2012-05-15

Drivers Hit Track At Oxford Plains Speedway

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 5.15.12
For more information, visit http://www.crazyhorseracingparts.com or E-mail GWCNewEngland@gmail.com
Teams Ready Themselves For ACT Armed Forces Day 150
OXFORD, Maine – The ACT Late Model Tour championship wars are settled among established race teams with the resources to lock horns against the northeast's best for six grueling months each year. But the battles on the road to that championship are fought by the Saturday night short-trackers defending their home turf whenever the Tour rolls into their town.

Oxford Plains Speedway offers one of the most compelling stops on the ACT Late Model Tour each season, with a full field of weekly Late Model competitors racing against the Tour's full-time teams on a track notoriously known as one of New England's most difficult to master. Some of those weekly competitors at Oxford got a jumpstart on the season last weekend during a pre-season practice day at the track.
“I've been doing this 23 years, and I've yet to bring home the big trophy,” said Donnie Wentworth, the runner-up in the final Late Model standings at Oxford in 2011. “I've been second three, four, five times now. We were trying some different stuff at practice day. We have nothing to lose – we're going to try and find the magic setup.”
Wentworth hopes to hit on that “magic setup” for the ACT Armed Forces Day 150 this Sunday afternoon at OPS. Qualifying begins at 2 p.m., following a full morning of practice.
Other veteran Late Model drivers at Oxford, including Travis Stearns and Scott Luce, were also on hand to turn some practice laps at the track last Saturday. Stearns plans to join Wentworth on a weekly basis at Oxford this season, while Luce will continue to run selected weekly events at Oxford and a partial ACT Late Model Tour schedule.
Luce said he couldn't be successful at picking and choosing the events that appeal to him without enlisting the help of Crazy Horse Racing and car builder Mitch Green.
“For us, we don't really have that go-to guy, and we really rely on Mitch than maybe some other teams do,” Luce said. “Mitch has forgotten more about racing than I'll ever know. He's definitely the guy to come to. He built the car, and he knows why we make the changes that we're making. Every move counts when you talk to Mitch.”
Luce's No. 07 Rodney's Repair Chevrolet was built by Crazy Horse Racing in 2010. Wentworth's Crazy Horse chassis was built prior to last season, and because of a perpetual battle with rain-outs in 2011, it only has six weekly events and the TD Bank Oxford 250 on it.

“This was a brand new car last year,” Wentworth said. “It performed awesome. It came out of the trailer fast, stayed fast all year, and we didn't have to do a heck of a lot to it to keep it fast.”
Travis Stearns will roll out his brand new ride for the Armed Forces Day 150, a car he helped build while it was housed at Crazy Horse Racing's headquarters this winter. Like Luce, Wentworth and others, Stearns has a full-time job and time commitments that add up and make preparing and maintaining race cars difficult – particularly ones that can compete on the ACT Late Model Tour level.
Without Crazy Horse, Stearns said he wouldn't even be able to make it to races.
“Honestly, I don't know if Mitch sleeps,” Stearns said. “It seems like he's always there (at the shop). He's there at six in the morning; he's there at nine at night. I don't know how he does it, but he's doing it every night and every week.
“He's second to none in my mind.”
And by the end of the day on Sunday, that's exactly where the likes of Luce, Stearns and Wentworth hope to be: Second to none.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow Crazy Horse Racing on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/crazyhorseracing
Follow Crazy Horse Racing on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/crazyhorseracin
Follow GWC Motorsports Marketing on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GWCMotorsports
Follow GWC Motorsports Marketing on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/GWCNewEngland


--
Travis Barrett
GWC Motorsports Marketing



Pour lire le reste / Read more...

Brackett Trio Prepares for Oxford Opener

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                   ACT-051512-32

Waterbury, VT – Tim, TJ, and Vanna Brackett have sent entries for the American Canadian Tour Armed Forces 150 this coming Sunday May 20.  This will be the first time a father and daughter have raced together in an ACT race.   

2010 Oxford Plains Speedway Late Model Champion Tim Brackett and son TJ Brackett have raced several times on the ACT Tour together.   TJ has been hot at Oxford, finishing in the top ten in his last four starts with the Tour.  This year the Oxford 150 is even more of a family affair.

