Other than several more tracks releasing their race schedules for 2017 this was a pretty slow week for racing news, at least that was of interest to me, so today's Notebook will be short and sweet.
The biggest news actually came last Saturday morning when former driver and prospective promoter Al Purkey announced suddenly that the planned reopening of the Mid America Speedway in South Coffeyville, Kansas, would not happen as planned in 2017. The track had two big $10,000-to-win weekends on the MLRA schedule, plus had scheduled a big money Modified show to open the season in March, but apparently the new track owner John Fiore pulled the plug last Friday stating that the facility would not be ready to present racing in 2017. Okay, so that made some sense since this track has been sitting idle for several years now, but another track that was recently purchased by Fiore, the Outlaw Motor Speedway near Muskogee was also deemed to be in no shape to hold racing in 2017 and will be dark this season. The difference is that Outlaw is not very old and raced weekly in 2016 leaving many to wonder what the actual story might be. Fiore has stated that he intends to open them both again in 2018, but well I guess that remains to be seen.
I must admit that I was a bit surprised when it was announced that the Gateway Dirt Nationals will return to the Dome at the America's Center in St. Louis in December. Some of the comments that had been made by the promoter in recent weeks seemed to be setting us up for a soft landing, but instead it is good news that perhaps the most unique event in Dirt Late Model racing will have an encore. Some key changes have been made to the event with only one round of qualifying instead of two. The Modified field will be capped at 100 cars and half of those will essentially be an Invitational in that you will have to earn your way into the event through designated races throughout the season or by a fan vote while the other half will be "first come, first serve" in regard to paying an entry fee. Even though there were fewer than 100 Late Models at the inaugural event, the Late Model entry list will be capped at 150 and this time around instead of just saying what the features will pay to win, they are also stating what it will pay to start in 2017.
Sprint Car fans along the Mississippi River area will be torn on June 9th and 10th as the World of Outlaws will be at Knoxville at the same time that the All Star Circuit of Champions will be battling on the bullrings of Lincoln and Macon, Illinois. On Sunday the 11th though all of the fans can converge on 34 Raceway near Burlington where the All Stars will close out their three-day weekend.
Tanner Thorson who was the 2016 Midget Driver of the Year will take the same steps as did Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and Rico Abreu recently and give pavement Late Model racing a try to see if he can earn his way into NASCAR.
Florida and Georgia Speedweeks officially kicked off last night as the Nesmith Crate Late Models raced at the Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala where Brandon Sheppard set quick time in group one, started from the pole (they don't run heats) in the feature and led every lap to take the win. It's bad enough when you qualify and start the fast guys up front in any division, but in a Crate Late Model it is even worse........in my humble opinion.
Getting closer and closer to the 2017 racing season here in the Midwest and the Specials Calendar continues to grow as tracks and series release their schedules. Still waiting on one from the Deery Brothers Summer Series!
Enjoy your weekend!
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