By John Lemon
Tulsa Oklahoma (May 20, 2014) – Those wild, wicked and always unpredictable sprint cars of the Oil Capital Racing Series will shed their wings for the first time this season as they head for the Osage Casino Caney Valley Speedway in Caney Kansas for their first non-wing sprint car race of 2014 this Saturday night. The event is part of the Memorial Day Weekend festivities being held around the nation. For decades, auto racing has always been a big sporting activity for the Memorial Day weekend holiday and most notably, the running of the Indianapolis 500. Independent racetracks have always put on special shows of their own to coincide with the Indy 500 racing spectacle. Even NASCAR added the World 600 race years ago to be a part of the ‘break of speed’ holiday.
Anticipation has been building for this event as fans and the teams themselves have been looking forward to some non-wing sprint activity. Unlike racing with the wing, the drivers must adapt to different handling characteristics of the race car and this puts much more emphasis on manhandling these 1500 pound rocketships to keep them under control and that isn’t easy to do. It is often said that driving ability outweighs most any other factors of a non-wing sprint car. This will be the second year that OCRS has placed non-wing sprint competition on the overall point schedule to determine the series champion and who will receive the coveted ‘Harold Leep Championship Trophy’ at the season ending awards banquet.
This non-wing sprint event will be the first of four anticipated non-wing races that the OCRS series will have on the schedule at the conclusion of the season. While these races count for the overall OCRS title, there still will be a separate points tally to determine the 2014 non-wing champion. That driver will receive a gift offering from the ‘Jimmy Sills Open Wheel Racing School’ in California. Sills, a National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee, will place the non-wing champion in a driving school package program that is valued at near $2000. A young hard charger would reap major benefits to this offering, but even if a veteran were to conquer this prize, there is always a trick or two Sills has up his sleeve that he can teach. “If you think you are to good to learn, your probably not going to get any better,” is a comment once spoken by another Hall of Fame member, Ron Shuman.
The non-wing champion will also receive a $300 gift certificate from the great folks at M and W Aluminum Products in New York. Through multiple sponsorship participation, the non-wing champion will also receive $500 in cash and positions two through five in the final count will all receive cash awards as well.
The 2014 sponsor line-up for the non-wing portions of the schedule include:
Jimmy Sills Open Wheel Racing School / Marysville CA.
Boyd’s Racing Engines / Norman OK.
Eagle Motorsports / Lincoln NE.
Grand Prix Auto Center / Tulsa OK.
Maxwell Oil / Tulsa OK.
Morton Excavating / Coweta OK.
Mud-X / Oklahoma City OK
R and M Race Trailers / Cushing OK.
Shock Doc / Tulsa / OK
Smiley’s Racing Products / Dallas TX.
The Oil Capital Racing Series is very appreciative of these fine sponsors who have all joined in to assist in producing some of the best sprint car action that will be seen throughout the year. OCRS encourages everyone to support these participating sponsors whenever possible. If it were not for the sponsors, these special racing events would most likely not exist.
Last years event at the Osage Casino Caney Valley Speedway saw two great charges from deep in the pack, which was won by Harli White, who started in the 12th position and she was followed by Bristow Oklahoma’s Tim Kent in the second spot. Kent had to come from the 11th position. Racing action is always tight, close, exciting and plentiful on Caney Valley’s quarter-mile oval.
The points battle is tight and close as well with Danny Smith from Sapulpa OK. Leading Caney Kansas native Andrew Deal by just 10 points (473-463) with Smith’s teammate Kyle Clark, in third place. The Morton brothers, Kade and Chance, round out the top five point collectors. Here is your schedule for this special Memorial Day holiday non-winged sprint car event:
What: Oil Capital Racing Series Sprint Cars – NON-WING SPRINT SPECIAL
Where: Osage Casino Caney Valley Speedway / Caney Kansas
When: Saturday May 24, 2014
Time: Grandstand and Pit Gates open at 5p / Hot laps at 7:00p
Racing action begins at 7:30p
OCRS drivers meeting will be held at 6:30p
Tickets: Ages 13 and up: $15 / Children 9-12 & Seniors: $5 / Kids 8 & Under: FREE
Track Phone: (620) 330-0485
Track website: www.caneyvalleyspeedway.net
The track is easy to locate as it is just 0.8 mile west of the junction of US 75 and US 166 on CR 1600.
For more information on the OCRS sprint car series log onto:
You can also checkout our Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/oil.series
Drivers: It’s time to sit high in the saddle and leave the fear far behind as its OCRS NON-WING SPRINT CAR TIME……..