By Steve Inch
SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Selinsgrove Speedway will present the 33rd Annual Jack Gunn Memorial for sprint cars, one of the most popular open wheel races of the season at the historic Snyder County half-mile oval, at 7 p.m. this Saturday, May 11. The Jeff’s Auto Body & Recycling Center late models and Byers Built Engines pro stocks will also be on the racing card. Track gates will open at 5 p.m.
For the eighth consecutive year, the Gunn Memorial will feature a 30-lap challenge race between the traveling United Racing Company (URC) 360 sprint cars and the track’s weekly A&A Auto Stores 358 sprint cars. The race will pay $3,500 to win and $225 to start out of a $15,000-plus purse. Time trials, heats, and a B-Main will be the format for setting the 24-car starting field for the Gunn Memorial.
The tribute race is run each year to honor the memory of the late Hall-of-Fame race track promoter Jack Gunn, who operated Selinsgrove, Williams Grove, Penn National, and Hagerstown Speedways during his career and brought mid-state dirt track racing to national prominence in the 1970’s. Gunn was inducted posthumously into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame (Knoxville, Iowa) in 1990.
Over the years, some of the biggest names in sprint car racing have won the prestigious Jack Gunn Memorial at Selinsgrove Speedway. Lynn Paxton of Dillsburg; Steve Kinser of Bloomington, Ind.; Doug Wolfgang of Sioux Falls, S.D.; and most recently, as 358 sprint drivers, TJ Stutts of Liverpool; Chad Layton of Harrisburg; Blane Heimbach of Selinsgrove; and Dave Calaman of Carlisle are a few of the past winners of the Gunn Memorial.
The Gunn Memorial became a challenge race between 358 and 360 sprint car drivers beginning in 2006, when Heimbach took the popular victory as well as in the 2008 and 2012 editions of the race. Dave Calaman of Carlisle (2007), Trevor Lewis of Upper Black Eddy (2009, 2010), and Shane Stewart of Indianapolis, Ind. (2011) have also won the Gunn Memorial as a challenge event.
Entering this weekend’s action, five races have produced five different winners in both 358-360 sprint car and late model competition at the track.
Mark Smith of Sunbury; Tony Stewart of Rushville, Ind.; Pat Cannon of Etters; Jason Shultz of Carlisle; and Eric Tomecek of Abbottstown have been victorious in 358-360 sprint car racing to date.
In the late model division, single wins have gone to Dylan Yoder of Selinsgrove, Coleby Frye of Dover, Jerry Bard of Shippensburg, Dan Stone of Thompson, and Jeff Rine of Danville.
Selinsgrove Raceway Park will present a program of go karts and micro sprint cars at 7 p.m. Friday, May 10, plus a $200-to-win pro series race for the animal 375 lb. class. Track gates will open at 5:30 p.m.
For a complete schedule, the latest news, results, and race status, visit selinsgrovespeedway.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook. The speedway office can be reached at 570.374.2999.
2013 Gunn Memorial Purse: 1) $3,500 2) $1,700 3) $1,200 4) $1,100 5) $1,000 6) $700 7) $575 8) $525 9) $515 10) $500 11) $360 12) $340 13) $320 14) $300 15) $270 16) $250 17) $240 18-20) $235 21-24) $225 TOW: $50
Gunn Memorial Admission: Adults $15; Students (12-17) $12; Kids 11 & Under Free;
Pit Pass $25