By Steve Inch
SELINSGROVE, Pa. – With one of the most anticipated sprint car races of the season just around the corner on Saturday, Sept. 17, at Selinsgrove Speedway, family and friends of the late Jim Nace are extending their support to the Jim Nace Memorial 29th Annual National Open for 410 Sprint Cars.
Former sprint car sponsor Ron Rowles of Curwensville has announced his $1,000 sponsorship of the dash as part of the qualifying format for the Jim Nace Memorial. Rowles owned and operated Bulldog Coal Co., one of Nace’s major sponsors on his No. 44 and 6 sprint cars, until closing the mining business in 2005. Rowles now operates Bulldog Tire Co. and Ron Rowles Energy, a company specializing in services to the Marcellus shale natural gas drilling industry in northern Pennsylvania and beyond.
“Jim used to come up to Clearfield County to go hunting with us,” said Rowles. “We sponsored his sprint car for a number of years and he was a good friend. It’s an honor to sponsor the dash in his memory.” Rowles will be joined by his wife Nancy and children Shelby and Missy at the National Open.
Tentatively, six cars will advance to the five-lap dash, which will be used to determine the first six starters in the first 22-lap segment of the 44-lap A-main. The winner of the Bulldog Coal Co. Cash Dash will collect $500, while positions two through six will earn $200, $125, $75, $50, and $50, respectively.
For the second year in a row, Andy and Deb Davidson of R.E. Davidson & Son in Selinsgrove and Millerstown will be offering $500 bonuses to the drivers who finish sixth in each of the 22-lap segments. Davidson, another long-time friend and sponsor of Nace and his racing career, specializes in the sales and service of new and pre-owned Toro-Wheel Horse products, Echo lawn care products, and is one of the region’s leading Polaris brand ATV dealers.
Chrystal and Jamie Nace of Fast Tees in Thompsontown have posted a $300 bonus to the driver who sets fast time in qualifying as part of the season-long sponsorship of the Fast Tees Fast Time Award in Memory of Jim Nace.
The Middleburg IGA will present the National Open trophy to the champion, while Kreitz Oval Track Products, Inc. of Sinking Spring will be offering $30 vouchers toward the purchase of in-stock merchandise for 10 non-qualifiers.
Returning this year to deliver the invocation will be Pastor Bob Landis of McAlisterville, a life-long friend of Nace’s and a former sprint car driver.
Landis’ racing career started in late models before moving into the open wheel sprint cars in the early 1980s. Landis piloted the Ford-powered No. 77 owned by Bob Fetter of Selinsgrove in the beginning, then campaigned the family-owned Landis Service Center No. 88 until he retired from the sport in 1991.
Landis began his ministry career as a pastor in 2001. He and his wife Debbie founded the River Church of Juniata County in Mifflintown in 2009.
The National Open will honor the life and racing career of the late Jim Nace, the track’s only five-time sprint car champion who died in November 2009 following a seven-year battle with cancer.
The National Open’s distance of 44 laps and $44,000 purse, tributes to Nace’s race car number at the start of his career, will be divided into two 22-lap segments and two complete payoffs, with $6,000 to win each segment as an homage to the No. 6 sprint car Nace campaigned most recently as both a driver and a car owner before his health forced him to retire from racing.
Should one driver win both of the 22-lap segments, a $14,000 bonus will be awarded, pushing the winner’s total to $26,000 and the event’s purse to nearly $60,000. The $26,000 figure honors the Camel Express No. 26 sprint car Nace drove to a majority of his career championships and victories in central Pennsylvania.
Joining the 410 sprint cars for the National Open will be the late models in a $1,500-to-win 25-lap feature. The rain date, if needed, is 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, for sprint cars only.
For the latest news, results, and race status, visit selinsgrovespeedway.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook. The speedway office can also be reached at 570.374.2999.