Thursday, January 30, 2014

Chester and Bolland Return

Two big name drivers will be making their return to the seat of a big-block for the first time in a couple of seasons.

Kevin Bolland's 2012 season came to an end mid-season after a legal dispute between Bolland and Lernerville/World Racing Group. The issues are now resolved and Bolland and the 777 Bol-Tech Racing Team are set for a full-time return in 2014. Bolland tenatively plans to chase the BRP Modified Tour title and also running weekly at Lernerville Speedway. Look for Bolland to travel to other select high-profile big-block races towards the end of the season.

Jimmy Chester last drove a partial-season at Delaware International Speedway in 2011. Chester will return to weekly competition in 2014 at Bridgeport Speedway. Chester will take over the Joel Boinke Racing #19, replacing Travis Hill who will return to the sportsman division at Bridgeport this season.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Weekend News

Hagerstown Speedway has released their schedule, and the big-block modifieds will make one appearance in 2014. The weekend of October 24-25 the modifieds will be part of a 6-division end-of-the-year special. October 24th will be qualifying, and Saturday October 25th will be the feature events. The modified portion of the event will pay $12,000 to win.

Western PA's Tri-City Speedway will be re-opening in 2014, but under a different name. The Franklin, PA dirt track will now be known as "Allegheny Motor Speedway." The track has a 5-race schedule planned for the big-block modifieds, all of which will be sanctioned by the BRP Modified Tour.

Speaking of the BRP Tour, they've released their 2014 schedule with 10 races currently scheduled between 4 tracks. Notable tracks currently missing from the tour are Wayne County Speedway, Eriez Speedway, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, and most notably, Lernerville Speedway. However, there are currently 3 "TBA" dates left on the schedule. Two of those (July 4 & July 18) are Fridays, so it's safe to assume that Lernerville will be included on the schedule with one of those dates. The other is August 30th, which is a Saturday that Sharon Speedway has off. Here's the current schedule...

May 18: Allegheny Motor Speedway
June 15: Allegheny Motor Speedway
July 4: TBA (Lernerville?)
July 6: Allegheny Motor Speedway
July 10: Expo Speedway
July 12: Mercer Raceway Park
July 13: Mercer Raceway Park
July 18: TBA (Lernerville?)
July 30: Sharon Speedway
August 24: Allegheny Motor Speedway
August 30: TBA (Mercer?)
September 13: Sharon Speedway
September 21: Allegheny Motor Speedway

Brewerton and Fulton regular Chris Hile is the latest driver to announce his intention to run the Super DIRTcar Series in 2014. Hile joins Billy Decker, Larry Wight, Ryan Phelps, Stewart Friesen, Rob Bellinger, Vince Vitale, and Jimmy Davis as drivers who plan to follow the tour this year that did not in 2013. Drivers who followed the tour last season that have announced they will be back in 2014 include Brett Hearn, Matt Sheppard, Jimmy Phelps, Dale Planck, Danny Johnson, Billy Dunn, Peter Britten, Justin Haers, Rich Scagliotta, Billy VanInwegen, and Matt Billings.

Canandaigua Motorsports Park schedule was leaked momentarily. Tenatively they have a $2,000 to win race for the modifieds scheduled against Fulton Speedway's Super DIRTcar Series opener on April 26. No word on whether or not it will be a non-points race or not.

Friday, January 24, 2014

RPM and Sharon Release Schedules; More Volusia Entries; Harris Moving Back Up

Sharon Speedway and RPM Speedway have announced their 2014 schedules. Here are their specials...

Sharon Speedway
April 19: Season Opener
May 17: Free Grandstand Admission
July 30: "Lou Blaney Memorial" $2,000 to win
September 27: Championship Night

RPM Speedway
May 17: Season Opener/Twin 40s
June 7: Twin 40s
June 21: Twin 40s
July 5: Twin 40s
July 19: Twin 40s
August 9: Twin 40s
August 23: Twin 40s
September 19: 358 DIRTcar Series
September 20: Championship Night

Check out their complete 2014 schedules on their websites (SharonSpeedway.com and leRPMSpeedway.com) or by checking out the Club Wago 2014 Big/Small Block Modified Master Schedule (link to the left of the page.)

