By Pete Walton
Atlanta, GA – The United Sprint Car Series www.uscsracing.com (USCS) invades Hickory Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 23rd at 7:00 pm for the track’s season finale. The Hickory “Night of Thunder” open wheel spectacular event is also the 2010 season final event for the USCS Southern Thunder Tour regional series drivers as well. The event features the versatile USCS drivers who also race on a dirt surfaces in their one and only Hickory Motor Speedway appearance of the 2010 season. USCS is the only winged outlaw sprint car series in the World that contests it’s Championship on both dirt and paved surfaces.
The Saturday, October 23rd USCS race will award USCS Asphalt Thunder Tour paved track mini-series plus USCS Southern Thunder regional series Championship points. The USCS Southern Thunder Tour regional series includes races on dirt and paved ovals scheduled in North and South Carolina plus Georgia and East Tennessee. Additionally the event awards USCS “Outlaw Thunder” Tour presented by Goodyear National Championship points.
The Hickory Motor Speedway event is expected to bring top winged outlaw sprint car drivers from at least five states to the track from as far away as Indiana and West Tennessee. The exotic fire breathing, alcohol burning, 700 horsepower open-wheeled USCS winged sprint cars weight just 1,300 pounds. The cars are pound for pound the World’s most powerful short track race cars. The USCS sprint cars will literally fly around the track surface at speeds over 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 rear tires.
The USCS Outlaw sprint car action will feature a full program of racing that includes test and tune hot laps followed by time trial qualifying. That is when the USCS winged sprint car track record of 12.26 seconds around the 3/8 mile paved oval will be in jeopardy. The evening’s first sprint car race will be the USCS Power 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 final starting positions for the 40-lap Hickory “Night of Thunder” Championship finale.
Between the multiple winged sprint car racing elements, several other racing divisions will keep the action rolling on the Saturday night racing card. Those include the USAC Carolina Ford Focus Midgets, the USAC Midget Carolina Young Guns and the winged 600cc Micro/Mini Sprints. The Micro Sprints will be making their first ever Hickory Motor Speedway appearance. Each division will contest a full racing program including qualifying and main events.
Famed Sprint Cup, Indy Car and CART driver John Andretti is the Grand Marshall for the Night of Thunder. Andretti will be pulling double duty as an interested parent/spectator as well. Andretti’s son, Jarrett Andretti is competing in the 2010 title chase for the USAC Carolina Midget title. He currently is in 6th place in the Championship points in that series and is also in contention for Rookie of the Year.
The family-friendly Hickory “Night of Thunder” event will feature a driver meet and greet autograph session plus kid’s bicycle racing in three divisions on the historic speedway. The bicycle races will award trophies to the top three in the 6 years and under, seven through nine year-old and ten through twelve year-old divisions.
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 is also among the top twenty-five drivers in the Nation in feature wins over the past five years with over eighty feature wins. Gray leads the current National and Southern Thunder point standings.
Additionally entered is the current USCS Asphalt Thunder Tour mini-series point’s leader, the 2008 USCS Carolina Thunder regional series and 2004 USCS/AOAS Champion Johnny Bridges from Cherryville, North Carolina. Bridges who won three times in 2010 USCS Asphalt Thunder competition is scheduled to bring a rare Ford powered sprint car to Hickory Motor Speedway..
Other notable entries include:
Seventeen-year old USCS rookie point’s leader and female sprint car hot-shoe, Morgan Turpen from Bartlett , Tennessee leads a strong contingent of talented young drivers into Hickory Motor Speedway. Turpen has been very impressive every single night of the 2010 season and is behind defending series Champion Terry Gray in the runner-up spot in the National point standings. Turpen finished in the runner-up spot on October 2, 2010 at Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, NC. In her last paved track appearance she finished in the second position behind Gray at Anderson Motor Speedway on September, 10, 2010. While making her 2009 paved track sprint car debut at Hickory Motor Speedway on October 2, 2010 Morgan Turpen finished in fifth place.
