IRWINDALE, California — - First the good news: The biggest, baddest, fastest NASCAR Home Track Racing Stockers that run at Toyota Speedway will be back again in 2011. And this year they ll be going for a season-long track championship that ll conclude at the prestigious California Classic Weekend over the Thanksgiving holiday.
And, now the even better news: Lucas Oil s great lineup of Slick Mist Car Care Products is the new division sponsor for 2011. We ve worked with Lucas for many years now, and we feel their associating the Lucas Slick Mist line products with our Super Late Model Division as the presenting sponsor speaks well of the racing here and of their great product, said Track VP/General Manager Bob DeFazio It s another terrific association.
The Lucas Slick Mist Super Late Model series will be comprised of ten marque evenly spaced-out events which have been designated as Super Saturdays by the track s management. The
hot new Lucas series will culminate in a televised feature race on November 26 at the second running of the California Classic. And, at least two other races in the series will be taped by the great Lucas HD Studios crew for showing at a later date. (Details will be forthcoming, you can bet on that!)
The first twelve years of Super Late Model racing at the Speedway show the names of nine drivers who have claimed the annual championship. Rod Johnson was the first in 1999, followed by Greg Voigt (2000), Sean Woodside (2001), Rip Michaels (2002 & 2003), Greg Pursley* (2004), Andrew Phipps (2005), Van Knill (2006), Rip Michaels (2007), Nick Joanides (2008 & 2009), and Justin Johnson (2010).
Working with the Speedway to support top quality stock car racing at the Home Track level is a very important part of our outreach to the fans, said Lucas Oil Executive Vice President Bob Patison. Our involvement gives us a great chance reach out to the fans, to showcase the sort of Lucas products that they can use themselves, and happily recommend to their friends. Our whole business, he went on, is built on formulating the best product for the job, getting into the hands of the people who know quality and performance, and letting them tell our story for us. That s how Lucas has gained it s loyal customers and that s what we want to do with our Super Late Model Division at Toyota Speedway.
*NASCAR National Champion
The complete 2011 NASCAR schedule for Toyota Speedway will be published shortly, and will be available on the speedway s website at: www.toyotaspeedwayatirwindale.com
For season tickets call the track office: (626) 358-1100
SPECIAL NOTE TO THE MEDIA: With all the changes that a new season always brings a number of things at Toyota Speedway will remain very much the same. One is the adult admission price for any one of the 31 nights of NASCAR Home Track Racing that s set to take place this year: No Change. Still $15.00, still the same price that those races cost in 1999! And, among other things that won t change is the FREE, King Taco On-Track Autograph Session that precedes every race and which invites everyone in the house right out on the racetrack to hang out with the drivers, crews, and the race cars.
FOR THE RECORD: The Lucas Slick Mist Super Late Models are the biggest and most powerful weekly class of NASCAR racecars at TOYOTA SPEEDWAY at Irwindale. The 3,100 pound, full-sized domestic stock cars use 360-cubic inch V-8 engines, stock heads and a 500-CFM (cubic feet per minute) 2-barrel carburetor. They have tube frames and fiberglass bodies. They are the fasted regular series at the Speedway, the one-lap track record for these cars is 101+ mph. Drivers from other classes at TS@I often hope to graduate to the Super Late Model series. It is the highest TS@I class in the NASCAR Whelen All-American.. Typical cars in this class are Chevrolet Monte Carlo or Impala, Ford Taurus or Fusion, Dodge Charger, Pontiac Grand Prix or Grand AM and Toyota Camry.
