By Pete Walton
Atlanta, GA – June 17, 2020 – Dothan Motor Speedway (formerly known as Dixieland Speedway or Cottonwood Speedway) will host the return of one of its most exciting and certainly most high-speed events of their 2020 season when the 3/8 mile dirt oval again opens its gates on Friday, June 19th. That’s when the Nationally touring drivers of the United Sprint Car Series Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters winged sprint cars make a return invasion of the high banked one-third mile clay oval in Cottonwood, Alabama just a short distance from the circle that surrounds Dothan, Alabama. The 700 horsepower, 130 mile per hour USCS winged sprint cars will headline the racing action during the speedway’s “Fast Friday” event that also features Late Model, Modified and Stock Car racing in four divisions at the track starting at 8pm on Friday evening. In all, there will be approximately 100 laps of main events plus qualifying elements on the action-packed racing card.
The event will be race #28 on the 65-event 24th season schedule for the Nationally touring Georgia based sprint car racing series. The event is expected to draw some of the top winged-sprint car drivers from across the Nation from at least eight states.
Those drivers include 12-time and the defending USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour National champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee. Gray was ranked 5th in North America at the end of the 2019 season by the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame pollsters in the final NSCHoF 360 Sprint Car “Driver of the Year” rankings.
Also expected is 11-time 2020 USCS feature winner, Mark Smith from Sunbury, Pennsylvania, who won the USCS Winter Heat Round #3 at Dothan Motor Speedway on February 22, 2020. Mark Smith was the Nation’s winningest 360-winged sprint car driver during the 2019 season with 14 wins. Mark Smith was ranked third best Nationally by that same National Sprint Car Hall of Fame poll previously mentioned.
Another top-ranked driver expected is two-time USCS National Champion and the Nation’s top ranked female sprint car driver, Morgan Turpen from Somerville, Tennessee. Turpen who has multiple USCS regional series titles to go with her National Championships has over thirty sprint car wins on her resume.
Other entries include legendary National Sprint Car Hall of Fame 2015 Inductee, Danny Smith from Chillicothe, Ohio who had two victories in USCS competition during 2019. Danny Smith finished 6th in the USCS final 2019 standings. Also expected to enter is multi-time Florida State Sprint Car Champion, Danny Martin, Jr. from Sarasota, Florida. Joining the field will be 2012 USCS Rookie of the Year, Jeff Willingham from Ripley, Mississippi who finished in the 4th position in the 2019 National rankings
A host of other drivers from at least eight states are expected to converge on the 3/8 mile Dothan Motor Speedway speed plant located in the Cottonwood, Alabama community including the current USCS Rookie of the Year points leader, 15-year-old , Conner Leoffler from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Leoffler who has shown nothing but raw talent with a number of top-five finishes and ranks third in the National point standings. Also entered are Jake Karklin from Indian Tail, North Carolina who was the 2019 Carolina Sprint Tour Champion.
The Alabama Outlaw, Kyle Amerson from Montgomery, Alabama is entered as is another Rookie contender, Eric Gunderson from Canton, Georgia, who ranks 12th in the National standings. Gunderson will be joined by another Georgian, veteran USCS competitor Joe Larkin from Suwannee, Georgia.
Other early entries include Father and Son team-mates Jim and Mallie Shuster from Newville, Pennsylvania. Jim Shuster is fourth in the USCS National point standings and son Mallie Shuster is in fifth place. Also entered are three more Florida drivers, Terry and Tanner Witherspoon from Jacksonville, Florida and sprint car veteran Bob Auld from Largo Florida
Fans attending the “Fast Friday” event at Dothan Motor Speedway on Friday, June 19th will be treated to a full program of racing in five divisions including the USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters winged sprint cars plus four weekly racing divisions scheduled to race at the track including the 602 Late Model Sportsman racing for $1000 to win in a special event, the Open Wheel Modified drivers will be chasing $600 for a win with $700 possible. A special event in the Enduro/Pure Stock division will offer a top prize of a whopping $1000 as well. The Four Cylinder FWD Hot Shots will have added money as well in their purse with a top prize of $300 ($400 possible). All of this makes for one interesting and action-packed evening of Family entertainment.
Gates open on Friday, June 19th in the competitor pit area at 4:00 p.m. CDT. Grandstand Gates open at 4:30 p.m. CDT. The driver’s meeting will be at 6:45 p.m. CDT with test and tune hot laps to immediately follow. Racing action kicks off at 8pm CDT sharp! **All times as noted are Central Daylight Time.
Spectator parking is FREE. Food concessions with a full menu of entrees, snacks and refreshments will be available at the track. USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour sprint car Souvenir items will also be available when gates open.
Admission Pricing for the USCS “Fast Friday” event is as follows: Adult General Admission (Grandstands) $20 with Youth 6 years to 11 years old are $5 and Children 5 years and Under are FREE. Pit Area Admission is $35 for Adults, Youth 6 to 11 years old are $15 and Children 5 years and Under are FREE.
Dothan Motor Speedway is located adjacent to the Cottonwood Dragway at 426 Bud Moore Road, Cottonwood, Alabama 36320. The track’s telephone number is 334-791-3416. For event info please visit the speedway’s Facebook page at Dothan Motor Speedway. The USCS series Official website is located at www.uscsracing.com The USCS phone number is 770-865-6097.