From MSCS
Haubstadt, IN – June 14, 2010. The Hoosier Tire Midwest Sprint Car Series swings back into action this weekend with two race dates in Indiana. The excitement begins Saturday night June 19th at the Paragon Speedway. It will be the first visit for the series to the 3/8 mile dirt track which is located at Paragon, IN, about 30 miles to the south of Indianapolis via State Route 67. Then Sunday night June 20th MSCS will be racing at Tri-State Speedway which is located on U.S. Highway 41 at Haubstadt, IN. The amount of travel between the tracks to attend the racing at both facilities this weekend is 99 miles.
Saturday night Paragon Speedway promoters Keith and Judy Ford will be presenting the Chuck Amati Classic 68. The sprint car portion of the race card which also includes three classes of stock cars will conclude with a 68 lap feature as a tribute to Chuck Amati.
Amati died on November 18th, 2008, at the age of 68. A life devoted to auto racing will be celebrated symbolically with each lap completed representing a year. The added distance establishes an event on the summer’s racing calendar that further challenges drivers and teams while providing race fans with extra entertainment.
Amati rose to the challenge in a racing career that spanned 6 decades. He became known as the “One Arm Bandit” early in his career when he continued racing after seriously injuring his arm. The cars changed from super modifieds to sprints and then to winged sprints. He met the changes and new challenges flat out. The Freeman Spur, IL, driver was among the entries wherever the best sprint car drivers congregated.
Travels across a wide expanse of America before the World of Outlaws was organized led Chuck Amati to be recognized as an “Original Outlaw.” His notoriety inspired generations of drivers. His presence at a race excited the fans. He not only knew how to win, he knew how to thrill the fans. Rhinestones and sequins appeared on his uniforms and he found a popularity with sprint car fans that was based on his character along with an equal part of showmanship. His career as a sprint car driver ended in 2002 having reached legendary status. Inclusion into the Hall of Fame was assured. He was voted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2004.
Paragon Speedway is certainly a fitting place to honor Chuck Amati. Amati won three consecutive track Championships at Paragon Speedway. The Illinois driver had a lock on one of the strongholds of sprint car racing in Indiana during 1988, 1989, and 1990. He was the Indiana Sprint Week Champion in 1989 and 1990 also. More than once in his career he won two or three track championships in the same year! All those championships and special appearances added up to hundreds of wins – too many to document. It would be like counting stars in the sky!
The feature Saturday night at Paragon Speedway will pay $3,000 to win. The race has all the necessary ingredients to be one of the memorable racing highlights of the 2010 season. Former Paragon Speedway Champions Ethan Barrow (09) and Chase Stockon (08) have been racing with MSCS in 2010. Stockon is just 7 points behind MSCS Points leader Jonathan Hendrick. The two races this weekend provide a maximum of 140 points which could shake up the standings well beyond the top 20 drivers. Barrow is just out of the Top Twenty.
The local weekly drivers at Paragon will certainly hold an advantage in track time over most of the MSCS drivers. Action at the speedway in 2010 has produced 7 different winners in the 8 features held so far. Josh Cunningham is the one driver with two victories. The competition at Paragon over the last 11 seasons produced 11 different track champions. Most of these drivers are still active and figure in the equation to set up one of the most challenging races of the season for MSCS.
Sunday night Tri-State Speedway will hold it’s third MSCS sanctioned race of the season. Racing on Father’s Day has become a tradition at the Haubstadt oval. This season the MSCS Sprints will headline the show and battle for $2500 to win. The ultra competitive UMP Modifieds will be on the card also. Sunday night races at Tri-State Speedway have a history of attracting a somewhat different field of drivers which should place some new faces in the evening’s line-ups in both classes of cars.
Heading into the weekend the Hoosier Tire Midwest Sprint Car Series has completed four events or a third of the season. The last two events held were both at Tri-State Speedway. Brady Short leads the series with the most victories. He had back to back wins at Lawrenceburg Speedway and Tri-State Speedway over Memorial Day weekend. This weekend is the second back to back opportunity for drivers to race in MSCS sanctioned events. Jeff Bland Jr. won the June 5th KISS-MSCS race. Seventeen of the Top 20 MSCS drivers were in the combined field that night. Jon Stanbrough took the opener at Terre Haute.
Racing gets underway at 7:30 P.M. both nights. With a little travel, well within the Amati tradition, fans and racing teams can double up on the fun and excitement sprint car racing offers!