FASTRAKPR
03-26-2007, 10:58 PM
The $350,000 FASTRAK Dirt Late Model NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP begins THIS WEEKEND at EAST ALABAMA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
By Mike Leone
March 26, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Carnesville, GA)…This weekend the FASTRAK $350,000 National Points chase begins at East Alabama Motor Speedway. Located in Phenix City, Alabama, the dirt late model division begins its fourth season of competition and what a year it should be at the 3/8-mile high-banked oval. Drivers are expected from all over the South East United States including Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida.
Nowhere in the country can the “weekly racer” compete for such a huge point fund. FASTRAK has grown in leaps and bounds over the last several years and the fourth season gets underway with an open practice session on Friday night, March 30 with qualifying, heat races, last chance races, and the main event on Saturday night. For more information, check out East Alabama Motor Speedway’s website at www.eamsdirt.com
“I am really glad to see the growth of the FASTRAK series,” stated East Alabama Motor Speedway owner Billy Thomas. “Those guys have worked hard over the last several years. We’ve been with them from the beginning and I’m glad we did. My son William competed with FASTRAK in 2006 and he ended the season tied for seventh place in the points paying him $5,500 at the end of the year. FASTRAK has done everything they’ve ever said they would and we look forward to supporting them for many years to come. On a weekly basis, we didn’t see the participation for membership like we really expected in 2006, but I really think everyone thought the point fund was too good to be true. Now they’ve seen that $250,000 was really paid in ‘06 with even more coming in ‘07. I can’t see why every team in the country wouldn’t join a deal like this. Take a $5,000 engine, tires that only cost $125, you can race at your track every week or either the tour every other weekend and go to a three-day race worth over $250,000. It doesn’t get much better than that!”
Not only does FASTRAK provide some of the most competitive Late Model action in the country, but offers so much more to the fans. Opportunities to win $25,000 in cash, a new Harley, new Chevrolet pick up are just some of the things FASTRAK provides for the fans. Touring events includes driver autograph sessions, the famed cash tennis ball throw, kids inverts on the front straight, four-wide “salute to the fans”, and fireworks as the cars start the main event.
Several of the top teams in the country are attempting to become eligible for the $350,000 National Championship this season. Ray Cook, Dennis “Rambo” Franklin, Ed Dixon, Shane Tankersly, Mike “Flintstone Flyer” Duvall, 2005 FASTRAK Champions David Browning, Joe Morris, Shanon Buckingham, 2004 FASTRAK Champion Todd Higdon, 2004 rookie-of-the-year AJ “Sideways Watson, 2006 rookie-of -the-year Chris Ferguson, 2006 Wythe Raceway Champion Chase McCormick, 2006 Pacific Coast Champion Greg Walters, Volunteer Speedway Champions Warren McMahon and Allen Champ, 2006 Southern Region Champion Lee Cooper, 2006 Mid East and Mid West Champion Chris Carlson, 2007 Winter Nationals winner David McCoy, 2006 runner-up Timbo Mangum, 2005 runner-up Roger Arowood, and local Hartwell, Georgia’s finest Frankie Beard.
Teams from across the country can compete for a minimal $95 membership fee. Track Champions at tracks utilizing the Goodyear tires will be paid $1,000 directly from FASTRAK and Regional Champions will be paid $5000 through 10 positions along with the famed Grand Nationals paying a whopping $50,000 to win and through 30 positions.
Although still a three-day shoot out, each region this season will hold “day one” in their respective regions then join up with all the other FASTRAK Regions across the country to compete for the final two days of the “Grand Nationals”. Locations will be announced pending a television deal that is currently in negotiations.
Last years Grand National Champion was Steve “Hot Rod” LaMance from Six Mile, SC. LaMance won the $50,000 prize with a 1999 model race car and competed at his home track each week only coming to the Grand Nationals as a Touring event. “Most of the time we went to our local track with an open trailer every week,” stated LaMance. “We’re not a big budget team and winning the FASTRAK National Championship was the best thing that has ever happened to me in racing. I ran Super Late Models for years and finally got burned out on the pressure. Racing with FASTRAK has put the fun back into the sport and the money at the end of the year is incredible. I still can’t believe I won it.”