Tim’s 25-year old daughter Vanna Brackett will be making her first appearance in an ACT Late Model.  Her storied career includes four championships in the “Ladies Division” at Oxford Plains Speedway where she is the all-time win leader with 35 feature victories.  The Oxford 150 will be the first time ever that Tim has raced with his daughter. He is thrilled with the opportunity. 

“This is her first race of her first year in late models.  The American Canadian Tour is a tough bunch, nobody is a pushover.  I know she’ll do fine, but just to get in and have the experience would be a big deal to all of us,” Brackett said.  “My son TJ and I really look forward to these big races and I know she will too,” he finished.
The Bracketts will take on the stars of the American Canadian Tour this Sunday, May 20 for the ACT Armed Forces 150 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, ME.  Post time is 2:00 pm.

For additional information head to www.acttour.com or contact us at media@acttour.com or call the ACT office at (802) 244-6963.

-30-


Pour lire le reste / Read more...

ARCA Celebrating Its 60th Season at Home: Toledo Speedway

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

(TOLEDO, Ohio) - Any organization that has lasted and succeeded for 60 years has a place it calls home, a place where humble beginnings and a vision for the future paved the way for the decades to come. For the Automobile Racing Club of America, that place is Toledo, Ohio.

This week, the celebration of ARCA's 60th Anniversary Season will take place at Toledo Speedway, which since 1963 has hosted the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards 70 times, and will do so again in Sunday's Menards 200 presented by Federated Car Care.

The national stock car series has crowned 29 different champions in 59 previous seasons, and several of those drivers will appear in special pre-race ceremonies Sunday as part of the 60-year celebration. Bobby Bowsher (1992 and 1994), Frank Kimmel (1998 and 2000-07), Moose Myers (1977), Scott Stovall (1982), and Bill Venturini (1987 and 1991) will be recognized at a track where all five have won before. Kimmel has nine Toledo wins to match his nine series titles, and Bowsher won five times between 1991 and 1994. Myers won twice at Toledo in his championship season; Stovall won in 1986 and Venturini won the next year.

In fact, numerous ARCA greats have won at the half-mile oval long known as ARCA's home track. Iggy Katona, the series' all-time leading winner, scored the first victory at Toledo in 1963. Jack Bowsher won twice in 1965, and Benny Parsons won three times in 1968 and 1969. Ramo Stott and Joy Fair earned Toledo wins in the early 1970s, and are followed later in the track's history by Dave Dayton, Bob Keselowski, Bob Strait, Ken Schrader, Justin Allgaier, Parker Kligerman, and last year's ARCA champion, Ty Dillon, who booted Kimmel from the lead with under 10 laps remaining in last May's Menards 200.

Racing history at Toledo does not end with the ARCA Racing Series, though, and neither does Sunday's planned celebration. ARCA track champions will be honored, including three-time Flat Rock Speedway late model champion Steve Bunge, Figure 8 track champions Chuck Hall and Dick Huston, ARCA midget champion Jerry Nemire, and many more.

The celebratory occasion - and the only ARCA Racing Series event at Toledo this season - starts Friday with a live appearance from Nashville's CJ Solar Band at the Toledo Speedway Bar and Grille. The band, described as "edgy country rock," will take the stage at 9 p.m., highlighting a big-screen watch party for that evening's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race from Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The ARCA Fan Fest will be live and open at 10 a.m. Saturday, featuring interactive displays fit for all ages just outside the Toledo Speedway gates. Soon after, the ARCA Racing Series will hold two practices and then Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell. The action will culminate with the Grogan's Towne 50, the ARCA Truck Series season opener, at 5 p.m.

On Sunday, ARCA Fan Fest continues, and every driver in the Menards 200 starting field will participate in an on-track autograph session at noon. Pre-race ceremonies will start at 1:15 with the honoring of the past champions and winners, and driver introductions will begin at 1:30 to set up the 2 p.m. race. SPEED will air the race broadcast at 5 p.m., on a same-day delay. ARCARacing.com will feature live timing and scoring coverage of the Menards 200 presented by Federated Car Care. As always, the coverage will be free to ARCARacing.com visitors.

