ZMax contributes to Legends Points Fund
Zmax owner Bruton Smith, who also owns US Legends International, the manufacturer of Legends cars, has announced that he will be contributing $200,000 to point funds for the 2010 season for all of North America. The Legends racers of Capital City Speedway are going to receive some of that money. In a call with Darrel Krantz from INEX, they will contribute $1,000 to the Legends end of season points payout.
Local Drivers do well in Orlando
There were over 75 Legends teams who braved the cold
temperatures and occasional rain outs that prevailed during the
2010 Legends Winter National event held at Orlando Speedworld
from February 8-13. Of those 75 teams, there were three that
drove down from Ottawa’s own Capital City Speedway: Kevin Foisy
(#55), Mike Madore (#59) and Bob Sugrue (#21).
Monday was host to open practice, to allow the drivers to
acclimate to the track and tweak the set ups on their cars. Each
day following that held a round of qualifying in the mornings,
with Feature Races running in the afternoons. Points were given
for each racer’s finishing position in the Feature, and Ottawa
was well represented in the field of 23 Masters, with a
2nd-place overall finish for Kevin Foisy (behind Clay Hair), and
16th and 18th position finishes for Mike Madore and Bob Sugrue.
With high banks and quick straights, the Legends drivers were
able to carry a lot of speed into and through the corners,
making the racing very competitive and exciting to watch. The
race director kept the drivers on a very short leash, sending
several drivers to the rear of the field, or even black-flagging
them for rough driving. As with most competitive driving, there
were a couple of accidents through the week – whether through
collisions or a result of damp track conditions - that had a few
cars out for a night, but none of the Ottawa-based drivers were
part of that statistic.
Jeremy Coulter, the new manager of Capital City Speedway,
joined the Ottawa teams in Florida; he and his wife (Miranda)
used the CapCity Dodge Ram to travel with Mike Madore, bringing
Mike, his wife (Sandi), and his Legend car to the Florida event.
Jeremy assisted Mike in the pits through the week, and was also
able to do some cross-promotion and networking with other
prominent race teams – some of whom (including the Dwayne
Gaulding, Director of Marketing for the GunBroker.com NASCAR
Truck Team, whose son, Gray Gaulding, races in the Young Lions
division), are considering driving up to Ottawa to participate
in the Legends Regional Qualifier race to be held in September
2010 at Capital City Speedway.
If the racing in Florida is any indication of what will be seen in Ottawa in 2010, it’s going to be an exciting season!
New Cars being built
I received a call today from a local car owner stating that he has been very busy building 4 new mini stocks and one new 4-fun car. The 4-fun car is being built for a driver who will make the jump to mini-stock in 2011 so his cage has been built so it will easily make the transition. This is great news for both classes and Capital City Speedway in our plans to go car counts in each class.
I have also been told of a new Thunder car driver for 2011 and possibly a new Late Model. Things seem to be taking shape for 2010.
Below is a letter I received from an anonymous fan. They used to attend Capital City Speedway years ago and it looks like with the new direction is bringing fans back to our speedway.
"Hi there Jeremy, I was just looking at the
capital city speedway website as I have not been there for quite
some time and it looks great. The 2010 season sure seems like
its going to be an exciting one. It sounds like all the classes
are going to be very competitive. I hope that you can keep up
the good work. You are doing an amazing thing for local racing
fans by making all these changes to the track. We're all looking
forward to what you have in store for us this year."
Anonymous Racing Fan
53 Colours signs on as Title Rights Advertisers for Thunder Cars
53 Colours after taking a year away from Capital City Speedway has come back in full force. Not only will 53 Colours be the title rights advertiser for the Thunder Car division but Todd Musker has announced he will be back racing full time. This is great news for Musker fans.
53 Colours has also just finished placing the new speedway logo on the side of the track Dodge Ram. Look for this truck around town.
visit www.53colours.com to find out more about their signage work and the race team.
Class Drivers meetings held on the weekend
The class meetings were held this week with a great turnout
from drivers
and crew. Russell Drummond opened the meetings reminding
everyone that the
track will be paved and the wall between turns 1 and 2 is
being replaced.
He welcomed Ed Crilly to the team as the new Capital City
Speedway Tech
Inspector, then turned the floor over to Jeremy for a few
other updates:
- SCHEDULE REVIEW: they are targeting the last Wednesday in
May to start
racing - this is dependent on the track surface being solid
enough to
handle the cars and the pressure from the cars in the
corners. Two
Saturday events have been approved for the 2010 season. The
focus, again,
is on the weekly Wednesday night races - they ask that
everyone helps in
getting the weekly races running smoothly and putting on a
great show for
the fans. The regular season will end on the last Wednesday
in August,
with a final Saturday event (non-points) in the third week
of September.
