O’Reilly USCS OUTLAW SPRINT CAR RACING HEADLINES RACING ACTION AT EAST ALABAMA MOTOR SPEEDWAY THURSDAY NIGHT (6/01/06)
Atlanta, GA - Wild and exciting winged outlaw sprint car racing will headline the racing program at East Alabama Motor Speedway on Thursday night, June 1st. The O’Reilly Auto Parts sponsored United Sprint Car Series "Outlaw Thunder" Tour www.uscsracing.com will roar into the fast 4/10-mile high-banked clay oval for the 1st annual “Thursday Thunder Speed Spectacular”. This event which also serves as Round Five of the seven-night O’Reilly USCS Speedweek 2006 is race number seventeen of the 10th anniversary 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 race is the one and only visit scheduled for the 2006 season for the O’Reilly USCS winged sprint cars to East Alabama Motor Speedway. The race will award National points as well as O’Reilly USCS Dirt Cup points and points in the O’Reilly USCS Southern Thunder and Mid-South Thunder regional series standings. The O’Reilly USCS Southern Thunder regional series consists of races in Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Eastern Tennessee. The O’Reilly USCS Mid-South Thunder regional series consists of races in Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi Western Kentucky and Western Tennessee.
The special Thursday night event is expected to bring top winged outlaw sprint car drivers from at least five states to the track. The exotic fire breathing, alcohol burning, 700 horsepower open wheel cars weight just 1,300 pounds, and are pound for pound the World’s most powerful short track race cars. The cars will literally fly around the track surface at speeds over 130 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.
Thursday night's Outlaw sprint car action will feature a full program of racing in the outlaw sprint cars that includes test and tune hot laps followed by time trial qualifying when the all-time East Alabama Motor Speedway track record is expected to fall. The evening's first sprint car race will be the Lucas Oil Power Dash that showcases the top six cars from the previous O’Reilly USCS main event in an edge-of-your-seat six-car shootout. Next up will be qualifying heat races and a Last Chance/B-Main race. the evening’s grand finale will be the 30-lap “Speedweek 2006 Round Five ” A-main event. The East Alabama Motor Speedway Late Models and the death-defying stunts of the Tricky Travelstead Stunt Spectacular will join the O’Reilly USCS sprint cars on the racing program with a full program of action for te Late Models as well in a special $1000 to win feature race.
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, Florida. Adams, the defending O’Reilly USCS National Champion, has 134 feature wins in the last five seasons, including 94 with the O’Reilly USCS. He is currently second in the National point standings. Adams has won twice already in 2006 USCS competition
Four-time O’Reilly USCS National Champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee, who currently leads the O’Reilly USCS National, Mid-South and Southern Thunder point standings heads the entry list for the East Alabama Motor Speedway event. Gray is also among the top twenty-five drivers in the Nation in feature wins over the past 5 years with over 65 feature wins. The “Bartlett Bullet” is also a three time Lucas Oil Power Dash Champion.
Another potent competitor is twenty year-old young gun Danny 'Hammer" Martin, Jr. of Sarasota, Florida who is in second place in the O’Reilly USCS National point standings. Martin was the runner-up in both the 2004 and 2005 National title chases. He was named as the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame’s 2005 “Wild Card Driver of the Year’ an honor for outstanding driving. Adams, Gray and Martin finished last season highly ranked in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame north American “Driver of the Year” poll. Adams was ranked second, Gray was eighth and Danny Martin, Jr. finished in the ninth spot.
Martin will be joined by a host of other Hoosier Tire Young Guns including 20-year-old Bryn Gohn of Malabar, Florida, who was the 2005 O’Reilly USCS Rookie of the Year. Gohn is currently sixth in the National points. Another talented young entry is sixteen-year-old Matt Tiffany of Daytona Beach, Florida who is currently third in the O’Reilly USCS National points. Tiffany was impressive enough to be one of only five first year sprint car drivers nominated for National Rookie of the Year honors in 2005 by the pollsters of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. Also look for 19-year-old R.J. Johnson of Decatur, Tennessee, who was the 2004 O’Reilly USCS Rookie of the Year plus 21 year old Tom Winegardner, Jr. from Pierson, Florida who is fifth in the current standings or nineteen year old Stephen Darvalics from Venice, Florida who is in ninth in the national point standings to be up front in the race.
Other notable entries include: 1999 O’Reilly USCS Dirt Cup Champion, Marshall Skinner from West Memphis, Arkansas. Skinner who has two feature wins to his credit in 2006 already and is leading the Speedweek point standings after four nights of action.
Skinner is also in the runner-up spot in the all dirt track Dirt Cup National rankings and is ranked eighth in the overall National point standings. Midwest hot-shoe, Jerrod Hull from Sikeston, Missouri and Mike Ward from Memphis, Tennessee will be making his first visits to East Alabama Motor Speedway. Ward has over 400 sprint car feature wins on his resume. Tom Winegardner, Jr. from Pierson, Florida who is ranked fifth Nationally in the current point standings is entered as is the team-mate of son Tom Winegardner, Sr. who is seventh.
Additional entries include Brian Maddox from Brandon, Florida who is fifth in the O’Reilly USCS Southern Thunder regional standings and Terry Witherspoon from Jacksonville, Florida who ranks ninth in those standings after a third place finish in the last regional event at Golden Isles Speedway on April 22nd. Georgia Gang members, Randy Helton from Palmetto, Georgia, Brian Thomas from Auburn, Georgia are expected entries. Additionally sprint car veterans Frank Carlsson from Oxford, Florida, Jerry Jones from Clermont, Florida and Paul “Worldwide” Sides from Bartlett, Tennessee are also entered as are several Rookie of the Year candidates including Brian Eckley from Tampa, Florida, Nick Defeo from Marietta, GA and Dennis Lykins from Thomaston, Georgia.
East Alabama Motor Speedway is located just seven miles West of Phenix City, Alabama on US Highway 80. The track’s phone number is 334-297-2594 and the website is www.eamsdirt.com For O’Reilly USCS info visit the USCS web site at www.uscsracing.com or call 404-886-5913.
