From Port Royal Speedway
Port Royal, PA — (July 31, 2012) — Back in 1979 when the World of Outlaws made their first ever visit to Port Royal Speedway, they took a beating at the hands of Lynn Paxton.
Paxton will be honored this Saturday at the Living Legends Dream Race as he and car owner Al Hamilton are feted as PRS Living Legends.
And the car that Paxton used to beat the outlaws big guns back in 1979 is tentatively slated to be on hand, with confirmation being made late Monday afternoon.
Paxton throttled the 1979 version of the Boop’s Aluminum Special No. 1 sprint car to the win on July 25, 1979 and beat Sammy Swindell, Jim Nace, Steve Kinser and Rand Wolfe.
With the addition of this car to the arsenal of restored Paxton and/or Hamilton mounts slated to be on hand for the event, the total number of cars on display for the show now stands at nine.
One of Paxton’s earlier race cars, an Emrich Chevrolet No. 1 will also be on display along with two other restored versions of Paxton’s famed Boop’s No. 1.
Also on hand in honor of both driver Paxton and owner Hamilton will be a rarely seen red, white and blue Hamilton No. 77 sprinter that was campaigned by the duo near the end of Paxton’s career in 1983.
Hamilton’s famed No. 77 from 1975 as driven by the immortalized Jan Opperman will also be on display.
Other Hamilton cars that will be on display include a version driven by Rahmer in the 1990’s and another as driven by Billy Cassella , Roger Larson, Ray Lee Goodwin and others in the early 1970’s.
Plus, Aaron Ott will have his current Hamilton Motorsports-sponsored No. 77 on display prior to the races as well.
A pre-race autograph session with Living Legend honorees Lynn Paxton and Al Hamilton will get underway among the restored cars at 5:30 pm.
Joining the 2012 Living Legends honorees will be Paxton’s famous car owner Maynard Boop, who owned the Boop’s Aluminum Special No. 1.
Hamilton drivers slated to attend the autograph session aside from Paxton include Greg Hodnett, Lance Dewease, Fred Rahmer and Keith Kauffman along with Ott.
The 2012 Living Legends Dream Race will feature not only a more than $50,000 total purse payout but it will also distribute thousands in contingency cash and prizes to the sprint car drivers in attendance that will push the total night’s payout to $60,000 or more.
For fans, a treat in itself will be the chance to essentially see four main events in one night including the Dream A, a pair of semi features and a B Main as well.
The format will see the odd and even finishers in time trials be split apart into respective 16-lap semis.
From there, every position gained during each semi by a driver will serve to advance that driver into their Dream A starting spot for those who finish inside the top 10.
The balance of the semi fields finishing outside of the top 10 will fall back to the B Main with Dream starting positions 21 – 24 to be determined by its finish.
Plus, a fan voted 25th starter will be put into the Dream based on which non-qualifying driver in the B garners the most raucous response from the crowd.
Sponsors of the 2012 Dream Race are River Valley Builders, Selinsgrove; Brown’s Funeral Home, Mifflintown; and First National Bank of Mifflintown.
Go to the speedway website at portroyalspeedway.com to see the most up to date list of contingency cash and prizes slated to be given away to racers.
Adult general admission for the show is $27 with students ages 12 – 18 admitted for just $5. Time trials are slated for 7:30 pm.