- GATE FEES: gate fees for racers will be stable for all
Wednesday night
races. The CapCity team is also looking into a "member" or
"non-member"
rate. Front gate rates are also being reviewed; a "family
pack" may also
be introduced.
- PAYOUTS: payouts have increased in each class. There
will also be
lap-sponsors for each class for each Feature Race each
night. Lap-Sponsor
contracts are $250 for one lap per class per season; $10 per night will be
given to the
leader of each lap, with approximately $90 of the $250 going
towards
year-end-payouts.
Weekly payouts will be paid at sign in the
following week. This
is to allow sufficient time to process the data for the
lap-sponsor
payouts. Payouts will be paid by cheque.
- PRE-SEASON TECH DAY: tech inspections are going to be
more rigorous this
season. To help all drivers have their programs well within
the rule books
by opening night, there will be a pre-season tech-day. No
racing will be
done on that day, it is only to ensure all vehicles meet the
technical
requirements outlined in the rule books.
- GREEN-FLAG STARTS: to avoid congestion in turn 1, it was
agreed that a
"start line" (or pylon) will be placed mid-way between turns
3 and 4. That
is where drivers are to start rolling on the gas, to cross
the start-finish
line at full speed.
- LINE-UPS: numbers will be pulled at the pit-gate for the
heat line-ups:
second heat will be an inversion of the first. Features
will be lined up
reverse-order-of-points, with the points champion and
previous week's
feature winner starting at the back. The rule of "lose a
spot for each
week missed" will be strictly enforced.
- DAILY SCHEDULES will be available on-line and on race
day. These will
detail the practice times for each class, and the running
order for the
night. Practice will be scheduled from 5:30-6:40, with
racing starting at
7PM.
- AMBULANCE: an ambulance with two EMR's will be at the
track. Final
details are being negotiated. The CapCity team is looking
at having the
EMR's supplemented with a volunteer firefighter, specialized
in
major-vehicle-recovery.
- NATIONAL ANTHEM: One class (changes each night) will be invited to line up on
the track while
the National Anthem is being sung/played. The title sponsor
for that night
will then give the call for "Drivers, start your engines!"
- PRACTICE NIGHTS: Monday night practice nights are being
considered -
these are partially dependent on the ambulance negotiations
to ensure the
EMR's will be available, as well as tow-trucks, so all
drivers in a class
are able to go on the track at the same time.
- TRACK RENTALS: the track will also be available for
individual rental
(without medical staff or tow-trucks). The fee structure
has not yet been
finalized.
The CapCity rule book has always been matched with Kawartha Speedway with the exception of some wording. We will work at getting these rule books to be the same so cars can travel between tracks with no changes needed.
Notes specific to each class meeting are below.
4-Fun
The 2008 rule book for 4-fun had told teams that for the 2010 race season a 4 point cage would be mandatory. Since teams would have already started to implement this change, and with the focus being on safety for this season, we will be enforcing this update in 2010. For specifics on the cage please visit see the two illustrations below.
These cages are available from Canadian Stock Car products. The cage on the left is the current 4-fun 4 point cage. The cage on the right is a mini-stock cage that would get tied into the front and rear sections of the car. The cost difference on these cages is $5.
With the cage changes that were already implemented prior to our management group taking over, we have decided to merge the 4-fun class up to mini stock for the 2011 race season. This will allow us to make certain that fans and racers will be part of a 3 - 3 1/2 hour show. Last season several 4-fun features were cancelled due to the curfew of 11pm. The goal is to get the Wednesday show down to being completed by 10 - 10:30.
4-fun drivers will also receive Lap Sponsorship payouts as we add advertisers to their class.
This is the only change planned for 4-fun from the 2009 rule book.
Mini-Stock
As previously discussed, the 2009 rule book will be used. The only change made at the meeting is to remove the specific weight penalty as it referred to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers and reverting back to the 2009 rules.
This is the only change implemented at this time.
Thunder Cars
No changes to the rule book.
Legends
Legends will follow the INEX rule book again in 2010.
Late Models
There are no changes to the rule book as we will run the ACT rule book for Late Model. We will be allowing Limited Late Models to run at the same time. We are committed to working with the Limited Late Model owners to ensure they can remain competitive.
Late Models will be part of our weekly program with the exception of one Wednesday that they are not scheduled to run due to the 100 lap race on the previous Saturday. This will also help CapCity to share cars with Kawartha Speedway, they are running a 100 late model feature the following week.