RACING ACTION AT CAROLINA SPEEDWAY ON FRIDAY - APRIL 24th
Atlanta, GA - The Parts Plus United Sprint Car Series www.uscsracing.com kicks off the dirt track portion of its 2008 Southern Thunder Tour and 13th anniversary schedule on Friday April 24th with the Parts Plus "Thunder in the Carolinas" event at the Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, North Carolina.
The "Thunder in Carolina " event is loaded with action-packed racing featuring a full program of winged outlaw style sprint car racing plus racing in four of Carolina Speedway's weekly divisions. Friday night's USCS race will award Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Championship points and will additionally award Parts Plus USCS "Outlaw Thunder" Tour National Championship points.
The Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Tour regional series includes races scheduled in North and South Carolina plus Northern Georgia and East Tennessee. A number of those events will award National Championship points. This first weekend of dirt oval track events will bring a number of drivers seeking the Parts Plus sponsored United Sprint Car Series "Outlaw Thunder" National Championship roaring into the fast 3/8-mile clay oval. The USCS drivers will also race on paved ovals ten times during the 2008 season.
The Parts Plus USCS is the only winged outlaw sprint series in the World that races on both dirt and paved surfaces.
The Carolina Speedway event is expected to bring top winged outlaw sprint car drivers from at least seven states to the track from as far away as Florida, West Tennessee, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The exotic fire breathing, alcohol burning, 700 horsepower open-wheeled Parts Plus USCS sprint cars weight just 1,300 pounds, and are pound for pound the World's most powerful short track race cars. The cars will literally fly around the track surface at speeds over 125 M.P.H. It is not uncommon to see the USCS sprint cars popping "wheelies" or doing wheel stands because of the brute force of their engines and their huge 18-inch wide rear tires.
Friday night's Outlaw sprint car action will feature a full program of racing that includes test and tune hot laps. The evening's first sprint car race will be the Parts Plus Power Dash that will showcase the top six cars from the previous event in an edge-of-your-seat six-lap shootout. Next up will be the qualifying heat races that determine the starting positions before the 30-lap "Thunder in Carolinas" Championship finale. In between the sprint car racing elements, four of the Speedway's weekly racing divisions will keep the action rolling on Friday night's racing card. Those include the NDRA GM Performance Late Models, Open Wheel Modifieds, Renegade and Pure Stock Four's.
Seven-time and defending USCS National Champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee, who was ranked in the top five drivers in the Nation, by the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame pollsters at the end of the 2008 season heads the entry list for the event. Gray, who is also among the top twenty-five drivers in the Nation in feature wins over the past five years with over seventy-five feature wins, is entered.
Other notable entries include: 1998 USCS Rookie of the Year and 2004 USCS/AOAS Champion Johnny Bridges from Cherryville, North Carolina. Bridges won the June 27, 2008 Carolina Speedway Parts Plus USCS main event. Bridges won four times in 2008 USCS competition. Additionally expected are 2008 USCS Feature winner Matt Linder from Hoschton, Georgia, 2002 USCS Championship runner-up Doug Day from Winder, Georgia and USCS sprint car veteran, Brian Thomas from Pendergrass, Georgia. Also entered is USCS veteran sprint car driver David Thorman from Greenville, South Carolina.
Seventeen-year old Parts Plus USCS rookie point's leader, Justin Carver from Drummonds, Tennessee leads a strong contingent of talented young drivers into Carolina Speedway. Carver has been very impressive every single night and is only eighteen points behind defending Champion Terry Gray in the National standings. Also entered is twenty-two year-old 2008 USCS Rookie of the Year, Anthony Nicholson from Bartlett, Tennessee. Nicholson is just behind Carver and Gray in third place in the standings.
In addition to these two young guns, the entries include, 2008 USCS Southern Thunder Rookie of the Year, Jake McLain from Indian Trail, North Carolina and eighteen year-old New York transplant Nick Bashford from Concord, North Carolina. To give the event some International flavor, former road-racer and European stock car star, twenty-two year-old Adam Jackson from Birmingham, England who presently resides in Timmonsville, South Carolina is entered.
Jackson was named as the 2008 USCS Asphalt Thunder Tour rookie of the Year.
He finished in third place in both of last weekend's paved track events at Ace Speedway and Florence Motor Speedway. Additional young guns include 2004 USCS Rookie of the Year and USCS feature winner, Bryn Gohn from Malabar, Florida and Tyler Godwin from Tampa, Florida.
Other expected in-state entries include Brad Wickham from Rutherfordton, North Carolina who was the 1990 Butler Speedway (Butler, Michigan) track champion, Brian Carter from Concord, North Carolina, rookie Brandon Rekow from Mooresville, C.J. Miller from Denver, Tim Perry from China Grove and David Adkins from Winston-Salem.
To include some North vs. South flavor, a strong contingent of drivers from North of the Mason-Dixon Line who race primarily with the tough East Coast based Rislone URC Sprint Car Series are also expected to travel south hoping to bag the top prize. Those include Josh Weller from Mertztown, Pennsylvania, National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee Kramer Williamson from Palmyra, Pennsylvania and twenty-one year-old young gun, Rory Janney from Estell Manor, New Jersey.
