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Mike Leone
MERCER, Penn. (April 2) - Mercer Raceway Park is set to open the 2008 season this Saturday night, April 5 with the running of last Saturday's postponed "Chiller Thriller featuring the Steel-Block Late Models, Stock Cars, United E-Mod Series, and the M&D Paving Mini Stocks with racing at 7 p.m.
"We finally got a string of dry and mild days," acknowledged 10th year owner Vicki Emig. "Frank Benic and track crew have been busy working at the speedway to get everything ready to open Saturday. They were finally able to get on the track Tuesday night for the first time and get the grounds prepared for Saturday and any rain that may fall late Thursday and Friday. The forecast looks great for Saturday with sunshine and temps well into the 50s!"
Highlighting the event will be the Late Models in a 30-lap $2,000 to-win, $200 to-start feature. The event will be open to all steel-block, limited, and FASTRAK-legal cars utilizing the successful rules that The Challenger Raceway established for their popular events. With the excellent payoff and most tracks not yet opened, a strong field of competitors from all over western and central Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio are expected.
The E-Mods will make their first of two appearances on the season and will be sanctioned by the United E-Mod Series (UEMS) in their inaugural event- a 25-lap feature paying $750 to-win. UEMS is directed by Chris Zuver, longtime promoter of the popular United Late Model Series (ULMS), which will appear in the season finale on October 4. Zuver has already been contacted by 28 entrants including heavy hitters such as Dave Hess, Jr., Randy Hall, Rich Michael, Carl McKinney, Quincy Turner, and Russ Dunn.
Though they won't be on the weekly card, the Stock Cars will kickoff the season in a big way. The 25-lap feature will be the first of four events that will pay a minimum of $1,000 to-win! The "open" Little Guy Nationals rules will be effect, which allow most of the entire region's street/pure/pro/spectator stocks to compete. Two-time Little Guy National winner, Rusty Wheeler, is an early entrant and is always a favorite to win every time he competes at The Park. Defending three-time track champion Brian Booher has moved to the FASTRAK Late Model division for 2008 and is expected to be in Late Model competition Saturday, but still sits atop the all-time Stock Car win list at 32. Two-time track champion Andy Buckley, who has 25 career wins, is expected to be in competition and will also split time with Rick Robinson in the FASTRAK Late Model division.
Rounding out the program will be the M&D Paving Mini Stocks. Last year, the Mini Stocks were revived after a 25-year absence. The class started with one car on opening night and grew throughout the season ending with 27 cars at the season finale. Due to the excellent support, the Mini Stocks were added to the "Chiller Thriller" this season and the opening event is one of many specials throughout the year. The identical purse from the "Little Guy Nationals" will be paid with $150 going to the 15-lap winner and every position will be paid. The event should draw competitors from all over the region with no other Mini Stock events scheduled.
"We evaluate our shows each year," explained Emig. "We felt the Chiller Thriller was getting stale so we decided to make some changes that we feel will be a plus to the competitors and fans. The Steel-Block Late Model shows throughout the region have been very successful and felt this would give a lot of racers the opportunity to come to Mercer when no one else is racing for a substantial purse and give our FASTRAK racers a chance to shakedown their cars before their first event. We brought on the new UEMS to sanction the E-Mods with an increased purse for the racers and nearly doubled the Stock Car payoff from last year. And finally we ended the season rewarding the Mini Stocks with a complete payoff and triple what they normally run for. The turn out was excellent and with more cars expected this year we wanted to reward them again adding them to this show and giving them the increased payoff again."
Pit gates open at 3:30 p.m. and the grandstands at 4:30 p.m. A drivers meeting will be held at 5:45 p.m. with hot laps and pill cutoff at 6:15 p.m. and racing at 7 p.m. Adult admission is $15; students 6-15 are $7; children five and under are free; family pass is $35; and pit passes are $30. Day of event entry fees are $50 for Steel-Block Late Models, $35 for Stock Cars, and $10 for E-Mods payable to UEMS.
Steel-Block Late Model Payoff: 1. $2,000 2. $1,000 3. $700 4. $600 5. $500 6. $450 7. $400 8. $350 9. $325 10. $300 11. $275 12. $250 13. $225 14. $220 15. $215 16. $210 17. $205 18-24. $200. Tow/Non-qualifiers $60.
Stock Car Payoff: 1. $1,000 2. $500 3. $275 4. $225 5. $200 6. $150 7. $125 8. $120 9. $115 10. $110 11. $105 12. $100 13. $95 14. $90 15. $85 16. $80 17. $75 18-24. $70. Tow/Non-qualifiers $50.
United E-Mod Series Payoff: 1. $750 2. $500 3. $400 4. $300 5. $200 6. $150 7. $140 8. $130 9. $125 10. $100 11. $90 12. $85 13. $80 14. $75 15-20. $70 21-24. $65. Tow/Non-qualifiers $40
Mini Stock Payoff: 1. $150 2. $75 3. $70 4. $65 5. $60 6. $55 7. $50 8. $45 9. $40 10-13. $35 14-17 $30 18-24. $25. Tow/Non-qualifiers $20.
With last week's postponement of the "Chiller Thriller", the first five-division weekly "Saturday Night Live" program will take place on Saturday, April 12 featuring the Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Cars, Tire Express Modifieds, McElwain Motors FASTRAK Late Models, Big Daddy's Speed Center Mod Lites, and the M&D Paving Mini Stocks with points starting. Also, the first practice session will be held this coming Wednesday, April 9 from 5 p.m. until dark.
Mercer Raceway Park held its first auto race on July 26, 1951 and is located minutes from both Interstate 79 and 80 just off Route 19 on Fairground Road in Mercer, Pa. Dirt track racing and quality family entertainment are presented weekly late March through September. The office in New Bedford, Pa. is open year-round Monday through Friday late mornings and after 1:30 p.m. For more information call the office at 724-964-9300 or the track on race day at 724-662-1310. Check out our website at www.mercerracewaypark.com for the latest.
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