Speedway revs up

By Sally Carrera

Jacksonville Speedway gears up to open another exciting season this Friday April 10 as the track hosts the Neal Tire MOWA Sprint Car Series. The track has plans for a very aggressive season as it returns to nearly weekly racing – including winged sprint cars on most Fridays.

“We have come a long ways in the past few years,” remarked Ken Dobson of CILTRAK, the group that operates the Speedway. “We took the track over just to keep it open about four years ago and had a very limited schedule of special events. Year-by-year we have increased the schedule to where it is now back to where we can again feature nearly weekly racing. This shapes up to be a very exiting season.”

Highlights of the 2015 campaign at Jacksonville Speedway include several appearances by the Neal Tire MOWA Sprints, along with POWRi National Midgets, the DIRTcar Summer Nationals and the 2nd Annual Ron Milton Race of Champions in October. The major event of the season is the May 15th Sprints Gone Wild event featuring both the National Sprint League and MOWA Sprints. The field anticipated for the event includes ‘King of the Outlaws’ Steve Kinser, Danny Lasoski, Terry McCarl, Danny Smith, Bryan Clauson, Rico Abreu and many more.

“The Outlaws wanted to take a year or two off to keep the Jacksonville event special,” said Dobson. “So we went out and put together a show that will rival any sprint car race in America with the field we have lined-up for Sprints Gone Wild. It’s hard to say any event can be bigger than our World of Outlaws event, but this one is arguably at least equal to it in terms of the big names that will be here.”

The track is also working hard to become a Friday night destination for families with many special promotions. Early season promotions include FFA/Salute to Ag night on April 24, Youth Sports and Organizations Night on May 1, and Kenny Wallace Autism Awareness Night on May 8, when NASCAR star and Fox Sports personality Kenny Wallace will be racing at the speedway.

This Friday’s opener also includes the Modified, Stock Car and Hornet division as those classes begin their season-long battles for a track Championship. Grandstands open at 5 p.m. with racing at 7 p.m.

“It’s going to be a fun summer on Friday nights at Jacksonville Speedway,” Dobson concluded. If you haven’t been to your local race track in a number of years, find a Friday to give us a try. We promise you will have a blast.”

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