In addition to Morgan Turpen, two other female drivers are entered for the USCS Hickory “Night of Thunder” winged sprint car portion of the event. Those include veteran racer Sondi Eden from Crawfordsville, Indiana who will be making her USCS debut at hickory. Sondi Eden has quite a resume including being the first and only woman to win a USAC divisional Championship. For more information on her please visit www.sondieden.com. The other is twenty-one year old Holly Jackson from Timmonsville, South Carolina. It will be Jackson’s second paved track experience after a seventh place finish in her sprint car debut at Anderson Motor Speedway on September 10th.
The other members of the USCS young gun entry list include: The 2008 USCS Southern Thunder Rookie of the Year, Jake McLain from Indian Trail, North Carolina, the 2008 Asphalt Thunder Tour Rookie of the Year, Adam Jackson from Timmonsville, South Carolina, 2009 USCS Southern Thunder Rookie of the Year, Brandon Rekow from Mooresville, North Carolina and eighteen year-old Nick Bashford from China Grove, North Carolina who made is paved track debut on September 10th at Anderson Motor Speedway with a fourth place finish.
Other expected entries include: Former World of Outlaws sprint car series Champion, Dave Blaney from High Point, North Carolina, the 2009 USCS Asphalt Thunder Tour “Rookie of the Year”, Brian Carter from Concord, North Carolina. Also on the for sure list are Joe Larkin from Suwannee, Georgia who ranks fourth in the current 2010 USCS Southern Thunder point standings. Also on the list are brothers David and Darren Clark from Huntersville, North Carolina.
In addition to those drivers also expected are former area late model stock Champion, Lance Moss from Cherryville, North Carolina. Brad Wickham from Rutherfordton, North Carolina who was the 1990 Butler Speedway (Butler, Michigan) track champion and finished fourth in the 2009 USCS Southern Thunder point standings is a possible entry as well. Sprint car veterans, Tom Paterson from Argos, Indiana and Brian Thomas from Pendergrass, Georgia are both expected as well.
Historic Hickory Motor Speedway is located on US Highway 70 SE, Newton, NC 28658. The race track phone number is: 828-464-3655. The track’s website is www.hickorymotorspeedway.com For USCS info visit the USCS web site at www.uscsracing.com
Media Contact: PETE WALTON, USCS President (770) 460-7223 pwaltonuscs@comcast.net
WWW.USCSRACING.COM
Photo and Caption #07: United Sprint Car Series asphalt Thunder point’s leader, Johnny Bridges from Cherryville, North Carolina leads a strong contingent of Outlaw sprint car drivers into the Saturday, October 23rd Hickory “Night of Thunder” open wheel spectacular at Hickory Motor Speedway in Newton. (USCS file photo) USCS at Hickory Motor Speedway.
Tentative pre-entry entry list for Saturday 10.23.10
1. X – Nick Bashford, China Grove, NC
2. 04 – Bill Moore, Denver, NC
3. 6c – Brian Carter, Concord, NC
4. 07 – Johnny Bridges, Cherryville, NC
5. 10 – Terry Gray, Bartlett, TN – 8 time – USCS National Champion
6. 11 – Tom Paterson, Argos, IN
7. 20 – Darren Clark, Huntersville, NC
8. 21 – David Clark, Huntersville, NC
9. 33 – Joe Larkin, Suwannee, GA
10. 45 – Holly Jackson, Timmonsville, SC
11. 46 – Adam Jackson, Timmonsville, SC
12. 46B – Jim Blenkarn, Murfreesboro, TN
13. 55 – Dave Blaney, High Point, NC
14. 67 – Jake McLain, Indian Trail, NC
15. 67 – Brian Thomas, Pendergrass, GA
16. 69 – Brandon Rekow, Mooresville, NC
17. 70 – Sondi Eden, Crawfordsville, IN
18. 80 – Morgan Turpen, Bartlett, TN – Rookie points leader