By Roby Helm
MOORESVILLE, NC - The Xtreme DirtCar Series will join the Ohio-based Renegade DirtCar Series to voyage through uncharted waters this weekend for the 100-lap $25,000-to-win Charter Communication RaceFest World Championship at West Virginia Motor Speedway in Parkersburg, WV on Friday and Saturday
night.
The two dirt late model sanctioning bodies will team up for the first time to co-sanction a single event. Officials from the XDCS, RDCS, and WVMS have been in close communications in recent weeks to hammer out a race format that uses rules and procedures from both sanctioning bodies.
"It was a real 'give and take' deal, but the guys at Renegade are easy to work with, and I think we have come up with rules and a format that everyone can deal with," Xtreme DirtCar Series Competition Director Ritchie Lewis said. "Since all of our regular competitors have run with Renegade in the past, and many of the Renegade regulars have run with us in the past, there isn't anything in the rules or procedures that any of these drivers
haven't seen before. They shouldn't have a problem adapting to anything involving this race."
There has been many times in recent years where the two series have sanctioned separate events on the same weekend at the same track. In those events, it has been a regular practice for drivers from both series to compete in each event.
WVMS has put up over $125,000 in prize money for the Charter
Communication RaceFest World Championship. In addition to the $25,000 winner's share of the purse, the race will pay $2,000-to-start in the 100-lap 30-car main event, plus there will be extra money up for grabs in the two dashes, and the consolation races.
In addition to the prize money, the XDCS competitors still have a lot of other business to attend to this weekend. Many drivers will be battling for a top ten points position, and a share of the $280,000 XDCS point fund that will be divided at the XDCS Awards Banquet in Indianapolis, IN in December.
Four-time series champion Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, TN will be looking to wrap up his fifth XDCS Championship on Saturday night. With two races left in the 2003 XDCS season, it is now Bloomquist's title to lose. He leads Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, IA by 139 points going into RaceFest.
Birkhofer would have to gain an average of 40 points on Bloomquist in the final two events of the season to take the title. That's a long row to hoe, but Birkhofer is up to the challenge and he hasn't given up his title hopes.
"I'm still mathematically in the championship hunt, so I'm coming to West Virginia Motor Speedway this weekend to take everything I can get, and not give anything back," Birkhofer said. "I'm really looking forward to racing at West Virginia Motor Speedway because I love big, fast tracks, and I've done well there in the past."
With 30 cars starting RaceFest on Saturday night, there will be two promoter's options in the field, so XDCS will award points to 28 drivers. That's a difference of 84 points, not including bonus points. At the season ending Xtreme Shootout on October 10-11 at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, GA, there will be 26 drivers earning main event points, or a difference of 80 points.
Birkhofer knows what he has to do to win the championship, but he also knows Bloomquist is going to have to have some bad luck at the same time to make it possible. Birkhofer knows first hand how a round of bad luck can change things in a hurry.
"Having bad luck is just a part of racing, and sometimes it can really be costly," Birkhofer said. "I was in a position to take the point lead back in June when we raced in Davenport, IA, but I had a mechanical failure, and that dropped us deep in the field at the finish. It's happened to me, and it has happened to Scott. He missed the show the first race of the season in Florida, but man, he's had a good year since then."
If Bloomquist leaves WVMS with a 189-point lead, he will have
officially clinched the championship. The best that Birkhofer could do at the Shootout is get 188 points with the win and all of the bonus points for fast time, leading the most laps, and the Action Performance Dash win.
"The Sweep" of earning all of the points available is something that Birkhofer has done this season, and he's the only driver to pull it off so far in 2003. If Bloomquist has over a 94-point lead over Birkhofer when they leave WVMS, all Bloomquist has to do is take the green flag for the Shootout to clinch the title, even if Birky pulls "The Sweep."
Not only will Bloomquist be looking to secure the title and $60,000 that goes with the championship, he will also be looking to capture his 100th series career win on Saturday night at RaceFest. One of Bloomquist's 99 career series wins came at WVMS in 1996.
Jimmy Mars of Elk Mound, WI leads a three-way battle for the third spot in the XDCS point standings. Mars has a 70-point lead over defending and two-time series champion Rick Eckert of York, PA in fourth, and an 80-point lead over fifth-place Steve Francis of Ashland, KY. There is a $12,000 different between third and fifth in point fund money.
The 1999 series champion Dale McDowell of Rossville, GA is sixth in points, just six points ahead of Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, FL. Dan Schlieper of Pewaukee, WI is eighth in points, but has been one of the hottest drivers in series competition in recent weeks. Schlieper has won four races since August 2, and has posted eight top five finishes in the last ten XDCS races.
