PITTSBURGH'S PENNSYLVANIA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
4/30/98
IMMEDIATE RELEASE Directions (Click Here) Motels (Click Here)
By Dow Carnahan Grandstand Gates open 12 noon practice 2pm racing after practice
(412)279-RACE
http://www.ppms.com
IMPERIAL, PA... Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway is gearing up for its first special event of 1998. As part of Miley Motor Sports' 10th anniversary season at the speedway the HAV-A-TAMPA Dirt Racing Series is making its initial visit to the Keystone State Sunday, May 17th for a 100 lap Late Model feature paying $10,000 to win. Trackside Magazine readers voted PPMS the top dirt Late Model track in the northeast last year. With the HAV-A-TAMPA Series making two stops this season along with the traditional S.T.A.R.S. sanctioned Penn National 100 and Pittsburgher 100, Late Model fans will certainly get an opportunity to see the best in the business tackle "Dirt's Monster Half Mile. In addition to the Late Models the poplar M. Stahl E-Modifieds will also be on the program.
While this will mark HAV-A-TAMPA's first stop at PPMS, many of the series regular competitors have enjoyed success at the speed plant in the past. Points leader Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, TN is the only driver who has won the Pittsburgher 100 three times. Bloomquist ,the all time leading HAV-A-TAMPA winner, already has three victories to date this season. Skip Arp of Georgetown, TN has two series wins this season and finished a strong seventh in last year's Pittsburgher. His first PPMS appearance. Wendall Wallace of Batesville, AR is third in the HAV-A-TAMPA point standings with Freddy Smith of Knoxville, TN fourth, and Dale McDowell of Rossville, GA fifth. Smith's best PPMS showing was a second in the 1992 Pittsbugher, while Wallace and McDowell will be gunning to make their first PPMS starts.
Dresden OH's Donnie Moran stands sixth in the point standings and includes the 1991 Pittsburgher among his 11 PPMS wins. Defending series champion Billy Moyer of Batesville, AR is seventh in the points race after winning April 251h in his hometown. Moyer's best PPMS finish was a second to Moran in the '91 Piftsburgher. Ray Cook of Murphy, NC, Dan Schilieper from Pewaukee, WI, and Dalton, GA's Marshall Green complete the top ten in HAV-A-TAMPA points. None of them have competed at PPMS in the past.
Two time Pittsburgher 100 champion Davey Johnson of Greensburg, PPMS career leading winner Lynn Geisler of Cranberry Township, Saxonburg's Ed Ferree, and Mark Banal of St. Clairsville, OH have already won Late Model features this season at PPMS. They are expected to head the list of strong local competitors looking to thwart the invaders.
Former Penn National 100 winners Gary Stuhler of Greencastle, Zanesville, OH's Bart Hartman, Jack Boggs of Grayson, KY, and Rick Aukland of Strasburg, OH are among the other big guns who will likely be on hand.
The HAV-A-TAMPA Dirt Racing Series will return to PPMS on Friday, August 14th The S.T.A.R.S. sanctioned Penn National 100 is Saturday, July 18th and the Pittsbugher 100 will take place the weekend of September 18 through the 21St
Gates will open Sunday, May 17th at 12PM with practice getting started at 2pm, and time trials and racing to follow. General admission adult tickets are $30. Pit admission is $38. For more information, call (412)279-race or visit our web page on the Internet at www.ppms.com.
PPMS will also be running it's four division action show on Saturday May 16th. Gates open at 5pm with racing action at 7pm. We have acres of free parking. Overnight RV parking at no cost is available.
1998 Pittsburgh's PA. Motor Speedway Press Releases Page