By Jacob Seelman
HOLLY, Mich. – A roller-coaster seven-month journey across the Midwest and Northeast, rife with competition, exciting moments and more, comes to an end on Oct. 18-19 for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series presented by Engine Pro.
The winged 410ci asphalt sprint car tour will wrap up its 2019 season with a doubleheader during the sixth annual Rodney Cook Classic weekend at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, N.C., the first visit by Must See Racing to the four-tenths-mile oval.
Full shows are planned for both Friday and Saturday nights, with two more opportunities for drivers to gain points as the season winds up to its conclusion.
The prospect of two complete racing programs is going to ratchet the intensity up in a big way, considering the points battle is still tight for several positions coming down the home stretch.
For the first time in five years, the championship has not been locked up going into the last weekend of the season, with Canadian Ryan Litt only trailing Jimmy McCune by 23 points entering the Ace double.
Litt’s position in the standings is thanks to the MSR drop rule, which requires each driver who has attended 60 percent of the season’s completed races to drop their lowest-scoring night from their cumulative total. Litt ranks third in overall points scored this season.
McCune, the four-time defending series champion, had an engine failure in the second event of the season at Michigan’s Birch Run Speedway that has had him batting from behind for most of the year, but he finally passed nephew Anthony for the top spot in both overall points and points with the drop during the most recent event on the schedule.
That event, which saw Anthony drop to third in the standings, has put Litt within striking distance of his first Must See Racing title, while Jimmy McCune is seeking his record-extending fifth crown in a row.
While they’ll be battling one another for every position down the stretch, that trio will also have a strong field of drivers to do battle with on track as well, including National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Jeff Bloom, Ohio open-wheel ace Charlie Schultz, Michigan veteran Tom Jewell, Carolina-area hotshoes Johnny Petrozelle III and Bobby Komisarski and more.
Open practice for all divisions at Ace takes place on Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., with Friday’s pit gates opening at 9 a.m. Practice for the opening day show begins at 11 a.m., with qualifying following at 6 p.m. and racing firing off at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday’s schedule sees the pit gates again swinging open at 9 a.m. and practice kicking off at 11 a.m., with qualifying beginning at 4 p.m. and feature racing to follow.
The Saturday program will be co-headlined by a 140-lap late model stock car feature, in addition to the championship race for the Must See Racing sprint cars.
For more information on Must See Racing, visit www.mustseeracing.com.