Donnie Moran of Dresden, OH is ninth in points, and Matt Miller of
Waterville, OH is tenth in the points chase. Miller has already
clinched the $10,000 XDCS Lucas Oil Rookie of the Year title for 2003.
Many of the top XDCS drivers are no strangers to RDCS competition. Birkhofer has a Renegade win at WVMS. The 2001 win was worth $50,000 to Birky. Moran is a four-time RDCS Champion, and Francis is a three-time RDCS Champion. Both have WVMS wins in both series, and Francis has two XDCS wins
at WVMS.
The top drivers in the Renegade DirtCar Series are no strangers to Xtreme DirtCar Series competition. Chub Frank of Sugar Grove, PA, who just clinched his fourth consecutive RDCS championship, is also the defending Xtreme Shootout Champion and has eight XDCS career wins.
Two-time RDCS Champion Davey Johnson of Greensburg, PA has two XDCS career wins, and two-time RDCS Champion Mike Balzano of Parkersburg, WV also has a career XDCS win. Steve Shaver of Parkersburg, WV is tenth in RDCS points and 11th in XDCS points. Shaver has career wins in both series.
Along with Francis and Moran, Bart Hartman of Zanesville, OH has WVMS wins in both series, and he is currently eighth in RDCS points. Other past XDCS winners at WVMS are Randy Korte of Highland, IL and Rick Aukland of Zanesville, OH.
There have been 36 different drivers that have won races in both
series, including nine of the top 10 XDCS drivers. Only Miller does not have a RDCS career win, but he does have a XDCS career win, and he has won Rookie of the Year titles in both series, this year with XDCS and 2001 with RDCS.
On Friday, the pit gate opens at 8 a.m., and the grandstand gate opens at 10 a.m. Tech and Registration will be from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The drivers meeting will be at 1 p.m. Hot laps for the Street Stocks and AMRA Modified is set for 2 p.m., with AMRA Modified qualifying at 3 p.m. XDCS/RDCS hot laps will be at 5 p.m., followed by XDCS/RDCS qualifying.
After XDCS/RDCS qualifying, the Street Stocks and the AMRA Modifieds will run heat races and consolation races.
On Saturday, the pit gate opens at 8 a.m., and the grandstand gate opens at 10 a.m. There will be an XDCS/RDCS Drivers Autograph Session on Souvenir Row that begins at 12 noon. Street Stock and AMRA Modified hot laps begin at 3 p.m., and XDCS/RDCS hot laps are set for 4 p.m. The XDCS/RDCS heat races will begin at 4:30 p.m., followed by consolation races, and two dashes.
The first dash will be for the six heat race winners, and will set the first three rows for the main event. The second dash will be for the six fastest qualifiers that did not win heat races that will set rows four through six for the main event.
The Street Stocks and the AMRA Modifieds will then run their feature races, with the 100-lap $25,000-to-win XDCS/RDCS RaceFest scheduled for 9:30 p.m.
In conjunction with the Charter Communication RaceFest, West Virginia Motor Speedway will host the Chris Francis Memorial benefit golf tournament on Thursday, at Woodridge Plantation. The course is located approximately one mile south of the speedway. The event format is a four-man scramble, and the
cost per player is $50.
Proceeds benefit the Chris Francis Memorial Fund for injured drivers and team members in the racing community. The fund was established in August 2001 in honor of Francis, a former XDCS Ringers Gloves Crew Chief of the Year, an award that now bares his name.
Chris Francis was the brother and crew chief of Steve Francis. Chris Francis passed away suddenly on August 20, 2001. To register to play in the tournament, or to make a donation to the fund by sponsoring a hole, call WVMS General Manager Clint Doll at (304) 489-1889 or (304) 481-9807.
The Amerihost Inn Parkersburg South off I-77 at Exit 170, just minutes from WVMS, is the Xtreme DirtCar Series Official Host Hotel for the Charter RaceFest event at WVMS. The Amerihost Inn is offering XDCS fans and competitors a special discount rate. To make reservations, call the Amerihost Inn at (304) 489-3111 and ask for the Xtreme DirtCar Series special discount rate.
For more information about the Charter RaceFest rules and race
procedures visit the Xtreme DirtCar Series web site at www.xtremedirtcars.com, the Renegade DirtCar Series web site at www.renegadedirtcar.com, or the West Virginia Motor Speedway web site at www.wvspeedway.com.
For race day and ticket information call (304) 489-1889. West Virginia Motor Speedway is located eight miles south of Parkersburg, WV, off I-77 at Exit 170.
