By Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, Okla. (April 14, 2010) – Fifty laps is a rockin’ good time. And it happens just one time per year with the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters.
That occasion is just a little over a week away, as the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars take to the fabled Riverside International Speedway next Friday and Saturday, April 23-24, for the Second Annual Rock N’ Roll 50, which will be recorded for later broadcast on both VERSUS and MavTV.
Two full nights of racing action will unfold atop the ¼-mile black gumbo clay oval, with the Saturday night Rock ‘N Roll 50 feature winner coming away with the $6,000 winner’s share and the coveted Les Paul Gibson guitar.
Last year, the Lucas Oil ASCS National Sprint Cars returned to Riverside for the first time in nearly five years with three-time series champion Tim Crawley of Benton, AR, racing to victory lane on both nights aboard Mike Ward’s McCarver-powered Boater Sports No. 88 Maxim, besting a field of 50 in the process.
Last year’s event marked the first 50-lap feature event in ASCS National history. And after a slow start to the season, that weekend sweep propelled Crawley’s drive to a strong sixth-place finish in the final 2009 rundown.
Crawley kicked off the 2010 campaign in similar fashion, ranked just 20th after the opening pair of events at the Texas ½-miles of Devil’s Bowl (March 19) and Lone Star Speedway (April 9). But a fourth-place run at Little Rock’s I-30 Speedway on Saturday night resulted in a jump up to eleventh in points for Crawley.
Crawley, along with the other couple of dozen Lucas Oil ASCS National championship contenders, chases defending champion Shane Stewart into the Rock ‘N Roll 50 weekend.
Stewart, a native of Bixby, OK, carries a meager three-point lead over Missouri’s Jesse Hockett into the weekend. Stewart has advanced a total of 35 positions in the initial three feature events of the season to post finishes of sixth, third and eighth.
Pulling double duty at Riverside next weekend as event promoter and racer, Tony Bruce, Jr., of Liberal, KS, enters just 13 points out of the lead in third with top-ten runs in all three features contested thus far.
Twenty-year-old Brady Bacon of Broken Arrow, OK, is fourth in points on the strength of a pair of podium finishes in the opening three events, with 2008 series champ Jason Johnson of Eunice, LA, rounding out the current top five.
The balance of the current top ten includes Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals winner Sammy Swindell, I-30 Speedway victor Zach Chappell, Danny Wood, leading Brodix Rookie of the Year contender and Lone Star Speedway winner Matt Covington and 20-year-old Jack Dover.
The Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters has averaged 55.7 cars per event thus far in 2010, with three different winners in as many races including Sammy Swindell, Matt Covington and Zach Chappell.
The Series:
Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters
When & Where:
Friday night, April 23 at 7:30 p.m. – Riverside International Speedway
Saturday night, April 24 at 7:30 p.m. – Riverside International Speedway
Track Information:
Riverside Speedway (West Memphis, AR) – 1/4-mile semi-banked gumbo clay oval located west of Memphis, TN, on I-55 to Exit 4 in Arkansas, then 0.3 miles south, then 0.2 miles east on Broadway, then south on Legion Road. Event information including advance ticket sales is available at www.tbjpromotions.com.
Lucas Oil ASCS Riverside International Speedway History:
After taking to the ¼-mile gumbo clay oval on 24 occasions from 1995 to 2005, the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Dirt Series returned to West Memphis for the first time in nearly five years with Tim Crawley sweeping both nights of the Inaugural Rock ‘N Roll 50 last July.
Riverside International Speedway ASCS National winners include: Eddie Gallagher 6, Tim Crawley 3, Terry Gray 3, Gary Wright 3, A.G. Rains 2, Pete Braswell 1, Pete Butler 1, Kenny Coke 1, Chad Jones 1, Travis Rilat 1, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 1, Darren Stewart 1, Brooke Tatnell 1, Mike Ward 1.
Riverside International Speedway Lucas Oil ASCS Race-by-Race Winners: Terry Gray (7/8/95), Eddie Gallagher (7/20/96), Pete Braswell (9/14/96), Gary Wright (6/21/97), Brooke Tatnell (9/13/97), Mike Ward (6/20/98), Terry Gray (9/19/98), Chad Jones (6/19/99), Pete Butler (7/24/99), Terry Gray (9/18/99), Kenny Coke (6/24/00), Travis Rilat (7/15/00), Gary Wright (9/16/00), Eddie Gallagher (6/9/01), A.G. Rains (7/14/01), Tim Crawley (9/15/01), Eddie Gallagher (6/1/02), Eddie Gallagher (9/14/02), Eddie Gallagher (5/31/03), Gary Wright (7/19/03), Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (7/17/04), Eddie Gallagher (9/11/04), Darren Stewart (6/4/05), A.G. Rains (9/10/05), Tim Crawley (7/3/09), Tim Crawley (7/4/09).
