Syndicated by DirtAmerica.com

Updated: October 9, 2002

DIRT LATE MODEL NEWS & NOTES:

RICK ECKERT of York, PA clinched his second straight UDTRA Championship on October 5 at The Rock/Allegany County (MD) Speedway.

BILL FRYE nailed down his second consecutive O'Reilly Auto Part's Mid-America Racing Series Championship.

JOEY MACK failed won the MARS’ series Kuntz and Company Rookie of the Year Championship.

By winning the Southern All Star Fall Classic at Cleveland Speedway on October 5, DUAYNE HOMMEL made it three wins in three races in 2002 at Joe Lee Johnson's 1/3 mile speed plant. "This track has been real good to me and we enjoy racing here," grinned Hommel leaning on his Alert Oil and Gas, Lakeway Concrete, Pro Power Engines Warrior Monte Carlo entry in victory lane.

Rookie driver ERIC MYERS won the Wayne County (OH) Speedway and Lakeville (OH) Speedway Rookie of the Year titles.

CHUB FRANK clinched his third consecutive Renegade Dirt Car Racing Series title last weekend at Maryland’s The Rock/Allegany County Speedway’s BIG KAHUNA II race. Frank joins Steve Francis as the only drivers to win three-in-a-row with the series.

RICH GARDNER has signed a " Life-Time Deal " with Toby Jordan from Tobber Racing of Lottsville, Pa. The deal was finalized after careful consideration over the past weekend." We have worked well together over the past two years and have developed a great relationship together," stated Rich. “We wanted to get this out of the way, so that we could concentrate on getting things ready for our fall trips and looking ahead to prepare for next year. Gardner clinched his third straight Eriez Speedway title this season.

After dominating the regional standings for much of the season, BILLY TUCKWELL, of Metamora, Ill., won the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series presented by Dodge Heartland Region championship with 15 victories, 20 top-five finishes in 21 starts in Peoria (Ill.) Speedway’s Dirt Late Model division. The regional championship, Tuckwell’s first, is worth $43,000 in post-season awards.

It is being reported that DAVEY JOHNSON will have a new Mastersbilt chassis soon.

LES HARE won Virginia Motor Speedway’s $10,000 Thurston Spring Service Super Late Model Championship.

GREG JOHNSON, with his second place finish in the recent ‘Johnny Appleseed Classic’ at Eldora Speedway, clinched his first-ever Sunoco sponsored American Late Model Series (ALMS) crown.

Heading into the season finale this weekend for the STARS Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series Presented by Arizona Sport Shirts, EDDIE CARRIER, JR of Leburn, KY holds a 155 points lead over Timmy Yeager of Harrodsburg, KY in the battle for the first ever championship for the series.

Ohio drive KYLE BROWN, who took off the 2002 season, will be back in action in 2003.

JOE KOSISKI repeated as track champion at Nebraska Raceway Park with Steve Kosiski, who was fifth in Sunday's feature, finishing second in points.

The 2002 Carolina Clash Champion is SCOTT AUTRY, who won the points last Saturday night by a mere nine markers over Billy Hicks.

TODD RITCHEY claimed The Rock/Allegany County (MD) Speedway’s Super Late Model title by a mere three points over Dave Troutman.

BRAD NEAT won the 2002 Bluegrass (KY) Speedway championship title.

Ohio racer DJ MILLER will be doing some traveling next season. Already planned are weekends in Tennessee, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

BOBBY TURNER, a two time Dixie Speedway champion, will return to Dixie Speedway this weekend for the UDTRA PRO DirtCar Series Hardee’s Shootout. Turner’s invitation for the Hardee’s Shootout came on July 20th when Bobby placed 12th for the UDTRA Dixie Speedway event. The 2002 season has yielded Turner and his Millwood Motorsports team three feature events, two wins at Sugar Creek Raceway and one win at Dixie Speedway along with numerous top-5 and top-10 finishes at North Georgia Speedway (Chatsworth, GA) and Stateline Speedway (Ringgold, GA). Bobby’s racing efforts are sponsored by Millwood Plumbing based out of Acworth, GA, JP Drilling of Canton, GA and JKT Investments. Turner competes in Rocket Chassis with horsepower supplied from Ernie Elliott Engines and Draime Racing Engines and campaigns both Chevrolet Monte Carlos’ and Ford Taurus’.

DIRT AMERICA!

“Dirt Car Racing’s ONLINE Magazine”

has been updated with:

ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS:

---DIRT TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Preview

---DIRT TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Fan/Driver Guide

---CARL SHORT – The Sport Today

---RACEFEST WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Preview

---CHUB FRANK – Chubzilla Takes 3 Titles

---CHARLIE DUNCAN – Becoming A ‘Master’

---JIM BERNHEISEL – Renegade Rookie Winner

---THE FASTER IMAGE – Fine Art Comes To DLM Racing

---UDTRA HARDEE’S SHOOT-OUT Preview

NEW COLUMNS BY:

---ROD THURGOOD – Late Model News From Australia

---DOC LEHMAN – Commentary & Observations

---REV PAT EVANS – w/ his weekly message & news

---JEFF YOST – w/ NE winners report

Also: Updated NEWSLINE!!!

