By Roby Helm
MOORESVILLE, NC - Just because the 2003 Xtreme DirtCar Series championship
has been decided doesn't mean there won't be anything dramatic about the
14th Annual Xtreme Hardee's Shootout Presented By Coca-Cola at Dixie
Speedway in Woodstock, GA this Friday and Saturday night.
It's the biggest race of the year for the series with $200,000 up for grabs
with the winner of the Saturday night 100-lap main event pocketing $55,000.
This year it will be even bigger because the Shootout entries are no longer
limited to those invited. The race is open to any competitor that wants to
show they are the best dirt late model racer in the country.
Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, TN is coming off one of the biggest nights
of his career. Last Sunday night at West Virginia Motor Speedway in
Parkersburg, WV, Bloomquist won his 100th series career win, and clinched
his fifth series title that is worth $60,000 in point fund money. Even with
all of that behind him, the Shootout is still special for Bloomquist.
It's a race he has won three times, and when Bloomquist talks about the
highlights in his career, the Shootout wins are almost always included.
"The Shootout is the final race and biggest race of the year for the series,
and even when I've clinched a series championship, it's still special to go
to the Shootout and win it," Bloomquist said. "Winning the series
championship is a big thing, but when you win the Shootout the same year, it
really puts an exclamation point on the season. You can take a big win like
that, carry it over during the off-season, and build momentum for the next
season"
Bloomquist has won two Shootouts in the same year he has the series
championship, in 1994 and in 2000. His other Shootout win was in 1993.
Dale McDowell of Rossville, GA has had that experience in his career. In
1999, McDowell came from behind in series points at the Shootout. That
year, his Shootout victory also gave him the championship over Wendell
Wallace of Batesville, AR. McDowell emphasized how important the Shootout
was to him this past weekend at the WVMS event.
"We had to take a provisional at West Virginia and start in the back, so we
decided to try some things we might try at the Shootout," said McDowell, who
also won the Shootout in 2001. "The Shootout pays $55,000-to-win and that
can really make your season. It never hurts to get ready for it a little
early."
The series regulars aren't the only ones who have had success at the
Shootout. In 1998, Tim Hitt of Weston, WV drove to victory in the Shootout
aboard Mark Richard's Rocket Chassis "house car." That victory propelled
both "The Hitt Man" and Rocket Chassis into national prominence.
Last year, Chub Frank of Sugar Grove, PA became the first driver from north
of the Mason-Dixon line to win the Shootout. Frank is a four-time champion
of the Ohio-based Renegade DirtCar Series.
Billy Moyer of Batesville, AR, who is another driver that won the Shootout
the same year he won the series title in 1997. Other past Shootout
champions are Wendell Wallace of Batesville, AR in 1996, Bill Frye of
Greenbrier, AR in 1995, Buddy Morris in 1992, Tony Reaid in 1991, and the
late Bill Ingram in 1990.
In addition to the notoriety and the big payday a Shootout win can bring, in
years past a Shootout victory has kept on giving into the next season, as
the reigning Shootout winner got an extra $100 at every series event he
attended the next season.
Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, IA had been battling Bloomquist for the XDCS
Championship for most of the season. Birkhofer's title hopes ended at WVMS
last Sunday with a broken driveshaft that left him finishing 24th.
Second-place for Birkhofer will be worth $42,000 for Birkhofer at the series
Awards Banquet.
Birkhofer will be one of many drivers looking for the big prize and their
name on the Shootout trophy for the first time.
"Even though Scott beat us for the championship, we've still had a good
season," Birkhofer said. "This was the first year we've really competed for
a championship with any series, so to finish second to Bloomquist, with all
of his experience, isn't a bad thing. Our team has really come a long way
in a short time, and we really have something to build on for the future."
Jimmy Mars of Elk Mound, WI leads a tight three-way battle for the third
spot with only 97 points separating him from fifth-place Steve Francis of
Ashland, KY. Two-time series champion Rick Eckert of York, PA is fourth,
34-points behind Mars. There is a difference of $12,000 between third and
fifth in point fund money.
McDowell is batting Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, FL for sixth in
points. Only eight points separate the two drivers. Dan Schlieper of
Pewaukee, WI is eighth in points, and he has won several big races in past
couple of months, including the World 100 at Ohio's Eldora Speedway. A
Shootout win would cap what has been an amazing comeback this season for
Schlieper.
Donnie Moran of Dresden, OH is ninth in points, and Matt Miller of
Waterville, OH is tenth, and has already claimed the $10,000 Lucas Oil
Rookie of the Year title for 2003 with the series.
