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| Press Release |
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Manzanita Speedway's 57th
anniversary races Friday and Saturday |
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(August 19) Manzanita Speedway will be celebrating its 57th birthday this
weekend and every class of cars will be part of the birthday bash.
Although the track has undergone a complete face lift since the track was sold to Mel and Bobby Martin last year the racing has not changed except for a few track records being set. The Martin’s took over the track last year and their first race was the Anniversary race so they too will be celebrating their 1st anniversary. The track has come a long way since it opened August 25, 1951 as a home for the Arizona Jalopy Racing Association. A dog track was converted into a quarter mile track at the urging of drivers and owners who were unhappy with South Mountain Speedway. One of those helping with the transaction was Mel Martin. The half mile track, one of the most respected track in the nation, came into being in November of 1954 when attendance dropped off for the weekly shows. Looking at the track one would never believe that the track is 57 years old making it the longest running sports venue in the state. There are few, if any, tracks whose drivers have graduated to the big time. Bill Cheesbourg made the move in 1956 after winning the driving championship in 1955. Wayne Weiler headed to Indy after winning the championship at Manzy and raced at Indy in 1960 & ‘61 but was injured in a race later and that ended his career. Roger McCluskey and Don Davis also made the jump to the Indy Cars. Dee Jones raced USAC Sprints and Indy Cars from 1964-1971 and Darrell Dockery spent one year on the Indy Car circuit. Later Billy Boat and JJ Yeley raced in the 500 as well as other Indy Car Races. JJ later made the move to NASCAR. Ronnie Shuman, Lealand McSpadden, Billy Shuman and Jerry McClung also represented Arizona in both USAC and Ronnie raced with the World of Outlaws. Chad Boat, at age 16 became the youngest driver to win a USAC sprint car race earlier this year. There may be drivers racing this weekend that also make the big move. However many of the drivers, although still in their twenties, are now considered too old to make the move. Jeremy Sherman, Charles Davis, Jr. and R.J. Johnson are in that group. However the sprint cars have several youngsters that show improvement each time the take the track and Zack Sawyer and Derek Sell are young enough to succeed. Anthony Madrid leads the BRA/UMP dirt car modifieds into action Friday night and will be sharing the one third mile oval with SCRA sport modifieds, Desert Dwarf Cars, SCRA factory stocks and bombers. Garrett Funk, a 17 year old rookie is a runaway points leader in the sport modifieds and Matt Martinez has overtaken two time champion Bobby Taylor to lead factory stock points by four points. Chris Snyder, the defending dwarf car champion holds a 90 point lead over JJ LeMoine as he goes for another championship. The Saturday night card features the American Sprint Car Series on the half mile track for only the fourth time this year. Jeremy Sherman has won two times and Andy Reinbold got his first ever main event win in the other. Sherman is on a roll as he has put together eight ASCS wins plus one win with the USAC/CRA and has virtually wrapped up a record fourth consecutive sprint car championship. His win on August 9th, coupled with an eighth place finish by Charles Davis, Jr. gives him a 96 point lead with ten races, including three nights in the Western World Championships remaining on the 2008 schedule. Kiley Fellers will be seeking his tenth win of the season with the Arizona Mini Sprints as he has put together four consecutive wins that has put him far ahead of second ranked Josh Castro. Fellers enters the anniversary race 485 point lead. His last two wins have come in races without the wings and the next four races, including Saturday night are also without the airfoils. The AMRA midgets are hoping for an increase in car count in their part of the Saturday night show. Terry Goodwin is the points leader. They have only four races remaining on their 2008 schedule. Gates open each night at 6:00 with racing scheduled to start at 7:30. |
