By Troy Hennig
Chico, CA (Aug 14, 2018) …. This Friday night, August 17th, the Silver Dollar Speedway will honor Tyler Wolf for the sixth consecutive year. At just 19 years-old, Wolf captured the 2011 410 sprint car track championship. In doing so, Wolf became the youngest winged sprint car champion in the history of the speedway. That record still holds up seven years later.
On August 24, 2012, Wolf won his third career main event at Chico. It was during the popular Pepsi Night race that concluded the championship season. His beaming smile, the sparkle in his eyes and the humbleness he showed after winning that race will stay with us forever. No one could have predicted that just two months later he would succumb to injuries sustained during a sprint car crash at Calistoga Speedway. Wolf, just 20 years old at the time, was gone.
The family bond is strong in sprint car racing. We try to comfort the families whose loved ones have been taken from us way too soon. Numerous races are in honor of fallen racers. The sixth annual Tyler Wolf Memorial would not be possible without the generous sponsorship and the sprint car drivers who attend this race in Wolf’s honor.
This Friday night the Speedway is also excited to bring back 410-winged sprint cars. It will be a non-point show. The purse is based off the previous year’s regular Friday night 410 shows. The race will pay a minimum of $2,000 to win.
Mittry Construction of Redding is adding in an extra $1,000 of which $500 goes towards the winner, $300 extra for second and $200 extra for third. Axner Excavating of Redding is adding $250 of which $125 will be added to the fourth and fifth place finishers during the 25-lap main event. Walberg Inc. is adding a $300 hard charger award to the car that originally starts the farthest back and gains the most spots at the end of the race. Kyle Larson Racing is giving $500 to the nights fastest qualifier. Elijah Jones has once again secured lap money for all 25 circuits during the main event. Each lap is individually sponsored at $50. The leader will get $25 extra a lap, second $15 and third $10. Thanks to Sean Roll for also helping gather these bonuses.
Andy Forsberg is the inaugural winner of the Wolf Memorial in 2013. Rico Abreu won the event in 2014. Jonathan Allard earned the win in 2015. The last two events have been won by Kyle Hirst. Both Forsberg and Hirst will be racing this Friday night. Campbell’s Bud Kaeding, Fremont’s Brent Bjork and Chico’s Mason Moore are also scheduled to appear.
Pit gate will open at 4 PM for the competitors. Grandstand gate opens at 6 PM each night. Racing is scheduled to start at 6:30 PM. Adult admission on Friday night is $14.00, juniors and seniors $12.00, children $6.00 (ages 6-11) and kids 5 and under are free.
College students with proper identification can get in for $6.00 during all weekly point races.
Joining the winged 410-sprints cars are the wingless sprints, street stocks, Earl’s Plumbing Hobby Stocks and Vintage Hardtops. The championship for the wingless sprints will be on the line tonight. Orland’s Tony Richards holds a 15-point edge over Grass Valley’s Brett Youngman. Richards is trying to win back-to-back titles at Chico. This will be the seventh and final point show of 2018 for the wingless sprints. The final wingless race will be held on September 5th, Wednesday night of Gold Cup, as the popular Hunt Magneto Wingless Sprint Series comes to town.
Corey Hall is dominating the Street Stock division. He has four wins and holds a 48-point advantage over Gary Newman. The best battle in the point standings is between fourth through seventh. Clinton Earl sits in fourth with 364 total points. Brent Lawrence is seventh in points and only 15 markers back. In between those two are Fritz Zanker and Phil Marino.
The Earl’s Plumbing Hobby Stock championship leader is still Jeremy Langenderfer. The “Derf” is 21-points ahead of a surging Colin Ferguson. Two-time main event winner James West is third. Mel Byers and Shannon Collins round out the top five.
For more information please visit www.silverdollarspeedway.com