By Pete Walton
Atlanta, GA – September 22, 2014 – The United Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters (www.uscsracing.com) returns to the red dirt 3/8 mile racing surface at Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, North Carolina for a full night of racing action this Friday, October 3rd during the 6th annual USCS Carolina Thunder Nationals. The event for winged sprint cars also includes the co-sanctioned North vs. South Shootout challenge race between the Georgia based United Sprint Car Series (USCS) and the Delaware based Rislone United Racing Company (URC) sprint car organization (www.urcsprints.com). The USCS is in its eighteenth season of competition and the URC, as the oldest sprint car sanction in the country, has contested sixty-seven seasons of competition.
The co-sanctioned event promises to be loaded with an action-packed sprint car racing program with some of the country’s top ranked drivers racing for pride and glory for their series in this second ever USCS vs. URC North vs. South Shootout sprint car challenge event between the two series at Carolina Speedway. Friday night’s racing action features a full program of USCS and URC winged outlaw style sprint car racing plus four other racing divisions.
Additionally the action packed racing card features the Carolina Racesaver Sprint Car Series (305 cubic inch powered) winged sprint cars plus the www.rockauto.com USCS 600 Sprint Car Series winged mini/micro sprints. The speedway’s UMP Open Wheel Modifieds and popular Street Stock divisions will join the three winged sprint car divisions with special events of their own.
The USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour and URC winged sprint cars, the USCS 600 Sprint Car Series and Carolina Racesaver Sprint Car Series will contest a full racing program including their Qualifying Heat races and Main Events. Both Carolina Speedway weekly divisions will also contest a full program of qualifying races and main events. The track’s UMP Modifieds and Dominos Pizza Street Stocks are both racing for $700 to win with bonuses in their Championship main events.
The Carolina Speedway USCS Vs. URC sprint car challenge event is expected to bring top winged outlaw sprint car drivers from at least ten states to the track from as far away as New York, Florida and Arkansas. The exotic fire breathing, alcohol burning, 700 horsepower open-wheeled USCS and URC sprint cars weight just 1,300 pounds, and are pound for pound the World’s most powerful short track race cars. The cars will literally fly around the track surface at speeds well over 130 M.P.H. It is not uncommon to see the USCS and URC sprint cars popping “wheelies” or doing wheel stands because of the brute force of their engines and their huge 17-inch wide rear tires.
Past USCS Southern Thunder regional series Champion, Johnny Bridges from nearby, Cherryville, North Carolina won the 2012 Carolina Thunder Nationals Round #1 event at Carolina Speedway. Other previous winners include, The 2010 USCS Southern Thunder regional series “Rookie of the Year” 16 year-old Eric Riggins, Jr. from Charlotte, North Carolina swept the USCS vs. URC North vs. South Challenge event last year when he won at both Carolina Speedway on October 4th and again in the following night at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, South Carolina. Riggins was also the winner in the first main event of two during the 2011 contest.
The only female in the field and the 2010 National “Rookie of the Year”, then 18 year-old Morgan Turpen from Oakland, Tennessee won the second main event during the 2011 Thunder Nationals main event. Matt Linder from Hoschton, Georgia won the 2010 version of the event and ten times USCS National Champion Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee won the 2009 event. All of those drivers except for Matt Linder are entered for this year’s event with a host of other talented drivers. Johnny Bridges was the most recent USCS feature winner at Carolina Speedway during the series’ April 11, 2014 event.
Carolina Speedway is located at 6335 Union Rd., Gastonia, NC 28054. The race track phone number is: (704) 869-0313. The track’s website is www.carolinaspeedway.net For USCS information, please visit the USCS web site at www.uscsracing.com or call the USCS presented by K&N Filters at 770-865-6097.