FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NOVEMBER 29, 2010
DICK JORDAN

Bryan Clauson of Noblesville, Ind. has earned a $300,000 scholarship for oval-track competition in the 2011 Firestone Indy Lights Series plus a $40,000 cash bonus as USAC’s 2010 National Drivers Champion.

Clauson completed the season with a victory in Thursday night’s 70th “Turkey Night Grand Prix” Mopar National Midget race at Irwindale, Calif. and ended with a 14-point margin over runner-up Levi Jones, who did not compete at Irwindale.

Clauson will accept his season-ending awards at this Friday night’s “Night of Champions” USAC National Awards Dinner in downtown Indianapolis, Ind.

Jerry Coons Jr. took third in the final NDC standings ahead of Tracy Hines, Damion Gardner, Dave Darland, Bobby East, Chris Windom, Shane Hmiel and Brad Kuhn.

Clauson’s best 25 scores included 10 feature victories, nine seconds and six thirds! Only the best 25 scores in National feature events counted toward the 2010 USAC National Drivers Championship totals.

2010 USAC NATIONAL DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL STANDINGS

1-Bryan Clauson-1,108, 2-Levi Jones-1,094, 3-Jerry Coons Jr.-1,044, 4-Tracy Hines-1,030, 5-Damion Gardner-1,001, 6-Dave Darland-969, 7-Bobby East-960, 8-Chris Windom-918, 9-Shane Hmiel-886, 10-Brad Kuhn-856.

Media Contact: Steve Williams
E-mail: swilliamsardc@gmail.com
Phone 570-473-8878
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLEASE WITH OUR THANKS

STEVE BUCKWALTER FETED AT ANNUAL ARDC AWARDS BANQUET

The American Racing Drivers Club concluded its 71st season on Saturday Night their annual awards banquet held at Lobitz’s Catering Hall in Hazleton, PA.

The highlight of the evening was the crowning of Steve Buckwalter as club champion. Buckwalter accrued 10 wins on his way to his first ever ARDC title, scoring 2435 points to 2347 for runner-up Ryan Smith.

Buckwalter’s wins came at, Williams Grove, Penn Can, Grandview, Central Pennsylvania, Mercer, Dixieland, New Egypt, Big Diamond and two at Susquehanna. Buckwalter also led the club with 13 heat race wins.

Steve’s car owner / father, Brian Buckwalter Sr. was also presented with the car owners championship trophy.

The Buckwalter 0 completed a sweep of the awards when Crew Chief Eddie Heffline was named the Ken Hickey Crew Chief of the year.

Ryan Smith and car owners, Jerry and Karen Steward both received 2nd place awards in the driver and owners chase respectfully. Smith garnered, four wins at Williams Grove, Big Diamond and two at Bridgeport.

Don and Cindy Heistand were on hand to pick-up third place trophies for both driver and owners points. The Heistand’s were representing their sons, Drew and Dusty, both of whom were unable to attend.

In all plaques were given to the top 15 in points in both car owner and driver standings. In addition the top three in points also received a package of fasteners from Fastener Specialties.

The other special awards were picked up by Dusty Heistand as the Most Improved Driver, Tim Buckwalter won the Dutch Schaefer / Jiggs Peters Rookie of the Year while ARDC President, Bruce Buckwalter Sr. presented PJ Gargiulo with the Galen Halteman Presidents Award. Dave Shirk’s RAACE Foundation #16 was presented with the Best Appearing Car award and in addition to his plaque, received a leather jacket from PPG Paints.

Special guests on hand included former club champions, Hank Rogers Jr, Bryan Kobylarz and 2011 National Midget Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Leigh Earnshaw. Former competitor and Club President, Ron Lauer. Former competitor, Jim Maguire and former mechanic and vintage car enthusiasts, Dick & Marian Briggs.

Contingency Sponsors on hand included representatives from, Fastener Specialties and BDB Graphics.

Members of the press on hand included, AARN photographer Kris Keath and Hoseheads.com, Dino Oberto.

