From Andrew Kunas, NWWT Publicist
BURLINGTON, Wash. – The IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour officially released its 2010 schedule on Monday, announcing a slate of ten nights of racing, which include nine events for the wingless 360 sprint cars and eight for the midget cars. Five different tracks in Oregon and Washington will host NWWT sanctioned events in 2010.
The NWWT opens it second season of competition on Friday night, April 30th with a dual show (featuring both the sprint cars and midgets) at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore. This will be the first of three dual shows at the Arnold Family’s 3/10-mile, semi-banked clay oval this year, the others being Friday, July 30th and the season finale on Saturday, October 9th. Willamette Speedway, one of the oldest operating dirt tracks in Oregon, also has the distinction of being the only track on the schedule where the pit area is inside the track itself and fans are able to see the race teams working on their cars during the night.
Shane Forte’ won the lone sprint car main event at Willamette Speedway last year, winning the season finale. Evan Margeson, who captured the inaugural NWWT midget car championship, took the midget car main event that night from the back of the field.
Three tracks will be hosting NWWT events for the first time in 2010. The first one will be Coos Bay Speedway on the Oregon coast. Chuck Prather and Dave Nelson will welcome the NWWT on Saturday, May 22nd, and that will be a dual show as well. The track is a fast, semi-banked ¼-mile dirt oval. It was originally a pavement track before being covered in dirt in 2007. The pavement track itself is still intact underneath the dirt.
Last Labor Day weekend, the NWWT sprint cars ran a very successful and quite popular event at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. With the Grays Harbor Non-Wing Challenge, the track’s first ever non-wing sprint car event, going over so well with fans, George Wade will bring the wingless wonders to the big, wide 3/8-mile, high-banked clay oval four times in 2010. The NWWT midgets will also make their debut at Grays Harbor Raceway, joining the sprint cars on two occasions. The sprint cars will make their first appearance at Grays Harbor Raceway on Saturday, June 12th.
In the middle of July, the ASCS Northwest Region, the area’s winged 360 sprint car group, will be running their annual Speed Week. They will have an off day on Thursday, July 15th. It will be that night, right in the middle of Speed Week, when the attention will turn to the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour as they return to Grays Harbor Raceway to open up the annual Fred Brownfield Memorial weekend. It will be that same night when the NWWT midget cars make their debut at Grays Harbor Raceway also.
As they did last year, the NWWT sprint cars will again open Grays Harbor Raceway’s annual Big E Weekend on Saturday, September 4th with the Non-Wing Challenge, which was won by Seth Bergman last year. Two weeks later on September 18th, the tour makes its fourth and final visit of the year to Grays Harbor Raceway, with the NWWT midget cars making their second visit to Elma. Grays Harbor Raceway, considered to be one of the finest facilities in the west, is also the largest track on the NWWT schedule.
Sunset Speedway Park in Banks, Ore. is no stranger to hosting open wheel racing, but they’ll have their first NWWT event in 2010 when the NWWT’s midget car division visits on Saturday, June 19th. The small ¼-mile red clay oval in northwest Oregon is the smallest track on the NWWT schedule and the event on June 19th will be the only time this year the midgets will race without the sprint cars.
Southern Oregon Speedway, located in White City (just outside Medford) has hosted countless sprint car events since its opening in the mid 1990’s, but it is believed that the track has been graced by wingless sprint cars only once ever, coming back in 2005. On August 14th, John Skinner and Rick Rapp will welcome the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour to their facility for the first time. Southern Oregon Speedway is a 1/3-mile, semi-banked clay oval. Both the sprint cars and the midgets will be in action on August 14th.
The NWWT’s sprint car division enjoyed a relatively successful inaugural season in 2009, averaging 21 cars and having at least 18 cars at every event. Six different drivers picked up main event victories. The midget car division had a modest season, but is expected to grow in size this year as many new drivers are expected to race with the NWWT in 2010.
More information on the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour can be found online at http://www.nwwinglesstour.com.
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IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour
2010 schedule
SPRINT CARS
April 30 – Willamette Speedway – Lebanon, OR
May 22 – Coos Bay Speedway – Coos Bay, OR
June 12 – Grays Harbor Raceway – Elma, WA
July 15 – Grays Harbor Raceway – Elma, WA
July 30 – Willamette Speedway – Lebanon, OR
August 14 – Southern Oregon Speedway – White City, OR
September 4 – Grays Harbor Raceway – Elma, WA (Grays Harbor Non-Wing Challenge)
September 18 – Grays Harbor Raceway – Elma, WA
October 9 – Willamette Speedway – Lebanon, OR (Fall Classic)
MIDGET CARS
April 30 – Willamette Speedway – Lebanon, OR
May 22 – Coos Bay Speedway – Coos Bay, OR
June 19 – Sunset Speedway Park – Banks, OR
July 15 – Grays Harbor Raceway – Elma, WA
July 30 – Willamette Speedway – Lebanon, OR
August 14 – Southern Oregon Speedway – Medford, OR
September 18 – Grays Harbor Raceway – Elma, WA
October 9 – Willamette Speedway – Lebanon, OR (Fall Classic)
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Track websites
Coos Bay Speedway – Coos Bay, OR: http://www.coosbayspeedway.us
Grays Harbor Raceway – Elma, WA: http://www.graysharborraceway.net
Southern Oregon Speedway – White City, OR: http://www.sospeedway.com
Sunset Speedway Park – Banks, OR: http://www.sunsetspeedwaypark.com
Willamette Speedway – Lebanon, OR: http://www.trophymotorsports.com/willamettespeedway.htm