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NSCS set to kick off Northwest Speed Week
Andrew Kunas, NSCS Publicist

ELMA, Wash. – Things will heat up this weekend in Elma, Wash. when the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series kicks off what will be the biggest Speed Week the Pacific Northwest has ever seen. This year, Northwest Speed Week will consist of seven races to be held over nine days at five different tracks in Oregon and Washington.

Points will be kept over that nine day span, and the team winning the 2007 Northwest Speed Week title will score a $2,000 pay day. The winner will be announced following the July 28 finale of the Bob’s Burgers & Brew Skagit 360 Nationals at Skagit Speedway.

The first two events will be this Friday and Saturday when the inaugural Fred Brownfield Memorial Sprint Challenge will be held at Grays Harbor Raceway. The event is replacing the Evergreen State Sprint Challenge after its ten year run as the showcase event for the NSCS’s predecessor series, the Northern Sprint Tour. The winner of Saturday’s event, named for Grays Harbor’s and the NST’s late promoter, will pay $10,092 to win and $492 to start.

This weekend’s events at Grays Harbor will be open to ASCS-legal motors only. Open motors with restrictors will not be allowed. The restricted open-motors, however, will be allowed to take part in the remaining five Speed Week events.

After a travel day on Sunday, the three-day Oregon portion of Speed Week begins on Monday, July 23 at Southern Oregon Speedway just outside of Medford. Action shifts to Cottage Grove Speedway, south of Eugene on Tuesday, July 24. Things in Oregon wrap up on Wednesday, July 25 at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon. All three events will pay $2,000 to win.

After another travel day on Thursday, the NSCS wraps things up with the 18th Annual Bob's Burgers & Brew Skagit 360 Nationals on Friday and Saturday, July 27 and 28. A non-sanctioned event since its inception in 1990, Skagit’s showcase for 360 sprint cars is on the schedule of a traveling series for the first time. The total purse for the 360 Nationals is $60,000 and Saturday’s winner will leave Skagit with $10,000.

Several drivers from outside the region have pre-entered for Speed Week, including reigning “King of California” Jonathon Allard of Chico, Calif. Allard, the two-time champion of the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit, is coming off a weekend sweep at Silver Dollar Speedway.

Campbell, Calif.’s Brent Kaeding, a former Speed Week champion and many-time champion with the Golden State Challenge at the old NARC series, is also pre-entered. One of the best sprint car drivers ever in California, he has won previously at all five tracks the NSCS will visit during Speed Week, but has not seen victory lane at Skagit since winning the Dirt Cup in 1999. Kaeding also won the first Evergreen State Sprint Challenge at Grays Harbor in 1997 and also took a preliminary feature in 2005. Kaeding’s last victories at each of the Oregon tracks have also come in the last three years.

The big name announced for Speed Week is Oklahoma’s Shane Stewart, another former Dirt Cup champion. Stewart, who calls Bixby home, will drive for the Doyle’s Racing team. Stewart had been on the trail with both the World of Outlaws and the National Sprint Tour over the past few years.

Alberta, Canada will be well represented as hot shoe Jeff Hodgson of St. Albert as well Tyler Pinceman, Geoff Beck and Todd Sparks are all registered. Richie Peterson of Great Falls, Mont. is also expected to make the tow. A surprise entry comes from the middle of the Pacific Ocean as Dean Freitas of Kalopei, Hawaii is also pre-registered. Alaska’s Steve Martin, who often races in Washington and Oregon, will take part as well.

Cottage Grove Speedway point leaders Dale Smith and Dallas Zuniga along with top Grays Harbor Raceway drivers Glenn Borden Jr. and Jay Cole are registered. Cole scored a popular victory in last year’s Evergreen State Sprint Challenge at Grays Harbor. From Skagit Speedway, Jason Bloodgood and Steve Kilcup are in the mix as is Brock Lemley, who won an NSCS event at that track in May.

In the mix, of course, is NSCS point leader Roger Crockett of Medford. Crockett, the four-time former NST champion, has been dominant, winning four of the first seven NSCS this season, including both races at Grays Harbor. Crockett is also a prior winner of both the Evergreen State Sprint Challenge (2005) and the Skagit 360 Nationals (1998).

Mitch Olson (second in points), former NST champion Bill Nutter (third) and Travis Rutz (fourth) are in also. Rutz, who won last year's Skagit 360 Nationals, was the winner of last week's Canadian Gold Cup race in Alberta. Butlerbuilt Rookie leader Robbie Vaughn, fifth in points, is coming, as is last year’s NST Rookie of the Year Seth Bergman, who is sixth. Seventh place Derek Ingalls, eighth place rookie Evan Funk and rookie Tyler Spath are also racing.

More information on the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series and its drivers can be found online at www.racenscs.com.