The crowd was entertained by the stories and memories of Hank Rogers Jr. and Jim Maguire.

The evenings fun activities included a Trivia Contest and a test of the pit crews including a tire mounting, gear changing and spark plug replacement contests.

A silent auction of donated gifts was held with the proceeds being donated to the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing to help defray the costs of their recently announced museum expansion.

BANQUET NOTES: Steve Buckwalter is preparing 2 cars for January’s Chili Bowl Nationals. He will drive one car. The other driver will be named later. Joining Buckwalter on the trip west will be car owner, Greg Fitzpatrick who will also take two cars along. One for his regular driver Steve Drevicki and one for Bruce Buckwalter Jr. Drew Heistand was unable to attend the banquet after having a procedure performed on his foot. Drew’s brother Dusty was also absent as his wife Jen, recently gave birth to their first child. Grandpa Don Heistand accepted the awards for his sons while Grandma Cindy kept Don straight on the babies important statistics. Steve Buckwalter's 2011 plans include Midget racing as well as possibly more Sprint Car racing. Ryan Smith and owner Jerry Steward announced that they will mount a full out attack on the points championship. Rookie Steve Bull is looking forward to a full schedule of Midget racing in 2011 if additional sponsorship can be procured. ARDC had a total of 11 rookies compete this year and has already received commitments from at least 4 drivers for next year.

NINTH ANNUAL GAMBLER’S CLASSIC INDOOR AUTO
RACING WEEKEND - BOARDWALK HALL
Promoter: Len Sammons, Len Sammons Productions - 609.888.3618
MEDIA CONTACT: Ernie Saxton
Ernie Saxton Communications, Inc.
215.752.7797 - office
267.934.7286 - cell
Esaxton144@aol.com - e-mail
215.752.1518 - fax
NEWS RELEASE PREPARED BY Jerry Reigle
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CICCONI READY TO MAKE HIMSELF A MAJOR PART OF THE GAMBLER’S CLASSIC HISTORY

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – November 24, 2010 . . . Lou Cicconi Jr. is prepared to defend his Gambler’s Classic TQ-Midget title.

The Aston, Pa., racing veteran verified this past weekend that he will be one of the more than 100 entries, who will do battle indoors at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., for the Ninth annual Gambler’s Classic crown.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Cicconi said. “That weekend has been circled on our calendar ever since it was officially announced. In fact, we had it circled before hand, because it pretty much falls the same time every year.”

The ’11 edition is set for January 27-29.

Cicconi said he plans to have female driver and United Racing Company 360 Sprint Car driver Becca Anderson in one of his immaculately-prepared cars for the indoor event.

“I’m sure we could have more, but we don’t have any cars rented right now,” Cicconi said. “I am sure that will change.”

Drivers and teams flock to Cicconi for good reason.

When he captured the most recent Gambler’s Classic, Cicconi set himself in elite company in the history of the race as he became only the second driver in the eight-year history of the race to have won the Gambler’s Classic twice.

Cicconi’s other win came in ’06, while Joey Payne is the only other driver to have won twice (’04 and ’07).

“There is a certain amount of luck that comes into winning an indoor race,” Cicconi said. “But a lot of it is about preparation and hard work it takes leading up to the race.”

One of Cicconi’s appeals is the car’s distinctive paint job.

"That thing is always fast," Cicconi said. "We always take pride in our cars and the way they look and perform on the track.”

In January’s race, Cicconi won the race in front of a thrilled grandstands which included NASCAR star Tony Stewart

“I was thrilled that he was there to see it,” Cicconi said. “I know he had a good time watching and I wouldn’t be too surprised to see him come back.

“I consider Tony a pal. If he wants to come and race in Atlantic City then I’ll have a car ready for him to drive.”

Before venturing to Atlantic City, Cicconi will serve as a mentor of sorts for Philadelphia, Pa., driver Chris DeRitis.

DeRitis plans to race in Ft. Wayne, Ind., on December 31-January 1.

