Srp Changes Date For World Finals
It’s been a busy, busy offseason for Inland Northwest race tracks and event promoters. Now all the behind-the-scenes work will be put to the test beginning Saturday when local drag and stock car racing seasons begin.
Some of the newsmaking events during the winter include Spokane Raceway Park trying to jump-start its AHRA World Finals with a new date, the Spokane Country ORV Park going into the hands of private operators, and major-league flat-track motorcycle racing coming to Spokane for the first time in September.
About the only local venue not making any major headlines is Stateline Speedway, which will present many of the same events it has had in the past.
In all, Playfair Race Course, the Spokane Motorsports Complex, Spokane Raceway Park and Stateline Speedway will offer nearly 200 race dates that give fans their fill of just about anything that moves with a motor.
SRP shifts finals date
A quick scan of the Spokane Raceway Park schedule reveals the biggest news at the Airway Heights’ facility.
Trying to reverse the trend of drastically dwindling attendance, and in an attempt to increase car counts, SRP’s AHRA World Finals will move to July 23-25. The race has run on the second weekend of August since 1977. Waiting to see where major National Hot Rod Association races would fall on the schedule, SRP president Orville Moe opted to move his yearly marquee event. The finals will now fall after Denver’s Mile-High Nationals (July 15-18) and just before the Northwest Nationals at Seattle (July 30-Aug. 1).
Hampered by the proximity to NHRA races, plus the falling value of the Canadian dollar, SRP crowds for this event have been on the wane, perhaps hitting a low point last year. Spokane is pretty much on the way for many racers coming from Denver to Seattle, so it could help augment the field of professional competitors, too.
Switching places will be the Fox Hunt and Jet Car Show, which moves to Aug. 14.
A full schedule of weekly bracket drag racing, the return of the Mountain Dew High School Drag Series and the Spokane Pro and Mod Gas Association are all back on the drag strip.
The oval track will have five classes competing on a rotating basis between this Sunday and the first weekend of October. The Northwest Late Models will be back to run a six-race series. Late-model fans will appreciate the fact only one local race, not five as was the case a year ago, conflict with the Interstate Series at Stateline. Racing runs Sunday afternoons through April, then moves to Saturday nights in May.
Stateline schedule updated
Stateline Speedway’s schedule of 60 races didn’t get off to the start promoters Joe and Walt Doellefeld wanted. A storm on Sunday blanketed the Post Falls track with 2 inches of snow, forcing cancellation of the annual Racers Jamboree.
“We had a rough start,” Joe Doellefeld said. “Hopefully, it isn’t a sign of things to come.”
The jamboree, a non-points event that allows all classes to get in track time before points races start, will be run this Saturday instead with time trials at 5 p.m. and racing at 6:30. The points season begins April 10 with the first appearance of the Columbia River Sprints.
Unlike years past, when April races were run Sunday afternoons, Stateline programs will run Saturdays right from the start.
Included on the schedule at the quarter-mile oval will be seven local classes, plus regular appearances by the Columbia River Sprint Cars, Interstate Superstocks and Northwest Modifieds.
The popular Wednesday Night Fever program kicks off April 21 with Bump-To-Pass and Fever Four Hobbies. One date of note on the Wednesday schedule is July 7, when the Northwest Modifieds make a special appearance. Six of the 11 Interstate Superstock Series races will be at Stateline. May 8 will be the first local appearance of the series.
Stateline will also be the site of one of the Northwest Legends points races July 10. This class, which had its start in Charlotte, N.C., a few years ago, is made up of -scale 1940s-style cars.
Four demolition derbys will be held, including the annual July 3 event that includes fireworks.
Pit stops
The 1999 NASCAR Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series gets under way Saturday with the Raybestos Brakes 100 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash. Qualifying starts at 8:30 p.m. Friday. The 40-car field takes the green flag at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Three-time series champion Garrett Evans, who was last season’s runner-up, is regarded the favorite every year, but more so this year with defending series champion Gary Lewis planning to run a limited schedule.
After three races in the NASCAR Winston West Series, Spokane’s Kevin Richards is about in the same place he was a year ago. After qualifying sixth at Phoenix last weekend, Richards’ Monaco Enterprises Chevy broke a camshaft and he finished 26th.
After three races in 1998, Richard’s average finish was 15th. This year, he’s averaging 16th.
Dirt-track racing is back at both Northport and Republic this season. Northport’s season starts April 25 and Republic’s May 15th.
Northwest Water Competition, a new organization that will be promoting outboard hydroplane racing in the region, will hold another general information meeting April 10 at 6 p.m. at the Liberty Lake Sewer District Administration Building (behind Albertson’s).
The group will promote the American Outboard Federation Short Course Nationals July 3-4 in Priest River.
Info: Roy Mackey, 255-6237.
The Spokane Kart Racing Association will have track clean-up sessions the next three Saturdays at the Spokane Motorsports Complex (formerly the ORV Park). The points season begins April 24.