Jamie Mills and Darwin Greene are the latest drivers to confirm their intentions for Volusia. Mills, who already has 3 career DIRTcar National victories at Volusia, picked up 7 wins last year at Delaware Interantional Speedway, while Greene was able to win 2 features at I-88 in 2013.

South Jersey Dirt Racing has broke the news that Colt Harris will be returning to the 358 division after running sportsman last season and will compete weekly at Big Diamond Raceway. Harris is the third driver to announce a return to modified racing after dropping to the sportsman ranks in recent years; Brett Ballard and Chris Herbison are the others.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Bobby Varin Injured, New Series, Other News and Notes

Race Pro Weekly has confirmed that defending Glen Ridge Motorsports Park champion Bobby Varin has been seriously injured in a skiing accident. Varin's injuries are not life-threatening, but he did break two vertebrae. Reports are that Varin plans on racing this season, but he will definitely miss some time. Mark Flach suffered similar injuries to his neck in an accident at Canandaigua last season, and his doctors have informed him to sit out the 2014 season.

Ransomville Speedway, Merrittville Speedway, and Humberstone Speedway have announced the return of the Tri-Track Series in 2014. A schedule and purse structure will be announced shortly.

Speaking of Humberstone Speedway, they've been added to the 358 DIRTcar Series on July 1st. This will be the first time the 358 DIRTcar Series will invade Humberstone.

Kyle Hieber has announced he will be making the jump to big-blocks in 2014. Hieber, who's ran part-time in sportsman at Bridgeport Speedway in recent years, will return to Bridgeport to compete in their premier division.

Accord Speedway and Penn Can Speedway have released their 2014 schedules (and have been updated on the master schedule--link to the left of the page). Here are some dates of note for each track...

Accord:
April 11 Opening Night
August 5 Short Track Super Series "Battle of the Bullring" 52 laps $5,200 to win
September 12 Championship Night
September 19 "King of the Catskills" 100 laps $6,000 to win
October 4 "Wreckage in the Catskills" Open Competition/Run Whatcha Brung
November 29 "The Gobbler" 50 laps $5,000 to win

Penn Can:
April 18 Opening Night
June 10 RoC Dirt Tour "Clash at the Can" 60 laps $4,000 to win
July 11 Twin 20s
August 12 Short Track Super Series "Hot Summer Night" 50 laps $5,000 to win
September 5 Championship Night
October 17 "King of the Can" 50 laps $5,000 to win

Quebec stars Daniel Nadeau and Yan Bussiere are the latest big-block drivers to confirm their plans for Volusia Speedway. Here's a quick look at what we've compiled already for Volusia's DIRTcar Nationals.

TEN Billy VanInwegen
07 Tim Kerr
1wgc Stewart Friesen
3 Justin Haers
3A Kevin Albert
5 Jimmy Horton
6 Mat Williamson
7 Rick Laubach
7z Dale Planck
8 Rich Scagliotta
8R Rob Bellinger
9s Matt Sheppard
20 Brett Hearn
21 Yan Bussiere
21A Peter Britten
21K Randy Chrysler
T21 Roger Chrysler
22c Mario Clair
22J Jeremy Wilder
55 Anthony Perrego
64 Daniel Nadeau
74 J.R. Heffner
98H Jimmy Phelps
323 Neal Williams

Monday, January 20, 2014

Danny Johnson Lands Ride; More Volusia Entries; Thank You!

Danny Johnson has finally landed a big-block ride for 2014. Johnson will reunite with Lisa Maroney for an assault on 2014. The team plans to follow the Super DIRTcar Series, but has not yet decided on a weekly home. Johnson tenatively does not plan on defending his Volusia championship.

