is sixth in points, tops amongst the Brodix Rookie of the Year contenders.
Other series title contenders expected for the weekend include past series champions Zach Chappell (Talala, OK) and Travis Rilat (Forney, TX), Nick Smith (Broken Arrow, OK), and rookie contenders Don Droud, Jr. (Lincoln, NE), Kenneth Walker (Sapulpa, OK), Kathryne Minter (Bedford, TX), Gary Taylor (Sapulpa, OK) and Chris Tarrant (Greenville, TX).
Several drivers have stayed sharp by competing in ASCS Regional events over the past several weeks, with Jason Johnson, Travis Rilat, Nick Smith and Gary Taylor each reaching Regional victory lane. Nebraska's Jack Dover, an ASCS Gulf South winner earlier this year that took in this past weekend's Sooner Region action as well, is also expected.
The O'Reilly ASCoT National forces will be bolstered by the troops from the O'Reilly Winged Outlaw Warriors, led by the likes of reigning series champion Randy Martin of California, MO, and 2007 National Rookie of the Year Josh Fisher of Smithton, MO.
Following Saturday's event at Lucas Oil Speedway, the O'Reilly ASCoT National series moves on to Paris (TX) Motor Speedway and then Little Rock's I-30 Speedway on April 25-26, before returning to Missouri for a Lake Ozark Speedway outing on May 3. The following weekend, May 9-10, the series takes to Oklahoma City's State Fair Speedway on Friday night before traveling south to Devil's Bowl Speedway near Dallas the following night.
The Series:
O’Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour (ASCoT)
When & Where:
Saturday night, April 19 – Lucas Oil Speedway at 7:00 p.m.
Track Information:
Lucas Oil Speedway (Wheatland, MO) – 3/8-mile semi-banked clay oval located 0.2 miles south of US 54 of SR 83. Track phone: 417-282-5984.
O’Reilly ASCoT Lucas Oil Speedway History:
The O'Reilly ASCoT National series has taken to Lucas Oil Speedway on just one occasion, with Missouri racer Brian Brown defending his home-state turf by topping a field of 57 entries in September of 2006.
Last year's scheduled event at Lucas Oil Speedway was rained out.
Lucas Oil Speedway ASCS National winners include: Brian Brown.
Lucas Oil Speedway O'Reilly ASCoT Race-by-race Winners: Brian Brown (9/30/06).
Current O’Reilly ASCoT Points (After 7 of 42 Nights):
Top Fifteen: 1. Gary Wright (Hooks, TX) 723, 2. Wayne Johnson (Oklahoma City, OK) 677, 3. Jason Johnson (Eunice, LA) 645, 4. Jason Sides (Bartlett, TN) 614, 5. Garry Lee Maier (Cimarron, KS) 595, 6. Eric Baldaccini (Keller, TX) 584, 7. Zach Chappell (Talala, OK) 573, 8. Travis Rilat (Forney, TX) 546, 9. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. (Sunnyvale, TX) 522, 10. Don Droud, Jr. (Lincoln, NE) 496, 11. Jack Dover (Springfield, NE) 475, 12. Brian Brown (Grain Valley, MO) 453, 13. Nick Smith (Broken Arrow, OK) 416, 14. Aaron Berryhill (Broken Arrow, OK) 410, 15. Kenneth Walker (Sapulpa, OK) 408.
2008 O’Reilly ASCoT Feature Winners:
Jason Johnson 2, Kenny Adams 1, Tony Bruce, Jr. 1, Danny Lasoski 1, Terry McCarl 1, Gary Wright 1.
O'Reilly ASCoT – A Look Ahead:
April 25 Paris Motor Speedway (Paris, TX)
April 26 I-30 Speedway (Little Rock, AR)
May 3 Lake Ozark Speedway (Lake Ozark, MO)
May 9 State Fair Speedway (Oklahoma City, OK)
May 10 Devil's Bowl Speedway (Mesquite, TX)
The O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series is currently slated for 42 nights of racing action at 22 different tracks throughout a dozen different states, with more than $1,000,000 in purse money and point fund to be distributed during the 2008 season.
The nation's most prominent Sprint Car sanctioning body with 14 different Regions throughout the United States in addition to the O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series, the American Sprint Car Series' (ASCS) 17th year of activity will include approximately 250 nights of racing at more than 100 different race tracks throughout 28 different states and Canada.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.
