Randy Ross update, This week in racing, Syracuse Tidbits

This week is a big week in the modified racing world. On Wednesday, the RoC Dirt Tour will be at Utica Rome Speedway for the Richie Evans Memorial which pays $6,161.61 to win for 61 laps. Also on Wednesday, July 23rd, will be the MS Race For a Cure Race at Bridgeport Speedway which is a 40 lap race paying $4,000 to win, which includes a $50 bonus for each lap led, which could result in the race winner taking home as much at $6,000. Then, for the weekend, New Egypt will be holding their annual Friends of Mike show, which will be highlighted by 4-20 lap features for the big block modifieds which pay $2,000 to win the 1st feature, $2,000 to win the 2nd feature, $2,000 to win the 3rd feature, and $5,000 to win the 4th feature. Also on Saturday, the BRP Modified Tour will be heading to West Virginia at the Tyler County Speedway for their 4th race of the season.

Randy Ross, who sold most of his equipment after the 2008 Florida Dirt Tour, is currently in talks with Jimmy Horton about a possible deal for Super Dirt Week. Horton would supply the motor and Ross would supply the car.

Mitch Gibbs will be running the big block portion of Super Dirt Week in the Gary Mann owned #55, which brings the number of confirmed drivers for Syracuse this year in the big block division to Mitch Gibbs, Frankie Caprara, Ronnie Johnson, Steve Paine, Matt Sheppard, Rick Laubach, Alan Johnson, Brett Hearn, Danny Johnson, Keith Flach, Dave Rauscher, Billy Dunn, Dale Planck, Gary Tomkins, Billy Decker, Jimmy Phelps, Larry Wight, Ryan Phelps, Wayne Jelley, Mark Forte Jr, Justin Haers, and Duane Howard.

As for the small block portion of Syracuse, the list of confirmed drivers at this point includes Doug Manmiller, Chad Brachmann, Joe Williams, Rick Laubach, Todd Burley, Larry Wight, Frankie Caprara, Wayne Jelley, Lance Willix, and Ronnie Johnson. Obviously, there are other drivers who we'll assume will be there, such as Pat Ward, Pete Bicknell, etc, but we haven't been able to talk with them yet, so we can't confirm them on here.