Speaking of Volusia, 360 Nitro reports that Daniel Nadeau and Yan Bussiere will be heading to Volusia in a few weeks with their big blocks.

Also wanted to shoot out a quick thank you to everyone that came out to the Club Wago Winter Bash! We hope everyone had a great time. Ryan Watt, Dan Humes, Zach Aubertine, and Lance Willix were the 4 drivers selected to receive a donation to their race teams for the 2014 racing season (we randomly drew 4 names out of a bag of all drivers in attendance.) Also a huge thank you to everyone that donated prizes to be given away.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Plenty of Thursday Tidbits

Danny Johnson was planning to compete at Volusia for Randy Chrysler, however, those plans have fallen through. Chrysler plans to take 2 cars down south in a few weeks, but it will be Randy and Roger Chrysler at the controls. Danny Johnson, who won the DIRTcar Nationals championship at Volusia last year driving for Mike Payne, is searching for a ride.

More sportsman stars have announced moves up to the modified divisions. Young guns Joe Mooney and Robin Schultz join an impressive list of drivers making the jump for 2014. Both drivers will focus on weekly competition at Big Diamond Raceway.

Chris Herbison will also be making a return to the modified division after a few very successful seasons in the sportsman division at Brockville Ontario Speedway and Cornwall Motor Speedway. Herbison will replace Tim O'Brien aboard the Jim Primrose Racing owner 358 modified and will compete weekly at Brockville and Cornwall. No word on O'Brien's 2014 plans now that he has lost his ride.

Travis Cunningham will make the move from sprint cars over to the modified division. Cunningham returns to the modified division and will run weekly at Merrittville.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Weekend Tidbits

It was great seeing some of you guys at Motorsports over the weekend! Now we start counting down the days until Volusia.

Utica Rome Speedway, Bridgeport Speedway, Five Mile Point Speedway, New Egypt Speedway, Georgetown Speedway, and the RoC Dirt Tour have all released their schedules. The modified portions of the schedules have been updated on the master schedule (link available to the left of this post.)

Georgetown Speedway's schedule will see a diminished amount of big-block races in 2014. There are currently 5 races scheduled, with up to 3 additional dates to be announced during the year. The reason for the lower amount of appearances is that race fans were vocal about wanting the big-blocks and the super late models are the same card instead of rotating weeks. The only way to make this possible was to make the crate modified and crate late model divisions the weekly headliners with a once-a-month appearance by the modifieds and late models.

Canandaigua Motorsports Park has been removed from the Super DIRTcar Series. The Series was originally scheduled to open on April 19 at Canandaigua, but a lack of cooperation has nixed those plans. Canandaigua currently remains a DIRTcar sanctioned track. Canandaigua plans to run the $6,400 to win Jan Corcoran Memorial as the track points opener. The race will be run April 12 or April 19.

Bridgeport Speedway's biggest race, the "Friends of Mike" event, will be a RoC Dirt Tour event in 2014. Bridgeport also hosts the RoC Dirt Tour for the March 29 "60over Special."

While RoC gained a big race with the addition of "Friends of Mike", they've also lost a big race as Accord Speedway has decided to make the "King of the Catskills" a non-sanctioned event in 2014 and the 1/4 mile will not be part of the RoC Dirt Tour in 2014.

Weedsport Speedway has not yet announced a schedule, but they will not run weekly or monthly in 2014. Instead, the management team has decided to put together a schedule of 3 (but up to 5) special shows.

Lernerville Speedway has announced their season will begin later than previous years. After traditionally hosting a March season-opener, the season will kick off April 18 this season.

Andy Bachetti will not be able to race at the DIRTcar Nationals in Volusia due to an alternation with an official during the Eastern States 200 at Orange County Fair Speedway. Bachetti was also suspended for last year's World Finals. He will be eligble to return to DIRTcar competition when the northeast racing season kicks off in the spring.