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Online:
Grays Harbor Raceway – Elma, WA: www.graysharborraceway.net
Southern Oregon Speedway – White City, OR: www.sospeedway.com
Cottage Grove Speedway – Cottage Grove, OR: www.cottagegrovespeedway.com
Willamette Speedway – Lebanon, OR: www.trophymotorsports.com
Skagit Speedway – Alger, WA: www.skagitspeedway.com

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NSCS: The Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
www.racenscs.com

NSCS Brownfield purse experiences boost
Andrew Kunas, NSCS Publicist

ELMA, Wash. - In the past at Grays Harbor Raceway, the old Evergreen State Sprint Challenge closed Northwest Speed Week and was the showcase event for the old Northern Sprint Tour, being worth a solid $5,000 to win. It was annually one of the biggest sprint car weekends in the Pacific Northwest.

Things, however, have changed since June 16 of last year when Fred Brownfield was killed in an on track accident at Grays Harbor. His Northern Sprint Tour creation continued on with what would be its final season and questions were raised about Grays Harbor's future and that of the Evergreen State Sprint Challenge.

As for the Evergreen State Sprint Challenge itself, it was originally scheduled to be run for the 11th time as the opening event of Northwest Speed Week for the new Northwest Sprint Challenge Series and still award $5,000 to win. In February, however, new Grays Harbor Raceway promoter George Wade announced that the Evergreen State Sprint Challenge as it was is no more. The two-day event received a significant name change and an initial bump of the winner's share up to $7,500.

It's now the Fred Brownfield Memorial Sprint Challenge.

This weekend will be bittersweet for the drivers, teams and everyone involved with the NSCS as the series will be part of the event named for the much respected and sorely missed promoter of the tour's predecessor series.

There will still be happy times, as evident by the excitement over this weekend's event. In an NSCS drivers meeting at Grays Harbor Raceway in April, Wade announced his hopes to eventually bring the winner's share to $10,092 and have the dollar amount awarded to each position on Saturday's A-Main end in 92, which was the car number for most of Brownfield's driving career, which included many championships at Skagit Speedway.

Just last month, it became a done deal, being the $10,092 Wade and many others hoped for. The A-Main will also pay $492 to start. Through donations and sponsorships, including lap sponsorships worth $92, more than $15,000 was raised and went straight to the purse, which now sits at about $45,000.

"It's awesome everyone's contributing," said Mitch Olson, who currently sits second in the NSCS point standings. "It shows how many people he touched. It's definitely one you want to win. It'd be nice if one of the Elma cars won."

It was nice indeed for local fans last year when, just over a month after Brownfield's death, track regular and eventual champion Jay Cole scored an upset victory in last year's Evergreen State Sprint Challenge over national star Jason Sides and NASCAR star Kasey Kahne.

Olson himself is hoping he is the Elma driver to win it, and maybe cut away at Roger Crockett's 85-point lead in the standings in the process.

Josh DeWitt is another driver excited for the bigger Fred Brownfield Memorial and the now even bigger Speed Week.

"It's really amazing. It definitely bumps up the competition. Everyone will
drive harder."

With Grays Harbor Raceway and its supporters boosting its purse for the Fred Brownfield Memorial, the NSCS now has $10,000+-to-win high-profile events book ending the largest Speed Week the Northwest has ever seen. Following three races in Oregon, Speed Week will close with the Bob's Burgers & Brew Skagit 360 Nationals, which has a $60,000 purse and will pay $10,000 to win.

"It brings a lot of attention here from people who don't think of the Washington. It's a big sport up here," DeWitt said about having two high-paying races for 360 sprint cars in the Northwest. "A lot of people will come out for Speed Week. It brings the best of the best."

"Credit to Shawna (Wilskey) and everyone to get it rolling and getting it as big as it is," Olson said.

More information on the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series and its drivers can be found online at http://www.racenscs.com and Grays Harbor Raceway's website is located at http://www.graysharborraceway.net.

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NSCS: The Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
http://www.racenscs.com

NSCS notes and tidbits for July 20 and 21
Andrew Kunas, NSCS Publicist

ELMA, Wash. - There will be many storylines and interesting statistics to follow when the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series visits Grays Harbor Raceway this weekend for the inaugural Fred Brownfield Memorial Sprint Challenge.

A lot of money on the line, a lot of cars expected from many places, points battled being watched, streaks trying to be kept alive and more...

* - Saturday's pay day for the winner is the first of two that are $10,000 or more during Northwest Speed Week with the NSCS. The FBM event, specifically, will pay $10,092. The event's predecessor, the Evergreen State Sprint Challenge, paid only $5,000. The new Fred Brownfield Memorial was earlier announced as being $7,500 to win, but thanks to many donations and sponsorships, the purse has been pushed past the $45,000 mark.

