Newsmaker of the Week

By any measure, the 2020 Daytona 500 was unforgettable.   For just the second time in history, a sitting President, Donald Trump, came to the speedway, addressed the crowd and even rode around the track, flanked by security guards.  The race wound up raining out after just 20 laps, postponed until Monday afternoon. There was plenty of action all race long until …

When it was announced several months ago by Plattsburgh’s Airborne Speedway track owners Jamie Atkins and Steve Fuller that they would not operate the track in 2019, there were fears that the venerable north country oval was done for good. And it might have been had Lebanon Valley and Albany-Saratoga Speedway owner Howard Commander not come to the rescue. Last …

Kyle Larson makes no bones about the fact he races NASCAR Cup cars for a living but races Sprint Cars and Midgets for fun. In Tulsa, Oklahoma past week, Larson won his first Chili Bowl after several years of trying, reigning as ‘King Of The Slidejob’ when he hustled by Christopher Bell for the lead, then protected his line on …

Wednesday, January 15 is the the deadline date for Thompson Motorsport Park’s rank and file to let track management know if they’ll be okay in 2020 running a six race season with a 75% reduction in weekly prize money. If the racers agree, it could send a shockwave to race promoters across the landscape who are eager to shave expenses …

When a driver with a car that is a proven winner flips it down the homestretch, very seldom does anything good come from the experience. In Ryan Flores’ case, what started off as a bad weekend came full circle in Allentown, PA after Flores and his crew fixed his battered TQ Midget for the next day’s racing action. Flores then responded by …

Once upon a time, the Offenhauser engine reigned supreme in Sprint Car racing. Then, the Small Block Chevy made inroads and the Offy was all done. That was in the early 1960s. And that’s how it has stayed – until 2019. Ford now has a winning 410 Sprint engine, developed after two years of R&D and T&E. Now, Toyota has announced …

Matt Hirschman dominated one of the two Modified races he won at the annual Wall Stadium Turkey Derby last Saturday and lucked into another one. It’s all in a weekend’s work for Hirschman, one of the highest percentage winners in any phase of the sport. His sweep of the two races was worth at least $11,000 as well as the …

No one saw this coming! Thunder Mountain (NY) Speedway, located just north of the Southern Tier of New York, announced this past week it was affiliating with DIRTcar for its 358 Modified and Sportsman classes, effective for the 2020 season.The DIRT alliance also means a switch to Hoosier tires. The track’s Modified class and its other divisions will not be …

The last 410 Sprint race in the United States was on the docket this past Saturday at BAPS Motor Speedway and when the checkered flag flew, it was over the hood of Danny Dietrich’s Gary Kauffman owned No. 48. It capped a season for Dietrich with 15 overall wins, enough for ‘Double D’ to be rightfully regarded as the leader of …

It all came down to the last race of the season at The Dirt Track At Charlotte for two series championships last weekend. In the Super DIRT Series, Mat Williamson was trying to unseat Matt Sheppard, winner of seven SDS titles including the last four, to win his first career title. In the World Of Outlaws Sprint Series, Brad Sweet was …