From Andrew Kunas
VANCOUVER, Wash. – The IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour has released the bulk of its tentative 2011 season schedule, which is tentative and subject to changes and additions. This is to give race teams and fans a chance to begin planning their seasons.
The current slate for the coming season has 14 scheduled events at five different tracks in Oregon and Washington. The NWWT is currently considering events with two other tracks and hopes to have them determined soon. The 2011 season will be the third for the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour, the Pacific Northwest’s premier non-wing 360 sprint car tour.
The season is currently scheduled to both begin and finish with events at Cottage Grove Speedway, which is hosting NWWT events again after an absence of one year. Cottage Grove is currently scheduled to hold four IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour events, starting on April 30. The NWWT will again visit on July 30 and is currently scheduled to close its season on September 23 and 24 when, for the first time, the tour will be part of the Northwest Non-Wing Nationals at Cottage Grove Speedway.
Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. will again be the NWWT’s only Washington track. The series will make its first visit to the big 3/8-mile, high-banked clay oval on May 14. On Thursday night, July 14, the NWWT will open the Fred Brownfield Memorial weekend at Grays Harbor Raceway for the second straight season. An event for September 17 is also scheduled.
A big weekend for the NWWT again will be on Grays Harbor Raceway’s annual Big E Weekend, which has been moved back to its original month of August. For the first time, the NWWT will be racing on two days, Friday and Saturday, August 26 and 27, when it is part of a triple-bill with the ASCS Northwest Region winged sprint cars and the local Ford Focus midgets. Saturday’s show is tentatively expected to be dubbed the 3rd Annual Non-Wing Challenge on Big E Weekend, this to continue linking it with the first Big E Non-Wing Challenge in 2009, which was also Grays Harbor Raceway’s first ever non-wing sprint car event.
The first weekend of June will see the NWWT visit two tracks. A year after having its IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour event rained out, Coos Bay Speedway on the Oregon coast expects to finally have their first NWWT event on Saturday, June 4. The night before, the NWWT will visit Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore. The NWWT is currently scheduled to make a second visit to Coos Bay Speedway on Saturday, August 6.
After a successful event last summer, the NWWT will twice visit Sunset Speedway in Banks, Ore. late this coming summer. Events are currently scheduled for August 13 and September 10.
The NWWT has been considering and discussing potential events with both River City Speedway in St. Helens, Ore. and Southern Oregon Speedway, located just outside Medford. If and when dates are agreed to and scheduled, the NorthWest Wingless Tour will make the appropriate announcements.
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
2011 Tentative Schedule
* – Subject to changes and additions
Sat – April 30 – Cottage Grove Speedway – Cottage Grove, OR
Sat – May 14 – Grays Harbor Raceway – Elma, WA
Fri – June 3 – Willamette Speedway – Lebanon, OR
Sat – June 4 – Coos Bay Speedway – Coos Bay, OR
Thu – July 14 – Grays Harbor Raceway – Elma, WA (Fred Brownfield Memorial weekend opener)
Sat – July 30 – Cottage Grove Speedway – Cottage Grove, OR
Sat – August 6 – Coos Bay Speedway – Coos Bay, OR
Sat – August 13 – Sunset Speedway – Banks, OR
Fri – August 26 – Grays Harbor Raceway – Elma, WA (Big E Weekend)
Sat – August 27 – Grays Harbor Raceway – Elma, WA (Big E Weekend, 3rd Annual Big E Non-Wing Challenge)
Sat – September 10 – Sunset Speedway – Banks, OR
Sat – September 17 – Grays Harbor Raceway – Elma, WA
Fri – September 23 – Cottage Grove Speedway – Cottage Grove, OR (Northwest Non-Wing Nationals)
Sat – September 24 – Cottage Grove Speedway – Cottage Grove, OR (Northwest Non-Wing Nationals)