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NASCAR Weekly Racing Series cranks up at Kingsport Speedway

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (March 12) - Excitement is at an all-time high as Galaxy Kingsport Speedway gears up for the 2001 racing season at America's only weekly, concrete-surfaced NASCAR sanctioned facility. The season-opening Car Quest Auto Parts "Road to Charlotte Qualifier" is scheduled Friday, March 16 at the 3/8-mile oval. The 2001 campaign will mark the 40th year of racing at the "tradition-rich" track.

The track's Late Model Stock Car drivers will once again be competing in NASCAR's Weekly Racing Series - Blue Ridge Region, where they will battle not only for track points, but for regional points against drivers from tracks in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. The Blue Ridge regional champion will be eligible for the NASCAR WRS national championship.

Over the past five years Kingsport Speedway Late Model Stock track championships have been claimed by Jeff Agnew of Floyd, Va., in 1996 and '97, while Grundy, Va.'s Keith Stiltner won titles in '98 and '99. Wade Day of Blountville, not only won the 2000 track championship, but he captured the prestigious NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Blue Ridge Region title, which was worth in excess of $50,000.

Who will be crowned Late Model Stock champion in 2001? Several drivers will be in contention, among them Stiltner, Wayne Hale of Piney Flats, Kingsport' s Jeff Berry, Mark Ketron, Bill Lane and Rick Pannell, Robbie Ferguson of Jonesborough, Dave Burks and Wade Lopez, both of Abingdon, Va., Mike Potter and Bill Garrett, both of Johnson City, Bristol's Larry Utsman and R.J. Stanley, Brian Ramsey of Newport, Paul Shull of Clintwood, Va., Butch Jarvis and Phil Tuell, both of Blountville, Donnie Henry of Church Hill, Mike Memmer of Fall Branch, plus several others.

The battle to see who will win the coveted Late Model Stock "Rookie-of-the-Year" title in 2001 should prove to be quite intense, as several drivers will be moving up to the LMS division. They include Jeff Gilder, Reece Milton and Adam Dean of Kingsport, Danny O'Quinn Jr. of Coeburn, Va., Nate Montieth of Bristol, and Kres Vandyke of Abingdon, Va.

Be sure to catch a "Friday Night Thunder" racing program during the 2001 season at Galaxy Kingsport Speedway - a home to "racing champions." Each weekly racing program will feature the headlining NASCAR Late Model Stocks, plus the Sportsman, Street Stock, UMP Modified, Chargers, Galaxy Pro Challenge Cup Series Cars and Trucks, Legends and Modified Lites.

The March 16 season-opening Car Quest Auto Parts "Road to Charlotte Qualifier" will be the first event under the guidance of new track general manager Brian Vance. "We've been working like crazy trying to get all of our facility improvement projects here at the track completed before opening night, and we're going to be close," said Vance. "Hopefully the fans will see the effort we're putting forth in trying to make this track a 'showplace.' We've reworked our tier-parking and made improvements on the backstretch grandstands, and the new outside pit area will be paved too. Unfortunately, the weather has held us up on that project, but it will be finished in the next week or so. But I feel our exciting weekly racing programs will entice the fans to come back week after week."

Adult grandstand and tier-parking admission will be $10, $8 for students with a school ID, and children 12-and-under admitted free. Pit passes are $20. The pit gate will open at 3 p.m., Grandstand A and B gates at 5 p.m., with qualifying at 6 o'clock and racing at 7:30 p.m.