From Plymouth Speedway
(Plymouth, IN) It’s one of the biggest races of the season at Plymouth Speedway and it’s happening on Saturday night.
The Engine Pro Earl Gaerte Classic will feature the Sprints on Dirt Saturday night.
Plymouth Speedway Director of Racing, Matthew Schwartz, indicated that it will be an exciting night of racing.
“The Sprints on Dirt, which we call SOD sprints, are a touring series and they race all over Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and even into Canada,” said Schwartz. “The cars from all of those states plus Illinois, and maybe some from Tennessee, will come race with the sprint cars. These are the fastest things on dirt! They have big wings, 900 hp and they’ll hit over 100 mph every lap.”
Earl Gaerte was an innovator in short track engines and he designed engines that have been in Indianapolis 500 cars and in the cars that are raced on racetracks each Saturday night across America. He passed away in August 2011, but his memory and innovations live on.
Engine Pro presented by Fel-Pro Gaskets is a proud sponsor of this event.
Sprint car driver, Shane Stewart, was at Plymouth Speedway Wednesday night for a media event and had a chance to look things over for this weekend’s race.
Stewart is a native of Oklahoma but has since moved to Indiana to continue his career in the sprint car series. He’s quite accomplished having many feature wins under his belt as well as a American Sprint Car Association Championship.
Stewart doesn’t run with a particular sprint car series full-time but he does occasionally race in the esteemed World of Outlaws series. He will be driving a brand new sprint car this weekend under the ownership of Joe Gaerte. Stewart said it was fitting that he participate in the Earl Gaerte Classic with Gaerte Engines out of Rochester as a sponsor. Watch for the number 3G as it makes circuits around the track.
Stewart is pretty impressed with Plymouth Speedway’s new dirt surface.
‘They’ve done a great job with the dirt. They’re working hard. I know and I’ve seen the amount of work that actually goes into preparing a racetrack for a Saturday night,” said Stewart.
He expects to be part of some great racing Saturday night.
“If the track’s right, it’s wide enough to see two or three-wide racing. The best thing that you could hope for as a dirt track guy is if you can get two grooves. That’s the most important thing. If they can make that happen, I think you’re going to see a really good race!”
Modifieds and the USAC 600 sprints will also be racing to round out the exciting night of racing.
Also on May 18, the 1st Annual Forces Day Poker Run to help sponsor Operation Quiet Comfort and our troops will begin at 11 a.m. ET at the Woodland Inn in South Bend and end at Plymouth Speedway in Plymouth. You can pick up a pre-registration form at McDaniel’s Harley Davidson in South Bend, Kersting’s Harley Davidson in Winamac or at the Woodland Inn in South Bend.
The $30 fee includes one rider, a t-shirt and Winged Outlaw Sprints ticket. The $18 fee may be paid at the gate for non-riders.
In an effort to support our troops, drop off a donation of white crew socks, gallon-size zip-loc bags, individually packaged toothbrushes and travel size toothpaste. These items will be gathered by the Operation Quiet Comfort volunteers and distributed to soldiers.
The gates will open at 4 p.m. and racing begins at 7 p.m. ET. For ticket and pit pass information, visit www.plymouthspeedway.net. “Like” us on Facebook and follow us @PlymouthSpeed.