New Hall of Famer Gary Wright Competes in Masters Friday!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
GARY WRIGHT SET TO COMPETE IN MASTERS CLASSIC ON EVE OF HIS INDUCTION INTO THE NATIONAL SPRINT CAR HALL OF FAME
KNOXVILLE, IOWA (June 1, 2011) – Four-time North American 360 Sprint Car Poll “Driver of the Year” Gary Wright of Hooks, Texas, is set to compete in Friday night’s nineteenth annual Masters Classic winged 360-cubic-inch sprint car race at Knoxville Raceway on the eve of his induction into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. “The Texan” will compete against nearly twenty fellow sprint car drivers that are age fifty and over, including former National Championship Racing Association (NCRA) titlist and 2002 Masters Classic winner Mike Peters, six-time Knoxville Raceway ‘410’ champion and 2008 Masters Classic winner Randy Smith, and two-time ‘360’ track titlist Dwight Snodgrass. In addition, Knoxville Raceway will host a complete ‘360’ round of the Lucas Oil Knoxville Championship Cup Series on Friday night, featuring opening-night 2011 winner and current point leader Russ Hall, Chad Humston, Nate Van Haaften, two-time 2011 winner Jon Agan, David Hall and Clint Garner.
Besides Gary Wright of Texas, Mike Peters of Kansas, Randy Smith of Iowa and Dwight Snodgrass of Iowa, other Masters Classic entrants to date include event rookie Bruce Griffith of Texas, Randy Droescher of Iowa, Bill Smith of Minnesota, David Brown of Missouri, Earnest Jennings of Oklahoma, Roland Johnson of Florida, T.J. Giddings of Texas, and Dale McCarty of Missouri. According to Knoxville Raceway director of racing Ralph “Cappy” Capitani, “We really expect to have a field of twenty veterans competing in this year’s $2,000-to-win Masters Classic, which means we are going to need some last-minute ‘surprise’ entrants. One of the added perks this year is that the Masters competitors can also compete in the $1,250-to-win regular ‘360’ show on Friday night and the $2,000-to-win special ‘360’ show on Saturday night. All-in-all, it should be a great program on Friday night, all for only a $15 general admission price.”
Past winners of the Knoxville Masters Classic are Rick Ferkel (1993, ’94, ‘95), Billy Engelhart (1996, ‘97, Jerry Crabb (1998), Roger Rager (1999, 2001, ‘05), Terry Pletch (2000), Mike Peters (2002), Jimmy Sills (2003, ’04), Shane Carson (2006), A.J. Weaver (2007), Randy Smith (2008), and Sammy Swindell (2009, ’10). Unlike in previous years, this year’s competitors must be age fifty and over, and not have raced in more than ten winged ‘410’ feature races in the last two years.
The Knoxville Masters Classic will again be held on the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame (NSCHoF) induction weekend. Knoxville Raceway will host an open track practice for the Masters Classic competitors on Thursday, June 2, from 7 until 9 p.m. The $2,000-to-win, 22-lap Knoxville Masters Classic will take place on Friday, June 3, along with a regular $1,250-to-win, 15-lap feature show for the track’s weekly Lucas Oil Championship Cup Series ‘360’ competitors. Those Masters Classic competitors will be allowed to compete in both portions of the night’s program, if they so desire.
The twenty-second NSCHoF induction banquet will be held on Saturday afternoon, June 4, in the Dyer-Hudson Hall on the Marion County Fairgrounds. Then, the Saturday night program will include the track’s three winged sprint car divisions in Lucas Oil Championship Cup Series competition. The night’s three feature races will include a $400-to-win, 12-lap main for the 305’s, a $3,000-to-win, 20-lap main for the 410’s, and a special $2,000-to-win, 15-lap main for the 360’s, respectively.
For information on the Friday-Saturday night races at the Knoxville Raceway, individuals are urged to visit the track’s web site at www.knoxvilleraceway.com. For tickets to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame induction banquet, fans are urged to call Lori DeMoss at 1-800-874-4488 or e-mail her at ldemoss@sprintcarhof.com. Banquet tickets are just twenty-five dollars each, but they need to be reserved in advance.
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