MOORESVILLE, NC - The Xtreme DirtCar Series will join the Ohio-based Renegade DirtCar Series to voyage through uncharted waters this weekend for the 100-lap $25,000-to-win Charter Communication RaceFest World Championship at West Virginia Motor Speedway in Parkersburg, WV on Friday and Saturday
night.
The two dirt late model sanctioning bodies will team up for the first time to co-sanction a single event. Officials from the XDCS, RDCS, and WVMS have been in close communications in recent weeks to hammer out a race format that uses rules and procedures from both sanctioning bodies.
"It was a real 'give and take' deal, but the guys at Renegade are easy to work with, and I think we have come up with rules and a format that everyone can deal with," Xtreme DirtCar Series Competition Director Ritchie Lewis said. "Since all of our regular competitors have run with Renegade in the past, and many of the Renegade regulars have run with us in the past, there isn't anything in the rules or procedures that any of these drivers
haven't seen before. They shouldn't have a problem adapting to anything involving this race."
There has been many times in recent years where the two series have sanctioned separate events on the same weekend at the same track. In those events, it has been a regular practice for drivers from both series to compete in each event.
WVMS has put up over $125,000 in prize money for the Charter
Communication RaceFest World Championship. In addition to the $25,000 winner's share of the purse, the race will pay $2,000-to-start in the 100-lap 30-car main event, plus there will be extra money up for grabs in the two dashes, and the consolation races.
In addition to the prize money, the XDCS competitors still have a lot of other business to attend to this weekend. Many drivers will be battling for a top ten points position, and a share of the $280,000 XDCS point fund that will be divided at the XDCS Awards Banquet in Indianapolis, IN in December.
Four-time series champion Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, TN will be looking to wrap up his fifth XDCS Championship on Saturday night. With two races left in the 2003 XDCS season, it is now Bloomquist's title to lose. He leads Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, IA by 139 points going into RaceFest.
Birkhofer would have to gain an average of 40 points on Bloomquist in the final two events of the season to take the title. That's a long row to hoe, but Birkhofer is up to the challenge and he hasn't given up his title hopes.
"I'm still mathematically in the championship hunt, so I'm coming to West Virginia Motor Speedway this weekend to take everything I can get, and not give anything back," Birkhofer said. "I'm really looking forward to racing at West Virginia Motor Speedway because I love big, fast tracks, and I've done well there in the past."
With 30 cars starting RaceFest on Saturday night, there will be two promoter's options in the field, so XDCS will award points to 28 drivers. That's a difference of 84 points, not including bonus points. At the season ending Xtreme Shootout on October 10-11 at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, GA, there will be 26 drivers earning main event points, or a difference of 80 points.
Birkhofer knows what he has to do to win the championship, but he also knows Bloomquist is going to have to have some bad luck at the same time to make it possible. Birkhofer knows first hand how a round of bad luck can change things in a hurry.
"Having bad luck is just a part of racing, and sometimes it can really be costly," Birkhofer said. "I was in a position to take the point lead back in June when we raced in Davenport, IA, but I had a mechanical failure, and that dropped us deep in the field at the finish. It's happened to me, and it has happened to Scott. He missed the show the first race of the season in Florida, but man, he's had a good year since then."
If Bloomquist leaves WVMS with a 189-point lead, he will have
officially clinched the championship. The best that Birkhofer could do at the Shootout is get 188 points with the win and all of the bonus points for fast time, leading the most laps, and the Action Performance Dash win.
"The Sweep" of earning all of the points available is something that Birkhofer has done this season, and he's the only driver to pull it off so far in 2003. If Bloomquist has over a 94-point lead over Birkhofer when they leave WVMS, all Bloomquist has to do is take the green flag for the Shootout to clinch the title, even if Birky pulls "The Sweep."
Not only will Bloomquist be looking to secure the title and $60,000 that goes with the championship, he will also be looking to capture his 100th series career win on Saturday night at RaceFest. One of Bloomquist's 99 career series wins came at WVMS in 1996.
Jimmy Mars of Elk Mound, WI leads a three-way battle for the third spot in the XDCS point standings. Mars has a 70-point lead over defending and two-time series champion Rick Eckert of York, PA in fourth, and an 80-point lead over fifth-place Steve Francis of Ashland, KY. There is a $12,000 different between third and fifth in point fund money.
The 1999 series champion Dale McDowell of Rossville, GA is sixth in points, just six points ahead of Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, FL. Dan Schlieper of Pewaukee, WI is eighth in points, but has been one of the hottest drivers in series competition in recent weeks. Schlieper has won four races since August 2, and has posted eight top five finishes in the last ten XDCS races.