The Shootout competition will begin on Friday night with Ringers Gloves
Qualifying, heat races, and the Action Performance Dash that will start the
heat race winner vying for the top starting spots in the Shootout on
Saturday night. The main event on Friday night will be the $5,000-to-win
Isky Dash featuring the 16 drivers that posted Fast Time awards during the
2003 season.
Birkhofer leads that list with nine fast times. Bloomquist had four, and
Mars had three. Eckert, McDowell, Francis, and Chris Madden of Gray Court,
SC had two apiece. Moran, Pearson, Moyer, Miller, Jason Montgomery of
Jackson, OH, Shannon Babb of Decatur, IL, Steve Shaver of Parkersburg, WV,
Scott Peltz of Cadiz, OH, and Randle Chupp of Mooresville, NC had one
apiece.
On Friday, the pit gate will open at 1 p.m., and the grandstand gate opens
at 4 p.m. Tech and Registration will be from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., with the
drivers meeting set for 6 p.m. Hot laps are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The
Dixie Speedway Econo Bombers and Super Bombers will also be in action on
Friday night.
The gates open on Saturday at 2 p.m., and there will be live music on the
grandstand side beginning at 2:30 p.m. There will be a church service at 4
p.m., with an XDCS drivers autograph session on Souvenir Row from 5 p.m. to
6 p.m. The drivers meeting is set for 6 p.m. with hot laps scheduled for
6:30 p.m.
Saturday's program will be highlighted by the XDCS consolation races, and
the $55,000-to-win 14th Annual Xtreme Hardee's Shootout Presented By
Coca-Cola. The Dixie Speedway Sportsman cars will also be in action on
Saturday night.
Advance reserved tickets are available through 5 p.m. on Thursday for $52
for rows 3-5 that includes both days. No reserved seats will be sold after
5 p.m. on Thursday.
Adult general admission tickets will be $30 for Friday and $40 for Saturday.
General admission tickets for students 12 to 17 years of age are $5 on
Friday, and $10 on Saturday. Pit Passes and Trackside Parking tickets are
$65 for both days, or $35 on Friday, and $45 on Saturday.
Tickets can be purchased by phone using a VISA or MasterCard by calling
(770) 926-5315 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dixie Speedway
is located 1.5 miles west of I-575 at exit 7 on S.R. 92 in Woodstock, GA.
MOORESVILLE, NC - Just because the 2003 Xtreme DirtCar Series championship
has been decided doesn't mean there won't be anything dramatic about the
14th Annual Xtreme Hardee's Shootout Presented By Coca-Cola at Dixie
Speedway in Woodstock, GA this Friday and Saturday night.
It's the biggest race of the year for the series with $200,000 up for grabs
with the winner of the Saturday night 100-lap main event pocketing $55,000.
This year it will be even bigger because the Shootout entries are no longer
limited to those invited. The race is open to any competitor that wants to
show they are the best dirt late model racer in the country.
Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, TN is coming off one of the biggest nights
of his career. Last Sunday night at West Virginia Motor Speedway in
Parkersburg, WV, Bloomquist won his 100th series career win, and clinched
his fifth series title that is worth $60,000 in point fund money. Even with
all of that behind him, the Shootout is still special for Bloomquist.
It's a race he has won three times, and when Bloomquist talks about the
highlights in his career, the Shootout wins are almost always included.
"The Shootout is the final race and biggest race of the year for the series,
and even when I've clinched a series championship, it's still special to go
to the Shootout and win it," Bloomquist said. "Winning the series
championship is a big thing, but when you win the Shootout the same year, it
really puts an exclamation point on the season. You can take a big win like
that, carry it over during the off-season, and build momentum for the next
season"
Bloomquist has won two Shootouts in the same year he has the series
championship, in 1994 and in 2000. His other Shootout win was in 1993.
Dale McDowell of Rossville, GA has had that experience in his career. In
1999, McDowell came from behind in series points at the Shootout. That
year, his Shootout victory also gave him the championship over Wendell
Wallace of Batesville, AR. McDowell emphasized how important the Shootout
was to him this past weekend at the WVMS event.
"We had to take a provisional at West Virginia and start in the back, so we
decided to try some things we might try at the Shootout," said McDowell, who
also won the Shootout in 2001. "The Shootout pays $55,000-to-win and that
can really make your season. It never hurts to get ready for it a little
early."
The series regulars aren't the only ones who have had success at the
Shootout. In 1998, Tim Hitt of Weston, WV drove to victory in the Shootout
aboard Mark Richard's Rocket Chassis "house car." That victory propelled
both "The Hitt Man" and Rocket Chassis into national prominence.
