I-30 Speedway Short Track Nationals news 2008-09-25

I-30 Speedway's Short Track Nationals Approaches!

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (September 25, 2008) -- The most anticipated event in all of Sprint Car racing only rolls around once a year.

And that event is less than a month away now, as Little Rock's I-30 Speedway hosts the 21st Annual O'Reilly Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires on October 23-25.

With 20 years of history in the books and volumes of lore that escalates with the turning of each page of the calendar, the Short Track Nationals is anticipated greatly on both sides of the fence.

Fans have one last chance to gather and watch the best in the business battle it out for three unparalleled nights of Sprint Car racing action atop the cozy confines of I-30 Speedway's high-banked, 0x00bc-mile oval.

And for the competitors, simply making the STN championship feature event on Saturday night is a badge of honor. A win is the stuff of which legends are made.

The payoff is pretty handsome as well. In fact, it's a payoff unmatched by any comparable Sprint Car event in the land, with more than $100,000 in cash prize money doled out over the course of three nights.

Saturday night's Short Track Nationals championship feature winner walks away with a whopping $15,000, with all Saturday main event starters collecting a minimum of $2,100.

This year's STN champion could also collect as much $20,000, including a $5,000 bonus in the form of the COMP Cams Gambler's Challenge. The Challenge will be available to Saturday night's pole sitter or, if he declines, the front row outside starter. The driver accepting the Challenge will start the feature from tenth and will collect a $5,000 bonus by pulling off the big one from five rows deep.

The final event for the O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series as well, the series $50,000 championship will also be sealed over the course of the weekend.

The top three finishers from the Thursday and Friday preliminary features will be locked into Saturday night's Pack's Dash for Cash, which will determine the alignment of the front three rows of the Short Track Nationals championship feature.

The balance of the field will then battle through a full card of heats, last chance races and qualifying races on Saturday night to fill out the $15,000-to-win, 20-car STN championship main event.

California's Jason Meyers reigns as defending Short Track Nationals champion after making a dramatic last-lap pass of Shane Stewart to win the 20th edition of the STN in 2007, besting a record field of 108 competitors in the process.

Meyers joined a prestigious list of Short Track Nationals champions, which includes Gary Wright, the only driver to win the STN on more than one occasion since the event became the nation's premier showcase in 1993. Wright scored his first STN victory in 1995, then followed up with a second win in 1999. "The Texan" extended his total of STN triumphs to four with back-to-back victory drives in 2003 and 2004.

Other past winners include Jason Johnson (2006), Tim Montgomery (2005), Paul McMahan (2002), Jason Sides (2001), Mike Ward (2000), Tim Crawley (1998), Wayne Johnson (1997), Pete Butler (1996), Terry Gray (1994) and John Gerloff (1993).

Steve Kinser (1988, '89 and '91) and Sammy Swindell (1990) claimed early renditions of the Short Track Nationals before the 1992 finale was rained out.

Drivers planning on competing in the 21st Annual O'Reilly Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires are encouraged to submit their entries as soon as possible. Entries postmarked by October 11 are $150, with entries submitted after that $200. Entry forms are available at www.i-30speedway.com/pdfs/STN%20FLYER.pdf or by calling the track at 501-455-4567.

-credit: i-30/lw