VANCOUVER, Wa — The Pacific Hardtop Racing Association, the premier dwarf car touring group in the Pacific Northwest and one of the largest groups anywhere, is a little over two months away from kicking off it’s 23rd season of racing. A tentative slate of 18 events, including 16 points races, was recently unveiled.
The PHRA, of which Molalla, Ore.’s Henry Corbin III is the reigning series champion, is currently scheduled to visit seven different dirt tracks, six in Oregon and one in Washington. The season opens with a Friday night affair at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore. on April 30th. The next night, May 1st, the teams head across the Cascade Mountains to race at Madras Speedway. The PHRA will repeat this on Friday and Saturday, July 30th and 31st.
The two tracks will each host one more event later in the season. The last event at Madras Speedway, a ¼-mile semi-banked clay oval, is on Saturday, August 21st. Willamette Speedway, a 3/10-mile oval, hosts the season finale on Saturday, October 9th. Mitch Meeuwsen won last year’s season finale at Willamette, his first points race victory in the PHRA.
Sunset Speedway Park in Banks, Ore, a longtime host of PHRA dwarf car racing, will be hosting four events in 2010, the first being on Saturday, May 15th. Additional races, all on Saturdays, are June 19th, July 10th and September 18th. Corbin, Corey Esteban and Jim Pavel were all victorious at Sunset last season. The little ¼-mile red clay oval is the smallest track on the PHRA schedule this season.
After a successful single show in May 2009, Cottage Grove Speedway will be hosting four PHRA dwarf car events this coming season, starting on Saturday, May 22nd. Another race will be Saturday, August 28th. The PHRA will return to the competitive ¼-mile clay oval for a two-night stand on Friday & Saturday, September 24th and 25th. Esteban, a two-time former PHRA champion, took the checkered flag in last season’s lone event at Cottage Grove. The two-night show in September will be made more special as it will be a co-sanctioned duel with the Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Association, which should result in a large dwarf car count for the weekend.
After two very successful visits in 2009, Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. will welcome back the PHRA twice more in 2010. The first scheduled visit is Saturday, June 12th. Then on Saturday, September 4th, the PHRA dwarf cars will be part of the opening event of Grays Harbor Raceway’s annual Big E Weekend. Esteban won both events in 2009, including a crowd-thrilling duel with Rick Adams during the August 1st event at the big and wide 3/8-mile, high-banked clay oval. Grays Harbor Raceway is the largest track on the schedule.
The PHRA will return to Coos Bay Speedway on the Oregon coast for a single-night non-points show on Saturday, July 3rd. Being two-night events the last two years, Rick Adams was the big winner of the Saturday night finale both times with Mitch Meeuwsen and Chad Cardoza taking Friday night events. This season, PHRA will be joined by SODCA, who will run Coos Bay Speedway as a points race, again bringing the possibility of a strong field of dwarf cars.
A new track on the schedule is a new outdoor track at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem. A tiny track inside one of the pavilions has hosted dwarf car events the past few winters. An outdoor track will be constructed for the fair in late August and early September, and the PHRA is tentatively scheduled to run a non-points event there on Sunday, August 29th, one night after running at Cottage Grove.
More information on the Pacific Hardtop Racing Association can be found online at http://www.phraracing.com.
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Pacific Hardtop Racing Association dwarf cars
2010 schedule (tentative)
April 30 - Willamette Speedway - Lebanon, OR
May 1 - Madras Speedway - Madras, OR
May 15 - Sunset Speedway Park - Banks, OR
May 22 - Cottage Grove Speedway - Cottage Grove, OR
June 12 - Grays Harbor Raceway - Elma, WA
June 19 - Sunset Speedway Park - Banks, OR
July 3 - Coos Bay Speedway - Coos Bay, OR (non-points) with SODCA
July 10 - Sunset Speedway Park - Banks, OR
July 30 - Willamette Speedway - Lebanon, OR
July 31 - Madras Speedway - Madras, OR
August 21 - Madras Speedway - Madras, OR
August 28 - Cottage Grove Speedway - Cottage Grove, OR
August 29 - Oregon State Fairgrounds - Salem, OR (non-points)
September 4 - Grays Harbor Raceway - Elma, WA
September 18 - Sunset Speedway Park - Banks, OR
September 24 - Cottage Grove Speedway - Cottage Grove, OR with SODCA
September 25 - Cottage Grove Speedway - Cottage Grove, OR with SODCA
October 9 - Willamette Speedway - Lebanon, OR
