Modifieds Race At Stateline
Thanks to a local racing enthusiast, the Northwest Modifieds will be racing for a bigger payday in their Saturday night race at Stateline Speedway.
And thanks to those same modifieds, the Spokane Shriner’s Hospital will have a little more money - more than $1,000 worth - in their account as well.
The River City Auto Body Mid-Season Championship, sponsored by late-model driver and former modified competitor Rick Schultz, will be the headline event and culminate with a 75-lap feature race. Time trials begin at 6 p.m.
Joining the modifieds will be the Compacts, Streetstocks and Stateline C.R.O.W cars.
On the track the drivers will be trying to stop Greg Ochs’ run at his first series title. The Colville driver solidified his hold on first place last Saturday by winning his third race of the season at Ephrata.
The Shriners’ windfall in this form trickle-down economics is the result of a tire recycling effort that has gone on for about a year, said Vern Bendickson, Modified Series vice president.
“Getting rid of old racing tires is a real problem for us,” Bendickson said. “We found a place in Idaho, Hurst Re-Caps, that would pay us for our old tires, take ‘em off our hands and then re-cap them.”
The modifieds have worked with the Shriners for a couple of seasons and it was decided that they could benefit the most from the proceeds of the tire recapping project.
The Force to be with us
Two-time defending champ John Force leads a contingent of Funny Cars and Top Fuel cars back to Spokane Raceway Park for the AHRA World Finals Aug. 11-13. Pro qualifying runs Friday and Saturday nights at 8 with the championship finals beginning at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Hydroplane update
The work to get Spokane’s Appian Renegade unlimited hydroplane ready to race seems to be endless, as the boat’s volunteer crew found out during last weekend’s Columbia Cup at Tri Cities.
And as if the crew needed more to do in preparation for Sunday’s Texaco Seafair Trophy Race in Seattle, superficial cracks developed in the decking on the hydro.
“Well we know what we’ll be doing when we get home,” said team manager and driver Tom Hindley between heats at the Tri Cities. “We’ll be re-decking the boat.”
The project normally takes about four days, but the crew had to cut that in half in order to get the boat to Seattle in time for Friday’s first qualifying session.
Pit stops
Local drag racers get one more chance to tune their cars for next weekend’s AHRA World Finals as Spokane Raceway Park presents its regular bracket racing program Saturday beginning at 4:30. The stock cars will also run on the half-mile oval, starting at 5:30… . Dirt track racing resumes at Northport International Raceway Saturday with the “Colville Auto/Parts Pro 150,” beginning at 4 p.m. . . . The Spokane Kart Racing Association will run its seventh points race of the season Sunday at the Spokane ORV Park in Airway Heights… . Spokane had good representation in last Sunday’s Coors Light Western 250 Northwest Tour race at Evergreen Speedway. Port Angeles driver Monte English of the Spokane-based team of Ron and Kathy Hall, finished second to race winner Ron Eaton, claiming the team’s biggest payday of the season, $5,775. Kevin Richards of Spokane, driving his first NW Tour race, was 11th, finishing 246 of the 250 laps. Rick Schultz was 17th.
xxxx