National Championship Racing Association

Busy July as NCRA Sprinters Keep on Rollin'
 
By Randy Fisher
   
PARK CITY, Kan. (July 6, 2007) – It has been a quiet stretch for the O’Reilly NCRA Sprint Car Series, presented by ICM/Ethanol with only one race date since Memorial Day weekend. That was a special show July 3 for the Steve King Foundation at 81 Speedway here in Park City.
 
Despite a 14th-place finish at 81, point leader Garry Lee Maier of Cimarron, Kan., still added to his lead. He began the night with an 80-point margin over Don Droud Jr. in second. Droud, of Lincoln, Neb., finished one spot ahead of Maier in the feature after running second to him in their heat. That gave Maier an additional five points on Droud.
 
Waverly, Neb., driver Stu Snyder remains third in the standings, despite not making the feature. A 19th-place finish dropped Lincoln’s Mike Chadd two spots, from fourth to sixth. Mike Peters, from Peck, Kan., moved up one notch to fourth, just 20 points behind Snyder. Derek Drown of Amarillo, Texas, also picked up a spot to fifth, 70 points out of fourth and 20 points better than sixth.
 
Kansans J.D. Johnson, C.J. Johnson, Jon Freeman, and A.J. Selenke are 160 points apart as they round out the top 10.

But all this relative inactivity quickly changes as the sprinters turn it up a notch the rest of the month with races on the final three weekends.
 
Saturday, July 14, they return to Hays, Kan., and RPM Speedway. In their initial visit to the new facility last September, Garry Lee Maier picked up his fifth win of the season. That victory clinched his second straight, and third overall, championship.
 
They will make their yearly trek to the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson, Kan., July 20-21 for the 51st Annual Hutchinson Grand Nationals. Last year, J.D. Johnson picked up his first win of the season and his first Nationals checker.
 
Five days later, on July 26, the 360s take to the famed Belleville (Kan.) High Banks on the night before the Midget Nationals. Johnson followed up his Hutch win last year with a victory on the historic half-mile.
 
For more information about the NCRA, either visit their Web site at www.ncraracing.org or call the NCRA office at (316) 755-1781.