By Mike O’Leary
April 24, 2012 – The second stop for the King of Indiana Sprint Series 2012 tour will be at the Kokomo Speedway on Sunday, April 29. The home-grown KISS series is the opening act for Kokomo’s racing season, which includes several noteworthy events, the biggest of which is the inaugural Sprint Car Smackdown. The Smackdown features USAC’s national sprint car series racing for a projected purse exceeding $100,000 over three nights, August 23 – 25, with $10,000 payday for wining the grand finale.
Sunday’s event will be the KISS series’ eighth visit to the popular northern Indiana dirt track and it will be interesting to see if the racers continue a peculiar trend. Illustrating the competitiveness of both the KISS racing and the Kokomo oval, there have been seven different winners in the seven previous KISS races, beginning with Kent Christian’s victory in 2002. Mat Neely captured the next race, in 2005, and has been followed by Shane Cottle, Hunter Schuerenberg, Billy Puterbaugh Jr., Jon Stanbrough and Blake Fitzpatrick. While any of these drovers are capable of scoring a second victory, with the exception of Neely, who hasn’t raced much in recent years due to business interests, there are many others poised to extend the trend to eight winners in eight years, including Robert Ballou, who took the checkers in the first round of the 2012 KISS tour.
The Kokomo Speedway pit gate will open at 3:30, the front gate at 4 pm, with hot laps at 5:45 and racing at 6:15. General admission is only $20 and kids 10 and under are free with a paying adult. Pit passes are $30. The Sunday night racing program includes Kokomo’s street stocks and thunder cars.
All of this year’s KISS races will pay $2,500 to win, and $250 to start the feature. This year, the KISS promoters have also included tow money, where any car that does not transfer to the feature will collect at least $100. Additionally, the point fund has increased to $4,200, with the series champion earning $1,200. Second in points will collect $900, and third through fifth will receive $800, $700 and $600.
The KISS series will continue with a race every weekend, with Bloomington Speedway next, on May 4. It will be followed by the tracks at Gas City, Lawrenceburg, and Haubstadt, until the King of Indiana is crowned at Paragon Speedway on June 2.
2012 KISS SCHEDULE
April 22 – Terre Haute Action Track – Robert Ballou
April 29 – Kokomo Speedway
May 4 – Bloomington Speedway
May 11 – Gas City I-69 Speedway
May 19 – Lawrenceburg Speedway
May 27 – Tri-State Speedway
June 2 – Paragon Speedway
KING OF INDIANA SPRINT SERIES
Public Relations Contact: Mike O’Leary Phone: 812-400-0021
Email: lugnut86@comcast.net
Website: www.KissRacing.com