From Tim Tuttle
KENNEDALE, Texas (March 13, 2012)—Multi-time championship-winning drivers Tony Rossi and Dave Darland have entered the Midget Stampede at Cowtown Speedway on Friday and Saturday (March 16-17).
The two-night event co-sanctioned by the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series and the Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association has an all-star list of drivers racing on the quarter-mile track near Fort Worth for a purse in excess of $40,000.
Rossi, of Brighton, Colo., has won RMMRA championships in 2011, 2008, 2006 and 2005.
“I think it’s a big race from a prestige standpoint,” Rossi said. “It’s the best of the best. I’m looking forward to it.”
Darland, of Lincoln, Ind., is a two-time USAC Midget National champion. He won the Dana Godfrey Memorial at Macon, Ill., last August for his first POWRi victory.
POWRi Midget regulars entered include Austin Brown of Millstadt, Ill, Chett Gehrke of Broken Arrow, Okla., Tim Siner of Dupo, Ill., Andrew Felker of Carl Junction, Mo., and Dereck King of Vienna, ill.
Brown was fourth in the points last season with six top-fives and 12 top-10s in 18 features. Gehrke was fifth in points with two top-fives and 10 top-10s in 20 features. Siner was sixth with six top-fives and 10 top-10s in 18 features. Felker was seventh with six top-fives and eight top-10s in 17 features. King was ninth with ninth with five top-fives and six top-10s in 11 features.
Tyler Thomas has also entered. The 16-year-old from Collinsville, Okla., won in his POWRi Midget debut at West Plains, Mo., last June.
RMMRA regulars committed to Cowtown are Bob Harr of Arvada, Colo., Justin Mallo of Cheyenne, Wyo., Cory Mallo of Cheyenne, Wyo., Todd Plemons of Arvada, Colo., and Jay Sant of Parker, Colo.
Danny Stratton of Indianapolis, whose victories include a Midget feature at Cowtown in March, 2010, the 4-Crown Midget Nationals at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, in 2005 and a POWRi Midget feature at McCool Junction, Neb., in 2007, has entered the Midget Stampede.
Texans committed to the event include Paul White of Waco, Kevin Ramey of Fort Worth and Justin Melton of Flower Mound.
Three-time POWRi champion Brad Loyet of Sunset Hills, Mo., and two-time POWRi champion Brad Kuhn of Avon, Ind., will be at Cowtown.
The Midget Stampede is also the inaugural event for the POWRi Lucas Oil West Midget Series, a 15-race season that takes the sanctioning body into Texas and Oklahoma and runs with the National Series in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Illinois.
The purse is substantial. Friday’s feature pays $3,000 to win and $300 to start. Saturday’s feature pays $5,000 to win and $500 to start. $100 in tow money will be paid each night for the entrants not making the feature.
For more information on POWRi Racing, go to www.POWRi.com.