It’s
all a part of business.
But no doubt it will get the natives in an uproar when Lincoln
Speedway goes head to head with the second annual “Dream Extreme” at
Port Royal Speedway in two weeks.
Port Royal recently announced that it would again host the $30,000
to win Dream Race coming up on Saturday August 2.
But when Lincoln Speedway did it’s schedule during the off-season,
the Dream race was not listed on Port’s 2008 schedule so it booked
it’s normal Saturday night program headlined by the 410 Sprints
along with the always popular Kids Night.
Now it will force some drivers to make a decision that night- head
to Port and compete for the big paycheck or compete for points at
Lincoln.
“It wasn’t really even on their schedule until probably a month or
month and half ago,” said Lincoln Speedway co-promoter Don Leiby. “I
guess she (Sue Pontius) didn’t have the sponsors secured for it so
what were we supposed to do. I suggested the possibility to them
that they not run 410’s for our Anniversary race this past week and
that we would not run them on August 2nd. Evidently that wasn’t an
option because no one ever got back to me about it.”
Leiby also stated that the Kids Night needs to go on as scheduled
on August 2nd and 410 Sprints need to be a part of the program.
“Connie (Leiby) handles the Kids Night deal and she is going on
vacation for a week then she goes back to work full time after that
so we need to get it out of the way,” he added. “We need to have it
with the three main divisions there because many of the sponsors
want the 410’s on the card and we have some sponsors that only want
to do it when the 358 sprints are there. So it can create a problem
as well.”
While most of Lincoln’s “top” 410 drivers will opt for Port Royal
for the bigger payday that night, the track must remain loyal to the
rest of the sprint car teams that are faithful week in and week out
as well.
“Let’s face it, 410’s are what we are based on at Lincoln and we
already take them off the schedule six or so times a year for other
local events,” he stated. “We don’t feel that it’s right to penalize
the guys that do support us by not giving points that night or even
by only giving 100 points. We do that for Knoxville weekend but we
aren’t going to get into that by doing it more often.”
Leiby doesn’t feel Lincoln’s decision to race 410’s that night will
hurt Port Royal or its crowd.
“Our intention is not to hurt Port Royal at all and I don’t think
we will by racing our local guys at Lincoln,” he said. “I don’t
think it will really affect us and it’s not really going to affect
them. They are going to gain a couple of cars from Lincoln that want
to try for the $30,000 win.” The cars that do go to Port Royal will
not be penalized in Lincoln handicapping the following weekend.
Leiby said weather will also play a vital role in the night and
with Port’s large payoff, they won’t risk having the show on a bad
weather night and should there be no 410’s at Lincoln that night,
they would lose out as well.
Leiby also stated that money doesn’t seem to the answer for local
racing as the track’s 56th Anniversary show last Saturday only drew
24 cars for the $5,600 to win, increased purse.
“What was the problem that night,” he asked. “We paid $5,600 to
win, we didn’t penalize anyone and we ran time trials but still only
had 24 cars. We are better off to just race a regular show and the
pay the $3,000 purse. I just don’t understand why some teams would
not support a race that pays so much more money when that seems to
be what they all want.”
Fred Rahmer, Doug Esh, Brian Leppo and Chad Layton are the Lincoln
regulars that most likely will opt for the Port Royal option on
August 2nd which could close up the points standings dramatically in
the Pigeon Hills.
SUMMER NATIONALS ON TAP
Donny Schatz leads the World of Outlaws into Williams Grove
Speedway for this weekend’s Cleveland Brothers Summer Nationals.
Schatz, the current WoO points leader and defending Summer
Nationals champion will bring the rest of the WoO contingent into
town looking to steal the big $20,000 Saturday night prize from the
Pennsylvania Posse.
Fred Rahmer, the 2005 Summer Nationals champion appears to be the
fastest local capable of giving the Outlaws fits but Doug Esh made
big strides last weekend with his two wins.
Qualifying begins both Friday and Saturday at 7:45pm. Fireworks
will follow Saturday night’s racing program.
PIT STOPS
The MALCO Landscaping 358 late models will go Topless this Saturday
night at Lincoln Speedway. It will be the first time this season
that the 358 late models will run without tops. Gene Knaub is the
current MALCO points leader over Jake Lettich. Young Tyler Hershey
will have his late model on display prior to the races Saturday
night…
Daryn Pittman took advantage of Joey Saldana’s blown right rear
tire to win the big $50,000 payday in the Kings Royal Sunday night
at Eldora Speedway. Pittman took the lead on alp 28 and held off a
final lap challenge from Jason Meyers before winning for the first
time this year. Chad Kemenah, Donny Schatz and Steve Kinser were the
top five drivers. Saldana won the Friday night Night before the
Kings Royal event…
Kinser came back to lead all 40 laps in Tuesday night’s Don Martin
Silver Cup at Lernerville Speedway to cash in on the big $40,000
payday. Kinser defeated Schatz, Meyers, Saldana and Kerry Madsen.
Greg Hodnett started 18th and finished eighth while Jeff Shepard was
10th. Fred Rahmer finished 11th, Chad Layton 20th and Stevie Smith
26th…
The entry list for the upcoming Super Clean Knoxville Nationals
continues to grow with several members of the Posse already entered
for the $150,000 to win event. Rahmer, Shepard, Esh, Shepard, Sean
Michael, Brian Leppo, Cody Darrah, Greg Hodnett and of course Lucas
Wolfe, Lance Dewease and Stevie Smith. The J & S Racing team will
make a final decision on their trip west following this weekend’s
Summer Nationals…
