CLARKSVILLE, TN – The StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series $5,000-to-win Coca Cola 60 on Friday and Saturday night at Whynot Motorsports Park in Meridian, MS could be the “Race of the Year” at the 3/8-mile clay oval from what some people have seen with the Late Model Division at the newly refurbished track this season.
A StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series event on July 28 saw many of the series National Touring drivers stop off at the track to take on the local favorites while enroute to a National event in McComb, MS. The racing was fast, furious, and four-wide. The four-wide racing took place during the last ten laps of the race for the lead.
Local favorite Terry Mosley of Gilbertown, AL battled with StormPay.com DLMS National Championship contenders David Gentry of Lewisburg, TN, and Jeff Smith of Villanow, GA, along with “Dr. Dirt” Johnny Stokes of Columbus, MS. Most fans lost count of the number of lead changes, which at one point in the race was three times in one lap.
When it was all said and done, Stokes came from the tenth starting spot to take the win in the 25-lap feature race followed by Gentry, Mosley, and Smith. A lot of people have been saying since that race, “Wait until the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series National Touring race gets here on Labor Day weekend.”
Just the fact that there is any racing at Whynot Motorsports Park at all is a story in itself, and a tribute to a young racer’s tenacity.
Whynot Motorsports Park had been closed for many years before 27-year-old Late Model driver Rodney Wing stepped up to the plate and took a swing a promoting the track. Before he could begin promoting the facility, he had to rebuild it.
Under Wing’s direction, the trees that had grown up through the racing surface and the grandstand were removed, and the facility got an entire facelift. A four-month project was completed in May, and Wing began to put his racing program in place.
Wing knew first-hand the rising costs of Super Late Model racing on the weekly level, as he was forking out money to support his race team, and trying to find big enough purses to keep it going. Now that he was on the other side of the fence, Wing had a clearer understanding of the economic balance it took to keep a race track successful week in and week out.
“With the rising costs of Super Late Models, a lot of them were being parked, and the car counts at weekly tracks were going down,” Wing said. “You can’t give the fans their money’s worth with a small field of Super Late Models.”
Knowing the track could not survive by paying a high-dollar Super Late Model purse, Wing decided to try the new and growing concept of Crate Late Models as his top division. Crate Late Models have engines that are a tenth of the cost of a Super Late Model engine, so Wing could pay a lower purse, and not have to raise the front gate price higher than his fans could afford.
A Crate Late Model is powered by a GM Performance engine, built and sealed at the factory to prohibit any expensive modifications, put in a crate, and shipped to GM dealers.
Racers can purchase these engines at their local GM dealer for less than $5,000 for an aluminum-head 604 engine, or less than $3,000 for a steel-head 602 engine, which also gets a 150 pound weight break in the rulebook. The racer can take the engine right out of the crate, install it in a Late Model chassis, and be racing the same day.
On the other hand, an all aluminum Super Late Model engine can cost anywhere between $30,000 and $50,000. The country is loaded with race tracks that have had to close because they lost their economic balance. They had to pay a high purse to Super Late Models, and inadvertently pass that cost on to the fans with a higher ticket cost.
When fans couldn’t afford the tickets, they quit coming, and without the front gate revenue, the track owner couldn’t pay the purse.
The Crate Late Model Division at Whynot Motorsports Park is sanctioned by the StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series, and each Saturday night, fans at the track have been seeing average car-counts of 16 or higher. Drivers at Whynot Motorsports Park have been competing for not only track points, but also for StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series Regional points.
By bringing a shutdown race track back to life in a successful fashion, Rodney Wing has done in a manner of weeks what a lot of other good promoters have taken years to accomplish.
“Rodney Wing is one of the best race car drivers in Mississippi, and from what I’ve seen him do at Whynot in the past six months, he is an even better promoter,” StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series President of Operations and Communications Roby Helm said. “It’s amazing how hard Rodney has worked and how far he has brought this track in such a short time.”
The top weekly drivers at Whynot Motorsports Park are in the top spots of the StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series West Region, and are getting attention on a national basis.