“Chris bought one of my Midgets,” Cicconi said. “I plan to go out there with him to Ft. Wayne to help him out.”

The entry list for the Gambler’s Classic is beginning to grow daily.

Recent entries have included Sarah Arteta of Long Beach, Calif.; NEMA Midget ace Randy Cabral of Plymouth, Conn.; former NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Ted Christopher of Plainville, Conn.; ISMA ace Mike Lichty of Innerkip, Ont.; and dirt Modified veteran Billy Pauch of Frenchtown, N.J.

Also, the Friesen cousins – Curtis, James Michael and Stewart – have filed entries.

Stewart Friesen led the outdoor dirt northeast racing scene this past season with more than 20 victories. He captured the SEF Small Engine Fuels 200 at the New York State Fairgrounds.

Tickets for the Atlantic City Indoor Race are currently on sale through Ticketmaster (1-800-736-1420). Tickets are available with no extra fee applied at the Boardwalk Hall box office at 609-348-7100 and the Area Auto Racing News office in Trenton, N.J. at 609-888-3618

Activity will begin on Thurs., Jan. 27, with paid practice from 5-10 p.m.

Weekend activity will begin on Fri., Jan. 28, at 4:30 p.m. with time trials. The night will include heat events for TQ-Midgets and B-Mains for the 600cc Micro Sprint Cars, Slingshots and Champ Karts. It will culminate with a 20-lap 600cc Micro Sprint Car main event and a 30-lap TQ-Midget feature race.

The Sat., Jan. 29, program kicks off at 5 p.m. with the Fanfest, which will be held on the indoor racing surface.
The Saturday-night portion of the show is slated to begin at 7 p.m. Heat races and semis will lead up the 40-lap "Gamblers Classic" for TQ-Midgets, with Slingshots and Champ Karts also on the schedule.

Nov 23, 6:30 PM (ET)

By JENNA FRYER

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -Hendrick Motorsports made sweeping changes to its organization Tuesday, shuffling the lineup for every team except five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson.

A crew chief change for slumping Dale Earnhardt Jr. was not unexpected, but nobody predicted the stunning swap team owner Rick Hendrick ordered just two days after celebrating the organization's record 10th Cup championship.

Earnhardt, who has just one win through three seasons with HMS, now will be paired with crew chief Steve Letarte. He will move into the building that Letarte shares with Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus.

Four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon will move out of that shop to work with crew chief Alan Gustafson. That team will be partnered with crew chief Lance McGrew and Mark Martin.

The previous pairings had Gordon with Letarte, Gustafson with Martin and McGrew with Earnhardt. Nobody believed McGrew would make it through the offseason with Earnhardt, who has struggled since joining HMS in 2008. Hendrick has stopped at nothing to turn around Earnhardt's performance, but insisted the last several months he would wait until after the season to make any personnel changes.

When Hendrick finally did, just two days after Johnson and Knaus won their record fifth consecutive title, the changes were huge.

"This will improve us as an organization, across the board," Hendrick said in a statement. "We had a championship season, but we weren't where we wanted and needed to be with all four teams. We've made the right adjustments, and I'm excited to go racing with this lineup."

Hendrick scheduled a Wednesday teleconference to discuss the changes in detail.

Johnson won six races this season, and withstood his toughest challenge to date in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. He trailed Denny Hamlin heading into Sunday's season finale, and became only the third driver since 1975 to rally in the final race to win the championship.

But Hendrick's other three drivers went winless, and only Gordon made the Chase, finishing ninth in the final standings.

The slump comes a year after Johnson, Martin and Gordon swept the top three spots in the final series standings.

Martin, who finished second in the standings last year and won five races, finished the season ranked 13th.

Earnhardt, who has not won since the 15th race of the 2008 season, was 21st in the standings. He's got just three victories since 2005, but only three of those seasons were with Hendrick. His inconsistency has led Hendrick to make several changes to his race team, including the firing midway through 2009 of crew chief Tony Eury Jr.

