From Lonnie Wheatley
DODGE CITY, Kan. (January 29, 2018) – Setting the stage for a stellar 2018 racing season, Dodge City Raceway Park competitors and fans celebrated the recently-completed 2017 season with Saturday night’s annual Awards Banquet.
More than 200 attendees took in Saturday night’s festivities at the Western State Bank Expo adjacent to the 3/8-mile DCRP clay oval with the top contenders in each of the track’s five championship chase divisions recognized during the evening.
Taking top accolades in each division were Taylor Velasquez in Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars, Clay Sellard in IMCA Modifieds, Jeff Kaup in IMCA Sport Modifieds, Angel Munoz in IMCA Stock Cars and Reagan Sellard in IMCA Hobby Stocks.
“People like to think this stuff is easy, but it’s not. It takes a lot of hard work and commitment,” Velasquez of Turpin, OK, said after collecting championship honors for the second year in a row. “I’ve been in a racecar since I was eight years old and there’s no other place I would rather race, it’s a true honor to win a second championship at Dodge City Raceway Park.”
While others among the top ten and each champion also picked up their hardware and point fund monies, Stock Car champ Angel Munoz picked up an extra $100 and the 2017 DCRP Feature Winner board for racking up the most feature wins over the course of the 2016 season. Munoz racked up six wins to top the overall win charts that included 28 different winners in 44 overall championship points chase feature events.
Additionally, each of the top ten in the Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars was awarded an SFI-approved front axle tether that becomes mandatory at the track in 2018 while the top five in each of the IMCA-sanctioned classes (Modifieds, Sport Modifieds, Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks) received a complimentary IMCA license for the 2018 season.
Check http://www.dodgecityraceway.com/media/photos/2017-dcrp-awards-banquet-january-27-2018/ for images from the 2017 DCRP Awards Banquet.
With the 2017 Awards Banquet completed, attention turns to the 2018 season that begins in a few short weeks with opening night set for Saturday, March 31, after an open practice session one week earlier on March 24.
The 2018 season at Dodge City Raceway Park is loaded with a number of big events including the return of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car series “Boot Hill Showdown” that wraps up the DCRP season on October 20, the DCRP Sprint Car Nationals on June 15-16, the inaugural USMTS event at DCRP on June 8, the Sixth Annual Modified Stampede on April 21, the Fifth Annual Sport Modified Mayhem on August 18, the popular Driver’s Appreciation Night on July 27 and the Sixth Annual Jerry Soderberg Memorial Championship event on September 15 along with the introduction of a Coaches Race on August 25 and an Enduro event on September 22.
The complete 2018 schedule of events at Dodge City Raceway Park is available at http://www.dodgecityraceway.com/schedule/.
Dodge City Raceway Park is located on the south edge of Dodge City, KS, on US 283, then 0.9 miles west on US 56, then 0.1 miles south. For more information, contact the track at 620-225-3277 or check www.dodgecityraceway.com.