New Press releases Added!

http://www.dirtamerica.com

SANCTION NEWS & NOTES:

The next race for the UDTRA Pro DirtCar Series will be the season finale on October 11-12 with the $55,000-to-win 13th Annual Hardee's Shootout at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, GA. For ticket information call (770) 926-5315.

The next UDTRA action on SPEED Channel will be on October 10 at 11 p.m. ET with action from the USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, WI. The Big Kahuna 2 from The Rock will air on October 17 at 11 p.m. ET. For the complete UDTRA SPEED Channel schedule and a direct feedback link, visit the UDTRA web site at www.udtra.com.

Due to a scheduled event for the Southern All Star series the same week-end as the $100,000 plus purse event at W.V.M.S., officials have decided to drop a provisional starting spot for a top ten driver from the SAS series and will offer a provisional starting spot to a top ten points driver from the Ohio-based Sunoco American Late Model Series. West Virginia Motor Speedway will offer one provisional starting spot for the top ten points drivers from the UDTRA, MARS, ALMS and UMP Summer Nationals sanctioning bodies. In addition to the change, the pre-registration deadline for the series provisional starting spots has been extended to October 1, 2002. To be eligible for the series provisional starting spots an eligible driver must be in the top ten in the respective series point standings, must pre-register by October 1, 2002 and must compete in each scheduled event for the October 19 & 20 week-end.

The Mid-Atlantic Championship Series (MACS) $90,000 season finale, Fall Fest VIII, will once again be hosted by Jack and Donna Lentz’s, Challenger Raceway, Indiana, PA, on Saturday and Sunday, October 12 and 13.

The 2002 Mr. Goodcents Super Series, World Dirt Racing League season comes to a conclusion this coming weekend with the annual ‘Hawkeye 100’ at Crawford County Speedway in Denison, Iowa.

The STARS Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series Presented by Arizona Sport Shirts will head to Harold Hardgroves' Lake Cumberland Speedway in Burnside, KY for the 20th and final points race of the 2002 racing season on Saturday Night, October 12. The grand finale will feature a 40 lap A-main event paying $3000 to win.

RACE TRACK NEWS & NOTES:

Virginia Motor Speedway officials have released their 2003 racing schedule to its competitors. The 2003 season is scheduled to start April 12, 2003 and go through October 18, 2003 with the running of the 34th Annual Fall Classic. Further details of the 2003 season will be released in the next few weeks.

Latrobe (PA) Speedway will switch to Saturday nights in 2003.

West Virginia Motor Speedway will have a Charity Golf Tournament on October 18 for Make - A – Wish. This will have drivers, media, local business people. Anyone interested in participating call WVMS GM Clint Doll at 304-489-1889.

Wayne County (OH) Speedway will have the Late Models scheduled for 21 nights in 2003.

The 13th Annual Cliburn Tank Lines Magnolia State Championships was the biggest race ever held at Columbus (MS)Speedway with a record 214 race cars in the pits including 82 Super Late Models and a literal standing room only-overflow record crowd on hand to witness the premier dirt racing event in Mississippi. The next and final event of the 2002 racing season at Columbus Speedway will be on November 29th and 30th. The 2nd Annual Possum Town Grand Prix will take place with a $5,000 to win Super Late Model Championship event.

MEDIA NEWS & NOTES:

RPM Racing News will publish their last regular season issue on October 8. The final 2002 issue will be the December Christmas Edition. www.dirt-racers.com/rpm.

Brent Harms has recently begun writing for Sam Holbrooks’ BEHIND THE WHEEL/LATE MODEL AMERICA newspaper.

DirtBabe35’s website has a new photo gallery posted from the Lavonia-GA State Championships. Go to: http://www.angelfire.com/ga4/dirtbabe35

Check out the newly updated/revamped VA DIRT LUVRS website at: www.vadirtluvrs.net

Our get-well wishes are extended to Ernie Saxton, a columnist and writer for AREA AUTO RACING NEWS and a host of other publications, including DIRT AMERICA, who is currently undergoing several procedures in the hospital.

Greg Stephens’ MOTORSPORTS VIDEO now has the 32nd Annual WORLD 100 video now available on tape or dvd. Info at: www.motorsportsvideo.com.

OZ LATE MODELS, the website for Australian dirt Late Model coverage, have just launched a new message board at: http://pub37.ezboard.com/blatemodeltalk

DIRT AMERICA columnist/photographer CLIFFORD DOVE has a new Renegade photo gallery from Winchester posted at: www.vadirtluvrs.net

EASTERN KENTUCKY LATE MODEL NEWS has been updated at: http://www.latemodelnews.motorpage.com

The October 2002 issue of DIRT LATE MODEL Magazine is now out and features new stories on Mike Balzano, John Mason, Doug McCammon, Bud Lunsford, Eddie Carrier, Jr., Bret Sievert, Sara Maloney, Davet Johnson, Greg Mitchell and much, much more! Info at: www.mompub.com.

©2002 Doc Lehman/DirtAmerica.com