Lucky Keeton of Toomsuba, MS has eight wins this season in StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series competition at Whynot Motorsports Park, and is the StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series West Region point leader. Talbert Goldman of Meridian, MS is second in the West Region points, followed by Herman Reynolds of Laurel, MS.
Mosley is also one of the top StormPay.com WRS West Region drivers, and Brandon Frith of Terry, MS is also in the top ten. Another top local favorite will be Brooks Strength of Jackson, MS. Another top entry expected is Mississippi Late Model favorite Mike Boland of Cuba, MS.
With the wide racing surface at Whynot Motorsports Park allowing four-wide competition, the local favorites are looking forward to mixing it up with the StormPay.com National Touring drivers.
“With what we saw in July, the race this weekend has the potential to be the best StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series event of the year with the National stars and top local talent coming together,” Helm said. “If a person is only going to one race a year, this is the race they’re going to want to see.”
On Friday night, the StormPay.com DLMS stars and cars will compete in Qualifying that will set the heat race line-ups. The heat races will transfer the top finishers and lock them into the Saturday night main event. Also on Friday night, the heat race winners will line up for the StormPay.com Lightning Quick 6 Dash to set the top couple of rows of the main event starting field.
The Saturday night program will consist of the B-main races for drivers that failed to qualify for the main event through the Friday night heat races. The top finishers in the B-main will transfer to the big show. Then the main event on Saturday night will be the Coca Cola 60 paying $5,000-to-win.
Race fans will also get a chance to be a part of the action as there will be a specially built two-seat dirt late model that fans can go online and bid for a ride with David Gentry, Terry Mosley, or Rodney Wing. The proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society. To bid for a ride, go to www.stormpayracing.com.
The Official Host Hotel for the Whynot Motorsports Park event will be the Days Inn at Exit 154 on I-20/59 in Meridian, MS. The Days Inn will be offering race fans and competitors a special discount rate. To make reservations call 601-483-3812 and ask for the special discount rate.
On Friday, the gates at Whynot Motorsports Park open at 4 p.m., and the gates open at 3 p.m. on Saturday. For more information call the track at 601-644-3010, or visit their web site at www.whynotmotorsportspark.com. For more information about the StormPay.com DLMS visit the series web site at www.stormpayracing.com.
A StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series event on July 28 saw many of the series National Touring drivers stop off at the track to take on the local favorites while enroute to a National event in McComb, MS. The racing was fast, furious, and four-wide. The four-wide racing took place during the last ten laps of the race for the lead.
Local favorite Terry Mosley of Gilbertown, AL battled with StormPay.com DLMS National Championship contenders David Gentry of Lewisburg, TN, and Jeff Smith of Villanow, GA, along with “Dr. Dirt” Johnny Stokes of Columbus, MS. Most fans lost count of the number of lead changes, which at one point in the race was three times in one lap.
When it was all said and done, Stokes came from the tenth starting spot to take the win in the 25-lap feature race followed by Gentry, Mosley, and Smith. A lot of people have been saying since that race, “Wait until the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series National Touring race gets here on Labor Day weekend.”
Just the fact that there is any racing at Whynot Motorsports Park at all is a story in itself, and a tribute to a young racer’s tenacity.
Whynot Motorsports Park had been closed for many years before 27-year-old Late Model driver Rodney Wing stepped up to the plate and took a swing a promoting the track. Before he could begin promoting the facility, he had to rebuild it.
Under Wing’s direction, the trees that had grown up through the racing surface and the grandstand were removed, and the facility got an entire facelift. A four-month project was completed in May, and Wing began to put his racing program in place.
Wing knew first-hand the rising costs of Super Late Model racing on the weekly level, as he was forking out money to support his race team, and trying to find big enough purses to keep it going. Now that he was on the other side of the fence, Wing had a clearer understanding of the economic balance it took to keep a race track successful week in and week out.
“With the rising costs of Super Late Models, a lot of them were being parked, and the car counts at weekly tracks were going down,” Wing said. “You can’t give the fans their money’s worth with a small field of Super Late Models.”