Donnie Moran of Dresden, OH is ninth in points, and Matt Miller of
Waterville, OH is tenth in the points chase. Miller has already
clinched the $10,000 XDCS Lucas Oil Rookie of the Year title for 2003.
Many of the top XDCS drivers are no strangers to RDCS competition. Birkhofer has a Renegade win at WVMS. The 2001 win was worth $50,000 to Birky. Moran is a four-time RDCS Champion, and Francis is a three-time RDCS Champion. Both have WVMS wins in both series, and Francis has two XDCS wins
at WVMS.
The top drivers in the Renegade DirtCar Series are no strangers to Xtreme DirtCar Series competition. Chub Frank of Sugar Grove, PA, who just clinched his fourth consecutive RDCS championship, is also the defending Xtreme Shootout Champion and has eight XDCS career wins.
Two-time RDCS Champion Davey Johnson of Greensburg, PA has two XDCS career wins, and two-time RDCS Champion Mike Balzano of Parkersburg, WV also has a career XDCS win. Steve Shaver of Parkersburg, WV is tenth in RDCS points and 11th in XDCS points. Shaver has career wins in both series.
Along with Francis and Moran, Bart Hartman of Zanesville, OH has WVMS wins in both series, and he is currently eighth in RDCS points. Other past XDCS winners at WVMS are Randy Korte of Highland, IL and Rick Aukland of Zanesville, OH.
There have been 36 different drivers that have won races in both
series, including nine of the top 10 XDCS drivers. Only Miller does not have a RDCS career win, but he does have a XDCS career win, and he has won Rookie of the Year titles in both series, this year with XDCS and 2001 with RDCS.
On Friday, the pit gate opens at 8 a.m., and the grandstand gate opens at 10 a.m. Tech and Registration will be from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The drivers meeting will be at 1 p.m. Hot laps for the Street Stocks and AMRA Modified is set for 2 p.m., with AMRA Modified qualifying at 3 p.m. XDCS/RDCS hot laps will be at 5 p.m., followed by XDCS/RDCS qualifying.
After XDCS/RDCS qualifying, the Street Stocks and the AMRA Modifieds will run heat races and consolation races.
On Saturday, the pit gate opens at 8 a.m., and the grandstand gate opens at 10 a.m. There will be an XDCS/RDCS Drivers Autograph Session on Souvenir Row that begins at 12 noon. Street Stock and AMRA Modified hot laps begin at 3 p.m., and XDCS/RDCS hot laps are set for 4 p.m. The XDCS/RDCS heat races will begin at 4:30 p.m., followed by consolation races, and two dashes.
The first dash will be for the six heat race winners, and will set the first three rows for the main event. The second dash will be for the six fastest qualifiers that did not win heat races that will set rows four through six for the main event.
The Street Stocks and the AMRA Modifieds will then run their feature races, with the 100-lap $25,000-to-win XDCS/RDCS RaceFest scheduled for 9:30 p.m.
In conjunction with the Charter Communication RaceFest, West Virginia Motor Speedway will host the Chris Francis Memorial benefit golf tournament on Thursday, at Woodridge Plantation. The course is located approximately one mile south of the speedway. The event format is a four-man scramble, and the
cost per player is $50.
Proceeds benefit the Chris Francis Memorial Fund for injured drivers and team members in the racing community. The fund was established in August 2001 in honor of Francis, a former XDCS Ringers Gloves Crew Chief of the Year, an award that now bares his name.
Chris Francis was the brother and crew chief of Steve Francis. Chris Francis passed away suddenly on August 20, 2001. To register to play in the tournament, or to make a donation to the fund by sponsoring a hole, call WVMS General Manager Clint Doll at (304) 489-1889 or (304) 481-9807.
The Amerihost Inn Parkersburg South off I-77 at Exit 170, just minutes from WVMS, is the Xtreme DirtCar Series Official Host Hotel for the Charter RaceFest event at WVMS. The Amerihost Inn is offering XDCS fans and competitors a special discount rate. To make reservations, call the Amerihost Inn at (304) 489-3111 and ask for the Xtreme DirtCar Series special discount rate.
For more information about the Charter RaceFest rules and race
procedures visit the Xtreme DirtCar Series web site at www.xtremedirtcars.com, the Renegade DirtCar Series web site at www.renegadedirtcar.com, or the West Virginia Motor Speedway web site at www.wvspeedway.com.
For race day and ticket information call (304) 489-1889. West Virginia Motor Speedway is located eight miles south of Parkersburg, WV, off I-77 at Exit 170.