Kevin Vaclavicek is the latest sportsman star to announce his intentions to move up to the modified division in 2014. Vaclavicek will focus on weekly competition at New Egypt Speedway.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Minor Tidbits

Mario Clair, Rob Bellinger, Kevin Albert, and J.R. Heffner are the latest drivers to confirm that they will be running Volusia this February. We'll have a better look at that early next week.

South Jersey Dirt Racing has confirmed that retired driver Scott Albert, who made a quick return to the sport in 2012 for the Coalcracker and Freedom 76er, will make a full-time return in 2014 aboard a self-owned #10. Albert will run weekly at Big Diamond this season.

Mike Wisniewski reports that Brett Ballard will return to the big-block division in 2014 after spending most of last year running a sportsman. Ballard will run his self-owned big-block weekly at Bridgeport.

Minor schedule updates have been made to the 2014 Master Schedule. Bridgeport Speedway has announced that they will hold their annual RoC Dirt Tour event March 29th. Sharon Speedway has announced the Lou Blaney Memorial will be run on July 30th.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

CVD Lands Another Ride

Craig Von Dohren has been tabbed the new driver of the Eastern Rigging Racing #11.

The Ed Nowotarski led team will be Von Dohren's special event small block ride. Von Dohren will continue to run the popular #1c cars weekly at Big Diamond and Grandview, while the recently announced Dick Biever 14 will be his entry for big-block specials. Jared Umbenhauer will continue to run a second Eastern Rigging entry in select specials.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Grandview and Evergreen (aka Mountain) Release 2014 Schedules

Two more tracks have released their 2014 schedules. Grandview Speedway and Evergreen Raceway Park (formally Mountain Speedway) have announced their schedules. Here's the modified portion of their schedules...

Grandview Speedway

April 5: Opener
April 12: Twin 20s
April 19: Regular Show
April 26: Regular Show
May 3: Regular Show
May 10: Regular Show
May 17: Regular Show
May 24: Regular Show
May 25: Twin 25s ($3,000 to win each)
May 31: Regular Show
June 7: Regular Show
June 14: Regular Show
June 21: Regular Show
June 28: Regular Show
July 1: RoC Dirt Tour
July 5: Regular Show
July 12: Regular Show
July 19: Regular Show
July 26: Regular Show
July 29: RoC Dirt Tour
August 2: Regular Show
August 9: 50 laps $10,000 to win
August 16: Regular Show
August 23: Regular Show
August 30: Regular Show
September 6: Regular Show
September 13: 76 laps $25,000 to win
October 18: $3,000 to win

Evergreen Raceway Park

April 27: Season Opener
May 11: Regular Show
May 25: Regular Show
May 31: Regular Show
June 14: Regular Show
June 28: Regular Show
July 12: Regular Show
July 19: Regular Show
August 2: Regular Show
August 16: Regular Show
August 31: Regular Show
September 21: Regular Show
October 5: Championship Night
October 11: 50 laps $1,000 to win
October 25: Regular Show


After experimenting with the dirt modifieds towards the end of 2013, Evergreen has joined Airborne Speedway Park, Devil's Bowl Speedway, and Mahoning Valley Speedway as one of the few asphalt tracks to host the dirt modifieds as a weekly division.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

CVD and Howard News

Two of the top drivers in Pennsylvania appear to be headed towards new teams in 2014.

Dick Biever Racing has tabbed Craig Von Dohren to pilot the #14 car in select big-block specials throughout 2014. Biever has scaled back his racing efforts to only run a part-time schedule in recent years. Last season saw Doug Manmiller and Duane Howard aboard the car in limited starts.

Von Dohren will still have the Mike Harvey Racing #1c machines for weekly competition at Big Diamond and Grandview next season.

Duane Howard was left rideless after BPG Racing shut down at the conclusion of 2014. Now, it's all but a done deal that Duane Howard will be aboard the Mike Petruska Racing #66 for weekly action at Grandview. He will have both the Petruska machine and the Glenn Hyneman #126 at his disposal for big and small block specials. Expect an announcement to be made soon, potentially at Motorsports in Oaks, PA next weekend.