SNYDER, RINE, SMITH, DUNHAM & HOOVER TAKE TOP HONORS AT SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY & RACEWAY PARK AWARDS BANQUET
Season Opening Dates & Facility Upgrades Announced

HERSHEY, Pa. – Selinsgrove Speedway & Raceway Park concluded the 2009 season with the Ninth Annual Awards Banquet Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Sheraton Harrisburg-Hershey Hotel. More than $30,000 in point fund monies, trophies, and jackets were awarded to the year’s top performing teams in the track’s go kart, micro sprint car, roadrunner, pro stock, late model, and 358 sprint car divisions.

Track champions Nate Snyder of Halifax (358 sprint cars), Jeff Rine of Danville (late models), Jason Smith of Williamsport (pro stocks), Marlin Dunham of Selinsgrove (roadrunners), and Todd Hoover of Mt. Pleasant Mills (micro sprint cars) were also the recipients of custom championship rings from Foss Jewelers of Selinsgrove.

During Saturday’s ceremonies, all those in attendance paused to pay tribute to the life and racing career of former five-time Selinsgrove Speedway sprint car champion Jim Nace of Thompsontown, who died Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009, following a seven-year strife with cancer.

Snyder, driving the Art Lindsay Construction/Pro Lawn/Expert Settlement Services No. 56, won his first career A&A Auto Stores 358 sprint car track title at Selinsgrove Speedway without a single victory this season. Snyder drove to 16 top ten finishes in the division’s 19 events. He was crowned as the division’s sixth different champion since the 358 sprint cars became
the track’s weekly open wheel attraction in 2001. 

Rine was successful in his “drive for five” in 2009, clinching his fifth career MAPCO Machine Shop late model track title at Selinsgrove with 17 top five finishes, including nine feature wins, in the division’s 18 events. He celebrated his 50th career win at the track on May 9, and is ranked third on the speedway’s all-time leading late model win list with 55 career
victories.  

Rine is one of only three drivers who has won five or more late model championships at the track since 1963. Nescopeck drivers Bobby Croop and Richie Jensen are the other two drivers with eight and seven titles, respectively. Only Jensen and Rine have been able to win three or more late model championships consecutively in the track’s history.

A second generation race car driver, Jason Smith of Williamsport was another first-time champion at the speedway in the Salem RV Center pro stock division. Smith finished in the top 10 in every one of the division’s 20 races this season and won six features. Smith’s father, C.W. Smith, was the track’s 1987 limited late model champion.

Completing his first full season of racing in 2009, Marlin Dunham of Selinsgrove was crowned as the Collier Paving & Construction/Byers Built Engines roadrunner champion. Dunham, a second generation driver whose father, Scott Dunham Sr., was the 1997 daredevil champion, drove to nine top five finishes in 18 races. He won his first career race on Aug. 1. 

Special recognition awards were also presented in the following categories: Most Improved Driver awards went to Matt Heimbach (sprints), Dave Graber (late models), Cody McFadden (pro stocks), and Mike Kiehl roadrunners). Sportsman Of The Year plaques were awarded to Matt Horst (sprints, in memory of Joe Whitcomb), Jeff Smith (late models), Jeff Ceballo (pro stocks), and Bob Bussey (roadrunners). Rookie Of The Year honors went to Jessica Anderson (sprints), Dylan Yoder (late models), Kurt Wray (pro
stocks), and Marlin Dunham (roadrunners).

Paula Long-Schick presented Hard Charger awards in memory of her father, former late model champion Paul Long, to Nate Snyder (sprints), Jeff Rine (late models), Jason Smith (pro stocks), and Keith Bissinger (roadrunners).

Raceway Park champions also shared the spotlight Saturday evening. A former champion in 2007, Todd Hoover’s second Selinsgrove Ford micro sprint car title season was highlighted by top five finishes in all of the division’s 19 races, including four feature wins. 

Kody Kreamer clinched the jr. micro sprint car championship with 12 feature wins; Matthew Campbell won the 125 micro sprint car title with seven feature wins; and Cliff Loss clinched the title in the mini micro sprint cars with 11 wins. 

Go kart champions were recognized as follows: Blaise Tanner (kid karts), Lohr Jackson (rookie cage 5-8), Ashlin Zook (rookie cage 9-12), Ethan Spotts (rookies 1), Dylan Feltman ( rookies II), Tyler Brown (jr. restricted lites), Tyler Fawver (jr. cage), Tyler Campbell (lites), Brett Dreese (heavies), Cameron Englehart (extra heavies), Kenton Pyle (adult cage flathead), Vinny Williamson (adult cage animal), Tyson Mowery (flat 330), and Richie Good (370). 

Selinsgrove Speedway is tentatively scheduled to host the 2009 Motorsports Show at the Susquehanna Valley Mall from Sunday, Feb. 14 through Saturday, Feb. 20.

Opening weekend 2010 will feature two complete modified shows, with the 358 modifieds slated to compete at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 19, and the Race of Champions Dart Dirt Modified Tour slated to return at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 20.

The 358 sprint car season opener is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday, March 27. The following weekend, Saturday, April 3, Selinsgrove Speedway will present the rescheduled 358 Sprint Car Open that was cancelled due to rain this fall. The 30-lap A-main will pay $3,000 to win.

