By Aaron Fry
With seven events already completed in the 2023 season, the teams on the MPD Racing Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series tour are in the heart of their schedule. Fresh off a 2-day weekend in Pennsylvania, the teams now face 2 of their biggest tests of the year. The world-famous Eldora Speedway on Friday night and the ultra-fast Lawrenceburg Speedway on Saturday night. With just a weekend off following, the hard-working band of last true outlaws will see their only 3-day weekend of the year when they return to Pennsylvania for 2 nights, then close on Monday, July 3rd with the prestigious “Jack Hewitt Classic”.
Oxnard, California’s Ricky Lewis leads the current tour standings following a strong weekend in the Keystone state, scoring yet another of his plethora of runner-up finishes. Second place Korbyn Hayslett actually closed the gap on Lewis over the weekend, but both young men are searching for their first ever tour win. A pair of two-time winners sit in the 3rd and 4th spots respectively in Cody Gardner and Paul Dues. Lee Underwood rounds out the top 5 on the heels of his best finish of the year Saturday at Mercer with a fourth. Underwood has one tour win to his credit.
The balance of the top 10 includes Brian Ruhlman, a multi-time Eldora Speedway track champion in stock cars. Ruhlman has a BOSS sprint car win to his credit from last season. Dustin Ingle, another driver with a BOSS tour win, holds down the 7th spot. Defending champion, Isaac Chapple, has climbed back to the number 8 position after claiming his first win of 2023 on Sunday at Knox Raceway. Hoosier state brothers Jesse Vermillion and Blake Vermillion round out the top 10 positions. Steve Little is 11th while the 12th spot is held by 2023 four-time feature winner Carmen Perigo who is not committed to the full schedule. The balance of the top 15 includes Tayte Williamson, Parker Frederickson and Matt Cooley.
On Friday at Eldora Speedway, early pit pass sales will begin at 1:30 and pit gates will open at 2. General admission gates will open at 4 with hot laps at 6:30 and racing to immediately follow. Adult general admission is $25 with reserved seats available for $30. Kids 13 and under are free in general admission and a reserved seat is just $10. Pit passes are $35. We will be using the yellow Westhold transponders and rental will be $10. The track will have methanol available and the BOSS tour will have Hoosier tires available for purchase.
Saturday at Lawrenceburg Speedway, pit gates will open at 4 pm with general admission gates opening at 5. Adult general admission is $22, kids ages 7-12 are just $7 and kids 6 and under are free. Pit passes are $35. Lawrenceburg Speedway graciously provides the transponders but mufflers ARE required. There will be methanol at the track and the BOSS tour will again have tires available for purchase
For competing teams, all cars must be on four corner Hoosier tires. The right rear must be a 2022 or 2023 spec tire. The Medium, H15 or D15A are all legal on the right rear. The left rear is open to any Hoosier left rear tire. You do not need to run the same right rear all night. Teams are encouraged to contact the BOSS tour to reserve tires ahead of time and specify chalk marks. There are no membership or entry fees with BOSS.
The following purse is on the line for both nights: 2000, 1000, 750, 650, 550, 500, 450, 425, 400, 375, 350, 340, 330, 320, 310, 300, 300, 300, 300, 300. Heat race money of 40, 30, 20, 10 to the top 4 is provided by Mad Tree Brewing of Cincinnati, Outsider’s Merchandise & Apparel, the official merchandiser of BOSS & FAST, and Elizabeth Gardner Photography. The race winner also gets a free tire courtesy of Hoosier Racing Tire and $50 bonus awards are paid out by All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads, Cowen Truck Line, All Star Performance, Jason Imler and E A Home Supply.
Saturday at Lawrenceburg Speedway, some added bonus money has been donated by some friends and fellow racers of the late Justin Owen. The Harrison, Ohio driver was a four-time race winner with BOSS. He began his career in his own number 26 but found even more success in the Fischesser-Owen number four. Therefore, $264 has been added to the winner’s purse, raising it to $2,264 to win the 26-lap main event. In addition, every fourth-place finisher in the heats at Lawrenceburg will get $26 added and every main event pay envelope will have an added $4 to remind the drivers that Justin will always be a part of the BOSS tour.
We encourage everyone to support this special weekend as BOSS returns to Eldora for the first time in 5 years. A day later, we will pay tribute to Justin Owen with an “extra lap for The Juice”!