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USAC PEPSI/MT.
DEW KNOXVILLE MIDGET NATIONALS
EXCITEMENT ADDED BY TV, SANCTIONING AFFILIATES, AND MOPAR
KNOXVILLE, IOWA (February 15, 2006) - “USAC Thunder” on The Outdoor
Channel, the $5,000 Mopar Challenge Bonus, and American Racing
Drivers Club (ARDC), Midwest Auto Racing Association (MARA), Rocky
Mountain Midget Racing Association (RMMRA), and the Southern Midget
Racing Series (SMRS). The excitement of those affiliations is
generating a real post-Chili-Bowl “buzz” regarding the United States
Auto Club (USAC)-sanctioned Pepsi/Mt. Dew Knoxville Midget
Nationals, June 2-3, at the half-mile Knoxville Raceway.
Said Knoxville director of racing Ralph Capitani this week at the
RPM Promoters Workshop in Florida, “It’s funny, but even the other
promoters here realize that our early June weekend in Knoxville is
going to be huge for midget car racing in the States. This entire
event, from the Thursday night practice and the Friday night
$1,650-to-win King Doodlebug Classic preliminary show through the
Saturday night $3,350-to-win finale, is going to be very team- and
fan-friendly! And because of that, I wouldn't be surprised to see
some real international involvement during this weekend before all
is said and done.”
While USAC and its National Midget Car Series will be the
sanctioning body for the fifth annual event, four additional
regional sanctioning organizations have agreed to be affiliated with
the two-day show on the Marion County Fairgrounds. ARDC in the East
and RMMRA in the West have both agreed to be non-points affiliates,
while two Midwestern clubs, MARA and SMRS, have committed to being
full-points affiliates. Said ‘Cappy’, “We expect the presence of
these affiliates will boost our car count by twenty or so, but more
importantly, we are excited about the quality of competition that
they bring to the table. Champions like Ray Bull of Pennsylvania,
Donnie Lehmann of Illinois, Tony Rossi of Colorado, and Joe Boyles
of Missouri add a lot of diversity to our national championship
program and we’re really proud to welcome them back in 2006.”
The Outdoor Channel is bringing its “USAC Thunder” television
cameras, with emcee Jack Arute, to Knoxville for the Saturday night
Pepsi/Mt. Dew-sponsored Knoxville Midget Nationals. The Knoxville
show will air on Saturday, July 1, at 5 p.m. Eastern time.
Interestingly, on Saturday afternoon, June 3, the National Sprint
Car Hall of Fame will be hosting its seventeenth annual induction
ceremonies, guaranteeing that many past and present sprint car
racing champions will be on-hand during the weekend of the Knoxville
Midget Nationals.
Finally, Mopar has partnered with Knoxville Raceway to offer the
Mopar Challenge Bonus for the Pepsi/Mountain Dew Knoxville Midget
Nationals event. If the winner of the Saturday feature utilizes a
Mopar powerplant, that driver will receive a $5,000 MoPowered bonus
check, courtesy of Mopar. All entrants competing with Mopar power
are eligible for the Mopar Bonus Challenge. Leading the competition
will be Tony Stewart Racing Enterprises' Josh Wise of California,
the 2005 USAC National Midget Car Series champion. He'll be joined
by Team Mopar's Levi Jones of Illinois, Kyle Nicholas of Florida,
Teddy Beach of Ohio, and 2004 King Doodlebug and Knoxville Midget
Nationals champion Jerry Coons, Jr., of Arizona. Mopar is based in
Center Line, Mich., and is the exclusive original equipment supplier
of parts and accessories for Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep® vehicles.
For more information on the Knoxville Raceway and the June 2-3
Pepsi/Mt. Dew Knoxville Midget Nationals, individuals are urged to
visit
www.knoxvilleraceway.com. For more information on the NSCHoF
induction weekend, people are encouraged to visit
www.sprintcarhof.com. For
more information regarding Mopar, the Mopar Challenge Bonus, or USAC
Racing, log on to
www.moparspeed.com, www.mopar.com
,or www.usacracing.com. The
other midget car sanctioning affiliate web sites are as follows:
www.mararacing.com,
www.rmmra.org,
www.smrsmidgets.com and
www.ardcmidgets.com.
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