KNOXVILLE, TN – The 3rd Annual United Dirt Track
Racing Association Triple Crown for the UDTRA Pro DirtCar Series is set for this weekend.
There will be three 50-lap $10,000-to-win programs beginning at Atomic Motor Speedway in
Knoxville, TN on Friday night, Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, GA on Saturday night, and Rome
Speedway in Rome, GA on Sunday night.
Atomic Motor Speedway presents One Hot Night on Friday night to open the UDTRA Triple Crown. The top dirt late model drivers in the country will take on several local favorites in a 50-lap $10,000-to-win main event that will be taped by Knoxville, TN NBC affiliate WBIR-TV and be aired the hour before Brickyard 400 on August 5.
The UDTRA DirtCar Series contingent will be led by point leader Rick Eckert of York, PA, who has five wins this season. Eckert knows where the Atomic Speedway winner’s circle is located, as he picked up his first career UDTRA victory at Atomic in 1999. Eckert leads Steve Francis of Ashland, KY in the point’s chase by 165 points.
Francis is fresh off his first UDTRA win of the 2001 season last Sunday in Parkersburg, WV, and The Kentucky Colonel has been known in past seasons to come on strong in mid-July. Another driver that is known to come on strong in the hot summer months is the defending and four-time UDTRA Champion Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, TN.
Bloomquist has six wins this season, but several DNFs early in the season has him sitting third in the point standings, 341 points behind Eckert. Three of Bloomquist’s 83 career UDTRA wins have come on the World’s Fastest 1/3-mile high-banked clay oval, with the latest coming last year.
The 1999 UDTRA champion Dale McDowell of Rossville, GA is really anxious for the Triple Crown weekend. McDowell is fourth in the point standings, but has yet to post a victory in UDTRA competition this season. McDowell has UDTRA career wins at all three tracks. Wendell Wallace of Batesville, AR is fifth in points, and he also is another driver with wins at all three tracks.
Dan Schlieper of Pewaukee, WI is sixth in points with one win, followed by Jimmy Mars of Elk Mound, WI in seventh with two wins. Ray Cook of Brasstown, NC is eighth in points, and is another driver looking for his first win of the season. Cook took an Atomic UDTRA win last season, and he also has a Rome UDTRA win on his resume.
The 1996 UDTRA Champion Freddy Smith of Knoxville, TN is ninth in the point’s chase with one win, and the 2001 UDTRA Rookie of the Year points leader Joe Izzo of Chicago, IL is tenth overall. Other top UDTRA entries expected are Randy Korte of Highland, IL, Steve Boley of West Liberty, IA, and Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, IA.
Skip Arp of Georgetown, TN has been running mainly in the Southeast this season after being the 1998 UDTRA National Championship Runner-Up. Arp is a former Atomic Motor Speedway track champion.
Many-time Atomic Motor Speedway Champion Billy Ogle Jr. of Knoxville, TN is another local favorite along with another former track champion Patrick Duggan of Lenoir City, TN, and Scott Sexton of Pigeon Forge, TN.
Dixie Speedway will host the second jewel of the UDTRA Triple Crown, on Saturday night. Francis is the defending champion of the Summer Dixie UDTRA stop, while Bloomquist won The UDTRA Shootout and his fourth UDTRA Championship at Dixie last October.
The high-speed half-mile at Rome Speedway is one of the fastest tracks the UDTRA Pro DirtCar Series will compete at all season. McDowell is the defending UDTRA Rome Speedway champion.
Dixie and Rome are two other tracks with a tough local flavor for the UDTRA regulars. Marshall Green of Dalton, GA has a few UDTRA wins under his belt. Phil Coltrane of Canton, GA had a great UDTRA run at Dixie last season, and other local favorites include Frank Ingram of Acworth, GA, Rodney Franklin, Bobby Turner, and Vernon Smith.
On Friday at Atomic Motor Speedway, the pit gate opens at 2:30 p.m., the front gate opens at 5 p.m., with hot laps scheduled for 7 p.m. For race day and ticket information call (865) 986-3589, or visit the Atomic Motor Speedway web site at www.atomicmotorspeedway.com. Atomic Motor Speedway is located west of Knoxville, just north of I-40 at exit 364.
On Saturday at Dixie Speedway, the pit gate opens at 2:30 p.m., the front gate opens at 5 p.m., with hot laps scheduled for 6:30 p.m. For race day and ticket information call (770) 926-5315, or visit the Dixie Speedway web site at www.dixiespeedway.com. Dixie Speedway is located two miles west of I-575 on S.R. 92.
On Sunday at Rome Speedway, the pit gate opens at 2:30 p.m., the front gate opens at 5 p.m., with hot laps scheduled for 6:30 p.m. For race day and ticket information call (706) 235-2541. Rome Speedway is located 4 miles east of Rome on U.S. 411, then 1 1/2 mile south on Wilbanks Road, then 1/4 mile on Chulio Road.
(Photo by Neil Miller)