Drivers entered for the Menards 200 presented by Federated Car Care include: Kimmel, searching for his 10th Toledo win and his first at any track since 2008; NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Joey Coulter, who will make a special ARCA appearance; points leader Brennan Poole, who led late in last October's race at Toledo; 2011 ARCA Rookie of the Year Chris Buescher, a winner in three of the last four races at Toledo; Erik Jones, ARCA's first 15-year-old competitor; Alex Bowman, a short track winner this season at Salem (Ind.) Speedway; Tom Hessert, the Menards Pole Award winner at Toledo last fall; past ARCA winners Bobby Gerhart and Mikey Kile; and experienced Ohio drivers Chad Hackenbracht, Jared Marks, Levi Youster, Tim Cowen, and Tommy O'Leary IV.

2012 is the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards' 60th Anniversary Season, featuring 20 races at 18 tracks. The complete 2012 event schedule is available at ARCARacing.com.

The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 race tracks in 28 states since its inception. The series has tested the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, visiting tracks ranging from 0.4 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as a left- and right-turn road course in its most recent season. This year, the series visited Alabama's Mobile International Speedway for the first time. In June, the first event at Minnesota's Elko Speedway will give ARCA a race in a 29th state.

Founded by John and Mildred Marcum in 1953 in Toledo, Ohio, the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is recognized among the leading sanctioning bodies in the country. Closing in on completing its sixth decade after hundreds of thousands of miles of racing, ARCA administers over 100 race events each season in three professional touring series and local weekly events.

CONTACT:
Griffin Hickman, ARCA


Pour lire le reste / Read more...

Linc Brown Takes a Step Closer to the Year's First Green Flag

By Jim Clarke, Clarke Motorsports Communications

The hours may be long, but the rewards are many.  Getting a racecar ready for action at the local speedway is hard work.  There’s much more to it than just filling the tank with gas and hoping for the best.  Linc Brown has been away from Kawartha Speedway’s weekly wars since the end of the 2008 season, but his heart has never lost the desire to compete.  With the 2012 campaign getting closer every day, the Colborne, Ontario runner crossed another item off his pre-season checklist as this year’s graphics package was applied to the #99 Kawartha Metals/The Wolf 101.5 Radio/Don Butt Auto Body/Mayhew Graphics/Clarke Motorsports Communications Dodge Charger.

“It was almost like Christmas morning, except instead of unwrapping gifts we were wrapping a racecar,” said Brown with a smile.  “I’d been seeing the car in the shop with just the black body panels for so long now, I thought that was how it was supposed to look. Once we rolled it outside and started to put on the first pieces of vinyl, it really came to life.”

As he had done in the past, Brown enlisted the services of Norm Mayhew at Mayhew Graphics to create the paint scheme that will carry him back into battle in Kawartha’s NAPA Auto Parts ACT Late Model division.  There are still a few items to tweak here and there, but Brown says he’s confident everything will nicely come together when the Fraserville, Ontario speedplant kicks things off for the year.

“You can never tell exactly how things will look until they’re actually on the car,” said Brown.  “We’ll be making the Kawartha Metals logo on the hood quite a bit larger, changing the size of the headlight markings and adding a banner for The Wolf across the top of the windshield in the next few days.  Cutting away part of the body to allow access to the jack posts will also necessitate moving around some of the stickers on the side skirts, but that’s a quick and easy fix.  The car will be totally race ready in no time at all.”

Even with as much as they’ve been able to accomplish, Linc Brown Motorsports is still looking to add some extra marketing support to their program for 2012.  Associate sponsorship packages are an excellent way to introduce a company of any size to the brand loyal world of motorsports.  In addition to having a business or product name displayed on the car, team events – whether on the racetrack, in the community or at a sponsor’s location – are publicized on The Wolf 101.5 Radio and in regular e-mail, print and electronic media updates.  To learn more, contact Linc Brown at vickilinc@xplornet.ca.

Photo attachment:  Jim Clarke – Clarke Motorsports Communications
1)  Norm Mayhew, of Mayhew Graphics and Linc Brown get the #99 Kawartha Metals Dodge Charger ready for this year’s graphics package to be applied.
2)  Driver Linc Brown poses next to the #99 Kawartha Metals Dodge Charger.  After a 3 year layoff, he’ll be back in action with Kawartha Speedway’s NAPA Auto Parts ACT Late Models.

Prepared by:  Jim Clarke – Clarke Motorsports Communications


Pour lire le reste / Read more...