LaMance earned two loyalty points by competing in100% of the races at his local track. And guess how many points “Hot Rod” won the National Championship by? Two. That was the difference in the championship over runner-up Timbo Mangum. “I understand now if we had run 100% of the races we would have won the $50,000,” deadpanned Magnum. “I just never believed those two points would have been that important. The FASTRAK officials kept telling everyone over and over again how important those two points would be at the National Championship. I can assure you we will have those two points this year. Those two little points cost me $30,000 and that won’t happen twice.”
LaMance did not win either night of the National Championship, but finished well in each event. “Without my two loyalty points I would have never won the $50,000,” revealed LaMance. “To be perfectly honest with you, my wife Teresa deserves the credit for that. She insisted I go to race one night even when she was in the hospital and couldn’t go with me. Boy am I ever glad she did. I would have ended up third and that was $10,000 instead of the $50,000 I actually won”.
FASTRAK will be holding some major events in 2007 including the “Goodyear Challenge” on May 25 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway, $5,000 to-win at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tennessee the weekend prior to July 4 followed by another $5,000 to-win event a few days later on Wednesday, July 4 at Pennsylvania’s Mercer Raceway Park, and then the richest FASTRAK event ever for the fourth annual “PRO Dirt Late Model Nationals” at Wythe Raceway in Virginia, which will pay the winner a cool $10,000!
FASTRAK has expanded quickly over the last three years. Now with 11 regions across the country, some 40-50 weekly sanctioned tracks and more possibly coming even yet in 2007, let’s just say FASTRAK is definitely on the FAST TRACK.
Partners of the FASTRAK Racing Series Include: Goodyear Racing, GM Performance Parts, Maypole Chevrolet, Duralite Wheels, PPM Racing Products, Heintz Performance, MK-Direct, Braswell Carburetion, Mastersbilt Racing Chassis, TNT Racing Chassis, Rocket Racing Chassis and Modern Chevrolet.
For more information, check out the FASTRAK website at www.fastrakracing.com (http://www.fastrakracing.com/) or call 678-935-7304. To join our mailing list, simply send an e-mail to fastrakpr-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Partners of the FASTRAK Racing Series Include: Goodyear Racing, GM Performance Parts, Maypole Chevrolet, Duralite Wheels, PPM Racing Products, Heintz Performance, MK-Direct, Braswell Carburetion, Mastersbilt Racing Chassis, TNT Racing Chassis, Rocket Racing Chassis.
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By Mike Leone
March 26, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Carnesville, GA)…This weekend the FASTRAK $350,000 National Points chase begins at East Alabama Motor Speedway. Located in Phenix City, Alabama, the dirt late model division begins its fourth season of competition and what a year it should be at the 3/8-mile high-banked oval. Drivers are expected from all over the South East United States including Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida.
Nowhere in the country can the “weekly racer” compete for such a huge point fund. FASTRAK has grown in leaps and bounds over the last several years and the fourth season gets underway with an open practice session on Friday night, March 30 with qualifying, heat races, last chance races, and the main event on Saturday night. For more information, check out East Alabama Motor Speedway’s website at www.eamsdirt.com
“I am really glad to see the growth of the FASTRAK series,” stated East Alabama Motor Speedway owner Billy Thomas. “Those guys have worked hard over the last several years. We’ve been with them from the beginning and I’m glad we did. My son William competed with FASTRAK in 2006 and he ended the season tied for seventh place in the points paying him $5,500 at the end of the year. FASTRAK has done everything they’ve ever said they would and we look forward to supporting them for many years to come. On a weekly basis, we didn’t see the participation for membership like we really expected in 2006, but I really think everyone thought the point fund was too good to be true. Now they’ve seen that $250,000 was really paid in ‘06 with even more coming in ‘07. I can’t see why every team in the country wouldn’t join a deal like this. Take a $5,000 engine, tires that only cost $125, you can race at your track every week or either the tour every other weekend and go to a three-day race worth over $250,000. It doesn’t get much better than that!”
Not only does FASTRAK provide some of the most competitive Late Model action in the country, but offers so much more to the fans. Opportunities to win $25,000 in cash, a new Harley, new Chevrolet pick up are just some of the things FASTRAK provides for the fans. Touring events includes driver autograph sessions, the famed cash tennis ball throw, kids inverts on the front straight, four-wide “salute to the fans”, and fireworks as the cars start the main event.
