By Dick Jordan
LEBANON, MO - It's been six years since USAC raced in Missouri but its Valvoline National Sprint Car participants will be saying "Show Me" the money when the series returns for a Wednesday night, Sept. 15 race at the I-44 Speedway in Lebanon.
The "Roper Classic," saluting the memory of two of Missouri's favorite racing sons, will mark the first time USAC Sprint Cars have raced in southwestern Missouri since Tony Stewart scored his initial USAC Sprint win in 1992 at I-44 Speedway, which was then paved. Since then the oval has been converted to a 3/8-mile high-banked dirt track and only three previous USAC dirt-track Sprint races have been held in the state. Jeff Swindell won at I-70 Speedway in Odessa when it was dirt in 1982, Rich Vogler won at Moberly Motorsports Complex in 1989 and Jack Hewitt won at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia in 1993.
Fair Grove's Dean and Tony Roper are remembered in the naming of this event. Dean won USAC's National Stock Car Championship in 1981, 1982 and 1983 and scored 10 feature wins in the series which was discontinued after the 1984 season. His son Tony raced in the NASCAR Busch and Craftsman Truck Series but both met with untimely endings to their careers. Dean suffered a fatal heart attack while competing in a race at Springfield, Ill. in 2001, while Tony was fatally injured during a truck race at Fort Worth, Tex. In 2000.
The I-44 race precedes by two days the start of a USAC racing weekend in Tulsa, Okla. featuring the Valvoline National Sprint Cars on Friday, Sept. 17, at the Tulsa State Fair oval and the following afternoon's Weld Racing Silver Crown 100-lapper at the same facility. A 30-lap UMP/IMCA-type modified race accompanies the USAC Sprint Cars on the Sept. 15 I-44 program. The rain date at I-44 is Thursday, Sept. 16.
The feature at I-44 will be a 50-lapper and will offer lap prize incentives in addition t the regular purse. Lap prizes totaling $5,100 are being raised, with each lap paying $100 and lap 50 offering $200. The leader of each lap will receive $50, with second getting $30 and third $20 and lap #50 will pay "double." An $850 Bell helmet is also being offered to the feature event winner. Individuals or companies interested in participating as a lap prize sponsor are urged to call USAC at (317) 247-5151 for more information.
In addition to Stewart, who won at both I-44 and I-70 Speedways (1995) during his USAC career, plus Swindell and Vogler, other USAC Sprint winners in Missouri have been Gary Bettenhausen at Odessa in 1970, Sheldon Kinser at Odessa in 1978, Bob Cicconi at Lebanon in 1990, Steve Butler at Bolivar and Odessa in 1990 and Lebanon in 1991, Gene Lee Gibson at Lebanon in 1990 and finally Eric Gordon at Odessa in 1996.
A.J. Foyt won USAC's first Missouri event, a Midget race at Kansas City in 1956, while Jason Leffler won the last USAC race in Missouri at Odessa in 1998.
The I-44 Speedway is located at the Sleeper Exit (exit 135) off Interstate 44, 50 miles east of Springfield, MO.
LEBANON, MO - It's been six years since USAC raced in Missouri but its Valvoline National Sprint Car participants will be saying "Show Me" the money when the series returns for a Wednesday night, Sept. 15 race at the I-44 Speedway in Lebanon.
The "Roper Classic," saluting the memory of two of Missouri's favorite racing sons, will mark the first time USAC Sprint Cars have raced in southwestern Missouri since Tony Stewart scored his initial USAC Sprint win in 1992 at I-44 Speedway, which was then paved. Since then the oval has been converted to a 3/8-mile high-banked dirt track and only three previous USAC dirt-track Sprint races have been held in the state. Jeff Swindell won at I-70 Speedway in Odessa when it was dirt in 1982, Rich Vogler won at Moberly Motorsports Complex in 1989 and Jack Hewitt won at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia in 1993.
Fair Grove's Dean and Tony Roper are remembered in the naming of this event. Dean won USAC's National Stock Car Championship in 1981, 1982 and 1983 and scored 10 feature wins in the series which was discontinued after the 1984 season. His son Tony raced in the NASCAR Busch and Craftsman Truck Series but both met with untimely endings to their careers. Dean suffered a fatal heart attack while competing in a race at Springfield, Ill. in 2001, while Tony was fatally injured during a truck race at Fort Worth, Tex. In 2000.
The I-44 race precedes by two days the start of a USAC racing weekend in Tulsa, Okla. featuring the Valvoline National Sprint Cars on Friday, Sept. 17, at the Tulsa State Fair oval and the following afternoon's Weld Racing Silver Crown 100-lapper at the same facility. A 30-lap UMP/IMCA-type modified race accompanies the USAC Sprint Cars on the Sept. 15 I-44 program. The rain date at I-44 is Thursday, Sept. 16.
The feature at I-44 will be a 50-lapper and will offer lap prize incentives in addition t the regular purse. Lap prizes totaling $5,100 are being raised, with each lap paying $100 and lap 50 offering $200. The leader of each lap will receive $50, with second getting $30 and third $20 and lap #50 will pay "double." An $850 Bell helmet is also being offered to the feature event winner. Individuals or companies interested in participating as a lap prize sponsor are urged to call USAC at (317) 247-5151 for more information.
In addition to Stewart, who won at both I-44 and I-70 Speedways (1995) during his USAC career, plus Swindell and Vogler, other USAC Sprint winners in Missouri have been Gary Bettenhausen at Odessa in 1970, Sheldon Kinser at Odessa in 1978, Bob Cicconi at Lebanon in 1990, Steve Butler at Bolivar and Odessa in 1990 and Lebanon in 1991, Gene Lee Gibson at Lebanon in 1990 and finally Eric Gordon at Odessa in 1996.
A.J. Foyt won USAC's first Missouri event, a Midget race at Kansas City in 1956, while Jason Leffler won the last USAC race in Missouri at Odessa in 1998.
The I-44 Speedway is located at the Sleeper Exit (exit 135) off Interstate 44, 50 miles east of Springfield, MO.
