WAYNE WEILER MEMORIAL SALUTE TO INDY MAY 24 AT MANZANITA SPEEDWAY

The Discount Tire American Sprint Car Series, Canyon Division, returns to Manzanita Speedway and for the first time in three years the sprint car championship is up for grabs. Charles Davis, Jr. won the Casa Grande race two weeks ago and three time defending champion Jeremy Sherman had a tire problem and finished eighth. Davis, who has three wins, four second place finishes and one other top five now trails Sherman by only 22 points.

Sherman got the season off to a fast start by winning the first two races but has added only one more since then. That came on May 10. In addition to his three wins Sherman has two seconds, a fourth and a sixth to go with his worst finish of the years in the last race.

Manzanita and ASCS officials are expecting all of the top sprint car drivers for their longest and richest race of the year. The race will award over $16,000 to the drivers and the race which honors a driver who raced in two Indy 500 races before an accident ended his career. The Wayne Weiler Memorial Salute to Indy honors Wayne with the race going 51 laps. The lap number reflects the number on Weiler’s sprint cars and midgets.

The purse is evenly distributed with a $1500 payday to the winner with only a $100 drop between the next five finishers. Every car that takes a competitive green flag will receive at least $200. There will also be money for hard luck, hard charger and the leader on the final lap not only pockets the first place money there is a lot of cash coming to him donated by several of Weiler’s friends.

In addition to the big payday the field will be running for bragging rights with the winner adding a major victory to his resume

Four drivers, Sherman, Davis, R.J. Johnson and Casey Shuman, have scored main event wins this year and a new name could well go on the list Saturday night. Nathan High has looked sharp since taking over The Robbie Allen car and Josh Pelkey has had some good outings in the Lucas Oil sprinter owned by Ted Williams. Andy Reinbold, Jeremy Reagles and Mike Martin could drive into the winner’s circle and it would not be considered a major upset.

As usual children 11 and under will be admitted free. Their will be a happy hour going until the first race takes a green flag with all brands of beer only $2.00. A special item at the concession stand will be priced at only $1.00 for the entire night.

Two lucky fans will receive a $25.00 gas coupon which will be given away to the two holding the lucky number on the souvenir program.

The Arizona Midgets will also be on the card and are hoping for a bigger field of cars since the feature race pays $1,000 to win.

The battle for the win is expected to be between two former champions, Nathan High and R.J. Johnson.

Friday night madness this weekend will be provided by the SCRA factory stocks and sport modifieds and the Manzanita bombers. .

The factory stocks have had one of their most competitive seasons as Ron Poe has been consistent and leads the points chase even though he has scored only one win. He holds a 40 point lead over Matt Martinez who heads the list of main event winners with three. No one else has repeated this year. Poe, whose best year was in 2003 when he scored eight main event wins and finished second to Bobby Taylor in the chase for the championship. He will be seeking his 23rd win Friday night.

A rookie youngster has been the dominant force in the SCRA sport modifieds. Second generation driver Garrett Funk, only 14 years old, has won three of the four races run this year and has fashioned a 15 point lead over veteran driver Chris Rhein.

The bombers provide non stop action as they run without yellow flags unless a car spins and the driver side door is in the line of traffic. Mike Bray and Jeff Czoka have each score two wins while Daniel Romero, Robert Taylor and Chuck Thornton have each won once.

Gates open at 5:00 each evening with the first competitive race takes the green flag at 7:30.

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