Area tracks expanding weekend racing programs

The area oval track auto racing fan will have some tough choices to make this weekend.
The three tracks of Central Missouri Speedway in Warrensburg, I-70 Speedway in Odessa, and Valley Speedway in Grain Valley arguably will be offering some of its better shows of the season. Naturally, giant fireworks displays also will be an added feature of the programs.
The Warrensburg track is hosting a two-day event that includes a Friday $1,500-to-win street-stock feature and a Saturday $5,000-to-win A-modified feature.
For drivers in each of the two divisions, the payoffs will represent one of the larger ones throughout the season.
“There will be some heavy hitters for the modified division,” said Blue Springs driver Kyle Westerhold, who placed second in the 2006 event. “Almost anyone who competes regularly in modifieds will be there. Then tracks – such as Valley Speedway and Lakeside Speedway (in Kansas City, Kan.) that normally have modifieds as a part of their Friday night program – won’t have them on this Friday’s program, so they will be free to compete at Warrensburg.
“It will be tough to make the championship feature Saturday night at Warrensburg.”
The Warrensburg program also will be billed as the fifth annual Tom Wilson Memorial Barbecue Bowl. Wilson, who was a Raytown resident, was a longtime publicist for the track before his death.
“It’s appropriate that an event is named after Tom Wilson,” said Kirk Elliot of Sports Radio 810 WHB’s “Racin’ Boys” program and racinboys.com. “He was the standard as an area auto racing publicist and was really dedicated to the sport of auto racing.”
WESTERHOLD TAKING RARE WEEKEND OFF: Westerhold, the Blue Springs driver, said he will be in the grandstands Saturday night instead of a race car at the Warrensburg track.
“We won’t race Friday night at Valley since modifieds won’t be a part of the program,” said Westerhold, who holds sixth spot in the Valley points race. “Then we decided it might better to save the car since we have to pay a $200 entry fee to compete in the Warrensburg program. It will be tough to make the championship feature in that program.”
I-70 ALSO OFFERING TWO NIGHTS OF RACING: I-70 kicked off its weekend with a Friday night dirt-track program that featured a school-bus figure-eight race.
The Saturday night program will allow the fan to witness quality racing on the dirt as well as the asphalt track.
The stars of the American Speed Association Late Model North Series will compete in a 150-lapper on the asphalt track.
The Southern Midget Racing Series will make an appearance on the dirt track.
MLRA RACE SLATED FOR VALLEY: The Midwest Latemodel Racing Association contingent took the place of A-modifieds in the Friday night program at Valley Speedway.
For Harriett Chancellor, who owns and operates the MLRA organization along with her husband Cowboy, the race represents relief in one sense.
“We only have only five miles to travel to get the track,” said Chancellor, who lives with her husband in Buckner. “We always look forward to racing at Valley Speedway.”
TWO NIGHTS OF RACING AT KNOXVILLE: Like area tracks, two nights of racing this weekend will also be the rule at Iowa’s famed dirt track.
The Friday night program featured 305 sprints and farm trucks, while the Saturday night card will have twin features in the divisions for winged sprint cars with 410-cubic-inch and 360-cubic-inch engines.
That means Brian Brown of Grain Valley and Brown’s uncle, Danny Lasoski of Higginsville, Mo., will get a chance to race twice.