Rocky Mountain Raceways in Salt Lake City, Utah, will play host to Davey Hamilton’s Supermodified Racing League on Saturday, July 3, 2004. The annual Independence Day weekend stopover should draw upwards of twenty exotic offset Supermodifieds. These are the fastest cars to run at 3/8 mile banked oval and generally put on a fantastic exhibition of speed and precision dicing.
So far, during 2004, the Supermodified Division has had three different winners in the first three races. Salt Lake City’s own Lonnie Adamson won the initial event at Cajon Speedway in California. Although Adamson is the defending series champion and the defending race champion, his ride in Southern California was in a substitute roll in Ken Hamilton’s Number 1 Hyder and it is doubtful that Adamson will run at his home track. The car driven the last two years by Adamson has been sold to the Oregon based team of John and Mike McCann. The other winners in 2004 are Rick Veenstra and two time SRL Champion Troy Regier who split the two day Diamond Cup Event at Idaho’s Meridian Speedway.
The overall points race in the Supermodified Division is very close with the top three runners separated by a mere three points. Eric Silsby of Carson City, Nevada, is the leader with a total of 174 points in Courtney Lewis’s number 96. Jeff Russell of Boise, Idaho, driving the Out Front Racing number 85, trails Silsby by two points. Dinuba, California’s Regier is third at 171 points driving the S&S Motorsports number 98. The top ten are rounded out by Jim Tartaglia of Reedley, California, Jim Birges of Fresno, California, 2003 Rookie of the Year A.J. Russell from Clovis, California, Ken Hamilton of Boise, Idaho, Ron Burger of Santa Cruz, California, Rick Veenstra of Emmett, Idaho, and Indianan Mike Ford. All of the top point getters are expected to compete at RMR.
Other SRL regulars expected in the Utah Capitol are Mike McCann of Eugene, Oregon, Willie Northamer of Sanger, California, Whitey Janssen of Newark, California, Ricky Otts of New Caney, Texas, Rick Cameron of Scott’s Valley, California, and teenage phenom Bobby Dalton of San Martin, California. In addition, a number of Colorado based teams that normally compete with the Englewood Racing Association are expected to race in several SRL events this year including the Independence Day Weekend. Most likely Coloradans to compete include Harry Stone of Broomfield, Richey Castor of Bennett, Harold Evans of Littleton, Tom Adler of Longmont, and Ira Castor of Lochbuie. Other possibilities include Tony Pierce of Denver, Gary Land of Littleton, and Mike Pickard of Pueblo.
Several local Salt Lake City based teams are likely to field cars for popular local drivers Jim Pasquin, Dave Adamson, and Mike Baisch. In all, it looks to be a very competitive evening of Supermodified Racing on July 3. This coupled with Rocky Mountain Raceway’s Fireworks display will present a very entertaining family event. So be sure to be at Rocky Mountain Raceways for the SRL Supermodifieds on Saturday, July 3. Additional information is available at the RMR Website(www.rmrracing.com) and at the SRL Website(www.supermodifiedracing.com).
