A little bit about a lot of things in today's Notebook and many of these tidbits came from the always sensational coverage of this weekend's PRI show by Dirt On Dirt. If you are a Late Model fan and do not subscribe to Dirt On Dirt you are missing out! Don't forget that they will have live pay-per-view coverage of next weekend's Gateway Nationals from the dome in St. Louis.
The Lee County Speedway in Donnellson will host the opening round of the 2017 IMCA Frostbusters on Wednesday April 5th. For the past several years this four race mini-series that draws in competitors from far and wide started out at Oskaloosa with its traditional Wednesday slot, but apparently the Southern Iowa fair board passed for next year and the Lee County committee said "we'll take it!" Overall this should be a great change as Lee County's 3/8th-mile oval is much more similar to the quick quarters at Vinton on Thursday, Marshalltown on Friday and Boone on Saturday, plus it will expose even more IMCA drivers and fans to one of the best race tracks in the Midwest.
After racing in the Super Saloon division down under Bobby Pierce is back in the states and ready to compete in the dome next week in St. Louis. He also announced this week that he will then tow out to Arizona in January for his first appearance at The Wild West Shootout.
It was no surprise that Josh Richards announced this week that he and the Best Motorsports Team will follow the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series in 2017 giving that series a distinct advantage when it comes to the talent pool. With multi-time World of Outlaws champions Richards and Darrell Lanigan now running with Lucas, that leaves 2015 champion Shane Clanton as the man to beat with the Outlaws. Will any of the current Lucas Oil regulars jump ship thinking that they have a better chance to compete for a championship with the Outlaws?
Devin Moran has announced that he will chase the Rookie of the Year honors with the World of Outlaws Late Models in 2017.
Bob Gardner of East Peoria, Illinois, plans to run the first fourteen Lucas Oil series events in 2017 and then evaluate whether or not he will continue with the tour. Gardner was one of only a few drivers who raced the entire UMP Summer Nationals schedule in 2016.
Timothy Culp will drive the GRT house car in 2017 after Jeremy Payne stepped aside to spend more time with his family.
Chris Simpson will take his Hawkeyes wrap to the dome in St. Louis next week and will then head for Arizona in January with Jason Rauen and Spencer Diercks in tow.
The UMP Summer Nationals will visit the Sycamore Speedway in Illinois for the first time ever on Thursday June 29th. Tony Izzo Jr. will promote the event.
Moving over to Sprint Car news, Brent Marks will join the World of Outlaws tour in 2017 and do not be surprised to see him in victory lane a few times.
After a few seasons with the famous Hoffman #69 Brady Bacon has new plans for 2017 forming his own team along with Richard Marshall from Priority Aviation to do some more winged racing and he will pair up with the Dooling/Hayward Racing Team to run a limited schedule of non-wing races as well. Chad Boespflug will take over the reigns of the Hoffman 69.
Sprint car racer Cody Brewer and his father Ken have purchased the Brill's Motor Speedway in Meeker, Oklahoma, from Mark Brill and will now call the facility Red Dirt Raceway. The track that is about thirty miles east of Oklahoma City will race weekly beginning in the spring of '17 featuring non-wing sprints and, in an interesting twist, will shut down for the entire months of July and August before resuming weekly action again in September.
The USAC Sprint Cars will go to two high speed venues the first weekend of June with a Friday night stop at the I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska, followed by a Saturday return to the Knoxville Raceway.
The World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Cars schedule released this week includes a Friday June 23rd date at the West Liberty Raceway. Before we get all excited though let's remember that this is not a Simmons Promotion event and that at this time last year an All Star Circuit of Champions event was scheduled for a about the same time at West Liberty. It didn't happen.
Hopefully that will not be the case with this show as it would be awesome to watch the Outlaws at West Liberty!
I find it interesting that the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series will run an event at the Knoxville Raceway on Saturday July 29th, the week before the 27th Annual Knoxville 360 Nationals an event that the tour has been a part of for the past couple of years. It is also noteworthy that as of today the traditional sponsor of the 360 Nationals, Arnold Motor Supply, is not mentioned on the track's schedule.
The USAC Midgets have a new venue on their 2017 schedule with the Illinois State Fairgrounds Multi-Purpose Arena on July 3rd. This will be a 1/6-mile outdoor dirt track that will be in the same general area as the long standing mile dirt oval.
The Baer Field Motorsports Park in Fort Wayne, Indiana, will build a quarter-mile dirt track within its current 3/8th-mile asphalt oval and will host events on both surfaces in 2017.
The Humboldt Speedway in Kansas will join the Salina Highbanks Speedway in Oklahoma as a NASCAR sanctioned track in 2017. Humboldt has previously been USRA sanctioned, but promoter Ryan Whitworth promised to continue a close relationship with Todd Staley as the track hosts one of the biggest events on the USMTS schedule each year with the King of America event in March.
Mid-America Speedway in South Coffeyville, Oklahoma, is springing back to life in 2017 and they too will be NASCAR sanctioned.
While it is great to see new tracks being built and others returning to action it is also sad when a track will disappear forever and that is the case with the Butler County Speedway in Rising City, Nebraska, as the property will be sold and developed as something other than a race track.
With all of the news and schedules coming out of the PRI show I might be back with another notebook next week before Barry and I take off for St. Louis to see just what happens with the inaugural Gateway Nationals. Late Models and Modifieds racing indoors on the dirt in mid-December, what will they think of next?
See you on the Back Stretch!
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