Road to the Dirt Cup Begins in Chico

silver dollar Speedway chico

(June 5, 2012)…After a weekend free of racing at the Silver Dollar Speedway, action resumes this Friday night, June 8th. The race is billed as “The Road to the Dirt Cup” featuring the best 410 winged sprint car drivers in California. This Friday night will mark the second time this season that the traveling Golden State King of the West Sprint Car Series will race on at the famed quarter-mile clay oval speedway. The race will kick off a week long stretch of 410 winged sprint car racing as the series heads up into Oregon and Washington after the Chico event.

Adding to the Friday night race is the return of one of the most popular and famous names in sprint car racing. “The Professor” Jimmy Sills of Elverta, will make a return to winged sprint car racing at Silver Dollar Speedway. Sills has won 36 career main events at Chico. That places him seventh all-time in wins at the track. Sills is inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, IA. It will be a rare opportunity to witness such an icon of our sport back in a winged sprint car at Chico.

Bixby, OK driver Shane Stewart is also locked in to race against the local KWS drivers. Stewart will be driving Paul Silva’s potent #57. Together, the two have won National Sprint Car Championships and was last years Knoxville Nationals runner-up. Local drivers competing to beat the potent KWS drivers include Chico’s Brad Bumgarner, Redding’s Tyler Wolf, Chico’s Kenny Allen and Auburn’s Andy Forsberg.

Chico’s Jonathan Allard leads the point’s battle heading into the 10th race of 2012. Allard has two wins this season including winning the Dave Bradway Jr. race on May 5th at Chico. He holds a 20-point advantage over defending champion Tim Kaeding. Kaeding has three wins this year. Scotts Valley driver Evan Suggs sits in the third spot. Suggs is coming into Chico after scoring a second place finish at Hanford the week before. Campbell’s Brent Kaeding holds down the fourth spot. Former Silver Dollar Speedway track champion, Bobby McMahan, rounds out the top five.

The popular and entertaining Dwarf Car series will be the guest division for the night. Ryan Winter has won both previous main events held at the Speedway. Traditionally, the series travels with 15-18 competitors.

For this Friday night race, Silver Dollar Speedway is offering a $5.00 discount off bleacher seats only. The printable coupon can only be found on-line at www.silverdollarspeedway.com

Adult general admission is $20.00. Juniors are $15.00 and children just $6.00. Front grandstand gates will open at 5pm sharp and racing slated to start at 7pm. The KWS group will offer an autograph session featuring three of the series top drivers. The autograph session takes place behind the main grandstand.