Carolina Speedway is located at 6335 Union Rd., Gastonia, NC 28054. The race track phone number is: (704) 869-0313. The track's website is
www.carolinaspeedway.net For USCS info visit the USCS web site at
www.uscsracing.com
Media Contact: PETE WALTON, USCS President (404) 886-5913
pwaltonuscs@comcast.net WWW.USCSRACING.COM
Atlanta, GA - The Parts Plus United Sprint Car Series www.uscsracing.com kicks off the dirt track portion of its 2008 Southern Thunder Tour and 13th anniversary schedule on Friday April 24th with the Parts Plus "Thunder in the Carolinas" event at the Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, North Carolina.
The "Thunder in Carolina " event is loaded with action-packed racing featuring a full program of winged outlaw style sprint car racing plus racing in four of Carolina Speedway's weekly divisions. Friday night's USCS race will award Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Championship points and will additionally award Parts Plus USCS "Outlaw Thunder" Tour National Championship points.
The Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Tour regional series includes races scheduled in North and South Carolina plus Northern Georgia and East Tennessee. A number of those events will award National Championship points. This first weekend of dirt oval track events will bring a number of drivers seeking the Parts Plus sponsored United Sprint Car Series "Outlaw Thunder" National Championship roaring into the fast 3/8-mile clay oval. The USCS drivers will also race on paved ovals ten times during the 2008 season.
The Parts Plus USCS is the only winged outlaw sprint series in the World that races on both dirt and paved surfaces.
The Carolina Speedway event is expected to bring top winged outlaw sprint car drivers from at least seven states to the track from as far away as Florida, West Tennessee, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The exotic fire breathing, alcohol burning, 700 horsepower open-wheeled Parts Plus USCS sprint cars weight just 1,300 pounds, and are pound for pound the World's most powerful short track race cars. The cars will literally fly around the track surface at speeds over 125 M.P.H. It is not uncommon to see the USCS sprint cars popping "wheelies" or doing wheel stands because of the brute force of their engines and their huge 18-inch wide rear tires.
Friday night's Outlaw sprint car action will feature a full program of racing that includes test and tune hot laps. The evening's first sprint car race will be the Parts Plus Power Dash that will showcase the top six cars from the previous event in an edge-of-your-seat six-lap shootout. Next up will be the qualifying heat races that determine the starting positions before the 30-lap "Thunder in Carolinas" Championship finale. In between the sprint car racing elements, four of the Speedway's weekly racing divisions will keep the action rolling on Friday night's racing card. Those include the NDRA GM Performance Late Models, Open Wheel Modifieds, Renegade and Pure Stock Four's.
Seven-time and defending USCS National Champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee, who was ranked in the top five drivers in the Nation, by the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame pollsters at the end of the 2008 season heads the entry list for the event. Gray, who is also among the top twenty-five drivers in the Nation in feature wins over the past five years with over seventy-five feature wins, is entered.
Other notable entries include: 1998 USCS Rookie of the Year and 2004 USCS/AOAS Champion Johnny Bridges from Cherryville, North Carolina. Bridges won the June 27, 2008 Carolina Speedway Parts Plus USCS main event. Bridges won four times in 2008 USCS competition. Additionally expected are 2008 USCS Feature winner Matt Linder from Hoschton, Georgia, 2002 USCS Championship runner-up Doug Day from Winder, Georgia and USCS sprint car veteran, Brian Thomas from Pendergrass, Georgia. Also entered is USCS veteran sprint car driver David Thorman from Greenville, South Carolina.
Seventeen-year old Parts Plus USCS rookie point's leader, Justin Carver from Drummonds, Tennessee leads a strong contingent of talented young drivers into Carolina Speedway. Carver has been very impressive every single night and is only eighteen points behind defending Champion Terry Gray in the National standings. Also entered is twenty-two year-old 2008 USCS Rookie of the Year, Anthony Nicholson from Bartlett, Tennessee. Nicholson is just behind Carver and Gray in third place in the standings.
In addition to these two young guns, the entries include, 2008 USCS Southern Thunder Rookie of the Year, Jake McLain from Indian Trail, North Carolina and eighteen year-old New York transplant Nick Bashford from Concord, North Carolina. To give the event some International flavor, former road-racer and European stock car star, twenty-two year-old Adam Jackson from Birmingham, England who presently resides in Timmonsville, South Carolina is entered.
Jackson was named as the 2008 USCS Asphalt Thunder Tour rookie of the Year.
He finished in third place in both of last weekend's paved track events at Ace Speedway and Florence Motor Speedway. Additional young guns include 2004 USCS Rookie of the Year and USCS feature winner, Bryn Gohn from Malabar, Florida and Tyler Godwin from Tampa, Florida.
Other expected in-state entries include Brad Wickham from Rutherfordton, North Carolina who was the 1990 Butler Speedway (Butler, Michigan) track champion, Brian Carter from Concord, North Carolina, rookie Brandon Rekow from Mooresville, C.J. Miller from Denver, Tim Perry from China Grove and David Adkins from Winston-Salem.
To include some North vs. South flavor, a strong contingent of drivers from North of the Mason-Dixon Line who race primarily with the tough East Coast based Rislone URC Sprint Car Series are also expected to travel south hoping to bag the top prize. Those include Josh Weller from Mertztown, Pennsylvania, National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee Kramer Williamson from Palmyra, Pennsylvania and twenty-one year-old young gun, Rory Janney from Estell Manor, New Jersey.
Carolina Speedway is located at 6335 Union Rd., Gastonia, NC 28054. The race track phone number is: (704) 869-0313. The track's website is
www.carolinaspeedway.net For USCS info visit the USCS web site at
www.uscsracing.com
Media Contact: PETE WALTON, USCS President (404) 886-5913
pwaltonuscs@comcast.net WWW.USCSRACING.COM
