O'Reilly USCS OUTLAW SPRINT CAR RACING HEADLINES THE PROGRAM AT CAROLINA SPEEDWAY FRIDAY NIGHT (8/12)

August 7, 2005
GASTONIA, NC - Wild and exciting winged outlaw sprint car racing will headline the racing program at Carolina Speedway Friday night, August 12. The O'Reilly Auto Parts sponsored United Sprint Car Series "Outlaw Thunder" Tour ( www.uscsracing.com ) will roar into the fast 4/10-mile clay oval for event number 34 on the season for the Nationally touring O'Reilly USCS drivers who also race on paved ovals.  The O'Reilly USCS is the only winged outlaw sprint series in the World that races on both dirt and paved surfaces.

The first-ever event for the series at Carolina Speedway will award points in the O'Reilly USCS National point standings, and the .  The Carolina Thunder Tour regional series consists of races in North Carolina, South Carolina, Eastern Georgia, and Virginia. The event is expected to bring top winged outlaw sprint car drivers from at least eight states to the Speedway.

The exotic fire breathing, alcohol burning, 700 horsepower open wheel O'Reilly USCS sprint cars weight just 1,300 pounds, and are pound for pound the World's most powerful short track race cars.  They will literally fly around the track surface at speeds over 120 M.P.H.  It is not uncommon to see O'Reilly USCS sprint cars popping "wheelies" or doing wheel stands because of the brute force of their engines and their huge 18-inch wide rear tires.

Friday night's Outlaw sprint car action will feature a full program that includes test and tune hot laps, 10-lap heat races and a 30-lap A main event.  The Speedway's weekly racing divisions are on the program as well.  The evening's first sprint car race will be the Airflow Research Power Dash that showcases the top six cars from the previous USCS main event in an edge-of-your-seat six-car shootout.

O'Reilly USCS entries will include a number of the nation's top ranked sprint car drivers including America's winningest sprint car driver since the beginning of the 2000 season, Kenny Adams from Malabar, FL.  Adams has 124 feature wins in the last five seasons.  He currently leads the point standings in the National Tour, plus the Southern Thunder and Carolina Thunder regional tours with nine wins on the season.

The defending and four-time O'Reilly USCS National Champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, TN, is also among the entrants for the Carolina Speedway show. Gray is also among the top twenty-five drivers in the Nation in feature wins over the past 5 years with over 60 wins. Nineteen year-old young gun Danny 'Hammer" Martin, Jr. of Sarasota, FL is in second place in the O'Reilly USCS National point standings.  Martin picked up his first dirt win of the season on July 23 in Swainsboro, GA.

Adams, Gray and Martin finished last season highly ranked in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame "Driver of the Year" poll. Adams was ranked second, Gray was third and Martin, Jr. finished in the fifteenth spot out of 3000+ drivers considered.

Other notable entries include a host of talented SpeedMart Young Guns (drivers under 25) including 17-year-old R.J. Johnson of Decatur, TN, who was the 2004 O'Reilly USCS Rookie of the Year and is currently sixth in the 2005 National standings.

Johnson will be joined by 19-year-old Bryn Gohn of Malabar, FL, who is the current Rookie points leader in the National standings and 16-year-old Matt Tiffany of Daytona Beach, FL, who is fifth in the O'Reilly USCS National points, 50 points behind Gohn in the Rookie title chase.  Eighteen-year-old Ryan Myers of Eldorado, OH is currently seventh in National points, and 17-year-old Josh Harris of Denton, NC is a Rookie of the Year Candidate this season.

Johnny Bridges of Cherryville, NC will lead the Carolina contingent of winged outlaw sprint car drivers to Carolina Speedway in trying to defend their home turf.  Bridges has put together a string of top five finishes driving the only Ford-powered car in the series.  Joining Bridges will be Chad Allum of Kannapolis, NC, Brice Wrenn of Lexington, SC, and Bruce Cline of Apex, NC.

The race will take on international flavor with the entry of Steven Graham of Sydney, Australia.  There will also be several other Florida drivers joining Adams, Martin and Gohn including Skeeter Faulconer of Lutz, FL, J.J. Dutton of Tampa, FL, Brian Maddox of Brandon, FL, Bryan Eckley of Tampa, FL, and Jerry Jones of Clermont, FL,

Carolina Speedway is located nine miles south of Gastonia, NC on State Road 274.  The race track phone number is (704) 869-0313, and the website is www.carolinaspeedway.net .  For USCS "Outlaw Thunder" info call (404) 886-5913, or visit the USCS web site at www.uscsracing.com .