* - Over ten years, only Steve Kent had won the ESSC consecutive times. He did it three straight years between 2000 and 2002 and is the only driver to have won it more than once since that event's inception in 1997. Scott Pierce did win the event twice as a car owner, first with Shawna Wilskey in 2003 and then Rick Fauver in 2004.

Judging by those stats, history is against Shelton, Wash. driver Jay Cole as he tries to win Grays Harbor's 360 sprint car showcase for the second straight year.

* - Roger Crockett, the four-time Northern Sprint Tour champion, is a former champion of the ESSC (2005) and so far has been the dominant driver in the NSCS in 2007. Crockett has won both races contested at Grays Harbor, first the season opener on April 28 and then the June 30 event, which he won from the back of the field following an earlier spin.

* - Making A-Mains have been difficult enough in the very competitive NSCS, as only five drivers have made the feature event each time out this season. With several top stars from outside the region expected to converge on Grays Harbor Raceway for this weekend's event and the remainder of Speed Week, those drivers will have a difficult time keeping their streaks alive.

The top four drivers in the NSCS points standings; Roger Crockett, Mitch Olson, Billy Nutter, Travis Rutz; and seventh place driver Derek Ingalls are those five drivers who have made all seven A-Mains. Crockett, Olson, Nutter and Rutz have each had to go through the B-Main event at least once. Ingalls, on the other hand, is the only driver left who has successfully transferred out of his heat race every time in NSCS competition, having finishes of third, first, second, fourth, third, second and fourth.

* - Chico's Jonathon Allard, the reigning "King of California" and a former two-time Dirt Cup champion at Skagit Speedway, has thrown his hat into the ring for the Fred Brownfield Memorial Sprint Challenge. Allard, who will drive the well known Williams #0, is not known to have ever won at Grays Harbor Raceway, but did come close once in 2005 when he was the leader most of the way through a World of Outlaws preliminary feature before being defeated by Steve Kinser.

Allard is coming off a weekend sweep at Silver Dollar Speedway, which included a Golden State Challenge victory.

* - Despite being only 15 points apart going into the June 30 NSCS event, the drivers occupying fifth through eighth in the standings did not shuffle. The gap between fifth place Robbie Vaughn and eighth place Evan Funk, however, did widen to 47 points. Ingalls, of course, stayed seventh while Seth Bergman still sits sixth.

The only positions changing hands in the top eight in the standings on June 30 were third and fourth, as former NST champion Nutter passed Rutz for third after trailing by only one tally going in. Nutter now holds an eight point advantage over Rutz for that position.

* - Having three straight top ten finishes, Vaughn is currently the top rookie in the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series. The 2007 NSCS Rookie of the Year, to be announced at the end of the season, will receive a custom seat from Butlerbuilt.

Funk, at eighth, is the second highest rookie and has been as high as third overall in the points. Tyler Spath currently sits 11th and Jon Farrell is 13th.

* - Travis Rutz is carrying some momentum with him into the Fred Brownfield Memorial Sprint Challenge, winning the Canadian Gold Cup race at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta last month. Rutz is hoping for a better result this weekend than he got when the NSCS visited Grays Harbor on June 30. Rutz had momentarily taken the lead from Shane Forte' until contact between the two sent Rutz spinning and then being struck by another car, ending Rutz's chances at his first NSCS victory of the season.

* - Billy Nutter qualified a solid fourth on June 30, only to be too light at the scales following his time trial. After failing to transfer from his heat race and then starting at the back of the B-Main, Nutter charged to finish fourth and get into the A-Main, where he scored a top ten finish that was good enough to push him past Rutz in the point standings. Nutter also finished second to Crockett in the inaugural NSCS feature event at Grays Harbor on April 28. Like Rutz, he is also searching for his first win in NSCS competition.

* - After long being dominated by California drivers, the Evergreen State Sprint Challenge was won by Washington drivers in three of the last four years it was run (Wilskey 2003, Fauver 2004, Cole 2006). Drivers like Olson, Cole, Vaughn, Bergman, Ingalls and Funk, among others, hope to keep that going with the new Fred Brownfield Memorial Sprint Challenge.

* - Speaking of California drivers, Brent Kaeding is reportedly expected to take part in this weekend's event. It'd be ironic for Kaeding to win the first Fred Brownfield Memorial Sprint Challenge ten years after winning the first Evergreen State Sprint Challenge. Kaeding also took the checkered flag in the 2005 preliminary race.

* - Past winners of the old Evergreen State Sprint Challenge
1997 - Brent Kaeding
1998 - Bud Kaeding
1999 - Brad Furr
2000 - Steve Kent
2001 - Steve Kent
2002 - Steve Kent
2003 - Shawna Wilskey
2004 - Rick Fauver
2005 - Roger Crockett
2006 - Jay Cole

More information on the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series can be found online at http://www.racenscs.com and Grays Harbor Raceway's website is located at http://www.graysharborraceway.net.

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NSCS: The Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
http://www.racenscs.com