The speedway’s first four division show of the 2010 season featuring 358 sprint cars, late models, pro stocks, and roadrunners will be at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 10.

The 2009 go kart season opener at Selinsgrove Raceway Park is scheduled for 12 p.m. Sunday, March 28. The micro sprint cars will make their season debut at 7 p.m. Friday, April 2.

Selinsgrove Speedway & Raceway Park facility improvements are continuing during the off-season. Both of the half-mile and one-fifth mile tracks have been resurfaced with sifted clay.

The frontstretch and backstretch guardrails have been replaced on the half-mile track. In addition, the speedway’s  maintenance crew has been working cooperatively with members of the Selinsgrove Fair Board in making renovations to the track’s historic covered grandstand, including new cement steps, handrails, and a designated handicap seating area.

For information during the off-season, visit selinsgrovespeedway.com, or call 570.374.2999.

-end-

KASEY KAHNE RACING SIGNS CODY DARRAH TO RACE 2010 WORLD OF OUTLAWS SPRINT CAR SERIES

Cody Darrah at speed at The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway. Photo copyright Frank Smith.

Mooresville, NC (November 12, 2009) – Kasey Kahne Racing (KKR) announced today the permanent addition of young sprint car racer Cody Darrah as the driver of the No. 91 Great Clips / Sage Fruit / ASE / Mopar sprint car in the 2010 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series.  Darrah, 20, of Red Lion, Pa., served as a fill-in driver for KKR’s No. 19 entry for the last three World of Outlaws races of the 2009 season.

“I remember how excited I was when I left home to race sprint cars full time,” said team owner Kahne, who left his native Washington to race sprint cars out of Indiana at a similar age. “I’m thrilled to give the same opportunity to Cody, who I see a lot of similarities to me at that age.”

Darrah, a proud member of the Pennsylvania Posse group of short track racers, comes from an accomplished racing family that includes his mother Kitty, a former local stock car winner.  His uncle, Rick Eckert, a leading driver on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, is a former Pennsylvania dirt track legend.  Darrah cut his own teeth aboard micro-sprints at age 14 and then started racing 410 winged sprint cars at age 16 in the ultra-competitive, racing-rich market of Central Pennsylvania at tracks like Williams Grove Speedway and Lincoln Speedway. 

For the 2009 season, Darrah has recorded six victories, including a career-first World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series race win at the rescheduled Summer Nationals event on Oct. 3 at Williams Grove Speedway.   That win led Kahne to offer Darrah the opportunity to race the No. 19 DirecTV / Sage Fruit / ASE / Mopar sprint car at the remaining World of Outlaws events at Rolling Wheels Raceway in Elbridge, N.Y. in mid-October and The Dirt Track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, NC last weekend, where he finished 14th in the World Finals finale.

“I am honored to be given the opportunity to run a full season on the World of Outlaws circuit with such a top notch team in Kasey Kahne Racing and sponsors in Great Clips and ASE,” said Darrah.  “I have been able to get to know Kasey by racing against him at Williams Grove, and now the crew at KKR over the past few weeks, so it will be amazing to be a part of the team next year.” 

Darrah joins KKR teammates Brad Sweet and Joey Saldana.  Sweet is currently battling for the USAC Mopar Midget National Championship, 14 points shy of first in the driver standings. Saldana, who drives the No. 9 Budweiser / CURB Records sprint car, won a series-leading 20 races in the 2009 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, including the finale at the World Finals last weekend to finish third in driver points. 

“My biggest obstacle next year is going to be race tracks,” Darrah added. “I won’t be just racing the World of Outlaws drivers; I will be racing race tracks. So, I will have to learn tracks and surfaces that I have never been to or seen. Kasey [Kahne], Joey [Saldana], and the crew at KKR have all been through it before and will help me learn and adapt.”

Great Clips, the largest single-brand hair salon in North America, sponsored Kahne when he raced for Stringer Motorsports in the NASCAR Nationwide Series over three seasons from 2003 to 2005. Great Clips has been active in motorsports since 1998, sponsoring cars in both NASCAR and ARCA. 2010 marks the company’s first year sponsoring KKR and its No. 91 World of Outlaws car.

For more information on Kasey Kahne Racing, visit http://www.kkr9.com/.

-end-

PORT ROYAL SPEEDWAY PLANNING UNDER WAY FOR 2010

For Immediate Release:

November 7, 2009

Port Royal, PA.

The 2010 racing season begins in March. Planning is already under way for the new season. Race Director Tom Little announced that Pro Stock racing will continue at the Juniata County oval. The 305 sprint cars have been signed for seven dates and work is under way on both sprint car speed weeks as well as the late models. The 2010 schedule will be ready soon.

Racers are reminded of the annual Flea Market Saturday November 21 at the speedway. The flea market is open to all type vendors except food. Cost to set up is ten dollars per space. The flea market starts at 7:00 a.m.

Banquet tickets will go on sale Tuesday December 1. Cost of each ticket is $ 30.00 each. January 9, 2010 is the banquet date at Port Royal Community Building. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.

Persons seeking information may access the web site at www.portroyalspeedway.com.

-end-