By Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, Okla. (March 28, 2011) – The American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region kicks off its eleventh year of competition by taking to the 3/10-mile, semi-banked Mid-America Speedway dirt oval in South Coffeyville, OK, this Saturday night.
Saturday’s card kicks off a slate of 15 ASCS Sooner Region events at eight different tracks throughout Oklahoma and beyond in 2011.
After an absence of two years, the ASCS Sooner Region returned to Mid-America Speedway last September with Sean McClelland racking up the 12th of 13 career ASCS Sooner Region feature wins en route to a second series championship.
Also the ASCS Sooner Region champion in 2005, Tulsa’s McClelland claimed the 2010 title by 147 points over 2009 champion Joe Wood, Jr., from Oklahoma City, with other top contenders from last year including Kenneth Walker, Andy Shouse, Donnie Ray Crawford, two-time series champion Brian McClelland and Michelle Decker.
McClelland outlasted Broken Arrow’s Nick Smith for last year’s Mid-America score, with Missouri’s Kyle Bellm claiming the show position. McClelland opened his 2011 ASCS season with a third-place run in the ASCS Gulf South season opener in Beaumont, TX, last month, while Bellm posted a top-ten finish in this past weekend’s Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals Lucas Oil ASCS National event.
In eleven previous ASCS Sooner Region events at Mid-America Speedway, Nick Smith is one of two drivers along with Garry Lee Maier to post a pair of wins. Both of Smith’s Mmid-America wins came in 2006.
Saturday’s action at Mid-America Speedway fires off at 7:00 p.m.
Mid-America Speedway is located one mile south of the Oklahoma-Kansas state line on US 169, then 0.7 miles west. For more information, contact the track at 918-766-6960.
The American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region is slated for 15 nights of racing action at eight different tracks throughout Oklahoma and neighboring areas of Kansas, Texas and Missouri in 2011.
Past ASCS Sooner Region Feature Winners at Mid-America Speedway:
9/11/10 – Sean McClelland
5/3/08 – Gary Taylor
10/6/07 – Brian Brown
10/5/07 – Brian McClelland
6/9/07 – Kevin Ramey
4/21/07 – Garry Lee Maier
4/20/07 – Garry Lee Maier
10/7/06 – Nick Smith
9/16/06 – Nick Smith
5/13/06 – Sam Hafertepe, Jr.
10/15/05 – Travis Rilat
The 2011 season marks the 20th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, with approximately 200 nights of competition at tracks throughout the nation and into Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters, ASCS also consists of ten different Regions throughout the nation.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.