UNITED RACING CLUB JACK GUNN MEMORIAL FOR 360 SPRINT CARS THIS SATURDAY AT 7PM, SUPER LATE MODELS & PRO STOCKS ROUND OUT CARD
Press Release By: STEVE INCH / SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY MEDIA
Photos By: DAN DEMARCO / RACERSGUIDE.COM
Selinsgrove Pa. -April 18, 2017-Selinsgrove Speedway will present the 37th running of the Jack Gunn Memorial for sprint cars at 7 p.m. this Saturday, April 22, sanctioned by the United Racing Club.
Joining the 358-360 sprint cars on the racing card will be the super late models and pro stocks. Track gates will open at 5 p.m.
For the 12th consecutive year, the Gunn Memorial will feature a 30-lap race between the traveling URC 360 sprint cars and the track’s weekly 358-360 sprint cars. The race will pay $2,500 to win and $300 to start. Time trials, heats, and a B-Main will be the format for setting the 24-car starting field for the Gunn Memorial.
The tribute race is run each year to honor the memory of the late race track promoter Jack Gunn, who operated Selinsgrove, Williams Grove, Penn National, and Hagerstown Speedways during his career and brought mid-state dirt track racing to national prominence in the 1970’s. Gunn was inducted posthumously into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame (Knoxville, Iowa) in 1990.
Some of the biggest names in sprint car racing have won the prestigious Jack Gunn Memorial at Selinsgrove Speedway. Lynn Paxton of Dillsburg; Steve Kinser of Bloomington, Ind.; Doug Wolfgang of Sioux Falls, S.D., are a few of the drivers who have won the race as a 410 sprint car event. In the track’s modern era, TJ Stutts of Liverpool, Chad Layton of Harrisburg, Blane Heimbach of Selinsgrove, and Dave Calaman of Carlisle took wins as a 358 sprint car race.
The Gunn Memorial became a URC-sanctioned challenge race between 358 and 360 sprint car drivers in 2006, when Heimbach took the victory as well as in the 2008 and 2012 editions of the race. Calaman (2007); Trevor Lewis of Upper Black Eddy (2009, 2010); Shane Stewart of Indianapolis, Ind. (2011); JJ Grasso of Pedricktown, N.J. (2013); Aaron Ott of East Berlin (2014); and two-time defending winner Mark Smith of Sunbury have also won the Gunn Memorial as a URC-sanctioned event.
While Heimbach and Todd Shaffer of Millerstown are the only two drivers who have won the Gunn Memorial four times at Selinsgrove, Smith will attempt to become the first to win the race three years in a row.
The Middleburg IGA is sponsoring the Gunn Memorial championship trophy.
The super late models will compete in a 20-lap feature paying $1,500 to win, while the pro stocks will race in a 15-lap main event paying $400 to win.
Selinsgrove Raceway Park, the one-fifth mile track located inside of Selinsgrove Speedway’s half-mile oval, will present a complete program of go kart racing at 7 p.m. Friday, April 21. Track gates will open at 5:30 p.m. The second Burris Money Series go kart race of the year will be held at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, April 23.
For a complete schedule, the latest news, results, and race status, visit selinsgrovespeedway.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook. The track office can be reached at 570.374.2266.
2017 Jack Gunn Memorial 360 Sprint Car Purse: 1) $2,500 2) $1,200 3) $1,000 4) $600 5) $575 6) $550 7) $525 8) $500 9) $475 10) $450 11) $425 12) $400 13) $375 14) $350 15) $325 16-24) $300
Sprint Car Tow: $50
Admission for April 22, 2017: Adult General Admission: $15; Students (12-17 with ID) $7; Kids 11 & Under FREE; Pit Passes $30
