Brownstown Speedway located at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in Brownstown will kick off its 2019 racing season on March 16 with the 22nd Annual Indiana Icebreaker featuring the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. Also competing on opening night will be open wheel modifieds and pure stocks.
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is coming off of a successful Georgia-Florida Speedweeks, averaging nearly 50 late models per night. There were four different winners at two tracks. Jonathan Davenport and Tyler Erb both recorded three wins during the eight-race stretch, with Earl Pearson Jr. and Hudson O’Neal each winning one main event. The series competed at Golden Isles Speedway in Brunswick, Georgia, and East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, Florida. The finale at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Florida, was rained out.
Davenport, the reigning Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion, leads the championship points standings heading into the Brownstown event. Davenport leads by 40 points over Tyler Erb, who is in his first-full year of running the series. Pearson is third in points, followed by Scott Bloomquist and Devin Moran.
The rest of the current top 10 coming into the Indiana Icebreaker are Josh Richards, Tim McCreadie, Don O’Neal, Jason Jameson and Jimmy Owens.
Other drivers expected to be on hand include Devin Gilpin and Zak Blackwood, both from Columbus, along with defending Jackson 100 winner Bobby Pierce, Scott James, Steve Casebolt, Dennis Erb Jr., Frank Heckenast Jr., Stormy Scott, Darrell Lanigan, Brandon Sheppard and Chase Junghans to name a few.
The 2018 track champions at Brownstown were Devin Gilpin of Columbus (super late models), Tyler Cain of Seymour (Indiana Late Model Series), Matt Boknecht of Seymour (modifieds), Jason Hehman of Brownstown (super stocks), Derek Clegg of Nabb (pure stocks) and Bill Grant of Clarksville (hornets).
Current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Championship Points Standings: 1. Jonathan Davenport 960; 2. Tyler Erb 920; 3. Earl Pearson Jr. 896; 4. Scott Bloomquist 810 5. Devin Moran 780; 6. Josh Richards 735; 7. Tim McCreadie 685; 8. Don O’Neal 670; 9. Jason Jameson 650; 10. Jimmy Owens 640 11. Hudson O’Neal 625; 12. Justin Williams 610; 13. Billy Moyer Jr. 610; 14. Kyle Bronson 605; 15. Gregg Satterlee 580.
For the Indiana Icebreaker March 16 at Brownstown, the pit gates will open at noon, with general admission gates opening at 1 p.m. There will be a driver autograph session at 430 p.m., with the driver’s meeting scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Hot laps are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. For more information log on to brownstownspeedway.com.
Twin Cities Raceway Park in Vernon will open March 16 with a full-slate of 410 non-wing sprint cars, 305 RaceSaver sprints, MMSA mini sprints, pure stocks and hornets. For more information, visit twincitiestrack.com.
The 2018 track champions at Twin Cities were Mark Barber of North Vernon (crate late models), Mike Bechelli of Elizabethtown (modifieds), Danny Hupp of Scipio (super stocks), Troy Clark of North Vernon (pure stocks) and Donnie Modesty of Seymour (hornets).
Schatz gets win for Stewart
It only took four starts for Fargo, North Dakota’s Donny Schatz to drive his way to World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Victory Lane, earning his place on top of the feature podium during a visit to The Dirt Track at Las Vegas on Feb. 28. Schatz used a last-lap pass on Daryn Pittman to score his first win of the season for Tony Stewart Racing.
Including his victory on Feb. 28, Schatz’s two-day visit to Sin City resulted in back-to-back podium finishes for the 10-time and defending World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion, initiating the week with an impressive climb from 11th to finish third on Feb. 27.
“It was a solid week for this team. I think we were good enough to win on Wednesday, but to battle back and get a win on Thursday feels just as nice,” Schatz explained, driver of the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing/Rush Truck Centers/Ford Performance/Curb Records/Sage Fruit/Absolute Automation & Security/No. 15 sprint car. “It feels good to get that first win of the season. All we can do now is keep working and find ways to keep winning. Lucky for me, I work with a team that makes that possible week-in-and-week-out.”
New promoter at Paragon
Joe Spiker has announced that he has leased the Paragon Speedway in Paragon from longtime track promoters and owners Keith and Judy Ford of Martinsville, Spiker’s first duty as the new promoter of the track, which opened in 1954, was to move the traditional Saturday Night racing program to Friday nights.
Spiker, from Greencastle, also promotes Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, and they will continue their Saturday Night racing program for 2019.
The Fords had run Paragon for 32 years, and at the conclusion of the 2018 racing season, they announced they were stepping away from promoting the facility located just southwest of Martinsville.
“I just didn’t want to do away with this place,” Keith Ford said after the season ended. “So, we’re keeping it, but leasing it to Joe.”
“It’s not something you just do in the summer,” Judy Ford explained. “It’s something you do for eight or nine months, getting ready. When we started, we had to do everything by hand. I remember doing fliers on my trusty IBM Selectric.”
Keith Ford was a long-time sprint car driver who last raced in August of 1986. “Then we bought this place in December 1986.”
“Our girls, Anna and Lisa, always helped,” Judy Ford said. “They’ve put their dues in. When he was racing, Keith put their names on the sides of the hood and Judy on the front. We raced three nights a week for 20 years.”
Spiker’s first race of the 2019 season at Paragon will be on April 19 with a racing program featuring sprints, modifieds, super stocks, bombers and hornets.
Today’s Spring 50 postponed
The Spring 50 scheduled for tonight at Florence Speedway in Union, Kentucky, has been postponed due to this week’s inclement weather. The $5,000-to-win super late model event has been rescheduled for March 23. For more info, visit florencespeedway.com.
