By Pete Walton
Atlanta, GA – September 1, 2010 – The United Sprint Car Series presented by
Goodyear www.uscsracing.com returns to historic Rome Speedway in Rome,
Georgia this Sunday, September 5th for the annual “Rome Boss” speed
spectacular event. The event is loaded with action-packed racing featuring a
full “Smorgasbord of Speed” including a full program of winged outlaw style
sprint car racing plus racing in all of Rome Speedway’s regular racing
divisions including the $3000 to win forty-lap Rome Boss Super Late
ModelChampionship Race. There should be something for everyone who likes to
see fast cars go round and round.
Sunday night’s USCS winged Outlaw sprint car race will award USCS Southern
Thunder presented by Goodyear regional Championship points. The race will
additionally award USCS “Outlaw Thunder” Tour National Championship points.
The USCS Southern Thunder Tour presented by Goodyear regional series
includes races scheduled in North and South Carolina plus Northern Georgia
and East Tennessee. All of those events will award points toward the series’
14th National Championship.
This event will bring a number of drivers seeking the United Sprint Car
Series “Outlaw Thunder” National Championship roaring into the World’s
fastest 1/2-mile clay track. The USCS drivers also race on paved ovals. The
USCS is the only winged outlaw sprint series in the World that races on both
dirt and paved surfaces.
The Rome Speedway holiday weekend event is expected to bring top winged
outlaw sprint car drivers from at least six states to the track from as far
away as Florida and West Tennessee. The exotic fire breathing, alcohol
burning, 700 horsepower open-wheeled USCS sprint cars weight just 1,300
pounds. They are pound for pound the World’s most powerful short track race
cars. The cars will literally fly around the track surface at speeds
approaching 130 M.P.H. It is not uncommon to see the USCS sprint cars
popping “wheelies” or doing wheel stands because of the brute force of their
engines and their huge 18-inch wide Goodyear Eagle rear race tires. Those
tires are almost twice as wide as the Goodyear Eagles that NASCAR Sprint Cup
cars use.
Sunday night’s Outlaw sprint car action will feature a full program of
racing that includes test and tune hot laps. The evening’s very first sprint
car race will be the Goodyear Speed Dash that will showcase the top six cars
from the previous event in an edge-of-your-seat six-lap shootout. Next up
will be the qualifying heat races that determine the starting positions for
the 30-lap “Rome Boss Sprint Car Shootout” USCS Championship finale. In
between the sprint car racing elements, six other racing divisions will keep
the action rolling non-stop on Saturday night’s racing card.
USCS sprint car entries include: Eight-time and defending USCS National
Champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee, who was ranked in the top ten
drivers in the Nation, by the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame pollsters at
the end of the 2009 season heads the entry list for the event. Gray, who is
also among the top twenty-five drivers in the Nation in feature wins over
the past five years with over eighty-five feature wins. Gray has won five
times in 2010 UCSC competition and is a four time Dixie Speedway, Dixie
Sprint Car Nationals Champion. Terry Gray also currently leads the USCS
National and USCS Southern Thunder regional point standings.
Other notable entries include: The 1998 USCS Rookie of the Year and 2004
USCS/AOAS Southern Thunder regional series Champion Johnny Bridges from
Cherryville, North Carolina is entered. Bridges is always a threat to win.
Another expected potent competitor is twenty-three year-old young gun Danny
‘Hammer” Martin, Jr. of Sarasota, Florida. Martin was the runner-up in the
2004, 2005 and 2006 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 performances.
For the ladies: Seventeen-year old female sprint car hot-shoe and current
USCS rookie point’s leader, Morgan Turpen from Bartlett, Tennessee leads a
strong contingent of talented young drivers into Rome Speedway. Turpen has
been very impressive thus far in 2010. She is currently in the runner-up
spot in the National standings behind her team-mate and defending Champion
Terry Gray. Turpen finished in fourth place in last weekend’s USCS main
event at New Senoia Raceway and has a number of top five finishes on the
season.
Additionally expected are two-time 2010 USCS feature winner and the 2009
Dixie Speedway Sprint Car Nationals Champion, Matt Linder from Hoschton,
Georgia. Linder score a win in last weekend’s Randy Helton Memorial Race at
New Senoia Raceway. Also expected are USCS sprint car veterans, Joe Larkin
from Suwannee, Georgia, Brian Thomas from Pendergrass, Georgia, David
Thorman from Greenville, South Carolina and veteran sprint car racer Ray
Bugg from Iuka, Mississippi.
In addition to Turpen, additional young drivers include 15 year-old Rookie
of the Year candidate, Eric Riggins, Jr. from Charlotte, North Carolina ho
had impressive runner-up finishes in the last two USCS main events and 2009
USCS Southern Thunder Rookie of the Year Brandon Rekow from Mooresville,
North Carolina plus 21 year-old, 2008 Southern Thunder rookie of the Year
Lee Moore from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Also entered are the 2008 USCS Southern
Thunder Rookie of the Year, Jake McLain from Indian Trail, North Carolina
and nineteen year-old New York transplant Nick Bashford from China Grove,
North Carolina. Bashford’s #X will a rare utilize a Roush-Yates Ford power
plant.
Other expected out of state entries include: Mike Hampton from McKenzie,
Tennessee,2000 USCS Rookie of the Year, Michael Miller from Ocean Springs,
Mississippi, two-time East Bay track Champion, Sport Allen from Seffner,
Florida. The entry list also includes Allen’s team-mate, 18 year-old, A.J.
Maddox from Tampa, Florida.
From North Carolina additional entries are C.J. Miller from Mooresville,
North Carolina and Brandon McLain from Indian Trail, North Carolina and
brothers Darren And David Clark from Huntersville, North Carolina..
Grandstand Adult admission is $17 with children 8 and under FREE. Children
9-17 yr. are $6. Trackside/Tailgate parking is also available for $20 adult
and $11 Children. Rome Speedway is located at 1900 Chulio Rd., Rome, GA,
30161. The race track phone number is: (706) 235-2541. The track’s website
is www.raceromespeedway.com For USCS info visit the USCS web site at
www.uscsracing.com or call 770-460-7223 or 770-865-6097.