John Carroll Classic this weekend at Skagit Speedway
Published 1:39 pm Wednesday, May 20, 2009
As if the weekend wasn’t full enough, here’s some more racing goodness on tap, this time at Skagit Speedway:
(Alger, WA) 5/21/08 by Kelly Hart – Speedway Media Team
When track owner and promoter Steve Beitler took over Skagit Speedway in 2001, Memorial Day Weekend racing took on a whole new look. For starters he named that race in honor of former Skagit Speedway hero Big John Carroll, turning the weekend into something more than just another holiday weekend race. As a tribute to his friend John Carroll, racer Jay Follman, owner of IRI in Clear Lake WA, has sponsored the weekend race for years and 2009 is no exception.
In addition to the high octane excitement of Sprint Car racing and Outlaw Hornet racing taking place on May 23rd, a special memorial lap will be run honoring those who have passed on since the close of the 2008 racing season.
In 2009, the Foothills Toyota Tundra Racing Series at Skagit Speedway has seen three different drivers win main events in the Associated Asphalt Outlaw 410 Sprints as they prepare for the 2009 Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup on June 18th through 20th, with Jesse Whitney, Shane Stewart and Jason Bloodgood picking up the wins so far. A stellar field of Northwest racing superstars and visiting racers such as Stewart and Tayler Malsam have raced in a few of the weekly Outlaw 410 Sprints races as they all prepare for the big open comp races in the months ahead.
It should be an interesting weekend for the Budweiser 360 Sprint cars. Many tracks in the Northwest corner of the U.S. feature open comp 360 races and often times racers not in the points chases tend to either travel to Skagit Speedway or to other tracks, so you never quite know who might show up. Just 57 points separate the top seven drivers in point standings with second year driver Shane Broers leading the way. Veterans Brock Lemley and Rod Perkins are just two and six points behind the leader with second year phenom “Mad” Mack Brown and rookie Cody Anderlini rounding out the top five.
Defending champion Kelsey Carpenter is starting to pull away from the field in the Cook Road Shell Sportsman Sprint division. Bill Rude, Devin Barnes, Lyle Woods and Paul Burdick fill out the top five.
The Outlaw Hornet fields have been full, averaging 30 cars in the first month of the season. Cory Swatzina leads the points, with Don Ward, Wade Swatzina, Tyler Ketchum and “Fast” Freddie Vela hot on his heels.
Spectator gates will open at 5:45pm with racing starting at 7:00pm, for the John Carroll Classic presented by IRI this Saturday night, May 23rd at ASA Member Track Skagit Speedway.
More information is available by logging on to www.SkagitSpeedway.com .
