Student/Teacher Appreciation Night at the Speedway - June 5

Toyota Speedway Student/Teacher Appreciation Night
At Irwindale … Students and Teachers: FREE ADMISSION!
A Full Night of Close-Up, Live, NASCAR Racing Action: Saturday June 5


Irwindale, Calif. - - School’s out and Toyota Speedway at Irwindale is already for its eagerly-awaited annual celebration of that fact … As in years past ALL students and ALL teachers showing valid ID will be admitted to the races FREE on Saturday night … It’s the track operator’s way of saying “Thanks!”, “Nice work!”, and “Happy Summer Season!” all on one night.  

“Everyone here at the Speedway really believes in education. Saturday is our official annual night of recognition but we try to support education and educators here all year long,”  said track General Manager Bob De Fazio.  “We’re always open to ideas from schools and educators who feel that a local NASCAR connection can help their cause.”

And, Saturday night’s racing agenda is a real lesson in excitement with “twin” Pepsi Super Late Model races that have the double-barreled potential of making big changes in the points parade in the track’s top weekly series.  

Justin Johnson from Las Vegas leads the phenomenal Pepsi SLMs putting up 322 points in the first seven races of the 20-race season.  As we often note “twin” race nights are Saturday evenings that one can walk away from the Speedway dancing on air or dragging a very large weight behind you.  There are fully 100 points in play and all of the players had better be ready for both of them.  

(…May we take a quick moment here to point out that only home-grown, hometown, local, short track racing can build-in this sort of action and excitement: that is running two complete stand-alone, points-paying, season-critical races for the top division in one night! That’s close-up fan-friendly LIVE NASCAR racing at Toyota Speedway … That’s why FAMILIES love it!)
     
And then there’s the “local”, Ryan Partridge, only 18 clicks back in second, who last race won his first-ever SLM event but who’s racked up a perfect 5 for 5 in the cool King Taco Super Trucks so far this year.  The Rancho Cucamonga resident really knows how to count and seems to have figured out how to go fast in the big cars as well as in the trucks.

Young Dusty Davis (Las Vegas) has won a couple of these events and, at 302 points he’s right there too.  Randall King (Fontana) and Ryan Reed round out the top five here with 300 and 294 points each and a fair old chance at collecting the 100-point duo-fecta on Saturday night.

Sunland’s Daryl Scoggins has the points lead in the Justice Brothers Mini-Stocks over Jacob Rogers of Riverside with 244 to 222.  Scoggins has really been on a roll of late winning the last three events but Alta Loma’s Rod Schmitt is hanging tough at third in points after five races at 214.  And there’s 50 big ones up again on Saturday.

If you’re looking for close racing you need look no further than the Southwest Tour Truck Series on Saturday night after four events in the 10-race 2010 points series Newbury Park’s own Jeff Williams leads Arcadia’s Neil Conrad by only six points, with one of Hemet’s favorite sons, Michael Zimmerman only 10 back at 182.

The Echo Equipment Legends Cars have a relatively long season (16 races) and after five of them Mark Lungerich of Granada Hills has put together a string of high finishes and is leading the points at 214 in the highly competitive third-mile division.  Chad Schug and Brent Scheideman have both won races this year (Scheideman won two!) but both have had low finishes that have hurt their individual points piles.  Neither is planning on a low score on Saturday mind you.

Last time out the Langer’s Juice S2’s showed what can happen when you set a bunch of exactly-equal racing machines loose on one of the most competitive half-mile tracks in the country: A lot of people all try to occupy the same place at the same time which leads us to an amazing fact:  No one in the top five in this division has yet won a race.  Yup, fact (look it up on the track website www.toyotaspeedwayatirwindale.com for yourself).  

In fact, you have to go back to seventh in the standings to find a 2010 race winner in these “spec” racers (Kenny Smith from Oak Hills).  Which means that Dylan Lupton (218), Roman Lagudi (216), Kendell Lopez (216 too), David Busby (172) and Gary Waters (150) From (respectively): Wilton, Las Vegas, Independence, Laguna, and Northridge are all really, really anxious to be the first (among them) to be first … should be a good race, eh?

And last, but not least we have the “Bandos” … The Jan’s Towing Bandoleros: small, closed -cockpit, technically-identical spec racers which are fitted and outfitted for youngsters as young as 8 years of age and that feature a Briggs and Stratton Vanguard engine pumping out close to 30 horsepower.  (Just use the term “young” in front of each of these names here please)  Trevor Huddleston of Agoura Hills has the advantage going in to Saturday’s main, but it’s only 12 points over Christian McGhee (214 to 202) with (yet another Rancho Cucamonga driver!) RJ Stearns following close behind at an even 200.

TOTE ‘EM UP:  That’s eight complete racing events on one night for one low price … Eight starts, eight races, and eight finishes and all of the action that NASCAR always delivers in between … No wonder people are turning off their TVs and turning out at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale on Saturday night for the real thing … The sights, the sounds,  the smells, and the shouting of a stadium full of real racing fans all having the time of their lives! As they say: BE THERE!

GATES:  Open at 4PM and the FREE King Taco On-Track Autograph Session fun starts at 5:45PM and the first race comes under the green flag at 7PM.  Kids 12 and Under are FREE, so bring the whole neighborhood!  Fans can save time by booking tickets on line at www.toyotaspeedwayatirwindale.com.

SHOW THE CARD AND GET IN FREE:  Show your valid student or faculty ID card this Saturday (June 5) and you’re in the place FREE.  Even faculty folks are invited … Come on out to salute your students!

ALL OF THE ABOVE:  Gates open to the public at 4PM, there’s always a live band playing, a cool car club showing off, a face-painting clown for the little (and not so little) guys and gals, a great food and beverage court with hundreds of choices and a new budget-friendly family deal (be sure to buy it with your ticket) that will: “Feed 4 for 24” … 4 hot dogs, 4 orders of fries, and four soft drinks: only $24.00 (and that good deal saves fans 25% on feeding four!).

BIO: Toyota Speedway opened its doors in 1999 to great crowds and great racing.  In subsequent years the banked half-mile oval has seen hundreds of thousands of miles of close, competitive racing witnessed by well over a million fans.  The true heart of NASCAR Home Track racing, this local Speedway presents racing events every Saturday night from March through October giving hundreds of drivers a place to prove themselves and their machines in front of cheering crowds of real race fans.

www.tototaspeedwayatirwindale.com

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