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Copper on Dirt at Manzanita Speedway Feb. 20-21
by Windy McDonald
FEBRUARY 6, 2009 --- There are well over 600 short tracks in the U.S. but only two tracks, Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, Arizona and Eldora in Rossburg, OH runs the USAC Triple Crown-Sprints, Silver Crown and Midgets- together in one show. There is also a track in Iowa that runs all three divisions but not on the same night.
Manzanita has a lot going for it in the third running of the Copper on Dirt but this time the Sprint Cars will be for national points as will the USAC Midgets and USAC Silver Crown. The race is slated for February 20-21 with qualifying races Friday night and the championship events Saturday night.
In addition to the triple crown event the race will also have three of the five drivers who have managed to win championships in all three divisions. Dave Darland, Jerry Coons, Jr. and JJ Yeley will be in the field and Coons, who was the 2008 open wheel driver of the year after winning both the USAC Sprint Car national title and the USAC Silver Crown championship last year. He was the 2007 USAC National Midget champion. Yeley won his triple crown victories all in one year. He also has two other sprint car titles.
While all eyes will be on Coons, who races out of Tucson, AZ, Shane Cottle, winner of last year’s sprint car 40 lap feature and Daren Hagen took top honors in last year’s 25 lap midget feature. Coon’s will be joined by Cole Whitt who edged Tracy Hines by one point to win the 2008 Mopar USAC National Midget title. Other champions expected to be in a field that will attract over 120 cars include Mike Spencer, the Lucas Oil USAC/CRA champion and Nic Faas who was top dog in the USAC Western Midgets.
The Sprint race will award points to the USAC/CRA as well as national points and USAC Western Midgets will get their 2009 start as will the USAC National Midgets.
Coons may race in all three divisions. In addition to his two championships he place eighth in the final midget standings. Chad Boat, who at the age of 16, was named rookie of the year in both the USAC Sprints and USAC Midgets. He is the youngest driver to ever win a USAC Sprint Car race. He finished 13th in the Midget points and was 12th in the Sprints.
Darland raced in all three divisions last year and was second in points in Silver Crown only five points behind Coons, tenth in midgets and fifth in sprints. However, at the present time Darland is without his Silver Crown ride for the Copper on Dirt.
A practice session, open to the public with free admission in the grandstands, will start off the Copper on Dirt on Thursday, February 19th from 6:00 to 9:00 P.M.
The Friday night program will have qualifying runs, 8 lap heat races and a 10 lap Copper Bowl Shootout for all three Series. The midgets and sprints will run five heats with the top two finishers in each heat earning postions in the Shootout. Cars finishing 3-8 transfer to the "B" with the cars taking the checkered flag in 9th-12th go to the "C". The Silver Crown will determine the number of heats by the car count.
The front gate will open at 3:00 P.M. with racing starting at 6:30.
Saturday night will start off with "C" mains the "B" mains followed by main events for each series. The midget feature will go 25 laps, the sprints take on the half mile track for 40 laps and the Silver Crown feature is for a full 50 laps. The three divisions will be racing for a purse of $83,400.
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