From the Paper

WEEDSPORT, N.Y. – July 14, 2016 – NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week, Oct. 5-9, will move to the historic Oswego Speedway in 2016. Oswego, a historic paved, 5/8 mile track 35 miles north of Syracuse, will be covered with dirt for the first time since 1952 to accommodate the Napa 300 and all of the week’s events and festivities. …

Posted by: Len Sammons – June 21, 2016 Troy Betts avoided serious burns and injury on Tuesday night at New Egypt Speedway by wearing the proper safety equipment and not panicking. Despite a serious alcohol fire in the cockpit of his No. 22 URC Sprint Car, Betts walked away with only a blister on his right foot and a few …

By KEVIN RICE WINSTON-SALEM, NC- Modified car owner David Hill was injured and his former driver, Joe Ryan Osborne from Kannapolis, N.C. was arrested during an altercation in the pit area following Saturday night’s second 50-lap Modified race at NC’s Bowman Gray Stadium. Hill told Area Auto Racing News that he approached Osborne’s car just to talk to him as …

Posted by: Len Sammons, June 14, 2016 Ryan Smith is a riverboat gambler. Instead of starting third in Saturday’s $7,000 to win Dirt Classic Showcase Race at Lincoln Speedway, he went to the rear in hopes of doubling his earnings. Smith didn’t pull off the miracle and drive the Rob Warko No. 94 410 Sprint Car from 24th to first …

TEMPLE, PA — Leroy Leibelsperger, a dedicated and always fun-loving staff photographer of Area Auto Racing News for over 30 years; and prior to that a stock car racer, has passed away. Mr. Leibelsperger, 85, of Temple died May 19 at home. Going back to the 1970s, Leroy and good friend and fellow AARN staff member Henry Plesnarski traveled to …

Posted by: Len Sammons, May 17, 2016 For years the joke was, “I want to be the weatherman, you can be wrong 90% of the time and still keep your job.” That statement, however, no longer appears to be true today, at least in auto racing. Race track operators now believe in the predictions days and weeks in advance as …

JONESTOWN, PA — Area Auto Racing News photographer Bruce Thomas, of Jonestown, passed away after a lengthy illness on May 6 at the Hospice Residence of Central Pa. in Harrisburg, Pa. While on the AARN staff, Bruce was an auto racing photographer at Pa.’s Grandview Speedway and many other area race tracks. He was a member of the Eastern Motorsports …

Posted by: Len Sammons – May 3, 2016 Chris Zacharias confirmed to AARN last Friday that their will be no first annual American Modified Pavement Series (AMPS) this season. Zacharias announced the formation of the series in AARN’s March 8 edition after a sales dispute became public between former Race of Champions series owner Andrew Harpell and its purchaser Joe …

Posted by: David Wiernusz – April 26, 2016 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Friday, April 15, 2016 that it is withdrawing a proposed regulation that would have effectively prohibited the modification of street cars into race cars. The EPA said in a statement posted at www.3epa.gov that its proposed regulation did not represent a “change in the law” …

Posted by: Steve Kellogg – April 19, 2016 It’s finally here! This Friday night, April 22, will usher in the new era at Outlaw Speedway in Dundee, N.Y. (formerly known as Black Rock Speedway) under the leadership of Tyler Siri. Since the word of the sale of the track came out this winter the buzz has all been about what …