Several of the top teams in the country are attempting to become eligible for the $350,000 National Championship this season. Ray Cook, Dennis “Rambo” Franklin, Ed Dixon, Shane Tankersly, Mike “Flintstone Flyer” Duvall, 2005 FASTRAK Champions David Browning, Joe Morris, Shanon Buckingham, 2004 FASTRAK Champion Todd Higdon, 2004 rookie-of-the-year AJ “Sideways Watson, 2006 rookie-of -the-year Chris Ferguson, 2006 Wythe Raceway Champion Chase McCormick, 2006 Pacific Coast Champion Greg Walters, Volunteer Speedway Champions Warren McMahon and Allen Champ, 2006 Southern Region Champion Lee Cooper, 2006 Mid East and Mid West Champion Chris Carlson, 2007 Winter Nationals winner David McCoy, 2006 runner-up Timbo Mangum, 2005 runner-up Roger Arowood, and local Hartwell, Georgia’s finest Frankie Beard.
Teams from across the country can compete for a minimal $95 membership fee. Track Champions at tracks utilizing the Goodyear tires will be paid $1,000 directly from FASTRAK and Regional Champions will be paid $5000 through 10 positions along with the famed Grand Nationals paying a whopping $50,000 to win and through 30 positions.
Although still a three-day shoot out, each region this season will hold “day one” in their respective regions then join up with all the other FASTRAK Regions across the country to compete for the final two days of the “Grand Nationals”. Locations will be announced pending a television deal that is currently in negotiations.
Last years Grand National Champion was Steve “Hot Rod” LaMance from Six Mile, SC. LaMance won the $50,000 prize with a 1999 model race car and competed at his home track each week only coming to the Grand Nationals as a Touring event. “Most of the time we went to our local track with an open trailer every week,” stated LaMance. “We’re not a big budget team and winning the FASTRAK National Championship was the best thing that has ever happened to me in racing. I ran Super Late Models for years and finally got burned out on the pressure. Racing with FASTRAK has put the fun back into the sport and the money at the end of the year is incredible. I still can’t believe I won it.”
LaMance earned two loyalty points by competing in100% of the races at his local track. And guess how many points “Hot Rod” won the National Championship by? Two. That was the difference in the championship over runner-up Timbo Mangum. “I understand now if we had run 100% of the races we would have won the $50,000,” deadpanned Magnum. “I just never believed those two points would have been that important. The FASTRAK officials kept telling everyone over and over again how important those two points would be at the National Championship. I can assure you we will have those two points this year. Those two little points cost me $30,000 and that won’t happen twice.”
LaMance did not win either night of the National Championship, but finished well in each event. “Without my two loyalty points I would have never won the $50,000,” revealed LaMance. “To be perfectly honest with you, my wife Teresa deserves the credit for that. She insisted I go to race one night even when she was in the hospital and couldn’t go with me. Boy am I ever glad she did. I would have ended up third and that was $10,000 instead of the $50,000 I actually won”.
FASTRAK will be holding some major events in 2007 including the “Goodyear Challenge” on May 25 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway, $5,000 to-win at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tennessee the weekend prior to July 4 followed by another $5,000 to-win event a few days later on Wednesday, July 4 at Pennsylvania’s Mercer Raceway Park, and then the richest FASTRAK event ever for the fourth annual “PRO Dirt Late Model Nationals” at Wythe Raceway in Virginia, which will pay the winner a cool $10,000!
FASTRAK has expanded quickly over the last three years. Now with 11 regions across the country, some 40-50 weekly sanctioned tracks and more possibly coming even yet in 2007, let’s just say FASTRAK is definitely on the FAST TRACK.
Partners of the FASTRAK Racing Series Include: Goodyear Racing, GM Performance Parts, Maypole Chevrolet, Duralite Wheels, PPM Racing Products, Heintz Performance, MK-Direct, Braswell Carburetion, Mastersbilt Racing Chassis, TNT Racing Chassis, Rocket Racing Chassis and Modern Chevrolet.
For more information, check out the FASTRAK website at www.fastrakracing.com (http://www.fastrakracing.com/) or call 678-935-7304. To join our mailing list, simply send an e-mail to fastrakpr-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Partners of the FASTRAK Racing Series Include: Goodyear Racing, GM Performance Parts, Maypole Chevrolet, Duralite Wheels, PPM Racing Products, Heintz Performance, MK-Direct, Braswell Carburetion, Mastersbilt Racing Chassis, TNT Racing Chassis, Rocket Racing Chassis.
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