Current Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters Points:
Top Twenty: 1. Shane Stewart (Bixby, OK) 373, 2. Jesse Hockett (Warsaw, MO) 370, 3. Tony Bruce, Jr. (Liberal, KS) 360, 4. Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, OK) 342, 5. Jason Johnson (Eunice, LA) 340, 6. Sammy Swindell (Bartlett, TN) 331, 7. Zach Chappell (Talala, OK) 328, 8. Danny Wood (Norman, OK) 318, 9. Matt Covington (Glenpool, OK) 313, 10. Jack Dover (Springfield, NE) 309, 11. Tim Crawley (Benton, AR) 301, 12. Brian Brown (Grain Valley, MO) 300, 13. Kyle Hirst (Loomis, CA) 290, 14. Travis Rilat (Forney, TX) 286, 15. Ricky Logan (Little Rock, AR) 283, 16. Johnny Herrera (Albuquerque, NM) 263, 17. Sean McClelland (Tulsa, OK) 254, 18. Dustin Morgan (Tulsa, OK) 252, 19. Gary Wright (Hooks, TX) 249, 20. Channin Tankersley (Highlands, TX) 240.
Brodix Rookie of the Year Points: 1. Matt Covington (Glenpool, OK) 313, 2. Kyle Hirst (Loomis, CA) 290, 3. Dustin Morgan (Tulsa, OK) 252, 4. Channin Tankersley (Highlands, TX) 240, 5. Austen Wheatley (Lake Stevens, WA) 238, 6. (tie) Justyn Cox (Clarksburg, CA), Joshua Hodges (Tijeras, NM) and Don Young (Bartlett, TN) 195.
2010 Lucas Oil Sprint Car Feature Winners:
Zach Chappell 1, Matt Covington 1, Sammy Swindell 1.
Lucas Oil Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters – A Look Ahead:
May 29/30 – Jetmore Motorplex (Jetmore, KS)
June 4 – Outlaw Motor Speedway (Muskogee, OK)
June 5 – I-30 Speedway (Little Rock, AR)
June 11/12 – Eagle Raceway (Eagle, NE) – VERSUS/MavTV
June 26 – Lake Ozark Speedway (Eldon, MO)
Lucas Oil Sprint Cars on the Web:
Those unable to catch all the action in person can listen to every Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters live at www.racinboys.com.
Also, the Lucas Oil ASCS Show airs on www.racinboys.com each Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. ET, recapping the previous week’s events while also previewing upcoming action.
Official results, championship point updates, photos and race notes will be available at www.ascsracing.com.
Lucas Oil Sprint Cars on TV:
The Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters will be featured in ten one-hour shows broadcast on a tape-delayed basis on the VERSUS Network and MavTV.
Events to be aired on VERSUS and MavTV include the following:
Event Date – Track (Location) – VERSUS Air Date & Time (All Times Eastern & Subject to Change):
March 19 – Devil’s Bowl Speedway (Mesquite, TX) – 6/6/10 @ 6:00 p.m.
March 20 – Devil’s Bowl Speedway (Mesquite, TX) – Rained Out
April 23 – Riverside Speedway (W. Memphis, AR) – 7/31/10 @ 5:00 p.m.
April 24 – Riverside Speedway (W. Memphis, AR) – 8/1/10 @ 4:00 p.m.
June 11 – Eagle Raceway (Eagle, NE) – 11/21/10 @ 4:00 p.m.
June 12 – Eagle Raceway (Eagle, NE) – 11/21/10 @ 5:00 p.m.
September 25 – Lucas Oil Speedway (Wheatland, MO) – 11/28/10 @ 6:00 p.m.
October 28 – I-30 Speedway (Little Rock, AR) – 12/5/10 @ 5:00 p.m.
October 29 – I-30 Speedway (Little Rock, AR) – 12/5/10 @ 6:00 p.m.
October 30 – I-30 Speedway (Little Rock, AR) – 12/19/10 @ 4:00 p.m.
The Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters is currently slated for 37 nights of racing action at 18 different tracks throughout the nation, with the country’s top Sprint Car drivers set to battle it out for their share of the $250,000 points fund.
In its 19th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing, the American Sprint Car Series brings the best of Sprint Car racing to approximately 100 different tracks throughout 30 states and Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters, ASCS also consists of eleven different Regions throughout the nation.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.