McGrew was assigned to Earnhardt after Eury's firing on an interim basis, and it was made permanent at the end of last season. But the Earnhardt-McGrew pairing never took off the way Hendrick hoped, even after he paired that team tightly with Gustafson and Martin last winter.

The marriage between the two teams also hurt Martin and Gustafson, who went from championship contenders to missing the Chase outright this season.

Gordon, meanwhile, was strong at the start of the year but faded over the summer and was a long shot to win the title despite making the Chase. He completed his second winless season in the last three years, all with Letarte.

The duo hasn't been the same since 2007, when they frantically chased Johnson for the title. Despite six wins and a NASCAR-record 30 top-10 finishes in 36 races, Gordon fell short in the championship race and hasn't challenged since.

Tri-State Racesaver Series
Media Contact: Pete MacDonald 732-644-0975

GEIGES WINS THE BATTLE AND THE WAR AT BRIDGEPORT

Bridgeport, NJ - November 21, 2010 - The Tri-State RaceSaver Series concluded its on track activity for the 2010 season on Sunday at the Bridgeport Speedway by crowning Jeff Geiges as its inaugural champion. All Geiges needed to do was merely start the feature on Sunday evening to clinch the title. Geiges would do a little more then just start the feature on Sunday night, he would go on to dominate picking up his third win of the year.

"When we put this deal together, I never thought we would win the championship, I knew we would be fast but not this fast. I can't thank Tony Pietrofitta enough for putting me in his car, there is so many people I need to thank. said Geiges.

Langhorne, PA's Mike McManus started the feature on the point and would take off leading the first six laps with newly crowned champion Jeff Geiges right on his tail tank. The first yellow of the even took place on lap seven when Jonathan Swanson made extremely hard contact with the turn two fence, narrowly missing the pit exit ramp. Swanson would jump from his mangled car and walk away without injury. Following the restart McManus would retain his lead up until he bobbled just a little bit coming off of turn four, relinquishing the lead to Geiges. The events only red flag would then come out on lap nine for a five car incident in turn four where the 67k of Stefanie Palmai would get upside down. Stefanie would get out of the car under her own power but the car would be worse for wear. Green replaced yellow and Geiges would take off and show why he is the 2010 champion, pulling away at will he cruised to his third win of 2010 with the Tri-State RaceSaver Series. Invader Scott Flammer would come home second while Mike McManus, Danny Massey, and Mike Piersig wounded out the top five.

Heat races for the twenty-one cars in attendance went to Scott Flammer and Jim Campbell.

The Tri-State RaceSaver Series concludes it's 2010 campaign with our first ever banquet this Saturday night at the Ramada Inn of Bordentown on Rt 206 in Bordentown, NJ. Tickets are still available at $45.00 a piece by calling Joe Grandinetti at 215-355-0510.

The Tri-State Racesaver Series is a fast affordable way to go Sprint Car racing in the Mid Atlantic region. Racers are encouraged to call series director Joe Grandinetti at 215-355-0510 or e-mail racinjoe23@yahoo.com or you can visit them on the web at http://www.tsrs1.com.

Tri-State RaceSaver Results 11/20/10 - Bridgeport, NJ
1st Heat: 1- 37-Scott Flammer 2- 131-Bobby Sandt 3- 40-Mike Kostic 4- 92F-Dan Cogdill 5- 175-Jeff Geiges 6- 19-Johnny Zimmerman
2nd Heat: 1- 6-Jim Campbell 2- 17j-Jonathan Swanson 3- 67k-Stefanie Palmai 4- 3j-Jeff Mueller 5- 80-Mike McManus 6- 57-Ken Buckley

Feature (15 Laps): 1) 175-JEFF GEIGES 2) 37-Scott Flammer 3) 80-Mike McManus 4)3-Danny Massey 5) 77-Mike Piersig 6) 92f-Dan Cogdill 7) 19-Johnny Zimmerman 8 ) 57-Ken Buckley 9) 309-Sean Kirkpatrick 10) 17c-Keith Anderson 11) 6-Jim Campbell 12) 39x-Scott Frack 13) 40-Mike Kostic 14) 1-Bill Case Jr. 15) 67k-Stefanie Palmai 16) 17j-Jonathan Swanson 17) 3j-Jeff Mueller 18) 16x-Jim Fowler
DNS: 131-Bobby Sandt, 84-John Wyers, 54-Jeff Davis

