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For
Release – Tuesday April 1, 2008 From Jim Irvine
Merrittville Speedway Public Relations 905-892-8266
Thorold, Ontario (April
1) It’s April 1st and we are ecstatic to be able to
say that Merrittville Speedway’s Baron Roofing Windows
and Doors Spring Sizzler will take place – later this
month – Saturday April 26th to be exact.
What were you looking
for as a headline for today?
Pete Bicknell
retiring?
After last January’s
FOAR SCORE Fan Club Hall of Fame Induction you may
have thought so – but on the eve of the season
starting – Mr. Small Block seems to be more primed
than ever for the weekend wars as well as the 358
Modified Super DIRTcar Series and the Lucas Oil
Shootout presented by dirttrackdigest.com.
More news on that
front later this season as well.
Will a NASCAR Driver
make a visit to the Thorold track anytime soon?
It has been a thought
but while one may have jumped the shark – the other
one may well have gone up in smoke.
RUSH is set to promote
their latest CD with a tour that will visit Southern
Ontario this summer.
Will the band pay a
visit and do the anthems one night?
That’s definitely a
possibility.
Read Drummer Neil
Peart’s book – Travelling Music – The Soundtrack of my
Life and Times.
In it he mentions
enjoying the races in the grandstand as a kid growing
up while a family member crewed on someone’s race
car.
Who was that driver –
if you’re reading this – tell Neil and the boys to
check out Merrittville!
How cool would it have
been if one of their songs talked about Merrittville
instead of Port Dalhousie’s Lakeside Park!
When Merrittville Kart
Racer Teagan Andrews paid a visit to Alberta last
January after winning a contest to meet a certain
Calgary Flames player – did he extend an invitation to
the NHL Star to race his 21Jr this summer?
We are long overdue
getting with Teagan on this once in a lifetime
experience to find out.
This summer – will
former NHLers Brian Bellows and Sylvain Cote don the
406 Auto Parts aprons to help sell Thorold Blackhawk
50-50 Tickets?
You never know –
Brian’s nephew Ryan is on the team this season as is
Sylvain’s son Mario.
Merrittville has had a
brush with the NHL in the past.
Some years ago, the
late Gordie Wilson brought a few guests with him. Then
Buffalo Sabres player Michael Groschek (and we
apologize on the spelling – he wasn’t there for
autographs – just a big race fan) and some of the
Sabres staff enjoyed a private night in one of the
suites in the Toolneeds Tower.
Long before that, 5-0
Taxi brought Nick Kypreos and another player in to do
the Autograph Thing as a fund-raiser for charity.
There was even off season talk of Mike Maroney
reforming a race team this year but as of late – there
has been no news of any kind yet from that camp.
Getting back to
Merrittville co-owner Pete Bicknell.
It would appear that
after enjoying more than 50 years of dirt –
Merrittville Speedway is about to embark on it’s next
phase.
Asphalt.
Sometime his month
Bicknell is expected to enter discussions with Economy
Paving on a new project.
Bicknell wears many
hats during his work week – between keeping up with
what new Bicknell Racing Products partner Bob Slack
has brought to the company as he approaches his first
anniversary, keeping touch on what’s happening at
Pete’s Automotive at each location, how his own race
team is coming together and what’s got to be done to
open Merrittville for the 57th Season.
In trying to simplify
things – resurfacing the d-shaped oval might just be
the key.
A lot less track prep
… vehicle maintenance … etc.
With the track paved
though – I’m sure that we would hear mention on Dave
Despain’s Wind Tunnel of how Bicknell and Schram were
able to bring an asphalt track to life and hooking it
up with what tires were provided – similar to the
impression made last November at the Dirt Track at
Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
So what classes will
make up the Dirt Weekly Racing Series on the new
track?
Will the Tuesday Night
Kart Club meet the same destiny?
Perhaps in the first
Driver Meetings of the new season – race teams will
have more of the transition phase revealed to them.
Oh … my mistake.
I misread the
interoffice memo.
The Asphalt Project is
for part of the parking lot at Merrittville’s Winter
Office - Bicknell Racing Products in St. Catharines
which it recently moved out of for the season.
For 56 years,
Merrittville Speedway has been dirt and for as long as
it is a race track – that will never change.
April at the track is
a busy month – the Pen Centre Race Car Show kicks it
all off and what with the RCM Racing Products Kart
School, the Bicknell Racing Products Chassis Seminar
and Pete Bicknell Driving School – it all leads up to
the start of another season as the best family
entertainment in Niagara
Happy April Fool’s
Day!
Your
local Dirt Track is where it’s at and it’s at
Merrittville Speedway in just 25 days – Saturday April
26th.
The
star studded 358 Modified Super DIRTcar Series Stars
are set to challenge our home town heroes in the
Spring Sizzler 100 presented by Baron Roofing Windows
and Doors.
April’s event also includes a 40 lap Sportsman Event
and a 25 lap Street Stock Open.
With
plenty of free camping – it puts Merrittville Speedway
on the map as a must see event – and it’s just the
start of 2008 – you won’t want to miss a single event
all season!
To
learn more call the Speedway Office – now open for the
season at 905-892-8266 or visit
www.merrittvillespeedway.com |
