By Troy Hennig
An unprecedented five female sprint car drivers will participate during this Sunday’s July 4th Fast Cars, Family, and Freedom event hosted by the Silver Dollar Speedway. The record amount of female sprint car drivers in one night will lead a cast of cars and stars into the fan favorite auto racing and fireworks extravaganza. Joining the popular winged 360 sprint cars on this night are the Hobby Stocks, IMCA Sport Mods and Street Stocks. This popular four division night will end with fireworks on and off the track.
Pit gate for the competitors will open at 2:30 PM. Race teams will need to use the Costco entrance for pit side admission. Front grandstand gate will open at 5 PM. Cars will hit the action-packed quarter-mile oval dirt track around 5:30 PM. Racing will start no later than 6:30 PM. Fireworks will start once all the races have ended.
Tickets for this event can be bought at the front gate. Adult tickets are $18.00 each. Seniors and juniors are $15.00 each. Children 11 and under are FREE when accompanied by a paying adult. Tickets can also be purchased on line at www.silverdollarspeedway.com. Please be advised, there is a $2.00 fee associated with each purchase on-line.
Five female sprint car drivers will try to break the stereotype that this is a male dominated sport. Janesville driver Chelsea Blevins already beat the boys back on July 28, 2019, dominating a 30-lap main event at Chico. Blevins, 20 years old and a phlebotomist by trade, is excited to get back to Chico and race in front of a large crowd this Sunday. Joining her is 2016 wingless sprint track champion at Silver Dollar Speedway Angelique Bell. Now 27 years old, Bell will make her fifth career start in a winged 360 sprint car this Sunday.
Wilton’s Ashlyn Rodriguez, 17 years old, is following her dad into the sport. Johnny Rodriguez, the 1999 Silver Dollar Speedway 410 sprint car champion, has helped guide Ashlyn’s young racing career. Ashlyn is a senior at Elk Grove High and plans on attending Chico St. or Fresno St. the following year. Nineteen-year-old Anissa Curtice of Eureka is set to make her fifth start in a winged 360 this Sunday night. Curtice also has experience racing in a limited sprint car class. Mallorie McGahan, a Pleasant Valley High graduate, is making her sixth start in a sprint car. McGahan, now 25 years old, has a ton of experience in the popular outlaw kart ranks and is a die-hard race fan.
Locally, Chico will be represented by Michael Ing, Brad Bumgarner and Wyatt Brown in the winged 360 sprint cars. A large field is expected with the special tribute to Fast Cars and Freedom.
A large and diverse group of Street Stocks, Hobby Stocks and IMCA Sport Mods drivers are expected to go for the glory and win on July 4th. All three divisions offer amazing, talented drivers who want nothing more than to entertain the large crowd with close racing and pinpoint accuracy when hurling their cars around the famed quarter-mile clay oval.
Come on out and help us celebrate July 4th with high-speed auto racing and a night time fireworks show that will entertain the entire family. Silver Dollar Speedway is where the fast and the furious get down and dirty.