Allentown, PA: CARQUEST Gasoline Alley Welcomes Ronnie Dunstan, Kevin Eyres, Jimmy Blewett And Wayne Johnson To Tonight's Show
By:Steve Pados, GA Motorsports Media

The extremely popular and nationally acclaimed CARQUEST Gasoline Alley TV/Internet Show cranks up the airwaves on Monday evening with another fabulous edition of their show on Monday evening, November 22nd as they play host to another blockbuster lineup of talented racing stars and personalities who join the Gang for the fastest, funniest, and most informative racing show in the country today. The show airs from 6 to 8 PM every Monday evening on channels 103 and 137 and worldwide on the Internet. The Gang has been serving the racing world for the past eight years on the airwaves and is well noted for their well noted "theme" show format and will host the 501st edition of their show since they hit the airwaves and their 289th show since joining forces with the party channel at WALN Digital Cable and "Happy Jack" Burns on Channels 103 and 137. The Gasoline Alley Team of Ed and Steve Pados is looking forward to more of the same great format they have been following since the inception of their show back in 2002.

With this edition of the show the Gang will welcome a very diverse and talented group of driving stars and personalities who help make up the latest racing news in the world of motorsports. Joining the Gang for this edition of the show will be legendary Eastern multi-talented open wheel performer Ronnie Dunstan. Ronnie will chat about the many divisions of racing he was involved with from Midgets, to Modifieds, to Silver Crown and Legends in his return visit with the Gang. Kevin Eyres, the reigning Sportsman Champion at Wall Stadium rejoins the Gang to talk about the 2010 racing season at Wall, the Turkey Derby and the upcoming Matheny Christmas Party on December 18th. "Showtime" Jimmy Blewett rejoins the Gang to talk about his first time role as Co-Promoter of the Turkey Derby event on November 26th and 27th, the future of the facility and his initial season of competing on the dirt track surfaces. Wayne Johnson, the great sprint star who lost so much of the 2010 racing season to injuries, rejoins the Gang to talk about his road to recovery and just how good it feels to be back behind the wheel of the sprint car again.

Miss WALN Cable Radio Vickie Kidd will join the Gang for this edition of the show.

The popular award winning TV/Internet show offers a live internet video feed to all of the Internet subscribers to view the wide assortment of the many racing videos that are played while the show is in progress and to enjoy the chat sessions with the many great personalities from within the racing community who pay the Gang a visit to discuss racing. As always, a surprise or two will be expected as the Gasoline Alley Gang continues to bring the racing community the fastest, funniest and most informed racing show on the airwaves today. All shows produced by GA Motorsports Media are carefully researched, authenticated and fully scripted to produce for our loyal sponsors, guests and racing fans the best show on the airwaves today.

CARQUEST Gasoline Alley TV/Radio/Internet Show continues with its outstanding line-up of talented guests with this week's edition of the show. The Show's programming on WALN Digital Cable Radio, Internet www.walncableradio.com for the Audio portion and: livestream.com/walncableradio/old for the video portion. The Show is available on Service Electric Digital Cable TV, Channels 103, and 137 and is live from 6 to 8 PM and later tape delayed on Channel 50 at 11 PM.

Join the Gasoline Alley broadcasting team of Ed and Steve Pados every Monday evening November 22nd as they take you on a two-hour circular journey with their well documented, very informative and extremely funny show.

Should you have questions on how to be a part of the show through advertising, appearances or remotes, please contact Steve Pados at: 610 573 9706; Ed Pados at: 610 739 0391; or the WALN Studios at: 610 791 1818. You may also email: steveswp@ptd.net

RACING NEWS THE WAY IT IS MEANT TO BE