Auto Locator Racing.com This, That and the other...

    RAIN was again a problem for several speedways this past weekend with some tracks getting rained out and others forced to run in cold, damp weather that might have been better suited to watching old racing videos while sitting in front of a blazing fireplace.
    CLINTON COUNTY SPEEDWAY officials were forced to cancel their May 16th 5-division racing program due to consistent rain showers. Racing action will return to the Lock Haven, PA oval on Friday, May 23rd with the sprint cars being the main attraction along with super stocks, pro stocks, daredevils and a 50-lap four-cylinder Enduro event.
The kid's bike races for those under 16 will also be staged during the May 23rd event due to the cancellation.
Coming up is the hugely popular PACK THE TRACK-FREE NIGHT event on June 6th. The event will provide free general admission to fans of all ages in the general admission grandstand area. The event is made possible by a variety of sponsors including the Clinton County Economic Partnership of Lock Haven.
For more information check in at www.clintoncountyracing.com.
    BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY in Minersville, PA suffered a rainout for the third Friday in a row. The NASCAR sanctioned track has now lost five of the seven scheduled events this season due to rain.
The NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series returns to Big Diamond Raceway on Friday, May 23rd with NASCAR Modifieds, Sportsman Modifieds and Roadrunners being featured. The Sportsman Modifieds will run in twin 15-lap features with racing starting at 8 p.m.
And on Friday, May 30th the United Racing Club sprint cars will be part of the tripleheader show that will also include the NASCAR Modifieds and Roadrunners. It will be United Disabilities Services Night with ARCA/NASCAR racer Bobby Gerhart on hand to sign autographs. His #5 Bodycoat ARCA Pontiac will be on display.
    WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY in Mechanicsburg, PA suffered the loss of their 12th event of the season due to weather problems. This past weekend was a big loss with both nights of O'Reilly World of Outlaws sprint car racing rained out. They national traveling sprint organization will be back in July for three nights of racing. Following an absence of many years Autograph and Camera Night is back on the schedule at Williams Grove Speedway.
On Friday night, May 23, several race cars will be on display in the infield prior to the start of competition and the drivers of those cars will be available for photos and autographs.
410 sprint cars and 358 cubic inch sprint cars will provide the racing action when the green flag falls at 8 p.m. The photo and autograph session will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.
The Super Sportsman will join the 410 sprint cars on May 30th.
And on June 5th Winston Cup stars Tony Stewart and Dave Blaney will be at the track for a special CARQUEST Challenge event. There will be a special 10-lap modified stock car challenge event along with a full card of sprint car racing. And 800 people will be part of the night's autograph session with Stewart, Blaney and others.
    DAVIE FRANEK earned the victory in the sprint car feature at Selinsgrove Speedway on Saturday night. The 16-year-old lost a battle to the finish three weeks ago to Blane Heimbach but he was not to be denied this weekend.
Dave Ely won the United Racing Club sprint car feature topping Brian Seidel in the 25-lap main event.
The pro stock feature had to be postponed until this Saturday, May 24th and the Roadrunner main event was moved to Saturday, May 31.
    SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY will present the 23rd annual Housing Products, Inc. Jack Gunn Memorial for sprint cars on Saturday, May 24 at 7p.m. The 30-lap Gunn Memorial, a tribute to the late Hall of Fame race track promoter, will mark the first extra-distance race of the season for the Cindy Rowe Paintless Repair sprint cars at Selinsgrove Speedway.
For those who are new to the sport Jack Gunn was one of the most outstanding race promoters of his time. He promoted the Selinsgrove Speedway from 1968 through 1979. Gunn also promoted Williams Grove Speedway, Hagerstown, MD Speedway and Penn National Speedway during his career. In 1980 he lost his long battle with cancer.
HPI will be adding money to the purse for all divisions of competition that night. In addition to the sprints there will be racing for the late models, pro stocks and roadrunners.
    UNFORTUNATELY this column was going to press before we could include the World of Outlaw results from Hagerstown, MD Speedway. The Outlaw show had been scheduled for Saturday but wet weather forced them to postpone to Monday night.
    AT HAGERSTOWN, MD SPEEDWAY on Saturday night, May 24th, the Shorty Bowers/Bull Durham Memorial will be presented for the ITSI Late Model stock cars. That kicks off a two race weekend.
The Bowers/Durham Memorial will consist of two 20-lap features. Also on the program will be the Hoosier Tire/Mid-Atlantic late model sportsman and the Ernie's Salvage Yard pure stocks. Race time is 7:30 p.m.

