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NorthWest Wingless Tour to open inaugural season Saturday |
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APRIL 21, 2009 --- A new era in wingless sprint car racing in the Pacific Northwest is scheduled to begin this Saturday when the NorthWest Wingless Tour opens its inaugural season at Cottage Grove Speedway. Several sprint cars with open 360ci iron block motors will take to the 1/4-mile clay oval located south fo Eugene for the Grove Classic event. The Grove Classic has been a staple for winged 360 sprint cars at Cottage Grove Speedway since 2002, but this weekend wingless sprint cars will be a part of the Grove Classic for the first time. Former sprint car champions Gary Davis of Sandy, Ore. and Keary Morris of Portland will be among the drivers expected to compete on Saturday. Morris was a champion in 2007 and Davis was a 2008 champion. Both drivers will look to add the first NWWT championship to their resumes in 2009. Other drivers who will be on hand Saturday include Mark Herz of Sandy, Ore. and Mark Nichols of Eagle Creek, Ore. both of whom have been chief supporters of the NWWT since its inception. Mike Morris, Keary's son, has traded in his midget for a sprint car and will also be going after a win this Saturday. One of the younger drivers in the field will be 18-year-old Kelso, Wash. resident Dylan Olsen, who is moving up to sprint cars in 2009 after a successful career in 1/4-midgets and motorcycles. Even younger will be 14-year-old Travis Tomlinson of Newberg, Ore. Tomlinson has already been in a sprint car for a couple of years and will support the new NWWT in 2009. Other sprint car drivers you can expect to see include Sheridan, Ore.'s Roy Crouch, Hillsboro, Ore. driver Theo McCarty, and Troutdale, Ore.'s Joe Bosso Jr. Cottage Grove has long been Oregon's unofficial home to sprint car racing, hosting various events from the Grove Classic and regional tours like first the Northern Sprint Tour, the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series and now the ASCS Northwest Region and Golden State Challenge to national tours like the World of Outlaws and the National Sprint Tour, and this year the Lucas Oil ASCS National Sprint Car Series. Cottage Grove Speedway will now be hosting the NorthWest Wingless Tour, trying to further establish the presence of non-wing racing in the Oregon and around the Pacific Northwest. Many racers have competed weekly in winged sprint cars at Cottage Grove Speedway over the years as well, and it is anyone's guess as to who will shed the wings to compete with the NWWT this weekend or even do double duty. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as the NWWT opener approaches, a number of stories from NWWT with some profile information on several drivers expected to compete this weekend and throughout the season in both sprint cars and midgets will be released. Pit gates for Saturday's events and the Friday night event before will open at 3:00 p.m. Front gates open at 4:00 p.m. Qualifying is at 5:30 followed by racing around 6:45 p.m. The NWWT will conduct qualifying at its events this season. More information on the NorthWest Wingless Tour can be found online at http://www.nwwingless.com. |