Knowing the track could not survive by paying a high-dollar Super Late Model purse, Wing decided to try the new and growing concept of Crate Late Models as his top division. Crate Late Models have engines that are a tenth of the cost of a Super Late Model engine, so Wing could pay a lower purse, and not have to raise the front gate price higher than his fans could afford.
A Crate Late Model is powered by a GM Performance engine, built and sealed at the factory to prohibit any expensive modifications, put in a crate, and shipped to GM dealers.
Racers can purchase these engines at their local GM dealer for less than $5,000 for an aluminum-head 604 engine, or less than $3,000 for a steel-head 602 engine, which also gets a 150 pound weight break in the rulebook. The racer can take the engine right out of the crate, install it in a Late Model chassis, and be racing the same day.
On the other hand, an all aluminum Super Late Model engine can cost anywhere between $30,000 and $50,000. The country is loaded with race tracks that have had to close because they lost their economic balance. They had to pay a high purse to Super Late Models, and inadvertently pass that cost on to the fans with a higher ticket cost.
When fans couldn’t afford the tickets, they quit coming, and without the front gate revenue, the track owner couldn’t pay the purse.
The Crate Late Model Division at Whynot Motorsports Park is sanctioned by the StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series, and each Saturday night, fans at the track have been seeing average car-counts of 16 or higher. Drivers at Whynot Motorsports Park have been competing for not only track points, but also for StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series Regional points.
By bringing a shutdown race track back to life in a successful fashion, Rodney Wing has done in a manner of weeks what a lot of other good promoters have taken years to accomplish.
“Rodney Wing is one of the best race car drivers in Mississippi, and from what I’ve seen him do at Whynot in the past six months, he is an even better promoter,” StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series President of Operations and Communications Roby Helm said. “It’s amazing how hard Rodney has worked and how far he has brought this track in such a short time.”
The top weekly drivers at Whynot Motorsports Park are in the top spots of the StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series West Region, and are getting attention on a national basis.
Lucky Keeton of Toomsuba, MS has eight wins this season in StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series competition at Whynot Motorsports Park, and is the StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series West Region point leader. Talbert Goldman of Meridian, MS is second in the West Region points, followed by Herman Reynolds of Laurel, MS.
Mosley is also one of the top StormPay.com WRS West Region drivers, and Brandon Frith of Terry, MS is also in the top ten. Another top local favorite will be Brooks Strength of Jackson, MS. Another top entry expected is Mississippi Late Model favorite Mike Boland of Cuba, MS.
With the wide racing surface at Whynot Motorsports Park allowing four-wide competition, the local favorites are looking forward to mixing it up with the StormPay.com National Touring drivers.
“With what we saw in July, the race this weekend has the potential to be the best StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series event of the year with the National stars and top local talent coming together,” Helm said. “If a person is only going to one race a year, this is the race they’re going to want to see.”
On Friday night, the StormPay.com DLMS stars and cars will compete in Qualifying that will set the heat race line-ups. The heat races will transfer the top finishers and lock them into the Saturday night main event. Also on Friday night, the heat race winners will line up for the StormPay.com Lightning Quick 6 Dash to set the top couple of rows of the main event starting field.
The Saturday night program will consist of the B-main races for drivers that failed to qualify for the main event through the Friday night heat races. The top finishers in the B-main will transfer to the big show. Then the main event on Saturday night will be the Coca Cola 60 paying $5,000-to-win.
Race fans will also get a chance to be a part of the action as there will be a specially built two-seat dirt late model that fans can go online and bid for a ride with David Gentry, Terry Mosley, or Rodney Wing. The proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society. To bid for a ride, go to www.stormpayracing.com.
The Official Host Hotel for the Whynot Motorsports Park event will be the Days Inn at Exit 154 on I-20/59 in Meridian, MS. The Days Inn will be offering race fans and competitors a special discount rate. To make reservations call 601-483-3812 and ask for the special discount rate.
On Friday, the gates at Whynot Motorsports Park open at 4 p.m., and the gates open at 3 p.m. on Saturday. For more information call the track at 601-644-3010, or visit their web site at www.whynotmotorsportspark.com. For more information about the StormPay.com DLMS visit the series web site at www.stormpayracing.com.