    The second round of the Winchester/Hagerstown Speedways Shootout is set for Sunday, May 25th at Hagerstown, MD Speedway. This event was postponed by rain from April 18th.
The ITSI Late Models will be feature in the doubleheader program along with the Ernie's Salvage Yard pure stocks. Racing starts at 7 p.m.
    DOUG ESH became the 8th different winner in 10 events run this season at Lincoln Speedway. Esh was able to nose out point leader Lance Dewease in the 410 sprint show that had just 20 cars starting. Jeff Busby got third and five time track champion Fred Rahmer finished fourth.
Eric Stambaugh was able to win the 20-lap main event for the 358 sprint cars. It was this third straight win.
Mike Zeigler got the win in the 20-lap Thundercar feature.
This Saturday night, May 24th, Lincoln Speedway will be running its annual Memorial Day Weekend Super Sprint Championship with $3,000 on the line for the winner of the 30-lap championship event. The Thundercars will round out the two division show which will also shift its starting time to Lincoln's regular starting time of 7:30 p.m. for the rest of the season. The evening, in honor of Memorial Day weekend, will be capped off with a huge fireworks display.
To get the full story of racing at Lincoln check in at www.lincolnspeedway.com.
    LUCK WAS ON PAT CANNON'S SIDE as he won the Super Sportsman feature at Silver Spring Speedway. The luck was when Cannon was able to avoid a massive pile-up at the start of the feature race. Mark Billet won the Late Model feature and Craig Morgan was tops in the Street Stocks. One of the most prestigious events of the season will be presented for the Super Sportsman this Saturday, May 24th, with the 16th Annual Will Kreitzer Memorial at Silver Spring Speedway. The race is run in the memory of the late speedway owner and promoter.
Will's son, Alan, along with other members of the Kreitzer family, continue to operate the speedway, now it its 51st year of operation.
$1,800 will go to the winner of the Classic event and Howie Locke, one of the top talents in super sportsman racing, is the defending champion. Appalachian Harley-Davidson will sponsor the race. Late models and street stocks will also be part of the show with a 7 p.m. starting time.
    AT GRANDVIEW SPEEDWAY on Saturday night it was Jeff Strunk, the defending track champion, getting his first win of the season. Strunk was able to hold off the strong efforts of Randy Bailey in the Auto Locator Magazine night of racing competition.
In the late model feature it was Chris Shuey winning the feature for the second time this season.
NASCAR Modifieds and Late Models, at least 13 events, will be presented at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, PA at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night with racing being sponsored by Rossi Welding of Reading, PA. And coming up on Saturday, June 7th, the United Racing Club sprint cars will be in action along with the NASCAR Modifieds.
    JIMMY HORTON got his 103 career modified stock car feature win at Bridgeport, NJ Speedway on Saturday night. Bill Klingmeyer won the sportsman feature for the first time and Rich Franchetti won the outlaw stock car feature. The Garden State Sprint Car club sprint feature was won by Warren Durbin.
This Friday, 7 p.m. the micro sprints, 4 cylinder stocks and open competition sportsman stock cars are in action at Bridgeport Speedway. On Saturday night it will be a 6 p.m. starting time with Twin Twenties for the Modifieds plus their will be racing for the Sportsman, GSSCC Sprints and Outlaw Stocks.
Coming up at Bridgeport is a June 4th show that will feature 5-25 lap features (features only) for Modifieds, Sportsman, URC sprint cars, Wingless ARDC midgets, and 600 Wingless Micro Sprints.
    MOUNTAIN SPEEDWAY in St. Johns, PA is getting set for its first major event of the season when on Saturday night, May 31, the Sunoco Race of Champions Modified Tour rolls into the 1/3-mile asphalt oval with a 75-lap, $2500 to win Modified feature. Racing activities are set to begin at 6 p.m.
This event is expected to attract some of the top names in asphalt modified stock car racing.
    THE NASCAR WINSTON CUP cars will be at Dover (DE) International Speedway on Sunday, June 1 for a 400 miler. The Craftsman Trucks run in a 200 on May 30th and the Busch Series is there on May 31st for a 200 miler. Good seats still available.
My picks for the two big events this weekend, Robby Gordon will win the Indianapolis 500 and then he will hustle to Charlotte to run in the Coca Cola 600. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will win that Winston Cup event.
Ernie Saxton can be reached at Esaxton144@aol.com.