Last year, Chub Frank of Sugar Grove, PA became the first driver from north
of the Mason-Dixon line to win the Shootout. Frank is a four-time champion
of the Ohio-based Renegade DirtCar Series.
Billy Moyer of Batesville, AR, who is another driver that won the Shootout
the same year he won the series title in 1997. Other past Shootout
champions are Wendell Wallace of Batesville, AR in 1996, Bill Frye of
Greenbrier, AR in 1995, Buddy Morris in 1992, Tony Reaid in 1991, and the
late Bill Ingram in 1990.
In addition to the notoriety and the big payday a Shootout win can bring, in
years past a Shootout victory has kept on giving into the next season, as
the reigning Shootout winner got an extra $100 at every series event he
attended the next season.
Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, IA had been battling Bloomquist for the XDCS
Championship for most of the season. Birkhofer's title hopes ended at WVMS
last Sunday with a broken driveshaft that left him finishing 24th.
Second-place for Birkhofer will be worth $42,000 for Birkhofer at the series
Awards Banquet.
Birkhofer will be one of many drivers looking for the big prize and their
name on the Shootout trophy for the first time.
"Even though Scott beat us for the championship, we've still had a good
season," Birkhofer said. "This was the first year we've really competed for
a championship with any series, so to finish second to Bloomquist, with all
of his experience, isn't a bad thing. Our team has really come a long way
in a short time, and we really have something to build on for the future."
Jimmy Mars of Elk Mound, WI leads a tight three-way battle for the third
spot with only 97 points separating him from fifth-place Steve Francis of
Ashland, KY. Two-time series champion Rick Eckert of York, PA is fourth,
34-points behind Mars. There is a difference of $12,000 between third and
fifth in point fund money.
McDowell is batting Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, FL for sixth in
points. Only eight points separate the two drivers. Dan Schlieper of
Pewaukee, WI is eighth in points, and he has won several big races in past
couple of months, including the World 100 at Ohio's Eldora Speedway. A
Shootout win would cap what has been an amazing comeback this season for
Schlieper.
Donnie Moran of Dresden, OH is ninth in points, and Matt Miller of
Waterville, OH is tenth, and has already claimed the $10,000 Lucas Oil
Rookie of the Year title for 2003 with the series.
The Shootout competition will begin on Friday night with Ringers Gloves
Qualifying, heat races, and the Action Performance Dash that will start the
heat race winner vying for the top starting spots in the Shootout on
Saturday night. The main event on Friday night will be the $5,000-to-win
Isky Dash featuring the 16 drivers that posted Fast Time awards during the
2003 season.
Birkhofer leads that list with nine fast times. Bloomquist had four, and
Mars had three. Eckert, McDowell, Francis, and Chris Madden of Gray Court,
SC had two apiece. Moran, Pearson, Moyer, Miller, Jason Montgomery of
Jackson, OH, Shannon Babb of Decatur, IL, Steve Shaver of Parkersburg, WV,
Scott Peltz of Cadiz, OH, and Randle Chupp of Mooresville, NC had one
apiece.
On Friday, the pit gate will open at 1 p.m., and the grandstand gate opens
at 4 p.m. Tech and Registration will be from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., with the
drivers meeting set for 6 p.m. Hot laps are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The
Dixie Speedway Econo Bombers and Super Bombers will also be in action on
Friday night.
The gates open on Saturday at 2 p.m., and there will be live music on the
grandstand side beginning at 2:30 p.m. There will be a church service at 4
p.m., with an XDCS drivers autograph session on Souvenir Row from 5 p.m. to
6 p.m. The drivers meeting is set for 6 p.m. with hot laps scheduled for
6:30 p.m.
Saturday's program will be highlighted by the XDCS consolation races, and
the $55,000-to-win 14th Annual Xtreme Hardee's Shootout Presented By
Coca-Cola. The Dixie Speedway Sportsman cars will also be in action on
Saturday night.
Advance reserved tickets are available through 5 p.m. on Thursday for $52
for rows 3-5 that includes both days. No reserved seats will be sold after
5 p.m. on Thursday.
Adult general admission tickets will be $30 for Friday and $40 for Saturday.
General admission tickets for students 12 to 17 years of age are $5 on
Friday, and $10 on Saturday. Pit Passes and Trackside Parking tickets are
$65 for both days, or $35 on Friday, and $45 on Saturday.
Tickets can be purchased by phone using a VISA or MasterCard by calling
(770) 926-5315 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dixie Speedway
is located 1.5 miles west of I-575 at exit 7 on S.R. 92 in Woodstock, GA.
